An efficient DDAB-mediated transfection of Drosophila S2 cells.

I have developed an efficient method for transfecting Drosophila S2 cells using DDAB, a cationic liposome reagent. The optimized DDAB method resulted in a 10 times or greater increase in transfection efficiency compared with the conventional calcium phosphate method which has been essentially the only way for transfecting S2 cells.     

Correlation between lipid plane curvature and lipid chain order.

The 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine: 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPE:POPC) system has been investigated by measuring, in the inverted hexagonal (HII) phase, the intercylinder spacings (using x-ray diffraction) and orientational order of the acyl chains (using 2H nuclear magnetic resonance). The presence of 20 wt% dodecane leads to the formation of a HII phase for the composition range from 0 to 39 mol% of POPC in POPE, as ascertained by x-ray diffraction and 2H nuclear magnetic resonance. The addition of the alkane induces a small decrease in chain order, consistent with less stretched chains. An increase in temperature or in POPE proportion leads to a reduction in the intercylinder spacing, primarily due to a decrease in the water core radius. A temperature increase also leads to a reduction in the orientational order of the lipid acyl chains, whereas the POPE proportion has little effect on chain order. A correlation is proposed to relate the radius of curvature of the cylinders in the inverted hexagonal phase to the chain order of the lipids adopting the HII phase. A simple geometrical model is proposed, taking into account the area occupied by the polar headgroup at the interface and the orientational order of the acyl chains reflecting the contribution of the apolar core. From these parameters, intercylinder spacings are calculated that agree well with the values determined experimentally by x-ray diffraction, for the variations of both temperature and POPE:POPC proportion. This model suggests that temperature increases the curvature of lipid layers, mainly by increasing the area subtended by the hydrophobic core through chain conformation disorder, whereas POPC content affects primarily the headgroup interface contribution. The frustration of lipid layer curvature is also shown to be reflected in the acyl chain order measured in the L alpha phase, in the absence of dodecane; for a given temperature, increased order is observed when the curling tendencies of the lipid plane are more pronounced.     

Effects of butyltins and inorganic tin on chemotaxis of aquatic bacteria

Summary Tributyltin (TBT) and its degradation products dibutyltin (DBT), monobutyltin (MBT) and Sn^IV were toxic toPseudomonas fluorescens SHC-6 andSerratia sp. Gil-1 with EC₅₀ values in the range of 10^–3 to 10^–4M. These four compounds were negative chemotactic agents forP. fluorescens, and the butyltins were negatively chemotactic forSerratia sp. at concentrations over four orders of magnitude lower than the EC₅₀ values.l-Aspartate was a positive chemotactic agent for both organisms. TBT, DBT and MBT negated the effect ofl-aspartate onP. fluorescens but not onSerratia sp. Thus, TBT has the potential to affect microbial populations at concentrations much lower than those which prevent growth, and degradation of TBT does not always detoxify it. SnCl₄ was less toxic than TBT or DBT to these organisms and it was not chemotactic forSerratia sp. Gil-1. Tributylamine and tributylphosphate were less than 1/10th as toxic as TBT and they did not have a chemotactic effect on either organism at concentrations at which TBT had a significant effect. Therefore, both the Sn-and butyl-moieties contribute to the toxic and chemotactic properties of TBT.     

NaHSO3对桃树的生理效应及产量品质的影响

于桃树果实膨大期喷施１００ｐｐｍ ＮａＨＳＯ２可获得增产、优质、早熟的效果。此与ｎａＨＳＯ２能增加叶绿素含量、提高光合速率、比叶重、促进希尔反应,抑制硝酸还原酶、过氧氢酶活性,增加单果重等多重生理效应相关。     

重组水蛭素HV2的稳定性

重组水蛭素ＨＶ２是凝血酶的特异性抑制剂,是一种非常稳定的蛋白质。温度的升高（１００℃水浴）和ｐＨ（１─１３）的改变不影响其活力,在某些变性剂（８ｍｏｌ／Ｌ尿素、１％ＳＤＳ和６ｍｏｌ／Ｌ盐酸胍）存在的条件下也非常稳定,０．１ｍｏｌ／Ｌ的ＤＴＴ在７０℃时使其部分失活,只有ｐＨ和温度同时升高其活力才开始下降,ｐＨ１３、８０℃处理１５ｍｉｎ即完全失活,氨基酸组成和活性分析发现失活样品的Ｃｙｓ和Ｌｙｓ被破坏。重组水蛭素ＨＶ２含有一个结构紧密的Ｎ端核心区和一个无序的Ｃ端尾部。其Ｎ端的３个Ｌｙｓ－Ｘａａ键均不被胰蛋白酶水解;胃蛋白酶及糜蛋白酶消化后,分离所得片段,氨基酸组成分析发现Ｎ端核心区依然保持很高的抗凝血酶活性,继续消化２４ｈ,核心区不被进一步降解。     

Identification of residues of the H-ras protein critical for functional interaction with guanine nucleotide exchange factors.

Ras proteins are activated in vivo by guanine nucleotide exchange factors encoded by genes homologous to the CDC25 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We have taken a combined genetic and biochemical approach to probe the sites on Ras proteins important for interaction with such exchange factors and to further probe the mechanism of CDC25-catalyzed GDP-GTP exchange. Random mutagenesis coupled with genetic selection in S. cerevisiae was used to generate second-site mutations within human H-ras-ala15 which could suppress the ability of the Ala-15 substitution to block CDC25 function. We transferred these second-site suppressor mutations to normal H-ras and oncogenic H-rasVal-12 to test whether they induced a general loss of function or whether they selectively affected CDC25 interaction. Four highly selective mutations were discovered, and they affected the surface-located amino acid residues 62, 63, 67, and 69. Two lines of evidence suggested that these residues may be involved in binding to CDC25: (i) using the yeast two-hybrid system, we demonstrated that these mutants cannot bind CDC25 under conditions where the wild-type H-Ras protein can; (ii) we demonstrated that the binding to H-Ras of monoclonal antibody Y13-259, whose epitope has been mapped to residues 63, 65, 66, 67, 70, and 73, is blocked by the mouse sos1 and yeast CDC25 gene products. We also present evidence that the mechanism by which CDC25 catalyzes exchange is more involved than simply catalyzing the release of bound nucleotide and passively allowing nucleotides to rebind. Most critically, a complex of Ras and CDC25 protein, unlike free Fas protein, possesses significantly greater affinity for GTP than for GDP. Furthermore, the Ras CDC25 complex is more readily dissociated into free subunits by GTP than it is by GDP. Both of these results suggest a function for CDC25 in promoting the selective exchange of GTP for GDP.     

Different conformational families of pyrimidine.purine.pyrimidine triple helices depending on backbone composition.

Different helical conformations of DNA (D), RNA (R), and DNA.RNA (DR) hybrid double and triple helices have been detected using affinity cleavage analysis. Synthetic methods were developed to attach EDTA.Fe to a single nucleotide on RNA as well as DNA oligonucleotides. Cleavage patterns generated by a localized diffusible oxidant in the major groove on the pyrimidine strand of four purine.pyrimidine double helices consisting of all DNA, all RNA, and the corresponding hybrids reveal that the relative cleavage intensity shifts to the 5' end of the purine strand increasingly in the order: DD < DR < RD < RR. These results are consistent with models derived from structural studies. In six pyrimidine.purine.pyrimidine triple helices, the altered cleavage patterns of the Watson-Crick pyrimidine strands reveal at least two conformational families: (i) D + DD, R + DD, D + DR, and R + DR and (ii) R + RD and R + RR.     

Molecular characterization of de novo secondary trisomy 13.

Unbalanced Robertsonian translocations are a significant cause of mental retardation and fetal wastage. The majority of homologous rearrangements of chromosome 21 in Down syndrome have been shown to be isochromosomes. Aside from chromosome 21, very little is known about other acrocentric homologous rearrangements. In this study, four cases of de novo secondary trisomy 13 are presented. FISH using alpha-satellite sequences, rDNA, and a pTRI-6 satellite I sequence specific to the short arm of chromosome 13 showed all four rearrangements to be dicentric and apparently devoid of ribosomal genes. Three of four rearrangements retained the pTRI-6 satellite I sequence. Case 1 was the exception, showing a deletion of this sequence in the rearrangement, although both parental chromosomes 13 had strong positive hybridization signals. Eleven microsatellite markers from chromosome 13 were also used to characterize the rearrangements. Of the four possible outcomes, one maternal Robertsonian translocation, two paternal isochromosomes, and one maternal isochromosome were observed. A double recombination was observed in the maternally derived rob(13q13q). No recombination events were detected in any isochromosome. The parental origins and molecular chromosomal structure of these cases are compared with previous studies of de novo acrocentric rearrangements.     

Analysis of Schizosaccharomyces pombe mitochondrial DNA replication by two dimensional gel electrophoresis

The entire mitochondrial genome of Schizosaccharomyces pombe ura4-294h ^-was analyzed by the 2D pulsed field gel electrophoresis technique developed by Brewer and Fangman. The genome consists of multimers with an average size of 100 kb and analysis of the overlapping restriction fragments of the complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome resulted in simply Y 2D gel patterns. Large single-stranded DNA molecules or double-stranded DNA molecules containing large or numerous single-stranded regions were found in the S. pombe mtDNA preparation. The replication of mtDNA monomers was found to occur in either direction. On the basis of these results, a replication mechanism for S. pombe mtDNA that is most consistent with a rolling circle model is suggested.     

Effects of quality and developmental stage on the survival of IVF-derived bovine blastocysts cultured in vitro after freezing and thawing

Factors affecting viability of IVF-derived bovine blastocysts after freezing and thawing were investigated. A total of 1,101 ova matured and fertilized in vitro were cultured under 2 different conditions, 1) in TCM-199 on granulosa cell monolayers at 5% CO(2) in air and 2) in synthetic oviduct fluid (SOF) medium without somatic cell support at 5% CO(2), 5% O(2), 90% N(2). All blastocysts that developed from the 2 different culture systems were individually classified into 4 grades of embryo quality and were then frozen by conventional slow freezing. Developmental rates of the IVF-derived ova to blastocysts and the survival rates of the frozen-thawed blastocysts were not different between the SOF medium (16 and 49%) and the co-culture system (13 and 61%, respectively). Survival of frozen-thawed blastocysts was affected by embryo quality in both the SOF and co-culture systems (P<0.001). Blastocysts produced in vitro were also individually classified into 3 developmental stages and were then cultured for 3 d in the co-culture system with granulosa cells after freezing and thawing. There was a difference in the survival rate of frozen-thawed embryos between blastocyst developmental stages (early vs mid, P<0.05; mid vs expanded, P<0.01; early vs expanded, P<0.001). The post-thawing survival rate of blastocysts frozen at Day 7 (62%) of culture was higher compared with that of Day 8 (45%), but there was no difference in survival rate between Day 7 and 8 of culture. The results indicate that the quality and developmental stage of blastocysts are important factors influencing their survival after freezing and thawing.