Exopolysaccharide biosynthesis and related enzyme activities of the medicinal fungus, Ganoderma lucidum, grown on lactose in a bioreactor

Exopolysaccharide (EPS) production and biosynthesis were studied in Ganoderma lucidum, a fungus used in traditional Chinese medicine, grown with lactose in a bioreactor. -Galactosidase activity, which implies the existence of a lactose permease system, was induced by lactose. Lactose feeding also increased -phosphoglucomutase activity and EPS accumulation but decreased phosphoglucose isomerase activity and lactate concentration in the culture broth. A maximum cell density of 22 g l^–1 and EPS at 1.25 g l^–1 were obtained in fed-batch bioreactor culture.     

Gene therapy for diabetic rats by electroporational transfer of naked plasmid with human pre-pro-insulin gene into skeletal muscle

A naked plasmid with human pre-pro-insulin gene was transferred into skeletal muscle of diabetic rats by electric pulses and gene expression was detected. Blood glucose concentration was decreased from 24 mmol l^–1 to 8.5 mmol l^–1. Circulating insulin-like protein was increased significantly to 15–20 U ml^–1, while that of the control group injected with the empty vector remained at less than 10 U ml^–1. The low blood glucose concentration lasted for more than two months. These studies indicate that electroporational transfer of plasmid with human pre-pro-insulin gene into skeletal muscle could be a potential method of gene therapy for human diabetes mellitus.     

The effects of melatonin and Ginkgo biloba extract on memory loss and choline acetyltransferase activities in the brain of rats infused intracerebroventricularly with beta-amyloid 1-40

Intraventricular infusion of rats with beta-amyloid for 14 days resulted in memory deficit in the water maze as well as decreases in choline acetyltransferase activities and somatostatin levels in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. These changes were not altered by daily intraperitoneal injection of 20 mg/Kg melatonin. Orally administered Ginkgo biloba extract, however, partially reversed the memory deficit and the decrease in choline actyltransferase activities in the hippocampus. The latter treatment failed to reverse the decrease in somatostatin levels. The results indicate that orally administered Ginkgo biloba extract can protect the brain against beta-amyloid from changes leading to memory deficit through its effect on the cholinergic system.     

Frequentist estimation of coalescence times from nucleotide sequence data using a tree-based partition

This article proposes a method of estimating the time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of a sample of DNA sequences. The method is based on the molecular clock hypothesis, but avoids assumptions about population structure. Simulations show that in a wide range of situations, the point estimate has small bias and the confidence interval has at least the nominal coverage probability. We discuss conditions that can lead to biased estimates. Performance of this estimator is compared with existing methods based on the coalescence theory. The method is applied to sequences of Y chromosomes and mtDNAs to estimate the coalescent times of human male and female populations.     

Cardioprotective effects of phosphoramidon on myocardial structure and function in murine Chagas' disease

Chagas' disease is an important cause of cardiomyopathy. Endothelin-1, a vasoactive peptide has been implicated in the pathogenesis of chagasic cardiomyopathy. C57BL/6 x 129sv and CD1 mice were thus, infected with trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi (Brazil strain) and these infected mice were compared with infected mice treated with phosphoramidon. This compound inhibits endothelin-converting enzyme and neutral endopeptidases and does not affect the growth of the parasite in culture. Phosphoramidon was given in a dose of 10mg/kg for the initial 15 days post-infection None of the C57Bl/6 x 129sv mice died as a result of infection. However, there was marked myocardial inflammation and fibrosis in infected, untreated mice. The hearts of the infected, phosphoramidon-treated mice showed significantly less pathology. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging of infected mice revealed right ventricular dilation that was less severe in those treated with phosphoramidon. Phosphoramidon-treated CD1 mice survived the acute infection. Transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated left ventricular dilation and reduced percent fractional shortening and relative wall thickness. These alterations were also attenuated as a result of phosphoramidon treatment. These data suggest that endothelin-1 contributes to the pathogenesis of chagasic cardiomyopathy and interventions that inhibit the synthesis of endothelin-1 and/or neutral endopeptidase might have a protective effect on myocardial structure and function in murine Chagas' disease.     

Favorable and unfavorable HLA class I alleles and haplotypes in Zambians predominantly infected with clade C human immunodeficiency virus type 1

The setpoint of viral RNA concentration (viral load [VL]) during chronic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection reflects a virus-host equilibration closely related to CD8(+) cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses, which rely heavily on antigen presentation by the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) (i.e., HLA) class I molecules. Differences in HIV-1 VL among 259 mostly clade C virus-infected individuals (137 females and 122 males) in the Zambia-UAB HIV Research Project (ZUHRP) were associated with several HLA class I alleles and haplotypes. In particular, general linear model analyses revealed lower log(10) VL among those with HLA allele B*57 (P = 0.002 [without correction]) previously implicated in favorable response and in those with HLA B*39 and A*30-Cw*03 (P = 0.002 to 0.016); the same analyses also demonstrated higher log(10) VL among individuals with A*02-Cw*16, A*23-B*14, and A*23-Cw*07 (P = 0.010 to 0.033). These HLA effects remained strong (P = 0.0002 to 0.075) after adjustment for age, gender, and duration of infection and persisted across three orders of VL categories (P = 0.001 to 0.084). In contrast, neither B*35 (n = 15) nor B*53 (n = 53) showed a clear disadvantage such as that reported elsewhere for these closely related alleles. Other HLA associations with unusually high (A*68, B*41, B*45, and Cw*16) or low (B*13, Cw*12, and Cw*18) VL were either unstable or reflected their tight linkage respecting disequilibria with other class I variants. The three consistently favorable HLA class I variants retained in multivariable models and in alternative analyses were present in 30.9% of subjects with the lowest (<10,000 copies per ml) and 3.1% of those with the highest (>100,000) VL. Clear differential distribution of HLA profiles according to level of viremia suggests important host genetic contribution to the pattern of immune control and escape during HIV-1 infection.     

Virus-like particles of a fish nodavirus display a capsid subunit domain organization different from that of insect nodaviruses

The structure of recombinant virus-like particles of malabaricus grouper nervous necrosis virus (MGNNV), a fish nodavirus isolated from the grouper Epinephelus malabaricus, was determined by electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM) and three-dimensional reconstruction at 23-A resolution. The cryoEM structure, sequence comparison, and protein fold recognition analysis indicate that the coat protein of MGNNV has two domains resembling those of tomato bushy stunt virus and Norwalk virus, rather than the expected single-domain coat protein of insect nodaviruses. The analysis implies that residues 83 to 216 fold as a beta-sandwich which forms the inner shell of the T=3 capsid and residues 217 to 308 form the trimeric surface protrusions observed in the cryoEM map. The structural similarities between fish nodaviruses and members of the tombusvirus and calicivirus groups provide significant new data for understanding the evolution of the nodavirus family.