The rumen: a unique source of enzymes for enhancing livestock production

Increasing competition in the livestock industry has forced producers to cut costs by adopting new technologies aimed at increasing production efficiency. One particularly promising technology is feeding enzymes as supplements for animal diets. Supplementation of diets for non-ruminants (e.g., swine and poultry) with fibrolytic enzymes, such as cellulases, xylanases and beta-glucanases, increases the feed conversion efficiency and growth rate of the animals. Enzymatic hydrolysis of plant cell wall polymers (e.g., cellulose, xylan, beta-glucans) releases glucose and xylose and eliminates the antinutritional effects of beta-glucans and arabinoxylans. Enzyme supplementation of diets for ruminants has also been shown to improve growth performance, even though the rumen itself represents the most potent fibrolytic fermentation system known. Implementation of this technology in the livestock industry has been limited largely because of the cost of development and production of enzymes. Over the last decade, however, developments in recombinant DNA technology have increased the efficiency of existing microbial production systems and facilitated exploitation of alternative sources of industrial enzymes. The ruminal ecosystem is among the novel enzyme sources currently being explored. Understanding the role of enzymes in feed digestion through characterization of the enzymology and genetics involved in digestion of feedstuffs by ruminants will provide insight required to improve the products currently available to producers. Characterization of genes encoding a variety of hydrolytic enzymes, such as cellulases, xylanases, beta-glucanases, amylases, pectinases, proteases, phytases and tannases, will foster the development of more efficacious enzyme supplements and enzyme expression systems for enhancing nutrient utilization by domestic animals. Characteristics of the original source organism need no longer restrict the production of a useful enzyme. Recent reports of transgenic plants expressing fibrolytic or phytase activity and of transgenic mice able to produce endoglucanase in the pancreas speak to the feasibility of improving feed digestion through genetic modification of the feedstuffs and the animals.     

稀有鮈鲫──一种新的鱼类毒性试验材料

本文研究了稀有鲫（Ｇｏｂｉｏｃｙｐｒｉｓｒａｒｕｓ）作为毒性试验材料的可行性。采用换水式试验,在硬度为２００ｍｇ／Ｌ（以ＣａＣＯ３计）、ｐＨ７．８±０．２、温度２４－２５℃条件下研究了铬、铜、锌和五氯酚（ＰＣＰ）对稀有鲫的急性毒性。重铬酸钾对２日龄稀有鲫的２４ｈ和９６ｈ和ＬＣ５０控制范围分别２６３．６－３３４．７和１１５３－１７８．５ｍｇ／Ｌ（ｎ＝８）。铬、铜、锌和五氯酚对２日龄稀有鲫的急性毒性值（９６ｈＬＣ５０）范围,从铜的５２．２μｇ／Ｌ到铬的５２０００μｇ／Ｌ,毒性大小的顺序是铜＞五氯酚＞锌＞铬。研究结果表明,稀有鲫有可能发展成为一种较为理想的毒性试验材料。     

Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Selectively Increases AMPA-Receptor Subunit GluR1 Protein Level and Differentially Modulates Ca2+ Responses to AMPA and NMDA in Hippocampal Neurons

Abstract: The excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate is believed to play important roles in development, synaptic plasticity, and neurodegenerative conditions. Recent studies have shown that neurotrophic factors can modulate neuronal excitability and survival and neurite outgrowth responses to glutamate, but the mechanisms are unknown. The present study tested the hypothesis that neurotrophic factors modulate responses to glutamate by affecting the expression of specific glutamate-receptor proteins. Exposure of cultured embryonic rat hippocampal cells to basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) resulted in a concentration-dependent increase in levels of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate (AMPA)-receptor subunit GluR1 protein as determined by western blot, dot-blot, and immunocytochemical analyses. In contrast, bFGF did not alter levels of GluP2/3, GluR4, or the NMDA-receptor subunit NR1. Nerve growth factor did not affect GluR1 levels. Calcium-imaging studies revealed that elevation of [Ca²⁺]_i, resulting from selective AMPA-receptor activation, was enhanced in bFGF-pretreated neurons. On the other hand, [Ca²⁺]_i responses to NMDA-receptor activation were suppressed in bFGF-treated neurons, consistent with previous studies showing that bFGF can protect neurons against NMDA toxicity. Moreover, neurons pretreated with bFGF were relatively resistant to the toxicities of glutamate and AMPA, both of which were shown to be mediated by NMDA receptors. These data suggest that differential regulation of the expression of specific glutamate-receptor subunits may be an important mechanism whereby neurotrophic factors modulate activity-dependent neuronal plasticity and vulnerability to excitotoxicity.     

Large scale purification of myo-inositol monophosphate phosphatase from porcine brains

myo-Inositol monophosphate phosphatase (IMPase) has been purified 888-fold to apparent homogeneity from procine brains. The purification procedure involves: homogenization, ammonium sulfate fractionation, and a number of ion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography steps. The purified enzyme exhibited a final specific activity of 932 nmol . min(-1) . mg(-1). The molecular mass of the enzyme was estimated to be 29kDa by SDS poly-acrylamide gel electrophoresis and 58 +/- 5 kDa by HPLC gel filtration in 10mM Tris-HCI, pH 7.4. Kinetic measurements have shown that the apparent K(m) value of the phosphatase for the utilization of inositol-1-phosphate and beta-glycerol phosphate are 3.20 x 10(-4) and 8 x 10(-3) M, respectively. Similar to the same enzyme isolated from bovine brains, the porcine brain enzyme has been shown to be inhibited by lithium. The K(1) was determined to be 6.38 x 10(-4) M and the inhibition is uncompetitive. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Two independent type III secretion mechanisms for YopE in Yersinia enterocolitica

Pathogenic Yersinia species escape the infected host's defense mechanisms by targeting cytotoxic Yop proteins into the cytoplasm of macrophages via a type III secretion pathway. Two separate secretion signals contained in YopE were identified, each of which were sufficient but not necessary for the secretion of reporter molecules. One signal is located within the coding sequence of the first 15 amino acids and is sufficient for the secretion of fusion proteins but not required for YopE secretion. The second signal is located downstream at residues 15–100 of YopE and is only recognized by the type III machinery when it is bound to SycE. We propose the existence of two independent mechanisms that allow for the secretion of Yop proteins.     

Evidence for a major gene influencing 7-year increases in diastolic blood pressure with age.

The contribution of genetic factors to blood pressure levels is well established. The contribution of genes to the longitudinal change in blood pressure has been less well studied, because of the lack of longitudinal family data. The present study investigated a possible major-gene effect on the observed increase with age in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) levels. Subjects included 965 unmedicated adults (age > or = 18 years) in 73 pedigrees collected in Utah as part of a longitudinal cardiovascular family study. Segregation analysis of DBP change over 7.2 years of follow-up identified a recessive major-gene effect with a gene frequency of p = .23. There was also a significant age effect on the genotypic means, which decreased expression of the major gene at older ages. For those inferred to have the genotype responsible for large DBP increases, DBP increased 32.3%, compared with a 1.5% increase in the nonsusceptible group (P < .0001). The relative risk of developing hypertension between the susceptible and nonsusceptible groups after 7.2 years was 2.4 (P = .006). Baseline DBP reactivities to mental arithmetic (P < .0001), and isometric handgrip (P < .0001) stress tests were greatest in those assigned to the susceptible genotype. We conclude that age-related changes in DBP are influenced by a major gene. Characteristics of this major-gene effect for greater age-related blood pressure increases include greater reactivity to mental and physical stressors. The present study thus provides evidence for genetic control of changes in blood pressure, in addition to the previously suggested genetic control of absolute blood pressure level.     

锦橙汁囊的超微结构

用常规电镜方法观察了锦橙［Ｃｉｔｒｕｓｓｉｎｅｎｓｉｓ （Ｌ．） Ｏｓｂ．］汁囊从原始细胞到发育为一个具柄的成熟汁囊的过程中,汁囊构成细胞超微结构的变化。锦橙汁囊原始细胞及发育为球状体时的构成细胞以及柱状结构顶端的细胞都是一种典型的分生组织细胞。在细胞质中有包括线粒体、质体、内质网、核糖体等丰富的细胞器,但没有观察到高尔基体。这些分生细胞分裂一段时期后就停止活动,逐渐分化为适应贮藏功能的液泡化薄壁细胞。分生细胞开始分化时,在细胞中出现许多小液泡和高尔基体。这些小液泡逐渐地融合,同时细胞质变少,最后形成一个有中央大液泡的薄壁细胞,在紧贴细胞膜的薄薄的一层细胞质中有线粒体、质体、高尔基体以及含有许多脂滴的杂色体。但成熟果实中汁囊的薄壁细胞中几乎没有任何细胞器。     

Mitotic karyotypes of Brassica campestris and Brassica alboglabra and identification of the B. alboglabra chromosome in an addition line.

A Brassica campestris-alboglabra monosomic addition line (genome: AA + one chromosome from the C genome, 2n = 21) harbours the Brassica alboglabra (CC, 2n = 18) chromosome with the gene for erucic acid. In order to identify this chromosome, we have studied the mitotic prometaphase chromosomes of Brassica campestris (AA, 2n = 20), B. alboglabra, and the monosomic addition line. More pronounced differential staining and size differences of chromosomes were observed in B. campestris than in B. alboglabra. The karyotype of B. campestris was composed of four median (m), four submedian (sm), and two subterminal (st) chromosome pairs, while that of B. alboglabra was composed of three m, four sm, and two st chromosome pairs, provided that the length of the satellite was excluded when determining the arm ratio of the nucleolar chromosome. The alien chromosome from the C genome in the addition line was easily identified in the background B. campestris genome by its large size, its submedian centromere, and its differential staining pattern. When compared with the karyotype of B. alboglabra, the alien chromosome from the C genome in the monosomic addition line was revealed to be chromosome 4.