Multiple roles for apoptosis facilitating condensation of the Drosophila ventral nerve cord

At the end of embryogenesis, the ventral nerve cord (VNC) of Drosophila undergoes a shape change, termed condensation. During condensation the length of the VNC shortens by 25%, a process dependent on extracellular matrix deposited by hemocytes, an intact cytoskeleton of glia and neurons and neural activity. Here we show that cell death contributes to nerve cord shortening. Firstly, apoptosis occurs at the interface of the epidermis and the nerve cord where it plays a role in the separation of these two tissues. Separation precedes condensation and in conditions where separation is prevented, condensation fails. Secondly, many cells undergo apoptosis within VNC during condensation. This cell death is localized mainly to the posterior part of the nerve cord where more than half of all cell death occurs. Preventing apoptosis either in neurons or glia partially inhibits VNC shortening during condensation. Despite the importance of midline glia in axon tract development, preventing midline glia cell death results in normal hatching and adult formation. We find that undead midline glia are eliminated from the midline and become mispositioned or expelled from the nervous system. We suggest that this represent a form of pattern repair that operates to reduce the impact of the additional cells.     

About mechanism of chitosan cross-linking with glutaraldehyde

The regularities of the reaction of aminopolysaccharide chitosan with glutaraldehyde (GA) have been considered. The equilibrium forms of GA in water have been thoroughly studied by NMR spectroscopy. It has been established that at pH 5.6, the exchange of the protons of O=CHCH₂ groups for deuterium occurs, indicating the presence of an anion, a product of the first stage of the aldol reaction; at pH > 7.2, the formation of the products of an aldol reaction and aldol condensation takes place. The kinetics of the reaction between the amino groups of chitosan and GA, the kinetics of gel formation in chitosan solutions in the presence of GA, and the kinetics of changes in the rigidity of gels formed have been studied by UV spectroscopy. IR spectra of cross-linked chitosan have been obtained. It has been shown that chitosan catalyzes the polymerization of GA to form irregular products; in this process, the length of oligomeric chains in modified or cross-linked chitosan and the concentration of conjugated bonds increase with the GA concentration and pH of the reaction medium.     

Antimycobacterial evaluation of novel hybrid arylidene thiazolidine-2,4-diones

A series of novel hybrid heterocycles comprising arylidene thiazolidine-2,4-dione and 1-cyclopropyl-2-(2-fluorophenyl)ethanone were synthesized. These compounds were evaluated for their antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇Rv in High Throughput Screen. Most of the hybrid arylidene thiazolidine-2,4-diones displayed moderate to good activity with MIC of less than 50 μM. Compound 1m exhibited maximum potency being 5.87 fold more active at EC₅₀ and 6.26 fold more active at EC₉₀ than the standard drug pyrimethamine.     

不同秸秆填埋量对盐碱土水盐运移及垂柳反射光谱的影响

在宁夏西北盐化生态脆弱区的典型盐碱化土地,通过随机区组试验,探究在栽植穴填埋秸秆2000(T_1)、7000(T_2)、12000kg/hm~2(T_3)及17000 kg/hm~2(T_4)等作隔盐层对土壤水盐运移及垂柳(Salix babylonica)反射光谱的影响,将地下土壤水盐变化与地上植物生长及生理状况相结合,以期更准确的反映出各处理对盐碱土壤改良效果及地上植被恢复情况。研究结果表明:(1)填埋一定量的秸秆作隔盐垫层可以改变地下土壤水盐的剖面分布特征。T_2、T_3和T_4处理与对照组相比,20—80 cm土层土壤含水量都显著提高,填埋的秸秆层起到了蓄水保墒的作用;都明显降低了0—80 cm土层土壤盐分含量和盐溶质浓度;但这3种处理之间无显著差别。T_1由于填埋秸秆量过少,无显著蓄水控盐效果。(2)通过检测植物叶片反射光谱可以反映出地上植物生长及生理状况的变化。填埋一定量的秸秆作为隔盐垫层有助于改善垂柳的生理状况。T_2的垂柳叶片光合色素含量最高,光合特性及营养状况最好,其他光谱参数结果都显著提高。T_3显著提高叶绿素含量和光合特性,但效果均不如T_2,且营养状况差。T_4处理类胡萝卜素含量与叶片水分含量均处于最高水平,但叶绿素含量、营养状态以及光合特性都显著降低。T_1处理效果最差。(3)在地下填埋秸秆作隔盐层,会通过对地下土壤水盐运移及微域生态系统环境的调节,影响到地上植物生长及生理状况。综合地下水盐分布与地上植物叶片反射光谱的结果,T_2是宁夏引黄灌区盐碱地改良中最适宜的秸秆填埋量。     

pEg7, a New Xenopus Protein Required for Mitotic Chromosome Condensation in Egg Extracts

We have isolated a cDNA, Eg7, corresponding to a Xenopus maternal mRNA, which is polyadenylated in mature oocytes and deadenylated in early embryos. This maternal mRNA encodes a protein, pEg7, whose expression is strongly increased during oocyte maturation. The tissue and cell expression pattern of pEg7 indicates that this protein is only readily detected in cultured cells and germ cells. Immunolocalization in Xenopus cultured cells indicates that pEg7 concentrates onto chromosomes during mitosis. A similar localization of pEg7 is observed when sperm chromatin is allowed to form mitotic chromosomes in cytostatic factor-arrested egg extracts. Incubating these extracts with antibodies directed against two distinct parts of pEg7 provokes a strong inhibition of the condensation and resolution of mitotic chromosomes. Biochemical experiments show that pEg7 associates with Xenopus chromosome-associated polypeptides C and E, two components of the 13S condensin.     

Noise buffering by biomolecular condensates in glucose sensing

Many cellular processes involve buffering mechanisms against noise to enhance state stability. Such processes include the cell cycle and the switch between respiration and fermentation. In recent years, protein aggregation/condensation has emerged as an important regulatory mechanism. In this article, we examine the regulation of Std1, an activator of the Snf1/AMPK kinase, by sequestration into foci of liquid drops, and how foci of metabolic signaling and enzymatic proteins are regulated by chaperones, anti-aggregases and by phosphorylation.     

Conformational change from antiparallel beta-sheet to alpha-helix in a series of depsipeptide, -(Leu-Leu-Lac)(n)-: syntheses, spectroscopic studies, and crystal structures of Boc-Leu-Lac-OEt and Boc-(Leu-Leu-Lac)(n)-OEt (n = 1, 2)

The depsipeptides Boc-Leu-Lac-OEt (1) and Boc-(Leu-Leu-Lac)(n)-OEt (n = 1, 2) (2 and 3, respectively) (Boc = tert-butyloxycarbonyl, Lac = L-lactic acid residue) has been synthesized and studied by crystallographic, CD spectroscopic, and ESI-MS analyses. In the packing cells, those three compounds adopt beta-strand conformations. Each molecule is linked into a dimer (1) or an infinite assembly (2 and 3) by tight hydrogen bonds of the type NH...O==C. Interestingly, the hexamer, 3 shows the first example of antiparallel pleated beta-sheet crystal structure for a depsipeptide molecule. In the packing cells, especially for 3, the ester groups O--C==O are perpendicularly oriented to the amide groups NH--C==O and beta-sheet planes to avoid the interaction between --O--(ester) and O==C. Therefore, when the chain length become longer, the O...O==C repulsion interaction works as a beta-sheet breaker and hence promotes an alpha-helical structure as observed for Boc-(Leu-Leu-Lac)(3)-Leu-Leu-OEt (4) (Oku et al. Biopolymers 2004, 75, 242-254) and Boc-(Leu-Leu-Lac)(n)-OEt (n = 4-6) (5-7) (Katakai et al., Biopolymers 1996, 38, 285-290), in which the O...O==C repulsion does not cause significant structural changes in alpha-helical main chains. Therefore from the structural and spectroscopic analyses, we have found governing factors for the specificity in the beta-sheet and alpha-helix decision in this series of depsipeptides, -(Leu-Leu-Lac)(n)-.     

非核糖体肽合成酶缩合结构域基因片段克隆

从大连渤海海域筛选出1株放线菌L1,结合形态观察、生理生化实验和16S rDNA分子鉴定,确定L1属于链霉菌属球孢链霉菌(Streptomyces globisporus)。根据GenBank发布的非核糖体肽合成酶(NRPS)序列设计引物,从放线菌L1的基因组DNA中扩增获得NRPS基因片段。测序结果及比对分析表明该片段属于NRPS缩合结构域部分序列。三维建模显示其结构呈V型,包含缩合结构域核心序列,与数据库已知结构相一致,可以推断该克隆片段为NRPS缩合结构域基因片段,为后续深入研究缩合结构域特异性与相关NRPS功能提供基础。