The polysaccharides of mango seeds (mangifera indica,var. bullock's heart)

Mangoes (Mangifera indica) are grown in many warm regions of the world; for example, in Australia, Brazil, India, South America, and the United States (California and Florida), and along the shores of the Mediterranean sea (Egypt, Italy, and Spain). In Egypt, many varieties yielding delicious fruits are grown in large quantities (50,000 tons annually). Mango kernels are used for feeding mammals and chickens. Starch has been isolated from mango and its physical properties studied.The aim of the present work was to study the polysaccharides present in mango kernels.     

Acanthocephala from lake fishes in Wisconsin: ecology and host relationships of Pomphorhynchus bulbocolli (Pomphorhynchidae)

Pomphorhynchus bulbocolli Linkins in Van Cleave, 1919, was considerably more common in fishes of the river-connected Tichigan Lake than of the landlocked Silver Lake, southeastern Wisconsin. It is reported from 17 species of principal, accessory, and occasional definitive hosts (new record in Moxostoma carinatum) and from 13 species of paratenic hosts (new records in Amia calva, Ictalurus punctatus, Lepomis cyanellus, and Pomoxis nigromaculatus). Infection patterns were influenced by fish species, feeding behavior, temperature, availability of intermediate host, type of water body, fish movement, and changes in fish host community. Host roles are not fixed but are often interchangeable. A seasonal cycle in prevalence, intensity, and maturation was evident, with greatest abundance and maturation during summer and recruitment during summer and autumn. Recruitment of new infections, development, and release of eggs, however, occurred all year. Sex ratio changed from near equal in new infections to one more highly in favor of females in older adults. Female fish were considerably more frequently and heavily infected than males. No relationship with fish age (size) was evident. Worms were mostly attached in posterior intestinal locations but initial establishment sites correlated with temperature. Translocation of P. bulbocolli due to competitive exclusion in concurrent infections was not observed. The significance of extraintestinal larval forms in the cycle of transmission was noted.     

Isolation of portulaca oleracea (regla) mucilage and identification of its structure

Portulaca oleracea leaves were found to contain 0.42% of a mucilage mixture. The mucilage was fractionated into an acidic and a neutral fraction. The acidic fraction consists of galacturonic acid residues joined by α-(1→4)-linkages; 60% of these residues are present as the calcium salt, and esterified galacturonic acid residues are absent. The neutral fraction is composed of 41% of arabinose and 43% of galactose residues, besides traces of rhamnose residues.     

Polar arrest of the simian virus 40 tumor antigen-mediated replication fork movement in vitro by the tus protein-terB complex of Escherichia coli.

The effect of the tus protein-terB sequence complex of Escherichia coli on the movement of the SV40 large tumor antigen (T antigen)-mediated replication fork during SV40 DNA replication in vitro has been examined. In the monopolymerase and dipolymerase systems, the tus protein-terB complex efficiently blocked the replication fork movement in a polar fashion, as observed in prokaryotic replication systems. With crude cytosolic extracts of HeLa cells, the same polarity of fork arrest was observed, but the block of replication fork movement was inefficient. These results indicate that the structure of the prokaryotic tus protein-terB complex allows it to block replication fork movement in an orientation-dependent manner. We also show that the tus protein-terB complex blocks the 3'----5' helicase action of T antigen in a polar fashion, using substrates comprised of single-stranded M13 DNA with either a 52-base pair (bp) or 29-bp duplex containing the terB sequence. The tus protein-terB complex formed on the 52-bp duplex was less effective than the complex formed on the 29-bp duplex in blocking the helicase action of T antigen. With the 52-bp duplex substrate, T antigen movement was only partially (30%) blocked by the tus protein-terB sequence complex in the active orientation, whereas the E. coli dnaB helicase moving 5'----3' was blocked more than 90% by the complex in the active orientation. However, with the shorter 29-bp duplex substrate, the complex blocked the T antigen helicase activity about 75%, whereas the dnaB helicase activity was completely blocked. Altogether, these results suggest that the T antigen helicase activity, when coupled to DNA replication, is more susceptible to arrest by the tus protein-terB complex than the T antigen functioning as a helicase alone.     

Conversion of sugar-beet particles to ethanol by the bacteriumZymomonas mobilis in solid-state fermentation

Summary The possibility of usingZymomonas mobilis as the microorganism, in solid-state fermentation of sugar-beet particles was investigated. The major factors affecting the process were investigated and related to ethanol yield and productivity. Ethanol yield of 0.48 g/g sugar, volumetric productivity of 12 g/L h, and final ethanol concentration of 130 g/L show the good performance ofZ.mobilis in a solid-state fermentation.     

Involvement of gicerin, a cell adhesion molecule, in development and regeneration of oviduct and metastasis of oviductal adenocarcinomas of the chicken

Gicerin is a novel cell adhesion molecule in the immunoglobulin superfamily and has both homophilic adhesion and heterophilic adhesive activity to neurite outgrowth factor (NOF), an extracellular matrix protein in the laminin family. We investigated the possible involvement of gicerin in oviductal development, regeneration, and metastasis of oviductal adenocarcinomas of the chicken. In the oviductal epithelium, gicerin was expressed strongly during development, disappeared after maturation, and reappeared during regeneration. NOF was constitutively expressed in the basement membrane of the epithelium. These molecules were expressed strongly in oviductal adenocarcinomas in both primary and metastatic lesions in the mesentery. An anti-gicerin antibody inhibited the attachment of adenocarcinoma cells to the mesentery in vitro. Many cells migrated from adenocarcinoma tissues on NOF, which were inhibited by an anti-gicerin antibody. These results suggest that gicerin might play a role in oviductal development and regeneration and also in the metastasis of adenocarcinomas.