Nitrogen fertigation of greenhouse-grown cucumber

Summary This greenhouse study investigated the response of trickle-irrigated cucumber (Cucumis sativa cv. ‘Petita’) to three N levels applied with every irrigation via the irrigation stream. The plants were grown in pots filled with 12 kg of soil. Water containing 5.8, 11.8, or 17.8 mmol N/l, and uniformly supplied with 2.0 and 3.9 mmol/l of P and K, respectively, was applied two to three times daily. In all treatments of 0.3 leaching fraction was allowed. The resulting total N applications were 15.7, 31., and 47.2 g N/plant. The total amount of water applied was 1851/plant. Total N and NO₃-N, in lajinae and petioles, increased with increasing N level whereas P and K in generated decreased. Although different NO₃/NH₄ ratios in the treatments may have influeced the response to N, it could be concluded that the highest yield was obtained with 11.8 mmol N/1 due to increased number of fruit. In the root volume of this treatment the NO₃-N concentration in the soil solution was aroun 7 mmol/1 for most of the growing season. The dry matter concentration of fruits was not affected by the N levels. It was concluded that 11.8 mmol N/1 applied with every irrigation via the irrigation stream is adequate to cover the needs of greenhous-grown cucumber for higher yield (9.42 kg/plant over a harvesting period of 93 days).     

Specificity of Collybistin-Phosphoinositide Interactions: IMPACT OF THE INDIVIDUAL PROTEIN DOMAINS*

The regulatory protein collybistin (CB) recruits the receptor-scaffolding protein gephyrin to mammalian inhibitory glycinergic and GABAergic postsynaptic membranes in nerve cells. CB is tethered to the membrane via phosphoinositides. We developed an in vitro assay based on solid-supported 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine membranes doped with different phosphoinositides on silicon/silicon dioxide substrates to quantify the binding of various CB2 constructs using reflectometric interference spectroscopy. Based on adsorption isotherms, we obtained dissociation constants and binding capacities of the membranes. Our results show that full-length CB2 harboring the N-terminal Src homology 3 (SH3) domain (CB2_SH3+) adopts a closed and autoinhibited conformation that largely prevents membrane binding. This autoinhibition is relieved upon introduction of the W24A/E262A mutation, which conformationally “opens” CB2_SH3+ and allows the pleckstrin homology domain to properly bind lipids depending on the phosphoinositide species with a preference for phosphatidylinositol 3-monophosphate and phosphatidylinositol 4-monophosphate. This type of membrane tethering under the control of the release of the SH3 domain of CB is essential for regulating gephyrin clustering.     

Effects of the transmethylation inhibitor S-adenosyl-homocysteine and of the methyl donor S-adenosyl-methionine on rat Leydig cell function in vitro

In purified rat Leydig cells, the methyl donor S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM), increases significantly in a dose dependent manner the [125I]hCG binding as well as the productions of cAMP and of testosterone; the competitive inhibitor of methylations S-adenosyl-homocysteine (SAH), has an opposite effect. Associated to oLH, SAM further enhances the cAMP synthesis while SAH inhibits significantly the adenylate cyclase activity. With regard to testosterone synthesis, SAM potentiates the stimulating roles of oLH and dbcAMP (27 and 38% increases, respectively) although SAH diminishes testosterone productions (48 and 35%, respectively under oLH and dbcAMP stimulations). Scatchard analysis has shown that SAM (1.4 mM) increases the number of LH/hCG binding sites on Leydig cells while SAH (1.4 mM) decreases it; LH/hCG Ka values are not modified neither by SAM nor by SAH. These data suggest that the in vitro regulation of steroidogenesis in purified rat Leydig cells may involve methylation processes (presumably phospholipids are the potential substrates of these reactions) which modulates the transmission of the hormonal signal through the membrane and affects the testosterone synthesis at a step beyond the adenylate cyclase.     

Protein turnover and cellular autophagy in growing and growth-inhibited 3T3 cells

The relationship between growth, protein degradation, and cellular autophagy was tested in growing and in growth-inhibited 3T3 cell monolayers. For the biochemical evaluation of DNA and protein metabolism, growth-inhibited 3T3 cell monolayers with high cell density and growing 3T3 cell monolayers with low cell density were labeled simultaneously with [14C]thymidine and [3H]leucine. The evaluation of the DNA turnover and additional [3H]thymidine autoradiography showed that 24 to 5% of 3T3 cells continue to replicate even in the growth-inhibited state, where no accumulation of protein and DNA can be observed. Cell loss, therefore, has to be assumed to compensate for the ongoing cell proliferation. When the data of protein turnover were corrected for cell loss, it was found that the rate constant of protein synthesis in nongrowing monolayers was reduced to half the value found in growing monolayers. Simultaneously, the rate constant of protein degradation in nongrowing monolayers was increased to about 1.5-fold the value of growing monolayers. In parallel to the increased rate constant of protein degradation, the cytoplasmic volume fraction of early autophagic vacuoles (AVs) as determined by electron microscopic morphometry was found to be increased twofold in nongrowing 3T3 cell monolayers when compared with the volume fraction of early AVs in growing 3T3 cell monolayers. These data are in agreement with the assumption that cellular autophagy represents a major pathway of regulating protein degradation in 3T3 cells and that the regulation of autophagic protein degradation is of relevance for the transition from a growing to a nongrowing state.     

Demonstration of LH inhibitor(s) in sheep and human sera

In mature rat Leydig cells, the testosterone output (24 ng/10(6) Leydig cells/4hrs.) is increased 10 fold by LH; the addition of serum from either control or castrated or hypophysectomized rams inhibits (60%) the LH-stimulated testosterone production. Similarly, the incubation of immature rat Leydig cells with sera from hypophysectomized patients leads to a diminution (70 and 30% respectively) of both basal (0.98 ng) and LH stimulated (3.44 ng) testosterone biosynthesis. These data suggest the existence of an LH inhibitor (or inhibitors) in blood from ram and human; in addition, this substance is not only of testicular origin and is not an LH-related molecule.     

Dual compartment (bicameral) culture: role of basement membrane in epithelial differentiation

A number of years ago we reported that tight junctions between adjacent Sertoli cells subdivide the seminiferous epithelium into two compartments, basal and adluminal, thus forming the morphological basis of the blood-testis barrier. It is now generally believed that the special milieu created by the Sertoli cells in the adluminal compartment is essential for germ cell differentiation. In order to duplicate the compartmentalization that occurs in vivo, Sertoli cells were cultured in bicameral chambers on Millipore filters impregnated with a reconstituted basement membrane. Confluent monolayers of these cells were tall columnar (40–60 µ in height) and highly polarized. These Sertoli cell monolayers established electrical resistance that peaked when the Sertoli-Sertoli tight junctions developed in culture. In addition, the monolayers formed a permeability barrier to ³H-inulin and lanthanum nitrate. The bicameral chambers were utilized in a number of studies on protein secretion, and it was revealed that numerous proteens are secreted in a polarized manner. In another study, hormone- stimulated aromatase activity was measured in Sertoli cells grown on plastic culture dishes, plastic dishes coated with laminin or Matrigel, and in the bicameral chambers. Cell culture on basement membrane substrate decreased the FSH-dependent estrogen production. No estrogen production was observed when the Sertoli cells were cultured in the bicameral chambers. These results are in accord with the hypothesis that differentiated Sertoli cells lose their ability to metabolize androgen to estrogen in an hormone-dependent manner, whereas undifferentiated cells in culture, or in vivo, have a very active FSH-dependent aromatase activity. This bicameral culture system could serve as an important model system to examine various functions of Sertoli cells including interactions of Sertoli cells with germ, Leydig, and myoid cells.     

Polymorphism in a ferritin H gene from chromosome 6p

Summary This paper addresses the question of whether abnormalities in ferritin expression in the iron storage disease hemochromatosis (HC) involve major deletions or alterations in regions containing the two ferritin H genes that lie near the disease locus on chromosome 6p. We present evidence from analyses of Southern blots that neither gene is deleted in hemochromatosis. We also describe a polymorphism in one of the genes that we have previously shown to be a processed pseudogene. This polymorphism does not correlate with the presence of HC. The PIC value for this polymorphism was calculated as 0.49.