Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and assessment of factors influ-encing transgene expression in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.)

INTRODUCTIONRecombinant DNA technology is a powerful toolfor the introduction of foreign genes into longlivedperennials and fOr fundamelltal studies of gene expression. Using such techniques, we can overcomethe difficulties associated with the breeding of a long-lived perennial. At present, although considerablereseaxch effort has been devoted to the genetic en-gineering of fOrest trees, it has lagged behind ad-vances made in herbaceous crops due both to eco-nomics and the recalcitrant n…     

Regulation and Prediction of Enzyme Activity in Reversed Micelles

The rate of cholesterol oxidation has been studied in cholesterol oxidase containing reversed micellar media consisting of the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), the surfactant octanol, a buffered aqueous solution, and a variety of organic solvents. By varying the composition of the medium systematically it could be deduced that the rate of cholesterol oxidation obeys the same rules as described earlier for the conversion of apolar steroids by 20β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in CTAB-hexanol-organic solvent reversed micelles (Hilhorst et al. 1984). The general applicability of these rules in optimizing biocatalysis in reversed micelles is discussed.     

A likelihood method for the detection of selection and recombination using nucleotide sequences

Different regions along nucleotide sequences are often subject to different evolutionary forces. Recombination will result in regions having different evolutionary histories, while selection can cause regions to evolve at different rates. This paper presents a statistical method based on likelihood for detecting such processes by identifying the regions which do not fit with a single phylogenetic topology and nucleotide substitution process along the entire sequence. Subsequent reanalysis of these anomalous regions may then be possible. The method is tested using simulations, and its application is demonstrated using the primate psi eta-globin pseudogene, the V3 region of the envelope gene of HIV-1, and argF sequences from Neisseria bacteria. Reanalysis of anomalous regions is shown to reveal possible immune selection in HIV-1 and recombination in Neisseria. A computer program which implements the method is available.      

Endogenous prolyl 4-hydroxylation in Hansenula polymorpha and its use for the production of hydroxylated recombinant gelatin

Several yeast systems have recently been developed for the recombinant production of gelatin and collagen. Amino acid sequence-specific prolyl 4-hydroxylation is essential for the gel-forming capacity of gelatin and for the proper folding of (pro)collagen. This post-translational modification is generally considered to be absent in microbial eukaryotic systems and therefore co-expression of heterologous (human or animal) prolyl 4-hydroxylase would be required. However, we found that the well-known protein expression host Hansenula polymorpha unexpectedly does have the endogenous capacity for prolyl 4-hydroxylation. Without co-expression of a heterologous prolyl 4-hydroxylase, both an endogenous collagen-like protein and a heterologously expressed collagen fragment were found to be sequence-specifically hydroxylated.     

Effect of some analgesics on Paraoxonase-1 purified from human serum

The in vitro effects of the analgesic drugs, lornoxicam, indomethacin, tenoxicam, diclofenac sodium, ketoprofen and lincomycine, on the activity of purified human serum paraoxonase (hPON1) (EC 3.1.8.1.) were evaluated. hPON1 was purified from human serum with a final specific activity of 3840 U mg^?1 and a purity of 25.3 % using simple chromatographic methods, including DEAE-Sephadex anion exchange and Sepharose 4B-L-tyrozine-1-napthylamine hydrophobic interaction chromatography. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated a single protein band corresponding to hPON1. The six analgesics dose-dependently decreased in vitro hPON1 activity, with IC₅₀ values for lornoxicam, indomethacin, tenoxicam, diclofenac sodium, ketoprofen and lincomycine of 0.136, 0.195, 0.340, 1.639, 6.23 and 9.638 mM, respectively. K_i constants were 0.009, 0.097, 0.306, 0.805, 13.010 and 11.116 mM, respectively. Analgesics showed different inhibition mechanisms: lornoxicam, diclofenac sodium and lincomycine were uncompetitive, indomethacin and tenoxicam were competitive, ketoprofen was noncompetitive. According to the results, inhibition potency was lornoxicam>indomethacin>tenoxicam> diclofenac sodium>ketoprofen> lincomycine.     

Medium-Engineering For Bio-Organic Synthesis

An account is given on the state of the art of medium-engineering for bio-organic synthesis. Medium-engineering means designing (micro)environments for the biocatalyst with the objective of reaching maximal activity, stability and hence productivity. Medium-engineering therefore involves aspects such as stabilizing the essential water layer around the biocatalyst, controlling electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between matrix, reactants and biocatalyst, as well as optimizing substrate and product fluxes through the entire biocatalytic system. Where possible, some general rules have been derived, which might be of help in designing media for bio-organic synthesis.     

Steroid conversions by Flavobacterium dehydrogenans in two-liquid-phase systems

The production of 4-androstene-3, 17-dione by Flavobacterium dehydrogenans from androstenolone-acetate in octane/culture (v/v = 1:1) two-liquid phase systems was compared with the conversion rate in a Tween-containing medium commonly used in industry, and in a culture where no organic solvent or detergent was added. Variation of the cell density of the cultures at the moment of steroid, Tween, and/or organic solvent addition showed that the highest conversion rate in the three systems was reached with cells which were in the late exponential growth stage. The rate of 4-androstene-3, 17-dione production at the optimal cell density in the two-liquid-phase system and Tween medium were ca. 6 and 1(1/2) times as high, respectively, as in the aqueous medium without addition. The beneficial effect of octane on the rate of steroid conversion during growth could be explained by viability changes as measured by a new method to determine viability. Furthermore, our results show that a very high degree of conversion can be reached in the two-liquid-phase system [more than 98% (w/w)] which cannot be obtained in an aqueous medium. An easy way to recover the product in high purity is proposed.     

Detection of microspheres in vivo using multispectral optoacoustic tomography

We introduce a new approach to detect individual microparticles that contain NIR fluorescent dye by multispectral optoacoustic tomography in the context of the hemoglobin-rich environment within murine liver. We encapsulated a near infrared (NIR) fluorescent dye within polystyrene microspheres, then injected them into the ileocolic vein, which drains to the liver. NIR absorption was determined using multispectral optoacoustic tomography. To quantitate the minimum diameter of microspheres, we used both colorimetric and spatial information to segment the regions in which the microspheres appear. Regional diameter was estimated by doubling the maximum regional distance. We found that the minimum microsphere size threshold for detection by multispectral optoacoustic tomography images is 78.9 µm.