Gene, Cell and Tissue
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Jan 2022

Physical activity is a complex phenotype influenced by millions of genes and environmental factors. It is well known that physical performance and sports ability are linked to genes variations.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of PGC1-α and CKMM gene polymorphisms in elite hockey athletes.

Fifty Iranian elite national hockey athletes and 100 non-athletes participated in this study. To determine the genotypes of PGC1-α and CKMM gene polymorphisms, 2 ml of saliva was sampled and used for DNA extraction. To determine the genotypes, the PCR-RFLP method was employed. After examining the variants, the allele and genotype frequencies of subjects were measured.

The results showed no significant differences for the PPARGC1A gene in the percentage of AA, GG, and AG genotypes. Similarly, the percentage of these genotypes of the CKMM gene did not differ significantly between athletes and non-athletes.

The results suggest that the gene polymorphisms of PGC1-α and CKMM are the same between the Iranian elite hockey athletes and non-athletes, which may be due to the overlapping effect of other genes and/or the small sample size of the study.

Because many plant extracts have a significant inhibitory effect on pathogenic microorganisms, so we aimed to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of some plant extracts on Bacillus cereus isolated from soil.

The chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), hyacinth (Hypericum perforatum L.), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), yew (Taxus baccata), and thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) plants were collected and identified in the botanical laboratory of the University of Zabol. To prepare the ethanolic extract, 40 g of dried leaves of plants were used in 400 cc of ethanol. Different strains of B. cereus used in this study were isolated from soil and identified by biochemical, bacteriological, and growth tests as well as standard tests. Antimicrobial effects were investigated by diffusion method in Müller Hinton agar medium using 6 mm paper discs according to Bauer and Kirby instructions as well as microdilution. Statistix ver10 software was used for statistical calculations. Mean comparisons were performed using the LSD at the 1% level, and Excel was also used to draw the figures.

The diameter of the growth inhibition zone of plant extracts against B. cereus at a dilution of 100 ppm was investigated, and it was found that different extracts had different effects on inhibiting the growth of B. cereus (P < 0.01). LSD test showed that thyme (T. vulgaris L.) had the highest (15 mm) effect on growth inhibition of strains 2 and 3 of B. cereus and the lowest (1 mm) effect on growth inhibition of strain 1 of B. cereus. The lowest MIC and MBC of thyme (T. vulgaris L.) against B. cereus samples were 3.1 and 6.2 ppm, respectively.

Considering the side effects of chemical drugs and antibiotics, as well as the potential effect of medicinal plant extracts, especially T. vulgaris L. on B. cereus, it is recommended that T. vulgaris L. may inhibit the growth of B. cereus.

The use of plant extracts prepared from medicinal plants is common in the developing countries. Meanwhile, due to the resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics, researchers are looking to discover new antimicrobials. Medicinal plants play an essential role in this regard.

This study was aimed at investigating the antimicrobial properties of various extracts of Rhazya stricta plant against Salmonella typhimurium.

Methanolic, aqueous, ethanolic, hydroalcoholic, and ethyl acetate extracts of R. stricta were prepared. S. typhimurium strains were isolated from poultry feces. The microdilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of this plant. The diameter of the growth inhibition zone using was determined using Whatman paper.

The lowest MIC against S. typhimurium was obtained from the hydroalcoholic solvent with 3.1 ppm. The most effective extraction solvent to inhibit the growth of S. typhimurium was the hydroalcoholic type with an average growth inhibition zone diameter of 12.25 mm, followed by the ethanolic extract with a growth inhibition zone diameter of 12.12 mm.

According to the results of research and increasing resistance to synthetic antibacterial substances, it seems that R. stricta plant with the help of hydroalcoholic solvent, can be considered an effective plant in eliminating some bacteria, including S. typhimurium.

Autophagy is a genetically and evolutionarily conserved programmed process that destroys long-lived cellular proteins and organelles.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of eight weeks of strength training with alpha-lipoic acid supplementation on Becline-1 and malondialdehyde concentrations in elderly diabetic rats.

In this experimental study, 35 old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (healthy control, diabetic, diabetic + strength training, diabetic + supplement, diabetic + strength training + supplement). At first, the rats became diabetic and had fatty liver. Then strength training program was performed in eight weeks. Alpha-lipoic acid supplement was also injected three days a week. At the end of the training period, tissues were removed, and the expression of Becline-1 was measured by RT-PCR, and malondialdehyde concentration was measured by TBA laboratory method. For data analysis, a one-way analysis variance test was used for between-groups comparison (P < 0.05).

The results showed that strength training program and in combination with alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) supplementation significantly reduced Becline-1 (P = 0.001) and malondialdehyde compared to the healthy and diabetic control groups (P = 0.000).

Strength exercise combined with ALA supplementation has a significant role in reducing the rate of autophagy and can reduce fatty liver in elderly type 2 diabetic rats.

Muscular dystrophy is a hereditary degenerative muscle disease which progressively reduces the strength of the muscles that control movement. In this study, we tried to investigate genetic variants in muscular dystrophy using sequencing of whole exons.

A family with two affected patients with muscular dystrophy was referred for genetic counseling followed by exome sequencing testing on the proband. After filling out informed consent, blood samples were obtained from each available family member. Candidate genetic variant was confirmed using Sanger sequencing.

Exome data analysis revealed a variant of c.2864 + 1G > A in the proband, which altered the exon-intron 26 splice site within the DYSF gene. Genetic changes in this gene are known to be associated with muscular disorders, such as limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and other dysferlinopathies. Assessment of this genetic variant in the patient's sister also showed homozygous variant. Since the patient's sister was married to her cousin, the same variant was tested in her husband, which was normal homozygous. NGS-based techniques, including whole-exome sequencing, can identify the molecular genetic basis of the disease in families with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. The results can be helpful in identifying potential carriers in the family and in prenatal diagnosis to the families involved.

SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus that has humans as the host. Because of its highly infectious nature, toward the end of January 2020, the WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern. The present review is about understanding the journey of SARS-CoV-2 to its present form with an attempt to assess the genetic basis of its pandemic-causing abilities.

The data for the present review were accessed through different publications and preprint repositories.

SARS-CoV-2 is a beta-coronavirus, and is approximately 60 - 140 nm in size. The appearance of its structure as a crown shape under an electron microscope led to the coining of its name ‘Coronavirus’. Comparative genome and proteome analysis exhibits similarities and differences with reference to SARS-CoV. The Open Reading Frames (ORFs) found on the SARS-CoV-2 genome, and their corresponding proteins have been discussed. Batsmay act as reservoir hosts but not exclusively. The possibility of snakes as the host, as well as other intermediate hosts, before reaching humans seems plausible. This has been supported by ACE2 receptor diversity and conservation across different tissues and organisms. The role of spike glycoprotein and its interaction with the receptor through specific residues for invading host cells makes a perfect therapeutic target, but the variations therein and the resulting impact on interactions pose challenges for the same.

Though the differences between the MERS, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 genomes indicate amino acid changes, leading to the present pandemic situation, the fact that new variants are still emerging signifies that the journey is an ongoing one, which requires monitoring

Skin cancer is one of the most common diseases. Ciprofloxacin creates free radicals and causes DNA damage, and due to the chromophore nature of this drug, the production of free radicals increases. Low-power laser (LPL) is the inhibition of red and near-infrared light to tissues to repair injuries and lesions created to heal wounds and connective tissue and treat acute and chronic pain.

The aim of this research was to investigate the synergistic effects of ciprofloxacin and LPL on apoptosis, cell viability, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in skin cancer (A375 cancer cell lines).

The viability rate of A375 cancer cell lines treated with ciprofloxacin and LPL was evaluated by microscopic and MTT methods, and then flow cytometry was used to evaluate their effects on apoptosis and ROS levels. Statistical analysis was done using one-way ANOVA.

Treatment of cancer cells with ciprofloxacin (100 µg/mL) and LPL for 30 seconds could prevent the process of cancer cell proliferation after 48 and 72 hours. Also, the combination of these two methods increased the rate of cellular apoptosis by 5% and reduced ROS levels by 0.1%.

Because the combination of ciprofloxacin and LPL therapy can stop the proliferation of cancer cells, especially skin cancer cells thus, the use of this treatment can be used to treat cancer in the future.

Infertility is a major public health and social problem in human reproduction that is known as a multifactorial complex disorder. Genetic background and mutations and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the genes involved in sperm development are the important causes of male infertility.

In this study, we evaluated the association of AURKC gene polymorphism (rs58264281) and idiopathic male infertility in the Iranian Azeri population.

This study was performed among 100 men with idiopathic infertility (case group) and 100 healthy men with successful fertility (control group) from East Azerbaijan, Iran. Genomic DNA extraction was carried out from peripheral blood samples by the proteinase K method. Genotype analysis was conducted by the tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (Tetra-ARMS PCR). SPSS version 21 was used for the analysis of the obtained data.

We observed that the CA and AA genotypes were significantly increased in patients with infertility as compared to healthy controls. Our results demonstrated that the mutant allele of AURKC gene polymorphism (rs58264281) was a significant risk factor in male infertility.

We suggested a significant correlation between the AURKC gene rs58264281 polymorphism and male infertility in the Iranian Azeri population. However, further studies are required among other ethnicities, races, and geographic areas with larger sample sizes.