|qPCRas a primary screen in drug discovery|
GauravJaggi, Frank Boeckler, Andreas Joerger and Alan Fersht
We report the use of qPCR technique to follow the thermal unfolding of proteins by the binding of the dye SYPRO Orange, and exploit its potential as a robust and high-throughput primary screen for small molecule drug discovery.
|Heterochromatin structure is induced by siRNA targeting HIV-1 promoter region |
K Suzuki1, H Lim1,3, T Ishida2, T Watanabe2, D Cooper1,3, A Kelleher1,3
We transfected siRNA targeting HIV-1 promoter region into a cell line productively infected with HIV-1. ChIP analysis revealed that the RNA duplex induced transcriptional gene silencing and enrichment of Ago1, H3K9me2, and HDAC1 in HIV promoter region to form heterochromatin structure. The data indicates RNA duplex induces the latent phase of HIV infection, since the chromosome formation is very similar to the state of HIV latently infected cell lines
|Evolution of the Contact Phase of Vertebrate Blood Coagulation|
M. B. Ponczek, D. Gailani and R. F. Doolittle
Three proteases involved in the contact phase of vertebrate blood coagulation were searched in genomes of amphibians, birds and mammals. Several data sources were used during this bioinformatics analysis. Our survey confirmed that the vertebrate contact phase has occurred by way of a series of gene duplications during the course of several hundred million years of evolution, beginning with the appearance of fXII and a PK-fXI predecessor in amphibians.
|Drop distribution determination in a liquid-liquid dispersion by image processing|
Brás, L.M.R., Gomes E.F., Ribeiro M. M. M., Guimarães M. M. L.
Image processing is a very relevant area of computer science with applications in many domains. Quantitative analysis and interpretation of digitized images is currently an important tool in several scientific domains. The aim of the present work is the development of shape discrimination and size classification algorithms for liquid drops in monochromatic digitized frames.
|Analysis of in silico stereoelectronic properties of PMD (p-menthane-3-8-diols) and its derivatives to develop a pharmacophore for insect repellent activity |
Bhattacharjee AK, Chauhan K, Bathini N, Greico J, Achee N, Lawrence K, Benante JP and Gupta RK
PMD, an insect repellent that can be derived from steam distillate residue of leaves of lemon eucalyptus. No QSAR studies are known in literature. We performed ab initio (RHF/6-31G**) study of PMD derivatives. A 3D pharmacophore for repellent activity was also developed. Results indicate lipophilicity, MEP separation and localized negative MEP by oxygen atom have roles for repellency. The pharmacophore is consistent and allowed design of more effective insect repellents.
|DOCKING STUDIES OF A NEW HETEROCYCLIC METHYLTHIOMORPHOLIN PHENOLS DERIVATIVES AS ANTIHYPERTENSIVE DRUGS WITH ACE TARGET.CASE FESCDIPINE II |
1V. Vázquez,1O. Vázquez, 1,2M.A.Balboa, 1A. Ma. Velázquez, 1V.H. Abrego, 1B.Camacho, 1L. Martínez, 1L.A. Torres, 1A. Ramírez, 1I.Martínez, 3R.López-Castañares, 1S.Díaz-Barriga, 4J. Bocanegra, 4Froylan Gómez-Laguna, 1F. Olvera, 1E.Angeles.
As part of the Drug Design in Medicinal Chemistry Program of the UNAM, new methylthiomorpholinphenol compounds with cardiovascular effect, were studied. One of them, FESCDIPINE II, was an excellent antihypertensive drug, that has low toxicity and preliminary studies indicate that the Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) system is the biological target of this compound.
|3D-QSAR Common Feature Pharmacophore Model for Polyphenols as Potential Anti-Malarial Agents|
Shruti Saxena, Amit K. Gupta & Mridula Saxena
3D QSAR studies have been carried out on a series of polyphenols for their antimalarial activity using CATALYST program. Hypothesis with three features namely hydrophobic (1), hydrogen bond donor (1) and hydrogen bond acceptor (1) was found to the best, which mapped well with the most active and least active compound of the test set. This model can be used to develop drugs for malarial chemotherapy.
|SOME BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF TRITERPENOID ACIDS|
S.N. Morozkina, O.I. Antimonova, E.M. Eremenko*, A.G. Shavva
Ursolic and betulinic acids acids induce the processes of apoptosis. We tested the risk of osteoporosis induction under influence of triterpenoids, since they can interact with glucocorticoid receptors. In experiments on oviriectomized rats we found that acids do not show any negative influence on percentage of mineral components in the femur and have cholesterol-lowering action under experimental conditions.
|THE OSTEOPROTECTIVE ACTION OF 6-OXA-8a-ANALOGUES OF STEROID ESTROGENS|
A.G. Shavva, V.N. Belov, A.Yu. Solovyev, S.N. Morozkina
We synthesized fourteen 6-oxa-8a-estrogens analogues and investigated osteoprotective and uterotropic actions. We demonstrated correlation: every modification in structure of 6-oxa-8-analogues leading to strong (>30%) reduction of uterotropic action induces slump of osteoprotective activity. This allows to make conclusion: main biotarget, responsible for appearance of osteoprotective action is a-estrogen receptor. We found steroid estrogen analogues with cholesterol-lowering properties without u