Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology

The relevance of studying the regulation of protein-ligand interactions is due to the emergence of new views on the role of metabolites and their key importance in vital processes. To study the protein-ligand interaction, the AB0 antigen-antibody blood system and the enzyme-substrate system of dehydrogenases were used as a test system, and ethanol was used as an influencing factor. In experiments performed with A and B blood erythrocyte antigens, natural AB0 system antibodies and monoclonal antibodies under the influence of ethanol performed change of the degree of agglutination and the time to onset of erythrocyte agglutination. It was found that ethanol can regulate the enzyme-substrate interactions of dehydrogenases: lactate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27), glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.12), and α-glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.8). The increase in the activity of studied enzymes under the influence of ethanol in the whole blood hemolysate was 2.5 - 3 times higher than in the isolated medium (with pure enzyme preparations).

In mid-2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant caused the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in several countries worldwide. The pivotal studies were aimed at studying changes in the efficiency of neutralizing antibodies to the spike protein. However, much less attention was paid to the T-cell response and the presentation of virus peptides by MHC-I molecules. In this study, we compared the features of the HLA-I genotype in symptomatic patients with COVID-19 in the first and third waves of the pandemic. As a result, we could identify the diminishing of carriers of the HLA-A*01:01 allele in the third wave and demonstrate the unique properties of this allele. Thus, HLA-A*01:01-binding immunoprevalent epitopes are mostly derived from ORF1ab. A set of epitopes from ORF1ab was tested, and their high immunogenicity was confirmed. Moreover, analysis of the results of single-cell phenotyping of T-cells in recovered patients showed that the predominant phenotype in HLA-A*01:01 carriers is central memory T-cells. The predominance of T-lymphocytes of this phenotype may contribute to forming long-term T-cell immunity in carriers of this allele. Our results can be the basis for highly effective vaccines based on ORF1ab peptides.

Identification and following study of optical transients (OTs) associated with cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and gravitational wave (GWs) events is a relevant research problem of multi-messenger astronomy. Since their first discovery, one of the greatest challenges is the localisation uncertainty. The sources of OTs are initially localised with space gamma and X-ray telescopes or ground-based laser interferometers LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA having the poor positional accuracy on average. A joint localisation area typically covers about 1000 deg22 of the sky based on previous runs of LIGO and Virgo. The last 25 years has seen a rapid development of the robotic optical surveys. Such instruments equipped with wide-field cameras allow to cover the entire localisation area in several scans. As the result, a massive amount of scientific products is generated, including bulky series of astronomical images. After their processing, large object catalogues that may contain up to 105105 celestial objects are created. It is necessary to identify the peculiar objects among other in the formed catalogues. Both data processing and identification of OTs must be carried out in real-time due to steep decay of brightness. To response pointed problems, the software pipelines are becoming a relevant solution. This paper provides a complete overview of the units of the actively developed pipeline for OT detection. The accuracy and performance metrics of the pipeline units, estimated for two wide-field telescopes are given. In conclusions, the future plans for the development are briefly discussed.

The purpose of this article was to check the effects on health of various types of physical activities, diet, BMI, smoking and alcohol consumption and their interrelationships with control for age, sex and level of education. The study was based on epidemiological data (9617 participants from 19 to 81 years old for whom we have health indicators over a period of 11 years) together with questionnaires about diet, alcohol, tobacco and the frequency of different types of physical activities. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric correlational analysis of epidemiological data was performed with use of SPSS v.19. Our results indicate the existence of the significant relationship between leading a healthy life style (type of physical activities, limitations of fats consume and weight maintenance). However, the different categories of physical activities were analysed separately and showed slight differences on health indicators impacts. Our findings confirm that leading a healthy life style (all types of physical activities, limitations of fats consume and weight maintenance) is an important issue since it has a significant relationship with physical and mental health indicators, but outdoor physical activities and practicing sport in group have shown slightly higher impact on health.