Study of the factors affecting the extraction of soybean protein by reverse micelles

In this work, the forward and back extraction of soybean protein by reverse micelles was studied. The reverse micellar systems were formed by anionic surfactant sodium bis(2-ethyl hexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT), isooctane and KCl solution. The effects of AOT concentration, aqueous pH, KCl concentration and phase volume ratio on the extraction efficiency of soybean protein were tested. Suitability of reverse micelles of AOT and Triton-X-100/AOT mixture in organic solvent toluene for soybean protein extraction was also investigated. The experimental results lead to complete forward extraction at the AOT concentration 120 mmol l⁻¹, aqueous pH 5.5 and KCl concentration 0.8 mol l⁻¹. The backward extraction with aqueous phase (pH 5.5) resulted in 100% extraction of soybean protein from the organic phase.     

家蚕滞育激素基因的克隆

利用放射性同位素３２Ｐ－ｄＣＴＰ标记家蚕滞育激素ｃＤＮＡ作为探针,从家蚕基因库大约４×１０~５个噬菌体斑中筛选得到３０个阳性克隆,其中３个克隆具有相同的限制性内切酶图谱,并测知插入ＤＮＡ约１８ｋｂ,用限制性内切酶ＳａｌＩ、ＥｃｏＲＩ切割,进行次克隆。用ＴａｑＤｙｅｐｒｉｍｅｒ序列测定法,得到部分核苷酸序列,经比较,鉴定了这３个克隆确属滞育激素基因。基因组Ｓｏｕｔｈｅｒｎ分析,推定家蚕滞育激素基因属单基因编码。     

Operon prediction in Pyrococcus furiosus

Identification of operons in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus represents an important step to understanding the regulatory mechanisms that enable the organism to adapt and thrive in extreme environments. We have predicted operons in P.furiosus by combining the results from three existing algorithms using a neural network (NN). These algorithms use intergenic distances, phylogenetic profiles, functional categories and gene-order conservation in their operon prediction. Our method takes as inputs the confidence scores of the three programs, and outputs a prediction of whether adjacent genes on the same strand belong to the same operon. In addition, we have applied Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway information to improve the accuracy of our algorithm. The parameters of this NN predictor are trained on a subset of all experimentally verified operon gene pairs of Bacillus subtilis. It subsequently achieved 86.5% prediction accuracy when applied to a subset of gene pairs for Escherichia coli, which is substantially better than any of the three prediction programs. Using this new algorithm, we predicted 470 operons in the P.furiosus genome. Of these, 349 were validated using DNA microarray data.     

Increased tolerance of rice to cold, drought and oxidative stresses mediated by the overexpression of a gene that encodes the zinc finger protein ZFP245

ZFP245 is a cold- and drought-responsive gene that encodes a zinc finger protein in rice. The ZFP245 protein localizes in the nucleus and exhibits trans-activation activity. Transgenic rice plants overexpressing ZFP245 were generated and found to display high tolerance to cold and drought stresses. The transgenic plants did not exhibit growth retardation, but showed growth sensitivity against exogenous abscisic acid, increased free proline levels and elevated expression of rice pyrroline-5-carboxylatesynthetase and proline transporter genes under stress conditions. Overproduction of ZFP245 enhanced the activities of reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzymes under stress conditions and increased the tolerance of rice seedlings to oxidative stress. Our data suggest that ZFP245 may contribute to the tolerance of rice plants to cold and drought stresses by regulating proline levels and reactive oxygen species-scavenging activities, and therefore may be useful for developing transgenic crops with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress.     

Optimizing IVF with sexed sperm in cattle

Sperm-sorting by flow cytometry separates X-sperm from Y-sperm with an accuracy as high as 90% or more. This technology offers farmers and the livestock industry the potential to nearly double productivity, by producing the desired sex to optimize breeding programs. Sorting speed and fertility variation of sorted sperm, however, remain limiting factors for widespread application, particularly in traditional AI programs. Alternatively, in vitro fertilization is a feasible and efficient means to increase the fertilization efficiency of sex-sorted sperm in cattle. Procedures to increase fertilization rate and improve embryo quality include optimizing heparin concentrations for semen of each bull, reducing fertilization drop size to increase sperm concentration, use of fructose instead of glucose in culture media, and use of vitrification protocols with extremely rapid cooling and warming rates.     

Anticarcinogenesis pathways activated by bovine lactoferrin in the murine small intestine

Oral administration of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) inhibits carcinogenesis in the colon and other organs in rats, and lung metastasis in mice. A likely mechanism by which bLF mediates its anticarcinogenesis effects is by enhanced expression of cytokines and subsequent activation of immune cells. Oral administration of bLF enhances expression of interleukin-18 (IL-18) mRNA in the mucosa of the small intestine of mice. Importantly, the pepsin hydrolysate of bLF (bLFH) also induced expression of IL-18 mRNA in the mouse small intestine and a peptide produced by pepsin digestion of bLF, bovine lactoferricin (bLFcin), induced expression of mature IL-18 in organ culture. In addition to IL-18, bLF and bLFcin both induced significant increases in caspase-1 activity in peritoneal macrophages and in organ cultures. The increase of mature IL-18 by macrophages was inhibited by caspase-1 inhibitor: caspase-1 is known to cleave the proform of IL-18 to produce active mature IL-18. Finally, bLF also induced expression of IFNgamma by peritoneal macrophages. Importantly, in IFNgamma knockout (GKO) mice, bLF administration resulted in increased expression of caspase-1 protein, but induction of IL-18 mRNA, caspase-1 activity, and mature IL-18 was not observed. These results indicate that orally administered bLF can induce expression of IFNgamma and caspase-1 in the small intestine. IFNgamma in turn increases expression of target genes, including IL-18. Active caspase-1 then cleaves pro-IL-18 to generate mature IL-18. Thus, bLF activates an effector pathway mediated by IFNgamma, caspase-1, and IL-18. We also show that ingested bLF is able to activate more than a single effector pathway. For example, in GKO mice while bLF administration could not activate the IFNgamma/caspase-1/IL-18 effector pathway, it was able to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis by activation of an IFNalpha/IL-7 effector pathway.     

脂多糖快速银染检测方法的改良

为了建立一种快速、高效的脂多糖(LPS)银染检测方法,利用大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli 0111:B4)制备的LPS为研究对象,在传统LPS银染检测方法的基础上,通过调整凝胶的固定氧化试剂和银染试剂等措施,对LPS经SDS-PAGE电泳后的结果进行银染检测.结果表明,改良的LPS快速银染检测方法在保持传统方法灵敏度的基础上,操作过程更为简单,安全性、经济性和染色效果等方面也比传统的方法均有明显提高,是一种快速高效的LPS银染检测方法.     

PiA水稻悬浮细胞系的建立

本研究以抗稻瘟病的粳稻PiA开花后12～15d的幼胚为材料,将诱导10～15d的愈伤不经固体培养基继代,直接转到AA液体培养基上,在较短时间内成功建立起了优良的水稻悬浮细胞系;并测定了该悬浮细胞系不同时期的生长特性和分化情况,结果表明悬浮培养适宜的继代天数是7～10d;培养30～120d的细胞分化能力和植株再生能力较好,细胞分化率和成苗率分别为57.1%和20%,为进一步利用悬浮细胞进行遗传转化和原生质体分离奠定了基础。