Degradation of extracellular matrix proteins by hemorrhagic metalloproteinases

The proteolytic activity of four hemorrhagic metalloproteinases (Ht-a, c, d, and e) isolated from the venom of the Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) was investigated using isolated extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. We determined that all of the proteinases are capable of cleaving fibronectin, laminin, type IV collagen, nidogen (entactin), and gelatins. However, none of the proteinases were proteolytic against the interstitial collagen types I and III or type V collagen. With all of the substrates listed above Ht-c and Ht-d produced identical digestion patterns, as would be expected for these isoenzymes. With fibronectin, Ht-a produces a different ratio of products from Ht-c and Ht-d, while Ht-e produces a unique pattern of digestion. Ht-e and Ht-a produced nonidentical patterns with the laminin/nidogen preparation although some similarity was shared between them as well as with the Ht-c/d digestion pattern. Similar results were also observed for these proteinases with nidogen 150 as the substrate. The type IV collagen digestion patterns by Ht-e and Ht-a were similar to the pattern observed with Ht-c/d but differed by two bands. The digestion patterns of the three gelatins produced by the proteinases show differences between Ht-c and Ht-d when compared to Ht-e and Ht-a. This investigation clearly shows that several of the ECM proteins are efficiently digested by these toxins. The proteinases have some digestion sites in common but show differing specificities. In addition, the range of ECM proteins digested by these hemorrhagic proteinases is nearly identical to that demonstrated by the ECM proteinase stromelysin (MMP-3). From these data, and the knowledge of the roles these ECM proteins have in maintaining basement membrane structural/functional integrity, one can envision that the degradation of these ECM proteins could readily lead to loss of capillary integrity resulting in hemorrhage occurring at those sites.     

Effect of algal inoculation on the yield and vitamin C content of two varieties of tomato

Summary Two varieties of tomato (Pusa Rubi and Selection 120) positively responded to algal inoculation in terms of the yield of fruits and shoots, but there was no significant effect on the vitamin C content of the fruits. A combined application of urea and algae was more effective than the application of urea alone.     

A yeast's eye view of mammalian reproduction: cross-species gene co-expression in meiotic prophase

Background  

Meiotic prophase is a critical stage in sexual reproduction. Aberrant chromosome recombination during this stage is a leading cause of human miscarriages and birth defects. However, due to the experimental intractability of mammalian gonads, only a very limited number of meiotic genes have been characterized. Here we aim to identify novel meiotic genes important in human reproduction through computational mining of cross-species and cross-sex time-series expression data from budding yeast, mouse postnatal testis, mouse embryonic ovary, and human fetal ovary.     

Calculation of accurate small angle X-ray scattering curves from coarse-grained protein models

Background  

Genome sequencing projects have expanded the gap between the amount of known protein sequences and structures. The limitations of current high resolution structure determination methods make it unlikely that this gap will disappear in the near future. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is an established low resolution method for routinely determining the structure of proteins in solution. The purpose of this study is to develop a method for the efficient calculation of accurate SAXS curves from coarse-grained protein models. Such a method can for example be used to construct a likelihood function, which is paramount for structure determination based on statistical inference.     

Potentiation of the antagonistic effect of ACTH11-24 on steroidogenesis by synthesis of covalent dimeric conjugates

Covalent dimerization of the adrenocorticotropin fragment ACTH11-24 increases its antagonistic potency on the ACTH-induced steroidogenesis in isolated bovine fasciculata/reticularis cells by 3 orders of magnitude when the C-termini are linked via a 10 A long spacer. This strong potentiation, probably mediated by cross-linking of the receptors, was shown to be dependent on the point of attachment of the monomeric fragment to the spacer, thus providing information about the position of the binding site in the hormonal segment and about the distance of the receptors on the cell surface.     

The bias due to incomplete matching

Observational studies comparing groups of treated and control units are often used to estimate the effects caused by treatments. Matching is a method for sampling a large reservoir of potential controls to produce a control group of modest size that is ostensibly similar to the treated group. In practice, there is a trade-off between the desires to find matches for all treated units and to obtain matched treated-control pairs that are extremely similar to each other. We derive expressions for the bias in the average matched pair difference due to the failure to match all treated units--incomplete matching, and the failure to obtain exact matches--inexact matching. A practical example shows that the bias due to incomplete matching can be severe, and moreover, can be avoided entirely by using an appropriate multivariate nearest available matching algorithm, which, in the example, leaves only a small residual bias due to inexact matching.