Growth and development of maxipak wheat as affected by soil salinity and moisture levels

The effect of soil salinity and soil moisture on the growth and yield of maxipak wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was studied in a lath-house experiment in whih, chloride-sulphate salt mixtures were used to artificially salinize a sandy loam soil from Al-Jadyriah Baghdad. Five soil salinity levels of ECe's equal to 1.7 (Control) 4.2, 5.8, 8.1, 9.4 and 11.0dSm^–1 were prepared and used at 3 levels of available soil moisture depletion, namely, 25, 50, and 75% as determined by weight. Both growth (vegetative) and yield components were studied throughout the growing season.Results showed that increasing the soil salinity from 1.7 to 11.0 dSm^–1, and decreasing the available soil water from 75 to 25% resulted in independent and significant decreases in Mazipak wheat growth and yield components at different stages of plant development. Root growth showed more sensitivity to both available soil water and soil salinity level than other components. It has been concluded that at soil salinity levels of more than 8.0 dSm^–1, available soil water became a limiting factor on wheat growth and the maintenance of 75% of available soil water during the growth period is recommended to obtain satisfactory grain yield.     

Effective lipid lowering diets including lean meat

The plasma lipid and lipoprotein responses to two modified isoenergetic diets including meat were studied in 15 free living men with hyperlipidaemia (mean plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations 8·1 and 3·4 mmol/l). A reference diet (diet A, 42% energy from fat, ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids (P:S ratio) 0·2) was compared with a fat reduced diet (diet B, 35% energy from fat, P:S ratio 0·5) and with a further fat modified diet supplemented with fibre (diet C, 27% energy from fat, P:S ratio 1·0). Daily intake of meat and meat products (180 g/day) was the same in each dietary period; that in diet A had a fat content typical of the average British diet, whereas that in diets B and C was based on very lean meat and meat products. During consumption of diet B the plasma cholesterol concentration fell by 8·6% and low density lipoprotein cholesterol by 11%. During consumption of diet C plasma cholesterol fell by 18·5% and low density lipoprotein cholesterol by 23·8%. Triglyceride and high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations and body weight did not change appreciably during the study.A modified diet including a moderate amount of lean meat and meat products is compatible with a reduced lipoprotein mediated risk of atherosclerotic heart disease.     

Formation of novel hairpin structures by telomeric C-strand oligonucleotides.

Telomeres are specialized structures at the ends of chromosomes that are required for long term chromosome stability and replication of the chromosomal terminus. Telomeric DNA consists of simple repetitive sequences with one strand G-rich relative to the other, C-rich, strand. Evolutionary conservation of this feature of telomeric repeat sequences suggests that they have specific structural characteristics involved in telomere function. Absorbance thermal denaturation, chemical modification and non-denaturing gel electrophoretic analyses showed that telomeric C-strand oligonucleotides form stable non-Watson-Crick hairpin structures containing C.C+ base pairs. Formation of such hairpins may facilitate previously reported G-strand exclusive interactions.     

Molecular basis of organ-specific selection of viral variants during chronic infection.

Viral variants of different phenotypes are present in the central nervous system (CNS) and lymphoid tissues of carrier mice infected at birth with the Armstrong strain of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. The CNS isolates are similar to the parental virus and cause acute infections in adult mice, whereas the lymphoid isolates cause chronic infections associated with suppressed T-cell responses. In this study, we provide a molecular basis for this organ-specific selection and identify a single amino acid change in the viral glycoprotein that correlates with the tissue specific selection and the persistent and immunosuppressive phenotype of the variants. This phenylalanine (F)-to-leucine (L) change at position 260 of the viral glycoprotein was seen in the vast majority (43 of 47) of the lymphoid isolates, and variants with L at this residue were selected in spleens of persistently infected mice. In striking contrast, isolates with the parental sequence (F at residue 260) predominated (48 of 59 isolates) in the CNS of the same carrier mice. Complete nucleotide sequence analysis of the major structural genes of several independently derived (from different mice) spleen isolates showed that these variants were greater than 99.8% identical to the parental virus. In fact, the only common change among these spleen isolates was the F----L mutation at residue 260 of the glycoprotein. These results show that an RNA virus can exhibit minimal genetic drift during chronic infection in its natural host, and yet a single or few mutations can result in the organ-specific selection of variants that are markedly different from the parental virus.     

Protein secretion in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: characterization of seven xcp genes and processing of secretory apparatus components by prepilin peptidase

The xcp genes are required for the secretion of most extracellular proteins by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The products of these genes are essential for the transport of exoproteins across the outer membrane after they have reached the periplasm via a signal sequence-dependent pathway. To date, analysis of three xcp genes has suggested the conservation of this secretion pathway in many Gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, the xcpA gene was shown to be identical to pilD, which encodes a peptidase involved in the processing of fimbrial (pili) subunits, suggesting a connection between pili biogenesis and protein secretion. Here the nucleotide sequences of seven other xcp genes, designated xcpR to -X, are presented. The N-termini of four of the encoded Xcp proteins display similarity to the N-termini of type IV pili, suggesting that XcpA is involved in the processing of these Xcp proteins. This could indeed be demonstrated in vivo. Furthermore, two other proteins, XcpR and XcpS, show similarity to the PilB and PilC proteins required for fimbriae assembly. Since XcpR and PilB display a canonical nucleotide-binding site, ATP hydrolysis may provide energy for both systems.     

Site-directed mutagenesis of the alpha subunit of tryptophan synthase from Salmonella typhimurium

Site-specific mutagenesis has been used to prepare two mutant forms of the alpha subunit of tryptophan synthase from Salmonella typhimurium in which either cysteine-81 or cysteine-118 is replaced by a serine residue. These mutant proteins are potentially useful for x-ray crystallographic studies since a heavy metal binding site is specifically eliminated in each mutant. The purified mutant proteins are fully active in four reactions catalyzed by the wild type alpha 2 beta 2 complex of tryptophan synthase. However, the mutant alpha 2 beta 2 complexes dissociate more readily and are less heat-stable than the wild type alpha 2 beta 2 complex. Thus, cysteine-81 and cysteine-118 of the alpha subunit serve structural but not functional roles.     

Potential of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) for pest control and rural development

The neem tree (Azadirachta indica) contains promising pest-control substances found effective against many economically important pests. These materials are easy to process by village-level industries and easy to use by limited-resource farmers, thereby offering potential for crop protection and off-farm income generation. The tree’s numerous pharmacological and other complementary uses make it doubly attractive for incorporation in large-scale rural development efforts.     

Pertussis toxin as a probe of neutrophil activation

In reviewing our own and other work, it is clear that pertussis toxin treatment of neutrophils causes a time- and concentration-dependent inhibition of granule enzyme secretion induced by formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (fMet-Leu-Phe), C5a, leukotriene (LT) B4 and platelet-activating factor (PAF). Chemotaxis, O2- generation, aggregation, and arachidonic acid production induced by fMet-Leu-Phe are also inhibited by pertussis toxin. Granule enzyme release caused by A23187 or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate is not inhibited. The inhibition of neutrophil function correlates closely with the NAD-ribosylation of a 41,000-dalton protein in the neutrophil plasma membrane, presumably the GTP-binding regulatory protein Ni. Pertussis toxin treatment prevents or obtunds the increased influx of Ca2+ induced by fMet-Leu-phe and LTB4, but not that caused by stimulation of neutrophils with PAF. Pertussis toxin prevents the receptor-induced breakdown of polyphosphoinositides in intact neutrophils and isolated membrane and prevents or decreases the production of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) and 1,2-diacylglycerol. The hypothesis advanced by us and others is that pertussis toxin interacts with a GTP-binding regulatory protein identical or similar to Ni, which couples receptor-chemotactic factor interaction to phospholipase C activation. Inhibition of the activation prevents the production of IP3 and the resulting release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores and of 1,2-diacylglycerol and thus, the activation of protein kinase C. The lack of these two mediators is the immediate cause of the depression of neutrophil activation resulting from pertussis toxin. Some of the limitations and uncertainties of our present knowledge with respect to this hypothesis are discussed.     

Competition between siratro and kleingrass for15N labelled mineralized nitrogen

Summary Isotope dilution provides a method for measuring plant competition for mineral N and transfer of biologically fixed N from a legume to a grass. A plant growth medium was enriched with¹⁵N, and used to grow Siratro (Macropitilium atropurpureum D.C. Urb.) and Kleingrass 75 (Panicum coloratum L.) in 20 liter pots for 98 days in a glasshouse. The plants were grown in pure stand and in mixtures. When grown in 50∶50 mixture the grass obtained 59% of the labelled N and the legume obtained 41%. The grass produced nearly as much root mass as the legume even though biomass of the shoots were less than half that of the legume. Reducing the proportion of either plant species in the mixture reduced the proportion of the mineralized N absorbed by that species. The shoots of the grass were significantly more enriched (1.166 atom%¹⁵N excess) than the roots (1.036). The grass received 12% of its N as biologically fixed N from the legume.