Purification and characterization of microbial gellan lyase.

Gellan lyase was purified from the culture fluid of soil samples incubated in a medium containing gellan as a sole carbon source. The enzyme was a monomer with a molecular mass of 140 kDa and was most active at pH 7.5 and 45 degrees C. The enzyme was highly specific to gellan and lowered the viscosity of the polymer.     

Hollow-Fibre Enzyme Reactor Integrated with Solvent Extraction for Synthesis of Aspartame Precursor

A new process for the simultaneous enzymic synthesis and purification of N-(benzyloxycarbonyl)- -aspartyl- -phenylalanine methyl ester (ZAPM), a precursor of aspartame, has been developed. The enzymic reaction between N-(benzyloxycarbonyl)- -aspartic acid (ZA) and -phenylalanine methyl ester (PM) was carried out in a biphasic hollow-fibre rector with an aqueous phase an a butyl acetate phase. The reaction took place in the aqueous phase and by maintaining the pH at 5, the product (ZAPM) was extracted into the organic phase. Product purity was greater than 90% and reasonable productivity could be achieved with this system.     

Isolation of a bacterium that causes anaaki disease of the red algae Porphyra yezoensis

Anaaki disease causes severe damage to the red algae Porphyra yezoensis from which the Japanese traditional food 'nori'is produced. The causative agent of anaaki disease was isolated by several repeats of single-colony isolation and infection experiments, and was identified as Flavobacterium sp. LAD-1. The bacterium showed hydrolytic activity toward porphyran but not toward other polysaccharides composing the thallus of Porphyra , such as β-1,3-xylan or β-1,4-mannan. The bacterium also showed β-D-galactosidase activity.     

An on-line advisory control system for the lactic acid fermentation process

A fuzzy expert system was developed for online diagnosing and controlling of bioprocesses. The system was constructed in object-oriented Smalltalk/V for diagnosing and controlling of bioprocesses. Lactic acid fermentation with an industrial strain ofLactobacillus casei was chosen as the model system. The performance of the fuzzy expert system and the knowledge base utilizing experts' knowledge and several facts obtained from the experiments were successfully validated with on-line fermentations. The fuzzy expert system could diagnose a fault on-line and give reasonable advice to the process operator. In order to achieve the diagnosing faculty, a database, a knowledge base, and both backward and forward chaining procedures were implemented employing the object-oriented programming environment. A defuzzifier was implemented in the system to achieve on-line control. In order to realize a decision-making system with a human operator and a fuzzy expert system, a new control strategy namedAdvice was also introduced. Several cultivations were carried out in order to collect knowledge on the effects concerned with inoculum properties to the process and to construct a database including standard time-course profiles. The performance of the fuzzy expert control system was successfully tested with on-line experiments.Visiting scientist from HUT at RIKEN     

Common mutations in the phosphofructokinase-M gene in Ashkenazi Jewish patients with glycogenesis VII--and their population frequency.

Phosphofructokinase (PFK) catalyzes the rate-limiting step of glycolysis. Deficiency of the muscle enzyme is manifested by exercise intolerance and a compensated hemolytic anemia. Case reports of this autosomal recessive disease suggest a predominance in Ashkenazi Jews in the United States. We have explored the genetic basis for this illness in nine affected families and surveyed the normal Ashkenazi population for the mutations we have found. Genomic DNA was amplified using PCR, and denaturing gradient-gel electrophoresis was used to localize exons with possible mutations. The polymorphic exons were sequenced or digested with restriction enzymes. A previously described splicing mutation, delta 5, accounted for 11 (61%) of 18 abnormal alleles in the nine families. A single base deletion leading to a frameshift mutation in exon 22 (delta C-22) was found in six of seven alleles. A third mutation, resulting in a nonconservative amino acid substitution in exon 4, accounted for the remaining allele. Thus, three mutations could account for all illness in this group, and two mutations could account for 17 of 18 alleles. In screening 250 normal Ashkenazi individuals for all three mutations, we found only one delta 5 allele. Clinical data revealed no correlation between the particular mutations and symptoms, but male patients were more symptomatic than females, and only males had frank hemolysis and hyperuricemia. Because PFK deficiency in Ashkenazi Jews is caused by a limited number of mutations, screening genomic DNA from peripheral blood for the described mutations in this population should enable rapid diagnosis without muscle biopsy.     

Characterization of a Chlamydia pneumoniae Strain Isolated from a 57-Year-Old Man

The isolation of Chlamydia pneumoniae, especially from elderly persons, is generally not easy. Recently, we succeeded in isolating a chlamydial strain, which was designated KKpn-15, from a 57-year-old man suffering from acute bronchitis. It was compared with well established strains of C. pneumoniae, C. trachomatis and C. psittaci, and its biological properties, such as the morphology of elementary bodies (EBs) and inclusions, and the immunochemistry of EB proteins, were investigated. Based on the results obtained in the present study, it was confirmed that the new chlamydial strain, KKpn-15, is a member of the C. pneumoniae strain and that the organisms of KKpn-15 are useful as an antigen for the serodiagnosis and epidemiology of C. pneumoniae infection.     

The 65-kDa cytosolic protein associated with warm temperature acclimation in goldfish,Carassius auratus

Goldfish Carassius auratus were acclimated to either 10 or 30°C for a minimum of 5 weeks. A 65-kDa protein specific to warm-temperature-acclimated fish was extracted from the gel with 70% formic acid after two-dimensional electrophoresis of the muscle cytoplasmic protein fraction. The 65-kDa protein thus prepared to homogeneity was used to raise specific antibodies in rabbit by conventional methods. The antibody produced exhibited specific reaction with a protein having the same molecular weight from brain and liver tissue, suggesting that the 65-kDa protein is a ubiquitous cytosolic component in warm-acclimated goldfish. When water temperature was increased from 20 to 30°C over a 20-h period, a prominent amount of the 65-kDa protein was observed in muscle tissue extracts within 5 days of additional rearing; this was demonstrated by immunoblotting with the specific antibody. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the 65-kDa protein was determined as Asp-Glu-Pro-Gln-Gly-His-Gln-His (or Asp)-Glu-Leu, differing from that of a family of known heat-shock proteins having about 70 kDa in molecular mass (hsp 70). No interaction between ATP and the 65-kDa protein revealed by ATP-agarose affinity chromatography further confirmed the different properties of the 65-kDa protein from those of hsp 70.Abbreviations ATP adenosine 5-triphosphate - hsp heat-shock protein(s) - IgG immunoglobulin G - mRNA messenger ribonucleic acid - PMSF phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride - PVDF polyvinylidene difluoride - SDS sodium dodecyl sulphate - SDS-PAGE SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis     

Soil-eating byAlouatta andAteles

Among 12 species of New World monkeys studied in La Macarena Region and the River Caquetá basin of Colombia, onlyAlouatta seniculus andAteles belzebuth were frequently observed to eat soil. They do this at particular sites on the ground called salados by local people. They also eat termite nests found on tree trunks. OnlyAteles drink the water of salado sites. The chemical properties of 17 soil samples and 5 water samples were analyzed. The results are discussed in relation to the question of whyAlouatta andAteles eat soil.     

Characterization of a temperature-sensitive influenza B virus mutant defective in neuraminidase.

ts5, a temperature-sensitive mutant of influenza B virus, belongs to one of seven recombination groups. When the mutant infected MDCK cells at the nonpermissive temperature (37.5 degrees C), infectious virus was produced at very low levels compared with the yield at the permissive temperature (32 degrees C) and hemagglutinating and enzymatic activities were undetectable. However, viral protein synthesis and transport of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) to the cell surface were not affected. The NA was found as a monomer within cells even at 32 degrees C, in contrast to wild-type virus NA, existing mostly as an oligomer, but the mutant had oligomeric NA, like the wild-type virus. Its enzymatic activity was more thermolabile than that of wild-type virus. Despite the low yield, large aggregates of progeny virus particles were found to accumulate on the cell surface at the nonpermissive temperature, and these aggregates were broken by treatment with bacterial neuraminidase, with the concomitant appearance of hemagglutinating activity, suggesting that NA prevents the aggregation of progeny virus by removal of neuraminic acid from HA and cell receptor, allowing its release from the cells. Further treatment with trypsin resulted in the recovery of infectivity. When bacterial NA was added to the culture early in infection, many hemagglutinable infectious virus was produced. We also suggest that the removal of neuraminic acid from HA by NA is essential for the subsequent cleavage of HA by cellular protease. Nucleotide sequence analysis of RNA segment 6 revealed that ts5 encoded five amino acid changes in the NA molecule but not in NB.