Microflora of nuclear research reactor pool water

In the course of research done it was concluded that circulation of pool water through the nuclear reactor core produces a bactericidal effect on microflora due to influence of radiation of various types. Contents of microbes returns to the initial level after 2-4 months after circulation was stopped. Microflora of pool water comprises big amount of coccus, G-positive rods and fungi and a lower content of G-negative rods if compared to water which had been used to fill reactor pool. There is an increased number of radioresistant forms with intensified production of catalase and nuclease. Supposedly, presence of these enzymes gives to the microbes certain advances to survive in high-radiation zones.     

The metabolic pathway collection from EMP: the enzymes and metabolic pathways database.

The Enzymes and Metabolic Pathways database (EMP) is an encoding of the contents of over 10 000 original publications on the topics of enzymology and metabolism. This large body of information has been transformed into a queryable database. An extraction of over 1800 pictorial representations of metabolic pathways from this collection is freely available on the World Wide Web. We believe that this collection will play an important role in the interpretation of genetic sequence data, as well as offering a meaningful framework for the integration of many other forms of biological data.     

Fatty acids of microalgae: diversity and applications

Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology - The possibility of obtaining commercially valuable products from microalgae stimulates scientific research in this direction. The ability of...     

Growth of Porphyridium purpureum (Porphyridiales,Rhodophyta) and Production of B-Phycoerythrin under Varying Illumination

Russian Journal of Plant Physiology - The red pigment B-phycoerythrin (B-PE) belongs to the group of phycobiliproteins (PBPs). It is a part of the light-harvesting pigment complex of the red...     

First Data on The age and Growth in Pacific Flatnose Antimora microlepis (Moridae) from the Waters of the Underwater Emperor Mountain Range (Northwestern Pacific)

Journal of Ichthyology - The results on the studies on age and growth in Pacific flatnose (fine-scale antimora) Antimora microlepis from the waters of underwater Emperor mounting range (open water...     

Plant virus infection development as affected by heavy metal stress

The work was focused on the investigation of possible dependencies between the development of viral infection in plants and the presence of high heavy metal concentrations in soil. Field experiments have been conducted in order to study the development of systemic tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infection in Lycopersicon esculentum L. cv. Miliana plants under effect of separate salts of heavy metals Cu, Zn and Pb deposited in soil. As it is shown, simultaneous effect of viral infection and heavy metals in tenfold maximum permissible concentration leads to decrease of total chlorophyll content in experiment plants mainly due to the degradation of chlorophyll a. The reduction of chlorophyll concentration under the combined influence of both stress factors was more serious comparing to the separate effect of every single factor. Plants' treatment with toxic concentrations of lead and zinc leaded to slight delay in the development of systemic TMV infection together with more than twofold increase of virus content in plants that may be an evidence of synergism between these heavy metal's and virus' effects. Contrary, copper although decreased total chlorophyll content but showed protective properties and significantly reduced amount of virus in plants.     

Intensive protein synthesis in neurons and phosphorylation of beta-amyloid precursor protein and tau-protein are triggering factors of neuronal amyloidosis and Alzheimer’s disease

Studies of Alzheimer’s disease have become particularly important and attract now much attention of scientists all over the world due to worldwide dissemination of this dangerous disorder. Causes of this pathology still remain unknown, while the final image, originally obtained on microscopic brain sections from patients with this disease more than a hundred years ago, is well familiar to clinicians. This includes deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) in the brain tissue of senile plaques and fibrils. Many authors believe that the deposition of Aβ provokes secondary neuronal changes, responsible for death of neurons. Other authors associate the death of neurons with hyperphosphorylation of tau-proteins, which form neurofibrillar tangles inside nerve cells and cause their death. Creation of methods of preclinical diagnostics and effective treatment of Alzheimer’s disease requires novel knowledge: on the nature of triggering factors of sporadic forms of Alzheimer’s disease, on cause-effect relationships of phosphorylation of amyloid precursor protein with formation of pathogenic beta-amyloids, on the relationship between these factors underlying tau-protein hyperphosphorylation and neuron death. In this review we have analyzed reports describing increased intensity of protein synthesis in neurons under normal and various stress conditions, possibility of development of energy imbalance of neurons and activation of their protective systems. Phosphorylation and hyperphosphorylation of tau-proteins is also tightly associated with protective mechanisms of cells and with processes of evacuation of phosphates, adenosine monophosphates and pyrophosphates from the region of protein synthesis. Prolonged highly intensive protein synthesis causes overload of protective mechanisms and impairments in concerted metabolic processes. This leads to neuronal dysfunction, transport collapse, and death of neurons.     

Experimental hybridization and an evaluation of the fertility of some forms of the house mouse supraspecies complex <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mus musculus</Emphasis> (Rodentia,Muridae)

The degree of development of the mechanisms of postcopulatory isolation was evaluated on the basis of experimental hybridization of representatives of three subspecies of M. musculus (M. m. musculus, M. m. wagneri, and M. m. gansuensis) and remote populations of the subspecies M. m. musculus. Experimental crosses between the different subspecies and populations indicated the presence of initial stages of postcopulatory reproductive isolation between some forms of house mice. In a number of crosses conducted between different populations and subspecies of M. musculus, asymmetry was observed. In one variant of mating, M. m. musculus (male) × M. m. wagneri (female), a reduced intensity of breeding and nonviability of pups were observed. A decrease in the intensity of reproduction was found in all variants of crosses that used male M. m. musculus from the city of Ishim. These data are assumed to confirm the previous assumption about the hybrid origin of mice inhabiting that city. The results confirm a significant level of divergence of the subspecies M. m. musculus and M. m. wagneri. Thus, initial stages both of post- and precopulatory isolation mechanisms between M. m. wagneri and M. m. musculus were shown.     

Investigations of the active site of Saccharomyces cerevisiae dolichyl-phosphate-mannose synthase using fluorescent labeled dolichyl-phosphate derivatives

Dolichol-phosphate mannose (Dol-P-Man) is a key mannosyl donor for the biosynthesis of N-linked oligosaccharides as well as for O-linked oligosaccharides on yeast glycoproteins, and for the synthesis of the glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol anchor found on many cell surface glycoproteins. It is synthesized by Dol-P-Man synthase which is the only glycosyltransferase in the dolichol pathway that has been expressed as an active protein, solubilized and purified in large enough quantities for structural investigations. Earlier studies showed that the enzyme is closely associated with membranes of endoplasmic reticulum with unique lipid requirements for its maximal activity. This potential target of antibiotic therapy is now being investigated at the molecular level to establish information about the structure of the enzyme as well as determine the nature and properties of the enzyme-phospholipid interactions. In this paper, we have determined the activities of the fluorescent labeled dolichyl-phosphate derivatives as well as the intramolecular distances between amino acid residues near the active site and/or the fluorophores of the substrate derivatives using fluorescence energy resonance transfer. These results also show that the conserved consensus sequence is not required by Dol-P-Man synthase neither for the recognition of Dol-P nor for the catalytic activity.