Pr-SNTX,a short-chain three-finger toxin from Papuan pigmy mulga snake,is an antagonist of muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α2βδε)

Three-finger toxins (3FTxs) are one of the major components in snake venoms. In this study, we isolated a cDNA encoding a short-chain 3FTx, Pr-SNTX, from Pseudechis rossignolii. The amino acid sequence of Pr-SNTX is nearly identical to that of its ortholog in Pseudechis australis. Pr-SNTX protein inhibited muscle-type (α₂βδε), but not neuronal α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) activity.     

Correction to: Herding mechanisms to maintain the cohesion of a harem group: two interaction phases during herding

Journal of Ethology - The article Herding mechanisms to maintain the cohesion of a harem group.     

Asexual reproductive organ-specific expression of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 2 gene of Pilobolus crystallinus

Pilobolus crystallinus has three putative glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gapdh) genes (pcgapdh1, pcgapdh2 and pcgapdh3). The results of this study demonstrate that expression of pcgapdh2 was increased by irradiation and that this increased expression was correlated with the formation of asexual reproductive organs (trophocysts). Interestingly, expression of pcgapdh2 was restricted to trophocysts. The formation of trophocysts was likely promoted by light, and the expression of pcgapdh2 was increased as a result of trophocyst formation. This is the first report that shows the regulation of a gapdh gene in an organ-specific manner in fungi.     

Studies on staphylococcal enterotoxin B. III. Purification with absorbents]

The biological and immunological activities of Staphylococcal enterotoxin B are stable in pH 2.0 approximately 11.0, and also resistant to proteolytic enzyme (trypsin, pepsin) digestion for 3 approximate 4 hours. Therefore, the toxin could be purified with trypsin digest and then absorbed on kaolin and Kieselgel, followed by eluting the different pH buffer solutions. Further purifications was chromatographied on CM-Sephadex column.     

Calcium-activated adenosine triphosphatase activity of pellicles from Paramecium caudatum.

Pellicles were isolated from Paramecium caudatum for a study of the properties of its insoluble ATPase [EC 3.6.1.3] activity. Pellicular ATPase was solubilized by sonication and fractionated by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The sedimentation coefficient of the ATPase was about 9S. The ATPase required Ca2+ for maximum activation. Addition of neutral salts to the assay medium inhibited the activity. Substrate specificity for ATP was low; other nucleoside triphosphates were hydrolyzed at about the same rate as ATP; AMP, pyrophosphate, and p-nitrophenyl phosphate were not hydrolyzed. The ATPase activity of the pellicle preparation had a pH optimum at pH 6.5, and a Michaelis constant of 9 micrometer. On the other hand, the enzymatic properties of the ATPase were somewhat modified by the procedure of solubilization and fractionation. The pellicular ATPase does not resemble ciliary dynein ATPase or the soluble ATPase of Tetrahymena.     

A palmitoyltransferase Approximated gene Bm-app regulates wing development in Bombyx mori

The silkworm Bombyx mori is an important lepidopteran model insect in which many kinds of natural mutants have been identified.However,molecular mechanisms of most of these mutants remain to be explored.Here we report the identification of a gene Bm-app is responsible for the silkworm minute wing(mw)mutation which exhibits exceedingly small wings during pupal and adult stages.Compared with the wild type silkworm,relative messenger RNA expression of Bm-app is significantly decreased in the ul 1 mutant strain which shows mw phenotype.A 10 bp insertion in the putative promoter region of the Bm-app gene in mw mutant strain was identified and the dual luciferase assay revealed that this insertion decreased Bm-app promoter activity.Furthermore,clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/RNA-guided Cas9 nucleases-mediated depletion of the Bm-app induced similar wing defects which appeared in the mw mutant,demonstrating that Bm-app controls wing development in B.mori.Bm-app encodes a palmitoyltransferase and is responsible for the palmitoylation of selected cytoplasmic proteins,indicating that it is required for cell mitosis and growth during wing development.We also discuss the possibility that Bm-app regulates wing development through the Hippo signaling pathway in B.mori.     

Strain difference in the radiosensitivity of immunocompetent cells and its influence on the residual host-vs-graft reaction in lethally irradiated mice grafted with semiallogeneic bone marrow

A striking difference in radiosensitivity was noted between C3H/He (H-2k) and C57BL/6J (H-2b) strain mice when assessed by primary anti-SRBC PFC response of intact animals and primary cell-mediated lympholysis (CML) response of spleen cells to allogeneic cells in vitro, the C3H strain being more radioresistant. On the other hand, when C3H and B6 mice were exposed to 6.62 to 10.40 grays (Gy) of x-rays and then were transplanted with 2 X 10(6) bone marrow cells from B6C3F1 (H-2b/k) donor mice within 3 hr or at 24 hr after radiation exposure, the early mortality caused by residual host-vs-graft (HVG) reaction was much higher when C3H mice were used as recipients. Furthermore, the proportion of surviving animals manifesting host-type lymphohemopoiesis, i.e., host-type revertants, was much higher in B6C3F1 to C3H than in B6C3F1 to B6 combination. Spleen cells from such host-type revertants manifested strong anti-donor reactivity when assessed by mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) and/or CML in vitro. Increase of radiation doses to the recipients to 10.40 Gy resulted in 100% survival and 100% donor-type lymphohemopoiesis in both groups of chimeras. These results indicate strongly that a genetic difference in radiosensitivity of immune system of the recipients can greatly influence the magnitude of residual HVG reactions observed in hybrid to parental strain bone marrow transplantation in mice.