A Novel Method to Analyze Social Transmission in Chronologically Sequenced Assemblages,Implemented on Cultural Inheritance of the Art of Cooking

Here we present an analytical technique for the measurement and evaluation of changes in chronologically sequenced assemblages. To illustrate the method, we studied the cultural evolution of European cooking as revealed in seven cook books dispersed over the past 800 years. We investigated if changes in the set of commonly used ingredients were mainly gradual or subject to fashion fluctuations. Applying our method to the data from the cook books revealed that overall, there is a clear continuity in cooking over the ages – cooking is knowledge that is passed down through generations, not something (re-)invented by each generation on its own. Looking at three main categories of ingredients separately (spices, animal products and vegetables), however, disclosed that all ingredients do not change according to the same pattern. While choice of animal products was very conservative, changing completely sequentially, changes in the choices of spices, but also of vegetables, were more unbounded. We hypothesize that this may be due a combination of fashion fluctuations and changes in availability due to contact with the Americas during our study time period. The presented method is also usable on other assemblage type data, and can thus be of utility for analyzing sequential archaeological data from the same area or other similarly organized material.     

The Ca2+ Pump of the Plasma Membrane of Arabidopsis thaliana: Characteristics and Sensitivity to Fluorescein Derivatives

The transport and hydrolytic activities of the plasma membrane (PM) Ca²⁺ pump were characterized in a PM fraction purified from seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana by the aqueous two-phase partitioning technique. Ca²⁺ uptake could be energized by ATP and by ITP (at about 70% the rate sustained by ATP). This characteristic was used to measure the hydrolytic activity of the enzyme as Ca²⁺-dependent ITPase activity. The PM Ca²⁺ pump displayed a broad pH optimum around pH 7.2, was drastically inhibited by erythrosin B (EB), and was half-saturated by 60 μM ITP. It was stimulated by CaM, specially at low, non-saturating Ca²⁺ concentrations. All of these characteristics closely resemble those of the PM Ca²⁺ pump in other plant materials. Analysis of the effects of EB and other fluorescein derivatives (eosin Y and rose bengal) showed that: i) EB behaved as a competitive inhibitor with respect to ITP; ii) the PM Ca²⁺ pump was drastically inhibited by concentrations of fluorescein derivatives (submicromolar), much lower than those required to inhibit the PM H⁺-ATPase; iii) the different fluorescein derivatives were diversely efficient in inhibiting the activities of the Ca²⁺ pump and of the H⁺-ATPase of the PM (eosin Y was about 10000-fold, EB 1000-fold and rose bengal only 50-fold more active on the Ca²⁺ pump than on the H⁺-ATPase); and iv) the effectiveness of EB in inhibiting the Ca²⁺ pump was strongly affected by the protein concentration in the assay medium.     

Phorbol ester facilitates apoptosis in murine fibroblasts pretreated by mild ultraviolet radiation.

Although phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) inhibits apoptosis and promotes the growth of some types of cells, it induces apoptosis in other cells. We evaluated the apoptotic effects of PMA on murine fibroblasts (L-929) that had been exposed to ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation at 312 nm, which promotes tumor cell growth. Exposure to PMA alone did not induce Fas, Fas-L, or apoptosis. Cells exposed to mild UV-B irradiation (80 J/m(2)) alone exhibited a slight expression of Fas and Fas-L 36 to 48 h after the exposure, and exhibited apoptosis as evidenced by DNA fragmentation 72 h after exposure. The addition of PMA (0.8 x 10(-5) to 3.2 x 10(-5) M) to the medium 24 h after the UV-B exposure markedly and dose-dependently enhanced these cell responses. Confluent untreated cells, cells cocultured with PMA, and cells cocultured with PMA for 24 h after the UV-B exposure consistently expressed mRNAs for wild-type p53, bcl-2, and ICE. Expression of c-myc mRNA was initially observed, but became undetectable in the cells cocultured for 24 h with a high concentration of PMA (3.2 x 10(-5) M) following UV-B exposure. Such cells subsequently exhibited the maximal apoptotic response. We conclude that mild exposure to UV-B altered murine fibroblast cells in such a way as to facilitate their death by apoptosis upon addition of PMA.     

Identification and purification of overlapping cosmid clones of the region Xq24-qter of human X chromosome using HPLC.

The assembly of a large physical map of genomes requires simultaneous analysis of many cosmid clones for overlapping regions. The search for overlapping regions may be achieved by various means. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) provides an alternative to gel electrophoresis since microgram amounts of each DNA fragment may be collected into individual test tubes for further analysis. HPLC has been used to identify overlapping cosmid clones from a pool of cosmid DNA containing the terminal portion of the long arm of the human X chromosome (Xq24-qter). Among 400 cosmids analyzed, 3 were shown to overlap.     

Genetic analysis of a mutation affecting ribosomal protein S1 in Escherichia coli

Molecular Genetics and Genomics - Ribosomal protein S1 from a newly isolated Escherichia coli mutant has a molecular weight of about 54,000 which is smaller than the wild type S1 (M.W. 65,000). The...