Conidioma production of the white root rot fungus in axenic culture under near-ultraviolet light radiation

 Conidiomata of the white root rot fungus were produced in axenic culture under near-ultraviolet light radiation. Pieces of sterilized Japanese pear twigs were placed on 7-day-old oatmeal agar culture in plates. The plates were further incubated for 5 days and then illuminated by near-ultraviolet light. Synnemata developed on the twigs within 5 weeks in 19 of 20 isolates tested, and conidia were observed in 12 of the 19 isolates. The synnemata and conidia produced were morphologically identical to those of Dematophora necatrix. Received: October 29, 2001 / Accepted: March 11, 2002     

In vivo production of recombinant protein by a baculovirus vector inoculated perorally to the prefinal instar larvae of Bombyx mori L. (Lep., Bombycidae) aided by an optical brightener, Tinopal UNPA-GX

Abstract: Budded particles of nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) were found to infect perorally the 4th (prefinal) instar larvae of Bombyx mori L. that were treated by an optical brightener, Tinopal UNPA-GX (Tinopal). Host larvae were fed a diet containing 0.3% (w/w) Tinopal on day 1 in the 4th instar and then fed a diet contaminated by budded particles of NPV (1.0 × 10⁶ TCID₅₀ U/larva) that was pathogenic to B . mori (BmNPV) on day 2 (inoculation schedule 1). Another set of host larvae was fed a diet containing BmNPV budded particles (2.5 × 10⁶ TCID₅₀ U/larva) together with 0.3% (w/w) Tinopal on day 1 in the 4th instar (inoculation schedule 2). Host larvae treated by both schedules died of viral infection. The operation of schedule 2 is simpler than that of schedule 1, although the former required higher doses of the virus for satisfactory infection. We inoculated a baculovirus vector carrying human serum albumin (HSA) gene into 4th instar B . mori larvae by schedule 1. Recombinant HSA was detected in the homogenate of host larvae 4 days after inoculation. The peroral inoculation of BmNPV budded particles aided by Tinopal may thus lead to industrial pharmaceutical production using a baculovirus vector for large numbers of insect hosts.     

The mechanism of increased elution volume of proteins by polyethylene glycol

Larger elution volumes of proteins in gel filtration in the presence of polyethylene glycol than in its absence were explained in terms of the unfavorable interactions between polyethylene glycol and both the proteins and the gel matrix. This should favor the protein molecules being in the cavity of the gel matrix, leading to their slower elution, since, in this situation, the unfavorable interactions are decreased.     

Prosody Discrimination by Songbirds (Padda oryzivora)

In human verbal communication, not only lexical information, but also paralinguistic information plays an important role in transmitting the speakers’ mental state. Paralinguistic information is conveyed mainly through acoustic features like pitch, rhythm, tempo and so on. These acoustic features are generally known as prosody. It is known that some species of birds can discriminate certain aspects of human speech. However, there have not been any studies on the discrimination of prosody in human language which convey different paralinguistic meanings by birds. In the present study, we have shown that the Java sparrow (Padda oryzivora) can discriminate different prosodic patterns of Japanese sentences. These birds could generalize prosodic discrimination to novel sentences, but could not generalize sentence discrimination to those with novel prosody. Moreover, unlike Japanese speakers, Java sparrows used the first part of the utterance as the discrimination cue.     

Dehydration-induced conformational transitions in proteins and their inhibition by stabilizers.

Dehydration of proteins results in significant, measurable conformational changes as observed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and resolution-enhancement techniques. For several proteins these conformational changes are at least partially irreversible, since, upon rehydration, denaturation and aggregation are observed. The presence of certain stabilizers inhibited these dehydration-induced transitions; the native structure was preserved in the dried state and upon reconstitution. Conformational transitions were also observed in a model polypeptide, poly-L-lysine, after lyophilization and were inhibited with the addition of stabilizing cosolutes. The ability of a particular additive to preserve the aqueous structure of dehydrated proteins and poly-L-lysine upon dehydration correlates directly with its ability to preserve the activity of lactate dehydrogenase, a labile enzyme, during drying.     

Some Possible Evidences for an Alteration in the Actin-Myosin Interaction in Stored Muscle

A two-dimensional mapping analysis was performed by HPLC for 4 kinds of standard galactosyllactoses (GLs, trisaccharide) which were assumed to be produced from lactose (galactopyranosylβ1→4 glucopyranose) in yogurt during the fermentation of lactic acid bacteria. After the pyridylamination of GLs, they were analyzed by HPLC in the reverse-phase (RP) and anion-exchange (AE) modes. The retention times of each peak obtained were converted to glucose units (GU) in RP mode for the pyridylaminated isomaltooligosaccharides (G1-3) and to relative retention time (RRT) in AE mode against pyridylaminated-isomaltotriose, and then the address data [GU, RRT] were plotted on a graph. This two-dimensional mapping method was found useful for a rapid qualitative evaluation of the chemical structure of trisaccharides formed in yogurt.     

Experimental Models for Prevention of Graft-versus-Host Reaction in Bone Marrow Transfusion

Induction and suppression of splenomegaly and cytotoxicity against C57BL/6 cells were studied in (AKR × C57BL/6) F1 hybrid adult mice after the transfer of AKR lymphoid and bone marrow cells. 1) Splenomegaly and cytotoxicity were dissociated in the developmental stages of the graft-versus-host reaction. When lymphoid and bone marrow cells of normal AKR mice were injected into F1 recipients, splenomegaly was prominent on days 5 and 7, but cytotoxicity of spleen cells was not detected. Splenomegaly became less prominent but the cytotoxicity became detectable on day 14 after the injection. 2) Cytotoxic activity of spleen cells of F1 recipients was suppressed by the treatment of AKR donors with C57BL/6 lymphoid cells in Freund's complete adjuvant. Splenomegaly, however, was substantially enhanced by such a treatment of the donors. On the other hand, induction of the cytotoxic activity was facilitated by the treatment of donors with C57BL/6 skin grafts. 3) F1 hybrid mice could be protected from the graft-versus-host reaction by the injection of AKR anti-C57BL/6 serum or pretreatment of AKR donors with sonicated cellular antigens of C57BL/6.