Diversity, Distribution, and Life History of Syzygium cumini
K. N. Nair in The Genus Syzygium, 2017
The flowers do not exhibit much variation except in color. They may be white to creamy white or occasionally slightly green (Figure 4.2a and b). The flowers are borne in clusters of a few to 40 in number on terminal or axillary panicled racemes (Figure 4.2a). The fruit is a berry, and remarkable variations have been observed in the shape, size, color, and thickness of the fruit and in the color and taste of the pulp. The berries initially appear green, and gradually turn to light violet-red or purplish-red, and finally dark purple to black at full maturity (Figure 4.2c–f). In India, the fruits are generally categorized in two forms based on size, taste, and color. In one form, the fruits are large, oblong, dark purple to black, with pink or violet and sweet pulp and small seed. In the other form, the fruits are small, rounded, green to light violet-red or black, with white, thin, and mildly sour pulp. The latter form is considered a wild type. A form with white fruits has been reported from Indonesia. Sometimes, fruits without seed have also been noticed.
Pest Control in Modern Public Health
Jerome Goddard in Public Health Entomology, 2022
One major concern of entomologists and ecologists is the possible fitness cost to the mosquito, which could lead to transgene silencing, the evolution of “resistance,” or even a restoration of wildtype fitness.37 In the latter, the wildtype mutant would quickly rebound. A rise in drive-resistant alleles in natural populations, especially after mating of transgenic mosquitoes and wildtype mosquitoes, could result in unimagined and undesirable downstream effects.40 Increasing numbers of drive-resistant insects would eliminate the drive through natural selection since the drive itself would likely impart some level of fitness reduction.41 Therefore, we must assess the evolutionary stability of gene drives in nature. Further, effects of releasing a genetically modified insect into the environment are still largely unknown. There could be potential downstream off-target effects such as a potential risk of other mutated pests. Detecting these mutated off-target pests would prove near impossible once GMMs are unleashed in the environment.42 A successful gene drive would require mating between mutants and wildtype mosquitoes, so reliability of the gene to be heritable and effective in these crosses after multiple generations needs to be accurately assessed.41,43
Cancer Biology and Genetics for Non-Biologists
Trevor F. Cox in Medical Statistics for Cancer Studies, 2022
A gene can have different codings, and these variants are called alleles. One allele is inherited from your mother and one from your father for each gene, and these determine your physical traits (phenotype), such as hair colour, height, etc. The combination of the alleles that you have inherited make up your genotype, but we can also use this term for a particular gene. If there are two possible alleles for a gene, A and a, there are three possible genotypes, AA, Aa and aa, depending on which alleles you inherited. For example, the OCA2 gene on chromosome 15 is associated with melanin production, which is a pigment for hair, eye and skin colour. A might be the allele for brown eyes and a for blue eyes. A is dominant and a is recessive, and so individuals with AA and Aa will have brown eyes, and individuals with aa will have blue eyes. But eye colour is not quite so simple as this as other genes are also involved. The allele that codes for the most common phenotype is called the wild type allele.
Neoantigen vaccine platforms in clinical development: understanding the future of personalized immunotherapy
Published in Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs, 2021
Suangson Supabphol, Lijin Li, S. Peter Goedegebuure, William E. Gillanders
Two preclinical studies by Castle et al. and Schreiber et al. demonstrated tumor protection following treatment with SLP-based neoantigen vaccines [24,52]. Castle et al. synthesized two 27-mer peptides (single mutated amino acid at central position flanked by 13 non-mutated amino acids on both sides) and tested these SLP vaccines in B16F10-bearing C57BL/6 mice in prophylactic and therapeutic settings. Vaccines were injected subcutaneously with poly-IC. Neoantigen-specific immune responses were strong enough to inhibit tumor growth in both settings. T cell responses directed at the cancer neoantigens were significantly higher compared to the corresponding ?wild-type? sequences [24]. Gubin et al. conducted similar experiments in an MCA sarcoma cell line. Two H-2Kb-restricted peptides, Lama4 and Alg8, were identified and co-administered with poly-IC. Vaccination was able to elicit antitumor responses in both prophylactic and therapeutic settings [52].
Evaluating the safety profile of focused ultrasound and microbubble-mediated treatments to increase blood-brain barrier permeability
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, 2019
Dallan McMahon, Charissa Poon, Kullervo Hynynen
Changes in the expression level of glial fibrillary acidic protein (Gfap) and ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba1), markers for astrocytes and microglia, respectively, have been investigated as indicators of glial cell activation following FUS+MBs. In wild-type mice, Iba1 expression has been shown to increase in sonicated cortex, relative to non-sonicated contralateral cortex, at 4 h and 4 days following sonication, with no significant differences present at 15 days. Gfap expression in these mice was found to be increased at 4 days post-FUS+MBs, but not at 4 h or 15 days [30]. Conversely, with higher exposure levels, significantly elevated Gfap and Iba1 immunoreactivity has been reported 7 weeks after a single sonication and 7 days after 6 weekly sonications, with morphological changes indicative of glial scar formation [71]. In mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, increases in the number [46] and size [30] of beta-amyloid plaque-associated microglia have also been reported after FUS+MB treatments. Together, these studies indicate that some degree of glial cell activation follows FUS+MB-mediated increases in BBB permeability. It is also apparent that these changes can be transient, normalizing within 2 weeks, or can persist for at least 7 weeks, depending on exposure conditions.
Astrocytoma and glioblastoma IDH1-wildtype cells colonize tumor vessels and deploy vascular mimicry
Published in Ultrastructural Pathology, 2023
Haitham H. Maraqah, Mones S. Abu-Asab, Han Sung Lee, Orwa Aboud
The astrocytoma IDH1-mutant tumors showed similar abnormal features in the tumor vessels to that of IDH1-wildtype glioblastoma tumors. The tumor cells’ invasion of vessels’ was ubiquitous (Figure 2) and resulted in deformed and abnormal vessel shape and structure (Figure 2a-f). The VWs were thickened with redundant elastic layers of the basement membrane, morphologically distorted, and occupied with lipid and tumor cells (*, Figure 2a-c and e). The vessels’ lumina had lipid inclusions (L) and tumor cell (+). The basal lamina was abnormal and discontinuous as well as partially or totally lacking. Endothelial cells were absent and replaced by the tumor cells; however, this process is occasionally more prominent with more tumor cells forming a circle around on the luminal side, a sign of vascular mimicry (see discussion). The deformed and distorted structure is more prominent in the mutant type than in wildtype.
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