Carbohydrate, Amino acid, Phenolic and Mineral Nutrient Contents of Pepper Plants in Relation to Age-Related Resistance to Phytophthora capsici

The relationship between age-related resistance of peper plants to Phytophthora capsici and contents of carbohydrates, amino acids, phenolics and mineral nutrients in pepper stems was studied using two pepper cultivars, Hanbyul (susceptible) and Kingkun (resistant). With increasing age of pepper plants, the two cultivars, which differ in their susceptibility to Phytophthora blight, became gradually resistant to the disease. The cultivar Kingkun distinctly showed the age-related resistance to Phytophthora blight at the second branch stage. The weight of dry matter in healthy stems of pepper plants at the second branch stage was twice that at the six leaf stage. The resistant cultivar Kingkun contained lower levels of fructose, glucose and sucrose in stems than the susceptible cultivar Hanbyul at the different developmental stages. No consistent differences between the developmental stages of the plants were recognized with regard to their glucose content. However, the contents of fructose and sucrose in the cultivar Hanbyul greatly increased at the second branch stage. The levels of inositol reduced in both pepper cultivars during plant development. In view of the fact that there were only slight changes in the amount of total amino acids, it seems unlikely that there is a relationship between the amino acid metabolism and the retardation of Phytophthora infection during plant development. The amounts of total phenolic compounds in pepper stems were relatively low at the later growth stages of the plants and also in the resistant cultivar Kingkun. The contents of macroelemental nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium were drastically reduced in pepper stems at the later plant growth stage. No significant differences between the cultivars or the plant growth stages were found in the silicon and microelemental nutrients such as sodium, iron, zinc and manganese. These results suggest that the expression of age-related resistance of pepper plants may be due to the morphological and nutritional changes in tissues of pepper stems during ageing, i.e. the pronounced increase in weight of dry matter, the significant decrease in amounts of mineral nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium, and the tow contents of fructose, glucose and sucrose in the stem tissues.     

Antithrombin III binds to human platelets

The receptor site for antithrombin III (AT III) was investigated in normal human platelets. [¹²⁵I] iodinated AT III was utilized as tracer for the binding assay. Equilibrium of AT III binding was reached within 2 min. The binding capacity was pH-dependent with the optimum around pH 7.0. Binding specificity was demonstrated by inhibition of [¹²⁵I] AT III ligation using an excess amount of non-labeled AT III. The AT III·heparin complex did not supress [¹²⁵I] AT III binding. Analysis of binding data by Scatchard plot revealed a single class of binding sites with K_d of 3.2 × 10^?7 M and binding capacity of 3840 per platelet.     

Detection of antimicrobial substances from larvae of the black soldier fly,Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae)

Maggots have become highly successful in the treatment of non‐healing wounds and multidrug‐resistant pathogen infections. The main objective of this study was to extract antibacterial substances from larvae of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens. To induce immune responses, we septically injured the larvae with a contaminated needle. Lyophilized H. illucens larvae were homogenized and extracted with acidic methanol. We examined the antifungal and antibacterial effects of the low molecular weight antimicrobial factors within the larval extract on the growth of a broad range of microorganisms, including Gram‐positive Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Gram‐negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Furthermore, we isolated the anti‐MRSA substances from the larval extract using high performance liquid chromatography. These investigations revealed that the larval extract possessed a broad‐spectrum of antibacterial activity, demonstrating that secretions of H. illucens larvae prove useful in the fight against MRSA and can potentially be a source of novel antibiotic‐like compounds for infection control.     

Simulation of sequential batch reactor (SBR) operation for simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus

Modeling of the operation of sequential batch reactor (SBR) was performed to find out optimum design parameters for simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus in a small-scale wastewater treatment plant. The models were set up with material balances on SBR operation and Monod kinetics. The model parameters were obtained to best fit the experimental results in a small scale SBR. The models were useful in optimizing hydraulic retention time (HRT) and successfully simulated operations of SBR in a larger scale. Especially the model predicted well the reactions occurring in the filling period as well as the effect of dilution, and evaluated the performance of SBR process under diverse operating conditions.     

Lymphotoxin-alpha-deficient mice make delayed,but effective,T and B cell responses to influenza

Lymphotoxin-alpha(-/-) (LTalpha(-/-)) mice are thought to be unable to generate effective T and B cell responses. This is attributed to the lack of lymph nodes and the disrupted splenic architecture of these mice. However, despite these defects we found that LTalpha(-/-) mice could survive infection with a virulent influenza A virus. LTalpha(-/-) mice and normal wild-type mice infected with influenza A generated similar numbers of influenza-specific CD8 T cells that were able to produce IFN-gamma and kill target cells presenting influenza peptides. Furthermore influenza-infected LTalpha(-/-) mice produced high titers of influenza-specific IgM, IgG, and IgA. However, both CD8 and B cell immune responses were delayed in LTalpha(-/-) mice by 2-3 days. The delayed cellular and humoral immune response was sufficient to mediate viral clearance in LTalpha(-/-) mice that were infected with relatively low doses of influenza virus. However, when LTalpha(-/-) mice were infected with larger doses of influenza, they succumbed to infection before the immune response was initiated. These results demonstrate that neither LTalpha nor constitutively organized lymphoid tissues, such as lymph nodes and spleen, are absolutely required for the generation of effective immunity against the respiratory virus influenza A. However, the presence of LTalpha and/or lymph nodes does accelerate the initiation of immune responses, which leads to protection from larger doses of virus.     

The promoter of the pepper pathogen-induced membrane protein gene <Emphasis Type="Italic">CaPIMP1</Emphasis> mediates environmental stress responses in plants

The promoter of the pepper pathogen-induced membrane protein gene CaPIMP1 was analyzed by an Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression assay in tobacco leaves. Several stress-related cis-acting elements (GT-1, W-box and ABRE) are located within the CaPIMP1 promoter. In tobacco leaf tissues transiently transformed with a CaPIMP1 promoter-β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene fusion, serially 5′-deleted CaPIMP1 promoters were differentially activated by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci, ethylene, methyl jasmonate, abscisic acid, and nitric oxide. The −1,193 bp region of the CaPIMP1 gene promoter sequence exhibited full promoter activity. The −417- and −593 bp promoter regions were sufficient for GUS gene activation by ethylene and methyl jasmonate treatments, respectively. However, CaPIMP1 promoter sequences longer than −793 bp were required for promoter activation by abscisic acid and sodium nitroprusside treatments. CaPIMP1 expression was activated in pepper leaves by treatment with ethylene, methyl jasmonate, abscisic acid, β-amino-n-butyric acid, NaCl, mechanical wounding, and low temperature, but not with salicylic acid. Overexpression of CaPIMP1 in Arabidopsis conferred hypersensitivity to mannitol, NaCl, and ABA during seed germination but not during seedling development. In contrast, transgenic plants overexpressing CaPIMP1 exhibited enhanced tolerance to oxidative stress induced by methyl viologen during germination and early seedling stages. These results suggest that CaPIMP1 expression may alter responsiveness to environmental stress, as well as to pathogen infection. The nucleotide sequence data reported here has been deposited in the GenBank database under the accession number DQ356279.     

Enhanced spore production ofBacillus thuringiensis by fed-batch culture

Summary Fed-batch culture was carried out to increase cell mass followed by batch culture for spore production ofbacillus thuringiensis. High cell mass obtained by increasing the feeding glucose concentration in constant fed-batch culture which supported fast cell growth resulted in good sporulation during subsequent batch culture, and the maximum cell mass of 72.6 g/L and spore concentration of 1.25×10¹⁰ spores/mL could be obtained.     

I-κBα depletion by transglutaminase 2 and μ-calpain occurs in parallel with the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway

Transglutaminase 2 (TGase2) is a calcium-dependent, cross-linking enzyme that catalyzes iso-peptide bond formation between peptide-bound lysine and glutamine residues. TGase 2 can activate NF-κB through the polymerization-mediated depletion of I-κBα without IKK activation. This NF-κB activation mechanism is associated with drug resistance in cancer cells. However, the polymers cannot be detected in cells, while TGase 2 over-expression depletes free I-κBα, which raises the question of how the polymerized I-κBα can be metabolized in cells. Among proteasome, lysosome and calpain systems, calpain inhibition was found to effectively increase the accumulation of I-κBα polymers in MCF7 cells transfected with TGase 2, and induced high levels of I-κBα polymers as well in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells that naturally express a high level of TGase 2. Inhibition of calpain also boosted the level of I-κBα polymers in HEK-293 cells in case of TGase 2 transfection either with I-κBα or I-κBα mutant (S32A, S36A). Interestingly, the combined inhibition of calpain and the proteasome resulted in an increased accumulation of both I-κBα polymers and I-κBα, concurrent with an inhibition of NF-κB activity in MDA-MB-231 cells. This suggests that μ-calpain proteasome-dependent I-κBα polymer degradation may contribute to cancer progression through constitutive NF-κB activation.