A Thinopyrum ponticum and Triticum aestivum hybrid. Electrophoretic patterns of their endogenous phosphorylation, Diphosphonucleoside kinases, DNases and RNases

Endogenous protein phosphorylation, DNase and RNase electrophoretic patterns, and the detection of NDP-kinases by TLC (Thin Layer Chromatography) were performed in Thinopyrum ponticum (2n=10x=70), Triticum aestivum (2n=6x=42), and their hybrid seedlings in order to accomplish intergeneric hybridization. Octoploid intergeneric hybrids (2n=8x=56) were synthesized in less than 50% of the hybrids. The F₁ hybrid plants resembled Th. ponticum with regard to morphological features and were sterile. Hybrid seedlings revealed very low endogenous phosphorylation and very low NDP-kinase activity in comparison to their parents. In addition hybrid seedlings expressed a new nuclease. Received: 29 June 2000 / Accepted: 28 July 2000     

Using an Activity to Simulate the Dangers of Multitasking with Technology while Walking

People are increasingly trying to multitask while walking. Text messaging while walking is a significant area for concern. The number of text messages sent is expected to be more than 8 trillion in 2012. Texting is becoming so commonplace that people use this technology while engaged in other activities. The dangers of multitasking have hit the streets as people are becoming involved in more accidents while walking as they text on mobile phones. This simulation activity measures a student's ability to multitask by texting and walking. The activity simulates walking in the real world and is best suited for middle school students. Additional activities, after completing the simulation, will challenge middle school students to learn more about multitasking globally through scientific inquiry researched on the Internet. The students will use language arts skills to generate a report or presentation to share with classmates. Their findings will give the entire class a cultural perspective on accident statistical comparisons between different countries.     

Addressing STEM Concepts through a Food Safety Activity

The activity described in this article engages students in learning about proper meat storage procedures by using the Internet. They apply their knowledge practically through creation of a pamphlet to be displayed in their kitchen at home and a follow-up report on their parents’ kitchen procedures; they may also participate in a classic food storage experiment. This activity is well suited for elementary school children in the second through fourth grades and promotes all basic STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) concepts. Kitchen activities require all these concepts for successful and safe outcomes. The examination of food storage devices references engineering, and technology is used for the research and pamphlet creation. The section on bacteria introduces life sciences, and physical sciences come into play through the discussion of heat inducing change in the meats. Math skills are integral to the reference table containing temperatures and times.     

Optimization‐based framework for resin selection strategies in biopharmaceutical purification process development

This work addresses rapid resin selection for integrated chromatographic separations when conducted as part of a high‐throughput screening exercise during the early stages of purification process development. An optimization‐based decision support framework is proposed to process the data generated from microscale experiments to identify the best resins to maximize key performance metrics for a biopharmaceutical manufacturing process, such as yield and purity. A multiobjective mixed integer nonlinear programming model is developed and solved using the ε‐constraint method. Dinkelbach's algorithm is used to solve the resulting mixed integer linear fractional programming model. The proposed framework is successfully applied to an industrial case study of a process to purify recombinant Fc Fusion protein from low molecular weight and high molecular weight product related impurities, involving two chromatographic steps with eight and three candidate resins for each step, respectively. The computational results show the advantage of the proposed framework in terms of computational efficiency and flexibility. © 2017 The Authors Biotechnology Progress published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:1116–1126, 2017     

Analysis of metabolic networks using a pathway distance metric through linear programming

The solution of the shortest path problem in biochemical systems constitutes an important step for studies of their evolution. In this paper, a linear programming (LP) algorithm for calculating minimal pathway distances in metabolic networks is studied. Minimal pathway distances are identified as the smallest number of metabolic steps separating two enzymes in metabolic pathways. The algorithm deals effectively with circularity and reaction directionality. The applicability of the algorithm is illustrated by calculating the minimal pathway distances for Escherichia coli small molecule metabolism enzymes, and then considering their correlations with genome distance (distance separating two genes on a chromosome) and enzyme function (as characterised by enzyme commission number). The results illustrate the effectiveness of the LP model. In addition, the data confirm that propinquity of genes on the genome implies similarity in function (as determined by co-involvement in the same region of the metabolic network), but suggest that no correlation exists between pathway distance and enzyme function. These findings offer insight into the probable mechanism of pathway evolution.     

Southern blot analysis of HLA-DP gene polymorphisms in Caucasoid rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and controls

Despite extensive analysis of the incidence ofHLA-DR andHLA-DQ allele frequencies in defined autoimmune disease groups, there is very little information available onHLA-DP allele frequencies. This is largely becauseHLA-DP typing has until recently been restricted to primed lymphocyte typing (PLT). However, allelic polymorphism of theHLA-DP subregion can now be studied by Southern blot analysis or genotyping withDPA1 andDPB1 probes. By direct counting of allele-specific DNA fragments, we have analyzed the frequencies of five majorDP genotypes (DPw1, DPw2, DPw3/6, DPw4, andDPw5), in a large number of Caucasoid rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (n=74), and controls (n=91). The predicted frequency ofDP alleles in both patient and control groups was comparable to PLT-determinedDP allele frequencies in normal Caucasoids. However, the gene frequency ofDPw4 was increased in the RA patients, with 51% of the patients studied scoring asDPw4, 4 homozygotes. With the exception of one possible combination (DPw5 andDRw6) in the controls, no significant linkage disequilibrium was detected betweenDP andDR alleles in either patient or control groups. Thus the prevalence ofDPw4 in the RA patients is independent of any disease association with theDR loci, and may represent a new class II association with RA.     

Tolerance ofFestuca rubra L. to zinc in relation to mycorrhizal infection

Summary Plant yield of mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizalFestuca rubra L. was linearly decreased with increasing zinc concentrations in nutrient solution. In all cases, non-mycorrhizal plant growth was significantly greater than that of mycorrhizal plants. Zinc and phosphorus concentrations of root and shoot of mycorrhizal plants were greater in all zinc treatments while mycorrhizal plants showed equal or lower tolerance indices to zinc than non-mycorrhizal plants. Yield depressions of mycorrhizal plants may be the result of enhanced zinc and phosphorus concentrations combined with the cost for growth and maintenance of the mycorrhizal fungi.