Nestmate recognition by guards of the Asian hive bee <Emphasis Type="Italic">Apis cerana</Emphasis>

When a honey bee colony becomes queenless and broodless its only reproductive option is for some of its workers to produce sons before the colony perishes. However, for this to be possible the policing of worker-laid eggs must be curtailed and this provides the opportunity for queenless colonies to be reproductively parasitized by workers from other nests. Such reproductive parasitism is known to occur in Apis florea and A. cerana. Microsatellite analyses of worker samples have demonstrated that the proportion of non-natal workers present in an A. cerana colony declines after a colony is made queenless. This observation suggests that queenless A. cerana colonies may be more vigilant in repelling potentially parasitic non-natal workers than queenright colonies. We compared rates of nestmate and non-nestmate acceptance in both queenright and queenless A. cerana colonies using standard assays and showed that there is no statistical difference between the proportion of non-nestmate workers that are rejected in queenless and queenright colonies. We also show that, contrary to earlier reports, A. cerana guards are able to discriminate nestmate workers from non-nestmates, and that they reject significantly more non-nestmate workers than nestmate workers. Received 25 February 2008; revised 21 May 2008; accepted 25 June 2008.     

PAMP-triggered immunity: Early events in the activation of FLAGELLIN SENSITIVE2

The Arabidopsis FLAGELLIN SENSITIVE2 (FLS2) protein is a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK) that plays important roles in pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity (PTI). The binding of bacterial flagellin, one of the PAMPs, to the extracellular domain of FLS2 leads to activation of signaling cascades resulting in activation or repression of a specific set of genes involved in plant defense. The mechanisms at the cell membrane that lead to the activation of this signalling pathway are, however, not fully understood. Recently, we have shown that after ligand-treatment the mobility of FLS2 in the cell membrane is reduced and that the activation of FLS2 does not involve its constitutive or ligand-dependent homodimerization. Our data together with recently published reports suggest that FLS2 activation involves its association with other proteins, including BRI1-associated kinase 1 (BAK1), another LRR-RLK, and localization to less mobile areas, probably lipid rafts, in a ligand-dependent manner to initiate PTI.Key words: PTI, BiFC, flg22, FLS2, FRAP, FRET, membrane protein, RLK     

Molecular Asymmetry in Pigeonpea Urease: pH Inactivation Studies

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) urease was inactivated by incubating it in buffer of low pHs i.e., 4.8 and 4.5. The pattern of inactivation at both pHs was found to be biphasic, in which half of the activity was destroyed more rapidly than the remaining half. This distribution of active site into two categories is suggestive of site-site heterogeneity, or more specifically, the half-site reactivity of the enzyme moiety. Our pH studies on the rate of reaction showed the presence of two ionizable groups of pK _a values 6.2 ± 0.1 and 8.8 ± 0.1, respectively (Srivastava PK & Kayastha AM, J Mol Catal B: Enz, 16 (2001) 81-89). The later group corresponds to the pK _a value of cysteine group. Here we correlate the loss of urease activity by low pH treatment is due to the effect on essential thiol residues.     

Simple and stereospecific homologation of urethane-protected alpha-amino acids to their higher homologs using HBTU.

A simple, efficient and stereospecific approach for the homologation of urethane-protected alpha-amino acids to beta-amino acids by the Arndt-Eistert method employing Fmoc-/Boc-alpha-amino acid and 2-(1H-benzotriazole-1-yl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyl-uronium hexafluorophosphate mixture for the acylation of diazomethane synthesizing the key intermediates Fmoc-/Boc-alpha-aminodiazomethanes as crystalline solids is described.     

Preparation and properties of starch acetate fibers for potential tissue engineering applications

This article reports the development of fibers from starch acetates that have mechanical properties and water stability better than most polysaccharide‐based biomaterials and protein fibers used in tissue engineering. In this research, starch acetates with three different degrees of substitution (DS) have been used to develop fibers for potential use as tissue engineering scaffolds. Varying the DS of starch acetate will provide fibers with different mechanical properties, hydrophilicity, and degradation behavior. Fibers made from DS 2.3 and 2.8 starch acetates have mechanical properties and water stability required for tissue engineering applications. The starch acetate fibers support the adhesion of fibroblasts demonstrating that the fibers would be suitable for tissue engineering and other medical applications. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009;103: 1016–1022. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

COI (cytochrome oxidase-I) sequence based studies of Carangid fishes from Kakinada coast,India

Mitochondrial DNA, cytochrome oxidase-1 gene sequences were analyzed for species identification and phylogenetic relationship among the very high food value and commercially important Indian carangid fish species. Sequence analysis of COI gene very clearly indicated that all the 28 fish species fell into five distinct groups, which are genetically distant from each other and exhibited identical phylogenetic reservation. All the COI gene sequences from 28 fishes provide sufficient phylogenetic information and evolutionary relationship to distinguish the carangid species unambiguously. This study proves the utility of mtDNA COI gene sequence based approach in identifying fish species at a faster pace.     

Chimeric gene construct coding for bi-functional enzyme endowed with endoglucanase and phytase activities

Phytase and endoglucanase enzymes are being widely used as feed additives in poultry industry. In our earlier studies, the Bacillus phytase, when expressed in Escherichia coli, was found in inclusion bodies, whereas endoglucanase was found in active soluble form. Herein, we report the development of a chimeric gene construct coding for ~73 kDa fusion protein and its over-expression in E. coli in soluble form. The novel enzyme exhibited both endoglucanase and phytase activities across broad pH (4.0–8.0) and temperature (25–75°C) ranges. As such, the bi-functional enzyme seems promising and might serve as a potential feed additive for enhanced nutrition uptake in monogastric animals.     

A locus for autosomal dominant reflex epilepsy precipitated by hot water maps at chromosome 10q21.3-q22.3

Hot water epilepsy (HWE) is a form of reflex or sensory epilepsy wherein seizures are precipitated by an unusual stimulus, the contact of hot water over the head and body. Genome-wide linkage analysis of a large family with ten affected members, provided evidence of linkage (Z _max = 3.17 at θ = 0 for D10S412) to chromosome 10q21. Analysis of five additional HWE families, for markers on chromosome 10, further strengthened the evidence of linkage to the same chromosomal region with three out of five families showing concordance for the disease haplotype and providing a two-point LOD score of 4.86 at θ = 0 and 60% penetrance for D10S412. The centromere-proximal and -distal boundaries of the critical genetic interval of about 15 Mb at 10q21.3-q22.3 were defined by D10S581 and D10S201, respectively. Sequence analysis of a group of functional candidate genes, the ion channels KCNMA1, VDAC2 and solute carriers SLC25A16, SLC29A3 revealed no potentially pathogenic mutation. We propose to carry out further analysis of positional candidate genes from this region to identify the gene responsible for this unusual neurobehavioral phenotype.