An auto-anti-b in an a1b person. Serological studies.

The serum of a patient (Mr. Lat) with the regular blood group A1 B contains an anti-B reacting with all cells having a B antigen except Bx and cis AB. The anti-B reacts at 4 degrees C and occasionally at room temperature as shown by agglutination, absorption-eluction and by thermo-dynamic assays. The antibody is regarded as an irregular autoantibody belonging to the group of the so called "suppressed" or "latent" antibodies.     

Using genetic variation to disentangle the complex relationship between food intake and health outcomes

Diet is considered as one of the most important modifiable factors influencing human health, but efforts to identify foods or dietary patterns associated with health outcomes often suffer from biases, confounding, and reverse causation. Applying Mendelian randomization in this context may provide evidence to strengthen causality in nutrition research. To this end, we first identified 283 genetic markers associated with dietary intake in 445,779 UK Biobank participants. We then converted these associations into direct genetic effects on food exposures by adjusting them for effects mediated via other traits. The SNPs which did not show evidence of mediation were then used for MR, assessing the association between genetically predicted food choices and other risk factors, health outcomes. We show that using all associated SNPs without omitting those which show evidence of mediation, leads to biases in downstream analyses (genetic correlations, causal inference), similar to those present in observational studies. However, MR analyses using SNPs which have only a direct effect on the exposure on food exposures provided unequivocal evidence of causal associations between specific eating patterns and obesity, blood lipid status, and several other risk factors and health outcomes.     

Short-term effects of temperature enhancement on growth and reproduction of alpine grassland species

In order to study the effects of temperature enhancement on alpine calcareous grassland species, a warming experiment was carried out in the Berchtesgaden National Park (Southeast Germany, Northern Calcareous Alps) between 2002 and 2004. The study was conducted in stands of the Carex sempervirens and the Carex firma communities; the two most widespread grassland types in the alpine zone of the Northern Calcareous Alps. The temperature of the vegetation stand and the upper soil was passively enhanced using open top chambers (OTCs). The construction of the OTCs was appropriate since temperature was clearly increased while water conditions (humidity, soil water content) were not changed.

By comparing manipulated (temperature enhancement) with non-manipulated plots, the effects of warming on growth and reproduction of selected key species were studied. To test if vegetation response to temperature enhancement is at least partly due to increases in nutrient availability, soil solution concentrations of nitrate and ammonium were analysed.

We found that most of the studied plant species are sensitive to temperature enhancement. Growth and/or reproduction of 12 of the 14 studied species were significantly stimulated by warming. Only two species showed no response; none of the species experienced decreases in growth or reproduction. Dwarf shrubs and graminoids showed a stronger response than herbaceous perennials. A significant effect of warming on nutrient availability could not be detected. The observed response of vegetation is therefore mainly caused by direct and not by indirect temperature effects.     

Arboreal locomotion in small new-world monkeys

The postural and locomotor activity and its relation to substrates was observed in 3 Saguinus oedipus, and 3 Saimiri sciureus for comparison, during a period of 10 h for each individual. The animals moved freely in cages of 3.40 m x 3.40 m x 2.40 m (height) on rather diverse substrates. Observations were made according to the focal-animal-method, with combined instantaneous and continuous sampling. They were protocoled in schematic form and video-recorded. In addition, 3 further Saguinus oedipus were subjected to an X-ray cinematographic study on a modified treadmill to unveil metric parameters of the locomotor pattern preferred on slender and compliant ("arboreal") substrates, the walk. Independent from the substrates, the postures of the two species differed in details, as do the preferred substrates. Horizontal, comfortable substrates are favored most. Walking ranked top in frequency, followed by jumping and galloping (in a strict sense). All other locomotor modes described for primates played a minor role or lacked entirely, like the trot. Average distance of leaps was only 0.60 m, landings were mainly on the same level as take-offs. In Saguinus, the movements of both limbs, including the shoulder blade, followed the pattern common to small mammals in general: At the end of the stance phase, humerus and tibia are nearly parallel to the substrate, while just before touchdown ulna and femur are in this position. The walk in both species was surprisingly fast (1 m/s), reaching the speed of much larger cursorial animals, like humans.     

Expression and purification of recombinant cynomolgus monkey cholesteryl ester transfer protein from Chinese hamster ovary cells

Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) mediates the transfer of cholesteryl ester from high- and low-density lipoproteins to triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, and reciprocally mediates triglyceride transfer. The gene for cynomolgus monkey CETP was expressed in serum-free CHO culture with 2g/ml insulin as its only exogenous protein supplement. Cell growth was facilitated by immobilizing the CHO cells in alginate beads. Recombinant CETP (rCETP) was purified 176-fold with a three-step protocol resulting in a 60% final yield as measured by a fluorescent CETP activity assay. Typically, 3.4 mg of rCETP was purified from 1700 ml of media by affinity-gel chromatography involving Reactive Red 120 (RR120) followed by concanavalin A Sepharose 4B and rechromatography on RR120. SDS-PAGE shows a single broad band ofM _r , ranging from 68,000 to 74,000 which immunoreacts in Western blot analysis. Amino acid analysis and protein sequencing of the purified protein agree with the theoretical amino acid composition and sequence of cynomolgus CETP.     

Morphological and molecular investigations of Tubulinosema ratisbonensis gen. nov., sp. nov. (Microsporidia: Tubulinosematidae fam. nov.), a parasite infecting a laboratory colony of Drosophila melanogaster (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

A new species of microsporidia from Drosophila melanogaster was investigated by light and electron microscopy and by ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing. This microsporidium and the previously described Nosema kingi and Nosema acridophagus have been transferred to the new genus Tubulinosema gen. nov. with the following characters: nuclei are in diplokaryotic arrangement during the life cycle. All stages are in direct contact with the host cell cytoplasm, slightly anisofilar polar tube with the last coils being smaller in diameter arranged in one or two rows on both sides of the diplokaryon and small tubuli on the surface of late meronts. Spores are oval or slightly pyriform. Thick endospore wall, thinner over anchoring disc. This new genus and the genus Brachiola have been placed in a new family Tubulinosematidae fam. nov. Phylogenetic analysis of small subunit rRNA sequences by different methods placed Tubulinosema spp. in one clade with the genus Brachiola forming its sister clade, which is distant from the clade containing the true Nosema spp. including Nosema bombycis.     

Electron transfer proteins of the purple phototrophic bacterium, Rhodopseudomonas rutila.

The soluble electron transfer protein content of Rhodopseudomonas rutila was found to consist of two basic cytochromes and a (4Fe-4S) ferredoxin. Cytochrome c' was easily identified by its characteristic high spin absorption spectra. The native molecular weight is 29,000 and the subunit is 14,000. Cytochrome c-550 has low spin absorption spectra and a high redox potential (376 mV) typical of cytochromes c2. The molecular weight is about 14,000. The ferredoxin is apparently a dimer (43,000) of approximately 18,000 Da subunits. There are 1.3 to 1.5 iron-sulfur clusters per monomer of 18- to 21-kDa protein. The N-terminal amino acid sequence is like the (7Fe-8S) ferredoxins of Rhodobacter capsulatus and Azotobacter vinelandii. Remarkably, there are only 2 or 3 out of 25 amino acid substitutions. Difference absorption spectra of Rps. rutila membranes indicate that there is not tetraheme reaction center cytochrome c, such as is characteristic of Rps. viridis. However, there are a high potential cytochrome c and a low potential cytochrome b in the membrane, which are suggestive of a cytochrome bc1 complex. Rps. rutila is most similar to Rps. palustris in microbiological properties, yet it does not have the cytochromes c-556, c-554, and c-551 in addition to c2 and c', which are characteristic of Rps. palustris. Furthermore, the Rps. rutila cytochrome c' is dimeric, whereas the same protein from Rps. palustris is the only one known to be monomeric. The cytochrome pattern is more like that of Rhodospirillum rubrum and Rb. capsulatus, which are apparently only able to make cytochromes c2 and c'.