Effect of temperature on the growth,total lipid content and fatty acid composition of recently isolated tropical microalgae Isochrysis sp., Nitzschia closterium,Nitzschia paleacea,and commercial species Isochrysis sp. (clone T.ISO)

The effect of temperature from 10 °C to 35 °C on the growth, total lipid content, and fatty acid composition of three species of tropical marine microalgae, Isochrysis sp., Nitzschia closterium, N. paleacea (formerly frustulum), and the Tahitian Isochrysis sp. (T.ISO), was investigated.Cultures of N. closterium, Isochrysis sp. and T.ISO grew very slowly at 35 °C, while N. closterium did not grow at temperatures higher than 30 °C or lower than 20 °C. N. paleacea was low-temperature tolerant, with cells growing slowly at 10 °C. N. paleacea produced the highest percentage of lipids at 10 °C, while the other species produced maximum amounts of lipid at 20 °C. None of the species maintained high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) at high growth temperature and there was a significant inverse relationship between the percentage of PUFAs and temperature for N. paleacea. A curved relationship was found between temperature and percentage of PUFA for N. closterium and tropical Isochrysis sp., with the maximum production of PUFA at 25 °C and 20 °C, respectively. The two Nitzschia species produced higher levels of the essential fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid [20:5(n-3)] at lower growth temperatures, but the two Isochrysis species had little change in percentage of 20:5(n-3) with temperature. Only T.ISO had the highest percentage of 22:6(n-3) at lowest growth temperature (11.4% total fatty acids at 10 °C).School of Mathematical and Physical SciencesAuthor for correspondence     

Binding characterization of the iron transport receptor from the outer membrane of Escherichia coli (FepA): differentiation between FepA and FecA

The dissociation constants for the binding of ferric enterobactin with FepA and FecA are quantitated with displacement experiments. It is found that K _d for FepA is 12 times lower than the one for FecA. This indicates that FepA is an high-affinity receptor while FecA binds ferric enterobactin with a lower affinity. Monoclonal antibodies specific for binding epitopes of FepA inhibit the binding of ferric enterobactin with purified FepA. These same antibodies do not inhibit the binding of ferric enterobactin with purified FecA. This indicates that the binding epitopes in FecA and FepA are different.     

高压静电场对绵羊精子存活率的影响

采用不同剂量的高压静电场处理绵羊精液,经分析发现,高压静电场对绵羊精具有激活作用。能提高绵羊精液品质,表现在适当剂量的高压静电场能显著地提高绵羊精子存活率,其中以６００ｋＶ／ｍ剂量处理效果最佳。１００ｋＶ／ｍ和３００ｋＶ／ｍ剂量对精子刺激不足,而９００ｋＶ／ｍ剂量则对精子刺激过程,导致部分精子损伤和死亡,同样达不到预期的效果。     

损毁和刺激垂体对大鼠痛阈的影响

采用局限性损毁和刺激垂体的方法,以行为测痛为指标,观察大鼠垂体在痛觉调节中的作用以及地塞米松（Ｄｅｘ）对其影响。实验结果显示,损毁垂体中间叶（ＩＬ）及邻近的前叶（ＡＬ）,大鼠痛阈明显低于手术前的痛阈（Ｐ＜０．０１）。电刺激垂体的上述同样部位,大鼠痛阈明显高于手术基础值及自身假刺激值（Ｐ＜０．００１）。经Ｄｅｘ处理的动物,电刺激垂体不再引起痛阈升高。结果表明,大鼠垂体ＩＬ及靠近ＡＬ与痛调节有关,这种     

由大肠杆菌中提取重组猪生长激素的研究

 本文通过研究提出了一种由大肠杆菌细胞中提取重组猪生长激素的方法。提取回收率为52.4％,纯度为94.1％,具有生物学活性。     

双拷贝人α型心钠素基因的组建及大肠杆菌分泌型克隆与表达

将单拷贝人α心钠素基因3′端用Ban Ⅱ酶解除去包括终止密码在内的36个碱基对,代之以人工合成的含Glu-Lys-Phe-Glu连接片段与另一单拷贝人α心钠素基因的5′端串连成编码60肽的双拷贝心钠素基因,克隆于大肠杆菌分泌型表达载体pIN-Ⅲ-OmpA_2质粒中,表达生成60肽的双拷贝人α型心钠素衍生物,在信号肽的作用下分泌至胞膜间质并自动切割为60肽的外源基因产物。分子量约8K的表达产物用分子筛或超滤膜分离后再经HPLC纯化,表达产物具有明显的心钠素放免活性和舒张血管活性。     

Exogenous C1q reconstitutes a secondary deficiency of C5-deficient AKR mouse macrophages for FcR-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and phagocytosis

Studies originally designed to assess the putative role of endogenous C5 in macrophage activation for antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) yielded unanticipated results. Resident and inflammatory peritoneal macrophages from C5-deficient AKR mice were found to have significantly lower capacity for FcR-dependent ADCC activation and phagocytosis of IgG-opsonized SRBC targets than did C5-competent C3HeB/FeJ (C3H) mice. Reconstitution of the ADCC response of AKR macrophages was accomplished initially with C5-sufficient C3H mouse serum, which suggested that endogenous C5 may be required for ADCC activation. However, further investigation largely eliminated C5 involvement in that a heat-labile component of C5-deficient AKR serum was shown to be active in the reconstitution of ADCC activation of AKR macrophages. Macrophages from AKR mice were found to have significantly lower levels of C1q mRNA synthesis, endogenous C1q levels, and C1q secretion than did C3H mouse macrophages as determined by Northern blot, Western blot, and presynthetic radiolabeling analysis, respectively. The addition of purified exogenous C1q to IgG-opsonized SRBC targets fully reconstituted ADCC activation for AKR inflammatory peritoneal macrophages to levels of normally FcR-responsive C3H macrophages. Similarly, exogenous C1q augmented FcR-dependent phagocytosis of AKR macrophages but had no effect on macrophages from responsive C3H mice. Our results indicate that AKR mice have a deficiency for FcR-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and phagocytosis that is related to their low potential for C1q synthesis and secretion rather than to their established genetic deficiency for C5 synthesis. We tentatively conclude that endogenous C1q is required as an accessory molecule for macrophage FcR-dependent effector functions and that C5 is not a prerequisite for ADCC activation.     

Functional analysis of the 3′-terminal sequence of the maize controlling element (Ac) by internal replacement and deletion mutagenesis

Using deletion analysis of the Ac transposable element, we have shown that replacement of internal sequences from base pairs 181–3559 does not abolish transposition. We have done sequential deletion analysis of the 3'-end of the Ac element and found that deletion of the major transposase binding sites (AAACGG) abolishes transposition. But, surprisingly, we found a 3'-terminal deletion of the transposase binding sites which also contained a 71-bp internal sequence between base pairs 3559 and 3630 retained transposition ability. This 71-bp internal sequence did not have a transposase (ORFa) binding motif. These data suggest that two different domains may be involved in the minimal sequence necessary for transposition. Finally, we have identified functional prokaryotic promoter sequences and ARS sequences within the 5' and 3'-termini of Ac, but cannot ascribe any function to these sequences.