Quantitative relationships between the measurable transport resistances of membrane carriers: theory and experiment

A theoretical analysis is made of the possible quantitative relationships between the transport resistances that characterise membrane carrier systems. It is shown that there exist only five possible patterns in which to rank the four transport resistances. Symbolising these as A, B, C and D, the five possible patterns are (i) A = B = C = D; (ii) A = B much greater than C, D; (iii) A = B much greater than C = D; (iv) A = B = 2C = 2D; (v) A = 2B = 2C much greater than D. A survey of the available experimental data shows that pattern (ii) is the most prevalent, pattern (v) is often found and pattern (iii) has been identified. None of the ten transport systems so far analysed experimentally failed to fit one of the predicted patterns.     

The case for cloud computing in genome informatics

With DNA sequencing now getting cheaper more quickly than data storage or computation, the time may have come for genome informatics to migrate to the cloud.     

Detection of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A,B, and C in Milk By an Elisa Procedure

Enterotoxigenic reference strains of Staphylococcus aureus were cultivated in sterile whole and skim milk for 18 h at 37°G. Staphylococcal enterotoxin A, B, and C were detected directly in the milk by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), sensitive down to 1 ng/ml. Enterotoxins in the range of 1 ng–20 µg/ml milk were detected without any concentration or extraction. Skim and whole milk were almost identical as medium for enterotoxin production.     

Coordinate regulation of histone mRNAs during growth and differentiation of rat myoblasts

To determine whether histone genes are coordinately regulated, histone mRNA concentrations were measured in exponentially growing L6 myoblasts, S-phase synchronized myoblasts and in differentiating myoblasts. The levels of various histone mRNA subspecies declined rapidly and coordinately once myoblasts were given the signal to differentiate. mRNA levels were reduced on average to 1-5% of the amount observed in exponentially growing cells by 48 h after the signal to differentiate. The reductions occurred in concert with the cessation of DNA synthesis as the cells differentiated. Inhibition of DNA synthesis by treating myoblasts with Ara-C or hydroxyurea resulted in a histone mRNA half-life of 10-13 min for each of the histones examined. One example of non-coordinate regulation was observed however among the H4 mRNA subspecies in S-phase synchronized cells. The levels of two major subspecies of H4 mRNA increased coordinately in S-phase compared to levels observed in cells growing exponentially. A third subspecies of H4 mRNA on the other hand was found to decline by 50%. These studies suggest that the majority of histone mRNA subspecies are under coordinate control, although one exception has been noted among the subspecies of histone H4.     

Reinforcement and learning

Evidence has been accumulating to support the process of reinforcement as a potential mechanism in speciation. In many species, mate choice decisions are influenced by cultural factors, including learned mating preferences (sexual imprinting) or learned mate attraction signals (e.g., bird song). It has been postulated that learning can have a strong impact on the likelihood of speciation and perhaps on the process of reinforcement, but no models have explicitly considered learning in a reinforcement context. We review the evidence that suggests that learning may be involved in speciation and reinforcement, and present a model of reinforcement via learned preferences. We show that not only can reinforcement occur when preferences are learned by imprinting, but that such preferences can maintain species differences easily in comparison with both autosomal and sex-linked genetically inherited preferences. We highlight the need for more explicit study of the connection between the behavioral process of learning and the evolutionary process of reinforcement in natural systems.