Phylogenetic relationships in Carex, subgenus Vignea (Cyperaceae), based on ITS sequences

To evaluate the sectional classification in Carex, subgenus Vignea, the ITS region of 58 species of 20 sections was analyzed with Neighbor Joining (NJ) and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. Sections Dioicae, Physodeae and Ovales are found to be monophyletic, with C. bohemica well integrated in the section Ovales. Section Heleonastes turns out to be monophyletic, if C. canescens is treated separately in section Canescentes. Section Elongatae is monophyletic, but C. remota is placed in section Remotae and C. bromoides in section Deweyanae. In both analyses, six representatives of section Arenariae cluster together in a terminal group, whereas C. disticha, C. repens and C. siccata form a basal cluster. C. maritima, as the only member of section Incurvae, shares this basal position. C. chordorrhiza is ascribed to section Chordorrhizeae and not ascribed to the paraphyletic section Divisae. C. vulpina and C. otrubae are assigned to section Vulpinae and separated from the heterogeneous section Stenorhynchae. The other members of sections Divisae, Muehlenbergianae, Multiflorae and Stenorhynchae are scattered throughout the trees. The representatives of section Foetidae are dispersed in both analyses, section Paniculatae appears to be non-monophyletic in the molecular results as well. The subgenus appears subdivided in at least four larger subgroups in all analyses. Whereas these subgroups are strongly supported, the relationships between these subgroups remain only poorly resolved.     

Characterization and 400-MHz 1H-NMR analysis of urinary fucosyl glycoasparagines in fucosidosis

Fucosyl glycoasparagines accumulating in the urine of a patient with fucosidosis were isolated using reverse-phase HPLC. Structural analysis of 25 glycoasparagines was carried out by combination of methylation and 400-MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy analyses. The compounds represent different steps in the incomplete catabolism of N-glycosidically linked glycans, as the result of an alpha-L-fucosidase deficiency. All of the glycoasparagines possess a fucose residue alpha-1,6-linked to the GlcNAc 1 residue attached to asparagine. Fucose residues on the peripheral branches were linked either alpha-1,3 to GlcNAc residues (X determinant) or alpha-1,2 to galactose residues (H determinant). The present study allows precise assignments of the NMR parameters for most of the fucosyl linkages occurring in N-glycosidically linked glycans of the N-acetyllactosamine type.     

Photosynthetic apparatus of chilling-sensitive plants. XI. Reversibility by light of cold- and dark-induced inactivation of cyanide-sensitive superoxide dismutase activity in tomato leaf chloroplasts

(1) The inactivation of cyanide-sensitive, copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutase activity in chloroplasts following cold and dark storage of both detached leaves and growing tomato plants is accompanied by a decrease in copper and zinc content in both chloroplast preparations and butanol extracts of the enzyme. In contrast, this treatment of chloroplast preparations affects neither superoxide dismutase activity nor copper and zinc content. (2) Copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutase is not reactivated following the 2–3 h illumination of cold- and dark-stored detached leaves. However, prolonged illumination of growing seedlings results in the restoration of both the enzyme activity and copper and zinc content in chloroplasts. (3) The data suggest that the dissociation of copper, and probably of zinc, from the enzyme during cold and dark treatment of either detached leaves or growing plants and reincorporation of the metals following the illumination of intact plants are responsible for the reversible inactivation of chloroplast cyanide-sensitive superoxide dismutase of chilling-sensitive plants.     

The release of N-acetyl- and N-glycolloyl-neuraminic acid from soluble complex carbohydrates and erythrocytes by bacterial, viral and mammalian sialidases.

A series of substrates, sialyl(2 leads to 6)GalNAc and ganglioside GM3, containing either N-acetylneuraminic acid (AcNeu) or N-glycolloylneuraminic acid (GcNeu), has been prepared. The trisaccharide GcNeu(2 leads to 3)lactose was preapred by ozonolysis of GcNeu-GM3, and the disaccharides AcNeu(2 leads to 6)GalNAc and GcNeu(2 leads to 6)GalNAc were isolated from bovine submandibular-gland mucin by alkali elimination. Sialidases from Newcastle-disease virus, fowl-plague virus, influenza virus A2, Clostridium perfringens, Vibrio cholerae, Arthrobacter ureafaciens and human liver lysosomes were studied with the above substrates and all showed poorer cleavage of GcNeu-containing substrates when compared with the corresponding AcNeu-containing compounds. This was reflected in the Km and Vmax. values of these sialidases. Differences between viral and bacterial sialidases could be detected on the basis of their kinetic constants and time curves of sialic acid release. Preferred release of AcNeu relative to GcNeu was also observed with bovine submandibular gland mucin and a mixture of human and porcine erythrocytes, macromolecular substrates containing both AcNeu and GcNeu. The significance of differential cleavage of AcNeu and GcNeu by sialidases is considered together with examples of the role of GcNeu in physiologicaL systems.     

Primary structure of four human milk octa-, nona-, and undeca-saccharides established by 1H- and 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

The structures of two octasaccharides, one nonasaccharide, and one undecasaccharide, isolated from human milk, have been investigated by 1H- and 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The structures of these oligosaccharides are: beta-D-Galp-(1----4)-[alpha-L-Fucp- (1----3)]-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1----3)-beta-D-Galp-(1----4)-[alpha-L-Fucp+ ++- (1----3)]-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1----3)-beta-D-Galp-(1----4)-D-Glc; beta-D-GALp-(1----3)-[alpha-L-Fucp-(1----4)]-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1---- 3)-beta-D - Galp-(1----4)-[alpha-L-Fucp-(1----3)]-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1----3)-beta -D-Galp- (1----4)-D-Glc; beta-D-Galp-(1----4)-[alpha-L-Fucp-(1----3)]-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1---- 6)-(alpha - L-Fucp-(1----2)-beta-D-Gal-(1----3)-[alpha-L-Fucp-(1----4)]- beta-D-GlcpNAc- (1----3))-beta-D-Galp-(1----4)-D-Glc; and alpha-L-Fucp-(1----2)-beta-D-Galp-(1----3)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1----3) -beta-D- Galp-(1----4)-[alpha-L-Fucp-(1----3)]-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1----6)-[alp ha-L- Fucp-(1----2)-beta-D-Galp-(1----3)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1----3)]-beta-D -Galp- (1----4)-D-Glc. The two octasaccharides have been previously isolated from human milk as a mixture, and in a pure form from new-born feces, but the n.m.r. data were not provided. These two octasaccharides display the di-Lewis X and the composite Lewis A-Lewis X antigenic determinant, previously described as neo-antigens of adenocarcinoma cell lines.