Towards the Understanding of the Folding of Methylene Units in the Glutamine Residue

The conformational preferences of the methylenic sequence in the side chain of the glutamine residue were investigated by ab initio and semi-empirical quantum mechanical calculations and examination of both the Brookhaven Protein Databank and Cambridge Structural Data Base. The results were analysed on the basis of our previous findings about the folding of methylene groups in aliphatic segments. Both energy calculations and the crystallographic structure of small peptides indicate that methylene units of the glutamine residue tend to fold in a gauche conformation. In contrast, such groups usually adopt an all-trans conformation in proteins due basically to the entropic and solvent contributions. These results have been demonstrated by computing the entropic correction to the free energy and evaluating the solvent effects through SCRF calculations     

Low reaction temperature increases the selectivity in an enzymatic reaction due to substrate solvation effects

Immobilized a-chymotrypsin was used as catalyst for studying temperature effects on acyl transfer reactions (acyl-donor: Bz-TyrOEt) in a water-immiscible organic solvent. The solubility of the two nucleophiles, Phe-NH and water, decreased with decreasing temperature. The relative decrease for the amide was larger (2.4-fold) than for water. Therefore the thermodynamic activity (estimated by the relative saturation) increased more for this substrate and hence the selectivity in the reaction was increased.     

Population and size-specific distribution of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in the Baltic Sea over five decades

Population-specific assessment and management of anadromous fish at sea requires detailed information about the distribution at sea over ontogeny for each population. However, despite a long history of mixed-stock sea fisheries on Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, migration studies showing that some salmon populations feed in different regions of the Baltic Sea and variation in dynamics occurs among populations feeding in the Baltic Sea, such information is often lacking. Also, current assessment of Baltic salmon assumes equal distribution at sea and therefore equal responses to changes in off-shore sea fisheries. Here, we test for differences in distribution at sea among and within ten Atlantic salmon Salmo salar populations originating from ten river-specific hatcheries along the Swedish Baltic Sea coast, using individual data from >125,000 tagged salmon, recaptured over five decades. We show strong population and size-specific differences in distribution at sea, varying between year classes and between individuals within year classes. This suggests that Atlantic salmon in the Baltic Sea experience great variation in environmental conditions and exploitation rates over ontogeny depending on origin and that current assessment assumptions about equal exploitation rates in the offshore fisheries and a shared environment at sea are not valid. Thus, our results provide additional arguments and necessary information for implementing population-specific management of salmon, also when targeting life stages at sea.     

New species of Ergasilus von Nordmann, 1832 (Copepoda: Ergasilidae) from the gills of freshwater fishes in Patagonia,Argentina

Systematic Parasitology - A new parasitic copepod, Ergasilus yandemontei n. sp., is described based on 10 adult females collected from the gills of the atherinid silverside Odontesthes hatcheri...     

Adenovirus early gene products may control viral mRNA accumulation and translation in vivo

The mechanisms controlling early adenovirus gene expression in vivo have been studied using inhibitors of protein synthesis. When inhibitors were added shortly before or at the onset of infection, viral mRNA from all early regions was transcribed, spliced and accumulated over a 7 hr period. After longer pretreatment, accumulation of several early mRNAs were suppressed. Addition of inhibitors 1 hr after infection enhanced the accumulation of viral mRNA in the cytoplasm. Translation of early mRNA selected on adenovirus DNA in a cell-free system reflected the amount of viral mRNA present. A viral coded product may therefore control accumulation of viral mRNA.A different pattern emerged when inhibitors of protein synthesis were removed at 5 hr postinfection and cells were pulse-labeled in vivo. If inhibitors were introduced at or before infection, early viral proteins were synthesized only after a lag of 1–3 hr. However, if treatment was introduced 1 hr post-infection, reversion of the protein synthesis block was instantaneous. It appears that protein synthesis inhibitors reveal an in vivo translational block for viral mRNA. This block could be overcome by preinfection with a related virus. Furthermore, no block was observed in a virus-transformed human embryonic kidney cell line (293) which expresses early region 1 of the viral genome. Viral gene product(s) encoded in early region 1 may control translation of early adenovirus messenger RNA in vivo.     

Genetic evidence that the putative receptor binding domain of apolipoprotein B (residues 3130 to 3630) is not the only region of the protein involved in interaction with the low density lipoprotein receptor

We have searched for sequence differences in the region of the apolipoprotein B (apo B) gene encoding amino acids 3130-3630 in eight individuals with reduced affinity of low density lipoprotein (LDL) for the normal LDL-receptor. All individuals were hypercholesterolaemic and were selected either on the basis of reduced fractional catabolic rate (FCR) of autologous LDL or substantially reduced binding of their LDL to normal LDL-receptors determined by an in vitro cell growth assay using the U937 macrophage-like cell line. Segments of the apo B gene were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction. Using a combination of cloning and sequencing the amplified fragment, together with chemical cleavage mismatch analysis, no sequence differences were identified in this region of the gene. We therefore conclude that variation outside the region of the apo B gene that codes for amino acids 3130-3630 must be responsible for the reduced LDL clearance in these patients.