Population ecology of Thrips palmi (Thysanoptera:Thripidae) in orchid farms in Thailand

The population dynamics and in-farm distribution of Thrips palmi Karny were evaluated in two orchid farms, one in the Bangkok metropolitan area and the other in Ratchaburi Province, Thailand. Yellow sticky traps were hung above the orchid canopy (three traps/220 m²), and the trapped adults were counted weekly from November 2009 to October 2010 at the first location and from January to December of 2012 at the second location. T. palmi nymphs and adults were both counted weekly on 300 orchid panicles in an area of 2,200 m² at both locations. We found that the T. palmi population dynamics at the first location was represented by a W-shaped curve, with the distribution clumped throughout the year, whereas the curve was J-shaped at the second location, with the distribution mostly clumped. Qualitative surveys of thrips species were conducted on ten different orchid genera in ten locations and on 20 different Dendrobium hybrids in 20 locations. Five random sampling plots (1 × 4 m²) were examined on each farm. The results indicated that only T. palmi was found on every farm. Moreover, quantitative comparison among five orchid types revealed that Dendrobium flowers with darker color are more attractive to T. palmi. However, this phenomenon does not coincide with Oncidium sp. and Mokara sp. because of their unfavorable morphology for thrips behavior.     

Serious gastric perforation after second stereotactic body radiotherapy for peripheral lung cancer that recurred after initial stereotactic body radiotherapy: a case report

Background

In recent reports, re-irradiation with stereotactic body radiotherapy for lung tumors in patients previously treated with thoracic radiation therapy resulted in several serious toxicities. Serious non-lung toxicities were observed mostly in patients with central tumors, but we experienced a case of fatal gastric perforation after a second stereotactic body radiotherapy in a patient with a peripheral lung tumor.

Case presentation

An 83-year-old Asian man was diagnosed with T2N0M0 lung cancer in the form of squamous cell carcinoma in the lower lobe of his left lung. He was treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy of 40 Gy in 4 fractions and the tumor decreased in size in partial response. The local tumor recurred 8 months after the first stereotactic body radiotherapy, and he was re-irradiated with a second stereotactic body radiotherapy of 50 Gy in 4 fractions. A Sengstaken–Blakemore tube was inserted below his diaphragm by laparoscopic surgery before the second stereotactic body radiotherapy in order to reduce the stomach dose by keeping his stomach apart from the tumor. Two months after the second stereotactic body radiotherapy, he developed fatal gastric perforation and gastropleural fistula penetrating his diaphragm.

Conclusions

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report about a gastric perforation after stereotactic body radiotherapy for lung tumors and it warns of serious complication of stereotactic body radiotherapy in not only centrally located but also peripherally located tumors like in this case.

     

Iruka Eliminates Dysfunctional Argonaute by Selective Ubiquitination of Its Empty State

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Cloning and characterization of farnesyl diphosphate synthase from the rubber-producing mushroom Lactarius chrysorrheus

Farnesyl diphosphate is involved in rubber biosynthesis as an initiating substrate for both polyprenol and mushroom rubber. So far, we have isolated the cDNA of a farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPS) for the first time from a rare rubber-producing mushroom, Lactarius chrysorrheus, by the degenerate RT-PCR technique based on sequence information of FPS genes from fungi and yeasts. The open reading frame was clarified to encode a protein of 381 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 42.9 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence of L. chrysorrheus FPS showed about 50% identity with those of other fungi and yeasts as well as plants. We expressed the cDNA of L. chrysorrheus FPS in Escherichia coli as a glutathione-S-transferase (GST)-fusion protein. The purified obtained protein showed FPS activity in which geranyl diphosphate (GPP) served as primary substrate, with a 2.4-fold higher k(cat)/K(m) value for GPP than for dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP).     

Comprehensive Screening for Novel Rab‐Binding Proteins by GST Pull‐Down Assay Using 60 Different Mammalian Rabs‡

The Rab family belongs to the Ras‐like small GTPase superfamily and is implicated in membrane trafficking through interaction with specific effector molecules. Because of the large number of Rab isoforms in mammals, however, the effectors of most of the mammalian Rabs are yet to be identified. In this study, we systematically screened five different cell or tissue lysates for novel Rab effectors by a combination of glutathione S‐transferase (GST) pull‐down assay with 60 different mammalian Rabs and mass spectroscopic analysis. Three of the 21 Rab‐binding proteins we identified, mKIAA1055/TBC1D2B (Rab22‐binding protein), GAPCenA/TBC1D11 (Rab36‐binding protein) and centaurin β2/ACAP2 (Rab35‐binding protein), are GTPase‐activating proteins (GAPs) for Rab or Arf. Although it has recently been proposed that the Rab–GAP (Tre‐2 /Bub2/Cdc16) domain physically interacts with its substrate Rab, these three GAPs interacted with specific Rabs via a domain other than a GAP domain, e.g. centaurin β2 binds GTP‐Rab35 via the ankyrin repeat (ANKR) domain. Although centaurin β2 did not exhibit any Rab35–GAP activity in vitro, the Rab35‐binding ANKR domain of centaurin β2 was found to be required for its plasma membrane localization and regulation of Rab35‐dependent neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells through inactivation of Arf6. These findings suggest a novel mode of interaction between Rab and GAP.     

High cell density cultivation of recombinant Escherichia coli for hirudin variant 1 production

A synthetic medium, TK-25, for high cell density cultivation (HCDC) of Escherichia coli K-12 was modified to support HCDC of strain JM109. By optimizing the culture conditions, the cell concentration of 65 g/l in 14 h was obtained in the optimized medium, namely TK-10, with glucose-fed batch cultivation. When these conditions were further applied for HCDC of E. coli JM109 harboring pUC-based recombinant plasmid which expresses a hirudin variant, HV-1-fused protein under the control of trp promoter, it grew to 24 g/l of dried cells expressed as an inclusion body as 15.9% of the total protein, corresponding to 1908 mg/l hirudin-fused protein.