Reporting of Quantitative Protein Electrophoresis in Australia and New Zealand: a Call for Standardisation

Background

The lack of guidelines on reporting standards for protein electrophoresis may have led to significant differences in reports from different laboratories.

Objective

To determine the extent of variation in reporting of protein electrophoresis results in Australia and New Zealand.

Method

Questionnaires were distributed to laboratories throughout Australia and New Zealand asking about protein electrophoresis practices and reporting.

Results

Extensive variation was found in the following reporting practices: (a) units for urine Bence Jones protein (BJP); (b) reporting absence of a paraprotein rather than a normal pattern; (c) numerical reporting of all protein fractions or only the paraprotein; (d) warning of possible inaccuracy in the serum immunoglobulin result of the paraprotein type; (e) co-migration of a paraprotein with a normal serum protein; (f) use of a confirmatory test when a known paraprotein is no longer detectable.

Conclusions

A working party should be established to make recommendations on the reporting of protein electrophoresis. Implementation of such recommendations should reduce both report variation between laboratories and the risk of misinterpretation of reports.     

Effects of an exotic invasive macrophyte (tropical signalgrass) on native plant community composition,species richness and functional diversity

1. The issue of freshwater species being threatened by invasion has become central in conservation biology because inland waters exhibit the highest species richness per unit area, but apparently have the highest extinctions rates on the planet. 2. In this article, we evaluated the effects of an exotic, invasive aquatic grass (Urochloa subquadripara– tropical signalgrass) on the diversity and assemblage composition of native macrophytes in four Neotropical water bodies (two reservoirs and two lakes). Species cover was assessed in quadrats, and plant biomass was measured in further quadrats, located in sites where tropical signalgrass dominated (D quadrats) and sites where it was not dominant or entirely absent (ND quadrats). The effects of tropical signalgrass on macrophyte species richness, Shannon diversity and number of macrophyte life forms (a surrogate of functional richness) were assessed through regressions, and composition was assessed with a DCA. The effects of tropical signalgrass biomass on the likelihood of occurrence of specific macrophyte life forms were assessed through logistic regression. 3. Tropical signalgrass had a negative effect on macrophyte richness and Shannon and functional diversity, and also influenced assemblage composition. Emergent, rooted with floating stems and rooted submersed species were negatively affected by tropical signalgrass, while the occurrence of free‐floating species was positively affected. 4. Our results suggest that competition with emergent species and reduction of underwater radiation, which reduces the number of submersed species, counteract facilitation of free‐floating species, contributing to a decrease in plant diversity. In addition, homogenisation of plant assemblages shows that tropical signalgrass reduces the beta diversity in the macrophyte community. 5. Although our results were obtained at fine spatial scales, they are cause for concern because macrophytes are an important part of freshwater diversity.     

Cytosolic pH is a second messenger for glucose and regulates the PKA pathway through V‐ATPase

Glucose is the preferred carbon source for most cell types and a major determinant of cell growth. In yeast and certain mammalian cells, glucose activates the cAMP‐dependent protein kinase A (PKA), but the mechanisms of PKA activation remain unknown. Here, we identify cytosolic pH as a second messenger for glucose that mediates activation of the PKA pathway in yeast. We find that cytosolic pH is rapidly and reversibly regulated by glucose metabolism and identify the vacuolar ATPase (V‐ATPase), a proton pump required for the acidification of vacuoles, as a sensor of cytosolic pH. V‐ATPase assembly is regulated by cytosolic pH and is required for full activation of the PKA pathway in response to glucose, suggesting that it mediates, at least in part, the pH signal to PKA. Finally, V‐ATPase is also regulated by glucose in the Min6 β‐cell line and contributes to PKA activation and insulin secretion. Thus, these data suggest a novel and potentially conserved glucose‐sensing pathway and identify a mechanism how cytosolic pH can act as a signal to promote cell growth.     

长爪沙鼠线粒体DNA控制区全序列测定及分析

目的对长爪沙鼠线粒体DNA控制区全序列进行测定,并对其进行鉴定及进化分析。方法根据长爪沙鼠已知基因序列设计引物,采用PCR产物测序法,对所得的片段进行测序鉴定。结合已公布啮齿类动物D-loop区序列,分析其碱基组成、遗传距离、并基于最小进化法和UPGMA法构建系统进化树。结果获得长爪沙鼠D-loop区序列,其与家鼠、小家鼠和仓鼠平均同源性为58%;碱基组成分析显示,长爪沙鼠与啮齿类动物有相似的碱基组成和碱基偏离,其A-skew和G-skew分别为0.0047和-0.28。进化分析结果显示,长爪沙鼠与家鼠（0.35）、黑家鼠（0.38）和仓鼠（0.39）具有较近的遗传距离,其分化顺序为跳鼠、蔗鼠、长爪沙鼠、仓鼠、家鼠和小家鼠。结论本研究获得长爪沙鼠D-loop区全序列,确定了长爪沙鼠与仓鼠、家鼠、小家鼠及其它啮齿动物的进化关系,为长爪沙鼠进化研究、线粒体的结构和功能研究奠定基础。     

Cell cycle related proteins in hyperplasia of usual type in breast specimens of patients with and without breast cancer

Background  

Hyperplasia of usual type (HUT) is a common proliferative lesion associated with a slight elevated risk for subsequent development of breast cancer. Cell cycle-related proteins would be helpful to determine the putative role of these markers in the process of mammary carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to analyze the expression of cell cycle related proteins in HUT of breast specimens of patients with and without breast cancer, and compare this expression with areas of invasive carcinomas.     

不同施肥处理对‘赤霞珠’葡萄根际土壤养分和真菌群落的影响

【背景】宁夏贺兰山东麓葡萄产区忽视有机肥的施用,果树枝条焚烧污染环境,造成土壤养分缺失,土壤质量下降。【目的】为解决长期施用化肥对土壤造成的一系列问题,通过大田试验研究施肥及喷施不同浓度菌剂对土壤理化性质、真菌群落组成及多样性的影响,为酿酒葡萄可持续健康发展提供科学依据。【方法】以‘赤霞珠’葡萄根际土壤为试验对象,采用Illumina MiSeq高通量测序技术,测定并分析根际土壤理化性质、真菌群落组成和多样性在7个处理[常规施肥(CK)、蚯蚓粪+腐熟枝条+100倍菌剂(T1)、蚯蚓粪+腐熟枝条+200倍菌剂(T2)、蚯蚓粪+腐熟枝条+300倍菌剂(T3)、蚯蚓粪+未腐熟枝条+100倍菌剂(A1)、蚯蚓粪+未腐熟枝条+200倍菌剂(A2)和蚯蚓粪+未腐熟枝条+300倍菌剂(A3)]的变化。【结果】相较于CK,葡萄根际土壤理化性质差异明显,施肥处理增加了土壤有机质含量,土壤pH含量无明显变化,改良了土壤结构,活化了土壤有效养分。相较于CK,各处理真菌分类操作单元(operational taxonomic unit, OTU)数均降低,A2处理根际土壤丰富度及多样性均显著增加。真菌群落组成...     

Microtubules and cyclic amp in human leukocytes: on the order of things

We have shown previously that the β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol (2μM) and the phosphodiesterase inhibitor isobutylmethylxanthine (1 mM) produce a much greater increase in cyclic AMP in human leukocytes that have been pretreated with colchicine (or with other agents that affect microtubule assembly) than in control leukocytes. The effects of colchicines were both time- and dose-dependant. These and other data suggested that the generation of cyclic AMP is normally restricted by an intact system of cytoplasmic microtubules. If so, then the same time and dose dependencies might apply to other colchicines-induced changes in leukocyte function. We have now assayed the distribution of concanavalin A (Con A)-receptor complexes on the leukocyte membrane, taking into account that leukocytes competent to assemble microtubules show a uniform distribution of surface- bound Con A whereas microtubule-deficient cells accumulate Con A in surface caps. We have found that the effect of colchicine on capping is also both time- and dose dependent, and that the dose-response relationships conform to those required to increase cyclic AMP levels. These findings provide further evidence that both colchicine-induced Con-A capping and colchicine- induced cyclic AMP generation depend upon the relaxation of constraints normally imposed by cytoplasmic microtubules upon the plasma membrane, which limit, respectively, lateral mobility of the lectin-receptor complexes, and expression of hormone-sensitive adenylate cyclase. Moreover, colchicine-induced Con-A cap formation is not affected even by very large changes in leukocyte cyclic AMP levels. Thus, elevated cyclic AMP levels do not appear to promote the dissolution of microtubules; rather, the dissolution of microtubules permits the generation of increased amounts of cyclic AMP.