Phosphate starvation affects the synthesis of outer membrane proteins in Thiobacillus ferrooxidans

The outer membrane protein (omp40) component from the chemolithoautotrophic acidophilic Thiobacillus ferrooxidans is apparently regulated by the external pH and the concentration of phosphorus. Its amino-terminal sequence showed little identity with the Escherichia coli OmpC, OmpF or PhoE porins, but was 38.5% identical to the outer membrane channel-forming protein NosA from Pseudomonas stutzeri, whose expression is also regulated environmentally. In addition, the partial amino acid sequence of T. ferrooxidans omp40 showed between 34 and 38% identity with the amino-terminal end of the small outer membrane proteins Rck and PagC from Salmonella typhimurium and OmpX from Enterobacter cloacae.     

Mammalian Retromer Is an Adaptable Scaffold for Cargo Sorting from Endosomes

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A Nuclear Marker for Mammalian Cells and Its Use with Intracerebral Transplants

The Hoechst dye staining method has been successfully applied to the central nervous system in mammals and its use has been demonstrated in intracerebral transplantation. The technique is rapid, simple and based on intrinsic nuclear properties. It was found to be permanent and valid whatever the animal strains or ages, allowing the distinction of rat cells from those of mouse, studied either separately or in a cross-transplantation model. It permitted the detection of grafted cells in the area of transplantation and the observation of early dispersion around the implantation site. Moreover, it can be combined with immunohistochemistry as demonstrated by a myelin marker in a relevant model. Immunodetection can thus help to directly observe grafted cells, at distance from the locus of transplantation, confirming their presence in the graft-type myelin patches.

Because of its rapid performance, this technique can be used systematically after transplantation to check for the presence of grafted cells in the host.     

基于指标自动筛选的新疆开孔河流域生态健康评价

生态健康评价对了解区域生态健康状况和促进区域可持续发展具有重要意义,如何自动筛选出能反映生态系统特性的重要指标,是生态健康定量评估的关键问题。基于压力-状态-响应(PSR,Press-State-Response)框架和生态等级网络框架(EHN,Ecological Hierarchy Network),通过文献调研和因果分析建立要素层与指标层之间的交叉联系,构建了生态健康评价"网状"指标体系;在保证指标体系完备性基础上,通过结合主成分分析和熵权法的候选指标权重的客观计算,基于目标优化理论构建了评价指标的自动筛选模型,并基于中选指标计算了新疆开孔河流域2001—2017年生态健康指数(EHCI,Ecological Health Comprehensive Indexes),分析其空间分异和时间变化特征。结果表明:利用所建立的评价指标自动筛选模型,开孔河流域生态健康评价指标由31个候选指标自动筛选出了17个中选指标,用54.8%的指标表达了85.98%的信息,中选的17个指标在干旱/半干旱区域有关文献中应用较多,使用频次比例都在20%以上,其中归一化植被指数(NDVI,Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)、年降水量和植被覆盖度(FVC,Fractional Vegetation Coverage)3个指标的使用频次百分比均超过了50%,说明指标自动筛选模型的合理性;开孔河流域空间分布差异显著,总体上西北高、东南低,东南部和中部绿洲区外围生态健康状况较差,西北部河谷地带和中部两大绿洲区生态健康状况较好;17年来,流域生态质量整体趋于改善,显著改善区域占10.26%,远高于显著退化的1.61%,显著改善区域以孔雀河绿洲最为明显。开孔河流域生态健康的总体好转趋势说明区域生态综合治理取得一定成效。     

Expression of plasma membrane proton-ATPase gene in salt-tolerant yeast Zygosaccharomyces rouxii is induced by sodium chloride

Abstract The amounts of mRNA and protein of plasma membrane proton-ATPase were measured in the salt-tolerant yeast Zygosaccharomyces rouxii by Northern and Western blot analyses. Although their amounts were independent of growth phase, their synthesis were induced when yeast cells were grown in the presence of NaCl or were subjected to NaCl shock. This finding was consistent with our previous result that plasma membrane proton-ATPase activity was elevated in Z. rouxii cells grown in medium containing high concentrations of NaCl.     

Thermohaemolysis of human erythrocytes in sucrose containing isotonic media

1. 1.|The thermohaemolysis of human erythrocytes in NaCl/sucrose isotonic media can be best accounted for in terms of the colloid-osmotic theory of haemolysis.

2. 2.|The thermohaemolysis in NaCl saline was preceded by leakage of K⁺ and cell swelling. If the inner oncotic osmoactivity was balanced with external sucrose the cells progressively shrinked losing K⁺, but the haemolysis was strongly reduced.

3. 3.|Time dependence of the shrinking of cells and one-step resealed ghosts suspended in isotonic 60 mOsm NaCl/sucrose media was studied between 50 and 58°C.

4. 4.|After a lag period for cells only, this shrinking proceeded with apparently constant rate for cells and ghosts.

5. 5.|The rate constant of shrinking for cells and ghosts obeys the Arrhenius relation, giving the value of 250 ± 15 kJ/mol for the activation energy of shrinking in both cases. This is also the case for the activation energy of the membrane ion permeability constant.

6. 6.|These results are consistent with the thermal inactivation of membrane associated protein(s) acting as a trigger for the ion permeability barrier disturbance.

7. 7.|The mid-point temperature for these membrane events was about 61°C.

Contemporary parasite stress curvilinearly correlates with outgroup trust: Cross-country evidence from 2005 to 2014

General trust is trust extended to people from outside one's immediate social network. Two studies have tested a parasite stress explanation of general trust using cross-cultural data, showing a linear negative correlation between parasite stress and trust in “most people.” However, recent studies suggest that 1) trust in most people as a measure of general trust confounds ingroup trust and outgroup trust in cross-cultural surveys and 2) parasite stress can curvilinearly correlate with variables of ingroup embeddedness and outgroup avoidance. Using data from the World Value Survey (WVS) Waves 5 and 6 (N?=?117,370 from 80 countries and geopolitical regions), we found no evidence that parasite stress—measured either as contemporary non-sexually-transmitted-disease (non-STD) stress or as historical pathogen prevalence—curvilinearly correlated with ingroup trust. However, parasite stress significantly curvilinearly correlated with outgroup trust, and the two-line test confirmed that the correlation was U-shaped. This research extends previous work on parasite stress and trust, informs the recent debate on whether parasite stress relates to outgroup avoidance, and suggests directions for developing the parasite stress theory of values and sociality.