L1 (LINE-1) retrotransposable elements provide a "fossil" record of the phylogenetic history of murid rodents

The single most difficult problem in phylogenetic analysis is deciding whether a shared taxonomic character is due to common ancestry or one that appeared independently due to convergence, parallelism, or reversion to an ancestral state. Mammalian L1 retrotransposons undergo periodic amplifications in which multiple copies of the elements are interspersed in the genome. Because these elements apparently are transmitted only by inheritance and are retained in the genome, a shared L1 amplification event can only be an inherited ancestral character. We propose that L1 amplification events can be an excellent tool for analyzing mammalian evolution and demonstrate here how we addressed several refractory problems in rodent systematics using L1 DNA as a taxonomic character.      

PHYSICO-CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION STUDIES OF GP-350, A SOLUBLE SIALOGLYCOPROTEIN FROM BRAIN

The apparent molecular weight of GP-350, a sialoglycoprotein from calf and rat brain, has been determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The electrophoretic mobility corresponds to the mobility of a polypeptide with a molecular weight of 11,600 ± 200. On this basis it can be calculated that only one sialic acid residue is present/GP-350 molecule. From isoelectric focusing experiments it appeared that the isoelectric point of GP-350 is about 2. The determination of the amide content of the polypeptide chain showed that out of 22.0 acidic amino acid residues of glutamic acid and aspartic acid, only 4.9 residues are amidated. The total amount of the basic amino acid residues lysine and arginine, is 6.5. So, per molecule GP-350 10.6 acidic amino acid residues are not counteracted by basic amino acid residues. The surplus of the acidic amino acid residues as well as sialic acid result in the pronounced acidic character of GP-350. This fact is supported by the electrophoretic experiments. The carbohydrate-polypeptide linkage type has been studied by alkaline sodium borohydride treatment. Two thirds of all the galactosamine was destroyed, whereas the amount of glucosamine remained the same. Amino acid analysis indicated a decrease in serine and threonine with a concomitant small increase in alanine. These data point to the occurrence of linkages between the carbohydrate chain and the polypeptide core of the galactosamineserine or –threonine type. Per molecule GP-350 about two residues of galactosamine are destroyed, indicating that two carbohydrate chains of this binding type are present. Only one of these chains can be terminated by a sialic acid residue. The other carbohydrate chain may be terminated by fucose. Regional distribution studies showed the presence of GP-350 in all brain areas studied; in relatively large amounts in the regions rich in ganglia such as caudate nucleus, cerebellar grey matter, pons and medulla oblongata, and in relatively small amounts in the regions poor in ganglia such as corpus callosum, cerebral white, cerebral grey and cerebellar white matter. GP-350 is also present in the pituitary gland. In the cerebrospinal fluid a glycoprotein is present with the same electrophoretic mobility as GP-350. However, this glycoprotein gave no precipitin reaction with GP-350 specific antiserum. Moreover, the amino acid composition was quite different from that of GP-350. Subcellular distribution study revealed that GP-350 is present in the soluble cell fraction and in the synaptosomal membrane fraction, whereas it is absent from the purified nuclei, mitochondria, myelin, and also from the microsomal fraction.     

In vivo analysis of Frat1 deficiency suggests compensatory activity of Frat3.

The Frat1 gene was first identified as a proto-oncogene involved in progression of mouse T cell lymphomas. More recently, FRAT/GBP (GSK-3beta Binding Protein) family members have been recognized as critical components of the Wnt signal transduction pathway. In an attempt to gain more insight into the function of Frat1, we have generated Frat1-deficient mice in which most of the coding domain was replaced by a promoterless beta-galactosidase reporter gene. While the pattern of LacZ expression in Frat1(lacZ)/+ mice indicated Frat1 to be expressed in various neural and epithelial tissues, homozygous Frat1(lacZ) mice were apparently normal, healthy and fertile. Tissues of homozygous Frat1(lacZ) mice showed expression of a second mouse Frat gene, designated Frat3. The Frat1 and Frat3 proteins are structurally and functionally very similar, since both Frat1 and Frat3 are capable of inducing a secondary axis in Xenopus embryos. The overlapping expression patterns of Frat1 and Frat3 during murine embryogenesis suggest that the apparent dispensability of Frat1 for proper development may be due to the presence of a second mouse gene encoding a functional Frat protein.     

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A SOLUBLE GLUCOSE-CONTAINING SIALOGLYCOPROTEIN FROM THE CORTICAL GREY MATTER OF CALF BRAIN

A sialoglycoprotein has been isolated from the cortical grey matter of calf brain after homogenization in 0.32 M-sucrose or in 0.15 M-NaCl. The sialoglycoprotein is present in the supernatant obtained after centrifugation at 100,000 g for 60 min. It is designated GP-350 on account of its elution with 350 mM-NaCl on a DEAE-cellulose column. From DEAE-cellulose chromatography it is evident that compounds comparable to GP-350 occur in the brain of calf and sheep, whereas they seem to be absent in calf liver and kidney. After purification, with polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis only one band can be shown both at pH 8.9 and 7.5. GP-350 consists of about 83 percent of protein and about 17 per cent of carbohydrate. The polypeptide core has an acidic character: amino acid analysis gives 26 per cent for glutamic acid plus aspartic acid and their amides, with a ratio of acidic to basic amino acids of 3.3. The carbohydrate moiety contains 2.4% sialic acid, 5.5 % hexosamine and 9.4% hexose. It is remarkable that this brain sialoglycoprotein comprises 4% glucose. Care was taken to prevent contamination with glucose-containing materials during the purification procedure of GP-350. The complete absence of other glucose-containing compounds which occur in brain, Le. glycogen and gangliosides, was demonstrated. GP-350 accounts for at least 3 per cent of the total saline-extractable protein and about 20 per cent of the total saline-extractable protein-bound sialic acid of the cortical grey matter of calf brain. These percentages correspond to 390 pg of protein and to 14 μg of sialic acid per g wet weight. GP-350 remains soluble when the pH is brought to 3.9 or when ethanol is added to 70 % (v/v).     

Detection of proteins related to a salivary glycoprotein (EP-GP). Concentrations in human secretions (saliva, sweat, tears, nasal mucus, cerumen, seminal plasma).

With a highly specific monoclonal antibody against a previously isolated and characterized human salivary 19-20-kDa glycoprotein, designated as extra-parotid glycoprotein [Rathman et al. (1989) J. Biol. Buccale 17, 199-208], a common epitope was detected on proteins in several excretory human body fluids. With a quantitative ELISA the EP-GP epitope was measured in widely different concentrations in several secretory human body fluids in the descending order of seminal plasma much greater than tears approximately nasal mucus approximately sweat much greater than saliva. Crossreactivity was also observed in cerumen but not in milk, cerebrospinal fluid, blood plasma and urine. The relative amount of EP-GP in the positively reacting secretions was however, in the same order in each fluid per mg of protein on an average of 1% of the total protein amount. The EP-GP-epitope bearing proteins found in the various human secretions were further characterized by means of electrophoresis and immunoblotting. The molecular masses and the isoelectric points of the proteins in the different secretions display strong resemblance to values found for the salivary glycoprotein EP-GP (molecular masses 19 and 20 kDa; pI values between 4.8 and 5.4). All these findings point to the presence of proteins related to EP-GP in human secretions other than saliva.     

A novel Axin2 knock‐in mouse model for visualization and lineage tracing of WNT/CTNNB1 responsive cells

Wnt signal transduction controls tissue morphogenesis, maintenance and regeneration in all multicellular animals. In mammals, the WNT/CTNNB1 (Wnt/β‐catenin) pathway controls cell proliferation and cell fate decisions before and after birth. It plays a critical role at multiple stages of embryonic development, but also governs stem cell maintenance and homeostasis in adult tissues. However, it remains challenging to monitor endogenous WNT/CTNNB1 signaling dynamics in vivo. Here, we report the generation and characterization of a new knock‐in mouse strain that doubles as a fluorescent reporter and lineage tracing driver for WNT/CTNNB1 responsive cells. We introduced a multi‐cistronic targeting cassette at the 3′ end of the universal WNT/CTNNB1 target gene Axin2. The resulting knock‐in allele expresses a bright fluorescent reporter (3xNLS‐SGFP2) and a doxycycline‐inducible driver for lineage tracing (rtTA3). We show that the Axin2^{P2A‐rtTA3‐T2A‐3xNLS‐SGFP2} strain labels WNT/CTNNB1 responsive cells at multiple anatomical sites during different stages of embryonic and postnatal development. It faithfully reports the subtle and dynamic changes in physiological WNT/CTNNB1 signaling activity that occur in vivo. We expect this mouse strain to be a useful resource for biologists who want to track and trace the location and developmental fate of WNT/CTNNB1 responsive stem cells in different contexts.     

Vaccination against Human Influenza A/H3N2 Virus Prevents the Induction of Heterosubtypic Immunity against Lethal Infection with Avian Influenza A/H5N1 Virus

Annual vaccination against seasonal influenza viruses is recommended for certain individuals that have a high risk for complications resulting from infection with these viruses. Recently it was recommended in a number of countries including the USA to vaccinate all healthy children between 6 and 59 months of age as well. However, vaccination of immunologically naïve subjects against seasonal influenza may prevent the induction of heterosubtypic immunity against potentially pandemic strains of an alternative subtype, otherwise induced by infection with the seasonal strains.Here we show in a mouse model that the induction of protective heterosubtypic immunity by infection with a human A/H3N2 influenza virus is prevented by effective vaccination against the A/H3N2 strain. Consequently, vaccinated mice were no longer protected against a lethal infection with an avian A/H5N1 influenza virus. As a result H3N2-vaccinated mice continued to loose body weight after A/H5N1 infection, had 100-fold higher lung virus titers on day 7 post infection and more severe histopathological changes than mice that were not protected by vaccination against A/H3N2 influenza.The lack of protection correlated with reduced virus-specific CD8+ T cell responses after A/H5N1 virus challenge infection. These findings may have implications for the general recommendation to vaccinate all healthy children against seasonal influenza in the light of the current pandemic threat caused by highly pathogenic avian A/H5N1 influenza viruses.     

Oxygen Mask Related Nasal Integument and Osteocartilagenous Disorders in F-16 Fighter Pilots

Background

A preliminary survey showed half of the participating Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) F-16 fighter pilots to have nasal integument and osteocartilagenous disorders related to wearing in-flight oxygen masks.

Aim

To make an inventory of these disorders and possible associated factors.

Methods

All RNLAF F-16 pilots were requested to fill out a semi-structured questionnaire for a cross-sectional survey. Additionally, one squadron in The Netherlands and pilots in operational theater were asked to participate in a prospective study that required filling out a pain score after each flight. Pilot- and flight-related variables on all participants were collected from the RNLAF database. A linear mixed model was built to identify associated factors with the post-flight pain score.

Results

The response rate to the survey was 83%. Ninety of the 108 participants (88%, 6 missing) reported tenderness, irritation, pain, erythema, skin lesions, callous skin, or swelling of nasal bridge integument or architecture. Seventy-two participants (71%, 6 missing) reported their symptoms to be troublesome after a mean of 6±3 out of 10 flights (0;10, 54 missing). Sixty-six pilots participated in scoring post-flight pain. Pain scores were significantly higher if a participant had ≥3 nasal disorders, after longer than average flights, after flying abroad, and after flying with night vision goggles (respectively +2.7 points, p = 0.003; +0.2 points, p = 0.027; +1.8 points, p = 0.001; +1.2 points p = 0.005). Longer than average NVG flights and more than average NVG hours per annum decreased painscores (respectively −0.8 points, p = 0.017; −0.04 points, p = 0.005).

Conclusions

The majority of the RNLAF F-16 fighter pilot community has nasal disorders in the contact area of the oxygen mask, including pain. Six pilot- or flight-related characteristics influence the experienced level of pain.     

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.     

Light-harvesting in photosystem I

Improving Rubisco catalysis is considered a promising way to enhance C₃-photosynthesis and photosynthetic water use efficiency (WUE) provided the introduced changes have little or no impact on other processes affecting photosynthesis such as leaf photochemistry or leaf CO₂ diffusion conductances. However, the extent to which the factors affecting photosynthetic capacity are co-regulated is unclear. The aim of the present study was to characterize the photochemistry and CO₂ transport processes in the leaves of three transplantomic tobacco genotypes expressing hybrid Rubisco isoforms comprising different Flaveria L-subunits that show variations in catalysis and differing trade-offs between the amount of Rubisco and its activation state. Stomatal conductance (g _s) in each transplantomic tobacco line matched wild-type, while their photochemistry showed co-regulation with the variations in Rubisco catalysis. A tight co-regulation was observed between Rubisco activity and mesophyll conductance (g _m) that was independent of g _s thus producing plants with varying g _m/g _s ratios. Since the g _m/g _s ratio has been shown to positively correlate with intrinsic WUE, the present results suggest that altering photosynthesis by modifying Rubisco catalysis may also be useful for targeting WUE.