Cancer-producing substances

Resume It is demonstrated that the cancer-producing substances contain particles of carbon, metals or polymerised compounds, all having surface-electrons, and it is made assumptive that products having a low energy of ionisation are able to deactivate the carcinogenic particles and also to repress malignant growth.In the interest of the public health the combustion in the internal combustion engine should be made more complete and the use of lead compounds as anti-knock agents should be prohibited. Further, all food products manufactured in a manner able to produce carcinogenic particles should be treated with deactivating agents or the treatments causing the production of the particles should be prohibited.     

Nonspecific nucleoside triphosphatase P4 of double-stranded RNA bacteriophage phi6 is required for single-stranded RNA packaging and transcription

Bacteriophage phi6 has a segmented double-stranded RNA genome. The genomic single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) precursors are packaged into a preformed protein capsid, the polymerase complex, composed of viral proteins P1, P2, P4, and P7. Packaging of the genomic precursors is an energy-dependent process requiring nucleoside triphosphates. Protein P4, a nonspecific nucleoside triphosphatase, has previously been suggested to be the prime candidate for the viral packaging engine, based on its location at the vertices of the viral capsid and its biochemical characteristics. In this study we were able to obtain stable polymerase complex particles that are completely devoid of P4. Such particles were not able to package ssRNA segments and did not display RNA polymerase (either minus- or plus-strand synthesis) activity. Surprisingly, a mutation in P4, S250Q, which reduced the level of P4 in the particles to about 10% of the wild-type level, did not affect RNA packaging activity or change the kinetics of packaging. Moreover, such particles displayed minus-strand synthesis activity. However, no plus-strand synthesis was observed, suggesting that P4 has a role in the plus-strand synthesis reaction also.     

Electron microscopic studies of viruses labeled with magnetite

We were able to develop a method with which to successfully and specifically detect virus particles under the electron microscope by using magnetite. This method was devised on the principle that magnetite-labeled antibody or magnetite coupled with protein A selectively bind virus or antibody-treated virus particles on the electron microscope grid by the action of an electromagnet. Another advantage characterizing the technique is the possibility of detection of a small number of virus particles. This is done through a process of concentration and purification of the reaction complexes trapped rigidly by magnetic force.     

Retroviral vectors displaying functional antibody fragments.

We have made retrovirus particles displaying a functional antibody fragment. We fused the gene encoding an antibody fragment directed against a hapten with that encoding the viral envelope protein (Pr80env) of the ecotropic Moloney murine leukemia virus. The fusion gene was co-expressed in ecotropic retroviral packaging cells with a retroviral plasmid carrying the neomycin phosphotransferase gene (neo), and retroviral particles with specific hapten binding activities were recovered. Furthermore the hapten-binding particles were able to transfer the neo gene and the antibody-envelope fusion gene to mouse fibroblasts. In principle, the display of antibody fragments on the surface of recombinant retroviral particles could be used to target virus to cells for gene delivery, or to retain the virus in target tissues.     

Effect of nucleocapsid on multimerization of gypsy structural protein Gag

The structural protein (Gag) of the gypsy Drosophila retrovirus lacks matrix, but contains capsid and nucleocapsid domains. The Gag forms virus-like particles in a bacterial cell; besides, its capsid alone is able to form aggregates. However, aggregates assembled from the capsid were variable in size and displayed much less organization than particles formed by the whole Gag. The nucleocapsid exerts influence on the organization and structure of particles, and this function is directed by sequence of amino acid residues at its N-terminus (a nucleocapsid proximal part). The particle assembling occurs in the presence of any RNAs or single stranded DNA oligonucleotides.     

Requirements for incorporation of Pr160gag-pol from human immunodeficiency virus type 1 into virus-like particles.

The roles of the human immunodeficiency virus precursor polyproteins Pr55gag and Pr160gag-pol in viral core assembly were studied in CMT3-COS cells. To do this, the precursors were expressed separately by using a simian virus 40 late replacement vector system described previously. Consistent with previously published data, our results show that the Pr55gag precursor, when expressed alone, was able to form particles which had an immature morphology and that particle formation required the presence of a myristate addition signal at the amino terminus of the precursor. In contrast, the Pr160gag-pol precursor was not able to form particles when expressed alone, although it still underwent proteolytic processing. Coexpression of the two precursor polyproteins from separate vectors in the same cell resulted in processing of the Pr55gag in trans by the protease embedded in Pr160gag-pol and the formation of virus-like particles containing the products of both precursors. Proteolytic processing occurred independently of the presence of a functional myristate addition signal on either precursor. On the other hand, removal of myristate from one or the other precursor had nonreciprocal effects on virus particle formation. Cells expressing Pr55gag lacking myristate and Pr160gag-pol containing it did not produce particles. Cells expressing a myristylated Pr55gag and unmyristylated Pr160gag-pol still produced virus-like particles which contained nearly normal amounts of Pr160gag-pol. The results suggest that the incorporation of Pr160gag-pol into particles is largely determined by intermolecular protein-protein interactions between the two precursor polypeptides.     

固体平板磁泳分离细菌新方法的研究

氧化亚铁硫杆菌（Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans）能够在胞内形成电子致密的磁性颗粒,它的这种特性使利用氧化亚铁硫杆菌合成生物纳米磁性材料成为了可能。本课题组为了筛选出合成磁性颗粒能力强的菌株,对原有的液体磁泳进行了改进,采用了新的固体平板磁泳方法来筛选纯化目的菌株。经过磁泳分离后,细菌中含磁性颗粒的细胞比例由原始菌群的30％上升到90％,胞内含有的磁颗粒数目也由1~2颗增加至2~5颗,筛选得到的细菌在人工磁场下会进行趋磁运动。实验结果表明,氧化亚铁硫杆菌具有较弱的趋磁性,在人工磁场下会进行趋磁运动,但仅在地磁场作用下不能定向运动,利用固体平板磁泳筛选纯化含有磁性颗粒的氧化亚铁硫杆菌的方法是切实可行的,磁泳分离技术的进一步完善和改进为传统的微生物菌种分离提供了新的途径,为研究纯氧化亚铁硫杆菌菌株胞内磁性颗粒的形成条件及机理提供了前提条件,也为今后从浸矿细菌中分离筛选更多的含有磁性颗粒的菌株打下基础。     

Fluid Gels: a New Feedstock for High Viscosity Jetting

Suspensions of gel particles which are pourable or spoonable at room temperature can be created by shearing a gelling biopolymer through its gelation (thermal or ion mediated) rather than allowing quiescent cooling – thus the term ‘fluid gel’ may be used to describe the resulting material. As agar gelation is thermoreversible this type of fluid gel is able to be heated again to melt agar gel particles to varying degrees then re-form a network quiescently upon cooling, whose strength depends on the temperature of re-heating, determining the amount of agar solubilised and subsequently able to partake in re-gelation. Using this principle, for the first time fluid gels have been applied to a high viscosity 3D printing process wherein the printing temperature (at the nozzle) is controllable. This allows the use of ambient temperature feedstocks and by altering the nozzle temperature, the internal nature (presence or absence of gel particles) and gel strength of printed droplets differs. If the nozzle prints at different temperatures for each layer a structure with modulated texture could be created.     

Attachment of Sendai virus particles to cell membranes: dissociation of adsorbed virus particles with dithiothreitol.

Sendai virus particles bind to human erythrocytes at 4 degrees C and fuse with them at 37 degrees C. The present work describes a new method by which adsorbed virus particles can be removed from human erythrocytes, allowing quantitative determination of the number of virus particles which can bind and fuse with human erythrocyte membranes. Through the use of 125I-labeled Sendai virus particles, it is shown that incubation with 50 mM dithiothreitol removed about 90 to 95% of adsorbed virus particles. Fused virus particles were resistant to treatment with dithiothreitol. Negligible amounts of 125I-labeled Sendai virus particles were removed by treatment with dithiothreitol after incubation of virus-cell complexes at 37 degrees C. Trypsinized virus particles were able to attach to, but not fuse with, human erythrocytes even after prolonged incubation at 37 degrees C. Treatment with dithiothreitol removed as much as 80 to 85% of trypsinized virus particles incubated with human erythrocytes at 37 degrees C. A quantitative determination revealed that about 1,000 to 1,200 and 600 to 800 Sendai virus particles can bind to or fuse with human erythrocytes, respectively.     

Alignment of a restriction map with the genetic map of bacteriophage T4.

We reported previously that polycytidylate [poly(C)]-dependent RNA polymerase activity was a property of small spherical or triangular reovirus-specific particles which sedimented at 13 to 19S and were composed solely of the reovirus protein, sigma NS. Depending on the fraction of cellular extracts from which they were obtained, these particles exhibited marked differences in stability. Most 13 to 19S particles from a particular fraction repeatedly disaggregated into smaller 4 to 5S subunits with no enzymatic activity. Disruption of many particles could be prevented and polymerase activity retained after these particles had bound different single-stranded (ss) RNAs. Our previous results indicated that there was heterogeneity among the 13 to 19S particles in that possession of poly(C)-dependent RNA polymerase activity was a property of only some. Support for this heterogeneity was derived from the demonstration in this report that there were at least three types of binding sites present within particles in any purified preparation: (i) those binding only poly(C); (ii) those binding only reovirus ss RNAs; and (iii) those binding one or the other, but not both at the same time. It is suggested that only those particles able to bind either poly(C) or reovirus ss RNAs had poly(C)-dependent RNA polymerase activity, as reovirus ss RNAs markedly inhibited the polymerase activity. All three size classes of reovirus ss RNAs were equally effective in binding, but once bound, they were not copied. It is possible that heterogeneity in binding capacity of different particles comprised of only one protein, sigma NS, could result from the ability of subunits containing this protein to assemble into slightly different 13 to 19S particles with specificity of binding or polymerase activity conferred by the configuration of the assembled particles. The high capacity of sigma NS to bind many different nucleic acids with some specificity suggests that these particles may act during infection as condensing agents to bring together 10 reovirus ss RNA templates in preparation for double-stranded RNA synthesis.     

Retrovirus Glycoprotein Functionality Requires Proper Alignment of the Ectodomain and the Membrane-Proximal Cytoplasmic Tail

Nonnative viral glycoproteins, including Friend murine leukemia virus envelope (F-MLV Env) are actively recruited to HIV-1 assembly sites by an unknown mechanism. Because interactions with the lipid microenvironment at budding sites could contribute to recruitment, we examined the contribution of the hydrophobicity of the F-MLV Env membrane-spanning domain (MSD) to its incorporation into HIV-1 particles. A series of F-MLV Env mutants that added or deleted one, two, or three leucines in the MSD were constructed. All six mutants retained the ability to be incorporated into HIV-1 particles, but the −1L, −2L, −3L, +1L, and +2L mutants were not capable of producing infectious particles. Surprisingly, the +3L Env glycoprotein was able to produce infectious particles and was constitutively fusogenic. However, when the cytoplasmic tail domains (CTDs) in the Env constructs were deleted, all six of the MSD mutants were able to produce infectious particles. Further mutational analyses revealed that the first 10 amino acids of the CTD is a critical regulator of infectivity. A similar phenotype was observed in HIV-1 Env upon addition of leucines in the MSD, with +1 and +2 leucine mutations greatly reducing Env activity, but +3 leucine mutations behaving similar to the wild type. Unlike F-MLV Env (+1L and +2L), HIV-1 Env (+1L and +2L) infectivity was not restored by deletion of the CTD. We hypothesize that the CTD forms a coiled-coil that disrupts the protein''s functionality if it is not in phase with the trimer interface of the ectodomain.     

Formation of phenol-protein complexes and their use by two stream invertebrates

Ethanol and water extracts of maple leaves and pine needles were analyzed for proteins, amino acids, sugars and phenolics. Leachates were mixed with a dissolved fungal cellulase. Within 24 h, insoluble particles formed, consisting of phenolics, proteins and amino acids. When exposed to an alkaline pH, or to a 0.04% solution of the surfactant lysolecithin, these particles released amino acids and proteins. Surface tensions of the gut fluids of Gammarus tigrinus and Tipula caloptera were considerably lower than that of distilled water, suggesting the presence of surfactants. Gut fluid of T. caloptera contained enzymes capable of digesting the proteins of particles formed with maple water extracts. The other particles did not appear susceptible to these enzymes. There was no evidence that G. tigrinus was able to digest the proteins of any of the particles examined.     

Small-form hepatitis B surface antigen is sufficient to help in the assembly of hepatitis delta virus-like particles.

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) has an envelope composed of large-, middle-, and small-form hepatitis B surface antigens (HBsAgs) provided by the helper hepatitis B virus (HBV). In order to examine the roles of individual HBsAgs in HDV assembly, we constructed plasmids containing each specific HBsAg gene and then cotransfected each plasmid with HDV cDNA into a permissive human hepatoma cell line (HuH-7) to examine the effects on HDV production. Results indicated that the plasmids containing only the HBsAg genes were able to complement HDV cDNA as efficiently as the plasmid containing the complete HBV genome in generating HDV-like particles. Moreover, the small-form HBsAg alone was sufficient for HDV packaging. The particles produced from the cotransfection experiments have density and protein composition characteristics similar to those of naturally occurring HDV. With the electron microscope, they were identified as 36- to 38-nm-diameter particles. It was concluded that only the HBsAgs were able to help in the assembly of HDV-like particles.     

In vitro effect of chitin particles on the innate cellular immune system of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.)

The interaction between chitin particles and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) head-kidney leucocytes, as well as their effects on the main innate cellular immune responses were studied. Three different chitin particle-sizes were tested: unfiltered, <10 microM and >10 microM. Leucocytes were able to phagocytose only the chitin particles of <10 microM but not the >10 microM ones. Leucocytes were incubated with different concentrations (0 to 1000 microg ml(-1)) of the above chitin particles for 1, 4, 24 or 48 h and their effects on leucocyte viability and the innate cellular immune system were evaluated. Leucocytes incubated with chitin for 48 h maintained their viability as determined by the MTT viability test. Leucocyte phagocytosis of bacteria after chitin incubation for 1 or 4 h was enhanced by the highest chitin concentration tested of each of the chitin fractions studied, while the respiratory burst activity was unaffected. As regards leucocyte natural cytotoxic activity against tumour cells, prior incubation of leucocytes with chitin particles for 1 or 4 h increased while incubation for 24 or 48 h reduced the cytotoxic activity in a dose dependent manner. Statistically significant differences between the different chitin concentrations and between the three chitin particle-size fractions were detected. To conclude, gilthead seabream head-kidney leucocytes were able to phagocytose chitin particles smaller than 10 microM, and the main cellular innate immune activities were enhanced as a consequence of prior incubation with chitin particles.     

Subpollen particle release from different species of the invasive allergenic genus Ambrosia: the effect of rainwater composition and wind speed

Aerobiologia - Allergen-containing subpollen particles (SPPs) are micrometric or sub-micrometric particles (0.12–5&nbsp;µm) released from pollen. They are able to reach the lower...     

Cholesterol efflux from cultured adipose cells is mediated by LpAI particles but not by LpAI:AII particles

Cholesterol efflux was studied in cultured adipose cells after preloading with LDL cholesterol. Long-term exposure to LpAI and LpAI:AII particles isolated from the HDL fraction showed that LpAI particles only were able to promote cholesterol efflux. Liposomes containing different ApoAI/ApoAII molar ratios were tested: the larger the proportion of ApoAI, the faster the ability to remove cholesterol from Ob1771 cells. Dose-response curves showed that LpAI particles were active within a physiological range of concentrations, whereas LpAI:AII particles had no effect at all concentrations. The results are in favour of LpAI particles being the active components of the HDL fraction for the promotion of cholesterol efflux and suggest that LpAI particles and LpAI:AII particles represent distinct metabolic entities.     

Evidence for particle-induced horizontal gene transfer and serial transduction between bacteria

Incubation of the amino acid-deficient strain Escherichia coli AB1157 with particles harvested from an oligotrophic environment revealed evidence of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) with restoration of all deficiencies in revertant cells with frequencies up to 1.94 × 10(-5). None of the markers were preferentially transferred, indicating that the DNA transfer is performed by generalized transduction. The highest gene transfer frequencies were obtained for single markers, with values up to 1.04 × 10(-2). All revertants were able to produce particles of comparable size, appearing at the beginning of the stationary phase. Examination of the revertants using electron microscopy showed bud-like structures with electron-dense bodies. The particles that display the structural features of membrane vesicles were again infectious to E. coli AB1157, producing new infectious particles able to transduce genetic information, a phenomenon termed serial transduction. Thus, the <0.2-μm particle fraction from seawater contains a particle size fraction with high potential for gene transfer. Biased sinusoidal field gel electrophoresis indicated a DNA content for the particles of 370 kbp, which was higher than that of known membrane vesicles. These findings provide evidence of a new method of HGT, in which mobilizable DNA is trafficked from donor to recipient cells via particles.     

Chemicals in diesel exhaust particles generate reactive oxygen radicals and induce apoptosis in macrophages.

There is increasing evidence that particulate air pollutants, such as diesel exhaust particles (DEP), potentiate chronic inflammatory processes as well as acute symptomatic responses in the respiratory tract. The mechanisms of action as well as the cellular targets for DEP remain to be elucidated. We show in this paper that the phagocytosis of DEP by primary alveolar macrophages or macrophage cell lines, RAW 264.7 and THP-1, leads to the induction of apoptosis through generation of reactive oxygen radicals (ROR). This oxidative stress initiates two caspase cascades and a series of cellular events, including loss of surface membrane asymmetry and DNA damage. The apoptotic effect on macrophages is cell specific, because DEP did not induce similar effects in nonphagocytic cells. DEP that had their organic constituents extracted were no longer able to induce apoptosis or generate ROR. The organic extracts were, however, able to induce apoptosis. DEP chemicals also induced the activation of stress-activated protein kinases, which play a role in cellular apoptotic pathways. The injurious effects of native particles or DEP extracts on macrophages could be reversed by the antioxidant, N-acetyl-cysteine. Taken together, these data suggest that organic compounds contained in DEP may exert acute toxic effects via the generation of ROR in macrophages.