Radioecological investigation of the soil cover of eastern Urals State radioactive reserve and neighboring areas

The contamination levels and spatial distribution of 90Sr and 137Cs in the soil cover of the Eastern Ural State Radioactive Reserve and neighboring areas have been studied. Situated in the Chelyabinsk region, the Reserve embraces the frontal part of the Eastern Urals Radioactive Trace. This Trace emerged in 1957 as a result of the nuclear accident at the Production Association "Mayak". In the studied areas, the content of radionuclides in soils decreases exponentially as the distance from the source of contamination increases. 90Sr received by the soil cover as a result of the accident in 1957 has remained the main contaminant of the Reserve central part (97% of the total contamination). Its contribution throughout western neighboring areas reduces up to 67%, which decreases the effect of 90Sr on the environment. Within eastern neighboring areas, soil is mainly contaminated by 137Cs received as a result of the wind disseminated dried sediments from the shores of Lake Karachay (1967) that was used for dumping high-level radioactive waste. Also observed was enrichment of forest litters with this radionuclide due to current atmospheric fallout.     

Plutonium at the ecosystems of impact zone the Beloyarsk NPP

The distribution of the plutonium at the ecosystems of impact zone the Beloyarsk NPP was studied. Higher quantity of Pu (to 500 Bq/m2) was revealed in the bottom sediments of the Olkhovsk bog where low-level radioactive water of the Beloyarsk NPP have been discharged. The total amount of the radionuclide in a soil cover did not exceed 140 Bq/m2. The contribution of the Beloyarsk NPP to contamination of the investigated ecosystems was accounted with using ratio 238Pu/239.240Pu. It was 64.1-99.3% both in the bottom sediments and soils.     

用抗性筛选法选育γ—亚麻酸（GLA）高产菌株

以深黄被孢霉（Mortierella isabellina）为出发菌株,经紫外线诱变处理,采用抗性筛选法,直接在梯度平板上挑选取抗脂肪酸脱氢酶抑制物抑芽丹（maleic hydrazide）的菌株进行初筛,然后经摇瓶发酵法测定相关性能指标进行得筛,获得一株生产性能比出发菌株显提高的突变株M80,其菌体收率达25.10g/L、油脂产率达12.35g/L、γ-亚麻酸（GLA）产率达771.88mg/L。     

Horizontal transmission, vertical inactivation, and stochastic loss of mariner-like transposable elements

Horizontal transmission has been well documented as a major mechanism for the dissemination of mariner-like elements (MLEs) among species. Less well understood are mechanisms that limit vertical transmission of MLEs resulting in the "spotty" or discontinuous distribution observed in closely related species. In this article we present evidence that the genome of the common ancestor of the melanogaster species subgroup of Drosophila contained an MLE related to the mellifera (honey bee) subfamily. Horizontal transmission, approximately 3-10 MYA, is strongly suggested by the observation that the sequence of the MLE in Drosophila erecta is 97% identical in nucleotide sequence with that of an MLE in the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis. The D. erecta MLE has a spotty distribution among species in the melanogaster subgroup. The element has a high copy number in D. erecta and D. orena, a moderate copy number in D. teissieri and D. yakuba, and was apparently lost ("stochastic loss") in the lineage leading to D. melanogaster, D. simulans, D. mauritiana, and D. sechellia. In D. erecta, most copies are concentrated in the heterochromatin. Two copies from D. erecta, denoted De12 and De19, were cloned and sequenced, and they appear to be nonfunctional ("vertical inactivation"). It therefore appears that the predominant mode of MLE evolution is vertical inactivation and stochastic loss balanced against occasional reinvasion of lineages by horizontal transmission.      

An Electroacoustic Analysis for Determining the Effect of Amoxicillin on Microbial Cells

The probability of determining the effects of amoxicillin, which is one of β-lactam antibiotics, on microbial cells of Escherichia coli by the electroacoustic analysis method was shown for the first time. A piezoelectric resonator with a lateral electric field with a 1-mL liquid container was used as a biological sensor. It has been established that in the presence of amoxicillin the frequency dependence of the real and imaginary parts of the electrical impedance of a resonator loaded with a suspension of sensitive cells differs significantly from those of the resonator with a control of a microbial cell suspension without an antibiotic. When the resonator is loaded with the amoxicillin-resistant cell suspension, these dependencies are virtually the same. These results open prospects for the use of electroacoustic analysis methods to register the effect of β-lactam antibiotics on microbial cells and evaluate their antibacterial activity.     

Small steps or giant leaps for male-killers? Phylogenetic constraints to male-killer host shifts

Background  

Arthropods are infected by a wide diversity of maternally transmitted microbes. Some of these manipulate host reproduction to facilitate population invasion and persistence. Such parasites transmit vertically on an ecological timescale, but rare horizontal transmission events have permitted colonisation of new species. Here we report the first systematic investigation into the influence of the phylogenetic distance between arthropod species on the potential for reproductive parasite interspecific transfer.     

Obtaining the phage mini-antibodies and their use for detection of microbial cells by using an electro-acoustic sensor

The phage mini-antibodies to bacterial cells of strain Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 were obtained and the possibility of using them for detection of microbial cells by means of a lateral field excited piezoelectric resonator was studied. It has been found that the frequency dependencies of the real and imaginary parts of the electrical impedance of the resonator loaded by the cell suspension A. brasilense Sp245 with the mini-antibodies, significantly differ from those of the resonator with the control cell suspension without mini-antibodies. The concentration limit of possible determination of the microbial cells in their interaction with the mini-antibodies is equal to 10(3) cells/ml. It has been ascertained that detection of A. brasilense Sp245 cells using the mini-antibodies is possible even in the presence of other cultures, for example, E. coli BL-Ril and A. brasilense Sp7 cells. Therefore, it has been shown for the first time that detection of microbial cells by an electro-acoustic sensor is feasible.     

Ultrastructure of inclusion bodies in annulus cells in the degenerating human intervertebral disc

The rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) of the cell has an architectural editing function that checks whether protein structure and three-dimensional assembly have occurred properly prior to export of newly synthesized material out of the cell. If these have been faulty, the material is retained within the rER as an inclusion body. Inclusion bodies have been identified previously in chondrocytes and osteoblasts in chondrodysplasias and osteogenesis imperfecta. Inclusion bodies in intervertebral disc cells, however, have only recently been recognized. Our objectives were to use transmission electron microscopy to analyze more fully inclusion bodies in the annulus pulposus and to study the extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding cells containing inclusion bodies. ECM frequently encapsulated cells with inclusion bodies, and commonly contained prominent banded aggregates of Type VI collagen. Inclusion body material had several morphologies, including relatively smooth, homogeneous material, or a rougher, less homogeneous feature. Such findings expand our knowledge of the fine structure of the human disc cell and ECM during disc degeneration, and indicate the potential utility of ultrastructural identification of discs with intracellular inclusion bodies as a screening method for molecular studies directed toward identification of defective gene products in degenerating discs.     

Morphologic features of spontaneous annular tears and disc degeneration in the aging sand rat (Psammomys obesus obesus)

The sand rat, a member of the gerbil family, is a valuable small animal model in which intervertebral disc degeneration occurs spontaneously as the animal ages. Radiographic features of cervical and lumbar degeneration resemble those in human spines. We conducted a retrospective analysis of spines of 140 animals 3?41 months old focusing specifically on the presence of annular tears that are not visible by radiography and have not been described previously in the sand rat disc. During degeneration of the nucleus pulposus, notochordal cell death occurs and granular material, which stains with Alcian blue for proteoglycans, accumulates. Lamellar architecture also deteriorates and annular tears occur that are morphologically similar to the concentric, radiating and transdiscal annular tears in human discs. These tears contain granular material that provides a “marker” that can be used to distinguish the annular tears from artefactual separations during sectioning. We observed lamellar degeneration and separation in the annulus fibrosus at 4 months with associated tears that contained granular material in the nucleus. Tears that contained granular material and displacement of the degenerating nucleus were common in cervical and lumbar discs of animals older than 9 months; some specimens showed tears at 4 and 5 months. With advanced degeneration, granular globules were displaced dorsally adjacent to and into the spinal cord area and also ventrally into regions where osteophytes formed. We present morphologic data that expand the utility of this rodent model of spontaneous age-related disc degeneration and provide novel information on annular tears and disc degeneration.