Search results for "Assembly"

Self-assembled multivalent (SAMul) ligand systems with enhanced stability in the presence of human serum

2019

Self-assembled cationic micelles are an attractive platform for binding biologically-relevant polyanions such as heparin. This has potential applications in coagulation control, where a synthetic heparin rescue agent could be a useful replacement for protamine, which is in current clinical use. However, micelles can have low stability in human serum and unacceptable toxicity profiles. This paper reports the optimi- sation of self-assembled multivalent (SAMul) arrays of amphiphilic ligands to bind heparin in competitive conditions. Specifically, modification of the hydrophobic unit kinetically stabilises the self-assembled nanostructures, preventing loss of binding ability in the presence of…

Assembly Assistance System with Decision Trees and Ensemble Learning

2021

This paper presents different prediction methods based on decision tree and ensemble learning to suggest possible next assembly steps. The predictor is designed to be a component of a sensor-based assembly assistance system whose goal is to provide support via adaptive instructions, considering the assembly progress and, in the future, the estimation of user emotions during training. The assembly assistance station supports inexperienced manufacturing workers, but it can be useful in assisting experienced workers, too. The proposed predictors are evaluated on the data collected in experiments involving both trainees and manufacturing workers, as well as on a mixed dataset, and are compared …

Metaheuristic procedures for the lexicographic bottleneck assembly line balancing problem

2015

The goal of this work is to develop an improved procedure for the solution of the lexicographic bottleneck variant of the assembly line balancing problem (LB-ALBP). The objective of the LB-ALBP is to minimize the workload of the most heavily loaded workstation, followed by the workload of the second most heavily loaded workstation and so on. This problem-recently introduced to the literature (Pastor, 2011)-has practical relevance to manufacturing facilities. We design, implement and fine-tune GRASP, tabu search (TS) and scatter search (SS) heuristics for the LB-ALBP and show that our procedures are able to obtain solutions of a quality that outperforms previous approaches. We rely on both s…

Techniques to Analyze sRNA Protein Cofactor Self-Assembly In Vitro

2018

Post-transcriptional control of gene expression by small regulatory noncoding RNA (sRNA) needs protein accomplices to occur. Past research mainly focused on the RNA chaperone Hfq as cofactor. Nevertheless, recent studies indicated that other proteins might be involved in sRNA-based regulations. As some of these proteins have been shown to self-assemble, we describe in this chapter protocols to analyze the nano-assemblies formed. Precisely, we focus our analysis on Escherichia coli Hfq as a model, but the protocols presented here can be applied to analyze any polymer of proteins. This chapter thus provides a guideline to develop commonly used approaches to detect prokaryotic protein self-ass…

Trifluoroethanol modulates α-synuclein amyloid-like aggregate formation, stability and dissolution

2016

The conversion of proteins into amyloid fibrils and other amyloid-like aggregates is closely connected to the onset of a series of age-related pathologies. Upon changes in environmental conditions, amyloid-like aggregates may also undergo disassembly into oligomeric aggregates, the latter being recognized as key effectors in toxicity. This indicates new possible routes for in vivo accumulation of toxic species. In the light of the recognized implication of α-Synuclein (αSN) in Parkinson's disease, we present an experimental study on supramolecular assembly of αSN with a focus on stability and disassembly paths of such supramolecular aggregate species. Using spectroscopic techniques, two-pho…

Half a Century of Research on Membrane-Containing Bacteriophages: Bringing New Concepts to Modern Virology

2019

Half a century of research on membrane-containing phages has had a major impact on virology, providing new insights into virus diversity, evolution and ecological importance. The recent revolutionary technical advances in imaging, sequencing and lipid analysis have significantly boosted the depth and volume of knowledge on these viruses. This has resulted in new concepts of virus assembly, understanding of virion stability and dynamics, and the description of novel processes for viral genome packaging and membrane-driven genome delivery to the host. The detailed analyses of such processes have given novel insights into DNA transport across the protein-rich lipid bilayer and the transformati…

Assembly rules of helminth parasite communities in grey mullets: combining components of diversity.

2020

Abstract Organisms aggregate in ecological communities. It has been widely debated whether these associations are explained by deterministic or, in contrast, random processes. The answer may vary, depending on the level of an organisational scale (α, β and γ) and the facet of diversity considered: taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic. Diversity at the level of a sampling unit (i.e. host individual) is the α diversity; β diversity represents the extent of dissimilarity in diversity among sampling units (within a level of an organisational scale, β1; between levels of an organisational scale, β2); and the total diversity of a system is γ diversity. Thus, the combination of facets and levels…

2018

The cutis laxa syndromes are multisystem disorders that share loose redundant inelastic and wrinkled skin as a common hallmark clinical feature. The underlying molecular defects are heterogeneous and 13 different genes have been involved until now, all of them being implicated in elastic fiber assembly. We provide here molecular and clinical characterization of three unrelated patients with a very rare phenotype associating cutis laxa, facial dysmorphism, severe growth retardation, hyperostotic skeletal dysplasia and intellectual disability. This disorder called Lenz-Majewski syndrome (LMS) is associated with gain of function mutations in PTDSS1, encoding an enzyme involved in phospholipid …

Transcriptome analysis and codominant markers development in caper, a drought tolerant orphan crop with medicinal value.

2019

AbstractCaper (Capparis spinosa L.) is a xerophytic shrub cultivated for its flower buds and fruits, used as food and for their medicinal properties. Breeding programs and even proper taxonomic classification of the genus Capparis has been hampered so far by the lack of reliable genetic information and molecular markers. Here, we present the first genomic resource for C. spinosa, generated by transcriptomic approach and de novo assembly. The sequencing effort produced nearly 80 million clean reads assembled into 124,723 unitranscripts. Careful annotation and comparison with public databases revealed homologs to genes with a key role in important metabolic pathways linked to abiotic stress t…

ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Dicistroviridae

2017

Dicistroviridae is a family of small non-enveloped viruses with monopartite, linear, positive-sense RNA genomes of approximately 8–10 kb. Viruses of all classified species infect arthropod hosts, with some having devastating economic consequences, such as acute bee paralysis virus in domesticated honeybees and taura syndrome virus in shrimp farming. Conversely, the host specificity and other desirable traits exhibited by several members of this group make them potential natural enemies for intentional use against arthropod pests, such as triatoma virus against triatomine bugs that vector Chagas disease. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on…