Chemically induced gelation of polysaccharide produced by Methylobacterium organophilum

Both attractive and repulsive interactions between entangled Methylan chains were investigated with divalent cations that might form a salt bridge or generate an electrostatic attraction between the negatively charged groups in Methylan chains. The chemically induced gelation produces a thermally reversible gel. The gel strength was proportional to Methylan concentration in range from 1 to 5 g/l and was controlled by both Methylan and salt concentrations. © Rapid Science Ltd. 1998     

汉坦病毒感染细胞整合素受体信号转导相关差异表达基因筛选

通过基因芯片技术观察汉坦病毒感染细胞后整合素受体信号转导相关基因的差异表达,以探讨汉坦病毒进入细胞的分子机制。用汉滩病毒76—118株感染原代人胚肺成纤维细胞,同时设立正常对照细胞,于感染后第6h、24h和96h同时抽提感染组与正常对照组细胞总RNA,利用荧光标记dUTP逆转录制备cDNA探针,与人类受体及信号转导类表达谱芯片杂交,并对Cy3、Cy5荧光信号做扫描分析。结果显示有37项基因出现差异表达,其中31项基因在感染后6h出现差异表达,13项下调、18项上调;但在感染后24h和96h分别只有5项和4项基因出现表达差异;而且整合素信号转导通路中的重要基因如一些蛋白激酶相关基因在感染6h表达增强,丝化增强子1在感染6h和96h表达下调,微管相关蛋白1A在感染6h表达上调、感染24h和96h表达下调。这些进一步说明汉坦病毒感染细胞与整合素有关。     

间斑寇蛛的生态学观察与实验

报道间斑寇蛛首次在南方大批量人工养殖成功所获得的行为生态学资料:养殖方法、捕食与食谱、活动规律、蜕皮与体色的关系;温度和湿度对间斑寇蛛活动能力、成活率、蜕皮率的影响;温度和食物对其若蛛生长发育的交互影响作用。间斑寇蛛生长发育的适宜温区是20～30℃,RH55%～75%;最适合温度为25℃,RH65%,苍蝇为较理想的食物。结合野外进行了种群密度的调查、初步分析了其种群分布与栖境生物群落的关系。     

A multiple RSU collaborative scheduling scheme for data services in vehicular ad hoc networks

As studies on vehicular ad hoc networks have been conducted actively in recent years, convenient and reliable services can be provided to vehicles through traffic information, surrounding information, and file sharing. To provide services for multiple requests, road side units (RSUs) should receive requests from vehicles and provide a scheduling scheme for data transfer according to priority. In this paper, we propose a new scheduling scheme by which multiple RSUs are connected through wired networks and data is transferred through the collaboration of RSUs. The proposed scheme transfers safety and non-safety data by employing a collaborative strategy of multiple RSUs as well as reducing the deadline miss ratio and average response time. When safety data is generated, data is transferred from the previous RSU in advance, while priority is assigned considering the deadline and reception rate. Since non-safety data is an on-demand data processed by user requests, the proposed scheme provides a method that reduces the deadline miss ratio upon loads generated in RSUs. To prove the superiority of the proposed scheme, we perform a performance evaluation in which the number and velocities of vehicles were changed. It is shown through the performance evaluation that the proposed scheme has better deadline miss ratios and faster response time than the existing schemes.     

Analysis of the glycoproteome of Toxoplasma gondii using lectin affinity chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry

Glycoproteins are involved in many important molecular recognition processes including invasion, adhesion, differentiation, and development. To identify the glycoproteins of Toxoplasma gondii, a proteomic analysis was undertaken. T. gondii proteins were prepared and fractioned using lectin affinity chromatography. The proteins in each fraction were then separated using SDS-PAGE and identified by tryptic in gel digestion followed by tandem mass spectrometry. Utilizing these methods 132 proteins were identified. Among the identified proteins were 17 surface proteins, 9 microneme proteins, 15 rhoptry proteins, 11 heat shock proteins (HSP), and 32 hypothetical proteins. Several proteins had 1–5 transmembrane domains (TMD) with some being as large as 608.3 kDa. Both lectin-fluorescence labeling and lectin blotting were employed to confirm the presence of carbohydrates on the surface or cytoplasm of T. gondii parasites. PCR demonstrated that selected hypothetical proteins were expressed in T. gondii tachyzoites. This data provides a large-scale analysis of the T. gondii glycoproteome. Studies of the function of glycosylation of these proteins may help elucidate mechanism(s) involved in invasion improving drug therapy as well as identify glycoproteins that may prove to be useful as vaccine candidates.     

A recombinant mimetics of the HIV-1 gp41 prehairpin fusion intermediate fused with human IgG Fc fragment elicits neutralizing antibody response in the vaccinated mice

HIV-1 gp41 prehairpin fusion intermediate (PFI) composed of three N-terminal heptad repeats (NHR) plays a crucial role in viral fusion and entry and represents an attractive target for anti-HIV therapeutics (e.g., enfuvirtide) and vaccines. In present study, we constructed and expressed two recombinant gp41 PFI mimetics, designated N46Fd and N46FdFc. N46Fd consists of N46 (residues 536-581) in gp41 NHR and foldon (Fd), a trimerization motif. N46FdFc is composed of N46Fd fused with human IgG Fc fragment as an immunoenhancer. We immunized mice with N46 peptide, N46Fd and N46FdFc, respectively, and found that only N46FdFc elicited neutralizing antibody response in mice against infection by HIV-1 strains IIIB (clade B, X4), 92US657 (clade B, R5), and 94UG103 (clade A, X4R5). Anti-N46FdFc antibodies inhibited PIE7 binding to PFI, blocked gp41 six-helix bundle formation, and suppressed HIV-1 mediated cell-cell fusion. These findings provide an important clue for developing recombinant gp41 PFI mimetics-based HIV vaccines.