Search

Wolbachiais a widespread endosymbiotic bacteria with diverse phenotypic effects on its insect hosts.Wolbachiaalso commonly infects social insects, where it faces unique challenges associated with its hosts’ caste-based reproductive division of labor and colony living. Here we dissect the benefits and costs ofWolbachiainfection on life-history traits of pharaoh ants,Monomorium pharaonis. Pharaoh ants are relatively short-lived and show natural variation inWolbachiainfection between colonies, thereby making them an ideal model system for this study. We quantified effects on the lifespan of queen and worker castes, the egg-laying rate of queens across queen lifespan, and the metabolic rates of whole colonies and colony members. Newly-infected queens laid more eggs than uninfected queens but had similar metabolic rates and lifespans. Surprisingly, infected workers outlived uninfected workers. Infected colonies were more productive due to increased queen egg-laying rates and worker longevity, and infected colonies had higher metabolic rates during peak colony productivity. While some effects of infection, such as elevated colony-level metabolic rates may be detrimental in more stressful conditions, we did not find any costs of infection under laboratory conditions. Overall, our study emphasizes the beneficial effects ofWolbachiaon colony-level growth and metabolism in this species.

Antimicrobial resistance poses a serious threat to human health and is evidently not restricted to any one part of the globe. Over the last few decades, no new antibiotics have been discovered, and many antibiotics currently available are failing against several critical pathogenic strains due to emerging drug resistance. We have designed a strategy to combat deadly drug-resistant bacteria by using nanocargos that consist of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) conjugated to ε-polylysine (PLL) and octadecanethiol (C18) either alone or in combination. These nanocargos when tested against reference strains of carbapenem-resistant

Bacteria can associate with mammalian cells in different ways. While some are essential for the body, others can manipulate their local environment to cause tumor-like conditions or find refuge in already existing cancerous tissues or cells, impacting not only chemotherapy through drug transformation but also antibiotic resistance through immune evasion. Despite these facts, cancer and bacterial therapies continue to be administered independently. We have developed a dual drug delivery platform, called "dualosome", that not only targets cancer cells but also clears bacteria from the cancer niche. Dualosomes comprise liposomes loaded with an anticancer drug (doxorubicin) in their core and a cationic antibacterial peptide (sushi S3) on their surface. Folic acid is also attached to the liposomal surface to impart cancer cell specificity. The efficacy of dualosomes is demonstrated on model

Bacteria share a long commensal relationship with the human body. New findings, however, continue to unravel many complexities associated with this old alliance. In the past decades, the dysbiosis of human microbiome has been linked to tumorigenesis, and more recently to spontaneous colonization of existing tumors. The topic, however, remains open for debate as the claims for causative-prevailing dual characteristics of bacteria are mostly based on epidemiological evidence rather than robust mechanistic models. There are also no reviews linking the collective impact of bacteria in tumor microenvironments to the efficacy of cancer drugs, mechanisms of pathogen-initiated cancer and bacterial colonization, personalized nanomedicine, nanotechnology, and antimicrobial resistance. In this review, we provide a holistic overview of the bilateral relationship between cancer and bacteria covering all these aspects. Our collated evidence from the literature does not merely categorize bacteria as cancer causative or prevailing agents, but also critically highlights the gaps in the literature where more detailed studies may be required to reach such a conclusion. Arguments are made in favor of dual drug therapies that can simultaneously co-target bacteria and cancer cells to overcome drug resistance. Also discussed are the opportunities for leveraging the natural colonization and remission power of bacteria for cancer treatment. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug DiscoveryNanomedicine for Infectious Disease Nanotechnology Approaches to BiologyNanoscale Systems in Biology Therapeutic Approaches and Drug DiscoveryEmerging Technologies.

Dendrochronological analysis of Pinus merkusii (Merkus pine) collected from Mishmi Hills, Arunachal Pradesh, North–east India shows its potential to provide continuous and long–term information about changes in river flow of Lohit River Basin (LRB). A 170 years (1830–1999 C.E.) long regional tree-ring width chronology of Merkus pine was prepared using 80 tree cores. Based on the correlation analysis between tree-ring chronology and river discharge data, the river flow was reconstructed for the month of May from 1846 to 1999 C.E. The reconstruction showed long term low and high flow periods along with extreme drought and pluvial years. Past river flow reconstruction for hydro–climatic variability in this southwest monsoon-dominated region of North–east India requires further notice. Longer tree–ring records along with wider spatio-temporal network of discharge data from Arunachal Pradesh will help to develop better records of river flow reconstructions of the region.

Investment Tribunals sitting in review of a State’s public policy decisions often do not give much deference to the State’s rationale. However, it would only be reasonable for a State to expect that its legitimate authority to determine policy decisions taken in the best interest of the people are given weight by the tribunal. Identifying and applying an appropriate standard of review thus becomes exceedingly important to address this dichotomy. With this premise, this article will examine the standard of review adopted by investment tribunals while reviewing states’ policy decisions and how investment tribunals failure to exercise self-restraint has given rise to a ‘legitimacy crisis’ for the entire investment law regime. Further, the article will go on to discuss how India has taken the first affirmative step towards establishing a coherent and uniform standard of review in its revised Model BIT of 2015.

Photocatalytic methods for hydrogen generation and organic pollutant degradation can be considered as economic, and environment-friendly techniques. Transition metal oxides are most commonly used in photo-assisted processes and exhibit enhanced photocatalytic response in hydrogen generation and hazardous contaminant degradation. Various pollutants can be utilized as sacrificial agents according to the available literature. Instead of performing the processes separately, our intention in this chapter is to review various aspects of simultaneous hydrogen generation and wastewater purification. Thus two significant areas of concern, namely the future energy crisis and wastewater purification can be solved with reduced operating cost and time. Coupled photocatalysis for enhanced hydrogen evolution and efficient pollutant decontamination is drawing the attention of researchers worldwide.

This chapter explores the concept of visible light active nanocomposites for the enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen generation and dye degradation. Since the late 1960s, A. Fujishima has been involved in unfolding the fascinating characteristics of titanium dioxide (TiO2) as semiconductor oxide. The increased growth in population and industrial development has tremendously increased the generation of waste products and consumption of energy worldwide. This situation creates an immense need of clean and sustainable alternative sources of energy. Hydrogen, having a high energy capacity, is considered as a reliable fuel for the future energy requirements. In addition to that, due to the rapid industrialisation, our water is being contaminated with various harmful industrial effluents. This chapter illustrates the significance of visible light nanocomposites for the photocatalytic application of hydrogen generation for future energy security and dye degradation for the effective effluent treatment of textile industries.

Photocatalytic water-splitting technology by using nano-sized TiO2 can produce low cost and environment-friendly hydrogen using renewable resource such as solar energy, which can fulfil the future requirements of energy. Nano-sized TiO2 is highly efficient as a semiconductor photocatalyst possessing high surface area. The significant drawbacks of utilising TiO2 as photocatalysts are reduced absorption capacity of visible radiation and fast recombination of photoexcited electron/hole (e−/h+) pair. Its activity is restricted to UV light, which is only ∼3–5% of the solar spectrum. This present review elucidates various aspects and the recent researches related to TiO2 nano photocatalysis for the effective solar hydrogen generation via photocatalytic water splitting technology.

The structural, morphological, and optical properties of the sol–gel derived TiO2 nanoparticles at different pH and calcination temperature were investigated in the present study. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–Visible(Vis) spectroscopy, energy dispersive studies (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, BET surface area analysis, and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) pore size distribution and pore volume analysis were used to characterize the prepared TiO2 photocatalyst. The range of crystallite size and band gap of the synthesized TiO2 samples were in the range of 20–80 nm and 2.5–3.2 eV respectively. The photocatalytic performance of prepared TiO2 photocatalysts was evaluated by photodegradation of Methylene Blue (MB) solution under simulated solar irradiation. Results illustrate that the synthesized TiO2 exhibits visible light activity at higher calcination temperature. Crystallinity and surface area plays a vital role in the overall performance of the prepared TiO2 photocatalyst.

TiO2 nanoparticles with excellent crystallinity were synthesized via solvothermal method and supported on the ground nano-sized egg shell waste at different loading concentrations. The photocatalytic degradation of the mixture of Methylene blue (MB) and Rhodamine 6G (Rh 6G) in aqueous solution utilizing prepared TiO2 nano composite under visible light irradiation was analysed. Different characterizations including UV–Visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscopic (FE-SEM), energy dispersive studies (EDS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were performed to investigate the physicochemical properties of the prepared catalyst. In addition, FE-SEM and EDS analysis of the prepared egg shell support were carried out to confirm the morphology, particle size distribution, and composition. The solvothermal derived TiO2 nanocrystals supported on ground nano-sized egg shell waste exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity as compared to the as-prepared TiO2 nanoparticles. The synergistic effect of TiO2 nanoparticles and nano egg shell support is attributed to the effective dispersion of TiO2 that offers high specific surface area.

Wolbachia is a widespread group of maternally-transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria that often manipulates the reproductive strategy and life history of its hosts to favor its own transmission. Wolbachia mediated phenotypic effects are well characterized in solitary hosts, but effects in social hosts are unclear. The invasive pharaoh ant, Monomorium pharaonis, shows natural variation in Wolbachia infection between colonies and can be readily bred under laboratory conditions. We previously showed that Wolbachia-infected pharaoh ant colonies had more queen-biased sex ratios than uninfected colonies, which is expected to favor the spread of maternally-transmitted Wolbachia. Here, we further characterize the effects of Wolbachia on the short- and longer-term reproductive and life history traits of pharaoh ant colonies. First, we characterized the reproductive differences between naturally infected and uninfected colonies at three discrete time points and found that infected colonies had higher reproductive investment (i.e. infected colonies produced more new queens), particularly when existing colony queens were three months old. Next, we compared the long-term growth and reproduction dynamics of infected and uninfected colonies across their whole life cycle. Infected colonies had increased colony-level growth and early colony reproduction, resulting in a shorter colony life cycle, when compared to uninfected colonies.

Uninterrupted supply of adequate and clean drinking water is a fundamental human necessity, and essential to maintain the healthy surroundings. It also influences the development and economic growth, specifically in developing countries. It provides an excellent opportunity for treatment of surface water, groundwater, and wastewater contaminated by toxic metal ions, organic and inorganic solutes, and microorganisms. It facilitates an opportunity to optimize the current conventional techniques and to offer novel and innovative methods of water purification. Various nanomaterials on which purification of contaminated drinking water is based includes nanostructured catalytic membranes, nanosorbents, nanocatalysts, and bioactive nanoparticles. Current and potential applications of nanotechnology in water purification are adsorption, membrane separation processes, photocatalysis, disinfection, and microbial control. This chapter reviews the recent research efforts accomplished in the area of nanotechnology for drinking water purification.

Purpose: The aim of this research paper is to investigate the short-term financial impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the leading stock markets indices of 20 countries, namely, India, the United States of America, Brazil, Russia, the United Kingdom, Spain, China, Germany, South Korea, France, Abu Dhabi, Taiwan, Thailand, Pakistan, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan, Canada, Singapore, and Australia. Methodology: A comparative and event study has been conducted between index closing prices of aforementioned countries during the COVID-19 outbreak (short-term and long-term basis) and pre-COVID period, keeping the S&P Global 100 closing prices as the benchmark. For this, we have used statistical tools such as t-test and Mann–Whitney U-test and interpreted and analyzed the results thereof. Findings: Since the reaction of aforementioned stock indices has been analyzed under varying time periods for the event study, it was concluded that the announcement of the virus as a pandemic and its subsequent outbreak saw a sudden decrease in market returns, however, the prices recovered quickly. Implication: Even though COVID-19 initially affected investor confidence, it failed to create a long-term impact. Originality: Till now, no research has been conducted to test the effect of the WHO declaring COVID-19 a pandemic.

Wolbachiais a widespread group of maternally-transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria that often manipulates the reproductive strategy and life history of its solitary hosts to enhance its own transmission.Wolbachiaalso commonly infects eusocial insects such as ants, although the effects of infection on social organisms remain largely unknown. We tested the effects of infection on colony-level reproduction and life history traits in the invasive pharaoh ant,Monomorium pharaonis. First we compared the reproductive investment of infected and uninfected colonies with queens of three discrete ages, and we found that infected colonies had increased reproductive investment. Next, we compared the long-term growth and reproduction of infected and uninfected colonies across their life cycle, and we found that infected colonies had increased colony-level growth and early colony reproduction. These colony-level effects ofWolbachiainfection seem to result because of a ‘live fast, die young’ life history strategy of infected queens. Such accelerated colony life cycle is likely beneficial for both the host and the symbiont and may have contributed to success of the highly invasive pharaoh ant.

Bacterial infections affect more than 2 million people annually. Of these, systemic infections caused by bacteria in critically ill patients may lead to life-threatening conditions such as sepsis. We have developed a point-of-care (POC) device called Septiflo that can detect and stratify the Gram status of bloodstream bacterial infections in less than 10 min from a drop of human plasma. It works on the principle of identifying pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA) that are released into the bloodstream at the onset of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial infections, respectively. The biomarkers are captured on a membrane without a receptor, and the Gram status specificity is conferred by the ligands attached to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) used as signal amplification probes. The ultrasensitive colorimetric results are read by eye down to a 100-fg/ml detection limit without an instrument. No cross-interference between the PAMPs is seen during Gram stratification. Septiflo results also display better performance than commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). Tests performed on 60 clinical samples from patients showed a correlation accuracy of 70% against procalcitonin (PCT), an accepted surrogate biomarker for sepsis. A direct comparison with eubacterial PCR yielded up to 94% accuracy in 31 patients at a chosen cutoff level for LPS and LTA and area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.927 and 0.885, respectively, though blood culture was negative for most samples. The high sensitivity, low cost, and simple bedside utility of the assay may aid in better sepsis management apparently at the presymptomatic stage, lowering empirical therapy, medical costs, antimicrobial resistance, and mortality.

BACKGROUND: ITP has been described in case reports and a few small series of patients with solid tumors. One possible mechanism of ITP associated with cancer is tumor- induced autoimmunity. CASE DESCRIPTION: A now 15 -year -old female with neurofibromatosis 1 (NF-1) was diagnosed at 6 years of age with an optic pathway glioma. She received treatment with carboplatin and vincristine, and had stable disease for 11 months, until she developed an allergic reaction to carboplatin. At 10 years of age, she exhibited progressive disease and received immunotherapy with three doses of an HLA-restricted peptide vaccine given over 6 weeks. At age 11, she was diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenia, which was controllable with WinRho, and her platelet count remained between 50,000–60,000. At age 14, despite stable MRI findings, she experienced a decrease in visual acuity necessitating further treatment, and Everolimus was instituted. After one year of treatment, her vision has remained stable, and she has a sustained improvement in her platelet count to above 200,000. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: There are a number of extenuating factors that may have possibly contributed to the occurrence of ITP, including the emergence of OPG, the allergic reaction to carboplatin, and the prior immunotherapy protocol. Our patient’s decline in visual acuity prompting treatment was closely related temporally to the development of chronic ITP, suggesting the possibility of immune cell dysregulation in both the immune cytopenia and tumor growth. Everolimus, an mTOR inhibitor, has been observed to cause regression of several types of tumors as well as alter immune function and, in a larger series of patients in China, suppress manifestations of ITP. However, this case is unusual in the quick and enduring response of the ITP to Everolimus. This case suggests the efficacy of both the anti-tumor and immunomodulatory effects in Everolimus treatment.

Reciprocal hemizygosity analysis is a genetic technique that allows phenotypic determination of the allelic effects of a gene in a genetically uniform background. Expanding this single gene technique to generate a genome-wide collection is termed as reciprocal hemizygosity scanning (RHS). The RHS collection should circumvent the need for linkage mapping and provide the power to identify all possible allelic variants for a given phenotype. However, the published RHS collections based on the existing genome-wide haploid deletion library reported a high rate of false positives. In this study, we report de novo construction of a RHS collection that is not based on the yeast deletion library. This collection has been constructed for the shortest yeast chromosome, ChrI. Using this ChrI RHS collection, we identified 13 allelic variants for the previously mapped loci and novel allelic variants for the growth differences in different environments. A few of these novel variants, which were fine mapped to a gene level, identified novel genetic variation for the previously studied environmental conditions. The availability of a genome-wide RHS collection would thus help us uncover a comprehensive list of allelic variants and better our understanding of the molecular pathways modulating a quantitative trait. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ZnO nano-rods were synthesised via wet chemical method at different nitrate concentration and pH value. The effect of pH and nitrate concentration on the size and morphology of the prepared ZnO photocatalysts have been investigated by particle size distribution analysis and Field emission scanning electron microscopy respectively. Additionally, UV-Visible spectroscopy and energy dispersive studies and were carried out to confirm the optical and compositional properties of the prepared ZnO powder. The estimated band gap of the as prepared ZnO photocatalysts at different pH and nitrate concentration calculated on the basis of Kubelka–Munk function was found to be in the range of ∼ 2.7–3.6 eV. Field emission scanning (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) observations reveal rod-like morphology. The photocatalytic activity of prepared ZnO photocatalysts was evaluated by photo degradation of the mixture of Methylene Blue (MB) and Rhodamine 6G (Rh 6G) solution under simulated solar radiation. Volume of hydrogen evolution was recorded in the presence of prepared ZnO photocatalysts in 2 h. Nitrate concentration, and pH value showed a significant effect on the optical and morphological behaviour of the prepared ZnO powdered photocatalysts.

Social insect sex and caste ratios are well-studied targets of evolutionary conflicts, but the heritable factors affecting these traits remain unknown. To elucidate these factors, we carried out a short-term artificial selection study on female caste ratio in the ant Monomorium pharaonis. Across three generations of bidirectional selection, we observed no response for caste ratio, but sex ratios rapidly became more female-biased in the two replicate high selection lines and less female-biased in the two replicate low selection lines. We hypothesized that this rapid divergence for sex ratio was caused by changes in the frequency of infection by the heritable bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia, because the initial breeding stock varied for Wolbachia infection, and Wolbachia is known to cause female-biased sex ratios in other insects. Consistent with this hypothesis, the proportions of Wolbachia-infected colonies in the selection lines changed rapidly, mirroring the sex ratio changes. Moreover, the estimated effect of Wolbachia on sex ratio (~13% female bias) was similar in colonies before and during artificial selection, indicating that this Wolbachia effect is likely independent of the effects of artificial selection on other heritable factors. Our study provides evidence for the first case of endosymbiont sex ratio manipulation in a social insect. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This paper investigates in the context of the Indian markets the linkage between the effects of an inverted yield curve and the performance of stocks of different market capitalizations i.e. the small, big and mid-cap stocks for the period 2007–09. An attempt was made to find out if there is any particular stock group that performed significantly well during the period of inverted yield curve and more specifically if there is a ‘Big Firm Effect’ associated with the Yield Curve Inversion wherein the Big-cap stocks outperform the mid and the small stocks in the post inversion period. The study indicates that in the case of Indian markets there is no Big firm Effect associated with the inverted yield-curve phenomenon which is unlike the results of the studies based on the US market. Thus the investors in the Indian market should be careful while taking any investment decision based on the inverted yield curve phenomenon as its role and implications are quite different here in India as opposed to the developed markets like the USA.

The aim of the study is to examine the semi-strong form efficiency of the Indian stock market and determine whether the market reacts to information regarding bonus issues. Bonus issues are expected to send positive signals to investors and hence prices are expected to rise when an issue is announced. If there is a significant predictable increase in price after the bonus announcement that can be used to make abnormal profits, the market is considered to be inefficient. Twenty five bonus issues between 2002 and 2007 were studied using the event study methodology and abnormal returns were calculated using the market model. Although the study showed a positive market reaction to the bonus issues, the results were not statistically significant. This shows that the Indian market is semi-strong form efficient.

The majority of efficient market research to date has focused on developed markets like United States and European securities market. Not much research has been done on strong form of the efficient market hypothesis in developing countries markets like India. The efficient market hypothesis suggests that stock markets are “information efficient”, i.e., any new information relevant to the market is spontaneously reflected in the stock prices, so nobody can use such information to consistently earn abnormally high returns. This paper shows that the Indian market is strong form efficient to the extent that mutual fund managers could not out perform randomly constructed portfolios of index stocks for the period 2003–2007. This implies that an investor can build his/her own portfolio without any expert guidance and still earn returns comparable to professionally managed funds.

Beta is a widely accepted measure of systematic risk. While early tests in international markets and the Indian stock market found that beta was able to explain variations in return, subsequent studies found that other variables were also important. This paper relates stock returns to the underlying behaviour of beta and five company attributes size, earnings yield, cash earnings yield, dividend yield and book to market ratio. Analysis of 158 stocks listed on the Bombay stock exchange from 1991–2002 and sub periods shows that stock returns are influenced by other variables in addition to the market factor. Beta was positively related to returns while size, E/P, D/P and B/M were negatively related to returns. The study indicates that risk is probably multidimensional and that significant factors vary with the period chosen for empirical analysis.

This study compares CAPM and APT using macro economic variables to represent the APT factors. Analysis of 158 stocks listed on the Bombay stock exchange from 1991–2002 shows that stock returns are influenced by other variables in addition to the dominant market factor. Stock returns moved in the same direction as the BSE 200, production index, wholesale price index, dollar rate and difference in the six and three month foreign exchange forward premium. They moved in the opposite direction to call rates, T-bill rates, gold prices, three month foreign exchange forward premium, and differentials in long and short term interest rates. The significant factors varied with the period and interval used for calculation of returns. In the cross regressions, the BSE 200, call rate and dollar rate were priced in some sub periods. The multi index model using macroeconomic variables could also explain variation in returns marginally better than CAPM.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one phenotypic aspect of many monogenic, hereditary cancer syndromes. Pleiotropic effects of cancer genes on the autism phenotype could lead to repurposing of oncology medications to treat this increasingly prevalent neurodevelopmental condition for which there is currently no treatment. To explore this hypothesis we sought to discover whether autistic patients more often have rare coding, single-nucleotide variants within tumor suppressor and oncogenes and whether autistic patients are more often diagnosed with neoplasms. Exome-sequencing data from the ARRA Autism Sequencing Collaboration was compared to that of a control cohort from the Exome Variant Server database revealing that rare, coding variants within oncogenes were enriched for in the ARRA ASD cohort (p

There is conflicting evidence on the applicability of Capital Asset Pricing Model in the Indian stock market. Data for 158 stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange was analyzed using a number of tests from 1991–2002, the period which roughly coincides with the period after liberalization and initiation of capital market reforms. Taken in aggregate the various empirical tests show that CAPM is not valid for the Indian stock market for the period studied.

Glyoxalase I activity has been shown to be directly related to cancer and its inhibitors have been used as anti-cancer drugs. Immunochemical studies have shown immunochemical relatedness among animal and plant glyoxalase I, but its potential application for biomedical research has not been investigated. In order to understand the conserved immunochemical regions of the protein and to determine probable immunomodulation targets, a cellulose-bound scanning peptide library for Brassica juncea glyoxalase I was made using the spot synthesis method. Immuno-probing of the library, using B. juncea anti-glyoxalase I monospecific polyclonal antibodies, revealed three immunodominant regions, epitope I, II, and III. In the homology model of B. juncea glyoxalase I generated by threading its sequence onto the human glyoxalase I, the high accessible surface area and the hydrophilic nature of the epitopes confirmed their surface localization and hence their accessibility for antigen-antibody interaction. Epitopes I and II were specific to B. juncea glyoxalase I. Localizing the epitopes on available glyoxalase I sequences showed that epitope III containing the active site region was conserved across phyla. Therefore, this could be used as a potential immunomodulation target for cancer therapy. Moreover, as the most immunogenic epitopes were mapped on the surface of the protein, this method could be used to discover potential therapeutic targets. It is a simple and fast approach for such investigations. This study, to our knowledge, is the first in epitope mapping of glyoxalase I and has great biomedical potential.