On the kinematic modeling and the parameter estimation of the human knee joint.

This paper presents some results on the modeling and the parameter estimation of the human knee joint. Based on the geometric characteristics of the femur condyle and the tibia plateau, a part of femoro-tibial joint model includes an involute-on-plane submodel. Data recorded by camera type device are used to analyze the kinematic characteristics of the knee joint and to estimate the corresponding submodel parameters. Experimental results are presented and the model is further validated.     

过量表达的hTR75可独立介导hTNFα的细胞毒性

利用细小ＲＮＡ 病毒属脑炎和心肌炎病毒（ＥＭＣＶ）的内核糖体进入位点（ＩＲＥＳ）元件构建了人肿瘤坏死因子受体７５ 基因（ｈＴＲ７５） 和新霉素抗性基因（ｎｅｏＲ）的双顺反子表达载体, 通过电脉冲转染ＢＨＫ２１ 细胞, 筛选出分别和同时稳定过量表达两种ｈＴＮＦ受体的细胞株。这些细胞在ｍＲＮＡ 和蛋白质水平均可检测到ｈＴＲ７５ 的表达。利用野生型和具有两种受体选择性结合活性的ｈＴＮＦα突变体对这些细胞株进行测定, 发现过量表达的ｈＴＲ７５ 可以独立地介导ｈＴＮＦα对ＢＨＫ２１ 细胞的细胞毒性, 而ｈＴＲ５５ 的存在并不能显著增强这种作用。上述结果为进一步阐明ＴＲ７５ 的功能以及两种受体间的相互作用提供了一条新的途径。     

Preparation and epitope characterization of monoclonal antibodies against firefly luciferase

The 6-His tagged firefly luciferase was highly expressed in E. coli and purified to homogeneity by affinity chromatography and gel filtration. After immunizing Balb/c mice with the antigen, 6 hybridomas clones were found to secrete monoelonal antibodies (mAbs) and the mAbs were also purified separately. The competitive binding experiments show that 2 mAbs can bind heat-denatured antigen or its proteolytic fragments but not the native lueiferase, suggesting that their epitopes might be accommodated in the internal segments of the protein. On the other hand, the other 4 mAbs are capable of binding both native and denatured antigens. It infers that their epitopes locate in the segments on the protein surface. The results also suggest that the six mAbs are all sequence-specific.     

Intergeneric Somatic Hybrid Plants of Nicotiana tabacum L. and Lycium barbarum L. by Protoplast Electrofusion

Mesophyll protoplasts of Nicotiana tabacum L. and protoplasts from cell suspension of Lycium barbarum L. were heterofused by electrofusion with a frequency of ca. 4%--5%. One hundred cell lines were selected at random identified by isozyme analysis with peroxidase and superoxide dismatase, and the differences from their parent were found. Results indicated that 9 cell lines expressed enzymatic bands characteristic of both parents. Five of the 9 cell lines were highly morphogenic and regenerated numerous young shoots that manifested morphological traits specific to both parents. However, these shoots never grew up or regenerate roots. Esterase analysis of leaf material from the regenerants of 5 morphogenic hybrid cell lines demonstrated that two of them (NL4 and NL8) expressed an unique hybrid band which were not shown in either parents. Cytological observation on parental and NL4 hybrid cell lines revealed that the somatic chromosome number of NL4 varied from 58 to 80, significantly higher than that of either parents. Ribosomal DNA analysis of NL4 and NL8 showed that NL8 covered all fragments of both parents: NL4 did not have the fragments characteristic of Lyciurn barbarurn L. Both hybrids had new fragments, suggestive of intermolecular recombination of rDNAs of the parents. Four normal plants morphologically similar to tabacco parent were obtained from hybrid cell hne NL4, which survived after being transferred to soil. Cytological analysis of root-tips from one of the plants indicated that it has ca. 58 chromosomes. This paper also discussed the problems on the production frequency and incompatibility of somatic cell hybrid.     

Filtroporation: A simple, reliable technique for transfection and macromolecular loading of cells in suspension.

Cultured Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells suspended in their growth medium were forced by gas pressure through the uniformly sized micropores of filter membranes. This procedure caused transient damage to the plasma membrane, which increased the permeability of the cells to exogenous molecules. This "filtroporation" was indicated by uptake of fluorescent dextran molecules up to 500,000 MW in cells deemed viable by trypan blue dye exclusion. The macromolecular uptake was increased if the driving pressure was increased at constant micropore size, or if the micropore size was decreased at constant driving pressure. Larger membrane perturbations permitted uptake of a luciferase reporter plasmid, which resulted in transfection of the CHO cells with the surviving cells expressing luciferase activity after 2 days in culture. This simple and general new method of porating cells in suspension may be optimized to incorporate the desired macromolecules while retaining the maximum viability.     

Possible role of Efnb1 protein, a ligand of Eph receptor tyrosine kinases, in modulating blood pressure

Eph kinases constitute the largest receptor tyrosine kinase family, and their ligands, ephrins (Efns), are also cell surface molecules. Although they are ligands, Efns can transduce signals reversely into cells. We have no prior knowledge of the role played by any members of this family of kinases or their ligands in blood pressure (BP) regulation. In the present studies, we investigated the role of Efnb1 in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) contractility and BP regulation. We revealed that reverse signaling through Efnb1 led to a reduction of RhoA activation and VSMC contractility in vitro. Consistent with this finding, ex vivo, there was an increase of RhoA activity accompanied by augmented myosin light chain phosphorylation in mesenteric arteries from mice with smooth muscle-specific conditional Efnb1 gene knock-out (KO). Small interfering RNA knockdown of Grip1, a molecule associated with the Efnb1 intracellular tail, partially eliminated the effect of Efnb1 on VSMC contractility and myosin light chain phosphorylation. In support of these in vitro and ex vivo results, Efnb1 KO mice on a high salt diet showed a statistically significant heightened increment of BP at multiple time points during stress compared with wild type littermates. Our results demonstrate that Efnb1 is a previously unknown negative regulator of VSMC contractility and BP and that it exerts such effects via reverse signaling through Grip1.     

Single point mutations enhance activity of <Emphasis Type="Italic">cis</Emphasis>-epoxysuccinate hydrolase

Objectives

To enhance activity of cis-epoxysuccinate hydrolase from Klebsiella sp. BK-58 for converting cis-epoxysuccinate to tartrate.

Results

By semi-saturation mutagenesis, all the mutants of the six important conserved residues almost completely lost activity. Then random mutation by error-prone PCR and high throughput screening were further performed to screen higher activity enzyme. We obtained a positive mutant F10D after screening 6000 mutations. Saturation mutagenesis on residues Phe10 showed that most of mutants exhibited higher activity than the wild-type, and the highest mutant was F10Q with activity of 812 U mg^?1 (k _cat /K _m , 9.8 ± 0.1 mM^?1 s^?1), which was 230 % higher than that of wild-type enzyme 355 U mg^?1 (k _cat /K _m , 5.3 ± 0.1 mM^?1 s^?1). However, the thermostability of the mutant F10Q slightly decreased.

Conclusions

The catalytic activity of a cis-epoxysuccinate hydrolase was efficient improved by a single mutation F10Q and Phe10 might play an important role in the catalysis.

     

AC—PCR法检测连云港海域贝类HAV

为了解连云港海域贝类甲型肝炎病毒（ＨＡＶ）污染状况,证实其在本地区甲肝传播中的媒介地位,我们应用抗体捕捉聚合酶链反应（ＡＣ／ＰＣＲ）检测市售贝类的ＨＡＶ,结果报告如下：材料和方法１贝类样品于１９９６年春、秋二季采集新浦区、连云区和赣榆县等地水产品市场...     

Structural and expression analyses of three PmCBFs from Prunus mume

C-repeat binding factor (CBF), also called the dehydration-responsive element binding factor 1 (DREB1), can be induced by low-temperature (LT), and plays an important role in abiotic stress tolerance in higher plants. In present study, two new homologous genes of CBF from Prunus mume (PmCBFb and PmCBFc) have been identified and characterized. The complete coding sequences of PmCBFb and PmCBFc were 714 and 723 bp, respectively. They encoded putative proteins of 237 and 240 amino acids. Neither of them had introns. Genome PCR sequencing showed that PmCBFb was arranged in tandem with PmCBFa (another CBF/DREB1 homolog in P. mume) within a region of nearly 4 kb. Promoter prediction analyses indicated that multiple types of cis-elements related to abiotic stress and irradiance existed in the putative promoter region of PmCBFb. LT treatment of seedlings showed that the expression of PmCBF genes were induced by 2 °C within 30 min, and their expression reached a peak after 8–12 h. In addition, PmCBFa and PmCBFb appeared more sensitive to LT than PmCBFc. However, the exact roles of PmCBF genes in plant cold tolerance need to be further investigated.