Do plants have rhodopsin after all? A mystery of plant G protein-coupled signalling

Considerable physiological and biochemical evidence suggests that plants, like animals, widely use intracellular signalling coupled to heterotrimeric G proteins. Yet, the molecular components of this machinery remained elusive until recently. We overview the work carried out during the last two decades, aimed at identification of the plant proteins involved in G protein-coupled signalling. The completion of the sequencing of the Arabidopsis genome now permits to assess whether plants possess signalling and regulatory components of this machinery corresponding to those known from animals.     

3种植物精油对霉菌的抑制作用

肉桂 ( Cinnamomum cassia Presl)别名连桂 ,属樟科樟属 ,常绿乔木 ,高 1 0～ 1 5m,多为栽培 ,主产于广西、广东等地 ,云南、福建等省亦有分布。人们可从其叶、枝或树皮、籽中提取精油 ,精油主要用于医药及食品香精[1 ] 。山苍子 [Litsea cubeba ( Lour.) Pers]别名山鸡椒、木姜子 ,属樟科木姜子属 ,落叶灌木和乔木 ,高 8～ 1 0 m,果期 7～ 8月份 ,我国长江以南各省都有分布。民间广泛使用水蒸汽蒸馏法 ,从其果实中提制精油 ,精油主要用于调配食品、化妆品香精 ,合成其它原料及维生素 [2 ]。丁子香 [Stzygium aromaticum( Linn.)Merr.et…     

GTPγs对柴胡皂甙(I)刺激胰腺腺泡酶分泌的影响

为了解柴胡皂甙(I)[SA(I)]刺激大鼠胰腺腺泡酶分泌的信号传导通路,研究了GTPγs对SA(I)剌激通透腺泡细胞酶分泌的影响.用SLO通透细胞的同时,加入GTPγs在15min期间能诱发酶分泌,10'mol·L-1GTPγs有最大促泌效应.GTPγs浓度依赖性的增强SA(I)促酶分泌作用,l0-7 mol·L-1 GTPγs导致10-5mol·L-1 SA(I)刺激酶分泌量增加到1.6倍.用SLO预通透腺泡10min后,加入GTPγs使SA(I)刺激酶分泌的量-效曲线左移,SA(I)的EC50从2 0×10-5mol·L-1减小到1 0×10-5mol·L-1.以上结果提示,SA(I)活化受体偶联的G蛋白包括在其刺激酶分泌的信号传导通路中.     

RUNAWAY COEVOLUTION: ADAPTATION TO HERITABLE AND NONHERITABLE ENVIRONMENTS

Populations evolve in response to the external environment, whether abiotic (e.g., climate) or biotic (e.g., other conspecifics). We investigated how adaptation to biotic, heritable environments differs from adaptation to abiotic, nonheritable environments. We found that, for the same selection coefficients, the coadaptive process between genes and heritable environments is much faster than genetic adaptation to an abiotic nonheritable environment. The increased rate of adaptation results from the positive association generated by reciprocal selection between the heritable environment and the genes responding to it. These associations result in a runaway process of adaptive coevolution, even when the genes creating the heritable environment and genes responding to the heritable environment are unlinked. Although tightening the degree of linkage accelerates the coadaptive process, the acceleration caused by a comparable amount of inbreeding is greater, because inbreeding has a cumulative effect on reducing functional recombination over generations. Our results suggest that that adaptation to local abiotic environmental variation may result in the rapid diversification of populations and subsequent reproductive isolation not directly but rather via its effects on heritable environments and the genes responding to them.     

Haramonas dimorpha gen. et sp. nov. (Raphidophyceae), a new marine raphidophyte from Australian mangrove*

A new raphidophyte flagellate is described from the river mouth of the Daintree River, north-east Australia where there are extensive mangrove forests. The organism has two distinct phases: a club-shaped motile form, and a more or less spherical benthic non-motile form. The motile cell is metabolic and possesses 10–20 chloroplasts. The chloroplasts are imbricated, somewhat reminiscent of roofing tiles. A unique structure has been found at the posterior end of the cell. It is a tubular invagination, which consists of a single membrane supported by many small flattened vesicles. In addition, the structure is surrounded by many fibril-containing vesicles. The tubular invagination is different from both the contractile vacuoles and the pusules of dinoflagellates in both behavior and structure. Based on the possession of these unique features, it is concluded that the this mangrove flagellate should be described as a new species in a new genus and the name Haramonas dimorpha Horiguchi gen. et sp. nov. is proposed.     

DNA of some anaerobic rumen fungi: G + C content determination

The nuclear DNAs from five species of anaerobic rumen fungi have been isolated and purified by means of two extraction methods (with and without 8 M urea). Their G + C contents have been characterized by the thermal denaturation procedure of Marmur and Doty. As has already been shown in Neocallimastix frontalis, the results obtained by the two techniques demonstrated a very low G + C content (less than 20%) and the constant presence of satellite DNA.     

Chk1 dynamics in G2 phase upon replication stress predict daughter cell outcome

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Cyclic nucleotide selectivity of protein kinase G isozymes

The intrinsic activity of the C‐terminal catalytic (C) domain of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)‐dependent protein kinases (PKG) is inhibited by interactions with the N‐terminal regulatory (R) domain. Selective binding of cGMP to cyclic nucleotide binding (CNB) domains within the R‐domain disrupts the inhibitory R–C interaction, leading to the release and activation of the C‐domain. Affinity measurements of mammalian and plasmodium PKG CNB domains reveal different degrees of cyclic nucleotide affinity and selectivity; the CNB domains adjacent to the C‐domain are more cGMP selective and therefore critical for cGMP‐dependent activation. Crystal structures of isolated CNB domains in the presence and absence of cyclic nucleotides reveal isozyme‐specific contacts that explain cyclic nucleotide selectivity and conformational changes that accompany CNB. Crystal structures of tandem CNB domains identify two types of CNB‐mediated dimeric contacts that indicate cGMP‐driven reorganization of domain–domain interfaces that include large conformational changes. Here, we review the available structural and functional information of PKG CNB domains that further advance our understanding of cGMP mediated regulation and activation of PKG isozymes.