Chloroplast signaling: retrograde regulation revelations

Developing chloroplasts are able to communicate their status to the nucleus and regulate expression of genes whose products are needed for photosynthesis. Heme is revealed to be a signaling molecule for this retrograde communication.     

Can collective memories shape fish distributions? A test,linking space‐time occurrence models and population demographics

Social learning can be fundamental to cohesive group living, and schooling fishes have proven ideal test subjects for recent work in this field. For many species, both demographic factors, and inter‐ (and intra‐) generational information exchange are considered vital ingredients in how movement decisions are reached. Yet key information is often missing on the spatial outcomes of such decisions, and questions concerning how migratory traditions are influenced by collective memory, density‐dependent and density‐independent processes remain open. To explore these issues, we focused on Atlantic herring Clupea harengus, a long‐lived, dense‐schooling species of high commercial importance, noted for its unpredictable shifts in winter distribution, and developed a series of Bayesian space‐time occurrence models to investigate wintering dynamics over 23 yr, using point‐referenced fishery and survey records from Icelandic waters. We included covariates reflecting local‐scale environmental factors, temporally‐lagged prey biomass and recent fishing activity, and through an index capturing distributional persistence over time, derived two proxies for spatial memory of past wintering sites. The previous winter's occurrence pattern was a strong predictor of the present pattern, its influence increasing with adult population size. Although the mechanistic underpinnings of this result remain uncertain, we suggest that a ‘wisdom of the crowd’ dynamic may be at play, by which navigational accuracy towards traditional wintering sites improves in larger and/or denser, better synchronized schools. Wintering herring also preferred warmer, fresher, moderately stratified waters of lower velocity, close to hotspots of summer zooplankton biomass, our results indicative of heightened environmental sensitivity in younger cohorts. Incorporating spatiotemporal correlation structure and time‐varying regression coefficients improved model performance, and validation tests on independent observations one‐year ahead illustrate the potential of uniting demographic information and non‐stationary models to quantify both the strength of collective memory in animal groups and its relevance for the spatial management of populations.     

Complex between Peptostreptococcus magnus protein L and a human antibody reveals structural convergence in the interaction modes of Fab binding proteins

BACKGROUND: Peptostreptococcus magnus protein L (PpL) is a multidomain, bacterial surface protein whose presence correlates with virulence. It consists of up to five homologous immunoglobulin binding domains that interact with the variable (VL) regions of kappa light chains found on two thirds of mammalian antibodies. RESULTS: We refined the crystal structure of the complex between a human antibody Fab fragment (2A2) and a single PpL domain (61 residues) to 2.7 A. The asymmetric unit contains two Fab molecules sandwiching a single PpL domain, which contacts similar VL framework regions of two light chains via independent interfaces. The residues contacted on VL are remote from the hypervariable loops. One PpL-Vkappa interface agrees with previous biochemical data, while the second is novel. Site-directed mutagenesis and analytical-centrifugation studies suggest that the two PpL binding sites have markedly different affinities for VL. The PpL residues in both interactions are well conserved among different Peptostreptococcus magnus strains. The Fab contact positions identified in the complex explain the high specificity of PpL for antibodies with kappa rather than lambda chains. CONCLUSIONS: The PpL-Fab complex shows the first interaction of a bacterial virulence factor with a Fab light chain outside the conventional combining site. Structural comparison with two other bacterial proteins interacting with the Fab heavy chain shows that PpL, structurally homologous to streptococcal SpG domains, shares with the latter a similar binding mode. These two bacterial surface proteins interact with their respective immunoglobulin regions through a similar beta zipper interaction.     

Studies on the activity of three palladium(II) compounds of the form: trans-PdL2Cl2 where L=2-hydroxypyridine, 3-hydroxypyridine, and 4-hydroxypyridine

Three planaraminepalladium(II) complexes of the form: trans-PdCl(2)L(2), code named TH5, TH6 and TH7 where L=3-hydroxypyridine, 2-hydroxypyridine and 4-hydroxypyridine respectively have been investigated for antitumour activity against ovarian cancer cell lines: A2780, A2780(cisR) and A2780(ZD0473R). Although the compounds are generally found to be less active than cisplatin, they are often found to be more active against the resistant cell lines than the parent cell line. Among TH5, TH6 and TH7, TH6 which has two 2-hydroxypyridine non-labile ligands is found to be most active against the three cell lines. Variations in activity of TH5, TH6 and TH7 indicate that non-covalent interactions may be playing a significant role in activity. In particular, the results indicate that small changes in planaramine ligands such as the position of the polar OH group can have a more profound effect on activity of the compounds. Palladium compounds are generally found to be toxic rather tumour active because of much higher reactivity. Low but significant activity of trans-palladium(II) complexes TH5, TH6 and TH7 against the ovarian cancer cell lines indicates that it is believed to be associated with the decrease in their reactivity due to the presence of two sterically hindered planaramine ligands.     

Recent applications of NMR spectroscopy in plant metabolomics

Recent research has established NMR as a key method for high-throughput comparative analysis of plant extracts. We discuss recent examples of the use of NMR to provide metabolomic data for various applications in plant science and look forward to the key role that NMR will play in data provision for plant systems biology.     

Psychological effects of chronic exposure to 50 Hz magnetic fields in humans living near extra-high-voltage transmission lines

The validity of several published investigations of the possibility that residential exposures to 50 Hz or 60 Hz electromagnetic fields might cause adverse psychological effects, such as suicide and depression, may have been limited by inadequate controlling for confounders or inadequate measurement of exposures. We investigated the relationships between magnetic field exposure and psychological and mental health variables while controlling for potential confounders and careful characterising individual magnetic field exposures. Five-hundred-and-forty adults living near transmission lines completed neuropsychological tests in major domains of memory and attentional functioning, mental health rating scales and other questionnaires. Magnetic field measurements were taken in each room occupied for at least one hour per day to provide an estimate of total-time-integrated exposure. The data were subjected to joint multivariate multiple regression analysis to test for a linear relation between field exposure and dependent variables, while controlling for effects of possible confounders. Performance on most memory and attention measures was unrelated to exposure, but significant linear dose-response relationships were found between exposure and some psychological and mental health variables. In particular, higher time-integrated exposure was associated with poorer coding-test performance and more adverse psychiatric symptomatology. These associations were found to be independent of participants' beliefs about effects of electromagnetic fields. Bioelectromagnetics 18:584–594, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

PSP94融合蛋白在大肠杆菌中的表达及其抗前列腺癌活性分析

在从成年人正常前列腺组织中获得人９４个氨基酸的前列腺分泌蛋白（ＰＳＰ９４）ｃＤＮＡ基础上,利用ＰＬ表达系统,实现了人ＰＳＰ９４成熟肽Ｎ 末端带有１９个外源氨基酸的融合蛋白在大肠杆菌中的表达。目的蛋白在细胞中主要以包涵体形式存在,表达量约占菌体总蛋白的３０％,分子量约为１６－５ｋＤ。表达产物在人前列腺癌细胞ＰＣ ３上活性分析表明,该融合蛋白能明显抑制前列腺癌细胞的生长。     

The influence of autologous cell interactions on spontaneous and pokeweed mitogen-induced immunoglobulin production

Both helper- and suppressor-T-cell activities are generated in the autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction and in pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-stimulated cultures. The addition of low numbers of irradiated non-T cells enhance while high numbers suppress spontaneous and PWM-stimulated IgG synthesis by autologous cells. Monocytes are the principal inducers of suppression and exert their influence within the first 24 hr of culture. Suppression in association with PWM stimulation is nonspecific in nature, T-cell mediated, partially radiosensitive, and resistant to hydrocortisone. Neither indomethacin nor dibutyryl cyclic AMP reverses monocyte-related suppression. These findings suggest that the outcome of in vitro Ig synthesis assays is critically dependent upon monocyte-T-cell interaction.     

Differences in fragmentation between bound and unbound bovine secretory component suggest a model for its interaction with polymeric immunoglobulin.

Unbound bovine secretory component was cleaved into two-domain and one-domain fragments by trypsin within 1 h. Bovine secretory component covalently bound to bovine IgA dimer, as in secretory IgA, was much more resistant to fragmentation, which did not proceed beyond the three-domain stage even after 5 h. Bovine secretory component non-covalently bound to bovine IgM or to human IgM or IgA polymer was also relatively resistant to fragmentation, which again was largely arrested at the three-domain stage. A model for the binding of secretory component to polymeric immunoglobulin is proposed.