Evolutionary conservation of the chromosomal configuration and regulation of amylase genes among eight species of the Drosophila melanogaster species subgroup

Nuclear DNA was extracted from each of the eight species comprising the Drosophila melanogaster species subgroup. Southern hybridization of this DNA by using a molecular probe specific for the alpha-amylase coding region showed that the duplicated structure of the amylase locus, first found in D. melanogaster, is conserved among all species of the melanogaster subgroup. Evidence is also presented for the concerted evolution of the duplicated genes within each species. In addition, it is shown that the glucose repression of amylase gene expression, which has been extensively studied in D. melanogaster, is not confined to this species but occurs in all eight members of the species subgroup. Thus, both the duplicated gene structure and the glucose repression of Drosophila amylase gene activity are stable over extended periods of evolutionary time.      

Growth of Phytomonas serpens in a Defined Medium; Nutritional Requirements

ABSTRACT. Three strains of Phytomonas serpens two from tomatoes, Lycopersicon esculentum one from the insect Phtia picta (Hemiptera, Coreidae), were cultivated in a chemically defined medium developed from a defined medium for cultivating insect flagellates. Besides organic growth factors required by other insect trypanosomatids this flagellate requires, serine and inositol. Glutamine stimulates growth, and, surprisingly, does not require heme.     

Desulphurization of dibenzothiophene by bacteria

Four out of 187 strains, from enrichment cultures of dibenzothiophene (DBT), grew on DBT or thiophene 2-carboxylate as S sources. The four isolates, presumptively identified as Agrobacterium sp., Xanthomonas sp. and Corynebacterium spp., individually and together desulphurized DBT, producing 2-hydroxybiphenyl and sulphate.M. Constanti and A. Bordons are with the Departament de Bioquímica i Biotecnologia, and J. Giralt is with the Departament d'Enginyeria Química, both of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Pl. Imperial Tarraco 1, 43005 Tarragona, Catatonia, Spain     

Introduction of oxygen into the alkyl chain of N-decyl-dNM decreases lipophilicity and results in increased retention of glucose residues on N-linked oligosaccharides

N-Alkylation of the -glucosidase inhibitor 1-deoxynojirimycin(dNM) dramatically increases its inhibitory potency (Tan etal., J. Biol. Chem., 266, 14504–14510, 1991). However,the possibility of extending the alkyl chain to N-decyl-dNMis limited by an increase of detergent-like (amphiphilic) propertiesof long-chain alkylated dNM derivatives. Substitution of methylenegroups in the N-decyl chain by oxygen reduced the amphiphilicityof N-decyl-dNM derivatives, while retaining their superior inhibitoryproperties. In intact HepG2 cells, the compound N-7-oxadecyl-dNMwas found to result in the most pronounced retention of glucoseresidues on N-linked glycans. Permeabilization of the plasmamembrane with the bacterial toxin Streptolysin O improves theinhibitory properties of the derivatives N-3,6,9-trioxadecyl-,N-7,10,13-trioxatetradecyl-, N-3-oxadecyl- and N-7-oxadecyl-dNM,but not those of dNM. These observations suggest differencesin the mode of entry of the oxygen-substituted dNM derivativesin comparison with dNM. We observed that the dNM derivativeN-3,6,9-trioxadecyl-dNM, devoid of inhibitory activity in intactcells, was inhibitory in Streptolysh O-permeabilized cells.Thus, the permeability barriers posed by plasma membrane andendoplasmic reticulum membrane are not equivalent. The use ofa permeabilized cell system thus allows the elaboration of inhibitoryprinciples for novel bioactive compounds where study of theisolated enzymes may not be possible, and where intact cellsare not a suitable target due to permeability barriers. -glucosidase inhibition N-linked glycosylation oxygen-substituted N-decyl-dNM derivatives permeabilized cells     

Sequence variation in the outer-surface-protein genes of Borrelia burgdorferi

Borrelia burgdorferi is a spirochete pathogen transmitted among warm- blooded hosts by ixodid ticks. Frequency-dependent selection for variant outer-surface proteins might be expected to arise in this species, since rare variants are more likely to avoid immune surveillance in previously infected hosts. We sequenced the OspA and OspB genes of nine North American strains and compared them with nine strains previously described. For each gene, the mean number of synonymous substitutions per synonymous site and the mean number of nonsynonymous substitutions per nonsynonymous site show only a twofold excess of silent mutations. Synonymous rates vary widely along the OspB protein. Some regions show a significant excess of silent substitutions, while divergence in other regions is constrained by biased base composition or selection. The presence, in antigenically important regions of the protein, of significant variation among strains, as well as evidence for recombination among strains, should be considered in attempts to develop vaccines against this disease.      

Characterisation of a 34 kD protein from potato cyst nematodes, using monoclonal antibodies with potential for species diagnosis

Two monoclonal antibodies, which differentially recognise the two species of potato cyst nematodes (PCN), Globodera pallida and G. rostochiensis, are described. They have been shown to have potential for quantification of these two species, recognising proteins of the same molecular weight (34 kD) in both species. Further investigation showed these proteins to have isoelectric points at pH values of 5.7 in G. pallida and 5.9 in G. rostochiensis, in common with the proteins used by Fleming & Marks (1983) to differentiate the species of PCN. They are likely to be structurally very similar, with the same physiological function (and therefore similar concentrations) in the two species. In cross-reactivity tests with a wide range of soil nematode species, the antibodies reacted strongly only with species of the genus Globodera, and thereby confirmed their potential as the basis of a quantitative immunoassay likely to be useful in management of PCN populations.