Scientists fabricate 2D protein monolayer that can help to study diseases like Amyloidosis
Why in news?
- Receently, a 2D protein monolayer was fabricated by scientists by assembling lysozyme molecules, model protein in studying diseases like Amyloidosis.
What is Amyloidosis?
- Amyloidosis is a rare disease that occurs when a protein called amyloid builds up in organs.
- This amyloid buildup can affect the working of organs like heart, kidneys, liver, spleen, nervous system and digestive tract.
- Lysozyme, a protein present in mucosal secretions and a principal component of airway fluid can be regarded as a model protein in studying diseases like Amyloidosis which ultimately leads to multi-organ dysfunction.
Key Highlights:
- Scientists from the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, Guwahati (IASST), have assembled lysozyme molecules as a 2D monolayer at the interface of pure aqueous subphase.
- They used the 2D protein monolayer to understand the behaviour of lysozyme molecules at air-water as well as at air-solid interface with the help of a technique called Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique.
- The physical properties of lysozyme molecules at air-water interface were investigated under the variation of surface pressure and subphase pH conditions in the study recently published in the RSC Advances under the reputed RSC publishers.
- The compressible behaviour of lysozyme monolayers were correlated to the stripe-like domains formed with increase in surface pressure.
Key Observations:
- Lysozyme molecules at the air-water interface and their structural or conformational changes in variable pH conditions can be considered as a model system to study Amyloidosis disease, which occurs because of the misfolding and agglomeration of lysozyme molecules.
- The closely packed lysozyme monolayers formed at the air-water and air-solid interfaces by the LB method will be helpful in studying different chemical and physical properties in 2D in the vicinity of protein environment.
- The deposited LB films of lysozyme may also be considered as protein nanotemplates to crystallize proteins of interest.
Gujarat gets a state fish
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- The black-spotted croaker, or the ghol fish was declared the state fish of Gujarat recently.
Why was the ghol chosen?
- The Gujarat government chose the ghol because of its economic value and its uniqueness.
- The fish is usually found in the Indo-Pacific region that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Pacific Ocean.
- The declaration will enable Gujarat to be a part of its conservation efforts.
What is the commercial importance of this fish species?
- The meat of the fish is exported as frozen fillet or whole fish to European and Middle-Eastern countries.
- Its air bladder, which is cut open from the stomach and dried is mainly exported to China, Hong Kong and other Asian countries where it is in high demand for its medicinal values.
How much fish does Gujarat export?
- During the year 2021-22, the total fish production of Gujarat was estimated at 8.74 lakh tonne, worth Rs 11,221 crore.
- Of this, 2.3 lakh tonne of fish and fish products worth Rs 5,233 crore were exported.
Lower oxygen at high altitudes increases lifespan in ageing mice
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Why in news?
- The lower oxygen content at high altitudes increases lifespan significantly in ageing mice, according to a recent study.
Why study hypoxia?
- It is the first study to demonstrate that oxygen restriction, or continuous hypoxia, can extend lifespan in an ageing mammal.
- Previous reports on oxygen restriction lengthening lifespan have come from mammalian cells grown in Petri dishes, yeast, and in less complex lab animals such as roundworms and fruit flies.
- This line of research has been encouraged at least in part, by the naked mole rat: a rodent that spends most of its life in an oxygen-deficient burrow with a lifespan much longer than scientists have been able to predict based on its size or evolutionary history.
What was the study design?
- For its experiments, they worked with a strain of mutant mice that age prematurely and have a shorter lifespan, of fewer than six months.
- The strains they used “also responds powerfully to the best-known intervention to extend lifespan across organisms – caloric restriction.” Caloric restriction, or dietary restriction without malnutrition, first described in 1935, is the gold-standard for increasing lifespan in diverse species like yeast, roundworms, fruit flies, mice, and rats.
- To test the effect of low oxygen level on these mice, they housed them in hypoxic chambers with an oxygen concentration of 11%, similar to that at the base camp of Mt. Everest. They achieved hypoxic conditions by diluting the air with nitrogen.
Outcome:
- The median lifespan of mice living with normal oxygen at 21% of the atmosphere, a.k.a. normoxia was about 16 weeks. But mice living in hypoxic conditions had a median lifespan of 24 weeks, or 50% longer.
- The animals housed in hypoxic conditions also displayed better neurologic function than their counterparts living in normoxic conditions.
- Sixteen-week-old mice living in normoxia had neurologic debility, measured by a motor performance test, while mice maintained in hypoxic conditions performed the test significantly better.
How does hypoxia work?
- They examined whether hypoxia prompted the mice to restrict their diets. But they found that the hypoxic mice ate slightly more food than those living in normoxia, ruling out dietary restriction as the fundamental underlying mechanism.
- Looking for differently expressed genes, DNA damage repair, and changes in signalling pathways didn’t provide any definitive clues either.
Way Forward:
- The study provides valuable insights into the potential of hypoxia to enhance healthy lifespan.
- The findings open up new avenues for exploring the mechanisms underlying hypoxia’s impact on lifespan and hold promise for potential interventions in the future.
