Vegetal protein hydrolysates reduce the yield losses in off-season crops under combined heat and drought stress

To deal with the vagaries of climate change, it is essential to develop climate-resilient agricultural practices, which improve crop productivity, and ensure food security. The impacts of high temperature and water deficit stress conditions pose serious challenges to a sustainable crop production. Several adaptation measures are practiced globally to address these challenges and among these altering the crop's typical growing season is one of the key management practices. Application of biostimulants and other growth hormones helps in compensating yield losses under abiotic stress significantly. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the influence of vegetal protein hydrolysate based biostimulant to reduce the yield losses of off-season crops (soybean and chilli in summer and chickpea in early Kharif) when the temperature was higher than the regular season under water deficit stress conditions. The experiments were carried out with the foliar application of different protein hydrolysates (PHs) concentrations. The study revealed that the application of PHs significantly improved the membrane stability index, relative water content, total chlorophyll and proline content of leaves. Consequently, it led to an increase in the number of pods in soybean and chickpea, and fruits in chilli, leading to improved yields when plants were treated with the appropriate amount of PHs. Compared to untreated plants, PHs helped improve the efficiency of PS-II with significantly high photochemical efficiency (QYmax) even at higher excised leaf water loss or reduction in loss of relative water content. This study concluded that foliar application of PHs at 4, 2, and 6 ml L-1 can be beneficial for soybean, chickpea and chilli, which exhibited 17, 30, and 25% yield improvement respectively, over the untreated plants under water deficit stress. It is suggested that the benefits of PHs can be realized in soybean, chickpea and chilli under high temperature and water deficit stress. Therefore, vegetal PHs may be able to assist farmers in arid regions for boosting their income by raising market value and decreasing production barriers during the off-season.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-023-01334-4.

An effective ontology-based query response model for risk assessment in urban flood disaster management

The drastic advancements in the field of Information Technology make it possible to analyze, manage and handle large-scale environment data and spatial information acquired from diverse sources. Nevertheless, this process is a more challenging task where the data accessibility has been performed in an unstructured, varied, and incomplete manner. The appropriate extraction of information from diverse data sources is crucial for evaluating natural disaster management. Therefore, an effective framework is required to acquire essential information in a structured and accessible manner. This research concentrates on modeling an efficient ontology-based evaluation framework to facilitate the queries based on the flood disaster location. It offers a reasoning framework with spatial and feature patterns to respond to the generated query. To be specific, the data is acquired from the urban flood disaster environmental condition to perform data analysis hierarchically and semantically. Finally, data evaluation can be accomplished by data visualization and correlation patterns to respond to higher-level queries. The proposed ontology-based evaluation framework has been simulated using the MATLAB environment. The result exposes that the proposed framework obtains superior significance over the existing frameworks with a lesser average query response time of 7 seconds.

Ultra-Low Power and High Sensitivity of Joint Clock Gating Based Dual Feedback Edge Triggered Flip Flop for Biomedical Imaging Applications

To adapt to varied working situations, the latest biomedical imaging applications require low energy consumption, high performance, and extensive energy-performance scalability. State-of-the-art electronics with higher sensitivity, higher counting rate, and finer time resolution are required to create higher precision, higher temporal resolution, and maximum contrast biomedical images. In recent days, the system’s power consumption is important critically in modern VLSI circuits particularly for the low power application. In order to decrease the power, a power optimization technique must be used at various design levels. The low power use of logic cells is a proficient technique for decreasing the circuit level power. Dual Feedback edge triggered Flip Flop (DFETFF) is considered for biomedical imaging applications in the proposed system. Initially, the high dynamic range voltage is given as input signal. The comparator output is then retried at the comparator end. The integration capacitor is employed for storing remaining voltage signal. The comparator voltage is then given to the capacitor reset block. In the proposed work, a capacitor-reset block that employs clock signal takes up a dual-feedbackedge-triggered Flip-flop as an alternative of a conventional type for reducing the final output signals errors. Dual feedback loops assure that feedback loops do not tri-state at the time of SET restoration, a scheme that could lead to SEUs in latches if a single delay component and a single feedback loop are used. In digital system, Clock gating is a competent method of lessening the overall consumption of power along with deactivating the clock signal selectively and is useful for controlling the usage of clock signal asynchronously in reference to input-signal current. The integration-control (Vint) signal is employed in controlling the integration time. On the termination of integration, the signal level phase is kept, also similar one is send to arrangement all through read period. As a result, the simulation was carried out after the design layout and the estimations of performance were made and are compared with traditional approaches to prove the proposed mechanism effectiveness for future biomedical applications.

Interpretation of Gait Supervising Mechanism Using Sensor Integrated Makeshift and Analysing Pattern by K-Means Clustering Algorithm

Human mobility or walking pattern(gait) is described as the interpreter movements of the rotatory body to achieve extensive range of locomotion. Gait analysis is foremost widely used technique for identifying abnormalities in the lower extremities and gait characteristics essentially support HAT (Head, Arm & Trunk). The act of walking is unconscious when there are no dysfunctions, but for ambulated the continuous monitoring is required. The existing clinical analysis method couldn’t achieve the daily walking routine within the confinement of a room.The proposed method focuses on developing an ambulatory system on daily routines by incorporating feasible techniques for achieving the gait pattern which is not confined to a room atmosphere where all possibilities of walking pattern can’t be reached.This system has expounded an ideology, to interpret the gait parameters using an insole type shoe integrated sensor system. Here, a wearable gait system which is incorporated with force resistive sensors, piezo sensors, inertial sensors and IR sensors are interfaced to the ESP 32. The corresponding sensors extract the data of kinematic angles, kinetics, foot pressure, step count and foot stride investigations.The system proved to be efficient in finding the phases and orientation of the individual by interpreting values from the device. Acquired data can be clustered together to find the abnormal and normal values by applying K-Means clustering algorithm, later the values are utilized in biomechanics for rectifying posture or movement related problems.The device will have several applications in sports, rehabilitation medicine and post-surgery treatment.

Earthworm Grazed-Trichoderma harzianum Biofortified Spent Mushroom Substrates Modulate Accumulation of Natural Antioxidants and Bio-Fortification of Mineral Nutrients in Tomato

The present investigation was aimed at evaluating the impact of earthworm grazed and Trichoderma harzianum biofortified spent mushroom substrate (SMS) on natural antioxidant and nutritional properties of tomato. Results of the investigation reveal that earthworm grazing and T. harzianum bio-fortification led to significant improvement in the physico-chemical properties of fresh SMS and its application increased the accumulation of natural antioxidants and mineral content in tomato as compared to either T. harzianum biofortified SMS or fresh SMS. In particular, the earthworm grazed, T. harzianum biofortified SMS (EGTHB-SMS) was found to inhibit lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation with significant increase in total polyphenol and flavonoid content in tomato. Further, it increased Fe2+/Fe3+ chelating activity, superoxide anion radical scavenging activity compared to other treatments. The results thus suggest an augmented elicitation of natural antioxidant properties in tomato treated with EGTHB-SMS, resulting in a higher radical scavenging activity, that is highly desirable for human health. In addition, the use of SMS to enhance the nutritional value of tomato fruits becomes an environment friendly approach in sustainable crop production.

Anion assisted supramolecular self-assemblies of succinate and malate adducts: crystal structures and theoretical modelling

A series of five dicarboxylic acid complexes of succinic acid and malic acid with various substituted amines have been synthesized and structurally analyzed; also the supramolecular organizations within their crystalline solids have been studied.

Spectroscopic [FT-IR and FT-Raman] and theoretical [UV-Visible and NMR] analysis on α-Methylstyrene by DFT calculations

In the present research work, the FT-IR, FT-Raman and (13)C and (1)H NMR spectra of the α-Methylstyrene were recorded. The observed fundamental frequencies in finger print as well as functional group regions were assigned according to their uniqueness region. The Gaussian computational calculations are carried out by HF and DFT (B3LYP and B3PW91) methods with 6-31++G(d,p) and 6-311++G(d,p) basis sets and the corresponding results were tabulated. The impact of the presence of vinyl group in phenyl structure of the compound is investigated. The modified vibrational pattern of the molecule associated vinyl group was analyzed. Moreover, (13)C NMR and (1)H NMR were calculated by using the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method with B3LYP methods and the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set and their spectra were simulated and the chemical shifts linked to TMS were compared. A study on the electronic and optical properties; absorption wavelengths, excitation energy, dipole moment and frontier molecular orbital energies were carried out. The kubo gap of the present compound was calculated related to HOMO and LUMO energies which confirm the occurring of charge transformation between the base and ligand. Besides frontier molecular orbitals (FMO), molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) was performed. The NLO properties related to Polarizability and hyperpolarizability based on the finite-field approach were also discussed.

Electronic [UV-Visible] and vibrational [FT-IR, FT-Raman] investigation and NMR-mass spectroscopic analysis of terephthalic acid using quantum Gaussian calculations

In this research work, the vibrational IR, polarization Raman, NMR and mass spectra of terephthalic acid (TA) were recorded. The observed fundamental peaks (IR, Raman) were assigned according to their distinctiveness region. The hybrid computational calculations were carried out for calculating geometrical and vibrational parameters by DFT (B3LYP and B3PW91) methods with 6-31++G(d,p) and 6-311++G(d,p) basis sets and the corresponding results were tabulated. The molecular mass spectral data related to base molecule and substitutional group of the compound was analyzed. The modification of the chemical property by the reaction mechanism of the injection of dicarboxylic group in the base molecule was investigated. The (13)C and (1)H NMR spectra were simulated by using the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method and the absolute chemical shifts related to TMS were compared with experimental spectra. The study on the electronic and optical properties; absorption wavelengths, excitation energy, dipole moment and frontier molecular orbital energies, were performed by hybrid Gaussian calculation methods. The orbital energies of different levels of HOMO and LUMO were calculated and the molecular orbital lobe overlapping showed the inter charge transformation between the base molecule and ligand group. From the frontier molecular orbitals (FMO), the possibility of electrophilic and nucleophilic hit also analyzed. The NLO activity of the title compound related to Polarizability and hyperpolarizability were also discussed. The present molecule was fragmented with respect to atomic mass and the mass variation depends on the substitutions have also been studied.

Comparative study of the effects of organic selenium on hen performance and productivity of broiler breeders

1. A 10-week experiment was conducted with Ross 308 broiler breeder chickens in cages to evaluate the influence of organic and inorganic sources of selenium (Se) supplementation. A total of 600 birds at 29 weeks of age were divided at random into 4 groups and fed on a maize-soya basal diet supplemented with different forms of Se. 2. The first (control) group was given the basal diet without Se supplementation, whereas the second, third and fourth groups were given, respectively, the basal diet with 0.3 mg/kg of inorganic Se in the form of sodium selenite or 0.3 and 0.5 mg/kg of organic Se in the form of Se enriched yeast (Se-yeast). 3. The experiment was carried out for 10 weeks to compare and evaluate the influence of Se supplementation on breeder performance, egg production, hatchability and the quality of eggs. Samples were collected for analysis at weeks 0, 5 and 10 of the experimental period. 4. At the end of the experiment (39 weeks), there was a reduction in mortality in breeders given diets supplemented with 0.5 mg/kg of Se-yeast. Supplementation of feed with 0.5 mg/kg organic Se increased egg production, percentage of settable eggs and hatchability. 5. Selenium supplementation increased egg weight and specific gravity compared to the control diet. However, no significant variation was found in albumen or yolk protein content at the end of week 10. 6. Selenium accumulation and glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) activity were lower in the egg albumen and yolk of control compared with Se-supplemented treatments. Se accumulation and GSHPx activity were higher in the group given 0.3 mg/kg organic compared to 0.3 mg/kg of inorganic Se. 7. The results favour the use of Se-yeast at the dose of 0.5 mg/kg in broiler breeder diets for better productivity of eggs, settable eggs, hatchability and higher Se accumulation and antioxidant status in eggs.

Vibrational spectroscopic [FT-IR, FT-Raman] investigation on (2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxy) Acetic acid using computational [HF and DFT] analysis

In the present methodical study, FT-IR, FT-Raman and NMR spectra of the (2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxy) Acetic acid are recorded. The observed fundamental frequencies (IR and Raman) are assigned according to their distinctiveness region. The hybrid computational calculations are carried out by HF and DFT (B3LYP and B3PW91) methods with 6-31++G(d,p) and 6-311++G(d,p) basis sets and the corresponding results are tabulated. The impact of the presence of tri-chlorine atoms in phenyl structure of the compound is investigated. The vibrational sequence pattern of the molecule related to CH2COOH is analyzed. Moreover, (13)C NMR and (1)H NMR are calculated by using the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method with B3LYP methods and the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set and their spectra are simulated and the chemical shifts related to TMS are compared. A study on the electronic and optical properties; absorption wavelengths, excitation energy, dipole moment and frontier molecular orbital energies, are performed by HF and DFT methods. The Kubo gap of the present compound is calculated related to HOMO and LUMO energies which confirm the occurring of charge transformation between the base and ligand group. Besides frontier molecular orbitals (FMO), molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) was performed. NLO properties related to Polarizability and hyperpolarizability are also discussed.

Adaptive radiotherapy in lung cancer: dosimetric benefits and clinical outcome

OBJECTIVE

Anatomical changes during radiotherapy (RT) might introduce discrepancies between planned and delivered doses. This study evaluates the need for adaptive treatment in lung cancer RT.

METHODS

15 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, undergoing radical RT with or without concurrent chemotherapy, consecutively underwent planning CT scans at baseline and after 44-46 Gy. Target volumes were delineated on both scans. Phase I delivered 44-46 Gy to the initial planning target volume (PTV). Two Phase II plans for 16-20 Gy were developed on initial and mid-treatment scans, the treatment being delivered with the mid-treatment plan. The second CT structure set was fused with the initial scan data set using dose wash. Volumetric and dosimetric changes in target volumes and critical structures were assessed.

RESULTS

There was significant reduction in primary gross tumour volume (34.00%; p = 0.02) and PTV (34.70%; p < 0.01) in the second scan. In Plan 2, delivering the same dose to the initial PTV would have resulted in a significantly higher dose to the lung PTV (V20, 52.18%; V5, 21.76%; mean, 23.93%), contralateral lung (mean, 29.43%), heart (V10, 81.47%; V5, 56.62%; mean, 35.21%) and spinal cord (maximum dose, 37.53%).

CONCLUSION

Treatment replanning can account for anatomical changes during RT and thereby enable better normal tissue sparing, while allowing radical target doses with the possibility of maximizing local control.

ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE

This study supports the sparse dosimetric data regarding the quantitative tumour volume reduction, re-emphasizing the need for adaptive replanning for minimizing normal tissue toxicity without compromising local control, and adds to the existing body of literature.

Incidental radiation to axilla in early breast cancer treated with intensity modulated tangents and comparison with conventional and 3D conformal tangents

PURPOSE

To analyze incidental radiation doses to minimally dissected axilla with Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), 3D conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) and standard tangents (ST).

METHODS & MATERIALS

We prospectively evaluated incidental radiation to axilla in fifty cases of early breast cancer treated with breast conservation surgery with sentinel node biopsy alone followed by whole breast irradiation with IMRT. Three plans were devised for each CT dataset, comprising ST, 3DCRT and IMRT tangents. Doses to axillary nodal levels I, II and III were evaluated for mean dose, V95, V90, V80 and V50. Comparisons were made using ANOVA.

RESULTS

The mean doses delivered to axilla by the three techniques (IMRT, 3DCRT, ST) were: 78% (range 67-90, SD ± 5.2%), 80% (63-95, ±7.5%) and 87% (73-98, ±4.8%) for level I (IMRT vs ST; p = 0.037); 70% (46-89, ±12.4%), 72% (34-93, ±15.5%) and 65% (29-87, ±11.8%) for level II; and 51% (28-76, ±11.1%), 53% (19-86, ±13.7%) and 41% (6-72, ±10.6%) for level III, respectively. V90 values (volume receiving 90% of dose) for the three techniques were 49% (43-53, ±2.7%), 57% (51-65, ±3.1%) and 73% (65-80, ±3.4%) for level I (IMRT vs. ST; p = 0.029); 35% (26-42, ±4.7%), 41% (33-50, ±4.2%) and 25% (17-36, ±4.5%) for level II (IMRT vs ST; p = 0.068); and 15% (9-22, ±3.4%), 16% (10-24, ±3.7%) and 8 (5-12, ±3.1%) for level III (IMRT vs ST; p = 0.039), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Axillary levels I and II (lower axilla) receive substantial amount of incidental radiation doses with all the three techniques; however, conformal techniques (IMRT, 3DCRT) deliver significantly lesser incidental radiation to lower axilla than ST technique.

Spectroscopic (FT-IR/FT-Raman) and computational (HF/DFT) investigation and HOMO/LUMO/MEP analysis on 2-amino-4-chlorophenol

The spectra (FT-IR and FT-Raman) of the present compound; 2-amino-4-chlorophenol (2A4CP) were recorded in the range of 4000-100 cm(-1). All the computational calculations were made in the ground state using the HF and DFT (B3LYP and B3PW91) methods with 6-31++G(d,p) and 6-311++G(d,p) basis sets. From potential energy surface calculation, there are two conformers, Rot-1 and Rot-2 for this molecule. The computational results detected that Rot-1 form is the most stable conformer. Making use of the recorded data, the complete vibrational assignments were made and analysis of the observed fundamental bands of molecule is carried out. The complete assignments were performed on the basis of the total energy distribution (TED) of the vibrational modes, calculated with scaled quantum mechanics (SQMs) method and PQS program. The shifting of the frequencies in the vibrational pattern of the title molecule due to the substitutions; NH(2) and Cl were deeply investigated by the vibrational analysis. Moreover, (13)C NMR and (1)H NMR chemical shifts were calculated by using the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method with HF/B3LYP/B3PW91 methods with 6-311++G(d,p). A study on the electronic properties, such as HOMO and LUMO energies, were performed by time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) approach. Besides frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) was performed. NLO properties and Mulliken charges of the 2A4CP were also calculated and interpreted. The thermodynamic properties (heat capacity, entropy, and enthalpy) of the title compound at different temperatures were calculated in gas phase.

Cloning and characterization of rat dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) gene and its 5'-upstream region

Rat dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) is a highly acidic 58-kDa phosphoprotein, and DMP1 was the first gene to be cloned from the mineralized dentin matrix. It exists as a highly phosphorylated protein with a pI of 3 in the dentin matrix and, in that state, might have an important role in the mineralization process. The spatio-temporal distribution during development indicates that the expression of this gene is tightly regulated in the odontoblasts. It is now known that DMP1 is not unique to dentin but is present in other mineralized tissues like long bone, calvaria, and ameloblasts. To study the transcriptional regulation and the function of DMP1 in these tissues, a genomic clone with a functional promoter, introns, and exons was isolated. Sequence analysis showed that the rat DMP1 gene is comprised of six exons and five introns and spans approximately 13 kilobases (kb). Exon 1 contains the 5'-untranslated sequences. Exon 2 encodes a total of 18 amino acids including the 16 amino acids of the signal sequence. Exons 3-5 encode 16, 11, and 15 amino acids, respectively. Exon 6 contains 1.3 kb of the coding sequence with the RGD domain, stop codon, and the 3'-untranslated region (1.1 kb). We have mapped two transcription start sites within the DMP1 promoter that are 280 and 321 base pairs, respectively, from the ATG start codon. The location of functional elements within the 5'-upstream DMP1 DNA fragment was determined by cloning it into a luciferase reporter gene. Transient transfection and luciferase assays revealed that the 3 kb fragment has the ability to drive the luciferase gene. However, this promoter activity was restricted to MC3T3-E1 cells (an osteoblast cell lineage). The promoter was silent in Chinese hamster ovary cells (an epithelial cell lineage), indicating the necessity of tissue-specific factors to drive the transcription.

Drosophila proteins related to vertebrate DNA (5-cytosine) methyltransferases

DNA methylation at CpG residues is closely associated with a number of biological processes during vertebrate development. Unlike the vertebrates, however, several invertebrate species, including the Drosophila, do not have apparent DNA methylation in their genomes. Nor have there been reports on a DNA (5-cytosine) methyltransferase (CpG MTase) found in these invertebrates. We now present evidence for two CpG MTase-like proteins expressed in Drosophila cells. One of these, DmMTR1, is a protein containing peptide epitopes immunologically related to the conserved motifs I and IV in the catalytic domain of the mammalian dnmt1. DmMTR1 has an apparent molecular mass of 220 kDa and, similar to mammalian dnmt1, it also interacts in vivo with the proliferating cell nuclear antigen. During interphase of the syncytial Drosophila embryos, the DmMTR1 molecules are located outside the nuclei, as is dnmt1 in the mouse blastocyst. However, DmMTR1 appears to be rapidly transported into, and then out of the nuclei again, as the embryos undergo mitotic waves. Immunofluorescent data indicate that DmMTR1 molecules "paint" the whole set of condensed Drosophila chromosomes throughout the mitotic phase, suggesting they may play an essential function in the cell-cycle regulated condensation of the Drosophila chromosomes. Through search in the genomic database, we also have identified a Drosophila polypeptide, DmMT2, that exhibits high sequence homology to the mammalian dnmt2 and the yeast CpG MTase homolog pmt1. The expression of DmMT2 appears to be developmentally regulated. We discuss the evolutionary and functional implications of the discovery of these two Drosophila proteins related to mammalian CpG MTases.

Plasma membrane is the primary site of localization of the nonactivated estrogen receptor in the goat uterus: hormone binding causes receptor internalization

Evidence is presented to show that the cellular site of localization of the goat uterine nonactivated estrogen receptor (naER) is the plasma membrane. Exposure of purified plasma membrane preparations to estradiol (20 nM) causes dissociation of the receptor from the membrane into the medium. This receptor movement takes place in the presence of diethylstilbestrol while testosterone, progesterone, dexamethasone, and tamoxifen do not facilitate the dissociation of the naER from the plasma membrane. Further, tamoxifen inhibits the estradiol-mediated dissociation of the naER from the plasma membrane. The naER is a glycoprotein and is also a tyrosine kinase. The tyrosine kinase activity is inhibited in the presence of estrogens while tamoxifen reverses this estrogen-dependent inhibition.

The nuclear estrogen receptor R-II of the goat uterus: distinct possibility that the R-II is the deglycosylated form of the nonactivated estrogen receptor (naER)

Structural and functional characteristics of the goat uterine nuclear estrogen receptor R-II have been subjected to comparison with those of the nonactivated estrogen receptor (naER), purified from the cytosol. The two proteins have the same molecular mass, 66 kDa; they display identical peptide maps and are both recognized by anti-estrogen receptor (R-I) IgG. Both are tyrosine kinases and bind with equal affinity to a column of anti-phosphotyrosine IgG-Sepharose. On the other hand, while naER is a glycoprotein, the R-II does not show any sign of glycosylation. Unlike the naER, the R-II is incapable of dimerization with estrogen receptor activation factor (E-RAF) and, as a consequence, bind to the DNA. R-II has a higher estradiol binding capacity and the resultant reduction in its affinity for the hormone in comparison with the naER. Further, the sedimentation behavior and the Stokes radius of the naER indicate a globular nature in the shape of the protein. The corresponding data for the R-II reveal that the protein has a distinct nonglobular shape. Deglycosylation of the naER using a glycopeptidase resulted in the total conversion of the distinct physical features of the naER to the R-II category. This treatment resulted, without effecting any reduction in its molecular mass, in the loss of the E-RAF dimerization capacity of the naER. The Stokes radius and the sedimentation coefficient of the protein underwent drastic changes and became closely similar to those of the R-II. In addition, the deglycosylation introduced a several-fold enhancement in the capacity of the naER to bind estradiol with a concomitant decrease in its affinity, similar to the corresponding properties of the R-II. The R-II is shown to have a conformational structure different from that of the naER, to interact with the nuclear RNA polymerase II. It is also shown here that the R-II phosphorylates two subunits (molecular mass 91 and 20 kDa) in the RNA polymerase II, in addition to the 40-kDa subunit phosphorylated by the naER. The results clearly indicate the possibility that the nuclear R-II estrogen receptor is the deglycosylated naER.

The nonactivated estrogen receptor (naER) of the goat uterus is a tyrosine kinase

The nonactivated estrogen receptor (naER) has been isolated and purified to absolute homogeneity from the goat uterine cytosol. It is a 66-kDa protein, sedimenting at 4.2 S on linear sucrose density gradients and having a Stokes radius of 36 A. It displays high affinity and specificity for estradiol and diethyl stilbestrol with a Kd of 1 x 10(-10) M. CNBr peptide analysis reveals that it has a primary structure distinctly different from that of the regular estrogen receptor even though anti-ER antibody cross-reacts with the nonactivated ER. The protein gains access to the DNA only upon dimerization with the estrogen receptor activation factor (E-RAF), a DNA-binding protein having no capacity to bind estradiol. Analysis reveals that both naER and E-RAF are protein kinases. While the E-RAF is a serine kinase, naER functions as a tyrosine kinase. No protein kinase activity is displayed by the regular estrogen receptor. The protein kinase activity of the naER is inhibited in the presence of estradiol. Similarly, the protein kinase activities associated with the proteins disappear when the naER and E-RAF are brought together.

A DNA-binding (R-I) and a non-DNA-binding (R-II) estrogen receptor in the goat uterine nucleus: purification and characterization

Two forms of nuclear estrogen receptors have been isolated and purified from the goat uterus. The biochemical characteristics of the proteins imply that the receptors may be identified as the type I and type II nuclear estrogen receptors. Nevertheless, we felt a necessity to exercise caution in using this nomenclature and, therefore, decided to identify them instead as R-I and R-II, respectively. While R-I is the DNA-binding form, R-II is a non-DNA-binding protein. The two proteins are totally dissimilar in other physical characteristics like the Stokes radii (36 A for R-I and 21 A for R-II), sedimentation coefficients (4.8 S for R-I and 3.8 S for R-II), the Kd (1 nM for R-I and 2 nM for R-II), and the nature of the CNBr fragmentation of the proteins. The two proteins, however, cross-react with polyclonal antibodies raised against goat uterine estrogen receptor activation factor (E-RAF), a DNA-binding protein with no capacity to bind estradiol, originally discovered by T.N.R.V. Thampan and J. H. Clark (1981, Nature 290, 152-154). A major feature of the R-II isolation procedure is the chromatography of the protein on a heat shock protein 90-Sepharose column in the presence of molybdate ions and elution using a molybdate-free buffer. While estradiol-17 beta (E2) binding to R-II was inhibited by the presence of dithiothreitol and quercetin in the medium, E2-R-I interaction remained unaffected by these exposures.