Vol 1, No 1 (2009)

On the role played by the High Attestation Commission of the Russian Federation (VAK) of Russia in managing domestic science, criteria, and professional selection, as well as the role the of scientific periodicals in this process; Acta Naturae talked to the president of this commission, academician Mikhail Kirpichnikov of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Those fields within science in which there is continuous development need to be objectively evaluated in order to determine the efficiency of work being conducted by those working in that field. Different criteria provide an estimate of this efficiency at both the level of individual scientists as well as that of entire scientific institutions. Moreover, it is possible to obtain an estimate of the rate of progress in research activities within

Telomerase is a complex ribonucleoprotein that completes the telomeres' ends in eukaryotic cells which shorten due to DnA underreplication. the core enzyme consists of a protein catalytic subunit—telomerase reverse transcriptase (tert)—and telomeric rnA (telomerase rnA (tr)); a small region of this rnA serves as a template for the telomeric repeats synthesis. Apart from rare exceptions, telomerase is not active in the somatic cells and tissues of the human body. However, the activation of telomerase activity in cancer cells was shown for certain in 80–90 % of cases. understanding the mechanism of telomerase functioning and the mechanisms of its regulation could be used in oncodiagnostics. telomerase itself and its regulators could be important targets for anticancer therapy. the activity of telomerase in a cell is affected by proteins with multiple functions, and this influence is not necessarily specific. there are also cases when telomerase regulators act together or when several regulators are organised in the cascade. the aim of this review is to generalize and systemize data about the regulation of telomerase in ontogenesis. Key words: telomerase, telomerase reverse transcriptase, telomerase rnA, regulation, cancer. Abbreviations: 5azadc (5-aza-2'-deoxicitidine), AV (adenoviruses), HBV (Hepatitis B Virus) HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), HPV (Human papillomavirus), eBV (epstein–Barr Virus), np (nucleotide pair), OB-motive (oligonecleotide/oligosaccharide binding motive), rt (reverse transcription), Pcr (polymerase chain reacion), rnAse (ribonuclease), tert (telomerase reverse transcriptase), htert (human tert), mtert (mouse tert), Dn-htert (dominantnegative mutated htert), erβ (estrogen β receptor), HtLV-I (Human t-lymphotropic virus), tr (telomerase rnA), trAP (telomeric repeat Amplification Protocol), PHA (phytohemagglutinin), Hre (Hypoxia response element), neS (nuclear export signal).

Apoptosis is common to all multicellular organisms. Apoptosis can be triggered by the extrinsic (death receptor (DR)) or the intrinsic (mitochondrial) death pathways.CD95 (APO-1/Fas) is a prototypic member of the DR family. This review is focused on the mechanisms of CD95 (APO-1/Fas)-mediated apoptosis and the role in the apoptosisof the death effector domain (DED)-containing proteins: pro-apoptotic protein procaspase-8 and anti-apoptotic protein c-FLIP. Gaining insights into these processes willimprove our understanding of the pathogenesis of diseases such as cancer, autoimmunity and AIDS, and will open new approaches to rational treatment strategies.

It has been shown that the activation of tissue-specific gene transcription during the course of cell differentiation is associated with a spatial reorganization of the genomic domains harboring those specific genes. This reorganization consists of the relocation to the nuclear matrix of the whole genomic domain containing one or more of the genes being transcribed. However, it remains unclear whether, during this process, extended areas of the genome also become attached to the nuclear matrix. We studied the genome´s pattern of interaction with the nuclear matrix in both erythroid and non-erythroid cells of chickens, using a 220Kb region of chromosome -14, which contains the alpha-globin gene cluster and some surrounding house-keeping genes. The results show that in erythroid cells, the fragment of the genome containing the alpha-globin gene domain became spatially arranged into micro-loops which could not be detected by mapping experiments.

This study examines the features and limitations of direct Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption–Ionisation (MALDI) mass-spectrometry profiling of bacterial cells for investigating a microbial population. The optimal laboratory protocol, including crude bacteria lyses by a solution of 50% acetonitrile, 2.5% trifluoroacetic acid, and using α-cyano-4-hydroxy cinnamic acid as the MALDI matrix, has been developed. Two different bacteria species were under investigation, and representative mass spectra from 278 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and 22 strains of Helicobacter pylori have been analyzed. It’s known that both bacteria demonstrate a variable degree of polymorphism. For N. gonorrhoeae, the MALDI mass spectra that was collected possessed about 70 peaks, 20 of which were good reproducible ones. In spite of the fact that three peaks were found with differing spectra in some strains, little diversity in the N. gonorrhoeae population was revealed. This fact indicates the prospects in using direct MALDI mass-spectrometry profiling for gonococcus identification. In the case of H. pylori strains, the variety in the collected mass-spectra was shown to be essential. Only five peaks were present in more than 70% of strains, and a single mass value was common for all spectra. While these data call into question the possibility of the reliable species identification of H. pylori using this approach, the intraspecies differentiation of strains was offered. Good association between MALDI profile distributions and the region of strain isolation have been found. Thus, the suggested direct MALDI mass-spectrometry profiling strategy, coupled with special analysis software, seems promising for the species identification of N. gonorrhoeae but is assumed insufficient for H. pylori species determination. At the same time, this would create a very good chance for an epidemiological study of such variable bacteria as H. pylori.