Mycotoxin Producing Potential of Fungi Associated with Dry Shrimps

Among 114 fungi isolated from 20 dry shrimp samples, 27 isolates were capable of producing mycotoxins. Aspergillus and Penicillium were-the-predominant fungi. Two of 3 Aspergillus flavus could produce aflatoxin B₁ and G₁ on yeast extract sucrose medium and on surface sterilized dry shrimps. For other toxigenic species, toxicity was found mostly in the chloroform extracts of cultures. Visibly mouldy dry shrimps had significantly higher moisture content than the non-mouldy ones. Most of the fungi were isolated from mouldy samples.     

性信息素对红铃虫雄蛾近距离性行为的抑制效应

鳞翅目昆虫雄蛾在交配之前的性行为可以分为远距离对雌蛾的定向和包括着陆、搜索、交配等直接导致雌、雄蛾交配成功的近距离行为。这两类不同的行为可由复合性信息素中的不同化学成分引起(Roelofs et al.,1977)或者由同种物质不同浓度所诱发,即雄蛾接受较低浓度刺激时出现远距离定向飞行;而高浓度诱发雄蛾近距离的交配性行为反应(Bartell et al.,1969)。从棉花红铃虫[Pectinophora gossypiella(Saund.)]雌蛾体内已经鉴定得到两种化学成份,顺-7,顺-11-十六碳二烯醇醋酸酯和顺-7,反-11-十六碳二烯醇醋酸酯。这两种成份的1:1混合物称为红铃虫性诱素(Gossyplure)(Hummel et al.,1973),它具有在田间引诱红铃虫雄蛾和诱发雄蛾近距离行为反应的作用。 在田间释放性信息化合物来扰乱雌、雄蛾之间的性信息联系,从而抑制其交配和繁殖是一种有希望的害虫防治方法。用红铃虫性诱素扰乱红铃虫交配的田间试验已取得一定成效(Gaston et al.,1977)。但是我们在田间试验中发现,性诱素抑制红铃虫雄蛾远距离定向后,田间还有相当比例的雌蛾发生了交配,这个现象表明,性诱素还未能完全抑制红铃虫雄蛾的近距离行为。为此我们进行了本项试验,用以阐明环境中红铃虫性诱素的存在对雄蛾近距离性行为的影响。     

乙型脑炎病毒NS2A-C60A位点突变对其生物学特性影响研究*

目的:旨在探索Ⅰ型日本乙型脑炎病毒传代致弱后基因组突变NS2A-C60A对乙脑病毒生物学特性的影响。方法:首先通过对传代致弱及原始乙脑毒株基因组序列进行测序比对、结构预测分析并利用Western blotting(WB)确定了目标研究位点NS2A-C60A;然后使用反向遗传定点突变技术构建拯救了包含NS2A-C60A单点突变的病毒株;最后利用噬斑形态观察、生长曲线、双萤光素酶分析,WB以及炎性因子检测和动物实验研究了该单点突变对于乙脑病毒生物学特性的影响。结果:首次研究发现Ⅰ型乙脑病毒传代致弱会导致NS1'蛋白表达的显著下降以及可能的相关位点NS2A-C60A,并成功拯救获得了NS2A-C60A单点突变毒株rJEV-C60A,研究发现NS2A-C60A突变对乙脑病毒的生长特性及噬斑形成没有显著影响,但是能够显著降低乙脑病毒NS1'蛋白的表达,并且该位点突变能够轻微阻碍乙脑病毒对细胞炎性因子表达的抑制,动物实验结果显示NS2A-C60A点突变病毒与原毒株具有相似的神经毒力,说明该位点突变不是影响乙脑病毒毒力致弱的关键位点。结论:新发现的NS2A-C60A位点突变能够显著减少乙脑病毒NS1'蛋白的表达,但是对其增殖、诱导炎症及神经毒力等生物学特性没有显著影响。     

竹链蚧属一新种记述(同翅目:蚧总科)

在皖南山区调查竹类蚧虫,发现竹链蚧属一新种,现描述如下。模式标本保存于安徽省马鞍山市科委业务科。 竹秆红链蚧Bambusaspia rutilan新种 雌成虫 虫体近卵形,深红或紫红色;长约0.8毫米,宽0.45毫米。缘8字腺一列,后     

荧光显微镜观察大蒜油对腹水癌细胞的影响

用吖啶橙染色,荧光显微镜观察大蒜油对—S180,昆明小鼠,U14 C57BL/6J小鼠和L1210DBA小鼠的癌细胞作用的影响,结果表明大蒜油有直接破坏癌细胞的DNA,RNA和分裂中期染色体的作用。给药后2—6小时作用最强,12小时后癌细胞数逐渐恢复,因此给药间隔不应超过12小时。我们研究证实大蒜油有明显的抗癌作用,为临床应用提供有力的依据。     

Covalently cyclized agonist and antagonist analogues of bombesin and related peptides.

During a search for possible cyclization points in shortened, potent bombesin agonists and antagonists, it was found that the joining of amino acid residues in positions 6 and 14 by various means resulted in retention of significant binding affinity for rat pancreatic acini and murine Swiss 3T3 cells. In one series of analogues, Cys residues in these positions were used for bridging via a disulfide bond. (D)-C-Q-W-A-V-G-H-L-C-NH2 retained significant binding affinity for rat pancreatic acini cells and was a full amylase releasing agonist (EC50 187 nM). Potency was markedly increased by substituting D-Ala for Gly (EC50 67 nM compared to 10 nM for its linear counterpart) and was decreased by substituting L-Cys for D-Cys in this analogue (EC50 214 nM), thus strongly suggesting stabilization of peptide folding by the D residues. Elimination of the COOH-terminal amino acid produces competitive antagonists in the linear analogues; however, (D)-C-Q-W-A-V-G-H-C-NH2 was devoid of activity. Likewise, cyclization to position 13 with the 14 amino acids intact to give (D)-C-Q-W-A-V-G-H-C-L-NH2 resulted in an almost inactive peptide. On the other hand, as in the linear series, the reduced peptide bond analogue, (D)-C-Q-W-A-V-(D)-A-H-L-psi (CH2NH)-C-NH2, was a receptor antagonist (IC50 5.7 mM), albeit much weaker than the corresponding linear analogues, but with no residual agonist activity. Direct head-to-tail cyclization was also tried. Both cyclo[(D)-F-Q-W-A-V-G-H-L-L] (EC50 346 nM) and the shorter cyclo [Q-W-A-V-G-H-L-L] (EC50 1236 nM) were full agonists. Elimination of the COOH-terminal residue in cyclo[(D)-p-Cl-F-Q-W-A-V-(D)-A-H-L] produced an agonist (EC50 716 nM) rather than an antagonist. These results provide support for the proposal that both bombesin agonists and antagonists adopt a folded conformation at their receptor(s). Furthermore, the retention of appreciable potencies using several cyclization strategies and chain lengths suggests that further optimization of these structures both in terms of potency and ring size is possible. Since these peptides have increased conformational restriction, they should begin to serve as useful substrates for NMR and molecular modeling studies aimed at comparing the obviously subtle differences between agonist and antagonist structures.     

影响光合细菌类胡萝卜素形成因素的研究

对已初步确认为球形红假单胞菌属的S—1菌株进行了类胡萝卜素形成因素的研究。通过对光照强度、温度、pH、碳源、氮源、生长因子和无机盐成份等培养条件的探讨,找到了适合类胡萝卜素形成的条件,为开发光合细菌类胡萝卜素提供了依据。     

Selenium Assimilation and Nutrient Element Uptake in White Clover and Tall Fescue under the Influence of Sulphate Concentration and Selenium Tolerance of the Plants

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and white clover (Trifoliumrepens L.) were examined for Se assimilation and nutrient elementuptake. Substantial Se tolerance difference was found betweenthe two species. An inverse relationship between Se accumulationand Se tolerance suggests an exclusion mechanism that restrictsSe uptake by the plant with greater Se tolerance. A positiverelationship between the increase of protein Se concentrationand growth inhibition in the plants suggests that assimilationof Se into proteins is responsible for the Se toxic effect andthis study indicates that the antagonistic effect of sulphateis responsible for reducing Se toxicity at the protein level.No evidence that a Se exclusion mechanism which excludes Sefrom incorporating into protein, such as that found in Astragalusspecies, plays any major role of Se tolerance in these two species. Under Se treatment, plant tissue Ca concentration was increased,but P concentration was decreased. A higher Fe concentrationwas found in white clover which increased with increasing tissueSe concentration. Copper, Mn, and Zn concentrations only increasedin the white clover under conditions of severe growth inhibition. Key words: Tall fescue, white clover, selenium assimilation, selenium exclusion, tolerance, nutrient uptake     

Reduced susceptibility to HIV-1 infection of ethyl-methanesulfonate-treated CEM subclones correlates with a blockade in their protein kinase C signaling pathway.

We have described the isolation of chemically induced CEM subclones that express CD4 receptors and bind soluble gp120, yet show a markedly reduced susceptibility to infection with HIV-1. Two subclones were found to have an abnormal response to the protein kinase C (PKC) activator PMA. PMA treatment induced CD3 and CD25 (IL-2R) receptors on the parental line and on other ethyl-methanesulfonate-derived subclones, but not on these two mutants. Direct assays of PKC activity were conducted. Total cellular PKC enzymatic activity was found to be normal in these subclones. PMA-induced CD4 down-modulation occurred normally. In addition, activation of c-raf kinase was normal. Since HIV-1 long terminal repeat contains two functional nuclear factor kB (NF-kB) regulatory elements, we studied the ability of PMA to induce NF-kB binding activity by different assays. Chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) assays using the HIV-1 (-139)long terminal repeat-CAT construct showed no PMA induction of CAT activity in these subclones (unlike the parental line and other subclones). Okadaic acid, an inhibitor of phosphatases 1 and 2A, did not overcome the defect in these subclones. Gel retardation assays, using a 32P-probe containing the HIV-1 NF-kB probe and nuclear extracts from PMA-treated cells, showed significantly reduced induction of nuclear NF-kB binding proteins in these two subclones compared with wild type CEM and a control subclone. Deoxycholate treatment of cytoplasmic extracts from these subclones released much reduced NF-kB binding proteins from their cytoplasmic pools. Thus, reduced levels of PKC-induced nuclear NF-kB activity in two T cell subclones did not affect their normal cell growth, but correlated with a pronounced reduction in their susceptibility to HIV-1 infection.     

Vibrational analysis of crystalline tri-L-alanine

We have found that tri-L-alanine (Ala3) can crystallize in a parallel-chain beta structure in addition to the previously known antiparallel-chain beta structure. Although the chain conformations in each structure are essentially similar, the ir and Raman spectra are distinctively different. We have calculated the normal modes of each structure, and can account in significant detail for these differences. This demonstrates the essential validity of our empirically refined force fields, as well as showing that deeper insights into polypeptide and protein structure can be achieved through the rigorous analyses of normal mode calculations.