Ecosystems with three species: One-prey-and-two-predator system in an exactly solvable model

The three species ecosystem with one prey and two predators is considered in an exactly solvable model with interactions of the Gompertz form. Oscillatory solutions implying coexistence of the three species are obtained for the case without the self-interaction term for the prey species, provided an equality relation between ratios of certain parameters holds. The same model enlarged by incorporating the self-interaction terms for the prey species also leads to coexistence but the above equality relation persists. If the model is further enlarged by adding self-interaction terms for all the species, coexistence can be shown to follow quite generally without the constraint of the earlier equality relation.     

Methionine-oxidized horse heart cytochromes c. II. Conformation and heme configuration

The two products from the reaction of horse heart ferricytochrome c with Chloramine-T, the F^III and F^II CT-cytochromes, contain modification of the methionines to methionine sulfoxides, but they are distinct in their physiological functions. Conformational and heme-configurational characterization of the two CT-cytochromes has been carried out by using absorption, circular dichroism, fluorescence, proton magnetic resonance, and resonance Raman spectroscopy. The pH-absorption spectroscopic behavior, thermal stability, and ionization of the phenolic hydroxyls have also been reported. Spectroscopic studies of the heme c fragment, H8, in the presence of dimethylsulfoxide, as a model for CT-cytochrome heme configuration, were also conducted. The ferric and the ferrous CT-cytochromes above pH 7.5 have similar, yet distinct, spectroscopic properties, absorption, CD, resonance Raman, and PMR spectra, typical of low-spin hexacoordinated hemes, but distinct from those of the unmodified protein. The ferric spectrum lacks the 695-nm band, and the reduced spectrum contains an additional inflection at about 400 nm, a feature also observed in the spectra of ferrous H8-DMSO systems. The CD, resonance Raman, and PMR spectra are typical of a cytochrome with a loosened heme crevice and altered coordination configuration. The Methionine-80 proton resonances are absent in the uupfield PMR spectra of both the CT-ferricytochromes. The ferrous spectra, on the other hand, contain all the Met-80 resonances, but with smaller upfield shifts than those of the native protein. Both CT-ferric cytochromes are less stable in the acid region and convert to high-spin forms with a two-step transition and with a distinct set of pK _a values. The overall conformation is nearly identical to that of the native protein, but it is less stable to thermal unfolding. All the factors differentiating the modified preparations from the unmodified protein are more pronunced in the case of F^II, with F^III being the closest to the unmodified form. The two functionally distinct CT-cytochromes are two conformational isomers; conformationally and heme configurationally, they are spectroscopically very similar, yet distinct. Both contain an altered heme iron coordination configuration. The sulfur of Met-80 is repalced by the oxygen of Met-80 sulfoxide of a different configuration, R or S. Both contain a loosened heme crevice and are conformationally less stable than the native protein, F^II CT-cytochrome c being the most deranged.     

Raman spectroscopic evidence for a disulfide bridge in calf gamma II crystallin

Laser Raman spectroscopy has been applied to native and dithiothreitol-treated bovine cortical gamma II crystallin to examine the state of the thiol groups and the presence of a putative disulfide bridge. The data reveal significant differences in two key spectral regions. In the thiol stretching region (2500-2600 cm-1), the dithiothreitol-reduced form shows a 25% increase in the integrated Raman signal as compared to the native form. The magnitude of this increase corresponds to the presence of 1 mol of disulfide/mol of gamma II as determined both by the Raman data and the previous biochemical analysis from this laboratory. In the disulfide stretching region (500-540 cm-1), the native form shows a line near 511 cm-1 which is absent in the reduced form. Both native and reduced forms show a triple-banded thiol signal with one or more distinct shoulders, suggesting at least three and perhaps five different environments for the cysteine residues. The difference spectrum, obtained by a 1:1 computer subtraction of the native from the reduced form, indicates that the increase in thiol signal is centered around 2572 cm-1. In every other spectral region, both native and reduced gamma II forms are closely similar. These results strongly support the biochemical data reported earlier and indicate that the reduction of the single disulfide bridge is accompanied by minimal changes in secondary structure in solution.     

Transformation to telephonic genetic counselling during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: challenges and suggested protocol in Indian scenario

To combat the dreaded diseases in rice like bacterial blight (BB) and blast, host plant resistance has been advocated as the most suitable and sustainable method. Through the present study, we have successfully incorporated three major BB resistance genes, namely Xa21, xa13 and xa5 into NLR3449, a high yielding, blast resistant, fine-grain type, popular rice variety through marker-assisted backcross breeding. Foreground selection was carried out using polymerase chain reaction based, gene-specific markers, namely pTA248 (Xa21), xa13prom (xa13) and xa5FM (xa5) at each generation of backcrossing, while 127 polymorphic SSR markers spanning on 12 chromosomes were used for background selection and backcrossing was limited to two rounds. At BC₂F₁ generation, a single plant (NLR-87-10) with 89.9% recovery, possessing all the three BB resistance genes was forwarded to BC₂F₂ generation. A solitary BC₂F₂ plant, namely NLR-87-10-106 possessing all the three resistance genes and 96% genome recovery was identified and advanced through selfing until BC₂F₄ generation by adopting pedigree-method of selection. Three best BC₂F₄ lines, possessing high level of resistance against BB and blast, and equivalent or superior to NLR 34449 in terms of yield, grain quality and agro-morphological traits were identified and advanced for multi-location trials.

     

The T99K variant of glycosylasparaginase shows a new structural mechanism of the genetic disease aspartylglucosaminuria

Aspartylglucosaminuria (AGU) is an inherited disease caused by mutations in a lysosomal amidase called aspartylglucosaminidase (AGA) or glycosylasparaginase (GA). This disorder results in an accumulation of glycoasparagines in the lysosomes of virtually all cell types, with severe clinical symptoms affecting the central nervous system, skeletal abnormalities, and connective tissue lesions. GA is synthesized as a single‐chain precursor that requires an intramolecular autoprocessing to form a mature amidase. Previously, we showed that a Canadian AGU mutation disrupts this obligatory intramolecular autoprocessing with the enzyme trapped as an inactive precursor. Here, we report biochemical and structural characterization of a model enzyme corresponding to a new American AGU allele, the T99K variant. Unlike other variants with known 3D structures, this T99K model enzyme still has autoprocessing capacity to generate a mature form. However, its amidase activity to digest glycoasparagines remains low, consistent with its association with AGU. We have determined a 1.5‐Å‐resolution structure of this new AGU model enzyme and built an enzyme–substrate complex to provide a structural basis to analyze the negative effects of the T99K point mutation on K_M and k_cat of the amidase. It appears that a “molecular clamp” capable of fixing local disorders at the dimer interface might be able to rescue the deficiency of this new AGU variant.     

Comparative Analysis of Transmembrane Regulators of the Filamentous Growth Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathway Uncovers Functional and Regulatory Differences

Filamentous growth is a microbial differentiation response that involves the concerted action of multiple signaling pathways. In budding yeast, one pathway that regulates filamentous growth is a Cdc42p-dependent mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Several transmembrane (TM) proteins regulate the filamentous growth pathway, including the signaling mucin Msb2p, the tetraspan osmosensor Sho1p, and an adaptor Opy2p. The TM proteins were compared to identify common and unique features. Msb2p, Sho1p, and Opy2p associated by coimmunoprecipitation analysis but showed predominantly different localization patterns. The different localization patterns of the proteins resulted in part from different rates of turnover from the plasma membrane (PM). In particular, Msb2p (and Opy2p) were turned over rapidly compared to Sho1p. Msb2p signaled from the PM, and its turnover was a rate-limiting step in MAPK signaling. Genetic analysis identified unique phenotypes of cells overexpressing the TM proteins. Therefore, each TM regulator of the filamentous growth pathway has its own regulatory pattern and specific function in regulating filamentous growth. This specialization may be important for fine-tuning and potentially diversifying the filamentation response.     

Carbohydrate-induced modulation of cell membrane. VIII. Agglutination with mammalian lectin galectin-1 increases osmofragility and membrane fluidity of trypsinized erythrocytes

Interaction of lectins with cell surface determinants may alter membrane properties. Using trypsinized rabbit erythrocytes as model we tested the capacity of an endogenous lectin in this respect. Galectin-1 is a member of an adhesion/growth-regulatory family known to interact for example with ganglioside GM(1) and also the hydrophobic tail of oncogenic H-Ras. Assays on membrane fluidity and osmofragility detect galectin-1's capacity to increase the parameters. Moreover, it increases susceptibility of erythrocytes to radical damage. These observations indicate the potential of this endogenous lectin to affect membrane properties beyond the immediate interaction with cell surface epitopes.