Activity of long chain acyl-CoA synthetase in isolated alveolar type II cells

Fatty-acyl-CoA synthetase activity was determined in rat alveolar type II cells. Compared to whole-lung homogenate, the enzyme specific activity with palmitic acid was 3.6-fold higher in isolated type II alveolar cells. The enzyme in rat alveolar type II cells did not discriminate among various fatty acids, suggesting that supply of fatty acids rather than specificity might be an important factor for their activation in these cells.     

Enucleation of protoplasts derived from suspension cultures of winged bean and from a crown gall cell line ofParthenocissus tricuspidata

Protoplasts derived from suspension cultures of the winged bean and a crown gall lineof Parthenocissus tricuspidata were enucleated by centrifugation on iso-osmotic discontinuous Percoli gradients and on discontinuous sucrose-mannitol density gradients. Enucleation was achieved according to the buoyant density of the protoplasts and preparations of both cytoplasts and miniprotoplasts were recovered. The Percoll gradients gave more satisfactory results than the sucrose-mannitol gradients. Enucleation was increased by raising the centrifugal force from 20 kg to 60 kg. The presence of nuclei was determined by the DNA specific probe 4′6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). Membrane integrity, as measured by staining with fluorescein diacetate, showed that some 85 % of the cytoplasts were bounded by an intact plasma membrane.     

Dietary and nutritional aspects of fatty acid binding proteins

Information on cytosolic fatty acid binding proteins (FABP) related to dietary and pharmacological manipulations is discussed in terms of FABP function. FABP present in liver, heart, intestinal mucosa and omental fat responds to different diets. A parallel change occurs in tissue levels of FABP and metabolism of fatty acids. It seems FABP might play a role in lipid metabolism by interacting with membrane bound enzymes. The available data also support the argument in favor of FABP involvement in intracellular transport, compartmentalization and channeling of fatty acids.     

Fourfold paralogy regions on human HOX-bearing chromosomes: Role of ancient segmental duplications in the evolution of vertebrate genome

BackgroundSusumu Ohno’s idea that modern vertebrates are degenerate polyploids (concept referred as 2R hypothesis) has been the subject of intense debate for past four decades. It was proposed that intra-genomic synteny regions (paralogons) in human genome are remains of ancient polyploidization events that occurred early in the vertebrate history. The quadruplicated paralogon centered on human HOX clusters is taken as evidence that human HOX-bearing chromosomes were structured by two rounds of whole genome duplication (WGD) events.ResultsEvolutionary history of human HOX-bearing chromosomes (chromosomes 2/7/12/17) was evaluated by the phylogenetic analysis of multigene families with triplicated or quadruplicated distribution on these chromosomes. Topology comparison approach categorized the members of 44 families into four distinct co-duplicated groups. Distinct gene families belonging to a particular co-duplicated group, exhibit similar evolutionary history and hence have duplicated simultaneously, whereas genes of two distinct co-duplicated groups do not share their evolutionary history and have not duplicated in concert with each other.ConclusionThe recovery of co-duplicated groups suggests that “ancient segmental duplications and rearrangements” is the most rational model of evolutionary events that have generated the triplicated and quadruplicated paralogy regions seen on the human HOX-bearing chromosomes.     

Anthranilic acid-based Thumb Pocket 2 HCV NS5B polymerase inhibitors with sub-micromolar potency in the cell-based replicon assay

Optimization efforts on the anthranilic acid-based Thumb Pocket 2 HCV NS5B polymerase inhibitors 1 and 2 resulted in the identification of multiple structural elements that contributed to improved cell culture potency. The additive effect of these elements resulted in compound 46, an inhibitor with enzymatic (IC₅₀) and cell culture (EC₅₀) potencies of less than 100 nanomolar.     

Correlation between Li Plating Behavior and Surface Characteristics of Carbon Matrix toward Stable Li Metal Anodes

Carbonaceous materials are widely employed to host Li for stable and safe Li metal batteries while relatively little effort is devoted to tailoring the surface properties of carbon to facilitate uniform Li plating. Herein, the correlation between Li plating behavior and the surface characteristics of electrospun porous carbon nanofibers (PCNFs) is systemically elucidated through experiments and theoretical calculations. It is revealed that the neat carbon surface suffers from severe lattice mismatch with Li metal, hindering uniform Li plating. In contrast, open pores created on the PCNF surface serve as active sites for controlled initial nucleation of Li. The introduction of oxygenated functional groups further facilitates the nucleation of Li on PCNFs through the largely reduced nucleation energy barrier. The Li film uniformly deposited on PCNFs enables efficient use of the whole carbon surface, giving rise to enhanced cyclic stability of the electrode. When used as an anode in lithium–sulfur batteries, the modified electrode delivers an excellent energy density of 385 Wh kg^?1 after 100 cycles. The fundamental correlation established in this study is universal to all types of carbonaceous materials and sheds new light on the rational design of high‐performance Li metal anodes by controlling the initial Li nucleation.