碱茅(puccinellia tenuifolra)Put-Cu/Zn-SOD基因的克隆及在酵母中的表达

从碱茅根cDNA文库分离得到Put-Cu/Zn-SOD全长cDNA,其序列全长为2 700 bp,该基因的开放读码框为长615 bp,所编码的蛋白由204个氨基酸组成,其预测分子量约为20.6 kD、理论等电点约为5.63.Put-Cu/Zn-SOD氨基酸序列与水稻Cu/Zn-SOD序列有较高的同源性为87%.将Put-Cu/Zn-SOD基因构建到酵母表达载体pYES2,并转化至酵母(INVSc1).对pYES2-Put-Cu/Zn-SOD转化酵母进行盐碱、氧化胁迫实验.结果表明:重组酵母的抗盐碱、氧化能力明显高于对照(pYES2转化酵母),结果显示了碱茅的Cu/Zn-SOD基因在酵母表达中,具有提高酵母抗盐碱和耐氧化能力.     

K-ras Gene Mutation Related to Histological Atypias in Human Colorectal Adenomas

To investigate the relationship of oncogene analysis to morphology, we analyzed K-ras gene mutations by dot-blot hybridization with and without consideration of histological atypias in individual colorectal adenomas. Each of 54 colon polyps were divided into two parts after fixation. One part was used as a mass to assess point mutations; the remaining portion of each polyp was paraffin-embedded, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and examined for point mutations related to histological atypias. In the first part of our study, K-ras gene mutations at codon 12 were detected in 13 cases (24%). In the second part of our study, 12 cases had distinctly different histological atypias. From each of these 12 cases, two areas, one with higher or one with lower grade atypia in the same polyp were excised to analyze for K-ras gene mutation. Two of these 12 cases (17%) had the mutation in different areas of the same tumor. These two cases contained the mutation only in the areas with higher grade atypia, and only one case added information regarding ras mutation upon microdissection when compared to the entire biopsy. These results suggest that oligonucleotide hybridization can identify the majority of cases containing ras mutations despite regional morphologic variation. Individual cases, however, may contain clonal subpopulations within adenomas with different ras sequences from other regions within the same adenoma.     

Repression of porin synthesis by salicylate in Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Serratia marcescens

The synthesis of the OmpF porin in Escherichia coli K-12 was highly and reversibly inhibited by 5 mM salicylate in the bacterial growth medium, and salicylate also inhibited the OmpC porin synthesis, although only weakly. The full expression of the salicylate effect was presumed to require the ompB gene product on comparison between the wild type and ompB mutant strains. The salicylate effect was also observed for the porin protein synthesis in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Serratia marcescens, although an ompB-like gene remains to be identified in both species.     

Efficient substructure RMSD query algorithms.

Protein structure analysis is a very important research topic in the molecular biology of the post-genomic era. The root mean square deviation (RMSD) is the most frequently used measure for comparing two protein three-dimensional (3-D) structures. In this paper, we deal with two fundamental problems related to the RMSD. We first deal with a problem called the "range RMSD query" problem. Given an aligned pair of structures, the problem is to compute the RMSD between two aligned substructures of them without gaps. This problem has many applications in protein structure analysis. We propose a linear-time preprocessing algorithm that enables constant-time RMSD computation. Next, we consider a problem called the "substructure RMSD query" problem, which is a generalization of the above range RMSD query problem. It is a problem to compute the RMSD between any substructures of two unaligned structures without gaps. Based on the algorithm for the range RMSD problem, we propose an O(nm) preprocessing algorithm that enables constant-time RMSD computation, where n and m are the lengths of the given structures. Moreover, we propose O(nm log r/r)-time and O(nm/r)-space preprocessing algorithm that enables O(r) query, where r is an arbitrary integer such that 1 < or = r < or = min(n, m). We also show that our strategy also works for another measure called the unit-vector root mean square deviation (URMSD), which is a variant of the RMSD.     

Quantitative analysis of changes in cell shape of Amoeba proteus during locomotion and upon responses to salt stimuli

A new parameter expressing the complexity of cell shape defined as (periphery)²/(area) in 2D projection was found useful for a quantitative analysis of changes in the cell shape of Amoeba proteus and potentially of any amoeboid cells. During locomotion the complexity and the motive force of the protoplasmic streaming in amoeba varied periodically, and the Fourier analysis of the two showed a similar pattern in the power spectrum, giving a rather broad peak at about 2.5 × 10⁻³ Hz. The complexity increased mainly due to elongation of the cell as external Ca²⁺ increased. This effect was blocked by La³⁺, half the inhibition being attained at 1/200 amount of the coexisting Ca²⁺. On the other hand, the complexity decreased due to rounding up of the cell as the concentration of other cations, such as Sr²⁺, Mg²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺ etc., increased. Irrespective of the opposite effects of Ca²⁺ and other cations on the cell shape, the ATP concentration in amoeba decreased in both cases with increase of all these cations. The irregularity in amoeboid motility is discussed in terms of a dynamic system theory.     

Use of the 2-(2-Pyridyl)Ethyl Protecting Group in the Synthesis of DNA Fragments via Phosphoramidite Intermediates

Abstract

2-(2-Pyridyl)ethyl is a new protecting group for the internucleotidic linkages in the synthesis of oligodeoxyribo-nucleotides by the phosphoramidite method. This group is stable to alkali and acid, and can be removed by two step procedures under mild conditions. Furthermore, we have found that bis-(diiso-propylamino)chlorophosphine is much more effective for the preparation of bis-(diisopropylamino)alkoxyphosphine than various dichlorophosphines. The synthesis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides by using 2-(2-pyridyl)ethyl-deoxyribonucleoside-3′-0-N,N-diisopropyl-amidite units is also described.     

Flavonoids isolated from the leaves of Melicope triphylla and their extracellular-superoxide dismutase-inducing activity

Two novel flavonoids, named meliflavones A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the leaves of Melicope triphylla (Lam.) Merr., along with thirteen known compounds (3–15). Four of the polymethoxyflavonoids bearing a prenyloxy (3-methylbut-2-enyloxy) function (1, 3–5) induced the expression of extracellular-superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD) in a human leukemic U937 cell-based assay.     

Effects of Zinc Acetate on Serum Zinc Concentrations in Chronic Liver Diseases: a Multicenter,Double-Blind,Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial and a Dose Adjustment Trial

Biological Trace Element Research - The essential trace element zinc maintains liver functions. Liver diseases can alter overall zinc concentrations, and hypozincemia is associated with various...