Crystals of seryl-tRNA synthetase from Thermus thermophilus. Preliminary crystallographic data

Crystals have been obtained of seryl-tRNA synthetase from the extreme thermophile Thermus thermophilus, using mixed solutions of ammonium sulphate and methane pentane diol. The crystals are very stable and diffract to at least 2 A. The crystals are monoclinic (space group P21) with cell parameters a = 87.1 A, b = 126.9 A, c = 63.5 A and beta = 109.7 degrees.     

Anaerobic Microbial Degradation of Polypropylene and Polyvinyl Chloride Samples

Microbiology - Resistance to biodegradation, which is among the most advantageous features of synthetic polymers, is also the reason for their accumulation in the environment and therefore...     

Mechanism of action of dialkylaminoethylthiol derivatives of pyrimidine and quinazoline

A study was made of acute toxicity and radioprotective efficiency of some heterocyclic isothiuronium analogues and their ability to change the oxygen uptake by the organism. The rate of hydrolysis of the preparations in vitro was determined. A correlation was found between the above-mentioned indices. On the basis of the data obtained it was concluded that aminothiol, formed as the result of enzymic digestion in the organism, was responsible for the radioprotective effect of the compounds under study since it reduced the oxygen uptake by the organism.     

Protective activity of a cell-free Klebsiella vaccine in relation to different Klebsiella pneumoniae serovars

The capacity of dried Klebsiella cell-free vaccine, obtained from strain No. 204 by the disintegration of microbial cells with hydroxylamine, for protecting mice from Klebsiella septic infection caused by the homologous serovar and 9 heterologous serovars of K. pneumoniae was studied. The newly developed preparation was found capable of stimulating immunity not only to the homologous K. pneumoniae serovar, but also to other K. pneumoniae heterologous serovars: K1, K9, K11, K16, K20, K61. The protective capacity of the preparation with respect to these serovars was not inferior to that of the vaccines prepared by the same method from the corresponding homologous strains. The capacity of the vaccine to protect mice from Klebsiella sepsis was manifested irrespective of the virulence of the strains used for challenge.     

Tissue-specific mammary gland antigen identified by monoclonal antibodies

A new antigen of mammary tumor cells has been revealed using monoclonal antibodies. A similar antigen was detected also in certain types of secretory epithelia of oesophagus, stomach, salivary gland, and embryonic large intestine. Upon malignization, antigen persists in invasive ductal cancer of mammary gland and is expressed in cancers of ovary and rectum. The molecular weight of the antigen is greater than 2,000 kD.     

Structural and functional features of caudatocortical connections

Efferent connections of the caudate nucleus were studied experimentally in 13 cats after electrolytic destruction of various parts of it. Preparations were stained by the methods of Nauta, Knook, and Fink-Heimer. Direct caudatocortical connections with a definite topical organization were discovered: a ventrodorsal projection in the cortex corresponds to a rostrocaudal and ventrodorsal distribution of neurons in the caudate nucleus. Striatocortical fibers are few in number and very thin. Their predeterminals were found in both the deep and the superficial layers of the cortex on granule cells and pyramidal cells of different sizes. The results are in agreement with those of most of the recent physiological investigations indicating a close functional connection between the caudate nucleus and the cortex.     

Expanding the Genetic Code: Unnatural Base Pairs in Biological Systems

Molecular Biology - The genetic code is considered to use five nucleic bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil), which form two pairs for encoding information in DNA and two pairs for...     

Immunobiological properties of new unencapsulated <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus anthracis</Emphasis> 363/11 strain

The results of a study on the immunobiological properties of a new, naturally attenuated, unencapsulated Bacillus anthracis 363/11 strain in comparison with the properties of the anthrax vaccine strain 55-VNIIVVIM, which is currently used in Russia and post-Soviet states, are presented in the article. Some differences in the phenotypes of the aforementioned strains are shown. The new strain caused lysis of sheep erythrocytes by α- but not by β-type; the strain had many more active proteinases and synthesized protocatechuic acid (PCA), in contrast to the vaccine strain. It was ascertained that immunization of animals by the new strain protects them from death after infection by field isolates of B. anthracis, while the 55-VNIIVVIM strain does not create this immunity. The data indicate that the new strain can be used to develop and improve anthrax prevention.     

Fossil bivalves in marine sediments of Vestfold Hills in Eastern Antarctica

Bivalves collected in Vestfold Hills during the 55th Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE, 2009?2010) are represented by five species. Four of them (Laternula elliptica, Thracia meridionalis, Adamussium colbecki, and Philobrya sublaevis) were collected in the sediments that filled the coastal lake terraces during the Holocene; these species are still abundant on the Antarctic shelf at present. Bivalves were found in eight samples, with L. elliptica shells and fragments thereof found in seven of those samples. The sample collected near Deep Lake had the most diverse species composition, as it contained all four species named above. Shells of named species widely occurring in present-day Antarctica were found high above sea level in the marine sediments of the oasis. This indicate to the similarity of the oasis habitats in the past and the recent marine conditions. Fragments of shells of the fifth (now extinct) species Ruthipecten tuftsensis were found in glacial–marine sediments of the Marine Plain dating back to the late Pleistocene. The present study of fossil bivalves from the late Cenozoic marine sediments in Vestfold Hills is the first of its kind in Russia.