Mammalian and Escherichia coli signal recognition particles

Recent evidence from both biochemical and genetic studies indicates that protein targeting to the pro-karyotic cytoplasmic membrane and the eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum membrane may have more in common than previously thought. A ribonucleo-protein particle was identified in Escherichia coli that consists of at least one protein (P48 or Ffh) and one RNA molecule (4.5S RNA), both of which exhibit strong sequence similarity with constituents of the mammalian signal recognition particle (SRP). Like the mammalian SRP, the E. coli SRP binds specifically to the signal sequence of presecretory proteins. Depletion of either P48 or 4.5S RNA affects translation and results in the accumulation of precursors of several secreted proteins. This review discusses these recent studies and speculates on the position of the SRP in the complex network of protein interactions involved in translation and membrane targeting in E. coli.     

A recombination event excludes the ROM1 locus from the Best's vitelliform macular dystrophy region

Best's vitelliform macular degeneration has been genetically linked to chromosome 11. Subsequently, the disease locus has been refined to an interval between D11S903 and PYGM and, more recently, between D11S986 and D11S480. The gene encoding ROM1, a photoreceptor-specific membrane protein, has been independently mapped within the Best's disease region and has thus become a strong candidate for the Best's disease gene. In this study, we have mapped ROM1 relative to Best's disease and the loci D11S986, UGB (uteroglobin), and PYGM (human muscle glycogen phosphorylase) in recombinant Best's disease chromosomes. We demonstrate that UGB is localized proximal to ROM1 and that both UGB and ROM1 recombine with the disease phenotype. Thus, this analysis excluded ROM1 as the Best's disease gene.     

Possible Brucellosis in an Early Hominin Skeleton from Sterkfontein,South Africa

We report on the paleopathological analysis of the partial skeleton of the late Pliocene hominin species Australopithecus africanus Stw 431 from Sterkfontein, South Africa. A previous study noted the presence of lesions on vertebral bodies diagnosed as spondylosis deformans due to trauma. Instead, we suggest that these lesions are pathological changes due to the initial phases of an infectious disease, brucellosis. The macroscopic, microscopic and radiological appearance of the lytic lesions of the lumbar vertebrae is consistent with brucellosis. The hypothesis of brucellosis (most often associated with the consumption of animal proteins) in a 2.4 to 2.8 million year old hominid has a host of important implications for human evolution. The consumption of meat has been regarded an important factor in supporting, directing or altering human evolution. Perhaps the earliest (up to 2.5 million years ago) paleontological evidence for meat eating consists of cut marks on animal remains and stone tools that could have made these marks. Now with the hypothesis of brucellosis in A. africanus, we may have evidence of occasional meat eating directly linked to a fossil hominin.     

Copulatory Mechanism in Holocnemus pluchei and Pholcus opilionoides,With Notes on Male Cheliceral Apophyses and Stridulatory Organs in Pholcidae (Araneae)

Huber, B. A. 1994. Copulatory mechanism in Holocnemus pluchei and Pholcus opilionoides, with notes on male cheliceral apophyses and stridulatory organs in Pholcidae (Araneae).—Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 76: 291–300. The pholcid spiders Holocnemus pluchei (Scopoli, 1763) and Pholcus opilionoides (Schrank, 1781) are investigated with respect to functional morphology of their genital organs using freeze-fixation of spiders during copula in liquid nitrogen and subsequent preparation of histological serial sections of the copulatory organs in functional contact. Special attention is paid to the mode of male pedipalpal arrestation before copulation, which is achieved in two quite different ways: in Pholcus by contact of the lateral cheliceral apophysis with the pedipalpal trochanter-apophysis, in Holocnemus by locking the pedipalpal trochanter between chelicera and pedipalpal coxa. The condition in Pholcus is considered to be apomorphic and to present a synapomorphy of about a dozen genera for which the name “Pholcus-group” is proposed. The stridulatory apparatus of Holocnemus pluchei is described, its biological significance discussed and an overview of accounts on stridulation in Pholcidae given.     

BiGG: a Biochemical Genetic and Genomic knowledgebase of large scale metabolic reconstructions

Background  

Genome-scale metabolic reconstructions under the Constraint Based Reconstruction and Analysis (COBRA) framework are valuable tools for analyzing the metabolic capabilities of organisms and interpreting experimental data. As the number of such reconstructions and analysis methods increases, there is a greater need for data uniformity and ease of distribution and use.