Uptake of immune RNA by normal mouse spleen cells

Summary Normal mouse spleen cells take up in vitro radioactively labeled immune RNA. RNA taken up is present in nuclei, polysomes, membranes and cytoplasm. About 20–40% of immune RNA is nonspecifically associated with cell surface. 45% of RNA taken up is degraded and reutilized inside the cells within 2 hours.This work was supported by the Polish Academy of Sciences within the project 09.7.4.1.1.     

Solubilization of microsomal phosphoethanolaminetransferase by octyl glucoside

Phosphoethanolaminetransferase of high specific activity was solubilized from rat liver microsomes with the non-ionic detergent octyl glucoside. The solubilization method is fast and simple, allowing for processing of large amounts of material. The solubilized enzyme is stable. It contains virtually no phosphocholinetransferase activity. A preliminary characterization of the enzyme, with both diacyl- and alkylacyl-glycerol as substrate, is given. For the reaction, the lipid substrates were incorporated into artificial phospholipid bilayers (liposomes).     

Effect of photoperiod on development and fecundity in the flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella

Examination was made of the effect of alternating light and darkness (LD 12:12) and constant light (LL) conditions on length of development and fecundity of the moth, Ephestia kuehniella. It was found the conditions applied cause acceleration of larval development on an average by 3 days in comparison with development under constant darkness conditions (DD). The fecundity of the insects examined decreases considerably under the experimental conditions.When pharate adults are kept in light for 18 hr per 24-hr period on the 6th to 7th day of their development, males incapable of fertilizing females are produced.     

Periodic Forces Trigger a Complex Mechanical Response in Ubiquitin

Mechanical forces govern physiological processes in all living organisms. Many cellular forces, for example, those generated in cyclic conformational changes of biological machines, have repetitive components. In apparent contrast, little is known about how dynamic protein structures respond to periodic mechanical information. Ubiquitin is a small protein found in all eukaryotes. We developed molecular dynamics simulations to unfold single and multimeric ubiquitins with periodic forces. By using a coarse-grained representation, we were able to model forces with periods about 2 orders of magnitude longer than the protein's relaxation time. We found that even a moderate periodic force weakened the protein and shifted its unfolding pathways in a frequency- and amplitude-dependent manner. A complex dynamic response with secondary structure refolding and an increasing importance of local interactions was revealed. Importantly, repetitive forces with broadly distributed frequencies elicited very similar molecular responses compared to fixed-frequency forces. When testing the influence of pulling geometry on ubiquitin's mechanical stability, it was found that the linkage involved in the mechanical degradation of cellular proteins renders the protein remarkably insensitive to periodic forces. We also devised a complementary kinetic energy landscape model that traces these observations and explains periodic-force, single-molecule measurements. In turn, this analytical model is capable of predicting dynamic protein responses. These results provide new insights into ubiquitin mechanics and a potential mechanical role during protein degradation, as well as first frameworks for dynamic protein stability and the modeling of repetitive mechanical processes.     

Absorption of the flavin dimers

The electronic absorption spectra of the flavomononucleotide (FMN) in aqueous solution and in glycerine-water solution with change of the dye concentration have been measured. The FMN dimer absorption spectrum, monomer absorption spectrum, dimerization constant K and molar fraction of the monomer were calculated. It was found that FMN dimerization constants in aqueous solution were K_a = 118.0 l/mol and in glycerine K_g = 20.5 l/mol. In the region of the monomer absorption band two dimer absorption bands appear, in accordance with the Kasha molecular exciton theory.