In vitro propagation of green-foliaged Dracaena fragrans Ker.

Callus tissue was induced in young stem segments cultured on MS based media supplemented with 0.25–0.5 mg l^-1 2, 4-D. Shoots were differentiated on media containing 0.5–1.0 mg l^-1 BA and 0.5–2.0 mg l^-1 IBA or 0.1–0.2 mg l^-1 NAA. The same media were suitable for shoot multiplication. Shoot elongation and rooting were strongly inhibited by BA and stimulated by auxins IBA and NAA. Medium containing 0.5 mg l^-1 IBA was optimal for rooting. Root elongation was stimulated by light and inhibited in darkness. Transfer of rooted plantlets to outdoor conditions was feasible and special hardening procedures were not required. Among more than 5000 plants produced by this procedure only 9 off-type plants with variegated leaves were found.     

Effect of copper sulfate on experimental atherosclerosis

Serum copper concentration increases significantly (p<0.01) in rats with experimental atherosclerosis compared to a control group. The serum zinc, the zinc, and copper concentration in abdominal aorta and in liver decreases significantly (p<0.05) compared to the control group. Administration of copper sulfate for 100 d in these animals induces a significant increase of serum copper (p<0.01), decrease of serum cholesterol (p<0.05) and increase of liver copper concentration as compared with the group fed only a high cholesterol diet. In the aorta of these animals the copper concentration increases and edema and lipid infiltration are considerably less than in the group of animals fed only a high lipid diet.     

HomeRange: A global database of mammalian home ranges

Motivation

Home range is a common measure of use of space by animals because it provides ecological information that is useful for conservation applications. In macroecological studies, values are typically aggregated to species means to examine general patterns of use of space by animals. However, this ignores the environmental context in which the home range was estimated and does not account for intraspecific variation in home range size. In addition, the focus of macroecological studies on home ranges has historically been biased towards terrestrial mammals. The use of aggregated numbers and the terrestrial focus limit our ability to examine home-range patterns across different environments, their variation in time and variation between different levels of organization. Here, we introduce HomeRange, a global database with 75,611 home-range values across 960 different species of mammals, including terrestrial, aquatic and aerial species.

Main types of variables contained

The dataset contains estimates of home ranges of mammals, species names, methodological information on data collection, method of home-range estimation, period of data collection, study coordinates and name of location, in addition to species traits derived from the studies, such as body mass, life stage, reproductive status and locomotor habit.

Spatial location and grain

The collected data are distributed globally. Across studies, the spatial accuracy varies, with the coarsest resolution being 1°.

Time period and grain

The data represent information published between 1939 and 2022. Across studies, the temporal accuracy varies; some studies report start and end dates specific to the day, whereas for other studies only the month or year is reported.

Major taxa and level of measurement

Mammalian species from 24 of the 27 different taxonomic orders. Home-range estimates range from individual-level values to population-level averages.

Software format

Data are supplied as a comma-delimited text file (.csv) and can be loaded directly into R using the “HomeRange” R package ( https://github.com/SHoeks/HomeRange ).     

Structure of the histone tetramer (H3-H4)2: 2. Position of λmax in the tyrosyl fluorescence spectra and tyrosyl accessibility to quenchers

It was shown that the histone tetramer (H3-H4)₂ fluorescence spectra were shifted by about 2 nm towards the long-wave region and had a larger halfwidth than the free tyrosine fluorescence spectra. Denaturation with 8 m urea resulted in a shift towards the short-wave region and a decrease in the halfwidth of the histone tetramer (H3-H4)₂ tyrosine fluorescence spectra. Fluorescence quenching of the histone tetramer (H3-H4)₂ by iodine ions was analysed by the Stern-Volmer equation. It was estimated that at 0.1 m NaCl and 0.3–0.8 m NaCl, 45% and 60% tyrosyl fluorescence, respectively, was quenched by I^? ions. The results obtained suggests that histone tetramer (H3-H4)₂ may have several structural forms distinguished by the amount of ‘exposed’ and ‘buried’ tyrosyls depending upon the conditions of the medium.     

A versatile fluorescence-based multiplexing assay for CAPS genotyping on capillary electrophoresis systems

Recent advances in next-generation sequencing techniques and the development of genomics resources for crop plants with large genomes allow the detection of a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and their use in a high-throughput manner. However, such large numbers of SNPs are on the one hand not needed in some plant breeding projects and on the other hand not affordable in some cases, raising the need for fast and low-cost innovative techniques for marker detection. In marker selection in plant breeding programs, cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) markers still play a significant role as a complement to other high-throughput methods for SNP genotyping. New methods focusing on the acceleration of CAPS-based genotyping are therefore highly desirable. The combination of the classical CAPS method and a M13-tailed primer multiplexing assay was used to develop an agarose-gel-free protocol for the analysis of SNPs via restriction enzyme digestion. PCR products were fluorescence-labeled with a universal M13 primer and subsequently digested with the appropriate restriction endonuclease. After mixing differently labeled products, they were detected in a capillary electrophoresis system. This method allowed the cost-effective genotyping of several SNPs in barley in a multiplexed manner at an overall low cost in a short period of time. This new method was efficiently combined with the simultaneous detection of simple sequence repeats in the same electrophoresis run, resulting in a procedure well suited for marker-based selection procedures, genotyping of mapping populations and the assay of genetic diversity.     

The patients with clinically isolated syndrome and relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis show different levels of advanced protein oxidation products and total thiol content in plasma and CSF

Advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) and total thiol (SH) groups levels in plasma and CSF were studied in a cohort of 50 clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) and 57 relapsing remittent multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients related to 20 control group (CG) patients’ values. The obtained results were compared regarding patients demographic, biochemical, clinical (EDSS) and MRI features (total T2 weighted lesions number and Gd enhancement lesion volume).     

Current advances in research of cytochrome c oxidase

The function of cytochrome c oxidase as a biomolecular nanomachine that transforms energy of redox reaction into protonmotive force across a biological membrane has been subject of intense research, debate, and controversy. The structure of the enzyme has been solved for several organisms; however details of its molecular mechanism of proton pumping still remain elusive. Particularly, the identity of the proton pumping site, the key element of the mechanism, is still open to dispute. The pumping mechanism has been for a long time one of the key unsolved issues of bioenergetics and biochemistry, but with the accelerating progress in this field many important details and principles have emerged. Current advances in cytochrome oxidase research are reviewed here, along with a brief discussion of the most complete proton pumping mechanism proposed to date, and a molecular basis for control of its efficiency.     

Differential expression of sarcoplasmic proteins in four heterogeneous ovine skeletal muscles

Fiber-type distribution is known to vary widely within and between muscles according to differences in muscle functions. 2-DE and MALDI-MS were used to investigate the molecular basis of muscle fiber type-related variability. We compared four lamb skeletal muscles with heterogeneous fiber-type composition that are relatively rich in fast-twitch fiber types, i.e., the semimembranosus, vastus medialis, longissimus dorsi, and tensor fasciae latae (TL). Our results clearly showed that none of the glycolytic metabolism enzymes detected, including TL which was most strongly glycolytic, made intermuscular differentiation possible. Muscle differentiation was based on the differential expression of proteins involved in oxidative metabolism, including not only citric acid cycle enzymes but also other classes of proteins with functions related to oxidative metabolism, oxidative stress, and probably to higher protein turnover. Detected proteins were involved in transport (carbonate dehydratase, myoglobin, fatty acid-binding protein), repair of misfolding damage (heat shock protein (HSP) 60 kDa, HSP-27 kDa, alpha-crystallin beta subunit, DJ1, stress-induced phosphoprotein), detoxification or degradation of impaired proteins (GST-Pi, aldehyde dehydrogenase, peroxiredoxin, ubiquitin), and protein synthesis (tRNA-synthetase). The fractionating method led to the detection of proteins involved in different functions related to oxidative metabolism that have not previously been shown concomitancy.