New killing system controlled by two genes located immediately upstream of the mukB gene in Escherichia coli

The nucleotide sequence was determined of the region upstream of the mukB gene of Escherichia coli. Two new genes were found, designated kicA and kicB (killing of cell); the gene order is kicB-kicA-mukB. Promoter activities were detected in the regions immediately upstream of kicB and kicA, but not in front of mukB. Gene disruption experiments revealed that the kicA disruptant was nonviable, but the kicB-disrupted mutant and the mutant lacking both the kicB and kicA genes were able to grow. When kicA disruptant cells bearing a temperature-sensitive replication plasmid carrying the kicA ⁺ gene were grown at 30° C and then transferred to 42° C, the mutant cells gradually lost colony-forming ability, even in the presence of a mukB ⁺ plasmid. Rates of protein synthesis, but not of RNA or DNA synthesis, fell dramatically during incubation at 42° C. These results suggested that the kicB gene encodes a killing factor and the kicA gene codes for a protein that suppresses the killing function of the kicB gene product. It was also demonstrated that KicA and KicB can function as a post-segregational killing system, when the genes are transferred from the E. coli chromosome onto a plasmid.     

Characterization of proteins by means of their buffer capacity, measured with an ISFET-based coulometric sensor—actuator system

Proteins form the specific selector in many biochemical sensors. A change in one of the properties of such a protein has to be detected by an appropriate transducer, which completes the biochemical sensor. One of these properties is the buffer capacity of a protein. If the binding of a substance to a protein can significantly change the proton binding, which accounts for the buffer capacity of proteins, the detection of this changed buffer capacity enables the construction of a new type of biosensor.

It will be shown that the buffer capacity can be measured with an ISFET-based sensor—actuator device. The alternating generation of protons and hydroxyl ions by alternating current coulometry at a porous noble metal actuator electrode causes an associated small pH perturbation, which is detected by the underlying pH-sensitive ISFET. The amplitude of the measured signal is a function of the buffer capacity of the solute, in which proteins can be present (or these proteins can be adsorbed in the porous actuator electrode of the device). A model describing the transfer function from the electrical input signal of the actuator to the resulting chemical output, which is subsequently detected by the ISFET pH sensor, is presented. Preliminary results of the measured buffer capacity of ribonuclease and lysozyme are presented.     

银杏授粉研究初报

本文报道银杏授粉的适宜品种,气候条件、不同时期、方法、浓度、雌花不同发育阶段等试验结果．为提高银杏的座果率提供有效的技术措施。     

ON A NEW PTEROSAUR (ZHEJIANGOPTERUS LINHAIENSIS GEN. ET SP. NOV.) FROM UPPER CRETACEOUS IN LINHAI, ZHEJIANG, CHINA

Largepterosaurwithamaximumwingspanofmorethan5metres.Theskullislowerandlonger,withoutmiddlecrestorsupraoccipita1crest.ThenasaIandpre-orbita1fenestraareconfluentcompletely,andoccupyaboutha1foftheskulI1ength.Thetoothlessbeakisslenderandpointed.The1ongneckiscomposedbyse-venslendercervicalvertebrae.Thenotariumconsistsofsixco-ossifiedanteriordorsalvertebrae-ThetaiIisextremlyshort.lthassixpairsof"A"shapegastralia.Theanteriorlimbsarestrong;thehumerusarethickandshort;thewing-metacarpalbonearelongert…     

高效液相色谱法测定猫豆中左旋多巴的含量

本文用高效液相色谱法测定了猫豆中主旋多巴［Ｌｅｖｏｄｏｐａ］的含量。考察了加样回收率为９８．７０％,变异系数为１．９９％。     

广东封开县罗沙岩洞穴遗址第一期发掘简报

封开罗沙岩第一期发掘,出土了一些打制石器,它们有明确的地层,并有绝对年代测定数据,有助于解决广东是否有旧石器文化的争论。     

Detection of gaps in sinusoids by frog auditory nerve fibers: importance in AM coding

Physiological studies were carried out in the frog (Rana pipiens pipiens) eighth nerve to determine: (i) whether the modulation rate or the silent gap was the salient feature that set the upper limit of time-locking to pulsed amplitude-modulated (PAM) stimuli, (ii) the gap detection capacity of individual eighth nerve fibers. Time-locked responses of 79 eighth nerve fibers to PAM stimuli (at the fiber's characteristic frequency) showed that the synchronization coefficient was a low-pass function of the modulation rate. In response to PAM stimuli having different pulse durations, a fiber gave rise to non-overlapping modulation transfer functions. The upper cut-off frequency of time locking was higher when tonepulses in PAM stimuli had shorter duration. The fact that the cut-off frequency was different for the different PAM series suggested that the AM rate was neither the sole, nor the main, determinant for the decay in time-locking at high AM rates. Gap detection capacity was determined for 69 eighth nerve fibers by assessing fiber's spiking activities to paired tone-pulses during an OFF-window and an ON-window. It was found that the minimum detectable gap of eighth nerve fibers ranged from 0.5 to 10 ms with an average of 1.23–2.16 ms depending on the duration of paired tone pulses. For each fiber, the minimum detectable gap was longer when the duration of tone pulses comprising the twin-pulse stimuli was more than four times longer. When the synchronization coefficient was plotted against the silent gap between tones pulses in the PAM stimuli, the gap response functions of a fiber as derived from multiple PAM series were equivalent to gap response functions deriving from twin-pulse series suggesting that it was the silent gap which primarily determined the upper limit of time-locking to PAM stimuli.Abbreviations MTF modulation transfer function - PAM pulse amplitude modulated - SAM sinusoidally amplitude modulated - SC synchronization coefficient - TW time window     

斑须蝽三代卵块的空间分布和田间抽样技术研究

通过田间调查和计算,明确了斑须蝽三代卵块呈聚集分布,且以负二项分布为主。理论抽样数当t＝1．00,D＝0．3时,n＝13．091/＋63．878,如果防治指标定为百株虫卵块12块时,则最大抽样数为173株,序贯抽样的累积虫卵块数量界限为：T0（N）＝0.12N±0．4735。田间随机取样以平行线和Z字形为最佳。     

水稻品种对白背飞虱种群增长的影响

白背飞虱在不同类型水稻品种上的分布、趋性、发育和繁殖力是不同的。它喜欢在杂交稻（汕优6号）上生活和繁殖,取食后成虫寿命最长,取食量、产卵趋性、产卵量、田间虫量均最大,种群增长快;在粳稻上却相反;常规灿稻和糯稻介于二者之间。在同一类型品种中,抗虫品种比感虫品种在上述特性方面差异明显。说明抗虫育种和种植抗虫品种是对该害虫综合治理的一项关键技术。     

A simple procedure for the expression of genes in transgenic soybean callus tissue

Cotyledons from germinating seeds of the soybean cultivar Peking were inoculated with virulent Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain A281:pZA-7 which carries a wild type Ti plasmid pTiBo542 and a disarmed Ti plasmid (a binary vector)pZA-7 which contains the glucuronidase (uidA) and neomycin phosphotransferase (nptII) genes. Tumors were produced on all inoculated explants and 82% of these tumor lines were cotransformed by the nptII gene from the binary vector pZA-7 as shown by PCR analysis (18 of 22 lines tested). Eleven of these 18 lines were also resistant to kanamycin. Eleven lines expressed -glucuronidase activity (GUS), six of which were also kanamycin resistant. Since there is a high rate of coexpression of genes carried by the binary vector, this system provides a simple and rapid method for the expression of genes of interest in transformed soybean tissue which has been used successfully to test constructs designed for soybean transformation.