Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

In yeast cells, a protein (sbp1) promotes disintegration of RNA granules, the study found that the Sbp1 protein helps in reducing the aggregates of human proteins involved in neurodegenerative disorders.

What is an RNA granule?

• In the cytoplasm of any cell and one comes across structures made of messenger RNA (mRNA) and proteins known as RNA granules
• Unlike other structures in the cell (such as mitochondria), the RNA granules are not covered and confined by a membrane
• This makes them highly dynamic in nature, thereby allowing them to constantly exchange components with the surrounding
• RNA granules are present in the cytoplasm at low numbers under normal conditions but increase in number and size under stressful conditions including diseases.
• A defining feature which does not change from one organism to another (conserved) of the RNA granule protein components is the presence of stretches containing repeats of certain amino acids
• Such stretches are referred to as low complexity regions. Repeats of arginine (R), glycine (G) and glycine (G) — known as RGG — are an example of low complexity sequence.

Protein Synthesis

• Messenger RNAs are converted to proteins (building blocks of the cell) by the process of translation.
• RNA granules determine messenger RNA (mRNA) fate by deciding when and how much protein would be produced from mRNA.
• Protein synthesis is a multi-step and energy expensive process.
• Therefore, a common strategy used by cells when it encounters unfavorable conditions is to shut down protein production and conserve energy to deal with the stressful situation.
• RNA granules help in the process of shutting down protein production.
• Some RNA granule types (such as Processing bodies or P-bodies) not only regulate protein production but also accomplish degradation and elimination of the mRNAs, which in turn helps in reducing protein production.

Treatment of disease

• In recent years, a strong link has emerged between RNA granules and neurodegenerative disorders such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).
• The proteins implicated in these diseases are RNA binding proteins that can reside in RNA granules.
• These proteins also contain low complexity sequences (repeats of amino acids) that are important for their movement into RNA granules.
• In fact, these proteins are deposited as insoluble granules/aggregates in the neurons of ALS and FTD patients which are believed to contribute to the pathophysiology of these diseases.
• Finding ways of solubilizing these aggregates could provide a breakthrough in treating these diseases.

Findings of the study

• A recent study has identified a protein (Sbp1) as a factor that dissolves the RNA granules (P-bodies)
• The work also concluded that low complexity sequences (containing repeats of arginine (R) and glycine (G) amino acids — RGG) which normally promote granule formation, in this case promote the disintegration of RNA granules in yeast cells.
• The identified protein Sbp1 is specific for dissolving P-bodies and not stress granules which are related RNA granule types also present in the cytoplasm.
• This finding can be used to treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

• Devasahayam was recommended for the process of Beatification by the Vatican in 2004.
• With the completion of the process, Devasahayam Pillai, who took the name “Lazarus” after embracing Christianity in 1745, on may 15th became first Indian layman to be declared a saint by Pope Francis during an impressive canonisation ceremony at the Vatican.

 Where abouts of Devasahayam:

• Devasahayam was born on April 23, 1712, as Neelakanta Pillai into a Hindu Nair family, at Nattalam in Kanyakumari district, which was part of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom.
• He was an official in the court of Travancore’s Maharaja Marthanda Varma when he was instructed into the Catholic faith by a Dutch naval commander.
• “Lazarus” or “Devasahayam” in Malayalam, translates to “God is my help”.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The southwest monsoon is likely to set in over Kerala on May 27, well ahead of its normal date of June 1.If the forecast turns out to be accurate, this will be the earliest onset of the monsoon over Kerala since at least 2009.

The onset of southwest monsoon is announced by IMD Only after the following parameters are met:

• Rainfall: The IMD declares the onset of the monsoon if at least 60% of 14 designated meteorological stations in Kerala and Lakshadweep record at least 2.5 mm of rain for two consecutive days at any time after May 10.
• Wind field: The depth of westerlies should be upto 600 hectopascal (1 hPa is equal to 1 millibar of pressure) in the area bound by the equator to 10ºN latitude, and from longitude 55ºE to 80ºE. The zonal wind speed over the area bound by 5-10ºN latitude and 70-80ºE longitude should be of the order of 15-20 knots (28-37 kph) at 925 hPa.
• Heat: Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) value (a measure of the energy emitted to space by the Earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere) should be below 200 watt per sq m (wm2) in the box confined by 5-10ºN latitude and 70-75ºE latitude.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

• Amarnath Yatra pilgrims to be tracked through RFID tags
• The movement of each Amarnath Yatra pilgrim will be tracked with the help of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags
• The RFID tags will be provided by the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). Registration of all pilgrims are done by the shrine board.

What is Radio Frequency Identification?

• RFID is a type of passive wireless technology that allows for tracking or matching of an item or individual.
• The system has two basic parts: Tags and Readers.
• The reader gives off radio waves and gets signals back from the RFID tag, while the tag uses radio waves to communicate its identity and other information.
• A tag can be read from up to several feet away and does not need to be within the direct line-of-sight of the reader to be tracked.
• The technology has been approved since before the 1970s but has become much more prevalent in recent years due to its usages in things like global supply chain management and pet microchipping.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has established the “proof of principle” (proof of concept) of the first indigenous mRNA vaccine technology

• The replication is based on the Moderna model, but has been built with the information available in the open and our own technology and materials
• While vaccines work by training the immune system to identify disease-causing micro-organisms and eliminate them quickly when they encounter them, in the mRNA technology, the host cell’s immune system is trained to evade the real infection.
• This is done by introducing mRNA of the micro-organism of concern into the host.
• The home-grown mRNA vaccine platform holds promise to deal with other infectious diseases such as TB, dengue, malaria, chikungunya, rare genetic diseases and others.

What are mRNA vaccines?

• mRNA vaccines trick the body into producing some of the viral proteins itself.
• They work by using mRNA, or messenger RNA, which is the molecule that essentially puts DNA instructions into action.
• Inside a cell, mRNA is used as a template to build a protein

How it works?

• To produce an mRNA vaccine, scientists produce a synthetic version of the mRNA that a virus uses to build its infectious proteins.
• This mRNA is delivered into the human body, whose cells read it as instructions to build that viral protein, and therefore create some of the virus’s molecules themselves.
• These proteins are solitary, so they do not assemble to form a virus.
• The immune system then detects these viral proteins and starts to produce a defensive response to them.

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology

• The Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) is a premier research organization which conducts high quality basic research and trainings in frontier areas of modern biology, and promotes centralized national facilities for new and modern techniques in the interdisciplinary areas of biology.
• It was set up initially as a semi-autonomous Centre on April 1, 1977 with the Biochemistry Division of the then Regional Research Laboratory (presently, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, IICT) Hyderabad.
• It is located in Hyderabad and operates under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
• It is designated as “Center of Excellence” by the Global Molecular and Cell Biology Network, UNESCO.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Carbon dating of excavated finds in Tamil Nadu pushes evidence of iron being used in India back to 4,200 years ago

• Before this, the earliest evidence of iron use was from 1900-2000 BCE for the country, and from 1500 BCE for Tamil Nadu
• The latest evidence dates the findings from Tamil Nadu to 2172 BCE.
• The excavations are from Mayiladumparai near Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu, about 100 km south of Bengaluru.
• Mayiladumparai is an important site with cultural material dating back between the Microlithic (30,000 BCE) and Early Historic (600 BCE) ages.
• The site is situated in the midst of several archaeological sites such as Togarapalli, Gangavaram, Sandur, Vedarthattakkal, Guttur, Gidlur, Sappamutlu and Kappalavad etc. All these important archaeological sites lie within 10 km.

Timeline revisited

The dates when humans entered the Iron Age vary from one region of the world to another

• In 1979, use of iron was traced to 1300 BCE at Ahar in Rajasthan.
• Later, samples at Bukkasagara in Karnataka, indicating iron production, were dated back to 1530 BCE.
• The date was subsequently pushed back to 1700-1800 BCE with excavations finding evidence of iron smelting at Raipura in the Mid-Ganga valley, and then to 1900-2000 BCE based on investigations in sites at Malhar near Varanasi and Brahmagiri in North Karnataka.
• A series of dating results on finds from various parts in India have shown evidence of iron-ore technology before 1800 BCE.
• Before the latest discovery, the earliest evidence of iron use for Tamil Nadu was from Thelunganur and Mangadu near Mettur, dating back to 1500 BCE.

Historical significance

• With the latest evidence tracing our Iron Age to 2000 BCE from 1500 BC, we can assume that our cultural seeds were laid in 2000 BCE.
• And the benefit of socio-economic changes and massive production triggered by the iron technology gave its first fruit around 600 BCE — the Tamil Brahmi scripts
• The Tamil Brahmi scripts were once believed to have originated around 300 BCE, until a landmark finding in 2019 pushed the date back to 600 BCE.
• This dating narrowed the gap between the Indus Valley civilization and Tamilagam/South India’s Sangam Age.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

• The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully carried out the static test of the HS200 solid rocket booster, taking the space agency one more steps closer to the keenly awaited Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission.
• The test was held at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota
• Designed and developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram
• The HS200 booster is the ‘human-rated’ version of the S200 rocket boosters used on the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle Mk-III (GSLV Mk-III), also called the LVM3.
• The GSLV Mk-III rocket, which will be used for the Gaganyaan mission, will have two HS200 boosters that will supply the thrust for lift-off.
• The HS200 is a 20-metre-long booster with a diameter of 3.2 metres and is the world’s second largest operational booster using solid propellants.
• The successful completion of this test marks a major milestone for the prestigious human space flight mission of ISRO, the Gaganyaan, as the first stage of the launch vehicle is tested for its performance for the full duration
• The control system used in the HS200 booster employs one of the world’s most powerful electro-mechanical actuators with multiple redundancy and safety features

Gaganyaan Mission

• Gaganyaan is a mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to send a three-member crew to space for a period of five to seven days.

• Launch Vehicle: ISRO’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV Mk III (3 stages heavy-lift vehicle)
• Components: Consists of a service module and a crew module, collectively known as an Orbital Module (Crew Module carries astronauts & Service Modules carries propellants.)
• The Gaganyaan spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit (LEO) of 300-400 kilometres.
• Vyom Mitra: ISRO to send humanoid Vyommitra in unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft ahead of human spaceflight (Monitoring module parameters)

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV Mk III

• GSLV MkIII, is a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO.
• The vehicle has two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster and a cryogenic upper stage.
• GSLV Mk III is designed to carry 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is about twice the capability of the GSLV Mk II.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

• The moon Amalthea is one of Jupiter’s 53 named satellites; it was the first to be discovered after the four Galilean moons, and it is the fifth-largest overall.
• In terms of proximity to Jupiter, Amalthea is the planet’s third moon — it takes just 12 hours to make a full orbit.
• Amalthea also contributes to one of the Gossamer Rings of Jupiter — the Amalthea Gossamer Ring — which is the faint innermost Gossamer ring of the planet. The Gossamer Rings are outside the main Jovian ring.
• Only two missions have visited Amalthea: Voyager and Galileo. Both the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft photographed the Jovian moon during their flybys in 1979.

Why in News?

According to recent findings, Amalthea appears to radiate out more heat than it receives from the sun, which NASA suggests may be due to Jupiter’s magnetic field or from tidal stresses.

• Amalthea is tidally locked to Jupiter in synchronous rotation — it always aligns with the planet along its long axis.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has written to Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India on need for regional branches of top court and urging that Tamil be made the official language of Madras High Court

Why there is a demand for regional branches?

• Pendency of cases: The Supreme Court’s statistics show that 70,362 cases are pending with it as of April 1, 2022
• Article 39A says that the state shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity and it shall ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.
• Travelling to New Delhi or engaging expensive Supreme Court counsel to pursue a case is beyond the means of most litigants.

Recommendation of Law Commission:

• The Tenth Law Commission of India (95th Report) recommended The Supreme Court of India should consist of two Divisions, namely (a) Constitutional Division, and (b) Legal Division.
• Constitutional Division Bench to be set up at Delhi and Legal Division to be set up in four zones (North, South, East and West) of India

Constitutional Provisions

• The Constitution declares Delhi as the seat of the Supreme Court
• Article 130 authorizes the CJI to appoint other place or places as seat of the Supreme Court.
• He can take decision in this regard only with the approval of the President.
• This provision is only optional and not compulsory. This means that no court can give any direction either to the President or to the Chief Justice to appoint any other place as the seat of the Supreme Court.

Languages of Higher Judiciary

• Article 348(1) (a) states that unless Parliament by law provides otherwise, all proceedings before the Supreme Court and in every High Court shall be conducted in English.
• Article 348(2) provides further that notwithstanding the provisions of Article 348(1), the Governor of a state may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of Hindi or any other language used for any official purpose, in proceedings in the High Court.
• States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have already authorized the use of Hindi in proceedings before their respective high courts
• A further provision states that nothing in this clause would apply to any judgment, decree, or order made by the High Court
• Therefore, the Constitution recognizes English as the primary language of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, with the condition that when some other language is used in the proceedings of High Courts, judgments of the High Courts must be delivered in English.

Official Languages Act 1963:

• It empowers the Governor of a state to, with previous consent of the President; authorize the use of Hindi/the official language of the state, in addition to English, for the purpose of any judgement, decree or order passed by the High Court of that state.
• It further provides that where any judgement/decree/order is passed in any such language it shall be accompanied by a translation of the same in English