Chromium in plants

Chromium is an essential trace element and is associated with some biological pathways, especially with glucose tolerance. For these reasons, we decided to determine the concentration of chromium in two sets of Brazilian medicinal plants. The first group consisted of plants that are considered as antidiabetic, whereas the second included plants that do not have this therapeutic property. The concentration of chromium was determined by flameless atomic absorption. All the plants analyzed contain chromium in the normal range for this element, but the hypoglycemic plants contain more chromium than the others (1–4 μg/g compared to 0.5–1.5 μg/g).     

Lipid Saturation Induced Microviscosity Increase Has No Effect on the Reducibility of Flash-Oxidized Cytochrome f in Pea Thylakoids

Homogeneous catalytic hydrogenation was used to modify the level of fatty acid unsaturation of thylakoid membranes in the pea chloroplast. Fluidity alteration has been monitored simultaneously using the spin-label probe, 16-doxyl stearate. Even in the case of 30% hydrogenation, no change in the reduction rate of flash-oxidized cytochrome f was observed, in contrast to the fact that the same decrease in the double-bond content of the thylakoid membrane resulted in a pronounced inhibition in the full-chain electron transport. We conclude that the rate of lateral diffusion of reduced plastoquinone is unaffected by the lowering of the fluidity of the thylakoid lipid matrix.     

Transfer factor of131I from the fallout to human thyroid dose equivalent after the Chernobyl accident

Summary A similar pattern of variation with time in observed maxima of daily dose equivalent rates in human thyroids (TD - µSv·d^–1) and of daily fallout radioactivities (FR - kBq·m^–2) has been found after the Chernobyl accident. An estimate of the time-lag between the maxima in TD lines and the preceding FR peaks was made of about seven days for adult and nine days for juveniles. Applying this time-lag it was possible to estimate transfer factors from the fall-out to thyroid dose equivalent: the highest estimated values were 221 µSv/kBq·m^–2 for adult and 641 µSv/kBq·m^–2 for juvenile thyroids. These values differ from those published by UNSCEAR (United Nations 1988), which have been calculated for various regions of Czechoslovakia, from ingestion and inhalation intake estimates. A broad variation of transfer factor values could be expected to result from such transfer calculations using ingestion and inhalation estimates. The findings also support the concept of a need for prolonged iodine prophylaxy after emissions of radioiodine into the environment.Abbreviations TD dose equivalent rates in thyroids [µSv·d^–1] - FR fall-out radioactivity (-ies) [kBq·m^–2]     

In vivo inhibition of nitrogenase by hydroxylamine in Rhodospirillaceae Role of nitric oxide

Rhodobacter capsulatus strains E1F1 and B10 and Rhodobacter sphaeroides DSM 158 did not use hydroxylamine as nitrogen source for growth but metabolized it mainly through the glutamine synthetase reaction. Hydroxylamine had a high toxicity for cells growing either under phototrophic or dark-aerobic conditions. l-methionine-d,l-sulfoximine partially inhibited hydroxylamine uptake and increased the inhibition time of nitrogenase activity by this nitrogen compound. Nitric oxide was also a powerful inhibitor of nitrogenase in intact cells of R. capsulatus. Since low amounts of NO were produced from hydroxylamine, short-term inhibition of nitrogenase in the presence of this compound could be mediated in vivo by nitric oxide.Abbreviations GS glutamine synthetase - MSX l-methionine-d,l-sulfoximine - MTA mixed alkyltrimethylammonium bromide     

Contrasting breeding systems in twoEriotheca (Bombacaceae) species of the Brazilian cerrados

The pollination biology and breeding systems ofEriotheca pubescens andE. gracilipes have been studied. These two species occur as trees in cerrado vegetation, the neotropical savannas of Central Brazil, with partially sympatric distributions. They have similar phenology and floral structure, although the flowers ofE. pubescens are larger. Both species have nectar flowers pollinated by largeAnthophoridae bees but the main pollinators of each species differ in size. The species have markedly different breeding systems: late-acting self-incompatibility inE. gracilipes and apomixis stimulated by pollination inE. pubescens.     

Metabolism of oxygen radicals in peroxisomes and cellular implications.

Peroxisomes are subcellular respiratory organelles which contain catalase and H2O2-producing flavin oxidases as basic enzymatic constituents. These organelles have an essentially oxidative type of metabolism and have the potential to carry out different important metabolic pathways. In recent years the presence of different types of superoxide dismutase (SOD) have been demonstrated in peroxisomes from several plant species, and more recently the occurrence of SOD has been extended to peroxisomes from human and transformed yeast cells. A copper,zinc-containing SOD from plant peroxisomes has been purified and partially characterized. The production of hydroxyl and superoxide radicals has been studied in peroxisomes. There are two sites of O2- production in peroxisomes: (1) in the matrix, the generating system being xanthine oxidase; and (2) in peroxisomal membranes, dependent on reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), and the electron transport components of the peroxisomal membrane are possibly responsible. The generation of oxygen radicals in peroxisomes could have important effects on cellular metabolism. Diverse cellular implications of oxyradical metabolism in peroxisomes are discussed in relation to phenomena such as cell injury, peroxisomal genetic diseases, peroxisome proliferation and oxidative stress, metal and salt stress, catabolism of nucleic acids, senescence, and plant pathogenic processes.     

Changes in invertase activities precede ovary growth induced by gibberellic acid in

Developing pods of pea ( Pisum sativum L. cv. Alaska no 7) were used to study the enzymes of sucrose metabolism. Acid and neutral invertase (EC 3.2.1.26). sucrose synthase (SS, EC 2.4.1.13) and sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS, EC 2.4.1.14) have been localized in the soluble fraction. Acid invertase activity was also present in the insoluble fraction and in pea ovary apoplast. In pea pods, sucrose breakdown was dominated by the invertase pathway. SS specific activity only increased at late stages of parthenocarpic pod development, while SPS did so in pods obtained by pollination. Changes in time course of invertase activities have been correlated with the growth rate of fruits induced to develop either by fertilization or by exogenous application of giberellic acid (GA), 2,4-dichloro-phenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) or 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BAP). The soluble neutral activities might be associated with pod elongation, while the acid ones were rather related to assimilate import by the induced fruits. Application of gibberellic acid to non-pollinated ovaries significantly enhanced the soluble neutral invertase activity before any ovary outgrowth was detected (up to 2 h after treatment). Within the same period of time. GA-treated ovaries showed a decrease in the acid invertase activity of the soluble fraction and an increase of the acid invertase activity in the apopiast. preceding in time the increment of the acid invertase activity associated with the insoluble fraction. Our results suggest that the early GA response may be mediated through a promotion of processes of protein secretion.     

Structure of the HLA-A*0204 antigen,found in South American Indians. Spatial clustering of HLA-A2 subtype polymorphism

The primary structure of the HLA-A2 subtype A^*0204 (isoelectric focusing variant A2.A) has been determined. cDNA encoding this subtype was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction. Four independent full-lenght cDNA clones encoding A^*0204 were analyzed to obtain a consensus sequence for this subtype. A^*0204 differs from A^*0201 by a single nucleotide change of G to T through the coding regions, resulting in an Arg to Met change at position 97. This substitution accounts for the isoelectric focusing pattern of the subtype. The same change occurs in other HLA-A specificities in association with other changes in its vicinity. The absence of additional substitutions in A^*0204 suggests that it could have arisen from A^*0201 by point mutation, and that recurrent mutations may take place during HLA diversification. The spatial location of this change implies that A^*0204 must be a functional variant. Comparison of its sequence with other HLA-A2 subtypes reveals that much of the HLA-A2 subtype polymorphism is generated by variations in four neighboring positions, including position 97, which are located in two adjacent -strands on the floor of the peptide binding site of the molecule.The nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper have been submitted to the EMBL nucleotide sequence database and have been assigned the accession number X57954. Address correspondence and offprint requests to: J. A. López de Castro.