Secondary and tertiary structure aberration of alpha globin chain in haemoglobin Q-India disorder

Hemoglobinopathies are important inherited disorders with considerable high prevalence in Asia. Hemoglobin Q-India is a hemoglobinopathy that was first identified in India. Hb Q-India is caused by the mutation GAC --> CAC at codon 64 of the alpha-1 globin gene. The correlation between this hemoglobinopathy and thalassemia was reported. Although primary structure of disorder Hb Q-India is well documented, the secondary and tertiary structures, which can help explain the pathogenesis of the Hb Q-India disorder is not known. In this study, amino acid sequence of human alpha globin was searched using ExPASY and used for further mutation to Hb Q-India disorder. The derived sequences, alpha globin chains in both normal and Hb Q-India disorder, were used for further investigation for secondary and tertiary structures. Modeling of these proteins for secondary and tertiary structures was done using the NNPREDICT server and CPHmodels 2.0 Server, respectively. In this study, the secondary and tertiary structures of human alpha globin chains of normal and hemoglobin Q-India disorder are calculated and presented. Based on this information, the main difference between the predicted alpha globin secondary structures of normal and Hb Q-India is an extra helix in the Hb Q-India. The predicted tertiary structure also supports this finding. The results from this study can be good data for further study on Hb Q-India disorder, which can bring to the further understanding on this hemoglobinopathy.     

Correlation between rainfall and the prevalence of malaria in Thailand

Malaria is the most important parasitic disease of people, affecting over 200 million people and causing more than one million deaths each year. Presently, the Southeast Asia including Thailand is still the endemic are for malaria. The surveys of the disease prevalence are useful for prevention and control of disease [Phillips RS. Current status of malaria and potential for control. Clin Microbiol Rev 2001;14:208-26] and have been continuously performed in Thailand. The correlation between rainfall and infection rate of malaria is of interest. Here, the correlation between the rainfall and the prevalence of malaria was investigated. The relation between the rainfall (transformed from the geographical data) and the prevalence of malaria (transformed from the overall infection rate of malaria) is investigated. The least square equation plot rainfall (Y) vs. prevalence (X) is Y=24.82X+987.84 (r=0.76, P<0.01). In conclusion, the prevalence of malarial infection in Thailand may depend on rainfall. Therefore, the surveillance and control of mosquito during the period with high rainfall is recommended. Further, similar study to assess the correlation between the rainfall and prevalence of infection in the other countries is required to fulfill the conclusion.     

Identification of transmembrane region and orientation of aquaglyceroporin of Plasmodium falciparum

Aquaglyceroporin is a subclass of aquaporin water channels. This protein is also a focused potential drug target for falciparum malaria. However, the knowledge about the structure of this protein is limited. In this communication, the author performed a study to determine the transmembrane region and orientation of aquaglyceroporin of Plasmodium falciparum . According to this study, six transmembrane regions of aquaglyceroporin of P. falciparum can be identified. These regions can be the focused target for future drug development.