Selective growth of a mutant in continuous culture of Bacillus caldolyticus for production of α-amylase

Summary In a continuous culture of Bacillus caldolyticus strain SP, which requires maltose as an inducer for production of -amylase in batch culture, a predominant mutant strain M1 which produced high amounts of -amylase in the absence of maltose in batch culture, developed. The change of cell population from strain SP to strain M1 in maltose-casitone medium was linear with time in the transient state after the change from batch to continuous culture at a dilution rate of 0.17 h^-1, and was completed in about 11 generations of bacterial growth. The dilution rate effect of continuous culture on -amylase activity was almost the same with both strains SP and M1. The maximum -amylase activity of 380 units/ml was observed at an intermediate dilution rate that was 11.5 times higher than -amylase activity at the end of a batch culture using the same medium. It was deduced that the enhancement of -amylase production in continuous culture was attributed partly to the predominant growth of a mutant strain with higher -amylase productivity.     

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats

With the techniques of specific radioimmunoassay and gel filtration it was found that CGRP was distributed in various tissues of normotensive (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) with the highest concentration in the lumbar spinal cord (1197 +/- 94.8 pg/mg tissue) and the lowest in the auricle (15.0 +/- 2.1 pg/mg tissue). In comparison with WKY, CGRP concentration in the plasma was decreased and in the abdominal aorta and hypothalamus was increased in SHR. Gel filtration revealed only one major CGRP molecular form in the tissues. In addition, CGRP reduced the mean arterial pressure (MAP) in SHR in a dose-dependent manner. These data suggest that CGRP may play an important role in the pathogenesis of hypertension and its possible therapy.     

Expression and characterization of the tau subunit of phosphorylase kinase

A cDNA encoding the entire tau subunit of rabbit skeletal muscle phosphorylase kinase was reconstructed and inserted into a plasmid containing the Escherichia coli ptac promoter and a constructed plasmid containing the ptac promoter and bacterial chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene, respectively. A significant phosphorylase kinase activity was found, in the first case. In the second case, a fused protein containing 73 amino acids from the CAT protein was obtained. After renaturation, the CAT-tau subunit protein shows enzymatic activity similar to the HPLC-purified and renatured tau subunit.     

Expression of lipoprotein lipase gene in combined lipase deficiency

The expression of the gene for lipoprotein lipase (LPL) was studied in brown adipose tissue and the liver of combined lipase deficient (cld/cld) and unaffected mice. The mRNA specific for LPL was detected in both animals. Although the size of LPL mRNA in cld mice was similar to that of unaffected mice, the mRNA concentration in affected animals was higher than in unaffected animals. We also studied the LPL gene mutation in cld mice by Southern blot analysis. No restriction fragment length polymorphisms were observed after digestion with 16 endonucleases. These data indicate that there is no gene insertion or deletion, but do not exclude the possibility of point mutation in the LPL structural gene. However, the present results agree with the hypothesis that the genetic defect in cld is not due to a mutation in the LPL structural gene, but instead involves the defective post-translational processing of LPL or defective cellular function affecting transport and secretion of this enzyme group.     

A review of the distribution of all species of deer (Tragulidae, Moschidae and Cervidae) in China

Twenty-one species of deer occur in China: one species of Tragulidae, three species of Moschidae and 17 species of Cervidae. The foundation of this review is the research conducted in the early 1940s by Allen, combined with the research and investigation by the authors and other Chinese specialists since that time. This paper focuses on the tentative distribution of these species of deer for future research efforts.     

稻虱跗(虫扇)的个体发生研究:生活史和寄生作用

稻虱跗蝙Elenchinus japonicus Esaki et Hashimoto属(捻翅目)跗蝙科,在稻田寄生于白背稻虱、褐稻虱和灰稻虱.稻虱跗蝙在母体血腔中发育、孵化产生三爪蚴,三爪蚴通过生殖沟、生殖孔、育道和育道开口离开母体.三爪蚴离开母体在稻株上活动.一旦靠近寄主,用足抓住寄主,爬在它们身上.它通过节间膜进入寄主,变成蛆状蚴,开始取食.幼虫在寄主体内继续发育,达到足够大小,它们羽化成虫.雌成虫留在寄主体内,仅露出“帽子”(即头胸部),雄虫离开寄主,自由飞翔、雄成虫寿命很短(<12小时),它们积极寻找雌虫,进行交配,发现交配位置在育道口,支配时间约1—2秒钟.雄成虫体长1.33mm;展翅约2.25mm;雌成虫体长1.6—2.6mm,宽0.88—1.35mm;头胸部长0.2mm;育道口宽0.15mm,卵在雌成虫体内形成,而卵母细胞在雌幼虫体内发育.卵长75μm×宽40μm.第1期幼虫(三爪蚴):体长0.2mm;尾须为体长1/3.第Ⅱ期幼虫(蛆伏蚴)足和附肢都退化;第Ⅱ期幼虫分成4个龄期,具口和消化道,蛹属围蛹.卵历期7—8天,而三爪蚴历期仅1天.蛆状蚴(2—5龄)历期10—11天,蛹历期约3—4天,雌成虫历期7—8天.在实验室,每世代历期约20—23天.稻虱跗蝙的寄生作用较低,由于三爪蚴找不到稻虱很快死亡.在浙江1983—1986年调查,稻虱跗蝙对白背稻虱成、若虫寄生率5—7%,灰稻虱的寄生率为2%,褐稻虱为1%.有时白背稻虱的寄生率可达20—40%.     

The use of micropreparative electrophoresis of protein/peptide isolations for primary structure determinations

High-performance electrophoresis chromatography (HPEC) is a recent development that features continuous-elution gel electrophoresis for isolating proteins or peptides in range of 1 to 300 microgram quantities. Column gel electrophoresis is conducted under thermostated conditions, and the field voltage can be varied within a run with a programmable power supply. Applications of this apparatus in protein purification are presented to demonstrate the utility of the (Model 230A) HPEC. These examples include on-line detection with direct analyte recovery of highly purified sample, which mimics high-performance liquid chromatography, for subsequent structure-function characterization. A method to remove salts from sodium dodecyl sulfate electrophoresed samples for subsequent sequencing or amino acid analysis is described. This desalting procedure recovers from 90%-95% of the sample and employs a low molecular weight cut-off membrane during sample centrifugation onto a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane. Subsequent washings are performed to efficiently remove salts, free amino acids and detergents that are known to interfere with sequence analysis. Sequence information such as initial recovery, repetitive yields and chromatogram comparisons are presented to demonstrate the utility of this procedure when used following isolation of sample with HPEC.     

肾神经在扩张心房时对尿量和尿钠排出的作用

单侧肾去神经的麻醉狗,用乳胶小囊扩张肺静脉-心房连接部,观察到神经完好肾的尿流量与排钠量均显著增加(P<0.01);去神经肾的尿流量仍显著增加(P<0 01),但排钠量无明显变化(P>0.05);两侧肾的肾小球滤过率(GFR)及肾血浆流量(RPF)均保持稳定;神经完好肾的静脉血浆肾素活性(PRA)及血管紧张素Ⅱ水平(PAⅡ)均明显降低,PAⅡ降低的幅度与尿流量增加的幅度无相关(r=-0.2975,P>0.05);与排钠量增加的幅度也无相关(r=-0.2359,P>0.05);去神经肾的PRA和PAⅡ都没有显著变化。说明在刺激心房感受器引起的利尿与尿钠排泄的反应中,肾神经主要促进肾对尿钠的排出。肾神经的这种作用既不是通过改变GFR和RPF,也不是抑制肾素的释放,而可能是由于直接影响肾小管对钠的重吸收。