TWO NEW SPECIES OF CONIDIOBOLUS FOUND IN PLANT DETRITUS

Drechsler , Charles . (Plant Industry Sta., Beltsville, Md.) Two new species of Conidiobolus found in plant detritus. Amer. Jour. Bot. 47(5) : 368—377. Illus. 1960.–By canopying Petri plates of maize-meal agar with small quantities of friable or mealy plant detritus 2 new species of Conidiobolus, both of moderate dimensions, were isolated. They are described as C. incongruus and C. multivagus. The former, obtained from leaf mold collected in Colorado, produces zygospores which with respect to their internal organization differ markedly from those of congeneric species but resemble rather closely the globuliferous zygospores of Basidiobolus haptosporus and B. meristosporus. Conidiobolus multivagus, obtained from decayed twigs of Casuarina equisetifolia gathered in western Florida, forms a mycelium that soon becomes conspicuously disconnected. The disconnected condition here results partly from the production of many detached slender filaments, which, by constantly withdrawing protoplasmic materials from the posterior end while elongating at the tip, migrate through the slated substratum apparently without any intake of nutrients. The detached conidia of C. incongruus are provided with a more prominent basal papilla than those of C. multivagus, though both species show equally sharp demarcation between the globose main contour of the conidium and the dome-shaped contour of the papillia.     

Range of motion specificity resulting from closed and open kinetic chain resistance training after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

The purpose of this study was to examine whether joint angle specificity occurs in open and closed kinetic chain resistance training of the knee extensors after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Isokinetic knee extensor strength was measured at 60 and 210 degrees.s(-1) in 32 patients, 2 and 6 weeks after surgery. Between test sessions, patients participated in a 4-week program of injured leg resistance training of the knee extensors in either open kinetic chain (OKC) knee extension or leg press exercises. Isokinetic testing knee range of motion (ROM) was divided into 5 equal portions from flexion to extension, and the mean torque was calculated over those divisions: 0-20%, 20-40%, 40-60%, 60-80%, and 80-100% ROM. Analysis of variance indicated that there were no significant differences between patients in the knee extension or leg press exercise groups.     

Solid-state NMR structure determination

Biological applications of solid-state NMR (SS-NMR) have been predominantly in the area of model membrane systems. Increasingly the focus has been membrane peptides and proteins. SS-NMR is able to provide information about how the peptides or proteins interact with the lipids or other peptides/proteins in the membrane, their effect on the membrane and the location of the peptides or proteins relative to the membrane surface. Recent developments in biological SS-NMR have been made possible by improvements in labelling and NMR techniques. This review discusses aligned systems and magic angle spinning techniques, bilayers and bicelles, and measurement of chemical shift anisotropy and dipolar coupling. A number of specific experiments such as cross polarization, rotational resonance, REDOR, PISEMA, MAOSS and multidimensional experiments are described. In addition to 2H, 13C and 15N, recent solid-sate 1H, 19F and 17O NMR work is discussed. Several examples of the use of SS-NMR to determine the structure of membrane peptides and proteins are given.     

Atherosclerotic Plaque Destabilization in Mice: A Comparative Study

Atherosclerosis-associated diseases are the main cause of mortality and morbidity in western societies. The progression of atherosclerosis is a dynamic process evolving from early to advanced lesions that may become rupture-prone vulnerable plaques. Acute coronary syndromes are the clinical manifestation of life-threatening thrombotic events associated with high-risk vulnerable plaques. Hyperlipidemic mouse models have been extensively used in studying the mechanisms controlling initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. However, the understanding of mechanisms leading to atherosclerotic plaque destabilization has been hampered by the lack of proper animal models mimicking this process. Although various mouse models generate atherosclerotic plaques with histological features of human advanced lesions, a consensus model to study atherosclerotic plaque destabilization is still lacking. Hence, we studied the degree and features of plaque vulnerability in different mouse models of atherosclerotic plaque destabilization and find that the model based on the placement of a shear stress modifier in combination with hypercholesterolemia represent with high incidence the most human like lesions compared to the other models.     

AN ODOROUS BASIDIOBOLUS OFTEN PRODUCING CONIDIA PLURALLY AND FORMING SOME DICLINOUS SEXUAL APPARATUS

A coarse fungus isolated from decaying plant detritus originating in northern Wisconsin and western Maryland is newly described as Basidiobolus magnus. Like B. ranarum, it gives off an odor recalling benzene hexachloride. Its mycelium, especially while young, includes many long segments markedly wider in the middle than at the ends. Its distally phototropic conidiophores sometimes are branched in their procumbent or submerged portions, and each propulsive distention may bear 1–3 globose conidia, which may be shot off forcibly or may fall through collapse of the supporting hypha. The primary globose conidia of B. magnus are generally larger than those of B. ranarum, from which they differ further in sometimes giving rise to plural secondary conidia of either the globose or the elongated adhesive type. The zygospores, like those of B. ranarum, show abundantly undulated sculpture but differ in their generally larger size, their occasional origin through conjugation between cells of separate hyphae, their rather frequent binary development, and their germination by production, often, of 2 globose uninucleated conidia. The elongated conidia, which seem generally no bigger than those of B. ranarum and are often only meagerly tipped with adhesive material, sometimes undergo conversion into sporangia through internal segmentation.     

DNA translocation activity of the multifunctional replication protein ORF904 from the archaeal plasmid pRN1

The replication protein ORF904 from the plasmid pRN1 is a multifunctional enzyme with ATPase-, primase- and DNA polymerase activity. Sequence analysis suggests the presence of at least two conserved domains: an N-terminal prim/pol domain with primase and DNA polymerase activities and a C-terminal superfamily 3 helicase domain with a strong double-stranded DNA dependant ATPase activity. The exact molecular function of the helicase domain in the process of plasmid replication remains unclear. Potentially this motor protein is involved in duplex remodelling and/or origin opening at the plasmid replication origin. In support of this we found that the monomeric replication protein ORF904 forms a hexameric ring in the presence of DNA. It is able to translocate along single-stranded DNA in 3′–5′ direction as well as on double-stranded DNA. Critical residues important for ATPase activity and DNA translocation activity were identified and are in agreement with a homology model of the helicase domain. In addition we propose that a winged helix DNA-binding domain at the C-terminus of the helicase domain could assist the binding of the replication protein specifically to the replication origin.