Vol 10 No 2 - Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology
Transcription
Vol 10 No 2 - Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology
Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology Volume 10 · No 2 · December 2012 http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr •Circadian rhythm genes in cancer •Tunneling nanotubes •Genetic screening of Turkish barley genotypes •Strontium ranelate induces genotoxicity Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology Volume 10 · Number 2 December 2012 İstanbul-TURKEY Editor-in-Chief Nagehan ERSOY TUNALI Haliç University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology Founder Gündüz GEDİKOĞLU Our Children Leukemia Foundation Rights held by A. Sait SEVGENER Rector Correspondence Address: Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology Haliç Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi, Sıracevizler Cad. No:29 Bomonti 34381 Şişli İstanbul-Turkey Phone: +90 212 343 08 87 Fax: +90 212 231 06 31 E-mail: [email protected] Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology is indexed in ULAKBIM, EBSCO, DOAJ, EMBASE, CAPCAS, EMBiology, Socolar, Index COPERNICUS, Open J-Gate, Chemical Abstracts and Genamics JournalSeek ISSN 1303-3646 Printed at MART Printing House Editorial Board M. Baki YOKEŞ Kürşat ÖZDİLLİ Nural BEKİROĞLU Emel BOZKAYA M.Burcu IRMAK YAZICIOĞLU Mehmet OZANSOY Editorial Assistance Ozan TİRYAKİOĞLU Özlem KURNAZ Advisory Board A. Nur BUYRU, İstanbul, Turkey Adil Meriç ALTINÖZ, Istanbul, Turkey Adile ÇEVİKBAŞ, İstanbul, Turkey Aglaia ATHANASSIADOU, Patras, Greece Aglika EDREVA, Sofia, Bulgaria Anne FRARY, İzmir, Turkey Asım KADIOĞLU, Trabzon, Turkey Ayla ÇELİK, Mersin, Turkey Ayşe ÖZDEMİR, İstanbul, Turkey Beyazıt ÇIRAKOĞLU, İstanbul, Turkey Canan ARKAN, Munich, Germany E. Zerrin BAĞCI, Tekirdağ, Turkey Fatma Neşe KÖK, İstanbul, Turkey Ferruh ÖZCAN, İstanbul, Turkey Fevzi DALDAL, Pennsylvania, USA Gizem DİNLER DOĞANAY, İstanbul, Turkey Hande ÇAĞLAYAN, İstanbul, Turkey Hande GÜRER ORHAN, İzmir, Turkey İlhan YAYLIM ERALTAN, İstanbul, Turkey İsmail ÇAKMAK, İstanbul, Turkey İsmail TÜRKAN, İzmir, Turkey Kemal BÜYÜKGÜZEL, Zonguldak, Turkey Maria V. KALEVITCH, Pennsylvania, USA Mehmet TOPAKTAŞ, Adana, Turkey Meral KENCE, Ankara, Turkey Meral ÜNAL, İstanbul, Turkey Müge TÜRET SAYAR, İstanbul, Turkey Mustafa DJAMGÖZ, London, UK Nermin GÖZÜKIRMIZI, İstanbul, Turkey Nevin Gül KARAGÜLER, İstanbul, Turkey Nihat BOZCUK, Ankara, Turkey Pınar SAİP, Istanbul, TURKEY Rezan FAHRİOĞLU YAMACI, Nicosia, Cyprus Şehnaz BOLKENT, İstanbul, Turkey Selma YILMAZER, İstanbul, Turkey Sevtap SAVAŞ, Toronto, Canada Uğur ÖZBEK, İstanbul, Turkey Ünal EGELİ, Bursa, Turkey Valentine KEFELİ, Pennsylvania, USA Zihni DEMİRBAĞ, Trabzon, Turkey Ziya ZİYLAN, İstanbul, Turkey Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology CONTENTS Volume 10 · Number 2 · December 2012 Review Articles Transforming acidic coiled-coil proteins and spindle assembly S. TRIVEDI 1 Marker Systems and Applications in Genetic Characterization Studies Y. ÖZŞENSOY, E. KURAR 11 Research Articles COX5B and COX2 gene expressions in Multiple Sclerosis N. SAFAVIZADEH, S. A. RAHMANI , M. ZAEFIZADEH 21 Curcumin rendered protection against cadmium chloride induced testicular damage in Swiss albino mice P. SINGH, K. DEORA, V. SANKHLA, P. MOGRA 31 Study of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates with ESBL activity, from ICU and Nurseries, on the island of Mauritius S.K. MUNGLOO-RUJUBALI, M.I. ISSACK, Y. JAUFEERALLY-FAKIM 39 HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibition by Vitex negundo L. leaf extract and quantification of flavonoids in relation to anti-HIV activity M. KANNAN, P. RAJENDRAN, V. VEDHA, G. ASHOK, S. ANUSHKA, P. CHANDRAN RAMACHANDRAN NAIR 53 Genetic characterization and bottleneck analysis of Korki Jonub Khorasan goats by microsatellite markers B. MAHMOUDI, O. ESTEGHAMAT, A. SHARIYAR. M.Sh. BABAYEV Low-Stringency Single-Specific-Primer PCR as a tool for detection of mutations in the matK gene of Phaseolus vulgaris exposed to paranitrophenol 61 71 Mohamed R. ENAN Short Communication Characterization of Paenibacillus larvae isolates from Brazil S.S. CHAGAS, R.A. VAUCHER, A. BRANDELLI Guidelines for Authors 79 83 Front cover image: “Cell division” Shutterstock image ID: 4099351 Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology 10(2):1-10, 2012 Haliç University, Printed in Turkey. http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr Review Article 1 Transforming acidic coiled-coil proteins and spindle assembly Seema TRIVEDI* (* author for correspondence; [email protected]) Received: 2 January 2012; Accepted: 5 November 2012 Abstract Transforming acidic coiled-coil proteins (TACC) are essential for mitosis not only by their association with the centrosome and assembly of spindle microtubules, but also by involvement in cell cycle checkpoints. In order to stabilize spindle fibers, TACCs interact with other microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs). Dysregulation of TACCs may lead to abnormal cell division that may result in chromosomal abnormality or tumorigenesis. This review focuses on facts known so far regarding TACC proteins, their interactions and their involvement in spindle microtubule stability in higher eukaryotes. Keywords: Cancer, microtubules, centrosome, spindle fibers, transforming acidic coiled-coil proteins Özet Dönüştürücü asidik sarmalanmış sarmal proteinleri ve iğ iplikçiğinin birleşmesi Dönüştürücü asidik sarmalanmış sarmal proteinleri (TACC) sadece sentrozomlarla ve iğ iplikçiği mikrotübülleriyle birleşmesiyle olan ilişkileri açısından değil, ayrıca hücre döngüsü kontrol noktalarına dahil olmaları açısından da mitoz için gereklidir. İğ iplikçiklerini stabilize etmek amacıyla, TACC’ler diğer mikrotübül ilişkili proteinlerle (MAP) etkileşime girer. TACC’lerin yanlış düzenlenmesi kromozomal anormallikler ya da tümörigenez ile sonuçlanan anormal hücre bölünmelerine neden olabilir. Bu derleme, bugüne kadar TACC proteinleri, etkileşimleri ve yüksek ökaryotlarda iğ iplikçiği kararlılığına katkıları ile ilgili bilinen gerçekler üzerinde durmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Kanser, Mikrotübüller, Sentrozom, İğ iplikçikleri, Dönüştürücü asidik sarmalanmış sarmal proteinleri Abbreviations TACC = Transforming Acidic Coiled-coil, MAP = Microtubule Associated Protein, Msps = Mini spindles, MT = Microtubule, ch-TOG = Colonic–hepatic Tumour-Overexpressed Gene, AAK = Aurora A Kinase Introduction Transforming acidic coiled-coil protein (TACC) is a family of the microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) that is crucial for spindle assembly, maintaining bipolarity and microtubule (MT) stability during mitosis (Still et al., 2004; Brittle and Ohkura, 2005; Pearson et al., 2005). TACCs are even important in acentrosomal (acentriolar or anastral) meiosis in females of many animal species where spindle formation is chromosome centric (Pearson et al., 2005). TACCs do not have microtubule stabilizing activity on their own. Instead, they form complexes with other MAPs to stabilize spindle fibers. TACC/MAP complex provides stable association of MTs with centrosomes at the minus end (Albee and Wiese, 2008) possibly after release from 2 Seema TRIVEDI the nucleation site from kinetochores (reviewed in Raff, 2002). The complex associates at the plus ends of the MTs growing out from the centrosome during nucleation (reviewed in Raff, 2002). However, the exact mechanism by which TACC interacts with other MAPs and recruits them to the centrosome is not clearly understood. In Drosophila, D-TACC recruits Mini spindles protein (Msps; a conserved family of MAP) (reviewed in Raff, 2002) and in Xenopus, maskin (TACC3) form a complex with XMAP215 (Albee and Wiese, 2008). However, the XMAP215 complex may associate with both plus and minus ends of the MT. Similarly, human TACCs and ch-TOG (colonic– hepatic tumour-overexpressed gene) (homologue of Msps) possibly form a structural lattice at centrosomes to maintain the integrity of spindle poles and to stabilize spindle MTs (reviewed in Raff, 2002; Gergely et al., 2003). However, it is not known why in cultured human cells TACC3 and, in Drosophila D-TACC, these proteins are apparently not essential for recruitment of XMAP215 analogue (Brittle and Ohkura, 2005). This review focuses on genomic locations, protein characteristics and interactions of TACC proteins in humans and general aspects of role of TACC proteins in spindle dynamics in higher eukaryotes. TACC genes and proteins Three TACC proteins have been identified in humans, namely TACC1, 2 and 3. The three human TACCs are related by ~200-amino-acid C-terminal region (the ‘TACC domain’), which is predicted to form a coiled coil domain (reviewed in Raff, 2002). Besides TACC domain, these proteins share homology (except Drosophila D-TACC) in the SDP domain as well (Lauffart et al., 2002; Still et al., 2004). SDP domain is composed of functionally conserved repeats of 33 amino acids, though the numbers of repeats are different in different TACC proteins. Interaction of SDP domain with transcription factor GAS41/NuBI1 (also known as YEATS4) has been established (Lauffart et al., 2002) but this interaction possibly does not directly affect spindle formation. Genomic locations of human TACC reference gene sequences as per NCBI and details of proteins obtained from SwissProt are given in Table 1. Though implicated in several cancers, no mutations have been reported in the TACC1 gene (Still et al., 2008). TACC1 mRNA exon 3 contains a predicted nuclear localization signal (Still et al., 2008), shows ubiquitous expression and encodes a cytoplasmic protein which is mainly perinuclear protein (molecular mass of 125 kDa) (Conte et al., 2002) but different isoforms in different cells may be localized in the cytoplasm as well (Lauffart et al., 2006). TACC1 protein does not show compositional bias whereas TACC2 has poly-lysine and poly-proline rich regions and TACC3 has poly-serine regions (Table 1). In addition, different sites in the TACC proteins show post translational covalent modifications (Table 2). Phosphotyrosine is seen only in TACC1, while N6-acetyl lysine is seen only in TACC3 and phosphothreonine is not seen in TACC1. It is also pertinent to note that TACC1 phosphorylation varies in different isoforms (Still et al., 2008). TACC2 concentration at the centrosome has been observed even during interphase unlike TACC1 and TACC3 proteins (Gergley et al., 2000a). TACC3, also known as ERIC1 (Still et al., 2004; Eslinger et al., 2009) a non-motor MAP, was also identified as an ARNT interacting protein (Aint1) in mice (Aitola et al., 2003) and is expressed in proliferative tissues (Aitola et al., 2003; reviewed in Hood and Royle, 2011). During mitosis, TACC3 is localized to centrosome but during interphase, TACC3 is seen in cytoplasmic or perinuclear regions (Piekorz et al., 2002). The TACC3 gene has five reported mutations: CAG to CGG, TCG to TTG, CGT to TGT, CAG to TAG and TCA to TTA (Eslinger et al., 2009). TACC proteins in spindles 3 Table 1. Human TACC Genomic Location (as per NCBI+), Introns, mRNA And Splice Variants (as per NCBI AceView+) and Protein Details (as per SwissProt*). Official Symbol Genomic Location TACC1 8p11.22 TACC2 10q26 TACC3 4p16.3 Genomic Sequence NC_000008.10 38585704..38710546 NC_000010.10 123748689..124014057 NC_000004.11 1723266..1746898 Number of Introns+ 44 49 23 mRNA+ 38 (7 unspliced) 35 (7 unspliced) 16 (3 unspliced) Protein* TACC1 (O75410 TACC1_HUMAN) 805 TACC2 (O95359 TACC2_HUMAN) 2948 TACC3 (Q9Y6A5 TACC3_HUMAN) 838 Length (number of amino acids) Number of Isoforms+ 27 Features Description Coiled coil Potential TACC1 610 - 805 26 15 Position TACC2 TACC3 2675 - 2703 637 - 837 2746 - 2947 2420 - 2423 Poly-Lys Compositional bias 155 - 160 Poly-Ser Pro-rich 1956 - 2016 SPAZ 2315 - 2403 482 - 549 Domain Motif SPAZ 1 215 - 297 SPAZ 2 Bipartite nuclear localization signal 1 Potential Bipartite nuclear localization signal 2 Potential 359 - 507 Interaction with CH-TOG 226 - 241 455 - 471 701 - 805 Interaction with LSM7 and SNRPG 1 - 55 Interaction with TDRD7 152 - 259 Interaction with YEATS4 206 - 427 Region + Thierry-Mieg and Thierry-Mieg 2006, AceView-Dec 2009 4 Seema TRIVEDI Table 2. Modification types and positions of modifications in TACC proteins as per SwissProt.* N6-acetyl Protein Position Phosphoserine Phosphothreonine Phosphotyrosine lysine TACC1 TACC2 TACC3 44 50 52 54 55 57 228 276 406 533 197 201 493 571 575 758 962 1025 1267 1313 1426 1562 1946 1949 2072 2073 2226 2246 2256 2317 2321 2359 2389 2390 2392 2394 2403 2512 2884 25 59 71 175 317 434 558 *Grey cells indicate presence and blank cells indicate absence or not known. Spindle assembly and TACC proteins TACC proteins interact with MTs (particularly at the minus end) and are mainly associated with centrosome (Gergely et al., 2000a and 2000b). The distribution and concentrations of TACC proteins during spindle formation vary. TACC1 concentration at centrosome is weak and is seen only during mitosis. TACC2 concentration is strong at centrosome throughout the cell cycle. TACC3 is strongly concentrated in a more diffused region around centrosomes (during G2 phase) at the minus end of spindle MTs (Gergely et al., 2000a; Gergely et al., 2000b; Barr et al., 2010). Once the spindle has formed, TACC3 protein is not found at astral MTs (reviewed in Raff, 2002; Hood and Royle, 2011). TACC3 protein is localized at centrosomes with γ-tubulin and spindle MTs with αtubulin (Piekorz et al., 2002, reviewed in (Raff, 2002; Hood and Royle, 2011), particularly during S, G2 and M phases of cell cycle (Piekorz et al., 2002). TACC3/ch- TACC proteins in spindles 5 TOG/clathrin complex increases the stability of Kfibers during early mitosis. This is achieved by reduction in MT catastrophe by anchoring to the spindle and establishing short bridges. Involvement of TACC proteins in formation of long bridges is not known but possibly HURP and the kinesinrelated protein HSET/KIFC1 may be involved in longer bridges (Booth et al., 2011). TACC3 depleted cells do not show proper metaphase alignment; therefore it is possible that TACC3 protein may be essential for chromosome alignment (Gregely et al., 2003). TACC3 may also affect early mitotic checkpoint by associating with pS939-TSC2 (tuberous sclerosis complex 2) and regulating its localization at spindle poles and also possibly affect nuclear envelope (Gomez-Baldo et al., 2010). TACC3 affects spindle checkpoint by affecting SAC (spindle assembly checkpoint assembly) by stabilizing spindle and is important for microtubule-kinetochore interaction. Depletion of TACC3 results in activation of the SAC (spindle assembly checkpoint protein), which prevents degradation of cyclin B1 and anaphase transition. Cyclin B1 is present in cells from late G2 to metaphase and is degraded prior to anaphase. TACC3 depletion increases the levels of cyclin B1 but not cyclin A (S/G2) (Schneider et al., 2007), thus presence of TACC3 would affect degradation of cyclin B1 and help in anaphase transition. These observations indicate differences in roles of different types of TACC proteins during mitosis. For proper assembly and stability of spindle fibers and minus end of centrosome associate MT, phosphorylation of TACC is essential which is mediated by mitotic kinases (e.g. Aurora A kinase i.e. AAK) (Barros et al., 2005, Peset et al., 2005). Absence of phosphorylated TACC may result in either shorter centrosomal MT or absence of these spindle fibers (Peset et al., 2005, Kinoshita et al., 2005). Phosphorylation occurs at different sites in different animals. In Xenopus TACC3/Maskin, at least two residues (main site is Ser626) are phosphorylated; in Drosophila D-TACC Ser863 is phosphorylated exclusively at centrosomes and in human Ser558 is phosphorylated in TACC3 (reviewed in Raff, 2002; Brittle and Ohkura, 2005; LeRoy et al., 2007). Phosphorylation of TACCs may also help G2/M checkpoint by proper microtubule assembly, thus the control of mitosis by affecting G2/M transition (Conte et al., 2002; reviewed in Bettencourt-Dias and Glover, 2007), particularly via spindle checkpoint (Schneider et al., 2007). However, AAK itself must be activated prior to being able to phosphorylate the TACC proteins. In humans, AAK is activated by binding with TPX2 [Targeting Protein for Xklp2 (Xenopus plus enddirected kinesin-like protein)]. AAK-TPX2 binding is activated by HURP (Human hepatoma up-regulated protein) which is a MAP protein that can also bind directly to MTs. However, HURP itself needs activation by Ran (RAs-related Nuclear protein) (Sato et al., 2009; Sato and Toda, 2010). On the other hand, dephosphorylation of TACC proteins may also affect spindle stability. In this regard, Mars (a D. melanogaster sequence homologue of HURP) mediates spatially controlled dephosphorylation of TACC for spindle stability, perhaps only at the centrosome. Dephosphorylated TACC establishes lateral interactions with MT or with plus ends which may be impaired due to TACC phosphorylation at Ser863 (Tan et al., 2008). Spindle fibers and proteins interacting with TACC proteins Minimal interactions of TACCs with other proteins or ligands were determined using the STRING web interface (Jensen et al., 2009), and are shown in Figure1. As previously stated, TACC1 and TACC3 bind with ch-TOG (clathrin, colonic and hepatic tumor overexpressed gene) (Conte et al., 2002; Lauffart et al., 2002); however, from the interaction shown in Figure 1 it appears that all three TACC proteins interact with CKAP5 (homologue XMAP215 or chTOG). The other two common interactions of the three TACC proteins are YEATS4 (also called YAF9; GAS41; NUBI-1) (transcription factor, protein located in nucleoli) and LSM7 (a conserved subfamily of Sm-like small proteins). LSM7 associates with U6 snRNPs and plays a role in several aspects of mRNA processing (Conte et al., 2002; Lauffart et al., 2002). 6 Seema TRIVEDI TACC1 may also be involved in gene regulation by affecting mRNA translation by interaction with TDRD7 (tudor domain containing 7) (Figure 1). TDRD7 protein is a part of cytoplasmic RNA granules involved in mRNA regulation. It is not known whether the involvement of TACCs in RNA processing or interaction with transcription factors has any role in MT dynamics during cell division. As per Figure 1, TACC1 and 3 also interact with AURKB and AURKA. These two proteins also interact with Cyclin B1 (which controls entry in mitosis) (Conte et al., 2002). Studies have shown that TACC3 is involved in localization of the mitotic kinase Aurora B and the checkpoint protein BubR1 at kinetochores thus affecting MT attachment (Schneider et al., 2007). TACC2 protein also directly interacts with SMYD2 (SET- and MYND-containing protein 2) (Figure 1). SMYD2 activates TACC2 gene by methylation of H3K4 in the promoter region of TACC2 gene besides the involvement of SMYD2 in some protein-protein interactions. These protein interactions may have roles in centrosomal MT formation (Abu-Farha et al., 2008) but apparently not by directly interacting with TACC2 protein. Phosphorylated TACC3 also directly interacts with clathrin heavy chain (CLTC) that promotes accumulation of other complex members at the mitotic spindle (reviewed in Hood and Royle, 2011). Another direct interaction of TACC3 protein with septin-7 (SEPT7, CDC10 protein homolog) is shown in Figure 1. SEPT7 associates with the mitotic spindle and the kinetochore. It has also been shown that SEPT7 is needed for stable localization of CENP-E (centromere-associated protein E) at kinetochore besides affecting spindle checkpoint (Zhu et al., 2008). Association of SEPT7 and MAPs, particularly MAP4, in MT dynamics both during interphase and mitosis has been established (Silverman-Gavrila et al., 2008), and it is possible that similar interaction of SEPT7 with TACC proteins may affect MT stability. Expression of TACC3 is high in hematopoietic tissue unlike TACC1 and TACC2. Apparently higher levels of TACC3 proteins are not for proliferation of tissue but for direct or indirect regulation of p53 levels to prevent apoptosis although not true for other tissue (Piekorz et al., 2002). Other study confirmed direct interaction of TACC3 with p53 (that is also concentrated at centrosomes) possibly to keep it inactive during mitosis (reviewed in Raff, 2002) (not seen in Figure 1). TACC3 is necessary for proper localization of phosphorylated TSC2 (Tuberous sclerosis proteins, tuberin) to the mitotic apparatus and cytokinetic structures. This interaction may be through the TSC2HBD domain (TSC2 hamartin-binding domain) and result in promotion of cytoskeletal remodeling (Gómez-Baldó et al., 2010). Though little is known about the factors that control or regulate length of spindle fibers, TACC3 may be one of the proteins that control length of MTs and time for chromosome alignment at metaphase plate (reviewed in Raff, 2002). AAK may also regulate MT length, as seen in Drosophila embryos, where AAK function disturbance leads to abnormal shortening of centrosomal MTs. This disturbance also leads to inefficient concentration of D-TACC at centrosomes (reviewed in Raff, 2002). TACCs dysregulation and cancer Human TACC 1, 2 and 3 are present in genomic regions that are rearranged in certain cancer cells (reviewed in Raff, 2002; Stewart et al., 2004; Still et al., 1999). Aberrations of TACC genes (TACC3 in particular) contribute to tumorigenesis/cancer (reviewed in Raff, 2002; Lauffart et al., 2005). Since TACC proteins are also involved in centrosomal dynamics, cell cycle checkpoints (Schneider et al., 2007) and can form multiple complexes, any dysregulation in these proteins may be important during tumorigenesis (Lauffart et al., 2002). It has been noted that increase or decrease in levels of the TACCs can lead to impairment of spindle functions (reviewed in Raff, 2002). Disruption of spindle function can then lead to misalignment of chromosomes and or abnormalities in chromosome separation. Altered levels of TACC proteins can lead to abnormal mitosis although next p53 dependent checkpoint should eliminate such cells. However, if there is simultaneous alteration in TACC levels and p53 is either absent or depleted, then such cells would not TACC proteins in spindles 7 Figure 1. Predicted functional partnes (minimum interaction) of the three TACC proteins (as per STRING Jensen et al., 1999) undergo elimination, resulting in genetic instability that could contribute to the development of cancer (reviewed in Raff, 2002). Some studies show that TACC3 may enhance stability of tumors. This can be achieved by TACC3 and ch-TOG in clustering of multipolar spindles in tumor cells into two poles that may lead to somewhat ‘normal’ division (reviewed in Hood and Royle, 2011). However, TACC2 may be a potential tumour suppressor (reviewed in Raff, 2002) contrary to studies that suggest no role of TACC2 in tumor suppression (Schuendeln et al., 2004). Unanswered questions Though much is known regarding TACC function in spindle and microtubule dynamics, there are few aspects that still remain unknown. These are summarized below: Roles of TACCs in regulation/control of spindle fiber lengths are not fully understood. Though the levels of TACC and particularly roles of TACC3 and AAK are indicated in control of MT length (reviewed in Raff, 2002), the precise mechanism by which this is achieved is not known. Though TACC proteins are present in cytoplasm during interphase, their fate at the end of mitosis is not known with respect to their redistribution to cytoplasm of the daughter cells. If there is exclusion/reduction in amount of TACC proteins from nucleoplasm, the mechanism remains elusive. Further, it is not known whether destruction/recycling/decrease in 8 Seema TRIVEDI expression of all TACCs (like cyclins) is important for ending anaphase. It is known that TACC3 associates with kinetochore MTs (K fibers), but association with interpolar MTs (reviewed in Hood and Royle, 2011) or astral MTs is not confirmed. It is also not known whether all three TACCs associate with kinetochore MTs (K fibers), interpolar MTs and astral MTs or there are different TACC for each fiber type. If different TACCs are involved in K-fibers, interpolar and astral MTs; it is not known how this association difference is achieved. Different interaction partners at different subcellular locations of each splice variant of TACC1 protein have been reported during different stages of embryonic development. This may be possible due to retention of coiled coil domain in each splice variant but there are differences in interaction motifs at N-terminus (Lauffart et al., 2006). However, it is not known whether different isoforms of TACC proteins have different roles in spindle assembly during mitosis. Conclusion It is known that TACCs are important in maintaining bipolarity and stability of spindle fibers through their association with other binding/interacting partners. TACCs also play a role in cell cycle checkpoints due to their association with centrosomes and p53. However, there are many unresolved functional and structural aspects of the three TACC proteins. Further advancement in studies with respect to the unsolved facets of these proteins may help in enhancing basic understanding of spindle MT dynamics and related disorders. Acknowledgements I am extremely indebted to Prof. S. D. Kapoor, former Head, Department of English, JN Vyas University, Jodhpur (Raj.) and Emeritus Fellow of UGC (University Grants Commission) of India, for correcting the language and expression in the manuscript. References Aitola M, Sadek CM, Gustafsson JA, Pelto-Huikko M. Aint/Tacc3 is highly expressed in proliferating mouse tissues during development, spermatogenesis, and oogenesis. J Histochem Cytochem. 51(4): 455-69, 2003. Albee AJ, Wiese C. Xenopus TACC3/maskin is not required for microtubule stability but is required for anchoring microtubules at the centrosome. Mol Biol Cell. 19(8): 334756, 2008. Barr AR, Kilmartin JV, Gergely F. CDK5RAP2 functions in centrosome to spindle pole attachment and DNA damage response. J Cell Biol. 189(1): 23–39, 2010. Barros TP, Kinoshita K, Hyman AA, Raff JW. Aurora A activates D-TACC-Msps complexes exclusively at centrosomes to stabilize centrosomal microtubules. J Cell Biol. 170(7): 1039-46, 2005. Bettencourt-Dias M and Glover DM. Centrosome biogenesis and function: centrosomics brings new understanding. Nat Rev Mol Cell Bio. 8(6):451-63, 2007. Booth DG, Hood FE, Prior IA, Royle SJ. A TACC3/ch-TOG/clathrin complex stabilises kinetochore fibers by intermicrotubule bridging. EMBO J. 30(5): 906-19, 2011. Brittle AL, Ohkura H. Centrosome maturation: Aurora lights the way to the poles. Curr Biol. 15(21): R880-2, 2005. Conte N, Charafe-Jauffret E, Delaval B, Adélaïde J, Ginestier C, Geneix J, Isnardon D, Jacquemier J, Birnbaum D. Carcinogenesis and translational controls: TACC1 is down-regulated in human cancers and associates with mRNA regulators. Oncogene. 21(36): 5619-30, 2002. Eslinger MR, Lauffart B, Still IH. 2009. TACC3 (transforming, acidic coiled-coil containing protein 3). Atlas Genet Cytogenet Oncol Haematol. Retrieved December 25, 2011 from http://AtlasGeneticsOncology.org/Genes /TACC3ID42458ch4p16.html TACC proteins in spindles 9 Gergely F, Draviam VM, Raff JW. The chTOG/XMAP215 protein is essential for spindle pole organization in human somatic cells. Genes Dev. 17(3): 336-41, 2003. Gergely F, Karlsson C, Still I, Cowell J, Kilmartin J, Raff JW. The TACC domain identifies a family of centrosomal proteins that can interact with microtubules. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 97(26): 14352-7, 2000a. Gergely F, Kidd D, Jeffers K, Wakefield JG, Raff JW. D-TACC: a novel centrosomal protein required for normal spindle function in the early Drosophila embryo. EMBO J. 19(2): 241-52, 2000b. Gómez-Baldó L, Schmidt S, Maxwell CA, Bonifaci N, Gabaldón T, Vidalain PO, Senapedis W, Kletke A, Rosing M, Barnekow A, Rottapel R, Capellá G, Vidal M, Astrinidis A, Piekorz RP, Pujana MA. TACC3-TSC2 maintains nuclear envelope structure and controls cell division. Cell Cycle. 9(6): 1143-55, 2010. Hood FE, Royle SJ. Pulling it together: The mitotic function of TACC3. Bioarchitecture. 1(3):105109, 2011. Jensen LJ, Kuhn M, Stark M, Chaffron S, Creevey C, Muller J, Doerks T, Julien P, Roth A, Simonovic M, Bork P, von Mering C. STRING 8--a global view on proteins and their functional interactions in 630 organisms. Nucleic Acids Res. 37(Database issue): D412-6, 2009. Lauffart B, Dimatteo A, Vaughan MM, Cincotta MA, Black JD, Still IH. Temporal and spatial expression of TACC1 in the mouse and human. Dev Dyn. 235(6):1638-47, 2006. Lauffart B, Sondarva GV, Gangisetty O, Cincotta M, Still IH. Interaction of TACC proteins with the FHL family: implications for ERK signaling. J Cell Commun Signal. 1(1):5-15, 2007. Lauffart B, Vaughan MM, Eddy R, Chervinsky D, DiCioccio RA, Black JD, Still IH. Aberrations of TACC1 and TACC3 are associated with ovarian cancer. BMC Womens Health. 5: 8, 2005. LeRoy PJ, Hunter JJ, Hoar KM, Burke KE, Shinde V, Ruan J, Bowman D, Galvin K, Ecsedy JA. Localization of human TACC3 to mitotic spindles is mediated by phosphorylation on Ser558 by Aurora A: a novel pharmacodynamic method for measuring Aurora A activity. Cancer Res. 67(11): 5362-70, 2007. Pearson NJ, Cullen CF, Dzhindzhev NS, Ohkura H. A pre-anaphase role for a Cks/Suc1 in acentrosomal spindle formation of Drosophila female meiosis. EMBO Rep. 6(11): 1058-63, 2005. Peset I, Seiler J, Sardon T, Bejarano LA, Rybina S, Vernos I. Function and regulation of Maskin, a TACC family protein, in microtubule growth during mitosis. J Cell Biol. 170(7):1057-66, 2005 Piekorz RP, Hoffmeyer A, Duntsch CD, McKay C, Nakajima H, Sexl V, Snyder L, Rehg J, Ihle JN. The centrosomal protein TACC3 is essential for hematopoietic stem cell function and genetically interfaces with p53-regulated apoptosis. EMBO J. 21(4): 653-64, 2002. Raff JW. Centrosomes and cancer: lessons from a TACC. Trends Cell Biol. 12(5): 222-5, 2002. Sato M, Okada N, Kakui Y, Yamamoto M, Yoshida M, Toda T. Nucleocytoplasmic transport of Alp7/TACC organizes spatiotemporal microtubule formation in fission yeast. EMBO Rep. 10(10): 11617, 2009. Sato M, Toda T. Space shuttling in the cell: Nucleocytoplasmic transport and microtubule organization during the cell cycle. Nucleus. 1(3): 231-6, 2010. Schneider L, Essmann F, Kletke A, Rio P, Hanenberg H, Wetzel W, SchulzeOsthoff K, Nürnberg B, Piekorz RP. The transforming acidic coiled coil 3 protein is essential for spindle-dependent chromosome alignment and mitotic survival. J Biol Chem. 282(40): 2927383, 2007. Schuendeln MM, Piekorz RP, Wichmann C, Lee Y, McKinnon PJ, Boyd K, Takahashi Y, Ihle JN. The centrosomal, 10 Seema TRIVEDI putative tumor suppressor protein TACC2 is dispensable for normal development, and deficiency does not lead to cancer. Mol Cell Biol. 24(14):6403-9, 2004. Silverman-Gavrila RV, Silverman-Gavrila LB. Septins: new microtubule interacting partners. Scientific World Journal. 8:611-20, 2008. Stewart JP, Thompson A, Santra M, Barlogie B, Lappin TR, Shaughnessy J Jr: Correlation of TACC3, FGFR3, MMSET and p21 expression with the t(4;14)(p16.3;q32) in multiple myeloma. British J Haematology. 126(1): 7276, 2004. Still I, Eslinger MR, Lauffart B. TACC1 (transforming, acidic coiled-coil containing protein 1). Atlas Genet Cytogenet Oncol Haematol. December 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2011 URL: http://AtlasGeneticsOncology.org/Genes/TACC 1ID42456ch8p11.html Still IH, Hamilton M, Vince P, Wolfman A, Cowell JK. Cloning of TACC1, an embryonically expressed potentially transforming coiled coil containing gene from the 8p11 breast cancer amplicon. Oncogene. 18(27): 4032-4038, 1999. Still IH, Vettaikkorumakankauv AK, DiMatteo A, Liang P. Structure-function evolution of the transforming acidic coiled coil genes revealed by analysis of phylogenetically diverse organisms. BMC Evol Biol. 4: 16, 2004. Tan S, Lyulcheva E, Dean J, Bennett D. Mars promotes dTACC dephosphorylation on mitotic spindles to ensure spindle stability. J Cell Biol. 182(1): 27-33, 2008. Thierry-Mieg D, Thierry-Mieg J. AceView: a comprehensive cDNA-supported gene and transcripts annotation, Genome Biol, 7(Suppl 1):S12, 2006. Zhu M, Wang F, Yan F, Yao PY, Du J, Gao X, Wang X, Wu Q, Ward T, Li J, Kioko S, Hu R, Xie W, Ding X, Yao X. Septin 7 interacts with centromere-associated protein E and is required for its kinetochore localization. J Biol Chem. 283(27):18916-25, 2008. Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology 10(2):11-19, 2012 Haliç University, Printed in Turkey. http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr Review Article 11 Markör Sistemleri ve Genetik Karakterizasyon Çalışmalarında Kullanımları Marker Systems and Applications in Genetic Characterization Studies Yusuf ÖZŞENSOY*1,2, Ercan KURAR2 1 2 Bitlis Eren Üniversitesi Sağlık Yüksekokulu, 13000, Bitlis Selçuk Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi Genetik Anabilim Dalı, 42031, Konya (* author for correspondence; [email protected]) Received: 18 September 2012; Accepted: 20 December 2012 Abstract Nowadays, owing to the developments in molecular biology, genetic markers are generally used to describe specific regions of the genome. Three different marker systems, namely, protein and DNA markers, are used in genome analyses and in various genetic studies. Following the discovery of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), PCR-based marker systems are widely preferred in genetic studies. Genetic characterization studies are critically important to determine the level of genetic diversity between and within populations, origin of domestication and migration and development of conservation programs. Different biochemical marker systems, alloenzymes, mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome are used for genetic characterization studies. DNA markers, especially the polymorphic microsatellite markers, are the most preferable marker systems in PCR applications. Recent progresses in molecular biology techniques allow rapid and economical identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms analyses and their applications along with microsatellites. Keywords: Genetic Characterization; Marker systems, Microsatellite, SNP, RFLP Özet Moleküler biyoloji alanındaki gelişmeler sonucunda günümüzde markörler genel olarak genomun özgün bir bölgesini tanımlamak amacıyla kullanılmaktadır. Genom analizleri ve genetik çalışmalarda morfolojik, protein ve DNA markörleri olmak üzere üç tip markör kullanılmaktadır. Polimeraz zincir reaksiyonunun (PZR) keşfinden sonra genetik çalışmalarda PZR-temelli markörler daha fazla tercih edilmeye başlanmıştır. Genetik karakterizasyon çalışmaları, popülasyon içi ve popülasyonlar arası genetik çeşitlilik seviyesinin belirlenmesi, koruma programlarının geliştirilmesi, evcilleştirilme ve göç yollarının tespiti gibi çalışmalar için oldukça önemlidir. Genetik karakterizasyon çalışmalarında farklı biyokimyasal markör sistemleri, alloenzimler, mitokondriyal DNA ve Y kromozomuna özgün markörler kullanılmaktadır. DNA markörleri, özellikle polimorfik mikrosatellit markörleri, PZR uygulamalarında en çok tercih edilen markör sistemini oluşturmaktadır. Son zamanlarda geliştirilen yeni moleküler biyoloji teknikleri tek nükleotid polimorfizmleri analizinin daha hızlı ve ekonomik olarak yapılabilmesine ve mikrosatellitler ile birlikte kullanılmasına olanak sağlamaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Genetik karakterizasyon, Markör Sistemleri, Mikrosatellit, SNP, RFLP GİRİŞ Genomun özgün bir bölgesini tanımlamak amacıyla birçok markör sistemi kullanılmaktadır. Genom analizleri ve genetik çalışmalar başta olmak üzere moleküler çalışmalarda morfolojik, 12 Yusuf ÖZŞENSOY ve Ercan KURAR protein ve DNA markörleri olmak üzere 3 tip markör kullanılmaktadır (Liu, 1998). Morfolojik Markörler Çok sayıdaki morfolojik markör insan, hayvan ve bitki genetik çalışmalarında kullanılmaktadır. Genler ve kromozomlar hakkındaki bilgi eksikliğinden dolayı ilk çalışmalar, göz rengi, kanat yapısı, boynuzluluk, deri rengi gibi basit Mendel kalıtımı gösteren özellikler üzerinde yapılmıştır. Bu gibi morfolojik karakterler, özgün genler için güvenilir indikatörler olarak kullanılabilirler ve bu özellikleri kodlayan genlerin kromozom üzerinde yerlerinin tanımlanmasında faydalı olmaktadırlar. Morfolojik markörlerin gözlenmesi kolay olmasına rağmen alel sayılarının nispeten az olmasından dolayı kullanımı kısıtlı kalmaktadır (Liu, 1998). Protein Markörleri Amino asit bileşimi, moleküler ağırlıkları ve antikor-antijen ilişkilerindeki farklılıklar nedeniyle proteinler için farklı aleller bulunabilmektedir. Moleküler büyüklük ve amino asit bileşimi farklılıklardan dolayı proteinler, jel elektroforez yöntemi kullanılarak kolaylıkla ortaya çıkarılabilir ve genetik markör olarak kullanılabilirler. Genetik çalışmalarda ilk zamanlarda protein polimorfizmlerinin araştırılması amacıyla kan antijenleri ve izoenzim markörleri yaygın olarak kullanılmıştır. İzoenzimler, bir enzimin alternatif bir formudur ve aynı enzim aktivitesine sahip olmalarına rağmen elektroforetik hareketleri farklılık göstermektedir (Liu, 1998). Genetik çalışmalarda kan ve doku proteinleri markör olarak yaygın bir şekilde kullanılmaktadır. Fakat özellikle kan grubu ve protein markör sistemlerinin genomun bazı bölgelerinde toplanmış bulunmaları, polimorfizm değerlerinin nispeten düşük olması, özgün olarak kan örneklerine gereksinim duyulması, iş yükünün ağır olması ve analizlerin uzun zaman alması nedeniyle ve moleküler biyolojideki gelişmelere bağlı olarak yerini DNA temelli markörlere bırakmıştır (Kurar, 2001). DNA Temelli Markörler DNA markörleri, bir tür içerisindeki farklı bireylerde dizi polimorfizmi gösteren DNA bölgeleridir ve varyasyonun belirlenmesinde günümüzde en sık kullanılan yöntemdir (Liu, 1998). Polimeraz Zincir Reaksiyonunun (PZR) keşfinden sonra genetik çalışmalarda PZR temelli markörler daha çok tercih edilmeye başlanmıştır. Karry Mullis tarafından 1985 yılında ilk kez ortaya konulan bu teknoloji sayesinde genomun özgün bölgelerinin in vitro şartlarda çoğaltılabilmesi ve elektroforez teknikleri ile görüntülenmesi mümkün hale gelmiştir. DNA teknolojisi ve moleküler biyolojideki hızlı gelişmeye paralel olarak daha ekonomik, kolay ve polimorfik olmalarından dolayı özellikle PZR temelli DNA markör sistemleri (RFLP, RAPD, EST, STS, SSCP, AFLP, STR ve SNP) genetik çalışmalarda daha yaygın olarak kullanılmaya başlanmıştır (Weber and May, 1989; Liu, 1998). Restriksiyon polimorfizmleri parça uzunluk Restriksiyon endonükleaz (RE) enzim kesimleri ile oluşturulan farklı DNA parça uzunlukları restriksiyon parça uzunluk polimorfizmleri (RFLP-“Restriction fragment length polymorphism”) olarak adlandırılmaktadır. RE’leri, DNA diziliminde belirli sırayla bulunan nükleotidlerden kendisine özgü özel tanıma dizilimi bölgelerini tanıyarak bu dizilimin belli bir noktasından keserek DNA’yı ikiye ayırmaktadır. Her bir RE’nin kendisine özel kesim bölgeleri bulunmaktadır. RFLP teknolojisi ile DNA dizisinde bulunan dizilim farklılıkları kolayca tespit edilebilmektedir. RFLP’lerin belirlenmesinde DNA öncelikle bir RE enzimi ile kesilerek DNA parçacıkları agaroz jel elektroforezinde ayrıştırılır. DNA dizilim farklılıklarına göre genom bölgesinde farklı RE kesim alanları ve dolayısıyla bireyler arasında farklı DNA fragman profilleri oluşacaktır. Alkali jelde denatüre olmuş DNA fragmanları Southern blot yöntemi ile nitroselüloz kâğıdı üzerine alınır. Radyoaktif işaretli bir DNA probu kullanılarak özgün DNA fragmanları ve profili tespit edilebilir (Botstein et al., 1980). RFLP markörlerin en önemli avantajı özgün dizi bilgisine ihtiyaç bulunmamasıdır. RFLP yöntemi, türler, cinsler hatta büyük popülasyonların analizinde kullanılabilmektedir. Polimorfizm oranı çok Markör Sistemleri 13 yüksek olmasından dolayı aile ağacı ve haritalama analizlerinde tercih edilen markör sistemi olmuştur. RFLP markör sisteminin dezavantajları ise; analizin yapılabilmesi için yeterli miktarda DNA’ya ihtiyaç duyulması ile birlikte teknolojik olarak pahalı, uzun ve yorucu bir yöntem olmasıdır (Botstein et al., 1980). Tek zincir konformasyon polimorfizmleri Tek zincir konformasyon polimorfizmi (SSCP“Single-strand conformational polymorphism”) markörleri, bir DNA dizilim bölgesindeki (1000 baz çiftinden daha kısa) dizi varyantları ve mutasyonları (özellikle nokta mutasyonları) belirlemede kullanılan bir markör sistemidir (Orita et al., 1989). PZR ile çoğaltılan bir genom bölgesi, uygun ısıda denatürasyona tabi tutularak mutasyon bölgesinde II. ve III. DNA konformasyonlarının oluşturulması esasına dayanmaktadır. Varyasyona bağlı olarak oluşan II. ve III. konformasyondaki DNA molekülleri jel elektroforezinde farklı bant profilleri oluşturarak varyantların tespitine olanak sağlamaktadır. Teknoloji olarak basit olmasına rağmen, her bir mutasyon için farklı ortamların oluşturulması gerekliliği, bu tekniğin uygulamasını kısıtlayan en önemli etkendir (Liu, 1998). Rastgele çoğaltılmış polimorfik DNA Rastgele çoğaltılmış polimorfik DNA (RAPD“Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA”) markörleri, PZR tabanlı olup ilk kez Williams et al., (1990) tarafından geliştirilmiştir. Rastgele nükleotid dizilimine sahip olan tek bir primerin kullanılmasıyla DNA parçaları çoğaltılmakta ve oluşan farklı bant profiline göre DNA polimorfizmi tespit edilebilmektedir. Bu markör kullanılarak yapılan çalışmalarda, aynı lokustaki iki farklı alel belirli büyüklükteki bantların varlığıyla ya da yokluğuyla ayırt edilebilmektedir (Liu, 1998). RAPD markörlerinin avantajları, DNA dizi bilgisine ihtiyacın olmaması, diğer markörlere göre ucuz ve daha az miktarda DNA ile kısa sürede sonuçlar alınabilmesi olması rağmen en önemli dezavantajı diğer markörlere göre özelliklede RFLP’ye göre güvenilirliğinin düşük olmasıdır. Bundan dolayı genellikle RFLP ile birlikte değerlendirmeye alınırlar (Williams et al., 1990). Çoğaltılmış parça uzunluk polimorfizmi Çoğaltılmış parça uzunluk polimorfizmi (AFLP“Amplified fragment length polymorphism”) tekniği, RE enzimleri ile kesilmiş genomik DNA parçalarının seçici PZR ile çoğaltılması temeline dayanmaktadır. Bu teknik, DNA’nın enzimlerle kesilmesi ve oligonükleotid adaptörlerin bağlanması, kesilen bölgelerin seçici PZR yöntemiyle çoğaltılması ve çoğalan bölgenin poliakrilamid jelde analiz edilmesi olmak üzere 3 temel aşamadan meydana gelmektedir. RE ile kesilen parça bölgeleri nükleotid dizilimi bilinmeden jel elektroforez yöntemi ile görüntülenebilmektedir. Parmak izi analizlerinde ağırlıklı olarak kullanılan AFLP markör sistemi, RFLP markörüne benzer özelliklere sahip olmakla birlikte RFLP’ye göre analizi daha kolaydır ve daha az miktarda DNA’ya gereksinim duymaktadır (Vos et al., 1995). Tek nükleotid polimorfizmleri Tek nükleotid polimorfizmleri (SNP-“Single nucleotide polymorphism”) genomun herhangi bir bölgesindeki tek nükleotid dizilim farklılıklarıdır. Genomda oldukça yaygın bulunan bu markörlere intron ve ekzon bölgelerinde, 500–1000 bç sıklıkta rastlanılabilir (Wang et al., 1998). Genellikle iki alele sahip olan SNP markörlerinin polimorfizmleri daha düşük kalmakta, veri tabanı katalog bilgisine ve polimorfizm dizi bilgisine ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır (Smigielski et al., 2000). SNP’ler araştırmacıların ihtiyaçlarına göre çalışmaları kolaylaştırmak için dizi konumu, fonksiyonu, türler arası homoloji ve heterozigotluk derecesi olmak üzere 4 büyük bilgi ekseni tek veya daha fazlası bir arada olmak üzere düzenlenebilmektedir (Smigielski et al., 2000). Genomda bilinen 1.42 milyon SNP’nin her 1.91 Kbç başına 1 SNP yoğunlukta bulunduğu bilinmekle birlikte ekson gen bölgelerinde 60 000 SNP bulunduğu ve eksonun %85’inin SNP’nin 5 Kbç yakınında yer aldığı belirlenmiştir (The International SNP Map Working Group, 2001). SNP bilgilerine ulaşmak için; GenBank, PubMed, LocusLink ve Genome Sequence gibi kaynak bilgiler ile NCBI veri tabanındaki bilgiler kullanılmaktadır (Smigielski et al., 2000). Geliştirilen yeni 14 Yusuf ÖZŞENSOY ve Ercan KURAR moleküler biyoloji teknikleri (mikrodizin, gerçek zamanlı PCR) ile çok sayıda SNP’nin analizi daha hızlı ve ekonomik olarak yapılabilmektedir. SNP’ler genetik çeşitlilik, popülasyon yapısı, kantitatif özellik lokusları (QTL), markör destekli seleksiyon (MAS) çalışmalarında ve ailesel ilişkilerin araştırılmasında yaygın kullanılmaktadır. Mitokondriyal DNA Maternal kalıtım gösteren mitokondrial DNA (mtDNA), çift zincirli, halkasal yapıda ve aerobik solunumu destekleyen genleri içermektedir. mtDNA toplam genetik materyalin %0.3’ünü oluşturmaktadır (Rokas et al., 2003; Başaran, 2004). Tipik bir somatik hücre 500-1000 mitokondri içermektedir (Rokas et al., 2003). mtDNA’da gözlenen mutasyon oranı nükleer DNA’ya (nDNA) göre daha hızlıdır. Bu durumun sebebi olarak, mtDNA’da meydana gelen mutasyonların nDNA’da meydana gelen mutasyonlardan yaklaşık 10–20 kat daha fazla olması ve mtDNA’nın tamir mekanizmasının bulunmaması olduğu gösterilmektedir. Sonuçta oluşan mutasyon oranı, mtDNA’nın baz diziliminde çok farklı varyasyonların oluşmasına yol açmaktadır (Başaran, 2004). mtDNA, canlıların orjinleri, göç haritalarının çıkarılması, adli tıp, dejeneratif hastalıkların sebebinin araştırılmasında ve kanser çalışmalarında kullanılmaktadır. mtDNA, rekombinasyon eksikliğinin tespiti ve genetik olarak klonlanan canlıların kalıtımının tespit edilmesinde yaygın kullanılmaktadır (Rokas et al., 2003). mtDNA’nın kodlanan bölgesindeki varyasyonun iyi anlaşılması popülasyonların genetik sonucunun (filogenetik geçmişinin) belirlenmesinde yararlı olacaktır (Finnilä et al., 2001). Mikrosatellitler Genomda bir lokusta arka arkaya gelen rastgele tekrar dizilerine kısa ardışık tekrarlar (STR-“Short Tandem Repeat”) denilmektedir. STR’lerin 1–6 bç tekrarlarından oluşmuş markörlere mikrosatellit markörler veya basit dizi tekrarları (SSR-“Simple Sequence Repeat”) olarak isimlendirilmektedir (Weber and May, 1989; Liu, 1998). Genomda 9– 100 bç arasında değişen rastgele dizi tekrarları ise minisatellit markörler veya değişken ardışık nükleotid tekrarlar (VNTR-“Variable Number of Tandem Repeats) olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Mikrosatellitlerin tekrar sayısı genelde 100’den, minisatellitlerin tekrar sayısı ise 1000’den daha azdır (Liu, 1998). Mikrosatellitler prokaryot ve ökaryot genomun herhangi bir bölgesinde bulunabilmektedir. Prokaryotlarda birçok biyolojik fonksiyona sahip olduğu halde ökaryot hücrelerde rolü tam olarak bilinmemektedir (Bennett, 2000). Mikrosatellit markörler, yaygın olarak 2 nükleotidli tekrarlardan [(CA)n] oluşmakla birlikte farklı formlarda da (AC, AT, AAC, AAT, CCG vb) bulunabilmektedir (Ellegren et al., 1997; Orti et al., 1997; Bruford et al., 2003). STR markörleri, PZR teknolojisinin yardımıyla genetik çalışmalarda en çok tercih edilen markör sistemini oluşturmaktadır (Weber and May, 1989; Liu, 1998). Mikrosatellitlerde tekrar bölgelerini kuşatan DNA dizileri bir türün bireylerinde aynı olmasına rağmen tekrar dizilim sayıları bireyler hatta bireyin homolog kromozomları arasında dahi farklılık gösterebilmektedir. Üç nükleotid tekrarlı mikrosatellit bölgelerinin %60 oranında polimorfik olduğu, 2 bç tekrarlı mikrosatellitlerin ise %100 polimorfik özelliğe sahip olduğu belirlenmiştir (Metta et al., 2004). Mikrosatellitler, genomda yaygın olarak bulunmaları, polimorfizm oranının yüksek olması ve kullanımının kolay olması nedeniyle birçok moleküler biyoloji çalışmasında rahatlıkla kullanımı tercih edilmektedir. GENETİK ÇEŞİTLİLİK VE GENETİK KARAKTERİZASYON Hayvansal üretimde genetik çeşitlilik, ıslah programlarının temelini oluşturmaktadır. Genetik çeşitlilik, belli bir coğrafik bölgeye uyum sağlamış, ilgili bölgede yaygın olarak yetiştirilen canlı türlerinin, bu türlere ait ırkların genetik niteliklerini (kalıtsal bilginin zenginliğini) ve içinde yaşadıkları ekosistemde birbirleri ile ilişkilerinin niteliğini ifade eder. Evcil hayvanlarda genetik çeşitlilik, ırk içi ve ırklar arası olmak üzere iki çeşittir. Genetik karakterizasyon çalışmaları, ırklar arası ve ırk içi genetik çeşitliliğin belirlenmesi ve ırkların tanımlanması amacıyla önemli bir yere sahiptir. Dünyada Markör Sistemleri 15 ve Türkiye’de 1980’li yıllarda yerli ırkların genetik yapıları ve bazı verim özellikleri ile olan ilişkileri kan ve süt protein polimorfizmi (Ceriotti et al., 2003; Ibeagha-Awemu and Erhardt, 2005) kullanılarak incelenirken en son gelişmelerle birlikte mikrosatellit markörler ve SNP’ler (Cañón et al., 2001; Li et al., 2006; McKay et al., 2008; Kang et al., 2009; Molaee et al., 2009) daha yaygın olarak kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Irkların kökeni ve evcilleştirilme bölgelerinin tespit edilmesi amacıyla genetik karakterizasyon ve arkeolojik çalışmalar yapılmaktadır. Avrupa ırklarının göç yollarının Tuna Nehri boyunca Kuzeyden Merkezi Avrupa’ya ve Akdeniz kıyısı boyunca olmak üzere iki farklı göç yolu izlediği, sığır, koyun, keçi, domuz ve mandanın iki farklı Asya Bölgesi’nde ilk evcilleştirilmeye başlandığı bildirilmektedir (Bruford et al., 2003). Bu merkezlerden en eski olanı Doğu-Güneydoğu Anadolu bölgesini kapsamaktadır ve ırkların bu bölgeden tüm Dünya’ya özellikle Anadolu’dan Avrupa’ya yayıldığı belirtilmektedir (Loftus et al., 1994; 1999; Luikart et al., 2001; Troy et al., 2001; Hiendleder et al., 2002; Cymbron et al., 2005). Genetik karakterizasyon çalışmalarında mikrosatellitler, insan (Bowcock et al., 1994; Deka et al., 1995), sığır (MacHugh et al., 1997; Loftus et al., 1999; Edwards et al., 2000; Cañón et al., 2001), keçi (Luikart et al., 2001; Maudet et al., 2002), koyun (Mukesh et al., 2006; Lawson Handley et al., 2007; Molaee et al., 2009), köpek (Boyko et al., 2009; Kang et al., 2009), at (Luís et al., 2007), eşek (Aranguren-Méndez et al., 2002), domuz (Behl et al., 2006; Sollera et al., 2009), manda (Flamand et al., 2003) ve diğer birçok hayvan türlerinde (Cosse et al., 2007; Vijh et al., 2007; Li et al., 2009) kullanılmaktadır. Genetik karakterizasyon çalışmalarında mikrosatellitler dışında farklı biyokimyasal markör sistemleri de (Moazami-Goudarzi et al., 1997; Kantanen et al., 1999; 2000; Ceriotti et al., 2003; Ibeagha-Awemu and Erhardt, 2005) kullanılmıştır. AFLP (Negrini et al., 2007), mtDNA (Loftus et al., 1994; Bradley et al., 1996; Finnilä et al., 2001; Mannen et al., 2004), Y kromozomuna özgün mikrosatellitler (Edwards et al., 2000; Cai et al., 2006; Li et al., 2007; Kantanen et al., 2009) ağırlıklı olarak kullanılmakla birlikte SNP (Li et al., 2006; McKay et al., 2008) markörleri de kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Ayrıca genetik karakterizasyon çalışmalarında markör sistemleri dışında aile ağacı kayıtlarından da yararlanılmaktadır (Trinderup et al., 1999; Honda et al., 2006). Sığır ırkları üzerinde yapılan mikrosatellit markörler ile yapılan analizlerinde Taurin ve Zebu karışımı bulunmamışken diğer markör sistemlerinden olan Y kromozomu ve mtDNA ile yapılan çalışmalar birlikte değerlendirildiği zaman Y kromozomu markörü verilerinde bu ırklarda Zebu karışımının olduğu belirlenmiştir (Lirón et al., 2006). SNP’ler ise bitkiler, deniz ürünleri ve birçok hayvan türünde moleküler çalışmalarda aynı anda sayıca fazla miktarda kullanılmaktadır (Muir et al., 2008; Matukumalli et al., 2009; Yan et al., 2009; Zhu et al., 2012). Sonuç olarak markör sistemlerinde PZR teknolojisi öncesi birçok markör sistemi kullanılırken, PZR teknolojisi ile birlikte mikrosatellitler ağırlıklı kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Son yıllarda ise SNP markörleri üzerinde çalışmalar artmış ve SNP çipleri oluşturulmaya başlanmıştır. KAYNAKLAR Aranguren-Méndez J, Jordana J, Gomez M. Genetic conservation of five endangered Spanish donkey breeds. J Anim Breed Genet. 119(4): 256–263, 2002. Başaran A. Tıbbi biyoloji ders kitabı. Güneş & Nobel Tıp Kitapevleri, 7. Baskı. Bursa. 2004. Behl R, Sheoran N, Behl J, Vijh RK. Genetic analysis of Ankamali pigs of India using microsatellite markers and their comparison with other domesticated Indian pig types. J Anim Breed Genet. 123(2): 131–135, 2006. Bennett P. Demystified… Microsatellites. Journal of Clinical Pathology. Mol Pathol. 53: 177–183, 2000. Botstein D, White RL, Skolnick M, Davis RW. Construction of a genetic linkage map in man using restriction fragment 16 Yusuf ÖZŞENSOY ve Ercan KURAR length polymorphisms. Am J Hum Genet. 32: 314–331, 1980. Bowcock AM, Ruiz-Linares A, Tomfohrde J, Minch E, Kidd JR, Cavalli-Sforza LL. High resolution of human evolutionary trees with polymorphic microsatellites. Nature. 368(6470): 455–457, 1994. Boyko AR, Boyko RH, Boyko CM, Parker HG, Castelhano M, Corey L, Degenhardt JD, Auton A, Hedimbi M, Kityo R, Ostrander EA, Schoenebeck J, Todhunter RJ, Jones P, Bustamante CD. Complex population structure in African village dogs and its implications for inferring dog domestication history. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 106(33): 13903–13908, 2009. Bradley DG, MacHugh DE, Cunningham P, Loftus RT. Mitochondrial diversity and the origins of African and European cattle. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 93(10): 5131–5135, 1996. Bruford MW, Bradley DG, Luikart G. DNA markers reveal the complexity of livestock domestication. Nat Rev Genet. 4(11): 900–910, 2003. Cai X, Chen H, Wang S, Xue K, Lei C. Polymorphisms of two Y chromosome microsatellites in Chinese cattle. Genet Sel Evol. 38: 525–534, 2006. Cañón J, Alexandrino P, Bessa I, Carleos C, Carretero Y, Dunner S, Ferran N, Garcia D, Jordana J, Laloë D, Pereira A, Sanchez A, Moazami-Goudarzi K. Genetic diversity measures of local European beef cattle breeds for conservation purposes. Genet Sel Evol. 33(3): 311–332, 2001. Ceriotti G, Caroli A, Rizzi R, Crimella C. Genetic relationships among taurine (Bos taurus) and zebu (Bos indicus) populations as revealed by blood groups and blood proteins. J Anim Breed Genet. 120: 57–67, 2003. Cosse M, González S, Maldonado JE. Crossamplification tests of ungulate primers in the endangered Neotropical pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus). Genet Mol Res. 6(4): 1118–1122, 2007. Cymbron T, Freeman AR, Isabel Malheiro M, Vigne JD, Bradley DG. Microsatellite diversity suggests different histories for Mediterranean and Northern European cattle populations. Proc Biol Sci. 272(1574): 1837–1843, 2005. Deka R, Jin L, Shriver MD, Yu LM, DeCroo S, Hundrieser J, Bunker CH, Ferrell RE, Chakraborty R. Population genetics of dinucleotide (dC-dA)n.(dG-dT)n polymorphisms in world populations. Am J Hum Genet. 56(2): 461–474, 1995. Edwards CJ, Gaillard C, Bradley DG, MacHugh DE. Y-specific microsatellite polymorphisms in a range of bovid species. Anim Genet. 31: 127–130, 2000. Ellegren H, Moore S, Robinson N, Byrne K, Ward W, Sheldon BC. Microsatellite evolution-a reciprocal study of repeat lengths at homologous loci in cattle and sheep. Mol Biol Evol. 14(8): 854–860, 1997. Finnilä S, Lehtonen MS, Majamaa K. Phylogenetic Network for European mtDNA. Am J Hum Genet. 68: 1475– 1484, 2001. Flamand JRB, Vankan D, Gairhe KP, Duong H, Barker JSF. Genetic identification of wild Asian water Buffalo in Nepal. Anim Cons. 6: 265– 270, 2003. Hiendleder S, Kaupe B, Wassmuth R, Janke A. Molecular analysis of wild and domestic sheep questions current nomenclature and provides evidence for domestication from two different subspecies. Proc Biol Sci. 269(1494): 893–904, 2002. Markör Sistemleri 17 Honda T, Fujii T, Nomura T, Mukai F. Evaluation of genetic diversity in Japanese Brown cattle population by pedigree analysis. J Anim Breed Genet. 123: 172–179, 2006. freshwater pearl mussel (Hyriopsis cumingii) estimated by microsatellite DNA markers. Aquaculture. 287: 286– 291, 2009. Ibeagha-Awemu EM, Erhardt G. Genetic structure and differentiation of 12 African Bos indicus and Bos taurus cattle breeds, inferred from protein and microsatellite polymorphisms. J Anim Breed Genet. 122(1): 12–20, 2005. Li MH, Adamowicz T, Switonski M, Ammosov I, Ivanova Z, Kiselyova T, Popov R, Kantanen J. Analysis of population differentiation in North Eurasian cattle (Bos taurus) using single nucleotide polymorphisms in three genes associated with production traits. Anim Genet. 37(4): 390–392, 2006. Kang BT, Kim KS, Min MS, Chae YJ, Kang JW, Yoon J, Choi J, Seong JK, Park HC, An J, Lee MH, Park HM, Lee H. Microsatellite loci analysis for the genetic variability and the parentage test of five dog breeds in South Korea. Genes Genet Syst. 84(3): 245–251, 2009. Kantanen J, Olsaker I, Adalsteinsson S, Sandberg K, Eythorsdottir E, Pirhonen K, Holm LE. Temporal changes in genetic variation of north European cattle breeds. Anim Genet. 30(1): 16– 27, 1999. Kantanen J, Olsaker I, Holm LE, Lien S, Vilkki J, Brusgaard K, Eythorsdottir E, Danell B, Adalsteinsson S. Genetic diversity and population structure of 20 North European cattle breeds. J Hered. 91(6): 446–457, 2000. Kantanen J, Edwards CJ, Bradley DG, Viinalass H, Thessler S, Ivanova Z, Kiselyova T, Cinkulov M, Popov R, Stojanović S, Ammosov I, Vilkki J. Maternal and paternal genealogy of Eurasian taurine cattle (Bos taurus). Heredity. 103(5): 404–415, 2009. Kurar E. Comparative physical and linkage mapping of bovine chromosome 24 with human chromosome 18. Doktora Tezi (PhD Thesis). University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001. Lawson Handley L-J, Byrne K, Santucci F, Townsend S, Taylor M, Bruford MW, Hewitt GM. Genetic structure of European sheep breeds. Heredity. 99: 620–631, 2007. Li MH, Zerabruk M, Vangen O, Olsaker I, Kantanen J. Reduced genetic structure of north Ethiopian cattle revealed by Ychromosome analysis. Heredity. 98: 214–221, 2007. Lirón JP, Peral-Garcia P, Giovambattista G. Genetic characterization of Argentine and Bolivian Creole cattle breeds assessed through microsatellites. J Hered. 97(4): 331–339, 2006. Liu BH. Statistical genomics: Linkage, mapping, and QTL analysis. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton New York. 1998. Loftus RT, MacHugh DE, Bradley DG, Sharp PM, Cunningham P. Evidence for two independent domestications of cattle. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 91(7): 2757–2761, 1994. Loftus RT, Ertuğrul O, Harba MH, ElBarody AA, MacHugh DE, Park SDE, Bradly DG. A microsatellite survey of cattle from a centre of origin: The Near East. Mol Ecol. 8: 2015–2022, 1999. Luikart G, Gielly L, Excoffier L, Vigne JD, Bouvet J, Taberlet P. Multiple maternal origins and weak phylogeographic structure in domestic goats. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 98(10): 5927–5932, 2001. Li J, Wang G, Bai Z. Genetic variability in four wild and two farmed stocks of the Chinese 18 Yusuf ÖZŞENSOY ve Ercan KURAR Luís C, Juras R, Oom MM, Cothran EG. Genetic diversity and relationships of Portuguese and other horse breeds based on protein and microsatellite loci variation. Anim Genet. 38(1): 20–27, 2007. MacHugh DE, Shriver MD, Loftus RT, Cunningham P, Bradley DG. Microsatellite DNA variation and the evolution, domestication and phylogeography of taurine and zebu cattle (Bos taurus and Bos indicus). Genetics. 146(3): 1071–1086, 1997. Mannen H, Kohno M, Nagata Y, Tsuji S, Bradley DG, Yeo JS, Nyamsamba D, Zagdsuren Y, Yokohama M, Nomura K, Amano T. Independent mitochondrial origin and historical genetic differentiation in North Eastern Asian cattle. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 32(2): 539–544, 2004. Matukumalli LK, Lawley CT, Schnabel RD, Taylor JF, Allan MF, Heaton MP, O'Connell J, Moore SS, Smith TPL, Sonstegard TS, Van Tassell CP. Development and characterization of a high density SNP genotyping assay for cattle. PLoS One. 4(4): e5350, 2009. Maudet C, Miller C, Bassano B, BreitenmoserWürsten C, Gauthier D, Obexer-Ruff G, Michallet J, Taberlet P, Luikart G. Microsatellite DNA and recent statistical methods in wildlife conservation management: Applications in Alpine ibex [Capra ibex(ibex)]. Mol Ecol. 11(3): 421–436, 2002. McKay SD, Schnabel RD, Murdoch BM, Matukumalli LK, Aerts J, Coppieters W, Crews D, Dias Neto E, Gill CA, Gao C, Mannen H, Wang Z, Van Tassell CP, Williams JL, Taylor JF, Moore SS. An assessment of population structure in eight breeds of cattle using a whole genome SNP panel. BMC Genetics. 9: 37. 2008 from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471– 2156/9/37 Metta M, Kanginakudru S, Gudiseva N, Nagaraju J. Genetic characterization of the Indian cattle breeds, Ongole and Deoni (Bos indicus), using microsatellite markers – a preliminary study. BMC Genetics. 5(16): 2004 from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471– 2156/5/16 Moazami-Goudarzi K, Laloë D, Furet JP, Grosclaude F. Analysis of genetic relationships between 10 cattle breeds with 17 microsatellites. Anim Genet. 28(5): 338–345, 1997. Molaee V, Osfoori R, Eskandari Nasab MP, Qanbari S. Genetic relationships among six Iranian indigenous sheep populations based on microsatellite analysis. Small Rum Res. 84: 121–124, 2009. Muir WM, Wong GKS, Zhang Y, Wang J, Groenen MAM, Crooijmans RPMA, Megens HJ, Zhang H, Okimoto R, Vereijken A, Jungerius A, Albers GAA, Lawley CT, Delany ME, MacEachern S, Cheng HH. Genome-wide assessment of worldwide chicken SNP genetic diversity indicates significant absence of rare alleles in commercial breeds. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 105(45): 1731217317, 2008. Mukesh M, Sodhi M, Bhatia S. Microsatellite-based diversity analysis and genetic relationships of three Indian sheep breeds. J Anim Breed Genet. 123(4): 258–264, 2006. Negrini R, Nijman IJ, Milanesi E, MoazamiGoudarzi K, Williams JL, Erhardt G, Dunner S, Rodellar C, Valentini A, Bradley DG, Olsaker I, Kantanen J, Ajmone-Marsan P, Lenstra JA, European Cattle Genetic Diversity Consortium. Differentiation of European cattle by AFLP fingerprinting. Anim Genet. 38(1): 60–66, 2007. Orita M, Iwahana H, Kanazawa H, Hayashi K, Sekiya T. Detection of polymorphisms of human DNA by gel electrophoresis as single-strand conformation polymorphisms. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 86: 2766–2770, 1989. Markör Sistemleri 19 Orti G, Pearse DE, Avise JC. Phylogenetic assessment of length variation at a microsatellite locus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 94(20): 10745–10749, 1997. Rokas A, Ladoukakis E, Zouros E. Animal mitochondrial DNA recombination revisited. Trends Ecol Evol. 18(8): 411-417, 2003. Smigielski EM, Sirotkin K, Ward M, Sherrry ST. dbSNP: a database of single nucleotide polymorphisms. Nucl Acids Res. 28(1): 352355, 2000. Sollera BP, Paiva SR, Faria DA, Guimarães SEF, Castro STR, Egito AA, Albuquerque MSM, Piovezan U, Bertani GR, Mariante AD. Genetic diversity of Brazilian pig breeds evidenced by microsatellite markers. Livest Sci. 123: 8–15, 2009. The International SNP Map Working Group. A map of human genome sequence variation containing 1.42 million single nucleotide polymorphisms. Nature. 409: 928-933, 2001. Trinderup M, Jørgensen JN, Hansen M. Conservation considerations on Danish Shorthorn Cattle using pedigree analysis. AGRI. 26: 27–33, 1999. Troy CS, MacHugh DE, Bailey JF, Magee DA, Loftus RT, Cunningham P, Chamberlain AT, Sykes BC, Bradley DG. Genetic evidence for Near-Eastern origins of European cattle. Nature. 410(6832): 1088–1091, 2001. Vijh RK, Tantia MS, Mishra B, Kumar ST. Genetic diversity and differentiation of dromedarian camel of India. Anim Biotechnol. 18(2): 81–90, 2007. Wang DG, Fan JB, Siao CJ, Berno A, Young P, Sapolsky R, Ghandour G, Perkins N, Winchester E, Spencer J, Kruglyak L, Stein L, Hsie L, Topaloglou T, Hubbell E, Robinson E, Mittmann M, Morris MS, Shen N, Kilburn D, Rioux J, Nusbaum C, Rozen S, Hudson TJ, Lipshutz R, Chee M, Lander ES. Largescale identification, mapping, and genotyping of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the human genome. Science. 280(5366): 1077–1082, 1998. Weber JL, May PE. Abundant class of human DNA polymorphisms which can be typed using the polymerase chain reaction. Am J Hum Genet. 44: 388–396, 1989. Williams JGK, Kubelik AR, Livak KJ, Rafalski JA, Tingey SV. DNA polymorphisms amplified by arbitrary primers are useful as genetic markers. Nucl Acids Res. 18(22): 6531–6535, 1990. Yan J, Shah T, Warburton ML, Buckler ES, McMullen MD, Crouch J. Genetic characterization and linkage disequilibrium estimation of a global maize collection using SNP markers. PLoS One. 4(12): e8451, 2009. Zhu C, Cheng L, Tong J, Yu X. Development and Characterization of New Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Markers from Expressed Sequence Tags in Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio). Int J Mol Sci. 13(6): 7343-7353, 2012. Vos P, Hogers R, Bleeker M, Reijans M, van de Lee T, Hornes M, Frijters A, Pot J, Peleman J, Kuiper M, Zabeau M. AFLP: A new technique for DNA fingerprinting. Nucl Acids Res. 23(21): 4407–4414, 1995. Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology 10(2):21-30, 2012 Haliç University, Printed in Turkey. http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr Research Article 21 COX5B and COX2 gene expressions in Multiple Sclerosis Naeimeh SAFAVIZADEH1, Seyed Ali RAHMANI 1, Mohamad ZAEFIZADEH2* 1 Department of Science, Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad University- Ahar- Iran. Department of Science, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University- Ardabil- Iran. (* author for correspondence; [email protected]) Received: 8 June 2012; Accepted: 14 August 2012 2 Abstract Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease which affects the Central Nervous System (CNS) and leads to the destruction of myelin and atrophy of the axons. Genetic factors, in addition to environmental ones, seem to play a role in MS. Numerous studies have reported mitochondrial defects including a reduction in COX complex function related to the decrease of mitochondrial gene expression in the cortex tissue of MS patients. This study aimed to assess COX5B and COX2 gene expression in MS patients and controls. By using Real-Time PCR method, expression levels of the COX5B and COX2 were determined, with reference to ß-actin and GAPDH. The results showed that COX5B gene expression is significantly reduced in MS patients compared to control (P<0.05), whereas there was no significant difference in the COX2 gene expression. Thus, it can be claimed that down-regulation of mitochondrial electron transport chain genes supported the hypothesis that hypoxia-like tissue injury in MS may be due to mitochondrial gene expression impairments. Keywords: Multiple Sclerosis, Mitochondria, COX5B, COX2, Real-Time PCR Özet Multipl Sklerozda COX5B and COX2 gen ekspresyonu Multipl Skleroz (MS) Merkezi Sinir Sistemini (MSS) etkileyen, akson atrofisi ve miyelin yıkılımına neden olan otoimmün bir hastalıktır. Çevresel faktörlere ek olarak genetik faktörlerin MS’de rol oynadığı görülmektedir. Pek çok çalışma MS’li hastaların korteks dokularındaki mitokondriyal gen ekspresyonunun azalmasıyla ilişkili COX kompleks fonksiyonundaki azalmayı kapsayan mitokondriyal defektleri bildirmiştir. Bu çalışma MS hastalarında COX5B ve COX2 gen ekspresyonlarını değerlendirmeyi ve onları kontrollerle karşılaştırmayı amaçlamıştır. Real-Time PCR metodu kullanılarak COX5B, COX2, genlerinin ve ß aktin ve GAPDH referans genlerinin ekspresyon düzeylerini belirledik. Elde edilen veriler referans genlerle standardize edilmiş ve Excel ve SPSS programlarıyla bağımsız örnek t-test kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak kontrol ve hastalar arasında COX2 gen ekspresyonunda anlamlı farklılık bulunmazken MS hastalarında kontrole kıyasla anlamlı olarak azalmış COX5B gen ekspresyonunu gösterilmiştir (P<0,05). Böylece; mitokondriyel elektron transport zincir genlerinin aşağı düzenlenmesinin, MS’de hipoksi benzeri doku hasarının mitokondriyel genler ve farklı ekspresyon azalmalarındaki farklılıklar nedeniyle olabileceği hipotezini desteklediği iddia edilmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Multipl Skleroz, Mitokondri, COX5B, COX2, Real-Time PCR. 22 Naeimeh SAFAVIZADEH et al. Introduction Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system with axonal degeneration (Frohman et al., 2006). The loss of myelin in MS may be the result of direct damage to myelin through immune mediated processes and dysfunction of oligodendrocytes (Vercellino et al., 2009). Approximately 15–20% of MS patients have a family history of MS, but large extended pedigrees are uncommon, with most MS families having no more than two or three affected individuals. Studies in twins (Calabresi, 2007) and conjugal pairs indicate that much of this familial clustering was the result of shared genetic risk factors, while studies of migrants (Ramagopalan et al., 2010) and apparent epidemics (Koch et al., 2008) indicated a clear role for environmental factors. Mitochondrial defects are known to occur during aging, cancer, heart disease, and a wide variety of degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s Disease (HD) and MS (Henchcliffe et al., 2008). Mitochondria contain the respiratory chain where energy in the form of ATP is most efficiently produced (Damiano et al., 2010). The mitochondrial respiratory chain is located in the inner mitochondrial membrane and consists of four complexes (complexes I–IV), whilst complex V is directly involved in ATP synthesis. The complexes of the mitochondrial respiratory chain include multiple subunits; all but complex II (which is entirely encoded by nuclear DNA) contain proteins encoded by nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The final respiratory chain complex [complex IV or cytochrome-c oxidase (COX)] is the site at which over 90% of oxygen is consumed. This complex is also involved in proton pumping, essential for ATP synthesis (Alston et al., 2011). The mammalian COX is composed of 13 subunits, of which the three largest are encoded by the mtDNA and form the catalytic core of the enzyme. The remaining ten, evolutionary younger, nuclear-encoded subunits are involved in assembly and regulation of the enzyme (Zee et al., 2006). The function of mammalian COX can be physiologically modulated and the enzyme represents one of the key regulatory sites of energy metabolism (Fernandes-Vizarra et al., 2009). COX transfers electrons from cytochrome-c to molecular oxygen, which is reduced to water. The electrons pass from cytochrome-c, binding at subunit II, through Cu (A) and heme as cofactors, to the binuclear center buried inside subunit I and composed of heme a3 and Cu (B), where the incoming four electrons together with four protons from the matrix are sequentially used for oxygen reduction. This exergonic redox reaction is coupled with proton pumping across the inner mitochondrial membrane, but the coupling of the two processes (H+/e- stoichiometry) can be modulated. In addition to Mitchell’s chemiosmotic theory, a “second mechanism of respiratory control” has been proposed that involves the binding of adenine nucleotides to nuclear-encoded COX subunits. The key event is the phosphorylation of subunit IV. Activity of phosphorylated COX is regulated by ATP/ADP ratio and respiratory rate is precisely controlled according to the ATP utilization. The membrane potential is kept low (100-150 mV) and COX works at high efficiency of proton translocation (H+/e-= 1). The COX biosynthesis and assembly is timely and complicated process involving several rate-limiting steps reflecting the sequential incorporation of the subunits from either the cytosol (nuclearly coded subunits) or from the mitochondrial matrix (subunits I, II and III). The majority of COX defects thus originate from mutations in nuclear genes (Acin-Perez et al., 2009). Mutations in the genes encoding several COX assembly factors have been described as a frequent cause of mitochondrial diseases and have been assigned with specific clinical symptoms. The dysfunction of COX in these cases is mostly caused by structural changes rather than by the changes in amount of the enzyme (Galati et al., 2009). Cytochrome-c oxidase subunit II, abbreviated as CoxII, is the second subunit of cytochrome-c oxidase subunit 2 (CO II) transfers the electrons from cytochrome-c to the catalytic subunit 1. It contains two adjacent transmembrane regions in its Nterminus and the major part of the protein is exposed to the periplasmic or to the mitochondrial intermembrane space, respectively. CO II provides the substratebinding site and contains a Cu centre called Cox Expression in MS 23 Cu(A), probably the primary acceptor in cytochrome-c oxidase. An exception is the corresponding subunit of the cbb3-type oxidase which lacks the Cu(A) redox-centre. Several bacterial CO II have a C-terminal extension that contains a covalently bound heme c (Barrientos et al., 2009). Subunit Vb of mammalian cytochrome c oxidase is encoded by a nuclear gene and assembled with the other 12 COX subunits encoded in both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. This gene located on chromosome 2, region cen-q13 (Williams et al., 2005). There is a common symptom of MS with mitochondrial diseases such as AD and PD, and also the point mutations in mtDNA can cause damage to the myelin (DiMauro et al., 2008). In this study, we compared COX5B and COX2 gene expression among MS patients with controls. In regard to the importance of mitochondria in MS, we mainly centralized our study on quantifying the expressions of COX5B and COX2 using Real-Time PCR. Materials and Methods RNA Extraction Total RNA was isolated by using a RNAeasy kit from Roche (Germany), according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. The RNAsamples were incubated with RNAse-free DNAse I at 37°C for 15 min. RNA samples were purified with a RNAeasy kit. It is possible to preserve extracted RNA for months under −80 °C. Total RNA quality and quantity were assessed in 2 ways. In the first method, we estimated the RNA concentration by ultraviolet absorbance at 260 nm (1 absorbance unit at 260 nm = 40 ng/μL RNA) and the RNA purity by measuring the ratio of absorbance at 260 nm and 280 nm (1.8 < A260/A280<2.1 for pure RNA). Total RNA was run on 1% agarose gels to check size and integrity. The quality of RNA was confirmed by the detection of 18S and 28S bands after 1% agarose gel electrophoresis. Primer synthesis Subjects Thirty-six patients (16 male, 20 female) and 30 controls (14 male, 16 female) took part in this study. Written informed consent was obtained from each individual. Peripheral blood samples (5ml) were obtained from the cubital vein and collected in cell preparation tubes containing an anticoagulant (EDTA). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated by EDTA density centrifugation. Primer sequences were designed using Primer3 software for COX5B (NM_001862.2), COX2 (NC_012920.1) and two reference genes (ß-actin and GAPDH), and then primer sequences edited with the Bioedit software and confirmed in the NCBI / BLAST database (Table 1). Table 1. Sequences of the primers used for RT-PCR Gene name Primer sequence COX5B Forward: 5cccaaagggagcttcagg3 Reverse: 5cgacgctggtattgtcctct3 COX2 Forward:5tatccctggtcggttgaatc3 Reverse:5ggcataaaaccgtgatttaca3 GAPDH ß-actin Forward:5ccactcctccacctttgac3 Reverse:5accctgttgctgtagcca3 Forward:5ggcatgggtcagaaggatt3 Reverse:5ccacacgcagctcattgta3 24 Naeimeh SAFAVIZADEH et al. cDNA Synthesis Total RNA from each sample was used to generate cDNA with a Reverse Transcriptase cDNA synthesis kit (Roche, Germany) with oligo (dT) primers, according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Briefly RNA and 1 μL oligo (dT) were mixed and then heated at 70°C for 5 min. They were chilled on ice until the other components were added. Then, we added 2μL dNTP, 4 μL of buffer, and 1 μL of ribolack (RNase inhibition). The samples were mixed and incubated at 37°C for 5 min. Then 1 μL of Reverse Transcriptase was added, and the samples were mixed and incubated at 42°C for 60 min. The reaction was inactivated at 70°C for 10 min. Finally, cDNA was stored at -20°C. Quantitative Real-Time PCR Amplification was performed over 30 cycles on the MJ Research PTC-200 Gradient Cycler (MJ Research, Waltham Mass, USA). The annealing temperature was 54°C, extension occurred at 72°C, and denaturation occurred at 94°C. After completion of PCR, the product was separated by electrophoresis in 1% agarose gel and detected by ethidium bromide staining. cDNAs testing positive for ß-actin and GAPDH expression was used in the Real-Time PCR. Relative expressions of COX2 and COX5B in the blood samples was carried out by Real-Time PCR analysis using the ABI PRISM 7700 Sequence Detection System (Applied Biosystems, Darmastadt, Germany) and the SYBR Green PCR Kit (Qiagene). The data were evaluated by the CT method, which measures the expression level of the target genes normalized to a reference gene and relative to the expression of the genes in the calibrator samples. After efficiency testing, ß-actin and GAPDH were chosen as the reference housekeeping genes and the same primer pairs used for the standard PCR were utilized for the Real-Time PCR. Amplification was performed over 45 cycles. The annealing temperature was 54°C, extension occurred at 70°C, and denaturation occurred at 94°C. Every cDNA samples were measured in four separate preparations to correct for minor variations. Melting curve analyses were carried out after completion to confirm the presence of single amplified species. The transcript levels of COX2 and COX5B in the samples were normalized to the transcriptional level of the housekeeping genes ß-actin and GAPDH, and calculated relative to the expression levels of the target genes in a calibrator blood samples. The arithmetic mean of the relative expression levels of COX2 and COX5B for each group of patients and controls were calculated. Statistical analysis Statistically significant differences were calculated by the Student’s t-test, using the SPSS 18.0 and Excel. Finally a Pvalue0.05 was accepted as the level of significance. Results To determine the role of mitochondriaencoded gene and nuclear-encoded gene in MS pathogenesis, using quantitative RealTime PCR analysis with SYBR-Green fluorescent dye, we calculated the mRNA fold change for one mitochondria-encoded gene in complex IV (COX2) and one nuclear-encoded gene in complex IV (COX5B) of oxidative phosphorylation. Real-Time PCR data analysis for genes expression Quantitative measurement of (COX2, COX5B) gene expression was investigated in 36 MS patients. Five different standard concentrations were used to draw a standard curve (Figure 1). Quantitative measurement of gene expressions, achieved in the PCR of the cycles, was done in the progressive phase. Real-Time PCR Software can determine the threshold cycle automatically (Figure 2). In addition, due to temperature changes in the melting curve analysis, there is only one peak associated with the COX5B and COX2 genes, which is a symptom of lack of cases such as nonspecific products and primer dimer (Figure 3). Then PCR, standard curve, as a template standard DNA of successive dilutions, was plotted for the COX5B and COX2 genes (Figure 4). Standard curve for the COX5B gene stands for index (R2)=0.98 and also standard curve of obtained COX2 gene stands for index (R2)=0.95. Cox expression in MS 25 Figure 1. Amplification plots for MS COX5B Figure 3. Melting curve for COX 5b gene Figure 2. Ct values of COX5B in subjects Figure 4. Standard curve for COX5B gene (determination of index R2=0.98). 26 Naeimeeh SAFAVIZA ADEH et al. Standard dized results Ct Accordinng to the studiies that were done d after RealTime PCR R test, the aveerage of standdardized Ct in regard to the state of -actin and GAPDH genes in COX5B among controol and patientts affected with MS are 6.21, 6.71 and a 3.95, 5.446 respectiveely (Figures 5). 5 In additionn, the average of standardizzed Ct in regard to state of o -actin andd GAPDH gennes in COX2 among controls and patiennts affected with MS are 4.86, 4.38 and 4.84, 4.12 resspectively. Figure 5. The Ct CO OX5B gene, staandardized wiith ß-actin Comp parison betweeen the statisttical analysis of CO OX5B t-test annd the resultss showed that there are meaningfful differencees in COX5B gene (P0.05). Onn the other hannd, decreased gene expression in i COX5B w was observed amon ng MS patiennts rather thhan controls, howeever, the resullts showed noo meaningful differrences for the COX2 gene. For equality of vaariances, t-tesst and Levenee’s test were perfo ormed. The results showed that the data relateed to Ct was not significanntly different COX X5B gene amoong patients and control. Ct comparison c was performed with t-test in patien nts and contrrols. The ressults showed that th he measured t is significantt for COX5B gene (Pvalue=0.0168) and (P Pvalue=0.005), whilee the data related too Ct has signifficantly diffferent COX22 gene in patien nts and contrrol. Ct com mparison was perfo ormed with t-teest in pateintss and control. The results show wed that meeasured t is signifficant for CO OX2 gene ((Pvalue=0.117) and (P ( value=0.124) (Table 2, 3)). Generally, the reesults showedd that actin aand GAPDH geness are similaar among ccontrol and patien nts. Table 2. COX55B and COX22 genes expresssion (Ct) on n based of B-aactin referencee gene G Gene C Compare Means (Ct) Std. Errror mean Patieent Vs Controll 6.71 0.1 19746 6.21 0.1314 4.38 1.6 4.86 0.88 0 CO OX5B Patieent vs Controll C COX2 d df Tvalue Pvalue 6 64 2.69 00.0168 6 64 -1.67 0.117 Taable 3. COX5B B and COX2 genes g expresssion (Ct) on based b of GAP PDH referencee gene. Gene Compare Means (Ct) Std.Error S meean Patiient vs Controol 5.46 0.89 3.95 0.78 4.12 1.44 4.84 0.69 COX5B B Patiient vs Controol COX22 df Tvaalue Pvalue 64 2.991 0.005 64 -1.52 0.124 Cox Expression in MS 27 Determination of changes in gene expression levels To determine changes in the expressions COX5B and COX2 genes Livak formula was used (Livak and Schmittgen, 2001). -actin gene: COX5B = 2-CT= 2-(6.21- 6.71)= 20.5 = 1.41 COX2 = 2-CT= 2-(4.86-4.38)= 2-0.48 GAPDH gene: COX5B = 2-CT= 2-(3.95-5.46)= 21.51= 2.84 COX2 = 2-CT= 2-(4.84-4.12)= 2-0.72 Total results of the Real-Time PCR According to the results obtained, it seems that COX2 gene has no effect on MS patients; but COX5B gene expression was decreased in MS patients and this gene could play an important role in neurodegenerative diseases. Correlation between COX5B and COX2 gene expression turned out to be R=0.92 in control. This correlation was R=0.84 in patients, who, despite being significant, was lower compare to control. This difference, if verified with further subjects and studies, can be considered as a hypothesis about this disease. Discussion In this study, the expression levels of COX5B and COX2 genes in MS patients and controls were compared. The results showed that COX5B gene expression in MS patients was significantly lower compared to controls (P=0.0168) and (P=0.005). In the case of Cox5B gene expression, a highly significant difference between controls and patients, despite the low number of samples, indicates the role of this gene in patients, but it is not clear that reduced expression of this gene is one of the causes of disease, or when the disease induces, the gene expression will be reduced. While there was no significant differences in the COX2 gene expression between controls and patients, differences between P=0.117 and P=0.124 was not significant. One of the reasons that Cox2 gene is not significant, it can be due to the low number of samples and low df, it is necessary to consider the mentioned term to report the more accurate results. Degeneration of chronically demyelinated axons is a major cause of the continuous, irreversible neurological disability that occurs in the chronic stages of MS (Aschrafi et al., 2008). Microarray studies from cortical and white matter tissue of patients with progressive MS showed upregulation of genes involved in hypoxic preconditioning and decreased expression of mRNA for mitochondrial proteins (Lin et al., 2006). The dominant loss of small axons in MS lesions suggests energy deficiency as a major mechanism included in axonal degeneration (Stys, 2005). The newly reported research provides evidence that neurons in MS are respiratory-deficient due to mtDNA deletions, which are extensive in GM and may be induced by inflammation. They propose induced multiple deletions of mtDNA as an important contributor to neurodegeneration in MS (Campbell et al., 2010). This presents a unique challenge to neurologists wanting to identify, diagnose, and manage patients and families with mitochondrial disease (Druzhyna et al., 2008). Clonally expanded multiple deletions of mtDNA causing respiratory deficiency are well recognized in neurodegenerative disorders and aging. Given the vulnerability of mtDNA to oxidative damage and the extent of inflammation in MS, often starting with a preclinical phase and remaining throughout the disease course, mtDNA deletions might be expected in MS (Nicholas et al., 2009). Repair of damaged mtDNA rather than oxidative damage to mtDNA per se is the most likely mechanism by which mtDNA deletions are formed, and clonal expansion is regarded as the mechanism responsible for causing respiratory deficiency. Where respiratory deficiency is caused by induced multiple DNA deletions, cells will have initially contained deletions with different breakpoints, one of which then clonally expands to high levels over time (Krishnan et al., 2008). Clonally expanded multiple deletions of mtDNA are reported in inclusion body myositis, a condition associated with chronic inflammation. Decrease in density of respiratory-deficient neurons in lesions is a likely reflection of mtDNA deletion-mediated cell loss as well as increase in susceptibility to other insults because of the clonally expanded mtDNA deletions. The extent of mtDNA deletions identified using long-range PCR on a global 28 Naeimeh SAFAVIZADEH et al. scale regardless of cell type, and even in neurons with intact complex IV activity, reflects the potential of cells in MS to become respiratory deficient through clonal expansion over the course of the disease. By isolating individual neurons at a single time point we identified high levels of multiple mtDNA deletions within respiratorydeficient cells. In contrast, mtDNA deletions detected by long range PCR within respiratoryefficient neurons in MS and controls were not expanded to high levels (Micu et al., 2006). Mitochondrial defects are increasingly recognized to play a role in the pathogenesis of MS. Energy in the form of ATP is most efficiently produced by mitochondria, which also play a role in calcium handling, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and apoptosis (Lin et al., 2006). It is known that mitochondria are intrinsically involved in the cellular production of oxygen radicals and are believed to play an important part in oxygen radical-mediated cell damage in neurodegenerative diseases. The investigations are in complete agreement with the occurrence of activity defects of COX in single muscle fibres. The mitochondrial impairment is not to age or denervation-associated muscular changes since the functional impairment of mitochondria (Dutta et al., 2006). While numerous pathogenetic mutations are routinely detected in isolated COX deficiencies, the protocols for characterizing the functional impact of these mutations are still in early stages of development. The integrative approach combining multiple bioenergetic analyses performed in whole cells is particularly promising, as the best way to investigate the resulting pathogenetic changes occurring in situ. The general severity of the functional changes in COX defects suggests that the development of effective drugs is very unlikely, and that only gene therapy might lead to efficient treatment of these diseases in the future (Smith et al., 2005). Measurement of the threshold for specific mtDNA mutations has been performed in cultured cells elsewhere. The microphotometric enzyme–assay system for measurement of COX activity within individual muscle fibers is used in conjunction with demonstration of myofibrillar ATPase in serial sections, so that a normal range of COX activity in individual muscle fibers of each fiber type is defined in control samples. In previous studies, a good correlation between microphotometric enzyme analysis and biochemical studies has been shown in patients with Leigh syndrome (Ogbi et al., 2006). The newly reported four proteins in particular were responsible for distinguishing diseased from healthy. Peptide fingerprint mapping unambiguously identified these differentially expressed proteins. Three proteins identified are involved in respiration including cytochrome c oxidase subunit 5b (COX5b), the brain specific isozyme of creatine kinase and hemoglobin β-chain (Horváth et al., 2005). In previous studies six genes, involved in energy metabolism pathways, also had increased transcript levels in the skeletal muscle of CR rats compared with muscle of control rats. These include genes associated with mitochondrial ATP production, such as six subunits of cytochrome c oxidase (COX I, II, III, IV, Va, and VIII) and NADH dehydrogenase (Kalman et al., 2007). All mitochondria of the progeny are inherited from the mother; and all 13 polypeptides encoded by the mitochondrial genome are located in the respiratory chain (complexes I, III, IV and V). These biological principles are helpful in understanding the clinical syndromes and patterns of inheritance associated with the mitochondrial myopathies and encephalomyopathies (Broadwater et al., 2011). Cellular injury often has been associated with disturbances in mitochondrial function. Interestingly, our analysis indicated a pronounced increase in the expression of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunits IV and Vb, a finding that was validated further by RT PCR. Cytochrome c oxidase has been used frequently as a marker for neuronal metabolic activity, especially in pathological conditions involving oxidative stress. Neurons subject to oxidative damage show abnormalities in mitochondrial dynamics even in the absence of any apparent indication of degeneration (Hamblet et al., 2006). Elevations in cytochrome c oxidase expression or function in vulnerable neuronal subpopulations in AD, following traumatic brain injury and preceding apoptotic death of spinal cord motor neurons after sciatic nerve avulsion, have been Cox Expression in MS 29 reported. Thus, an increase in cytochrome c oxidase expression may reflect aberrant energy metabolism and oxidative damage in the spinal cord during EAE (Fukui et al., 2007). With due attention to the results of correlation between COX2 and COX5B gene expressions with nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA source, we can claim that there is an interaction between two COX gene expressions of genome and mitochondria source and the effectiveness is of COX enzymes in the MS patients. While the number of selected samples were not more than 36, the state of COX5B between patient and control groups was meaningful. This means that in a group of a number of members, there is no impact on its meaninglessness. In COX2, the main reason for meaninglessness may relate to the low number of samples. Therefore, it would be better to reproduce the experiments with an expanded sample size. References Acin-Perez R, Salazar E, Kamenetsky M, Buck J, Levin LR, Manfredi G. Cyclic AMP Produced inside Mitochondria Regulates Oxidative Phosphorylation. Cell Metabolism. 9: 265-76, 2009. Alston LC, He L, Morris A, Hughes I, Taylor R, et al. Maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA disease in consanguineous families. European Journal of Human Genetics. 19: 1226-29, 2011. Aschrafi A, Schwechter AD, Mameza MG, NateraNaranjo O, Gioio EA, Kaplan BB. MicroRNA338 regulates local cytochrome c oxidase IV mRNA levels and oxidative phosphorylation in the axons of sympathetic neurons. J Neurosci. 28: 12581-90, 2008. Barrientos A, Gouget K, Horn D, Soto IC, Fontanesi F. Suppression mechanisms of COX assembly defects in yeast and human: insights into the COX assembly process. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1793: 97-107, 2009. Broadwater L, Pandit A, Clements R, Azzam S, et al. Analysis of the mitochondrial proteome in multiple sclerosis cortex. Biochem Biophys Acta. 1812(5): 630-41, 2011. Calabresi P. Multiple sclerosis and demyelinating conditions of the central nervous system. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier chap 436, 2007. Campbell GR, Ziabreva I, Reeve AK, Krishnan KJ, et al. Mitochondrial DNA deletions and neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis. Ann Neurol. 69: 48192, 2010. Damiano M, Galvan L, Deglon N, Brouillet E. Mitochondria in Huntington’s disease. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1802: 52-61, 2010. DiMauro S, Schon EA. Mitochondrial disorders in the nervous system. Annu Rev Neurosci. 31: 91-123, 2008. Druzhyna NM, Wilson GL, LeDoux SP. Mitochondrial DNA repair in aging and disease. Mech Ageing Dev.129: 383-90, 2008. Dutta R, McDonough J, Yin X, Peterson J, Chang A, Torres T, et al. Mitochondrial dysfunction as a cause of axonal degeneration in multiple sclerosis patients. Ann Neurol. 59: 478-89, 2006. Fernandez-Vizarra E, Tiranti V, Zeviani M. Assembly of the oxidative phosphorylation system in humans: what we have learned by studying its defects. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1793: 200-11, 2009. Frohman EM, Racke MK, Raine CS. Multiple sclerosis–the plaque and its pathogenesis. N Engl J Med. 354: 94255, 2006. Fukui H, Diaz F, Garcia S, Moraes CT. Cytochrome c oxidase deficiency in neurons decreases both oxidative stress and amyloid formation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 104:14163-8, 2007. Galati G, Srinivasan S, Raza H, Prabu SK, Hardy M, Chandran K, Lopez M, Kalyanaraman B, Avadhani NG. Role of nuclear-encoded subunit Vb in the assembly and stability of cytochrome c oxidase complex: implications in mitochondrial dysfunction and ROS 30 Naeimeh SAFAVIZADEH et al. production. Biochem J. 420: 439-49, 2009. Hamblet NS, Ragland B, Ali M, Conyers B, Castora FJ. Mutations in mitochondrial-encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunits I, II, and III genes detected in Alzheimer's disease using single-strand conformation polymorphism. Electrophoresis. 27: 398-408, 2006. Henchcliffe C, Beal MF. Mitochondrial biology and oxidative stress in Parkinson disease pathogenesis. Nat Clin Pract Neurol. 4: 600-09, 2008. Horváth R, Schoser BG, Müller-Höcker J, Völpel M, Jaksch M, Lochmüller H. Mutations in mtDNA-encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunit genes causing isolated myopathy or severe encephalomyopathy. Neuromuscular Disorders. 15: 851-57, 2005. Kalman B, Laitinen K, Komoly S. The involvement of mitochondria in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. J Neuroimmunol. 188: 1-12, 2007. Koch M, Uyttenboogaart M, van Harten A, De Keyser J. Factors associated with the risk of secondary progression in multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis. 14: 799-803, 2008. Krishnan KJ, Reeve AK, Samuels DC, et al. What causes mitochondrial DNA deletions in human cells? Nat Genet. 40: 275-79, 2008. Lin MT, Beal MF. Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in neurodegenerative diseases. Nature. 443: 787-95, 2006. Livak KJ, Schmittgen TD. Analysis of relative gene expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and the 2(-Delta DeltaC(T)) Method. Methods. 25(4): 402-8, 2001. Micu I, Jiang Q, Coderre E, et al. NMDA receptors mediate calcium accumulation in myelin during chemical ischaemia. Nature. 439: 988-92, 2006. Nicholas A, Kraytsberg Y, Guo X, Khrapko K. On the timing and the extent of clonal expansion of mtDNA deletions: evidence from singlemolecule PCR. Exp Neurol. 218: 316-19, 2009. Ogbi M, Johnson JA. Protein kinase Cepsilon interacts with cytochrome c oxidase subunit IV and enhances cytochrome c oxidase activity in neonatal cardiac myocyte preconditioning. Biochem J. 393: 191-9, 2006. Ramagopalan SV, Dobson R, Meier UC, Giovannoni G. Multiple sclerosis: risk factors, prodromes, and potential causal pathways. Lancet Neurol. 9: 727-39, 2010. Smith D, Gray J, Mitchell L, Antholine WE, Hosler JP. Assembly of Cytochrome-c Oxidase in the Absence of Assembly Protein Surf1p Leads to Loss of the Active Site Heme. J Biol Chem. 280: 17652-56, 2005. Stys PK. General mechanisms of axonal damage and its prevention. J NeurolSci. 233: 3-13, 2005. Vercellino M, Romagnolo A, Mattioda A, Masera S, et al. Multiple sclerosis relapses: a multivariable analysis of residual disability determinants. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. 119(2): 12630, 2009. Williams JC, Sue C, Banting GS, Yang H, Glerum DM, Hendrickson WA, Schon EA. Crystal structure of human SCO1: implications for redox signaling by a mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase "assembly" protein. J Biol Chem. 280: 15202-11, 2005. Zee JM, Glerum DM. Defects in cytochrome oxidase assembly in humans: lessons from yeast. Biochem Cell Biol. 84:85969, 2006. Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology 10(2):31-38, 2012 Haliç University, Printed in Turkey. http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr Research Article 31 Curcumin rendered protection against cadmium chloride induced testicular damage in Swiss albino mice Preeti SINGH*, Kanchan DEORA, Vandana SANKHLA, Priya MOGRA Department of Zoology, College of Science, M.L.S. University, Udaipur-Rajasthan, 313001 India. (* author for correspondence; [email protected] ) Received: 04 August 2011; Accepted: 01 November 2012 Abstract Fertility interference, regulation and control have become a matter of global concern in order to maintain adequate, sustainable and healthy population. Cadmium is known to interfere with reproductive physiology and adversely affects the process of spermatogenesis, whereas curcumin is known to be a potent, protective herbal derivative, which renders protection at the physiological, metabolic and cellular levels against numerous toxicants. In the present research, four groups of Swiss albino mice, each group consisting of six mice, were treated with cadmium chloride and curcumin. Group 1 was the control group, where mice were administered only vehicle. In the second group, mice were administered only curcumin. In the third group mice were administered single oral dose of CdCl2, 50mg/kg/animal/day, for a day and were left for 15 days. The fourth group was pre-treated with curcumin (10mg/animal/day) for 15 days and on the 16th day they were administered with single oral dose of CdCl2 (50mg/kg/animal). In animals administered only cadmium, significant perturbations were observed in the process of spermatogenesis. In the seminiferous tubules there is loss of cellular contact and associations, as manifested by loss of germ cells. In organisms pre-treated with curcumin, marked decline in histopathological damage was observed, where the loss of germ cells was not so pronounced. Hence, the present research categorically elucidates the protective effect of curcumin against a single high dose of cadmium chloride induced perturbation in the process of spermatogenesis . Keywords: Curcumin, cadmium chloride, testicular damage, spermatogenesis, reproduction Özet Zerdeçal Swiss albino farelerde kadmiyum klorür ile indüklenmiş testiküler hasara karşı koruma sağlar Fertilitenin engellenmesi, düzenlenmesi ve kontrolü, syeterli, devamlı ve sağlıklı bir populasyonun sağlanması için dünyanın ilgilendiği bir sorun haline gelmektedir. Kadmiyumun üreme fizyolojisini engellediği ve spermatogenez sürecini ters olarak etkilediği bilinirken, fizyolojik, metabolik ve hücresel, seviyelerde pek çok toksik maddeye karşı koruyucu olan zerdeçalın güçlü, koruyucu bir bitki türevi olduğu bilinmektedir. Bu araştırmada, her bir grupta altı fare bulunan dört grup Swiss albino fareye kadmiyum klorür ve zerdeçal uygulanmıştır. Sadece distile su verilen Grup1, kontrol grubunu oluşturmaktadır. İkinci grupta farelere sadece zerdeçal verilirken üçüncü gruptaki farelere bir gün için 50mg/kg/hayvan/gün CdCl2 tek doz oral olarak uygulanmış ve 15 gün boyunca beklenmiştir. Dördüncü gruba önceden 15 gün boyunca (10mg/hayvan/gün) zerdeçal uygulanmış ve 16. günde farelere tek doz oral olarak 50mg/kg/hayvan CdCl2 uygulanmıştır. Sadece kadmiyum uygulanan hayvanlarda spermatogenez sürecinde belirgin bir düzensizlik gözlenmiştir ve germ hücre hasarıyla açıkça gösterildiği gibi seminifer tübüllerde hücresel iletişim ve birliktelik kaybı gözlenmiştir. Önceden zerdeçal uygulanan organizmalarda germ hücre hasarının bildirilmediği yerlerde histopatolojik hasarlarda belirgin bir düşüş görülmüştür. Bunun sonucu olarak bu araştırma çalışması yüksek tek doz kadmiyum klorürün spermatogenez sürecindeki düzensizliği indüklemesine karşın, zerdeçalın koruyucu etkisini kategorik olarak açığa kavuşturmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Zerdeçal, kadmiyum klorür, testiküler hasar, spermatogenez, üreme 32 Preeti SINGH et al. Introduction In order to maintain adequate, sustainable and healthy population; fertility interference, regulation and control have become a matter of global concern. Exposure to metals is a common phenomenon due to their environmental pervasiveness. Some metals are essential for life, others have unknown biological functions, either favorable or toxic, and some others have the potential to cause toxicity (Col et al., 1999; Benoff et al., 2000; Suwazono et al., 2000). Overexposure of metals is in fact, one of the oldest environmental problems since they are widely distributed in the environmental workplace. Heavy metals are persistent environmental contaminants since they cannot be degraded or destroyed easily. These are chemical elements capable of spreading in the environmental compartments and circulating between them. These metals are emitted in to the atmosphere with the composition of fine particles or in the gaseous form and are transported by atmospheric fluxes to considerable distances where they enter ecosystems of remote regions. However, many heavy metals are urgently necessary for functioning of the human body and other living organisms in small amounts and belong to the range of nutrients. Others, when passed on to the living organisms cause poisoning or death (Danielyan, 2010). Some toxic heavy metals are cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), nickel (Ni), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr) etc. A substantial number of couples seek fertility treatment due to poor semen quality and there is evidence in the literature that male reproductive function seems to have deteriorated considerably in the past four-five decades due to multifaceted reasons being psychological, physical , physiological, or due to the effect of certain hazardous substances. One of the hazardous substances is cadmium, the 48th element in the periodic table with an atomic weight of 112.4 and is present in all components of our environment viz. air, water and soil. It is used in various industrial processes as an anti-corrosive agent stabilizer in PVC products, as a color pigment, and in fabrication of nickel-cadmium batteries (Friberg et al., 1974; Fox, 1983; Elinder, 1985; Morrow, 1990). It serves no physiological function within the mammalian system. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has listed cadmium as number 7 in its top 20 list of hazardous substances and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified cadmium as a group 1 carcinogen. It has extremely long biological half-life in mammals, which is estimated to be about 17 years or longer in humans (Nordberg, 1972; IARC, 1992) Cadmium is highly toxic to various biological systems, e.g. kidney (Friberg et al., 1974; Buchet et al., 1980; Goyer, 1991), male and female reproductive systems (Ferm and Carpenter, 1967; Massanyi et al., 2007; Wu et al., 2008; Monsefi et al., 2010), brain (Beton et al., 1966; Taylor et al., 1984; Bernard and Lauwerys,1986), gastrointestinal tract (Sugawara and Sugawara, 1974), liver , circulatory system (Stowe et al., 1972) and skeletal system (Kawamura et al., 1978; Blumenthal et al., 1995; Staessen et al.,1999). Due to the rapid industrialization and overgrowing urbanization, the toxic effects of cadmium on male reproduction is to be assessed and monitored and an effort has to be made to check, counter balance or nullify its toxicity . India has a rich history of using plants for medicinal purposes. Turmeric derived from Curcuma as a medicine is used as home remedy for various diseases (Ammon and Wahl, 1991; Eigner and Scholz, 1999). Curcumin has been considered as a potent healing herbal formulation, a strong antioxidant, which has been considered to be more than three hundred times more potent than vitamin E (Rao et al., 1982; Dikshit et al., 1995). Curcumin is also reported to have anti-bacterial, anti-amoebic, antifungal, anti-viral and anti-HIV activities (Ammon et al., 1992; Azuine and Bhide, 1992; Ruby and Kuttan, 1995 and Mortellini et al., 2000). Hence, in the present study an effort has been made to assess and monitor cadmium-induced reproductive toxicity as after one single chance exposure and to observe whether curcumin, derived from Curcuma longa has the potential to protect and prevent testes from such toxicity. Materials and methods 32-50 days old adult Swiss albino mice, weighing around 30-40 g, were maintained in plastic cages under controlled lighting conditions (12 h light/12 h dark regime), relative humidity (50 ± 5%) and temperature (37 ± 2°C). The animals were fed on standard mice feed. Food and water were given ad libitum. Each batch comprised of 6 mice and their dose protocol was as followsGroup 1 - Mice were administered the vehicle (distilled water) for 16 days. Group 2- Mice were administered curcumin 10mg/animal for 16 days. Group 3- Mice were administered single oral dose of CdCl2 50mg/kg/animal/day for a day and left for 15 days. Group 4- Mice were pretreated with curcumin (10mg/animal/day) for 15 days and on the 16th day mice were administered with single oral dose of CdCl2 (50mg/kg/animal). Twenty-four hours after administration of the last dose, control and experimental animals were sacrificed. Testes were excised and subsequently fixed in Bouins solutions. After fixation testes were processed, wax blocks were made. Wax sections were cut and slides were prepared, Curcumin protects against cadmium chloride 33 where ‘b’ the Observed Frequency for category ‘a’ ‘d’ is the Expected Frequency in the corresponding category ‘c’ This experimental study was done after taking approval from the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (No.Cs\Res\07\759). then stained in haematoxylin and eosin for histopathological studies (Kiernan, 2008). For statistical evaluation of significance, 100 seminiferous tubules (‘a’ and ‘c’), per group were assessed and X2 (Chi Square) test was conducted using the formula as per the two by two table. a b a+b c d c+d a+c b+d N ; X2 = N (ad-bc)2 (a+c ) ( b+d) ( a+b) (c+d) Results In the present study the testes of cadmium and curcumin treated animals were assessed using the following parameters: Changes in morphology, testicular pathology, and cytostatic and cytotoxic changes in the germ and Leydig cells. The testes of control group mice administered only vehicle showed normal pathology with distinct seminiferous tubules undergoing different stages of spermatogenesis. The interstitium was compact with distinct Leydig cells (Fig.1). Spermatogonial mother cells, primary and secondary spermatocytes, maturing spermatids and spermatozoons embedded in Sertoli cells were clearly visible (Fig.2). Histopathological evaluation of only curcumin treated mice testes showed normal structures similar to control group. Testes of the cadmium treated animals exhibited hemorrhage of its vasculature, but the overall shape was not altered. Seminiferous tubules appeared to lose their typical spherical shape and tunica propria manifested thickening and was irregularly and randomly broken at places. Leydig cells were entrapped in the degenerated interstitium (Fig. 3). There was general derangement of morphology of spermatogonia, spermatocytes and differentiating spermatids in the seminiferous tubules (Fig. 4). In most of the peripheral seminiferous tubules, the germ cells were seen to break free end appeared in the lumen as puffs (Fig. 5). The cell types which appeared to be most affected were spermatocytes and spermatids. Tubular lumens were filled with degenerated germ cells and multinucleated spermatid aggregates (Fig. 3). Vacuolization of the seminiferous epithelium was also observed (Fig. 6). The results show that a single dose of cadmium causes a sudden increase in testicular damage, apparently overpowering this tissue’s natural defenses. Also, most of the seminiferous tubules of testes in this group showed complete absence of primary spermatocytes, secondary spermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa and loss of spermatogenesis process (Fig. 6) in comparison with normal structure of seminiferous tubules in control mice. The seminiferous tubules of experimental group animals pre-treated with curcumin for 15 days and cadmium chloride on 16th day showed very slight histopathological damage in the peripheral tubules and the inner tubules appeared to be normal showing all stages of spermatogenesis viz. spermatoginal mother cells, primary and secondary spermatocytes, maturing spermatids and spermatozoons embedded in Sertoli cells (Fig.7 and 8). 34 Preeti SINGH et al. Figure 1. 1) Photomicrograph of testis of control group mice administered only vehicle. Normal seminiferous tubules (ST) and Leydig cell (LC) are clearly visible (20X). 2) Testis of control group mice administered only vehicle. Seminiferous tubule with distinct spermatogonial mother cells (SMC), primary spermatocyte (PS), secondary spermatocytes (SS), maturing spermatids (MS) and spermatozoa (S) are seen (40X). 3) Testis of cadmium chloride (50mg/kg) treated group mice. Degenerate seminiferous tubules(ST) are clearly visible (20x). 4) Testis of cadmium chloride(50mg/kg) treated group mice. Degenerated germ cells in lumen of seminiferous tubules are clearly evident (40x). 5) Testis of cadmium chloride(50mg/kg) treated mice showing exfoliated germ cells(GC) in tubular lumen (100x). 6) Testis of cadmium chloride (50mg/kg) treated mice. Seminiferous tubules are left with only vacuolised spermatogonial mother cells (SMC) and Sertoli cell (SC) (100x). 7) Testis of group pre-treated with curcumin(10mg/kg for 15 days) and then administered cadmium chloride(50mg/kg). Seminiferous tubules (ST) showing stages of spermatogenesis and pyknotic nuclei in Leydig cells (LC) are clearly evident (40x). 8) Testis of group pre-treated with curcumin (10mg/kg for 15 days) and then administered cadmium chloride(50mg/kg). Maturing spermatids (MS) and adhered germ cells are visible (100x) Curcumin protects against cadmium chloride 35 2011). These observations are similar to the results of the present study, which has revealed that cadmium chloride induced severe alterations in histopathological profile of testes as manifested by disarrangement of morphology of Leydig cells and 100% seminiferous tubular damage within which spermatogonia, spermatocytes and differentiating spermatids were severely affected and were lost in the luminal space of the tubules culminating in total suppression of spermatogenesis. There was induction of azoospermia. The results of present experiment also correlate well with other reports where cadmium has been shown to induce testicular damage in rat and mice (Gunn et al., 1970., Herranz et al., 2010; and Mathur et al., 2010). Our observations are also similar to the observations of Monsefi et al., 2008; Chowdhury, 2009 and Adamkovicova et al., 2010 where, similar to our results cadmium chloride has shown to cause rapid testicular edema, haemorrhage, necrosis and degeneration of testicular membrane tissue. Adaikpoh and Obi (2009) have reported that cadmium increased total cholesterol levels in the testes and prostate of rats, which affects Leydig cell function negatively. In the present experimental design administration of curcumin protected testis of mice exposed to cadmium as evidenced by appearance of about 75% normal structures of seminiferous tubule of testis showing the ongoing process of spermatogenesis as evidenced by the presence of spermatids and spermatozoon, and lack of exfoliated cells in the luminal space. Additionally, the present study indicated that the exposure to heavy metals produce testicular damage, which leads to spermatogenic arrest which is rectified and prevented by curcumin intake. Discussion The management of infertility problems is the need of time. The importance of drugs from plant origin, as fertility regulating agents for the males has long been recognized. Medicinal plants present a repertoire capable of providing varied constituents which could be helpful in infertility management. Curcumin, a potent antioxidant compound derived from turmeric, has been used for centuries as a natural dye, seasoning and medicine (Huang et al, 1988). In Ayurveda, a 5000 year old system of medicine originating in India, curcumin in turmeric has been used to treat dozens of common conditions. Hence, in the present experiment an effort has been made to observe ameliorative effect of curcumin on testicular damage induced by cadmium chloride. The evidence of the past twenty years have shown a disturbing trend in male reproductive health hazards due to careless use of certain chemicals cadmium being one of them ,which causes detrimental effects on different organs. Broad-spectrum irreversible toxic actions of cadmium at the cellular and molecular levels have been observed mainly on the reproductive system of humans and experimental animals, by a number of researchers (Batra et al., 2001; Chowdhury, 2004; Massanyi et al., 2007; Burukog and Bayc, 2008; Almansour, 2009; Obianime and Roberts, 2009). Cadmium has also been reported to cause testicular damage in Leydig cells and seminiferous tubules (Massanyi et al., 2007; Burukog and Bayc, 2008; Almansour, 2009; Obianime and Roberts, 2009; De Souza Predes et al., 2009 and Al attar Table 1. Alterations in the seminiferous germ cells of Swiss albino mice challenged with cadmium chloride and curcumin S. No. Experimental Protocol Total number of germ cell layers Types Of Germ Cells Present (P) And Exfoliated (E) SMC SC P Sp S Sp S SZ Se C 1. Control (distilled water as a vehicle for 16 days) P P P P P P P 2. Curcumin (10 mg/animal/day for 16 days) P P P P P P P 3. Cadmium Chloride(50 mg/kg/animal/day for 15 days) P P E E E E P 2-3* Χ2 =4.241 P=0.04 4. Curcumin (10 mg/animal/day for 16 days) +Cadmium Chloride(50 mg/kg/animal/day for 15 days) P P E E P E P 6-10 Χ2=0.204 P=0.65 9-11 9-11 SMC – Spermatogonial Mother Cells; SC – Spermatogonial cells ; PSp- Primary Spermatocytes; SSp- Secondary Spermatocytes; S- Spermatids; SZ- Spermatozoa; SeC- Sertoli Cells *Χ2 significant at P ≤0.05 36 Preeti SINGH et al. References Adaikpoh M A and Obi F O. Prevention of cadmium –induced alteration in rat testes and prostrate lipid patterns by ɑ-tocopherol. African Journal of Biochemistry. 3 (10): 321-325, c 2009. Adamkovicova M, Toman R, and Cabaj M. Diazinon and cadmium acute testicular toxicity in rats examined by histopathological and morphometrical methods. Slovak J Anim Sci. 43. (3): 134-140, 2010. Almansour M I. Histological alterations induced by lead in the testes of the quail Coturnix coturnix. Res. J. Environ. Toxicol. 3:24-30, 2009. Ammon HPT and Wahl M A. Pharmacology of Curcuma longa. Planta Med.57: 1–7, 1991. Ammon HPT, Anazodo MI, Safayhi H and Dhawan BN. Curcumin a potent inhibitor of leukotriene B4 formation in rat polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNL). Planta Med. 67: 1-6, 1992. Al-Attar AM. Antioxidant effect of vitamin E treatment on some heavy metals-induced renal and testicular injuries in male mice. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences. 18, 63–72, 2011. ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry). Toxicological profile for Cadmium. ATSDR / US department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta/, US, 1999. Azuine M, Bhide S. Chemo preventive effect of turmeric against stomach and skin tumors induced by chemical carcinogens in Swiss mice. Nutr Cancer. 17:77-83,1992. Batra N, Nehru B, and Bansal M P. Influence of lead and zinc on rat male reproduction at ‘biochemical and histopathological levels’. J Appl Toxicol. 21: 507–512,2001. Benoff S, Jacob A and Hurley I R. Male infertility and environmental exposure to lead and cadmium. Hum Reprod. 6: 107-21. Update 2000. Bernard A and Lauwerys R. Effects of cadmium exposure in humans. In: Foulkes, E.C. ed. Handbook of experimental pharmacology. 80:135-177, 1986. Beton DC, Andrews GS, Davies HJ, et al. Acute cadmium fume poisoning. Five cases with one death from renal necrosis. Br J Ind Med. 23:292-301,1966. Blumenthal NC, Cosma V, Skyler D, LeGeros J, and Walters M. The effect of cadmium on the formation and properties of hydroxyl apatite in vitro and its relationto cadmium toxicity in the skeletal system. Calcif Tissue Int. 56 (4): 316-22,1995. Buchet JP, Roels H, Bernard A, et al. Assessment of renal function of workers exposed to inorganic lead, cadmium or mercury vapor. J Occup Med. 22: 741748,1980. Burukoglu D and Baycu C. Protective effects of zinc on testes of cadmium-treated rats. Bull Environ Contam. 81: 521–524, 2008. Chowdhury AR. Recent Advances in Heavy Metals Induced Effect on Male Reproductive Function-A Retrospective. Al Ameen J Med Sci. 2(2): 37 -42, 2009. Chowdhury AR. Male reproductive toxicity-new perspective in life science. Chatterjee P and Chanda AK (Ed). Life Science in Modern Perspective. University of Calcutta. 97–10,2004. Col M, Col C, Soran A, et al. Arsenic related Bowen’s disease, Palmer keratosis, and skin cancer. Environ Health Perspect. 107:687-9,1999. Danielyan A. The problem of pollution with heavy metals and possible risks related to that in watersheds with the developed metallurgical industry. In: BALWOIS 2010 Conference. Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia. pp. 1–9, 2010. De Souza Predes F , Diamante MAS and Dolder H. Testis response to low doses of cadmium in Wistar rats. Int J Exp Path, 91: 125–131,2009. Dikshit M, Rastogi L, Shukla R and Srimal RC. Prevention of ischaemia-induced biochemical changes by curcumin and quinidine in the cat heart. Indian J Med Res. 101: 31 - 35, 1995. Curcumin protects against cadmium chloride 37 Eigner D and Scholz D. Ferula asa-foetida and Curcuma longa in traditional medicinal treatment and diet in Nepal. J Ethnopharmacol. 67: 1–6,1999. Kawamura J, Yoshida O, Nishino K and Itokawa Y. Disturbances in kidney functions and calcium and phosphate metabolism in cadmium-poisoned rats. Nephrology. 20:101-110,1978. Elinder CG. Cadmium: uses, occurrence and intake. In: Cadmium and Health: A Toxicological and Epidemiological Appraisal. Vol I: Exposure, Dose, and Metabolism. Effects and Response (Friberg L, Elinder CG, Kjellstrom T, Nordberg GF, eds). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 23-64, 1985. Kiernan JA. Histological and Histochemical Methods: Theory and Practice. 4th ed. Bloxham, UK: Scion, (2008) Ferm VH and Carpenter SJ. Teratogenic effect of cadmium and its inhibition by zinc. Nature. 216: 1123, 1967. Fox MRS. Cadmium bioavailability. Federation Proc. 42: 1726-1729, 1983. Friberg L, Piscator M, Nordberg G, and Kjellström T. Cadmium in the environment, 2nd ed., Cleveland, Ohio, CRC Press. 248, 1974. Goyer R. Toxic effects of metals. In: Amdur, MO, JD Doull, C.D. Klaassen, Eds. Casarett and Doull's Toxicology. 4th ed. Pergamon Press, New York. 623-680, 1991. Massanyi P, Lukac N, Slivkova J, et al. Mercuryinduced alterations in rat kidneys and testes in vivo. J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng. 42:865–870,2007. Mathur N, Pandey G and Jain GC. Male Reproductive toxicity of Some Selected Metals :A Review Journal of biological sciences.10(5):396-404,2010. Kamel MM , Abd El Razek AH, Ahmed KA and Kamel GM. Exposure of Adult Male Rats to Cadmium: Assessment of Sexual Behaviour, Fertility, Aggression as well as Anxiety like Behaviour with Special Reference to Biochemical and Pathological Alterations.Life Science Journal, 2011;8(2) Monsefi M, Alaee S, Moradshahi A, and Rohani L.Cadmium-Induced Infertility in Male Mice., 2008. Monsefi M, Alaee S, Moradshahi A, and Rohani L. Cadmium-induced infertility in male mice. Environ Toxicol. 25 (1):94-102, 2010. Gunn SA, Gould TC and Anderson WAD. Maintenance of the structure and function of the cauda epididymidis and contained spermatozoa by testosterone following cadmium-induced testicular necrosis in the rat. J reprod Fert. 21:443-448,1970. Morrow H. Cadmium (Cd), Metals Handbook, 10th Edition, Volume 2, ASM International, Metals Park, Ohio, 1990. Herranz LM, Tebaz F, Martin R, et al. Quantitative Changes in rat Seminiferous Epithelium After Chronic Administration of low Doses of Cadmium and Zinc: A sterological study. The open Andrology Journal. 2:27-36, 2010. Mortellini R, Foresti R, Bassi R, and Green C J. Curcumin, an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, induces heme oxygenase-1 and protects endothelial cells against oxidative stress. Free Radic Biol Med. 28: 1303-1312, 2000. Huang M, Smart RC, Wong C, and Conney AH. Inhibitory Effect of Curcumin, Chlorogenic Acid, Caffeic Acid, and Ferulic Acid on Tumor Promotion in Mouse Skin by 12-OTetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate. CANCER RESEARCH 48, 5941-5946,1988. Nordberg G. Cadmium metabolisms and toxicity. Environ Physiol Biochem. 2: 7-36, 1972. International Agency for the Research on Cancer (IARC). Cadmium in the human environment: toxicity and carcinogenicity. IARC Scientific publications. No 118. Lyon.1992. Obianime AW and Roberts II . Antioxidants, cadmiuminduced toxicity, serum biochemical and the histological abnormalities of the kidney and testes of the male Wistar rats. Niger. J Physiol Sci. 24: 177–185, 2009. Rao TS, Basu N and Siddiqui H. Anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin analogues. Indian J Med Res. 38 Preeti SINGH et al. 75:574-8, 1982. Ruby AJ, and Kuttan G. Anti-tumour and antioxidant activity of natural curcuminoids. Cancer Lett .94:79-8, 1995. Staessen J A, Roels H A, Emelianov D, et al. Environmental exposure to cadmium, forearm bone density, and risk of fractures: Prospective Population study. Lancet, 353:1140-1144, 1999. Stowe H D, Wilson M and Goyer R A. Clinical and morphological effects of oral cadmium toxicity in rabbits. Arch Pathol. 94: 389-405, 1972. Sugawara C and Sugawara N. Cadmium toxicity for rat intestine, especially on the absorption of calcium and phosphorous. Jpn J Hyg. 28: 511-516, 1974. Suwazono Y, Kobayashi E, Okubo Y, et al. Renal effects of cadmium exposure in cadmium non polluted areas in Japan. Environ Res. 84:44-45, 2000. Taylor A, Jackson MA, Patil D, et al. Poisoning with cadmium fumes after smelting lead. Br Med J. 288:1270-1271, 1984. Wu HM, Lin-Tan DT, Wang ML, et al. Cadmium level in seminal plasma may affect the pregnancy rate for patients undergoing infertility evaluation and treatment. Reproductive Toxicology. 25(4), 481-484, 2008. Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology 10(1):39-51, 2013 Haliç University, Printed in Turkey. http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr Research Article 39 Study of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates with ESBL activity, from ICU and Nurseries, on the island of Mauritius Salima Khurshid MUNGLOO-RUJUBALI1, Mohamed Iqbal ISSACK2, Yasmina JAUFEERALLY-FAKIM1* 1 Department of Biotechnology, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius. Victoria Hospital, Ministry of Health and Quality of Life, Mauritius. (* author for correspondence; [email protected]) 2 Received: 11 August 2011, Accepted: 2 November 2012 Abstract Klebsiella pneumoniae with extended spectrum beta lactamase activity circulate widely among nosocomial environments. Isolates were collected from hospitalised patients in ICU and nursery units on the island of Mauritius, over a two year period. They were tested for their resistance/susceptibility to various antibiotics using the double disc diffusion assay. Following the API biochemical assay their genus/species were confirmed. Their genetic diversity was determined using RAPD, REP and BOXPCR. Among fifty isolates, most were highly diverse by these methods with a clustering into three groups. No correlation was found among isolates of the same hospital or unit or with dates of collection. Sequence analysis of parts of the TEM, SHV and CTX-M beta lactamase genes confirmed the beta lactamase domain and the presence of SHV-11 and SHV-28. CTX-M 15 was found in some isolates. Furthermore, integrase was PCR-amplified from a few isolates, showing the presence of an integron-borne gene cassette. This study shows diverse clones of Klebsiella pneumoniae circulating with ESBL activity. Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae, ESBL, TEM, SHV, genetic diversity, beta lactamase Özet Mauritius adasında kreş ve yoğun bakım ünitesinden elde edilen ESBL aktiviteli Klebsiella pneumoniae izolatlarının çalışması Geniş spektrumlu beta laktamaz aktivitesi olan Klebsiella pneumoniae nosokomiyal çevrelerde büyük ölçüde bulunmaktadır. İzolatlar, Mauritius adasındaki yoğun bakım ünitesinde yatan hastalardan ve kreşlerden iki yıl boyunca toplanmıştır. Çift disk difüzyon testi kullanılarak izolatların çeşitli antibiyotikler için dirençleri/duyarlılıkları incelenmiştir. Sonrasında API biyokimyasal test ile cins/tür teyidi yapılmıştır. Genetik farklılıkları RAPD, REP ve BOX-PCR kullanılarak belirlenmiştir. Test edilen elli kadar izolatın çoğu, üç grupta sınıflandırılan bu metodlar tarafından oldukça farklı bulunmuştur. Aynı hastane, birimler, ya da aynı tarihlerde toplanan izolatlar arasında herhangi bir korelasyon bulunmamıştır. TEM, SHV ve CTX-M beta laktamaz genlerinin dizi analizleri beta laktamaz domeynini ve SHV-11 ile SHV-28 varlığını onaylamıştır. Bazı izolatlarda CTX-M 15 bulunmuştur. Bundan başka, birkaç izolattan PCR-amplifikasyonu yapılmış olan integraz ile, integronkaynaklı gen kasetinin bulunduğu gösterilmiştir. Bu çalışma ESBL aktivitesiyle dolaşan Klebsiella pneumoniae’nın farklı klonlarını göstermektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Klebsiella pneumoniae, ESBL, TEM, SHV, genetik çeşitlilik, beta-laktamaz 40 Salima Khurshid MUNGLOO-RUJUBALI et al. Introduction Klebsiella pneumoniae is a very common source of infections in hospital environments and are particularly of threat to immune-compromised patients. It is a gram-negative bacillus of the Enterobacteriaceae family. It is mostly treated with beta lactams and fluoroquinolones, but over the years the bacteria have accumulated significant resistance to many of those. Beta lactamases, encoded in bacterial sequences, are able to efficiently hydrolyse the beta lactams of many antibiotics, thus rendering them inactive. A large number of studies have demonstrated their wide occurrence and rapid spread during the era of widespread antibiotic use for medical applications culminating in the appearance of extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBLs), which are resistant to third generation cephalosporins (Nteimam, 2005). The mode of action of beta lactamases relies on their ability to bind to enzymes of the bacterial cell wall biosynthesis process, thereby killing the cells. They have an active site serine residue. They act on peptidases that cross-link the penultimate D-alanine of one peptidoglycan unit to a free amino acid of diamino pimelic acid (gram negative) or a lysine residue (Gram positive). The D-alanine-D-alanine substrate of the peptidoglycan unit has a similar stereochemistry to the beta lactam moiety thus competing for binding at the active site of the peptidases. TEM and SHV beta lactamases were characterised first, followed by CTX-M. They are of the Class A enzymes (Ambler, 1980). According to Hall and Barlow (2004), TEM enzymes have experienced larger phenotypic evolution, than SHV and CTX-M. CTX-M ESBLs provide resistance to Cefotaxime, but usually not to Ceftazidime. The double disc synergy method using Cefotaxime and Ceftazidime for detection of ESBLs is the recommended one by the British Society for Anti Microbial Chemotherapy (BSAC). ESBLs can hydrolyse the so-called modern β-lactams that are cefotaxime, cefuroxime, aztreonam and ceftazidime. The last two decades have seen the appearance of a large number of mutant forms of beta lactamase genes from diverse organisms. Most importantly, there seems to be a positive selection for non-synonymous point mutations, which alter the binding affinity of the enzyme for its substrate. Key amino acid substitutions bring changes in the substrate and inhibitor binding affinities. Sequence comparisons of the genes have identified the homology within the TEM or within the SHV groups and revealed codon alterations which lead to different phenotypic profiles. Structural comparison is useful in understanding the outcome of nucleotide changes on the 3dimensional features of the protein. Alleles TEM 1A and 1F differ by silent mutations; however derivative variants can arise by further point mutations or by crossing-over between two alleles. Examples of substitutions can be found at www.lahey.org which lists all the reported variants and their codon differences. Recent work has identified key amino acid replacements which are responsible for phenotypic changes. Mutations that cause the ESBL phenotype are known to be R164H (Arg to His), R164S (Arg to Ser) and G238S (Gly to Ser). TEM-68, which has a decreased sensitivity to inhibitors, has a R275L (Arg to Leu) replacement compared to TEM-1. Similarly other mutations lead to modulating effects such as increasing or decreasing MIC’s (minimum inhibitory concentrations). β -lactam antibiotics penetrate the outer membrane of many gram-negative bacteria through porins, hence antibiotic resistance can also result from porin loss or deficiency (Nikaido, 1989). Several reports have demonstrated that beta lactamase expression is not the only form of resistance in ESBL bacteria. Other mechanisms such as porin loss have been described in many species (Tsu-Lan et al., 2001). An understanding of the bacterial populations carrying ESBLs is essential to characterise the molecular features associated with the genes for β-lactamases and understand their evolution. This study describes the characterisation of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from hospital sources to assess their ESBL phenotype and identify the corresponding gene sequences. The genetic diversity of the strains carrying this phenotype was determined to gauge the K. pneumonia isolates with ESBL activity 41 extent of occurrence of the ESBL feature. Materials and Methods Isolation and characterisation of K. pneumoniae the Ministry of Health, Mauritius. They were pre-selected for their ESBL phenotype by double disk assay. An enlargement of the inhibition zone of 5 mm in the presence of clavulanic acid is a confirmation of an ESBL presence. The isolates were characterised biochemically using the Analytical Profile Index (API) system. About fifty isolates of K. pneumoniae were obtained between March 2003 and January 2005 from six different hospitals (Table 1). These were collected by the Central Analytical Laboratory of Table 1. List of K.pneumoniae isolates ISOLATE DATE ISOLATED SEX AGE HOSPITAL WARD SOURCE SS01 2.06.04 M 36 A ICU BLOOD SS02 28.08.04 M 37 A ICU BLOOD SS03 11.11.04 F 5 DAYS D 2-3 N/A SS04 3.08.04 M 37 A ICU BLOOD SS05 9.11.04 F 73 B D4 N/A SS06 5.12.04 M NEWBORN A NURSERY BLOOD SS07 23.08.04 F 60 C MICU BLOOD SS08 27.01.04 F 69 C 1-3 N/A SS09 14.11.04 F 4 DAYS A NURSERY N/A SS10 26.03.03 NEONATES E NURSERY N/A SS11 9.11.04 M 15 DAYS C NICU RECTALS SS12 9.09.03 F 3 WEEKS C NICU N/A SS13 24.10.04 NEONATES D NURSERY N/A SS14 6.02.04 A NURSERY ENV(SINK) SS15 29.11.04 F 6 DAYS A NURSERY N/A SS16 23.06.04 M 29 B 04 BLOOD SS17 19.11.04 M 62 B D4 N/A SS18 20.10.04 M 11 B RDU VAS.CAT.FLUID SS19 14.02.04 F 2 C S21 N/A SS20 28.02.03 7 DAYS F SS21 22.11.02 4 DAYS B NICU N/A SS22 3.06.04 M 40 A ICU URINE SS23 3.06.04 M 40 A ICU URINE N/A 42 Salima Khurshid MUNGLOO-RUJUBALI et al. SS24 4.06.04 M 40 SS25 29.10.03 M 59 SS26 19.09.04 M 53 SS27 11.11.04 M 5 DAYS SS28 27.10.03 M 67 SS29 23.01.04 F 15 SS30 1.09.04 F SS31 31.07.04 SS32 A ICU URINE ICU CSF D 4 N/A C NICU RECTALS ICU CSF A ICU N/A 53 E DIALYSIS BLOOD M 50 C MICU ET-SECRETION 26.11.04 F 11 DAYS A NURSERY BLOOD SS33 14.01.05 M 44 A 2-4 BLOOD SS34 19.02.04 F 61 E F69 BLOOD SS35 10.12.04 F 5 WEEKS D NURSERY N/A SS36 27.09.04 M 37 A 2-4 BLOOD SS37 26.11.04 F 2 DAYS NURSERY N/A SS38 14.01.05 M 57 E B1 BLOOD SS39 20.09.04 M 53 D 4 BLOOD-DIALYSIS SS40 22.10.03 M 50 C ICU BLOOD SS41 2.10.03 M 42 C SS42 21.06.04 F 58 A 1-2 BLOOD SS 43 18.11.03 F 68 B ICU BURN UNIT N/A SS44 13.03.03 F 12 DAYS B NURSERY CSF SS45 27.09.03 F 56 C ICU BLOOD SS46 21.06.04 F 3 WEEKS D NURSERY BLOOD SS47 16.06.04 M 44 C MICU N/A SS48 4.10.04 C CARDIAC ICU ET SECRETION SS49 30.11.04 M 34 A ICU BLOOD SS50 29.07.04 M 34 D 1-3 BLOOD N/A RDU: Renal Dialysis unit, NICU: Neurological intensive care unit, MICU: Medical Intensive care unit CSF: Cerebro spinal fluid , ET: endotracheal secretion; N/A: Not available Their sensitivity to the following antibiotics either alone or in the presence of clavulanic acid was assessed on Mueller-Hinton agar using the pairs of Oxoid combination discs: (ceftazidime-30 µg and ceftazidime/clavulanate-30/10 µg; cefotaxime-30 µg and K. pneumonia isolates with ESBL activity 43 cefotaxime/clavulanate - 30/10 µg; cefpodoxime-30 µg and cefpodoxime/clavulanate-30/10µg; cefpirome-30 µg and cefpirome/clavulanate30/10µg). BOX-PCR and RAPD PCR amplification For the BOX-PCR, the primer 5’CTACGGCAAGGCGACGCTGACG-3’ (Martin et al, 1992) was used. PCR was carried out in a total reaction mixture of 25 µl, containing 50 mM buffer, 2 mM MgCl2, 200 µM each deoxynucleoside triphosphate, 25 pmol of primer, 25 ng of template DNA and 1 U of Taq DNA polymerase . Amplifications were performed with a DNA thermocycler (BIO-RAD) as follows: 1 cycle of 95º C for 4 minutes, 30 cycles of 94º C for 30 s, 92º C for 30 s, 50º C for 1 minute, 65º C for 8 minutes and 1 cycle of 65º C for 8 minutes. The PCR products were run in 1.5 % agarose gel stained with EtBr and observed to score for markers. Similar reaction was set up for RAPD except that the annealing temperature was 32º C. The gel banding patterns were scored and the data was analysed by NTSYS; and the tree was generated with Darwin 5.0. Amplification and sequence analysis of TEM, SHV and CTX-M genes Standard PCR reactions were done for the amplification of beta-lactamase genes using published primer sequences (Table 2). Products were purified after amplification and sequenced. Sequence results were manually checked and edited. Table 2. List of primer sequences Primer Name SHV A SHV B SHV A1 SHV A2 SHV A11 SHV A12 Primer Sequence Reference 5- ACT GAA TGA GGC GCT TCC-3 5- ATC CCG CAG ATA AAT CAC C-3 Babini & Livermore, 2000 5- TCA GCG AA AAC ACC TTG-3 5 –TCC CGC AGA TAA ATC ACC A-3 5- ATG CGT TAT ATT CGC CTG TG-3 5- GTT AGC GTT GCC AGT GCT CG-3 5- TGG TTA TGC GTT ATA TTC GCCSHV S1 3 Gniadkowski et al., 1998 SHV S2 5- GGT TAG CGT TGC CAG TGC T-3 SHV B1 5-ATG CGT TAT ATT CGC CTG TG-3 SHV B2 5- GTT AGC GTT GCC AGT GCT CG-3 5- GGG AAT TCT CGG GGA AAT TEM D1 GTG CGC GGA AC-3 5- GGG ATC CGA GTA AAC TTG GTC TEM D2 Bou et al., 2000 TGA CAG-3 TEM A1 5- TAA AAT TCT TGA AGA CG-3 TEM A2 5- TTA CCA ATG CTT AAT CA-3 CTX-M1 5- CGC TTT GCG ATG TGC AG-3 Jungmin Kim et al., 2005 CTX-M2 5- ACC GCG ATA TCG TTG GT-3 INT 2F 5-TCTCGGGTAACATCAAGG -3 Mazel et al., 2000 INT 2R 5- AAGCAGACTTGACCTGA -3 the nucleotide sequence were converted into Sequence Analysis contigs using the following web page SHV, TEM and CTX-M homologue DNA http://pbil.univ-lyon1.fr/cap3.php. Tblastx sequences were identified with tblastx was carried out with the contigs in NCBI. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast) search of the nonThe contigs were translated into amino redundant National Center for Biotechnology acids by using the following program: Information (NCBI) sequence database. First of all http://www.biochem.ucl.ac.uk/cgi- 44 Salima Khurshid MUN NGLOO-RUJU UBALI et al. bin/mcdoonald/cgina2aaa.pl The amino a acid seequence with no stop coddon was seleected. This was w then aliigned with the t corresponnding sequence that blasteed well withh a low E-value. The amino a acid seequences of SHV, S TEM and a CTX-M and their hoomologs werre aligned with MultAliggn. Results Biochem mical characteerisation The API 20E system indicated thaat 45g negatiive w identifieed as Klebsiellla pneumoniaae, isolates were however these isolates could be classsified into thrree groups baased on the prrofile obtainedd: Group I: Profile 52157773 Group II:: Profile 52153373 Group IIII: Profile 52077773 Group IV V: Profile 52055773 Group V: Profile 52557773 Group VII: Profile 52255773 ESBL acctivity Four out of fifty isolatees were ESBL L negative. Thhey were isolates SS22, SS42, S SS45 and SS47. The T differencee in the zone of inhibition was less thann 5 mm for each one of o them. Thee remaining 46 isolates were w confirmed as ESBL producers. The double d disc asssay revealed, that t except for a few, mosst of the isolaates produced evidence of an extended spectrum beta lacctamase; with Cefottaxime, isolates SS 35 andd SS 42 were susceeptible with a zone of iinhibition of aboutt 20 mm and 25 mm, resppectively, and an in ncrease of thiss zone by > 5 mm in the preseence of clavullanate. Three isolates, SS 17, SS S 31 and SS S 42 were suusceptible to Ceftaazidime with no n increase inn diameter in the presence of inhibiitor. With Cefpo odoxime, SS 42, 4 SS 45 andd SS 47 were susceeptible, whilee with Cefpirrome SS 42 and SS S 09 showedd some susceeptibility and just a slight inccrease of 4 mm in the preseence of inhibittor clavulanatte. Isolate SS 42 waas considered a non-ESBL. BOX X and RAPD PCR P BOX X-PCR is commonly used for fingerprinting baacterial genoomes using primeers targeting repetitive elements in interg genic regionns. The oveerall results show wed that isolaates SS49, S SS42, SS45, SS43, SS44, SS48,, SS46, SS47,, SS50 which were isolated duriing the same year, but in differrent hospitalss, were groupped into one clusteer (Figures 1, 2, 3). Isoolates SS42, SS44 4, SS45, SS477, SS48, SS449 and SS50 also shared s the sam me API profilee i.e profile 1 (Figu ures 2 and 5). X-PCR. Lane 42: SS42, Lanne 43: SS43, Figure 1. DNA fingerrprint analysiss of K pneumooniae by BOX 4 SS45, Lanne 46: SS46, Lane L 47: SS47 7, Lane 48: SS48, Lane 49: SS49, Lane Lane 44: SS44, Lane 45: H Hyperladdeer (11) Biolinne. 50: SS50. C: Control, H: K. K pneumonia issolates with ESBL activity 45 Figure 2. Dendogram generated froom BOX-PCR R based on Diice similarity coefficient annd neighbour joining cllustering for the t 50 isolatess of Klebsiellaa pneumoniaee with a copheenetic correlattion (r) value of 0.95299. Figure 3.. RAPD fingeerprint of K. pneumoniae with primer OP PA12. Lane 1: SS01, Lane 22:SS02, Lane 3: SS03, Lane 4: SS004, Lane 5: SS05, Lane6: SS06, Lane 7: 7 SS07, Lanee 8: SS08, Laane 9: SS09, Lane10: SS10, Lane 11: SS11, Laane12: SS12, Lane13: SS1 13, Lane14: SS14, S Lane 115: SS15. C: control, H:Hyperladder H r(11) Bioline 46 Salima Khurshid MUN NGLOO-RUJU UBALI et al. Figure 4. RAPD fingeerprint of K .ppneumoniae with w primer OPB O 01. Lane442: SS42, Lanne 43: SS43, Lane 44: SS44, Lane455: SS45, Lanee 46: SS46, Laane47: SS47, Lane48: SS488, Lane 49: SS S49, Lane50: SS50.C: control, c H:Hyyperladder(1) Bioline. B Figure 5. Dendogram generated froom RAPD-PCR R based on Dice D similarity coefficient annd neighbour joining cllustering of RAPD R for the 50 5 isolates off Klebsiella pn neumonia. Forr both sets of data with the BOX andd RAPDs, the clustering of isolates i was nearly n the sam me, with three discernable d grroups. K. K pneumonia issolates with ESBL activity 47 TEM, SH HV and CTX-M amplificaation Differentt size productss were obtaineed for each set of primers. The T TEM A1//A2 gave prodducts slightly longer thaan 1 kb. The CTX-M C primeers amplified a product of 585 5 bp. Both sets s of SHV A A11 and A12, and SHV V B1 and B2 gave g a producct of 865 bp. Amplification A n were detecteed for thirty seven isolates for SHV A11 and SHV V A12; twentyy two isolates for SHVB1 and a SHVB2, reespectively. A Amplification was achieeved with twenty-one isolaates for TEM M A1/A2 and twenty eight isolates for T TEM D1/D2. There weere only twelve isolates, whhich amplified with CTX-M M to give a product of 585 bpp. Figure 6.. Protein blastt of translated product from m isolate SS11 with primer SHV S A11/A122 Figure 7.. Alignment of o amino acid sequence from m isolate SS11 with SHV-228. The same w was obtained with isolaate SS25. Amiino acid sequeence from isollate SS47 alig gned well withh CTX-M 15. 48 Salima Khurshid MUNGLOO-RUJUBALI et al. For one isolate, the presence of integrons was assessed using integrase specific primers. It was found that the INT amplicon from isolate SS02 had the sequence for integrase. The BLAST result returned a match with Corynebacterium diphtheriae integrase. The results for integrase from isolate SS02 are shown below. >2R.INT QAMKT ATAPLPPLRS VKVLDQLRER IRYLHYSLRT EQAYVHWVRA FIRFHGVRHP ATLGSSEVEA FLSWLANERK VSVSTHRQAL AALLFFYGKV LCTDLPWLQE IGRPRPSRRL PVVLTPDEVV RILGFLEGEH RLFAQLLYGT GMRISEGLQL RVKDLDFDHG TII ref|NP_940279.1| integrase [Corynebacterium diphtheriae NCTC ... 331 2e-89 REFSEQ: accession NC_002935.2 KEYWORDS complete genome. SOURCE Corynebacterium diphtheriae NCTC 13129 ORGANISM PUBMED Corynebacterium diphtheriae NCTC 13129 14602910 Amino acid sequence >2int mktataplpp lrsvkvldql rerirylhys lrteqayvhw vrafirfhgv rhpatlgsse veaflswlan erkvsvsthr qalaallffy gkvlctdlpw lqeigrprps rrlpvvltpd evvrilgfle gehrlfaqll ygtgmriseg lqlrvkdldf dhgtiivreg kgskdralml peslapslre qlsrglcckd wrqsevgcrs apirrllrng g K. K pneumonia issolates with ESBL activity 49 Figuree 8. Conserveed domain of integrases. Discussioon The Klebbsiella pneumooniae isolates were analyssed to determ mine their geenetic relateddness and moost came from ICU (42% %). These isolaates were testted by classiical biochemiical (growth on media, API A identificaation and Oxoiid Combinatioon disk test) and a DNA- baased methods.. Biochemicall profiles by the t API 20 E system identiified two grouups. The phenotypic p chaaracterisation of sensitivity to the anti--microbials inndicated thatt most of the t isolates thhat were colleected and pree-screened, weere in fact ESBLs. E API confirmed thheir identity as Klebsiellaa pneumoniaee. There are no n reports of the t recent sittuation regardding the extent of spread of ESBL froom Klebsiellaa pneumoniaae or any othher resistant bacterial b pathogens in Mauuritius. OPB 01, OPL 07 and OPA12 were w the RAP PD primers (Fig ( 3&4), chhosen from thee twenty five or so primeers that weree screened. Primer P OPA 12 producedd more polymoorphic profilees than the othher two and all a the isolates were differeent. With prim mer OPL 07 the t same profiile was obtainned from isolattes SS40, SS S41, SS42, SS43, SS44, SS445, SS46, SS447, SS48, SS S49, and SS500. They all haad only 3 bannds of sizes sizes s 700bp, 1000 bp and 1200 bp. Theese same isollates gave diffferent patternns with the othher two prim mers. The denndrograms obbtained with the t results of o BOX-PCR R and that of o RAPD booth producedd three groups. Several of thhem were in the t same grouup for both methods. m No coorrelation wass found betweeen hospitals and a dates off isolation suuggesting thaat the ESBL L - h originatedd from very carrying strains had diverse sources. Siimilarly, theree was little or no co orrelation fouund among sam mples of the same hospitals, probably p inddicating that there had not beeen significannt spread of ESBL L carrying strains s withinn the same centree, although thhe sampling w was primarily done from patientss. RAPD andd PFGE have been used for typing off Klebsiella pneum moniae (Thouuraya et al., 2003). Both PFGE E typing and RAPD D produced conco ordant resullts and diiscrimination betweeen groups off epidemiologiically related strain ns could be maade. Th he presence of o the beta-lacttamase genes were detected by PCR amplifiication using specific primers for fo TEM, SHV V and CTXM. All A fifty isolates amplifieed the TEM and/o or SHV gennes while oonly twelve produ uced a prodduct with tthe CTX-M specific primerss (data noot shown). Ampllicons were purified andd sequenced. BLAST results inddicated that isolates SS11 and SS25 carried SHV 28 whhereas SS27 harbo oured SHV 11. For isolatees S01, S02, S25 and S41-49, CTX-M 15 was present. This variant is known k to bee commonly found d worldwide. There are fivve groups of CTX--M enzymes, namely CTX X-M 1, 2,3, 4 and 25. ESBL L carrying strains of entero obacteria arre resistant to third such as generration cephhalosporins 50 Salima Khurshid MUNGLOO-RUJUBALI et al. cefotaxime, cefdazidime and ceftriaxone; and are important threats. These enzymes do not affect cephamycins or imipenems. CTX-M is widely found in E. coli and Klebsiella isolates worldwide. CTX-M 15 in Salmonella enterica has also been shown to be present in stool samples of patients suffering from acute diarrhoea (Rotimi et al., 2008). The CTX-M 15 is encoded on large incompatibility plasmids of sizes varying between 145,5 and 242,5 kb. Many are found as IncFII together with IncFIA and IncFIB, with one report showing IncFI not associated with any IncFII (Mshana et al., 2009). This suggests that the plasmids contribute to the lateral transfer of the resistance genes. CTX-M ESBL hydrolyse cefepime more efficiently than other ESBLs (Mendonca et al., 2007). TEM and SHV enzymes have evolved significantly over the last decade or so and there is some evidence of positive selection. A list of over hundred different combinations of amino acid substitutions have been reported for the 278 long polypeptide. It is likely that the evolution of the protein is directed towards finding the mutants that have enhanced catalytic efficiency and can better compete with others. Experimental prediction of how resistance genes evolve in response to selection pressure has shown that alleles of the genes will mutate in a similar way as in nature. Several in vitro experiments using gene shuffling, or mutagenesis with Taq Polymerase under errorprone or the use of nucleoside analogs have led to the appearance of mutants with extreme resistance (> 64X or to beta-lactamase inhibitor). Interestingly these in vitro experiments have recovered amino acid substitutions that are naturally found among the TEM beta-lactamases. Hall and Barlow (2002) have used error-prone PCR for assessing the evolution of TEM-1 under selection pressure. Mutations were introduced into the genes and the mutated genes cloned into E.coli. Growth in increasing concentrations of antibiotic led to the identification of mutations in the resistance genes which allowed survival in the highest antibiotic concentrations. The cycles of mutations and selection are repeated until there is no further increase in resistance. The Barlow-Hall in vitro method recovered seven out of the nine amino acid substitutions that had arisen in nature. The same approach has been used to isolate an allele giving a resistance with a MIC of 256 µg/ml compared to 0.5 µg ml for reported, natural form of TEM. Those resistant alleles had between 2 to 6 amino acid substitutions. Three of these were identified that increased the MIC from 0.5 to 2 µg /ml then to 32 µg /ml and finally from 32 µg /ml to 256µg /ml. This would strongly suggest that there is a “natural evolutionary” series of replacement leading to the most resistant allele (Ford and Avison, 2004). Analysis of a K. pneumoniae genome sequence (strainMGH78578) reported two chromosomal blaSHV genes. Closer comparison of the surrounding sequence (GC content and other genes) of the two genes indicated that one had evolved from within that strain itself. On the other hand the second one was accompanied by insertion sequences IS26 suggesting that it was mobilised most likely from a different K. pneumoniae strain. Nucleotide sequence comparison and amino acid replacement at the active site have pointed to convergent evolution of ESBLs during the period of intense cefotaxime use and later that of ceftazidime. Beta lactamase genes have been shown to be vehicled as gene cassettes within integron sequences. VEB-1 (Vietnamese Extended Spectrum) and GES-1 (Guyanese Extended Spectrum) were first described associated with the intI1 integrase (Poirel et al 1999., 2000). Being part of the integron ensures that the resistance genes are rapidly mobilised for lateral transfer intra- and interspecies. In this study, one CTX-M 15 from isolate SS02, was found together with an integrase (Figure 3c). This could explain its rapid spread since it was first described. References Ambler RP. The structure of betalactamases. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences. 289: 321–331, 1980. Babini G and Livermore DM. Are SHV beta lactamases universal in Klebsiella pneumonia. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 44(8): 2230-2230, 2000. K. pneumonia isolates with ESBL activity 51 Barlow M and Hall BG. Predicting evolutionary potential: in vitro evolution accurately reproduces natural evolution of the TEM lactamase. Genetics. 160: 823–832, 2002. producing Escherichia coli clinical isolates in community and nosocomial environments in Portugal. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 51:1946-1955, 2007. German B and Martinez-Beltran J. Cloning, Nucleotide Sequencing, and Analysis of the Gene Encoding an AmpC b-Lactamase in Acinetobacter baumannii. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 44(2): 428–432, 2000. Nikaido H. Outer membrane barrier as a mechanism of antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 33:18311836, 1989. Ford PJ and Avison MB. Evolutionary mapping of the SHV b-lactamase and evidence for two separate IS26-dependent blaSHV mobilization events from the Klebsiella pneumoniae chromosome. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 54: 69 – 75, 2004. Gniadkowski M, Schneider I, Jungwirth R, et al. Ceftazidime Resistant Enterobacteriaceae isolates from three Polish Hospitals: Identification of three novel TEM- and SHV-5 type Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 42(3): 514-520, 1998. Hall BG and Barlow M. Evolution of the serine beta-lactamases: past, present and future. Drug Resistance Update.7: 111–123, 2004. Kim J, Lim Y, Jeong Y and Seol S. Occurrence of CTX-M-3, CTX-M-15, CTX-M-14, and CTXM-9 Extended-Spectrum Beta Lactamases in Enterobacteriaceae Clinical Isolates in Korea. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 49(4): 1572– 1575, 2005. Mazel D, Dychinco B, Webb VA, and J. Davies. Antibiotic resistance in the ECOR collection: integrons and identification of a novel aad gene. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 44:1568–1574. 2000. Mshana SE, Imirzalioglu C, Hossain H, et al. Conjugative IncFI plasmids carrying CTX-M15 among Escherichia coli ESBL producing isolates at a University hospital in Germany. BioMedCentral (BMC) Infectious Diseases. 9: 97, 2009. Mendonça N, Leitão J, Manageiro V, et al. Spread of extended spectrum b-lactamase CTX-M- Jonathan N. Screening for ExtendedSpectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Pathogenic Enterobacteria in District General Hospitals. J Clin Microbiol. 43: 1488–1490, 2005. Poirel L, Naas T, Guibert M, et al. Molecular and biochemical characterization of VEB-1, a novel class A extended-spectrum b-lactamase encoded by an Escherichia coli integron gene. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 43:573–581, 1999. Poirel L, Le Thomas I, Naas T, et al. Biochemical sequence analyses of GES1, a novel class A extended-spectrum blactamase, and the class 1 integron In52 from Klebsiella pneumoniae. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 44: 622–632, 2000. Rotimi V, Jamal W, Pal T, et al. Emergence of CTX-M-15 type extended-spectrum blactamase-producing Salmonella spp. in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. J Med Microbiol. 57: 881–886, 2008. Ben-Hamouda T, Foulon T, Ben cheikhMasmoudi A, et al. Molecular epidemiology of an outbreak of multi resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a Tunisian neonatal ward. Journal of Medical Microbiology. 52(5): 427-433, 2003. Wu TL, Siu LK, Su LH, et al. Outer membrane protein change combined with co-existing TEM-1 and SHV-1 beta lactamases lead to false identification of ESBL producing Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Antimicrob Chemother. 47:755-761, 2001. Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology 10(2):53-59, 2012 Haliç University, Printed in Turkey. http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr Research Article 53 HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibition by Vitex negundo L. leaf extract and quantification of flavonoids in relation to anti-HIV activity Mohan KANNAN1*, Paramasivam RAJENDRAN2, Gnanasekaran ASHOK3, Shanmugam ANUSHKA3, RAMACHANDRAN NAIR1 Veerasami VEDHA3, Pratap CHANDRAN 1 Department of Biotechnology and Research, K.V.M. College of Engineering and Information Technology, Kokkothamangalam, Cherthala, Kerala, India. 2 Department of Microbiology, Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai – 600 116, Tamilnadu, India. 3 Department of Microbiology, Post Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Madras, Taramani Campus, Chennai – 600 113, Tamilnadu, India. (*author for correspondence; [email protected]) Received: 22 September 2011, Accepted: 08 November 2012 Abstract This study aimed to determine the activity of ethanolic leaf extract of Vitex negundo L. against HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase (RT) and to identify and quantify the flavonoids present. The effects of ethanolic (85%) leaf extract of Vitex negundo L. on RT activity in vitro were evaluated with recombinant HIV-1 enzyme, using a non-radioactive HIV-RT colorimetric ELISA kit. In addition, identification and quantification of flavonoids such as Rutin, Luteolin, Myricetin, Quercetin, Kaempherol, Isorhamnetin and Quercetagetin were analysed using HPLC. The plant Vitex negundo L. ethanolic leaf extract exhibited the most notable activity of 92.8% against HIV-1 RT at 200 µg/ml concentration. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of steroids, triterpenes, alkaloids, flavanoids, antroquinone glycosides and amino acids. Among 7 flavonoids tested, 6 were identified in the decreasing order of quantity as Kaempherol, Myricetin, Quercetin, Quercetagetin, Isorhamnetin and Luteolin. The study revealed that the plant Vitex negundo L. leaf possess anti-RT substances and probably the flavonoids act as anti-virus agents. Keywords: Vitex negundo, flavonoids, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, phytochemical, anti-HIV activity. Özet Vitex negundo L. yaprak özütüyle HIV-1 ters transkriptaz inhibisyonu ve antiHIV aktivitesiyle ilişkili flavonoidlerin kantifikasyonu üzerine bir çalışma Bu çalışmada HIV-1 ters transkriptaza karşı Vitex negundo L. etanolik yaprak özütünün aktivitesini tespit etmek ve flavonoidlerin varlığını ölçmek amaçlanmıştır. Vitex negundo L. etanolik (%85) yaprak özütünün in vitro RT aktivitesi üzerinde etkileri, rekombinant HIV-1 enzimi ile radyoaktif olmayan HIV-RT kolorimetrik ELISA kiti kullanarak ölçülmüştür. Ayrıca, Rutin, Luteolin, Myricetin, Quercetin, Kaempherol, Isorhamnetin ve Quercetagetin gibi flavonoidlerin tanımlanması ve kantifikasyonu HPLC kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Vitex negundo etanolik yaprak özütü 200 µg/ml konsantrasyonda HIV-1 RT’e karşı %92,8 aktivite göstermiştir. Fitokimyasal analizler steroidlerin, triterpenlerin, alkoloidlerin, flavonoidlerin, antrokinon glikoitlerin ve aminoasitlerin varlığını açığa 54 Mohan KANNAN et al. çıkartmaktadır. Test edilen 7 flavonoidden altısı, azalan miktarlarına göre Kaempherol, Myricetin, Quercetin, Quercetagetin, Isorhamnetin ve Luteolin olacak şekilde belirlenmiştir. Bu çalışma, Vitex negundo bitki yaprağının anti-ters transkriptaz özelliği bulunduğunu ve flavonoidlerin retrovirüslere karşı muhtemelen antivirüs ajan olarak rol oynadıkları ortaya çıkarmaktadır. Anahtar kelimeler: Vitex negundo, flavonoidler, HIV-1 ters transkriptaz, fitokimyasal, anti-HIV aktivitesi. Introduction Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), results in life-threatening opportunistic infections and malignancies. HIV leads to the destruction and functional impairment of the immune system, subsequently destroying the body’s ability to fight against infections (Kanazawa and Matija, 2001). Moreover, the standard antiviral therapies are too expensive for a common man. In order to manage this condition alternative treatments are explored. Vitex negundo L., a member of Verbenaceae family, an important medicinal plant is found throughout India. Though almost all plant parts are used, the extract from leaves and the roots is the most important in the field of medicine and is sold as drugs. The leaf extract is used in Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine for treatment of various ailments (Kapur et al., 1994). It also has mosquito repellent activity (Hebbalkar et al., 1992), antiarthritic effect on rats (Tamhankar et al., 1994), analgesic activity on mice (Gupta et al., 1999), hepatoprotective activity (Kapur et al., 1994), antiinflammatory and anti-allergic activity (Chawla et al., 1992; Jana et al., 1999). Besides being used as a traditional medicine, its antiviral property, especially against HIV, has not yet been explored much. Flavonoids have been proven to display a wide range of biochemical and pharmacological actions such as anti-carcinogenic, anti-viral, anti-microbial, anti-thrombotic, anti-inflammatory, and antimutagenic activities. In addition, flavonoids can act as free radical scavengers and terminate the radical chains reaction that occurs during the oxidation of triglycerides in food system (Turkoglu et al., 2007). Moreover flavonoid compounds represent an important natural source of anti-retrovirals for AIDS therapy due to their significant anti-HIV-1 activity and low toxicity. One of the possible approaches is the screening of plants based on their ethnomedicinal data for inhibition (Vlietinck et al., 1998). Current strategies for anti-HIV chemotherapy involve inhibition of virus adsorption, virus-cell fusion, reverse transcription, integration, translation, proteolytic cleavage, glycosylation, assembly, or release (Moore and Stevenson, 2000; Miller and Hazuda, 2001). Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme that reads the sequence of HIV RNA that has entered the host cell and transcribes the sequence into complementary DNA. Without reverse transcriptase, the viral genome cannot be incorporated into the host cell and as a result a virus will not replicate. Reverse transcriptase is therefore the principal target enzyme of antiretroviral drugs such as Nevarapine and Delavirpine that are used to treat HIV infected patients (De Clercq, 2007; Woradulayapinji et al., 2005). Therefore this study has been designed to explore the possible anti-HIV activity by RT enzyme inhibition assay and to quantify the flavonoids from the leaves of Vitex negundo. Materials and Methods Plant material and extraction The leaves of Vitex negundo L. were collected from Kolli hills adjoining downstream areas of Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu, India and authenticated (PARC/2010/587) by Dr. Jayaraman, Plant Anatomy Research Centre, National Institute of Herbal Science, Chennai, India. The plant samples were washed, shadedried, powdered and extracted in 85% ethanol and filtered. The extracts were then concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure and the residue was freshly dissolved in appropriate buffer on each day Anti-HIV property of Vitex negundo L 55 of experiment for the assays. Depending on the assay, extract that could not dissolve in appropriate buffer were dissolved in DMSO and later diluted to different concentration needed for a particular assay. HIV-1 RT assay The effect of the plant extract on RT activity in vitro was evaluated with recombinant HIV-1 enzyme, using a non-radioactive HIV-1 RT colorimetric ELISA kit (Roche) (Ayisi, 2003; Harnett et al., 2005). The concentration of extract used was 200µg/ml. The extracts, which reduced activity by at least 50%, were considered as active Percentage of Inhibition = 100 - (Woradulayapinji et al., 2005). Azidothymidine (AZT) was used as a positive control at 100 µg/ml. The control (1) only contained the buffer and reaction mixture (no enzyme and extracts were added). For the control (2) the enzyme and reaction mixture were added for the reaction to take place. The absorbance was read on a microtitre plate reader at 405 nm with a reference wavelength of 490 nm. The mean of the triplicate absorbance were analysed using the formula: Mean Sample absorbance X 100 Mean Control-2 absorbance Preliminary phytochemical analysis The ethanolic leaf extract was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening as per the procedures of Harborne, 1998 and Kokate, 2003. Quantitative analysis of flavonoids using HPLC The procedure as described by Lawrence Evans (2007) was used for the determination of flavonoids in the plant extracts. The flavonoid standard used in the study includes Rutin, Luteolin, Myricetin, Quercetin, Kaempferol, Isorhamnetin and Quercetagetin (Sigma Chemicals, USA) and were prepared at 1 mg/ml in methanol. A total of 1g of plant extract was extracted with 78 ml of extraction solvent (methanol, water and hydrochloric acid; 50:20:8). Extract was then refluxed at 90◦C for 2 h. Then extract was cooled and latter 20 ml of methanol was added and sonicated for 30 minutes. All solutions were filtered through a 0.45µM cellulose acetate membrane filter (Paul, USA) before being injected into the HPLC. Aliquots of the filtrate (20µl) were injected on to an HPLC (Lachrom L-7000) column using C18 (Merck) (25 X 0.4 cm, 5µm) separately and eluted with mobile phase solvent mixture comprising Water: Methanol: Phosphoric acid (100:100:1, v:v:v) with a flow rate at 1.5 ml/min. The UV detection was carried out at 270 nm. The chromatograms were recorded and the areas measured for the major peak to quantify the flavonoids in the tested plant sample. Results The results shown in Table 1 indicates the inhibition percentage of ethanolic leaf extract of Vitex negundo L. against the reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme. The most notable activity of about 92.8% was detected against RT at 200µg/ml. The phytochemical analysis of the plant extract revealed the presence of steroids, triterpenes, alkaloids, flavanoids, antroquinone glycosides and aminoacids. In this study, flavonoids content of the ethanolic extract of Vitex negundo L. leaves were evaluated. The HPLC chromatogram of the flavonoid standard used and the chromatogram of the tested plant extract is shown in Figure 1 & 2. Results revealed that the extract consisted of different amount of various flavonoid types. As shown in Figure 1, the retention times of Rutin, Quercetin, Kaempherol Luteolin, Isorhamnetin , Myricetin, and Quercetagetin were at 19.40, 24.80 29.70, 33.80, 38.70, 41.26 and 43.8 min, respectively. 56 Mohan KANNAN et al. Table 1. Effect of ethanolic leaf extract of Vitex negundo L. on the activity of recombinant HIV-1 reverse transcriptase Extract/Control Mean absorbance ± SD Percentage of Inhibition Control 1 0.003 ± 0.01 Control 2 1.32 ± 0.01 AZT 0.193 ± 0.00 V. negundo L. 0.094 ± 0.01 100 0 85.37 92.8 Control 1- buffer and reaction mixture (no enzyme and extract); Control 2- enzyme and reaction mixture (no extract); AZT – Azidothymidine (Positive control). The plant extract showing percentage of inhibition greater than 50% has been considered as positive in inhibiting recombinant HIV-1 reverse transcriptase enzyme. Figure 1. HPLC Chromatogram of the flavonoid standards used in the study. 1. Rutin 2. Quercetin, 3.Kaempherol, 4. Luteolin, 5.Isorhamnetin, 6.Myricetin, 7.Quercetagetin. Figure 2 exhibits the presence of Quercetin, Kaempherol, Luteolin, Isorhamnetin, Myricetin and Quercetagetin in Vitex negundo leaf extract as per the retention time. The flavonoid Rutin was not identified in the chromatogram of the plant sample showing its absence in the plant extract. Amount of tested flavonoid compounds in the extract were calculated by measuring the area obtained for the peaks and in the order as Kaempherol (20.61 mg/g) > Myricetin (18.75 mg/g) > Quercetin (14.73 mg/g) > Quercetagetin (12.13 mg/g) > Isorhamnetin (11.01 mg/g) > Luteolin (6.40 mg/g). Anti-HIV property of Vitex negundo L 57 Figure 2. HPLC chromatogram of Vitex negundo leaves. Probable flavonoids quantity as per area and Retention time compared with the standard HPLC chromatogram: 1. Kaempherol ; 2. Myricetin ; 3. Quercetin ; 4. Quercetagetin ; 5. Isorhamnetin ; 6. Luteolin. Discussion For centuries water extract of fresh mature leaves are used in Ayurveda medicine as antiinflammatory, analgesic and anti-itching agents internally and externally. However the ethanolic extract of V. negundo leaves resulted in the isolation of a new flavones glycoside along with five known compounds which were evaluated for their antimicrobial activities by Sathyamoorthy et al., (2007). However studies on anti-HIV activity of V.negundo are few. For example the water extracts of Vitex negundo (aerial part) was shown to have HIV-1 RT inhibition ratio (% IR) higher than 90% at a 200µg/ml concentration (Woradulayapinij et al., 2005). Similarly the present study also showed that the polar solvent extract of ethanolic leaf extract of Vitex negundo L. had 92.8% inhibition of recombinant HIV-1 reverse transcriptase enzyme at 200µg/ml. Previous phytochemical studies on V. negundo L. had revealed the presence of volatile oil, triterpenes, diterpenes, sesquiterpenes, lignan, flavonoids, flavones glycosides, iridoid glycosides, and steroids as physiologically active compounds (Azhar and Abdul, 2004; Mukherjee et al., 1981). For centuries, preparations that contain flavonoids as the principal physiologically active constituents have been used by physicians and lay healers in attempts to treat human diseases (Havsteen, 1983). Flavonoids are the largest classes of naturally-occurring polyphenolic compounds (Geissman and crout, 1969). Evidence has been presented that substances closely related to flavonoids inhibit the fusion of the viral membrane with that of the lysosome (Miller and Lenard, 1981). Therefore the many claims from lay medical practitioners of the prophylactic effects of flavonoids against viral attack have substantial support (Beladi et al., 1977). Although the mechanism of the inhibition remains unclear, it seems that prostaglandins participate in the fusion of cell membranes. Since flavonoids inhibit their formation, a rationale can be constructed for the protective effect of flavonoids against viral diseases (Nagai et al., 1995a, 1995b; Carpenedo et al., 1969). Moreover from the previous reports it is clear that certain naturally occurring flavonoids can inhibit reverse transcriptases of different origins (Spedding et al., 1989) From the above reviews it is clear that the flavonoids have anti-microbial activity, particularly the antiviral. Therefore the present study is focused particularly on flavonoids among other phytochemicals. Moreover the choice 58 Mohan KANNAN et al. of flavonoid standards used in this study was based on those commonly found in herbs and vegetables which have been studied earlier and evidenced to possess anti-HIV activity. Schinazi et al. (1997) showed that the flavonols such as quercetin, myricetin, and quercetagetin, which was used as standard control in this study, have earlier been reported to inhibit certain viruses in vitro, including the Rauscher murine leukemia virus and the HIV virus. Among the 17 flavonols tested by Schinazi et al. (1997) only 3-O-glucosides of kaempherol, quercetin, and myricetin caused significant inhibition of HIV-1 at nontoxic concentrations. At the same time other comparative studies with other flavonoids revealed that the presence of both the double bond between positions 2 and 3 of the flavonoids pyrone ring, and the three hydroxyl groups introduced on positions 5,6 and 7 (ie, baicalein) were a prerequisite for the inhibition of RT-activity. Removal of the 6-hydroxyl group of bacalein required the introduction of three additional hydroxyl groups at position 3,3’ and 4’ (quercetin) to afford a compound still capable of inhibiting the RT-activity. Quercetagetin which contains the structures of both baicalein and quercetin with an additional hydroxyl group on the 5’ position also proved strong inhibitors of RT activity (Ono et al., 1990). Thus the activity of Vitex negundo leaf extract against HIV-1 RT in the present study might be due to the presence of above mentioned flavonoids particularly due to the presence of high quantity of Kaempherol, myricetin and quercetin. However this needs to be explored and confirmed. Probably this is the first report from India confirming the possible anti-HIV activity of Vitex negundo L. Acknowledgement We would like to thank Dr. Hannah Raichel Vasanthi, Former in-charge of Herbal Indian Medicinal Research laboratory, Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute for providing sophisticated lab facility for successful completion of this work. References Ayisi NK and Nyadedzor C. Comparitive in vitro effects of AZT and extracts of Ocimum gratissium, Ficus polita, Clausena arisata, Alchornea cordifolia and Elaeophorbia drupifera against HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections. Antiviral Research. 13: 25592562, 2003. Azhar UH and Abdul M. Enzymes Inhibiting Lignans from Vitex negundo, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin. 52(11):1269-1272, 2004. Beladi I, Pusztai R, Mucsi I, et al. Activity of some flavonoids against viruses. Annuals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 284: 358–364, 1977. Carpenedo F, Bortignon C, Bruni A and Santi R. Effect of quercetin on membrane-linked activities. Biochem Pharmacol. 18: 1495– 1500, 1969. Chawla AS, Sharma AK, Ha SS and Dhar KL. Chemical investigation and antiinflammatory activity of Vitex negundo seeds. J Natl Prod. 55: 163-167, 1992. De clercq E. Anti HIV drugs. Verhandelingen-Koninklijke Academie Geneeskdunde van Belgie. 69: 81-104, 2007. Spedding G, Ratty A, Middleton E. Inhibition of reverse transcriptase by flavonoids. Antiviral Research. 12: 99110, 1989. Geissman TA and Crout DHG. Organic chemistry of secondary plant metabolism. Freeman, Cooper & Company, San-Francisco. 183-230, 1969. Gupta M, Mazumber UK and Bhawal RS. CNS activity of vitex negundo Linn. In mice. Indian J Exptl Biol. 37: 143-146, 1999. Harborne JB. Phytochemical Methods: A Guide to Modern Techniques of Plant Analysis. 3rd (Ed). Chapman and Hall Co, New York. 1-302, 1998. Harnett SM, Oosthuizen V and Van De Venter M. Anti-HIV activities of organic and aqueous extracts of Sutherlandia frutescens and Lobostemon trigonus. Journal of Ethanopharmacology. 96: 113-119, 2005. Anti-HIV property of Vitex negundo L 59 Havsteen B. Flavonoids, a class of natural products of high pharmacological potency. Biochem Pharmacol. 32: 1141–1148, 1983. Hebbalkar DS, Hebbalkar GD and Sharma RN. Mosquito repellent activity of oils from Vitex negundo Linn. Leaves. Indian J Med Res. 95: 200-203, 1992. Jana U, Chattopadhyay RN and Shaw B. Preliminary studies on anti-inflammatory activity of Zingiber officinale Rose, Vitex negundo Linn. and Tinospora cordifolia (Willid) Miers in albino rats. Indian J Pharmacol. 31: 232-233, 1999. Kanazawa S and Matija PB. Repression of MHC determinants in HIV infection. Microbes Infect. 3: 467–473, 2001. Kapur V, Pillai KK, Hussain SZ and Balani DK. Hepatoprotective activity of ‘JIGRINE’ (An Unani polypharmaceutical herbal formulation on liver damage and lipid peroxidation caused by alcohol-carbon tetrachloride and paracetamol in rats. Indian J Pharm Sci. 56: 160, 1994. Kokate CK, Purohit AP and Gokhale SB. Pharmacognosy. Pune. 1-624, 2003. Lawrence Evans. Pharmacopeial Forum. 28(5): 1545, 2007. Miller DK and Lenard J. Antihistaminics, local anaesthetics and other amines as antiviral agents. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 78: 3605– 3609, 1981. Miller MD and Hazuda DJ. New antiretroviral agents: Looking beyond protease and reverse transcriptase. Curr Opin Microbiol. 4: 535–539, 2001. Moore JP and Stevenson M. New targets for inhibitors of HIV-1 replication. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 1: 40–49, 2000. Mukherjee KS and Badruddoza S. Chemical constituents of Dillenia indica Linn. And Vitex negundo Linn. J Indian Chem Soc. 58: 97, 1981. Nagai T, Moriguchi R, Suzuki Y, et al. Mode of action of the anti-influenza virus activity of plant flavonoid, 5,7,40-trihydroxy-8methoxyflavone, from the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis. Antiviral Res 1995a; 26: 11– 25. Nagai T, Suzuki Y, Tomimori T and Yamada H. Antiviral activity of plant flavonoid, 5,7,40-trihydroxy-8methoxyflavone, from the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis against influenza A (H3N2) and B viruses. Biol Pharm Bull. 18: 295–299, 1995b. Ono K, Nakane H, Fukushima M, Chermann JC and Barre-Sinoussi F. Differential inhibitory effects of various flavonoids on the activities of reverse transcriptase and cellular DNA and RNA polymerases Eur J Biochem. 190: 469-476, 1990. Sathiamoorthy B, Prasoon Gupta, Manmeet Kumar, Ashok K, Chaturvedi and Shukla PK. New antifungal flavonoid glycoside from Vitex negundo. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters. 17: 239– 242, 2007. Schinazi RF, Hughes SH and Chen FC. In vitro anti-HIV activity of biflavonoids isolated from Rhus succedanea and Garcinia multiflora. J Nat Prod. 60: 884-888, 1997. Tamhankar CP and Saraf MN. Anti-arthritic activity of V. Negundo L. Indian J Pharm Sci. 56: 154-160, 1994. Turkoglu A, Duru ME, Mercan N, et al. Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Laetiporus sulphureous (Bull.) Murrill. Food Chem. 101(1):267–73, 2007. Vlietinck, AJ, De Bruyne T, Apers S and Pieters LA. Plant derived leading compounds for chemotherapy of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Planta Med. 64: 97–109, 1998. Woradulayapinij W, Soonthornchareonnon N, Wiwat C. In vitro HIV type 1 reverse transcriptase inhibitory activities of Thai medicinal plants and Canna indica L. rhizomes. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 101: 84-89, 2005. Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology 10(2):61-69, 2012 Haliç University, Printed in Turkey. http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr Research Article 61 Genetic characterization and bottleneck analysis of Korki Jonub Khorasan goats by microsatellite markers Bizhan MAHMOUDI*1, Orang ESTEGHAMAT2, Ahmad SHAHRIYAR1 and Majnun Sh. BABAYEV3 1 Islamic Azad University, Meshkinshahr Branch, Meshkinshahr, Ardabil, Iran Department of Animal Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Astara Branch, Astara, Gilan, Iran 3 Department of Genetic, Faculty of Biology, Baku State University, Baku, Azerbaijan 2 (*author for correspondence: [email protected]) Received: 19 March 2012, Accepted: 14 November 2012 Abstract The present study was undertaken for population genetic analysis at molecular level to exploit the breed for planning sustainable improvement, conservation and utilization, which subsequently can improve the livelihood of its stake holders. Iranian goat populations are recognized as an invaluable component of the world’s goat genetic resources. The genetic characterization and bottleneck analysis in Korki Jonub Khorasan (KJK) was analyzed using 13 microsatellite markers. The observed number of alleles ranged from 3 (OarAE133) to 11 (TGLA122) with a total of 98 alleles and mean of 7.54 alleles across loci. The overall heterozygosity, PIC and Shannon index values were 0.845, 0.76 and 1.759 indicating high genetic diversity. Only 4 out of 13 loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The mean Fis was -0.059.Only 3 loci had positive Fis values and 10 loci had negative values. Genetic bottleneck hypotheses were also explored. Our data suggest that the KJK goats have not experienced a genetic bottleneck in the recent past. Keywords: Bottleneck, Genetic Diversity, Microsatellites, Korki Jonub Khorasan, Fis. Özet Korki Jonub Horasan keçisinin mikrosatellit markörleriyle darboğaz analizi ve genetik tanımlanması Bu çalışmada sahiplerinin geçimini arttıracak soyların sürdürülebilir gelişiminin planlanması, korunması ve faydalanılması için moleküler düzeyde popülasyon genetik analizi yapılması üstlenilmiştir. İran keçisi popülasyonu dünyanın keçi genetik kaynaklarının çok değerli bir parçası olarak kabul edilmektedir. Korki Jonub Horasan (KJK)’da genetik tanımlama ve darboğaz analizi 13 mikrosatellit markör kullanılarak yapılmıştır. Gözlemlenen allel sayısı toplam 98 allelden 3(OarAE133) -11(TGLA122) arasında değişmektedir ve lokuslar genelinde ortalama 7,54 allel vardır. Heterozigotluk, PIC ve Shannon indeks değerleri 0,845, 0,76 ve 1,759 olup yüksek genetik çeşitliliği işaret etmektedir. 13 lokustan 4’ü Hardy-Weinberg dengesindedir. Ortalama Fis -0,059’dur. Sadece 3 lokusun pozitif ve 10 lokusun negatif Fis değeri vardır. Genetik darboyun analizi ayrıca incelenmiştir. Verilerimiz KJK keçilerinin yakın geçmişte genetik bir darboğaz ile karşılaşılmadığını öne sürmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Darboğaz, Genetik çeşitlilik, Mikrosatellitler, Horasan keçisi, Fis. 62 Bizhan MAHMOUDI et al. Introduction Genetic diversity, the primary component of adaptive evolution, is essential for the long-term survival probability of a population (Avise, 1995; Coltman et al., 1998; Harley et al., 2002). Genetic diversity within domesticated species depends on several factors such as changing agricultural practices, breed replacement and cross breeding. Genetic diversity has been analyzed by using protein polymorphism, mitochondrial diversity and microsatellite marker in both domestic and wild species (Harley et al., 2002;Li and Valenti, 2004; Tapiio et al., 2006; Pastor et al., 2004; Barker et al., 2001; Li et al., 2002; Joshi et al., 2004, Rout et al., 2008). The domestic goat (Capra hircus) is known for its ability to thrive on paltry fodder and to with stand harsh environments. From an agricultural standpoint, the world’s 700 million goats provide reliable access to meat, milk, skin, and fiber for small farmers particularly in some countries like Iran. Iran is bestowed with 8% of total world’s goat population comprised of 8 recognized and many non-descript populations. Among them, Korki Jonub Khorasan (KJK) is the major goat population of Khorasane Jonobi province and is known for fiber quality, meat and milk production. There are several studies on genetic diversity of goats, based on microsatellite markers, such as Swiss breeds (Saitbekova et al., 1999), Chinese indigenous populations (Li et al., 2002), goats from Europe (includingalso the breeds represented here) and Middle East (Canon et al., 2006), Mehsana goat (Aggarwal et al., 2007), Indian domestic goats (Rout et al., 2008), Barbari goats (Ramamoorthi et al., 2009) and Iranian native goats (Mahmoudi et al., 2011). Microsatellites have been used successfully to define genetic relationships among different breeds in Iran. Microsatellites display higher levels of variation, and consequently, enable population differentiation to be found more efficiently, so as to help breeders to implement rational decisions for conservation and improvement of valuable germplasm (Mahmoudi et al., 2011). Bottleneck analysis of KJK population has not been carried out. Hence, it is essential to genetically characterize and unfold the genetic diversity of indigenous breeds. The aim of our pervious study was to analyze the genetic diversity and calculation of genetic distance of three Iranian native goat populations (Raeini, Korki Jonub Khorasan and Lori) through the use of microsatellite markers. Our pervious study demonstrates that the closest distance was observed between Raeini and KJK (D = 0.4891) and the largest between Raeini and Lori (D = 0.6298). The UPGMA tree shows that two goat populations (KJK and Raeini) are distinct from the other goat population (Lori) (Mahmoudi et al., 2011). But in this study, Microsatellite analysis was carried out to test for signatures of recent population bottlenecks in Korki Jonub Khorasan goat. This analysis was carried out on 51 DNA samples with 13 microsatellite markers. For these loci, genetic variation was quantified using measures of the total number of alleles, number of polymorphic loci, observed and expected heterozygosity per locus and allelic richness. We tested the Hardy-Weinberg (HW) equilibrium and also calculated the values of Fis (inbreeding coefficient). Materials and Methods 51 blood samples were collected in 12 villages in which the population has a major concentration. Samples were collected from the individuals exhibiting typical population characteristics and at least two samples were collected from each village of Khorasane Jonobi province in Iran. An effort was made to collect samples from unrelated individuals based on information provided by farmers. Blood samples were collected from each animal using EDTA vacutainer and stored at –20 ºC till further use. Blood samples (5–6 ml) were collected from the jugular vein of the animal in vacutainers containing EDTA as anticoagulant. DNA was extracted from whole blood using standard protocols (Sambrook et al., 1989). The DNA isolation procedure involved lysis of RBCs, digestion of protein using proteinase K, and precipitation of protein using phenol: chloroform: isoamyl alcohol with 25: 24: 1 ratio. In this study, 13 microsatellite primer pairs were used, including MAF64, Bottleneck analysis of KJH goats 63 BM4621, BM121, LSCV36, TGLA122, OarJMP23, OarFCB304, OarAE133, ILSTS005, ILSTS022, ILSTS029, ILSTS033 and ILSTS034. Most of primers used were independent and belonged to different chromosomes. Typical polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing was carried out under these conditions: 60 ng of target DNA was used in 25-μl PCR reaction containing 1×PCR buffer, 50 ng of each primer, 200 μM of dNTPs, 0.5 units of Taq DNA Polymerase and 1.5 mMMgCl2. A Common “Touchdown” PCR profile included 3 cycles of 45 sec at 95°C, 1 min at 60°C; 3 cycles of 45 sec at 95°C, 1 min at 57°C; 3 cycles of 45 sec at 95°C, 1 min at 54°C; 3 cycles of 45 sec at 95°C, 1 min at 51°C and 20 cycles of 45 sec at 92°C, 1 min at 48°C. In all cycles elongation temperature and time were 72°C and 1 min, respectively. Alleles were scored using unlabeled primers with products visualized by silver staining (Bassam et al., 1991). Genotype of individual animal at 13 microsatellite loci was recorded by direct counting.Genotypic data were analyzed using POPGENE (Yeh and Boyle, 1997) and GenAlex (Peakall and Smouse, 2006) to calculate the observed number of alleles, effective number of alleles, observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity, and to test for Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE).Allelic frequencies were utilized for assessing polymorphic information content (PIC), a measure of informativeness of a marker, calculated according to Botstein et al. (1980) using the given formula, Where k is the number of alleles and xi and xj are the frequencies of the ith and jth alleles respectively. Heterozygote deficiencies were estimated as Fis = (Ho −He)/He, where Ho and He are the observed and expected frequency of heterozygotes respectively. The bottlenecks program (Piry et al., 1999) was used as an alternative measure of genetic bottlenecks to test for excess gene diversity relative to that expected under mutation-drift equilibrium. The heterozygosity excess method exploits the fact that allele diversity is reduced faster than heterozygosity during a bottleneck, because rare alleles are lost rapidly and have little effect on heterozygosity, thus producing a transient excess in heterozygosity relative to that expected in a population of constant size with the same number of alleles (Cornuet and Luikart, 1996; Piry et al., 1999). To determine the population ‘‘genetic reduction signatures’’ characteristic of recent reductions in effective population size (Ne), the Wilcoxon’s heterozygosity excess test (Piry et al., 1999) , standard differential test, sign test and the allele frequency distribution mode shift analysis(Luikart et al., 1998) were performed using BOTTLENECK (Piry et al., 1999). The heterozygosity excess method was used to analyzed the population and the data for the heterozygosity excess test were examined under the two-phased model (TPM; 95%stepwise mutation model with 5% multi-step mutations and a variance among multiple steps of 12), which is considered best for microsatellite data (Piry et al., 1999; Di Rienzo et al., 1994). We also analyzed the allele frequency distribution for gaps. Aqualitative descriptor of allele frequency distribution (the mode-shift indicator),is reported to discriminate between bottlenecked and stable population (Luikart et al.,1998). Results In order to maintain genetic diversity, breeding strategies that increase effective population size minimizing genetic drift effect should be implemented. Microsatellite markers in combination with recent statistical methodologies represent a useful tool for the conservation and management of endangered breeds. In the present work, the actual situation concerning genetic diversity and population structure of this breed has been evaluated using the molecular information derived from 13 microsatellites loci and the use of clustering methods. 13 pairs of highly polymorphic microsatellite markers were chosen based on their genomic location (Table 1).Various measures of genetic variation are presented in the Table 2. The F-statistics estimates are presented in Table3. The number of alleles observed across the microsatellite loci 64 Bizhan MAHMOUDI et al. studied varied from 3(OarAE133) to 11 (TGLA122) with an overall mean of 7.54 (Table 2). The observed number of alleles across the loci was more than the effective number of alleles (2.355 to 6.973). The Shannon information index (I) and polymorphic Information Content (PIC) showed that most of the loci were highly informative indicating the high polymorphism across the loci with an overall mean of 1.759 and 0.76 respectively. The average observed heterozygosity was more than the expected (Table 3). The average expected gene diversity (Nei, 1973) ranged from 0.581 (OarAE133) to 0.865 (TGLA122) with an overall mean of 0.798. Nine out of total 13 loci studied showed significant deviations from Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium. Table 1. Details of the microsatellite used in the study Locus BM121 BM4621 ILSTS005 ILSTS022 ILSTS029 ILSTS033 ILSTS034 LSCV36 MAF64 OarAE133 OarFCB304 OarJMP23 TGLA122 Primer sequence TGGCATTGTGAAAAGAAGTAAAA CTAGCACTATCTGGCAAGCA CAAATTGACTTATCCTTGGCTG TGTAACATATGGGCTGCATC GGAAGCAATGAAATCTATAGCC TGTTCTGTGAGTTTGTAAGC AGTCTGAAGGCCTGAGAACC CTTACAGTCCTTGGGGTTGC TGTTTTGATGGAACACAGCC TGGATTTAGACCAGGGTTGG TATTAGAGTGGCTCAGTGCC ATGCAGACAGTTTTAGAGGG AAGGGTCTAAGTCCACTGGC GACCTGGTTTAGCAGAGAGC GCACACACATACACAGAGATGCG AAAGAGGAAAGGGTTATGTCTGGA AATAGACCATTCAGAGAAACGTTGAC CTCATCGAATCAGACAAAAGGTAGG AGCCAGTAGGCCCTCACCAGG CCAACCATTGGCAGCGGGAGTGTGG CCCTAGGAGCTTTCAATAAAGAATCGG CGCTGCTGTCAACTGGGTCAGGG GTATCTTGGGAGCCTGTGGTTTATC GTCCCAGATGGGAATTGTCTCCAC AATCACATGGCAAATAAGTACATAC CCCTCCTCCAGGTAAATCAGC Type of repeat Chromosome No. (TC)18 16 (CA)14 6 (nn)39 10 (GT)21 3 (CA)19 3 (CA)12 12 (GT)29 5 (CA)16 19 (TG)13 1 (TG)24 Ann (CT)11(CA)15 19 - 27 (CA)21 21 Bottleneck analysis of KJH goats 65 Within population inbreeding estimate (Fis) for the investigated loci was -0.059. The estimates for each locus are presented in Table 3. The values ranged from –0.158 (TGLA122) to 0.047 (ILSTS05). Ten loci revealed negative Fis values. The heterozygote deficiency may be a result of inbreeding. The high genetic diversity observed in a breed could be explained by overlapping generations, mixing of populations from different geographical locations, natural selection favoring heterozygosity or subdivision accompanied by genetic drift. Isolation, founder effects, genetic drift and different selection pressures realized by farmers in each population may have played major role in differentiation of Iranian goats. Any population that experienced a recent bottleneck will show higher than expected (equilibrium) heterozgosity for a large number of loci. Microsatellite data were also subjected to statistical analysis to test whether the populations have undergone recent genetic bottleneck. Because historical population sizes and levels of genetic variation are seldom known, methods for detecting bottlenecks in the absence of historical data would be useful. Cornuet and Luikart, (1996) described the quantitative methods suitable for analysis of microsatellite data for detection of recent bottlenecks in (100-200) generations. Table 2. Number of alleles (Observed and effective), Shannon's Information index and Polymorphic Information Content for KJK goats Locus name BM121 BM4621 ILSTS005 ILSTS022 LSTS029 ILSTS033 ILSTS034 LSCV36 MAF64 OarAE133 OarFCB304 OarJMP23 TGLA122 Na 8 9 8 7 7 8 7 9 4 3 9 8 11 Ne 6.375 6.007 4.42 4.321 4.579 5.742 6.267 6.367 3.272 2.355 6.391 4.751 6.973 I 1.944 1.969 1.729 1.606 1.702 1.9 1.89 1.988 1.262 0.929 2.014 1.775 2.164 PIC 0.82 0.81 0.75 0.73 0.75 0.8 0.82 0.82 0.64 0.48 0.83 0.76 0.84 0.76 7.538 5.217 1.759 Mean Na: Observed number of alleles; Ne: Effective number of alleles; I: Shannon's Information index; PIC: Polymorphic Information Content. To determine whether a population exhibits a significant number of loci with gene diversity excess, there are three tests, namely a "sign test", a "standardized differences test" (Cornuet and Luikart, 1996) and a "Wilcoxon sign-rank test" (Luikart et al., 1997). Observed and expected Table 3. heterozygosity with p-value, Fis value for each microsatellite locus and mean estimate of different parameters for KJK goats Locus name BM121 BM4621 ILSTS005 ILSTS022 ILSTS029 ILSTS033 ILSTS034 LSCV36 MAF64 OarAE133 FCB304 OarJMP23 TGLA122 Ho He Fis HWE 0.902 0.804 0.745 0.863 0.902 0.902 0.941 0.843 0.725 0.667 0.882 0.804 1 0.852 0.842 0.781 0.776 0.789 0.834 0.849 0.851 0.701 0.581 0.852 0.797 0.865 -0.06 0.045 0.047 -0.113 -0.144 -0.082 -0.11 0.01 -0.035 -0.149 -0.036 -0.008 *** *** NS NS *** *** *** *** NS NS *** *** *** -0.158 Mean 0.845 0.798 -0.059 NS: Not Significant; ***: Significant at the 0.1% level All the three models of microsatellite evaluation Infinite Allele Model (IAM), Stepwise Mutation Model (SPM) and Two Phase Model (TPM) were utilized for the purpose. In a population at mutation-drift equilibrium (i.e., the effective size of which has remained constant in the recent past), there is approximately an equal probability that a locus shows gene diversity excess or a gene diversity deficit. The first test suffers from low statistical power. The second test is not very useful since it requires at least 20 polymorphic loci. The Wilcoxon test provides relatively high power and it can be used with as few as four polymorphic loci and any number of individuals (15-40 individuals and 10-15 polymorphic loci is recommend to achieve high power. So, the null hypothesis was again rejected under IAM for the sign test. Standard difference 66 Bizhan MAHMOUDI et al. test (T2 statistics) in this population provided the significant (p<0.01) gene diversity excess under TPM (4.019) and IAM (4.803) (Table 4). In KJK goat, under Sign test, the expected numbers of loci with heterozygosity excess were 7.70 (TPM) and 7.65 (SMM) which were substantially lower than the observed numbers of loci 13 (TPM) and 12 (SMM) with heterozygosity excess (Table 4). So the null hypothesis that as the population is under Mutation-drift equilibrium was rejected. The expected number of loci (7.63) with heterozygosity excess was significantly (p<0.05) lower than the observed numbers of loci (13) with heterozygosity excess under IAM. In SMM there was heterozygosity excess (2.167) and significant (p<0.05). Positive values of the Bottleneck statistic T2 are indicative of gene diversity excess caused by a recent reduction in effective population size, while negative value are consistent with a recent population expansion without immigration or immigration of some private (unique) alleles in population. Under Wilcoxon rank test, probability values of 0.00006 (IAM), 0.00006 (TPM) and 0.00043 (SMM) were significant (p<0.001). So, null hypothesis of mutation drift equilibrium was rejected in all tests under all the three models. Tantia et al., (2004) reported heterozygosity excess and genetic bottleneck in the Indian goat breeds (Chegu and Black Bengal). Sign test, standardized difference test and Wilcoxon rank test indicated heterozygosity excess in KJK population. Table 4. Mutation-drift equilibrium, heterozygosity excess/deficiency under different mutation models in KJK population Models Sign Test Standardized Wilcoxon test IAM Hee= 7.63 T2= 4.803 P (One tail for H deficiency)= 1 Hd= 0 P= 0.00000 P (One tail for H excess)= 0.00006 He= 13 P (Two tail for H excess and deficiency)= 0.00012 P= 0.00006 TPM Hee= 7.70 Hd= 0 He= 13 P= 0.00110 T2= 4.019 P= 0.00003 P (One tail for H deficiency)= 1 P (One tail for H excess)= 0.00006 P (Two tail for H excess and deficiency)= 0.00012 SMM Hee= 7.65 Hd= 1 He= 12 P= 0.01017 T2= 2.167 P= 0.01513 P (One tail for H deficiency)= 0.99969 P (One tail for H excess)= 0.00043 P (Two tail for H excess and deficiency)= 0.00085 Parameters for T.P.M: Variance = 30.00 Proportion of SMM in TPM = 70.00%; Estimation based on 1,000 replications; Hee: Heterozygosity excess expected; Hd: Heterozygosity deficiency; He: Heterozygosity excess; P: Probability; IAM: Infinite allele model, TPM: Two phase model, SMM: Stepwise mutation model. Under Wilcoxon rank test, probability In SMM there was heterozygosity excess values of 0.00006 (IAM), 0.00006 (TPM) (2.167) and significant (p<0.05). Positive values of and 0.00043 (SMM) were significant the Bottleneck statistic T2 are indicative of gene (p<0.001). So, null hypothesis of mutation diversity excess caused by a recent reduction in drift equilibrium was rejected in all tests effective population size, while negative value are under all the three models. Tantia et al., consistent with a recent population expansion (2004) reported heterozygosity excess and without immigration or immigration of some genetic bottleneck in the Indian goat breeds private (unique) alleles in population. (Chegu and Black Bengal). Sign test, Bottleneck analysis of KJH goats 67 standardized difference test and Wilcoxon rank test indicated heterozygosity excess in KJK population. The Mode-shift indicator test was also utilized as a second method to detect potential bottlenecks, as the non-bottleneck populations that are near mutation-drift equilibrium are expected to have a large proportion of alleles with low frequency. This test discriminates many bottlenecked populations from stable populations (Luikart et al., 1998; Luikart and Cornuet, 1997). The distribution followed the normal L-shaped form. The alleles with low frequencies (0.01–0.1) are the most numerous and proportion of alleles showed a normal ‘L’ shaped distribution (figure 1) This distribution clearly show that the studied population has not experienced a recent bottleneck. Ruhnu population showed a slight distortion in distribution of allelic frequency (Grigaliunaite et al., 2003). Discussion In conclusion, there was substantial genetic variation and polymorphism across studied loci in the KJK goat. And this population was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium at most of the studied loci. The strong inference that the KJK of goat has not undergone bottleneck, as it suggests that any unique alleles present in this breed may not have been lost. Therefore, it can be recommended that within breed diversity is actively maintained to enable these extensively unmanaged stocks to adapt to future demands and conditions and there is ample scope for further improvement in its productivity through appropriate breeding strategies. Acknowledgments This work was support by the Islamic Azad University, Meshkinshahr Branch, Iran. References Figure 1. L-shaped mode-shift graph showing lack of recent genetic bottleneck in KJK population Severely bottlenecked populations are important to identify for conservation, as they are likely to suffer from inbreeding depression, loss of genetic variation, fixation of deleterious alleles as well as increased demographic stochasticity, any of which can ultimately reduce adaptive potential and the probability of population persistence (Frankham, 1995). Li et al. (2002) studied the genetic equilibrium of 12 Chinese goat population's using17 microsatellite loci, all except three Tibetan populations showed deviation from the equilibrium. Tantia et al. (2004) reported heterozygosity excess and genetic bottleneck in the Indian goat breeds (Chegu and Black Bengal). Deviation from mutation-drift equilibrium has been reported in several populations; however they were mainly associated with heterozygosity deficiency viz., in Mehsani goats (Aggarwal et al., 2007). Among all the seven population of Baltic sheep only Estonian Aggarwal RAK, Dixit SP, Verma NK, et al. Population genetic analysis of Mehsana goat based on microsatellite markers. Current Science. 92 (8):1133–1137, 2007. Avise JC. Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism and a connection between genetics and demography of relevance to conservation. Conservation Biology. 9: 686– 690, 1995. Barker JSF, Tan SG, Moore SS, et al. Genetic variation within and relationship among populations of Asian goats (Capra hircus). J Anim Breed Genet. 118:213-233, 2001. Bassam BJ, Caetano-Anolles G, Gresshoff M. Fast and sensitive silver staining of DNA in polyacrylamide gels. Anal Biochem. 196:80-83, 1991. 68 Bizhan MAHMOUDI et al. Botstein D, White RL, Skolnick M, Davis RW. Construction of a genetic linkage map in man using restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Am. J. Hum Genet 32:314–331, 1980. Coltman DW, Bowen WD, Wright JM. Birth weight and neonatal survival of harbour seal pups are positively correlated with genetic variation measured by microsatellites. Proceeding Royal Society of London (Biological Sciences) 265:803– 809, 1998. Cornuet JM and Luikart G. Description and power analysis of two tests for detecting recent population bottlenecks from allele frequency data. Genetics 144: 2001–2014, 1996. Di Rienzo A, Peterson AC, Garza JC, et al. Mutational processes of simple-sequence repeat loci in human populations. Proceeding of National Academy of Sciences USA. 91:3166–3170, 1994. Frankham R. Effective population size/adult population size ratios in wildlife: a review. Genet. Res. 66:95–107, 1995. Grigaliunaite I, Haldja MT, Grislis VZ, et al. Microsatellite variation in the Baltic Sheep breeds. Veterinarija Ir Zootechnika. 21: 66-73, 2003. Harley EH. AGARST, version 2.8, a program for calculating allele frequencies, GST and RST from microsatellite data. Wild life Genetics Unit, University of Care Town, South Africa, 2002. Joshi MB, Rout PK, Mandal A, et al. Phylogeography and origin of Indian domestic goats. Molecular Biology Evolution. 21: 454–462, 2004. Li MH, Wang HS, Wei H, et al. Genetic relationship among 12 Chinese indigenous goat populations based on microsatellite analysis. Genetic Selection and Evolution. 34:729- 744, 2002. Li SL and Valenti A. Genetic diversity of Chinese indigenous goat breeds based on microsatellite markers. J Anim Breed Genet. 121: 350–55, 2004. Luikart G and Cornuet JM. Empirical evaluation of a test for identifying recently bottlenecked populations from allele frequency data. Conservation Biology. 12: 228-237,1997. Luikart GL, Allendorf FW, Cornuet JM, Sherwin WB. Distortion of allele frequency distributions provides a test for recent population bottlenecks. Journal of Heredity. 89:238–247, 1998. Mahmoudi B, Babayev M Sh, Hayeri Khiyavi F, Pourhosein A and Daliri M. Breed characteristics in Iranian native goat populations. Journal of Cell and Animal Biology. 5: 129-134, 2011. Nei M. Analysis of gene diversity in subdivided populations. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 70:3321-3323, 1973. Piry S, Luikart G, Cornuet JM. BOTTLENECK: A program for detecting recent effective population size reductions from allele frequency data. Journal of Heredity. 90: 502–503, 1999. Peakall R and Smouse PE. GENALEX 6: genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research. Molecular Ecology Notes. 6: 288-295, 2006. Ramamoorthi J, Thilagam K, Sivaselvam SN, Karthickeyan AMK. Genetic characterization of Barbari goats using microsatellite markers. Journal of Veterinary Science. 10:72–76, 2009. Rout PK, Joshi MB, Mandal A, et al. Microsatellite-based phylogeny of Indian domestic goats.BMC Genetics. 9:11, 2008. Saitbekova N, Gaillard C, Obexer-Ruff G, Dolf G. Genetic diversity in Swiss goat breeds based on microsatellite analysis. Animal Genetics. 30: 36–41, 1999. Bottleneck analysis of KJH goats 69 Sambrook J, Fritsch EF, Maniatis T. Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual, 2nd edition. Cold Spring Harbor LaboratoryPress, Cold Spring Harbor. 1989. European Cattle Breeds Based 468 on Analysis of Microsatellite Data. Conservation Biology. 20: 1768–1779, 2006. Tantia MS, Behl R, Sheoran N, et al. Microsatellite data analysis for conservation of two goat breeds. Ind J Ani Sci. 74: 761-767, 2004. Yeh FC and Boyle TJB. Population genetic analysis of co-dominant and dominant markers and quantitative traits. Belg. J. Bot. 129: 157, 1997 Tapiio S, Bennewitz J, Maleviciute E, et al. Prioritization for Conservation of Northern Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology 10(2):71-77, 2012 Haliç University, Printed in Turkey. http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr Research Article 71 Low-Stringency Single-Specific-Primer PCR as a tool for detection of mutations in the matK gene of Phaseolus vulgaris exposed to paranitrophenol Mohamed R. ENAN Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt (author for correspondence; [email protected]) Received: 26 April 2012; Accepted: 08 December 2012 Abstract Low-stringency single specific primer polymerase chain reaction (LSSP)-PCR was assessed for its suitability in detecting the genotoxic effect of paranitrophenol (PNP) in the dwarf bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) exposed to different concentrations of PNP. DNA was extracted from both PNP-treated and non-treated shoots that was amplified by specific PCR, using universal primers of maturase K chloroplast DNA. PCR products of approximately 776 bp were subsequently used as a template for LSSP-PCR analysis. We detected the genotoxic effect based on LSSP-PCR profiles of the DNA generated in PNP-treated over the non-treated control of bean shoots. A complex electrophoretic pattern consisting of many bands was obtained from control and treated samples. Surprisingly, DNA sequencing data revealed that the homology among the maturase gene amplified from PNP-treated vs. non-treated samples of dwarf beans are comparable. These results showed that the use of LSSP-PCR analysis is not a proper tool to detect genotoxic effect in bean, at least in bean shoots that were exposed to PNP. Keywords: Genotoxicity, LSSP-PCR, Paranitrophenol, Phaseolus vulgaris, maturase K. Özet Paranitrofenole maruz kalan Phaseolus vulgaris’te matK geni mutasyonlarının tespitinde bir araç olarak Düşük Kesinlikte Tek-Özgün Primerli PCR kullanımı Düşük kesinlikte tek özgün primer lipolimeraz zincir reaksiyonunun (LSSP-PCR), paranitrofenolün (PNP) sebep olduğu genotoksik etki tespitindeki uygunluğu farklı konsantrasyonlarda PNP’ye maruz bırakılan bodur fasülyede (Phaseolus vulgaris) değerlendirildi. PNP ile muamele edilmiş veya edilmemiş filizlerden izole edilen DNA, maturaz K kloroplast DNA’sının evrensel primerleri kullanılarak özgün PCR ile çoğaltıldı. Hemen akabinde, 776 bç’lık PZR ürünleri LSSP-PCR analizi için kalıp DNA olarak kullanıldı. PNP ile işlenmiş fasülye filizinden elde edilen DNA üzerindeki genotoksik etkilerin PNP ile işlenmemiş kontrollere olan kıyasını LSSP-PCR profiline dayanarak tespit ettik. Kontrol ve işlenmiş örneklerde birçok banttan oluşan karmaşık elektroforetik motifler elde edildi. Şaşırtıcı bir şekilde DNA dizi analizi verileri PNP ile işlenmiş ve işlenmemiş bodur fasülye örneklerinde çoğaltılan maturaz geni homolojisinin kıyaslanabilir olduğunu gösterdi. Bu sonuçlar, LSSP-PCR analizinin fasülyede, en azından PNP ile işlenmiş filizlerde, genotoksik etkinin tespitinde uygun bir araç olmadığını gösterdi. Anahtar Kelimeler: Genotoksisite, LSSP-PCR, Paranitrofenol, Phaseolus vulgaris, maturaz K. 72 Mohamed R. ENAN Introduction Maturase K (matK) is a chloroplast-encoded gene which is nested between the 5’ and 3’ exons of trnK, tRNA-lysine (Sugita et al., 1985). Sequence analysis indicated that this region displayed homology to domain X of mitochondrial group II intron maturases (Sugita et al., 1985; Neuhaus and Link, 1987). Although maturase K gene (matK) contains many indels (insertions and deletions) throughout its reading frame, yet domain X lacks any of these indels (Hilu and Liang, 1997; Hilu and Alice, 1999; Hilu et al., 2003). Maturase K is the only gene found in the chloroplast genome of higher plants that contains this putative maturase domain X in its protein (Neuhaus and Link, 1987). Maturases are considered as splicing factors because of their ability to splice and fold group II introns. The coding region of matK is generally located within intron of the chloroplast trnK gene (Vogel et al., 1997). matK is very useful in DNA barcoding to genetically identify plant families (Qiu et al., 1999; Li and Zhou, 2007). Genotoxic compounds are those which cause damage to DNA. Para-nitrophenol is a synthetic chemical that is used to manufacture drugs, fungicides, insecticides (Yang et al., 2010). Pesticides, such as parathion and methyl parathion, are hydrolyzed and transformed to PNP; which in turn these pesticides are considered as the main source of PNP that is released to the environment (Kitagawa et al., 2004). In vitro assay using CHO cell PNP was positive for chromosome aberration at levels of 100 µg/ml (Ohno et al., 2005), proving the hypothesis that PNP induces chromosomal aberrations. The LSSP-PCR is a simple technique that permits detection of single or multiple mutations in gene-sized fragments (Pena et al., 1994). This sensitive and rapid method uses PCR amplification of a single oligonucleotide primer "driver" that is specific to one of the extremities of the fragment, under very low stringency conditions (Pena et al., 1994). In a sequence-dependent manner, the driver hybridizes both to the highly specific complementary extremity, and to the low specificity of multiple sites within the fragment. The reaction thus yields a large number of products that can be resolved by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to give rise to a multiband DNA fragment "signature" that reflects the underlying sequence. Changes as small as single base mutations can drastically alter the multiband pattern, which ultimately produce new signatures. LSSP-PCR has been broadly used for the detection of mutations in human genetic diseases (Pena et al., 1994), sequence variations in human mitochondrial DNA (Barreto et al., 1996) and for genetic typing of infectious agents such as papillomavirus (HPV; Villa et al., 1995), Trypanosoma cruzi (Vago et al., 2006), Trypanosoma rangeli (Marquez et al., 2007), and Leishmania infantum (Alvarenga et al., 2012). The objective of this study was to describe the potential use of LSSP-PCR as a molecular biomarker to detect DNA mutation in maturase K gene in dwarf bean tissues exposed to paranitrophenol. Materials and methods Plant growth and treatment conditions The dwarf bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) was used as the plant material in this study. The selected seeds were sterilized with 75% (v/v) ethanol for 2 min, followed by 20% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite for 10 min and were washed five times in sterile distilled water. Uniformly three plant seedlings were transferred to a Magenta box containing MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) liquid medium (control) or supplemented with different concentrations of PNP (20, 40, 80, 160, 320, and 640 µg/ml). PNP-treated seedlings were grown for 10 days in the growth chamber. Plant growth conditions was previously described (Enan, 2006). DNA isolation DNA was extracted from fresh plant shoots using DNeasy plant minikit (Qiagen, USA), following the instruction of the manufacturer. The final DNA concentration was determined by agarose gel electrophoresis against known standards (Invitrogen, USA). Specific PCR amplification of matK fragments To eliminate any possibility of bacterial contamination due to the very low- matK mutations in Phaselous vulgaris 73 stringency conditions of the LSSP-PCR reaction, all experiments were carried out with extreme precautions. PCR reactions were performed with specific primers matK472F (5′CCCRTYCATCTGGAAATCTTGGTTC-3′) and matK1248R (5′GCTRTRATAATGAGAAAGATTTCTGC-3′) as described by Yu et al. (2011). Amplification of specific PCR products was carried out in a volume of 25 μl containing 30 ng of genomic DNA and a master mix containing 1.5 mM MgCl2, 200 μM of each deoxynucleotide (dNPTs), 20 pmol of each primer, 1.0 U Taq DNA polymerase (InvitrogenBRL), in 10 mM Tris–HCl [pH 8.0] and 50 mM KCl. After an initial denaturation step of 94 °C for 5 min, the specific PCR program consisted of 35 cycles of 94 °C for 30 s, 56 °C for 1 min and 72 °C for 1 min. The last cycle consisted of an extension step at 72 °C for 5 min. The PCR products were run on ethidium bromide-stained gel and the bands corresponding to the specific fragment (876bp) generated by universal specific primers were purified using Purelink PCR purification Kit (Invitrogen, USA). LSSP-PCR analysis For the production of LSSP-PCR signatures, previously amplified matk fragments were purified used as a template in the LSSP-PCR (Pena et al., 1994). LSSP-PCR was also carried out in a 25μl volume containing 5ng of DNA template, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 200 μM of the four deoxynucleotide triphosphates, 120 pmol of matK472F or matK1248R primer 4.0 U Taq DNA polymerase in 10 mM Tris–HCl [pH 8.0] and 50 mM KCl. After a denaturation step at 94 °C for 5 min the LSSP-PCR program consisted of 35 cycles of denaturation at 94 °C for 1 min, annealing at 30 °C for 1 min and extension at 72 °C for 1 min. Ten microliters of LSSP-PCR products were analyzed by electrophoresis on 8% (w/v) polyacrylamide gels followed by ethidium bromide. The similarity among the LSSP-PCR profiles of control and those obtained with the DNA of PNP-treated samples was analyzed accordingly. DNA sequencing of PCR products In order to determine the nucleotide sequence of the 776 fragments generated with universal specific primers, PCR products of control and PNP-treated samples were purified and sequenced by Source BioScience (Nottingham, UK) according to Sanger et al. (1977). The sequence was analyzed for homology with database sequences with Multiple Sequence Alignment by MultiAlin (Corpet, 1988). Results We used the LSSP-PCR method to detect mutations in matK gene of dwarf bean tissues. DNA was amplified (first step) using universal primers to produce 776 bp fragments containing the maturase K region (Figure 1). Each fragment was isolated by electroelution and subjected to a second PCR amplification (second step) using a single primer annealed under low-stringency conditions. The generated profiles of the PCR products of each sample were resolved and analyzed by non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel. A complex pattern consisting of many bands was obtained which was different depending on the concentration of PNP. We showed the LSSP-PCR profiles of DNA obtained from PNP-treated or PNP-untreated samples amplified with either matk742 forward primer (Figure 2) or matk1248R reverse primer matK1248R primer (Figure 3). Figure 1. Agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR amplification of matk fragment with 776 bp obtained in control and treated samples. Lane M: 100 bp DNA ladder; Lane C: untreated sample (control); lanes 1-6: plant samples treated with 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 and 640 µg/ml PNP, respectively. 74 Mohamed R. ENAN (accession numbers JQ403111). We also determined whether these sequence identities showed similarities between the different samples treated with PNP (Figure 4). Our sequence alignment data obtained by MultiAlin indicated that the sequence identities of all treated samples shared 100% homology with sequences of untreated samples (Figure 4). This suggests that a mutation in the matK gene as a hotspot gene is not induced by treatment with PNP. Figure 2. Ethidium bromide-stained polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showing gene signatures obtained by LSSP-PCR with matk742 forward primer. Lanes M: 100 bp DNA ladder; Lane C: untreated sample; lanes 1-6: plant samples treated with 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 and 640 µg/ml PNP, respectively. Figure 3. Ethidium bromide-stained polyacrylamide gel showing gene signatures obtained by LSSP-PCR with matk1248 reverse primer. Lane M: 100 bp DNA ladder; Lane C: untreated sample; lanes 1-6: plant samples treated with 20, 40 80 160, 320 and 640 µg/ml PNP, respectively. The LSSP-PCR profiles were unique for each treatment, suggesting that this technique may be applicable for the detection of genotoxic impact of environmental contaminants. The sequence of the maturase K gene was deposited in Genbank Discussion To our knowledge, this is the first study to employ LSSP-PCR for monitoring biological effects of pollution. Molecular biomarkers are effective early warning signals of adverse biological effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of LSSP-PCR method in the detection of genotoxic effect of paranitrophenol (PNP) on dwarf beans (Phaseolis vulgaris). In the past 25 years, numerous biomarkers have been developed with the objective to apply them for environmental biomonitoring (Sanchez and Porcher, 2009). Molecular marker techniques have provided new tools of detection of mutations in DNA in response to chemical pollution using DNA sequence and structure. The alterations in genomic DNA induced by genotoxic pollutants can be monitored using different biomarkers’ assays both at the biochemical and the molecular levels. In the past few years, several of techniques revealed that mutations in DNA could be generated and identified mostly by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Some of the examples of PCR assays were utilized to detect genotoxic effects of environmental pollutants arbitraryprimed PCR (AP-PCR; Welsh and McClelland, 1990) and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) (Williams et al., 1990). One of the main advantages of using LSSP-PCR for studies related to genotoxicity is that the signatures were not unduly sensitive to the concentration of DNA template. matK mutations in Phaselous vulgaris 75 Figure 4. DNA sequences of the matK genes from untreated and PNP-treated plant samples aligned by using MultiAlin. 76 Mohamed R. ENAN In the present study, genotoxic effect of PNP was performed using LSSP-PCR that can detect single or multiple mutations in gene-size DNA fragments. The chloroplast maturase K gene (matK) is one of the most variable coding genes of angiosperms, which has been suggested to be a “barcode” for land plants (Yu et al., 2011). Good reproducibility as a solution in the LSSP-PCR profiles using both forward and reverse primers was obtained. However, we observed that many of these bands are larger than the template. Our results confirm the data obtained from other studies that PCR products of the first few cycles may themselves act as primers in further rounds of amplification (Barreto et al., 1996). In the current study, the sequenced PCR products of matK fragment confirmed the results of the specific PCR (Figure 1). On the other hand, unexpectedly, the data of sequence alignment quite contradicts that of the LSSP-PCR signatures. Sequence alignment of all PNP-treated samples of dwarf bean with the untreated control samples indicated that there is no any nucleotide substitution in the matK sequence. In previous study, Oliveira et al. (2003) described that, very similar signatures were obtained with specific primers (G1 and G2) for identification of Leptospira interrogans serovars. Although the sequence data of the 285 bp fragments of the three serovars of L. interrogans indicated the presence of three nucleotide alterations in these fragments, they found that identical LSSP-PCR profiles were obtained for the three serovars with individual primers of G1 and G2. Barreto et al. (1996) reported that the variations observed in LSSP-PCR are attributed to several variables: (i ) the number of cycles has a marked effect on the signature up to 35 cycles (ii) the ramping speed of thermocyclers ( type of thermo cyclers) had marked effect on the LSSP-PCR signatures and (iii) changes in the annealing temperature a range between 25-35◦C had no marked effect but Ta > 40◦C showed a deterioration of the signature. In conclusion, the chloroplast matk used in this study as a molecular biomarker gene to measure genotoxicity of PNP using LSSS-PCR, is not affected by PNP at DNA level but may be down regulated at transcriptional or post-transcriptional levels, which should be confirmed in further studies. Acknowledgment The author would like to thank a lot Dr Synan Abu Qamar, Ph.D, Purdue University for his critical revising and constructive comments on the manuscript. References Alvarenga JSC, Ligeiro CM, Gontijo CMF, et al. KDNA genetic signatures obtained by LSSP-PCR analysis of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum isolated from the new and the old world. PLoS ONE 7: e43363, 2012 Barreto G, Vago AR, Ginther C, et al. Mitochondrial D-loop ‘‘signatures’’ produced by low-stringency single specific primer PCR constitute a simple comparative human identity test. Am J Hum Gene.t 58: 609–616, 1966. Corpet F. Multiple sequence alignment with hierarchical clustering. Nucl Acids Res. 16: 10881-10890, 1988 Enan MR. Application of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) to detect the genotoxic effect of heavy metals. Biotechnol. Appl. Biochem. 43: 147–154, 2006. Hilu KW and Alice LA. Evolutionary implications of matK indels in Poaceae. Am J Bot. 86: 1735-1741, 1999. Hilu KW, Borsch T, Muller K, et al. Angiosperm phylogeny based on matK sequence information. Am J Bot. 90: 1758–1776, 2003. Hilu KW and Liang H. The matK gene: sequence variation and application in plant systematics. Am J Bot. 84: 830839, 1997. Kitagawa W, Kimura N, Kamagata Y. A Novel p-nitrophenol degradation gene cluster from a gram-positive bacterium, Rhodococcus opacus SAO101. J Bacteriol. 186: 4894-4902, 2004. Li X-X and Zhou ZK. The higher-level phylogeny of monocots based on matK, rbcL and 18S rDNA sequences. Acta matK mutations in Phaselous vulgaris 77 Phytotaxonomica Sinica 45: 113–133, 2007. Murashige T and Skoog FA. A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassay with tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol Plant. 15: 473–479, 1962. Neuhaus H and Link G. The chloroplast tRNA Lys (UUU) gene from mustard (Sinapis alba) contains a class II intron potentially coding for a maturase-related polypeptide. Curr Genet. 11: 251–257, 1987. Ohno K, Tanaka-Azuma Y, YonedaY, Yamada T. Genotoxicity test system based on p53R2 gene expression in human cells: Examination with 80 chemicals. Mutat. Res. 588: 47-57, 2005. Oliveira MAA, Caballero OLSD, Vago AR, et al. Low-stringency single specific primer PCR for identification of Leptospira. J Med Microbiol. 52: 127–135, 2003. Pena SDJ, Barreto G, Vago AR, et al. Sequencespecific ‘gene signatures’ can be obtained by PCR with single specific primers at low stringency. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 91: 1946– 1949, 1994. Qiu, Y L, Lee J, Bernasconi-Quadroni F, et al. The earliest angiosperms: evidence from mitochondrial, plastid, and nuclear genomes. Nature. 402: 404-407, 1999. Sanchez W and Porcher JM. Fish biomarkers for environmental monitoring within the Water Framework Directive of the European Union. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry. 28: 150158, 2009. Sanger F, Nicklen S, Coulson AR. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 74: 5463–5467, 1977. Sugita M, Shinozaki K, Sugiura M. Tobacco chloroplast tRNALys (UUU) gene contains a 2.5-kilobase-pair intron: an open reading frame and a conserved boundary sequence in the intron. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 82:3557-3561, 1985. Vago AR, Macedo AM, Oliveira RP, et al. Kinetoplast DNA signatures of Trypanosoma cruzi strains obtained directly from infected tissues. Am J Pathol 149: 2153–2159, 2006. Villa LL, Caballero OL, Levi JE, et al. An approach to human papilloma virus identification using low-stringency single specific primer PCR. Mol Cell Probes. 9: 45-48, 1995. Vogel J, Hübschmann T, Börner T, Hess WR. Splicing and intron- internal RNA editing of trnK-matK transcripts in barley plastids: support for matK as an essential splicing factor. J Mol Biol. 270: 179–187, 1997. Welsh J and McClelland M. Fingerprinting genomes using PCR with arbitrary primers. Nucleic Acids Res. 19: 861–866, 1990. Williams JGK, Kubelik AR, Livak KJ, et al. DNA polymorphisms amplified by arbitrary primers are useful as genetic markers. Nucleic Acids Res. 18: 65316535, 1990. Yang L, Luo S, Li Y, et al. High efficient photocatalytic degradation of pnitrophenol on a unique Cu2O/TiO2 p-n heterojunction network catalyst. Environ Sci Technol. 44: 7641–7646, 2010. Yu J, Xue JH, Zhou SL. New universal matK primers for DNA barcoding angiosperms. J Syst Evol. 49: 176-181, 2011. Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology 10(2):79-83, 2012 Haliç University, Printed in Turkey. http://jcmb.halic.edu.tr Short Communication 79 Characterization of Paenibacillus larvae isolates from Brazil Sérgio Salla CHAGAS1, Rodrigo Almeida VAUCHER2, Adriano BRANDELLI2,* 1 Laboratório Nacional Agropecuário (LANAGRO/RS), Estrada da Ponta Grossa 3036, Porto Alegre, Brazil. 2 Laboratório de Bioquímica e Microbiologia Aplicada, Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil. (*author for correspondence: [email protected]) Received: 24 February 2012; Accepted:11 November 2012 Abstract Paenibacillus larvae is the agent of American Foulbrood disease (AFB), causing the death of the hive and greatly affecting beekeeping. In Brazil, this bacterium was only isolated in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná. The present study aimed to characterize the strains isolated in Brazil, confirming its identification by molecular diagnosis. Eighty isolates from samples of honey, honeycomb and pollen collected between 2002 and 2007 from different regions were selected for analysis. Phenotypical characterization indicates that 77 strains were P. larvae but 3 strains showed inconclusive results. PCR protocols based on detection of 16S rDNA and metalloproteinase gene confirmed all strains being P. larvae. The PCR amplicon of 16S rDNA was sequenced, and phylogenetic analysis was performed. The results indicated that there is high homology among the strains isolated in Brazil. Keywords: Paenibacillus larvae, 16S rDNA, metalloproteinase, American foulbrood disease, phylogenetic analysis Özet Brezilya’dan Paenibacillus larvae izolatlarının karakterizasyonu Paenibacillus larvae kovanın ölümüne sebep olan ve büyük oranda arıcılığı etkileyen Amerikan yavru çürüklüğü hastalığının (AFB) etkenidir. Brezilya’da bu bakteri sadece Rio Grande do Sul ve Paraná eyaletlerinde izole edilmiştir. Bu çalışma moleküler tanı ile yapılan identifikasyonu doğrulayarak Brezilya’da izole edilen suşları karakterize etmeyi amaçlamıştır. Farklı bölgelerden 2002 ve 2007 yılları arasında toplanan bal, petek ve polen örneklerinden elde edilen seksen izolat analiz için seçilmiştir. Fenotipik karakterizasyon 77 suşun P. larvae olduğunu, fakat 3 suşun yetersiz sonuç gösterdiğini belirtmektedir. Metalloproteinaz geni ve 16SrDNA’nın saptanmasına dayanan PCR protokolleri tüm suşların P. larvae olduğunu doğrulamaktadır. 16SrDNA PCR amplikonu dizilenmiştir ve filogenetik analiz yapılmıştır. Sonuçlar Brezilya’da izole edilen suşlar arasında yüksek homoloji olduğunu göstermektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Paenibacillus larvae, 16S rDNA; metalloproteinaz; Amerikan yavru çürüklüğü hastalığı, filogenetik analiz 80 Sérgio Salla CHAGAS et al. Introduction The American foulbrood (AFB) is a notifiable disease of high economic importance and significant international trade (OIE, 2009). Its causative agent, Paenibacillus larvae, attacks only the larval stage of the bee Apis mellifera and other Apis spp. (Genersch, 2010). P. larvae are only infective in the form of spores, which are extremely tenacious and can remain viable for many years (Genersch, 2008). Infection occurs by ingestion of spores that germinate and spread after 24 hours, producing septicemia and death (Allipi, 1992). The clinical symptoms are typical, and the larvae have affected to a dark and viscous form. Besides food with honey containing spores, the introduction of bees from hives infected and even beekeepers could help its spread (Genersh, 2010). In South America, the first isolation of P. larvae occurred in 1989 in Argentina (Allipi, 1992), and subsequently in Uruguay (Antunez et al., 2004). In Brazil, despite efforts to prevent its introduction, honey contaminated with P. larvae was found in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in 2002 (Schuch et al., 2003). More recently, the occurrence of P. larvae was reported in hives in the state of Paraná (MAPA, 2006). The aim of this work was to confirm the presence of P. larvae by molecular methods and to characterize the strains isolated in Brazil. Materials and Methods This study used 80 isolates of P. larvae, originated from samples of honey, honeycomb and pollen collected from different Brazilian regions between May 2002 and June 2007 by Laboratório Nacional Agropecuário (LANAGRO/RS, Ministry of Agriculture, Brazil), for the microbiological analysis for the detection of spores (Schuch et al., 2002). Of these 80 isolates, 30 were from suspected samples and 50 originated from the process of importation. Aliquots of 20 g of the various products were diluted to 40 ml of distilled water and centrifuged at 6000 g for 10 min. The pellet obtained was resuspended in 1 ml of distilled water, heated to 80°C for 10 min and seeded on selective P. larvae agar plates (Schuch et al., 2002). These plates were incubated at 35°C, and monitored for 5 days. Isolated colonies were suspended in distilled water and subjected to bacterial DNA extraction using phenol-chloroform. P. larvae ATCC 9545 was used as a positive control. Bacillus cereus ATCC 11778 and Paenibacillus alvei isolated by LANAGRO/RS (Porto Alegre, Brazil), were used as negative controls. The amplification of the 16S rDNA was through a nested PCR protocol, conducted in the GeneAmp PCR System 2400 equipment (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). The amplification was initially performed with external primers Ple(F) TCGAGCGGACCTTGTGT and Ple(R) CTATCTCAAAACCGCTCAGAG, and then with the external primers Pli (F) CTTCGCATGAAGAAGTCATC and Pli(R) TCAGTTATAGGCCAGAAAGC. The final concentrations of reagents were 0.2 mM of each primer, 1.25 U Taq DNA polymerase, 0.2 mM dNTPs, 1.5 mM MgCl 2, 5 μl of DNA (20 ng/μl) in a reaction volume of 25 μl (Lauro et al. 2003). The primers MpPl(F) CGGGCAGCAAATCGTATTCAG and MpPl(R) CCATAAAGTGTTGGGTCCTCTAAG were used for amplification of metalloproteinase gene. The final concentrations of reagents was 1 mM of each primer, 1 U Taq DNA polymerase, 0.2 mM of dNTPs , 2.0 mM MgCl 2, 5 μl of DNA (20 ng/μl) in a reaction volume of 25 μl (Kilwinski et al., 2004). The amplified DNA was subjected to electrophoresis in 1% agarose gel stained with ethidium bromide. The PCR products obtained by amplification with primers Pli were purified using the kit PureLink Quick Gel Extraction (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and sequenced. The reaction was carried out using the sequencing kit Big Dye Terminator (Applied Biosystems), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The analysis was performed on a 16 capillary sequencer, model ABI 3130xl (Applied Biosystems). The sequences of the 16S rDNA were established, and the BLAST algorithm was used to find homologous sequences. The calculation of the distance and the construction of the phylogenetic tree were carried out by the neighbor-joining method, with the help of the software Characterization of Paenibacillus larvae 81 MegaBACE version 3.1 (Kumar et al., 2004). Results When microbial growth was observed on selective medium, three colonies of each plate were selected on the basis of colony morphology (hyaline aspect, flat edges and flat center) and presence of a zone of proteolysis for confirmatory tests (reaction to catalase and Gram stain). Most of the isolates were positive for P. larvae. Two isolates from honeycomb showed atypical colony morphology and one isolate from pollen showed positive catalase reaction and atypical morphology (Table 1). Table 1. Evaluation of Paenibacillus larvae isolated from honey, honeycomb and pollen samples (2002-2007). Sample n Typical colony Negative catalase Positive PCR morphology reaction results Honey 37 37 37 37 Honeycomb 35 33 35 35 Pollen a 8 7 7 8 Total 80 77 79 80 a The same pollen sample showed atypical colony morphology and positive catalase reaction. The PCR protocols allowed definitive identification of P. larvae by observing the specific amplification of the 16S rDNA and metalloproteinase genes (Fig. 1). All the 80 isolates responded to this approach, showing the presence of expected PCR fragments with primers Ple (969 bp), Pli (572 bp) and MpPl (271 bp). The specificity of amplicons was checked by sequencing. Amplification was not observed in the samples of negative controls. Figure 1. Agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR products. Bacillus cereus ATCC 11778 (B,C, 16S rDNA; D, metalloproteinase); Paenibacillus larvae ATCC 9545 (E,F, 16S rDNA; G, metalloproteinase); Paenibacillus alvei (H, I, 16S rDNA; J, metalloproteinase); Paenibacillus larvae (K,L, 16S rDNA; M, metalloproteinase); A,N = 100 bp ladder. 84 Sérgio Salla CHAGAS et al. The sequences were aligned with sequences obtained from the GenBank database (accession no. in parentheses) of the following strains: Paenibacillus brasiliensis (D78476), Paenibacillus glucanolyticus (D885140), Paenibacillus alvei (X60604), Paenibacillus koreensis (AF130254), Paenibacillus larvae (AY030079), Paenibacillus alginolyticus (D78465), Paenibacillus azotofixans (AJ 251192) and Paenibacillus polymyxa (AY 3596370). All P. larvae isolates investigated in this study had >99% identity with the 16S rDNA sequence of P. larvae (AY030079). These results are the first sequencing of strains of P. larvae isolated in Brazil and show that these strains are highly correlated. Discussion Strains of P. larvae isolated from samples of honey, honeycomb and pollen in Brazil were characterized. Results from the microbiological investigation often confirmed the presence of P. larvae observed by growing in selective medium. The most common discrepancy was on colony morphology. Some degree of inconclusive results from phenotypical characteristics could be expected since different P. larvae genotypes may present differences in morphological and physiological characteristics (Genersch, 2010). Although the isolation of the microorganism of interest is often the gold standard for microbial identification, molecular diagnosis may permit an early detection of P. larvae, before the clinical signs of the disease, in time to implement proper control measures. In addition, some samples showed inconclusive results in microbiological testing, thus molecular verification may provide security to the diagnosis. As an example, PCR allowed to identify P. larvae in 91% of honey samples, against 57% observed by cultural methods (Lauro et al., 2003). The high similarity among isolates of P. larvae, together with the fact that until now there was only one record on the presence of P. larvae in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and one outbreak notification in the state of Paraná, may indicate that this pathogen was recently introduced in Brazil. Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of P. larvae isolated in the neighbor country Uruguay revealed high strain similarity (Antunez et al., 2007), while samples from Austria and Germany show higher genetic diversity (Peters et al., 2006; Loncaric et al., 2009). The evolution of the disease in South America (Allipi, 1992; Antunez et al., 2004) direct to the strong control health deployed to prevent the introduction of this pathogen and its spread in the Brazilian territory. The need for continuous surveillance indicates that PCR-based methods for rapid detection of P. larvae may be useful tools to be adopted by regulatory agencies. References Allipi AM. A comparison techniques for the detection of significant bacteria of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, in Argentina. J Apicult Res. 30: 75-80, 1992. Antunez K, D’Alessandro B, Piccini C, et al. Paenibacillus larvae spores in honey samples from Uruguay: a nationwide survey. J Invertebr Pathol. 86: 56-58, 2004. Antunez K, Piccini C, Castro-Sowinski S, et al. Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of Paenibacillus larvae isolates. Vet Microbiol. 124: 178-183, 2007. Genersh E. Paenibacillus larvae and American Foulbrood - long since known and still surprising. J Verbr Lebensm. 3: 429-434, 2008. Genersh E. American Foulbrood in honeybees and its causative agent, Paenibacillus larvae. J Invertebr Pathol. 103: S10-S19, 2010. Kilwinski J, Peters M, Ashiralieva A, Genersch E. Proposal to reclassify Paenibacillus larvae subsp. pulvifaciens DSM 3615 (ATCC 49843) as Paenibacillus larvae subsp. larvae. Results of a comparative biochemical and genetic study. Vet Microbiol. 104: 31-42, 2004. Kumar S, Tamura K, Nei M. MEGA3: Integrated software for Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis and sequence alignment. Brief Bioinformat. 5: 150-163, 2004. 82 Sérgio Salla CHAGAS et al. Lauro FM, Favaretto M, Covolo L, et al. Rapid detection of Paenibacillus larvae subsp. larvae from honey and hive samples with a novel nested PCR protocol. Int J Food Microbiol. 81: 195-201, 2003. Loncaric I, Derakhshifar I, Oberlerchner JT, et al. Genetic diversity among isolates of Paenibacillus larvae from Austria. J Invertebr Pathol. 100: 44-46, 2009. MAPA. Nota técnica DSA nº52/2006. Ocorrência de “Cria Pútrida Americana” no município de Quatro Barra, estado do Paraná-Brasil. Ministry of Agriculture of Brazil, Brasília, 2006. OIE. American Foulbrood. Manual of standards for diagnostic tests and vaccines for lists A and B diseases of mammals, birds and bees. Office International des Epizooties, Paris. pp. 687-693, 2009. Peters M, Kilwinski J, Beringhoff A, et al. American Foulbrood of the honey bee: occurrence and distribution of different genotypes of Paenibacillus larvae in the administrative district of Arnsberg (North Rhine-Westphalia). J Vet Med B. 53: 100-104, 2006. Schuch DMT, Madden RH, Sattler A. An improved method for the detection and presumptive identification of Paenibacillus larvae subsp. larvae spores in honey. J Apicult Res. 40: 5964, 2002. Schuch DMT, Tochetto LG, Sattler A. Relato do primeiro isolamento oficial de esporos de Paenibacillus larvae subsp. larvae no Brasil em colméia sem sinais clínicos de Cria Pútrida Americana. Pesq Agropec Bras. 38: 441-444, 2003. 83 Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology - GUIDELINES for AUTHORS General Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology (JCellMolBiol) is an international journal which Manuscripts should be submitted by e-mail to: Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology Haliç Üniversitesi covers original works in the field of cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi microbiology, Moleküler Biyoloji ve Genetik Bölümü neurobiology, bioinformatics and related topics. Sıracevizler Cad. No:29 The official language of the journal is English, Bomonti-Şişli 34381, İstanbul-TÜRKİYE however manuscripts in Turkish are accepted as Tel: +90 212 343 08 87, Fax: +90 212 231 06 31 well. E-Mail: [email protected] Conditions for publication Book/software reviews: Short but concise description of the book/software, not exceeding a page. Book/software reviews are not peer reviewed. This journal publishes research articles, review articles, short communications, book/software reviews, case reports and letters to the editor. Presentation Research articles: Only original contributions will be accepted which have not been published previously. Manuscripts should not exceed 15 papers of printed text, including tables, figures and references Review articles: Reviews of recent developments in a research field and ideas will be accepted. Manuscripts should not exceed 15 papers of printed text. Illustrations are encouraged. Short communications: These include small-scale investigations or innovative methods, techniques, clinical trials and epidemiological studies. It should not exceed 3 pages. Letters to editor: These include opinions, news and suggestions. Letters should not exceed 2 papers of printed text. Case Reports: These include individual observations based on small numbers of subjects. This type of research cannot indicate causality but may indicate areas for further research. Papers should be typed clearly, double-spaced with 3 cm wide margins. Manuscripts should be prepared using Word Processor. Cover Letter: You may briefly explain your work and its contribution to present knowledge. Title Page: The first page of your manuscript should be a title page containing the type of paper; the title; all authors' full names, and affiliations; and the corresponding author's contact address (including phone and fax numbers) and e-mail address. The title should be as short as possible, but should give adequate information regarding the contents. Authors should also state a running title of no more than 50 characters including spaces. All pages must be numbered. Full Paper The full paper should be divided into the following parts in the order indicated: REVISED December, 2011 84 Abstract: A brief, informative abstract, not exceeding 200 words, should be provided in English and in Turkish. For authors who are not native Turkish speakers, JCellMolBiol can provide the Turkish abstract. Keywords: Immediately following the abstract, authors should provide 5 keywords or phrases that reflect the content of the article. Introduction should include theory, hypotheses, prior work Material and methods may include subheadings Results: If the study consists of different parts, subheadings in this section should be consistent with subheadings in the methods. Discussion Acknowledgements should precede the list of references References: Papers cited in the manuscript should be listed in alphabetical order according to the first author's surname. Tables and Figures • Tables and figures should both be embedded within the text in their appropriate positions and be submitted separately. • Electronically submitted figures are preferred in *.jpg or *.tiff (min. 300 dpi) formats. Bar scales should be drawn directly on the figures when necessary. Figure legends should not be included in the *jpg or *tif files. • Each table should be accompanied by a short instructive title line plus an explanatory caption at the top. Indicate footnotes within tables by superscript letters and type footnotes below the table. • All the tables and figures must be referred to within the text. Units, Abbreviations and Scientific Names • Only SI units should be used. Current abbreviations can be used without explanation, others must be explained. • All acronyms/abbreviations must be explained in parenthesis after their first occurrence. If many unfamiliar acronyms/abbreviations are used, please compile them in an "Abbreviations" section at the end of the paper. • Latin expressions should be typed in italics. Referencing • In the text, citations with two authors should take the form: Smith and Robinson,1990. If several papers are cited by the same author in the same year, they should be lettered in sequence (1990a), (1990b), etc. When papers are by more then two authors they should be cited as Smith et al.,1990. In cases where more than one reference is written for the same sentence, they should appear in ascending publication order, e.g. (Jones et al., 2005; Smith et al., 2007; Brown et al., 2009). • In the list, references must be placed in alphabetical order. The following models for the reference list cover all situations. The punctuation given must be exactly followed. The journal titles should be abbreviated appropriately. Redford IR. Evidence for a general relationship between the induced level of DNA double strand breakage and cell killing after Xirradiation of mammalian cells. Int J Radiat Biol. 49: 611- 620, 1986. Tccioli CE, Cottlieb TM, Blund T. Product of the XRCCS gene and its role in DNA repair and V(D)J recombination. Science. 265: 1442-1445, 1994 Ohlrogge JB. Biochemistry of plant acyl carrier proteins. The Biochemistry of Plants: A Comprehensive Treatise. Stumpf PK and Conn EE (Ed). Academic Press, New York. 137-157, 1987. Brown LA. How to cope with your supervisor. PhD Thesis. University of New Orleans, 2005. Web document with no author: Leafy seadragons and weedy seadragons 2001. Retrieved November 13, 2002, from http:// www. windspeed.net.au/jenny/seadragons/ Web document with author: Dawson J, Smith L, Deubert K. Referencing, not plagiarism. Retrieved October 31, 2002 from http: //studytrekk.lis.curtin.edu.au/ • Only papers published or in press should be cited in the literature list. Unpublished results, including submitted manuscripts and those in preparation, should be indicated as unpublished data in the text. Submission Policies and Authorship REVISED December, 2011 85 Upon submission of a manuscript, it is accepted that all co-authors have approved the contents of the manuscript and its submission by the corresponding author, and that the corresponding author is authorized to represent all co-authors in pre-publication discussions with JCellMolBiol. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all the contributors to the relevant work are listed as authors and that all authors have aggreed to the manuscript’s content and its submission to the JCellMolBiol. In case the Journal happens to be aware of an authorship dispute, authorship must be approved in writing by all of the parties. Cost There are no submission fees or page charges. Criteria for the Selection of Manuscripts Manuscripts should meet the following criteria: The study conducted is material is original and ethical, the writing is clear; the study methods are appropriate, the data are valid, the conclusions are reasonable and supported by the data; the information is important; and the topic is interesting to our readership. Editorial Processes Researchers may request informal feedback from the editors in a particular manuscript. The presubmission process aids in the submission decision for authors. When JCellMolBiol receives a manuscript, the Editor-in-Chief will first decide whether the manuscript meets the formal criteria specified with “Guidelines for Authors” and whether it fits within the scope of the Journal. In case of doubt on the basis of initial review, the Editor-in-Chief will consult other members of the Editorial Board. Manuscripts that are found suitable for peer review will be assigned to two expert reviewers. Reviewers may either be Editorial/Advisory Board members or external experts selected by the Editorial Board. The corresponding author is notified by e-mail when the editor decides to send a paper for review. The reviewers will have up to three weeks to review the submitted article. After peer review, the editor will contact the author. If the author is required to submit a revised version, the revised version has to be submitted by the author within two weeks. Otherwise, the manuscript will be removed from the manuscript submission queue and will be considered rejected. In cases where the referees have requested welldefined changes to the manuscript, editors may request a revised manuscript that addresses to referees’ concerns. The revised version is sent back to the original referees for re-review. In cases where the referees’ concerns are more wideranging, editors may reject the manuscript. The revised manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter that includes a point-by-point response to referees’ comments and an explanation of how the manuscript has been changed. As a matter of policy, we do not suppress referees’ reports, any comments directed to authors are transmitted regardless of what we may think of the content. On rare occasions, we may edit a report to remove offensive language or comments to reveal confidentiality. The final decision to accept or reject a manuscript will be made by the Editor-in-Chief. If it becomes apparent that there are serious problems with the scientific content or with violations of our publishing policies, the Editor-in-Chief also reserves the right to reject a paper even after it has been accepted. After acceptance, the Editor-in-Chief may make further changes to the text and figures so that the manuscript is readable and clear. Page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author via email for checking before publication. Corresponding authors are sent proofs and are welcome to discuss proposed changes with the Editor-in-Chief, but JCellMolBiol reserves the right to make the final decision about the style. Corrected proofs should be sent back within three days of receipt, otherwise the Editor-in-Chief reserves the rights to correct the proofs himself and to send the material for publication. In cases where the authors do not submit the appropriately signed Publication Agreement Form, the manuscript is drawn from publication process even if it is accepted. Appeals Authors have the right to ask the Editor-in-Chief to reconsider a rejection decision, which is considered an appeal. Decisions are reversed only if the Editor is convinced that the original decision was a serious mistake. If an appeal merits further consideration, the Editor may send the author’s response or the revised paper to one or more referees, or Editor REVISED December, 2011 86 may ask one referee to comment on the concerns raised by another referee. Advance Online Publication JCellMolBiol provides Advance Online Publication of articles, which benefit authors with an earlier publication date and allows the readers’ access to accepted papers several weeks before they appear in print commercial use of articles contained herein is prohibited without the written consent of the Editor-in-Chief. Publication Agreement The corresponing author is required to assign the Publication Agreement Form in order to publish the submitted manuscript in JCellMolBiol. Ethical Issues For manuscripts reporting experiments on live vertebrates or higher invertebrates, authors must declare that the study was approved by the institutional ethics committee. Papers describing investigations on human subjects must include a statement that informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Plagiarism If portions of the manuscript have already been published by the author on other journals or websites, JCellMolBiol Editorial Board needs to know which portions of the manuscript have been previously published and where. The author should include a note in the cover letter indicating which portions have been published elsewhere. In case of any suspicion on scientific misconduct or dishonesty in research, JCellMolBiol reserves the right to forward any submitted manuscript to an appropriate authority for investigation. Copyright Notice It is the responsibility of the submitting author to ensure that the authorship of the paper reflects the contributions of the authors to the work described, and that all listed authors have agreed to the submission of the manuscript in its current form. Conditions of publication in JCellMolBiol are that the paper has not already been published elsewhere; that it is not currently being considered for publication else-where; all persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. If accepted, Haliç University and JCellMolBiol have the exclusive license to publish. JCellMolBiol is freely available to individuals and institutions. Copies of this Journal and articles in this journal may be distributed for research or for educational purposes free of charge. However, REVISED December, 2011 Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology Volume 10 · No 2 · December 2012 Review Articles Transforming acidic coiled-coil proteins and spindle assembly S. TRIVEDI Marker Systems and Applications in Genetic Characterization Studies Y. ÖZŞENSOY, E. KURAR 1 11 Research Articles COX5B and COX2 gene expressions in Multiple Sclerosis 21 N. SAFAVIZADEH, S. A. RAHMANI , M. ZAEFIZADEH Curcumin rendered protection against cadmium chloride induced testicular damage in Swiss albino mice 31 P. SINGH, K. DEORA, V. SANKHLA, P. MOGRA Study of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates with ESBL activity, from ICU and Nurseries, on the island of Mauritius 39 S.K. Mungloo-RUJUBALI, M.I. ISSACK, Y. JAUFEERALLY-FAKIM HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibition by Vitex negundo L. leaf extract and quantification of flavonoids in relation to anti-HIV activity 53 M. KANNAN, P. RAJENDRAN, V. VEDHA, G. ASHOK, S. ANUSHKA, P. CHANDRAN RAMACHANDRAN NAİR Genetic characterization and bottleneck analysis of Korki Jonub Khorasan goats by microsatellite markers 61 B. MAHMOUDI, O. ESTEGHAMAT, A. SHARIYAR. M. Sh. BABAYEV Low-Stringency Single-Specific-Primer PCR as a tool for detection of mutations in the matK gene of Phaseolus vulgaris exposed to paranitrophenol 71 Mohamed R. ENAN Short Communication Characterization of Paenibacillus larvae isolates from Brazil 79 S.S. CHAGAS, R.A. VAUCHER, A. BRANDELLI Guidelines for Authors 83