Tannase activity from the marine cyanobacterium Phormidium valderianum BDU140441

The marine cyanobacterium Phormidium valderianum BDU 140441 exhibited the ability to grow at 0.25?mM tannic acid, a known hindering chemical for microbial growth. The tannic acid-degrading ability of the organism is evident from the UV–visible absorption spectrum. In addition, the existence of tannase has been localized by activity staining, and its induction in activity upon tannic acid exposure was confirmed in native gel. The critical tannic acid metabolization enzymes tested for are polyphenol oxidase and esterases; both are well known for tannic acid degradation. Upon tannic acid exposure, increased activity of polyphenol oxidase and expression of few new isoforms of esterase were identified by activity staining.     

Isolation and identification of cytokinins from Euglena gracilis transfer ribonucleic acid.

Three ribonucleosides responsible for cytokinin activity in Euglena gracilis var Bacillaris tRNA have been isolated and identified as 6-(3-methyl-2-butenylamino)-9-beta-D-ribofuranosylpurine, 6-(4-hydroxy-3-methyl-cis-2-butenylamino)-9-beta-D-ribofuranosylpurine, and 6-(4-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-butenylamino)-2-methylthio-9-beta-D-ribofuranosylpurine. The structures of these compounds were assigned on the basis of their chromatographic properties and ultraviolet and mass spectra which were identical with those of the corresponding synthetic compounds. The elution profiles of cytokinin bioassay activity and of 35S radioactivity suggest the presence of a trace amount of 6-(3-methyl-2-butenylamino)-2-methylthio-9-beta-D-ribofuranosylpurine.     

Establishment and characterization of an epithelial cell line from thymus of Catla catla (Hamilton, 1822)

A cell line, CTE, derived from catla (Catla catla) thymus has been established by explant method and subcultured for more than 70 passages over a period of 400 days. The cell line has been maintained in L-15 (Leibovitz) medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. CTE cell line consists of homogeneous population of epithelial-like cells and grows optimally at 28 °C. Karyotype analysis revealed that the modal chromosome number of CTE cells was 50. Partial amplification, sequencing and alignment of fragments of two mitochondrial genes 16S rRNA and COI confirmed that CTE cell line originated from catla. Significant green fluorescent signals were observed when the cell line was transfected with phrGFP II-N mammalian expression vector, indicating its potential utility for transgenic and genetic manipulation studies. The CTE cells showed strong positivity for cytokeratin, indicating that cell line was epithelial in nature. The flow cytometric analysis of cell line revealed a higher number of cells in S-phase at 48 h, suggesting a high growth rate. The extracellular products of Vibrio cholerae MTCC 3904 were toxic to the CTE cells. This cell line was not susceptible to fish betanodavirus, the causative agent of viral nervous necrosis in a large variety of marine fish.