Properties of a genetically reconstructed Prevotella ruminicola endoglucanase.

A pUC19-derived plasmid was constructed that coded for a hybrid cellulase with the Thermomonospora fusca E2 cellulose-binding domain at its C terminus joined to the Prevotella ruminicola 40.5-kDa carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase). The hybrid enzyme was purified and characterized enzymatically. It bound tightly to cellulose, and its specific activities on carboxymethyl cellulose, amorphous cellulose, and ball-milled cellulose were 1.5, 10, and 8 times that of the 40.5-kDa CMCase, respectively. Furthermore, the modified enzyme gave synergism with an exocellulase in the degradation of filter paper, while the 40.5-kDa CMCase did not.     

Verbascoside production by plant cell cultures

Verbascoside was found to be produced in all calli derived from eleven species that contained the compound in their leaves. Cell suspension cultures were also established in three species, i.e., Leucosceptrum japonicum f. barbinerve, Syringa josikaea, and Sy. vulgaris, all of which were found to produce verbascoside at more than 1 g/l. Of the three species, suspension cultures of L. japonicum f. barbinerve showed rapid growth and the highest yield of verbascoside (1.89 g/l). In these cultures, the effects of major salt concentration in B5 medium on cell growth and verbascoside production were examined. Maximum cell growth and maximum verbascoside production were both achieved by reducing the major salt concentration to half that of the original medium.     

Oligouridylates as a template for nonenzymatic synthesis of oligoadenylates

Summary Chemical polymerization of adenosine-5-phosphorimidazolide was conducted in the presence of oligouridylate templates. Oligo U with chain length more than eight served as a template and facilitated oligoadenylate formation. No template activity was observed when oligo U up to a hexamer was used. These results correlate with thermal transition temperatures of oligo U-pA complexes.     

Procedure for the efficient acquisition of progeny seeds from crossed potato plants grafted onto tomato

Potato, Solanum tuberosum L. is an important crop. However, it is difficult to breed potato cultivars by applying conventional crossing methods because potato has a tetraploid genome and is vegetatively propagated. Flower formation and tuber development occur simultaneously. Many potato cultivars hardly produce any fruits after crossing and fail to produce seeds. We report an improved procedure for obtaining progeny seeds by grafting potatoes onto tomatoes. The rate of fruit formation was more than 19% when the grafted potatoes were used for the crossing experiments, whereas crossing using the ungrafted plants showed a rate of 1.1%. This result suggests that our procedure results in the easy acquisition of null-segregant progenies by crossing mutant lines. It is also expected to improve conventional potato breeding.     

The short flagella 1 (SHF1) gene in Chlamydomonas encodes a Crescerin TOG-domain protein required for late stages of flagellar growth

Length control of flagella represents a simple and tractable system to investigate the dynamics of organelle size. Models for flagellar length control in the model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii have focused on the length dependence of the intraflagellar transport (IFT) system, which manages the delivery and removal of axonemal subunits at the tip of the flagella. One of these cargoes, tubulin, is the major axonemal subunit, and its frequency of arrival at the tip plays a central role in size control models. However, the mechanisms determining tubulin dynamics at the tip are still poorly understood. We discovered a loss-of-function mutation that leads to shortened flagella and found that this was an allele of a previously described gene, SHF1, whose molecular identity had not been determined. We found that SHF1 encodes a Chlamydomonas orthologue of Crescerin, previously identified as a cilia-specific TOG-domain array protein that can bind tubulin via its TOG domains and increase tubulin polymerization rates. In this mutant, flagellar regeneration occurs with the same initial kinetics as in wild-type cells but plateaus at a shorter length. Using a computational model in which the flagellar microtubules are represented by a differential equation for flagellar length combined with a stochastic model for cytoplasmic microtubule dynamics, we found that our experimental results are best described by a model in which Crescerin/SHF1 binds tubulin dimers in the cytoplasm and transports them into the flagellum. We suggest that this TOG-domain protein is necessary to efficiently and preemptively increase intraflagella tubulin levels to offset decreasing IFT cargo at the tip as flagellar assembly progresses.     

Effect of low-temperature bovine ovary storage on the maturation rate and developmental potential of follicular oocytes after in vitro fertilization, parthenogenetic activation, or somatic cell nucleus transfer

The present study examined the competence of oocytes from bovine ovaries stored at low temperatures for at least 1 day, which is the necessary time period to complete inspection for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Storage of ovaries at 10 degrees C for 24 h did not affect oocyte maturation (68% versus 68%) or the potential of oocytes to develop into day 8 blastocysts after in vitro fertilization (25% versus 27%), parthenogenetic activation (19% versus 25%), or somatic cell nucleus transfer (27% versus 32%) compared with controls. In vitro-fertilized and parthenogenetic oocytes from ovaries stored at 10 degrees C for 48 h had a significantly decreased maturation rate and developmental potential, but nucleus-transferred oocytes that received cultured cumulus cells did not (27% versus 32%). Thus, bovine ovaries can be stored at 10 degrees C for at least 24 h without decreasing oocyte maturation competence or the developmental potential of in vitro-fertilized, parthenogenetically activated, and somatic cell nucleus-transferred oocytes, at least to the blastocyst stage. The present study provides valuable information with regard to removing bovine ovaries from abattoirs after testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy.     

Expression, purification, and crystallization of endopolygalacturonase from a pathogenic fungus, Stereum purpureum, in Escherichia coli

Endopolygalacturonases (EC 3.2.1.15) catalyze random hydrolysis of the alpha-1,4 glycosidic linkages in polygalacturonic acid, a component of pectin. Previously, we reported crystal structures of endogenously produced Stereum purprureum endopolygalacturonase I (endoPG I), both in its native form and complexed with its product, galacturonate. However, the substrate-binding mechanism of endoPG I is still unclear, because crystals have not yet been obtained with a substrate analog, or with mutant enzymes that can bind substrates. We describe here an expression system using Escherichia coli and a purification method to prepare functionally active endoPG I for such mutation and crystallographic studies. Expression in E. coli strain Origami (DE3) provided a soluble and active enzyme with proper disulfide bond formation, whereas the enzyme expressed in BL21 (DE3) was localized in inclusion bodies. A sufficient amount of recombinant endoPG I produced by Origami (DE3) was purified by a single-step procedure using cation exchange chromatography. The specific activity of recombinant endoPG I was equivalent to that of the enzyme produced by S. purpureum. Recombinant endoPG I was crystallized under the same conditions as those used for the native enzyme produced by S. purpureum. The crystals diffracted beyond 1.0 A resolution with synchrotron radiation.