Diet of the Indochinese silvered langur (Trachypithecus germaini) in Kien Luong Karst area,Kien Giang Province

The Indochinese silvered langur (Trachypithecus germaini) is distributed to the west of Mekong River in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam. During a two‐year study, from May 2014 to May 2016, we collected 320.44 hr of behavior, with 17,040 feeding bouts recorded (142 hr) for T. germaini on Chua Hang Karst Mountain, Kien Luong District, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam. Feeding accounted for 45% of the Indochinese silvered langurs’ activity budget. The plant diet of the Indochinese silvered langurs was principally composed of young leaves (58%), followed by mature leaves (9.5%), fruits (22.7%), flowers (4.7%), buds (3.3%), petioles (1.2%), and other (0.5%). A total of 58 plant species were fed on by the silvered langurs, and leaves of eight species (Phyllathus reticulatus, Ficus rumphii, Ficus tinctoria, Ficus microcarpa, Cayratia trifolia, Streblus ilicifolia, Combretum latifolium, and Streblus asper) were fed on throughout the year. P. reticulatus was most frequently eaten (13.9% feeding time, n = 1,733). Food selection differed significantly between months and seasons. The Indochinese silvered langurs ate 27 plant species in the wet season compared with 23 plant species in the dry season. Leaf chemical composition of two food categories, 16 eaten species (with 10 most frequently consumed species and six least consumed species), and four noneaten species, were analyzed. Feeding samples from eaten species in the Indochinese silvered langurs's diet contained lower amounts of condensed tannin, lignin, protein, ash, and lipids, but a higher amount of total sugar compared with samples from noneaten species. Furthermore, the most frequently consumed species contained lower amounts of lignin compared with the less frequently consumed species. Using a generalized linear model with five variables, including neutral detergent fiber (NDF), total sugar, lignin, lipid, and calcium (Ca) indicated that NDF positively correlated and lignin content negatively correlated with feeding records in the diet of these langur.     

Oxysterols: biological activities and physicochemical studies.

To improve the understanding of the various biological activities of oxysterols (oxygenated derivatives of cholesterol), studies of their physicochemical properties have been undertaken. Oxysterols modify membrane dynamic properties which consequently trigger several biological effects. Despite the presence of at least one oxygenated group in addition to the C3 beta-hydroxyl, oxysterols insert perfectly into the lipidic bilayer of the membrane inducing a condensing effect similar to, but less potent than, that of cholesterol. In biological membranes oxysterols probably interact with membrane components as they are not easily exchanged after their incorporation into the cell membrane. These lipid-protein interactions are probably crucial for the expression of the biological activities of the oxysterols.     

Studies of the oxysterol inhibition of tumor cell growth

The oxysterols 3 beta-hydroxy-5 alpha-cholest-8-en-11-one, 3 beta-hydroxy-5 alpha-cholest-8-en-7-one, 3 beta-hydroxy-5 alpha-cholest-8(14)-en-7-one, 3 beta-hydroxy-4,4'-dimethylcholest-5-ene-7 one, 4,4'-dimethylcholest-5-ene-3 beta, 7 alpha-diol, 4,4'-dimethylcholest-5-ene-3 beta, 7 beta-diol, lanost-8-ene-3 beta, 25-diol, 25-hydroxylanost-8-en-3-one, 9 alpha, 11 alpha-epoxy-5 alpha-cholest-7-en-3 beta-ol, 3 beta-hydroxycholest-5 alpha-en-22-one, and 3 beta-hydroxycholest-5-en-22-one oxime were evaluated with respect to their ability to inhibit cell growth. All of the sterols were found to possess cytotoxicity when incubated with hepatoma (HTC) and lymphoma (RDM-4) cells in culture at 10-30 microM concentrations.     

Limited chloroplast gene transfer via recombination overcomes plastomegenome incompatibility between Nicotiana tabacum and Solanum tuberosum

Green cybrids with a new nucleus-chloroplast combination cannot be selected after protoplast fusion in the intersubfamilial Nicotiana-Solanum combination. As an approach to overcome the supposed plastomegenome incompatibility, a partial plastome transfer by genetic recombination has been considered. After fusions of protoplasts of a light-sensitive Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) plastome mutant and lethally irradiated protoplasts of wild-type Solanum tuberosum (potato), a single green colony was recovered among 2.5×10⁴ colonies. The regenerated plants had tobacco-like (although abnormal) morphology, but were normally green, and sensitive to tentoxin, demonstrating chloroplast markers of the potato parent. Restriction enzyme analysis of the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) revealed recombinant, nonparental patterns. A comparison with physical maps of the parental cpDNA demonstrated the presence of a considerable part of the potato plastome flanked by tobacco-specific regions. This potacco plastome proved to be stable in backcross and backfusion experiments, and normally functional in the presence solely of N. tabacum nucleus.     

Medicago truncatula,a model plant for studying the molecular genetics of theRhizobium-legume symbiosis

Medicago truncatula has all the characteristics required for a concerted analysis of nitrogen-fixing symbiosis withRhizobium using the tools of molecular biology, cellular biology and genetics.M. truncatula is a diploid and autogamous plant has a relatively small genome, and preliminary molecular analysis suggests that allelic heterozygosity is minimal compared with the cross-fertilising tetraploid alfalfa (Medicago sativa). TheM. truncatula cultivar Jemalong is nodulated by theRhizobium meliloti strain 2011, which has already served to define many of the bacterial genes involved in symbiosis with alfalfa. A genotype of Jemalong has been identified which can be regenerated after transformation byAgrobacterium, thus allowing the analysis ofin-vitro-modified genes in an homologous transgenic system. Finally, by virtue of the diploid, self-fertilising and genetically homogeneous character ofM. truncatula, it should be relatively straightforward to screen for recessive mutations in symbiotic genes, to carry out genetic analysis, and to construct an RFLP map for this plant.     

Measurements of genetic variability for symbiotic dinitrogen fixation in fieldgrwon fababean (Vicia faba L.) using a low level15N-tracer technique

Before starting a breeding program aimed at improving the nitrogen nutrition ofVicia faba, the authors tried an alternative technique to the acetylene reduction assay, to measure some genetic variability in the plant material. The quantity of dinitrogen fixed by several cultivars ofVicia faba was estimated using a low enrichment¹⁵N tracer method and high precision¹⁵N mass spectrometry. The fababeans were cultivated for two years in two different soils. The percentage of fixed dinitrogen in the seed varied between genotypes from 40 to 83% of the total nitrogen and was positively correlated with the total seed nitrogen (r=0.64 to 0.86). A highly significant positive correlation was also found between the total seed nitrogen and the quantity of fixed dinitrogen in the seed (r=0.95 to 0.99). The technique used to measure dinitrogen fixation proved to be useful and reliable enough to discriminate between various genotypes, grown over a period of two years in two different soils. However, several non-fixing control plants showed significant differences in their¹⁵N enrichment and the problem of choosing a good reference plant was raised and discussed.     

The interactions of cytochrome c and porphyrin cytochrome c with cytochrome c oxidase. The resting, reduced and pulsed enzymes

Cytochrome c oxidase forms tight binding complexes with the cytochrome c analog, porphyrin cytochrome c. The behaviour of the reduced and pulsed forms of the oxidase with porphyrin cytochrome c have been followed as functions of ionic strength; this behaviour has been compared with that of the resting oxidase [Kornblatt, Hui Bon Hoa and English (1984) Biochemistry 23, 5906-5911]. All forms of the cytochrome oxidase studied bind one porphyrin cytochrome c per 'functional' cytochrome oxidase (two heme a); it appears as though porphyrin cytochrome c and cytochrome c compete for the same site on the oxidase. The resting enzyme binds cytochrome c 8 times more strongly than porphyrin cytochrome c; the reduced enzyme, in contrast, binds the two with almost equal affinity. In all three cases, resting, pulsed and reduced, the heme-to-porphyrin distance is estimated to be about 3 nm. The tight-binding complexes formed between cytochrome oxidase and porphyrin cytochrome c can be dissociated by salt. Debye-Hückel analysis of salt titrations indicate that the resting enzyme and the reduced enzyme are similar in that the product of the interaction charges on the two proteins is about -14. The product of the charges for the pulsed enzyme is -25, indicating that on average another positive and negative charge take part in the interaction of the two proteins. While there is one tight binding site for cytochrome c per two heme a, cytochrome c is able to 'communicate' with four heme a. In the absence of cytochrome c, electron transfer from tetramethylphenylenediamine to the oxidase to oxygen results in the conversion of the resting form to the 'oxygenated'; in the presence of cytochrome c, the same electron transfer results in the appearance of the 'pulsed' form. Cytochrome c titrations of the enzyme show that a ratio of only one cytochrome c to four heme a is sufficient to convert all the oxidase to the 'pulsed' form. Porphyrin cytochrome c, like cytochrome c, catalyzes the same conversion with the same stoichiometry. The binding data and salt effects indicate that major structural alterations occur in the oxidase as it is converted from the resting to the partially reduced and subsequently to the pulsed form.     

A specific immunological probe for the major myelin proteolipid. Confirmation of a deletion in DM-20

Major myelin proteolipid (MMPL, also called PLP) and DM-20 are the two major intrinsic membrane proteins of CNS myelin. A specific immunological probe was obtained for MMPL by raising antibodies against the synthetic tridecapeptide 117-129 of MMPL. Antibodies against this peptide reacted with the MMPL but did not cross react with DM-20, while both proteolipids had been shown previously to be recognized by antibodies directed against the C-terminal hexapeptide of MMPL. This is in accordance with previous findings showing that DM-20 differs only from MMPL by a deletion of residues 100-140 (+/- few units). Furthermore, this site-specific immunological probe also recognizes MMPL in its native form in oligodendrocytes in primary glial cell cultures.     

A stochastic model of mutant growth due to mutation in tumors,based on stem cell considerations

A stochastic model of the evolution of mutant subpopulations from stem cells in a human tumor system is derived. From the model, the growth of mutants (both stem cell mutants and overall mutants) due to mutation of tumor stem cells during growth is explored in detail. This allows one to relate the mutant stem cell and overall tumor mutant cell population sizes. The relation of these average sizes is derived for large tumor size and confirms the result of the model due to MacKillop et al. [4], which is based on three tumor cell subpopulations: stem, transitional, and end cells. Furthermore, the results of the stem cell statistics obtained are the same as those obtained from the filtered Poisson process approach [2].     

Effect of human T-cell leukemia virus type I tax protein on activation of the human vimentin gene.

We report that the expression of the vimentin gene, a cytoskeletal growth-regulated gene, is activated in trans by the Tax (p40x) transactivator protein encoded by the human T-cell leukemia virus type I. Expression of the Tax protein activates a number of cellular genes, such as those coding for the alpha chain of the high-affinity interleukin-2 receptor and interleukin-2. These findings indicate that the Tax protein is involved in the unregulated T-cell growth associated with human T-cell leukemia virus type I infection. Higher levels of vimentin mRNA were expressed in two human T-cell leukemia virus type I-transformed T cell lines, C91/PL and C81-66/45, when compared with that in Jurkat T cells. We demonstrate that this activation is conferred by the vimentin upstream flanking sequences. Indeed, enhanced activity was detected when constructs with the vimentin promoter linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene were transfected in HeLa cells and in two cell lines of hematopoietic origin (Jurkat T lymphoblastoid cells and U937 promonocytic cells) together with a Tax expression plasmid. By introducing a series of deletions in the vimentin promoter, we further restrict these sequences to 30 base pairs, located between 241 and 210 base pairs upstream of the mRNA cap site. A 40-base-pair oligonucleotide containing this regulatory region proved sufficient to confer Tax inducibility upon a heterologous promoter linked to chloramphenicol acetyltransferase. Importantly, this segment includes an 11-base-pair promoter segment that has homology with the binding site for the NF-kappa B transactivating factor. Our findings indicate that constitutive expression of the vimentin gene under the control of the Tax protein may be relevant in understanding the progression of the lymphoproliferative process associated with human T-cell leukemia virus type I infection.