Real Time Measures of Prestin Charge and Fluorescence during Plasma Membrane Trafficking Reveal Sub-Tetrameric Activity

Prestin (SLC26a5) is the outer hair cell integral membrane motor protein that drives cochlear amplification, and has been described as an obligate tetramer. We studied in real time the delivery of YFP-prestin to the plasma membrane of cells from a tetracycline-inducible cell line. Following the release of temperature block to reinstate trans Golgi network delivery of the integral membrane protein, we measured nonlinear capacitance (NLC) and membrane fluorescence during voltage clamp. Prestin was delivered exponentially to the plasma membrane with a time constant of less than 10 minutes, with both electrical and fluorescence methods showing high temporal correlation. However, based on disparity between estimates of prestin density derived from either fluorescence or NLC, we conclude that sub-tetrameric forms of prestin contribute to our electrical and fluorescence measures. Thus, in agreement with previous observations we find that functional prestin is not an obligate tetramer.     

Application of the phosphomannose-isomerase/mannose selection system in the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Lonicera hypoglauca Miq.

Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The dried buds of Lonicera hypoglauca Miq. have antipyretic, antidotal and anti-inflammatory properties and as Flos lonicerae are widely used in...     

主养青鱼池塘生态系统能量转换率的研究

1985—1987年对苏州市郊区主养青鱼池塘生态系统的能量转换率进行了分析。结果表明,主养青鱼净产7.5、11.25、15t/ha 3个产量级型池塘青鲤团头鲂产出能占养鱼总产出能的比例分别为82.49、78.03、79.34％;总投入能(太阳辐射能+辅助能)转移到鱼的总产出能转换率分别为0.19、0.24、0.31％;太阳辐射能转移到毛和净初级生产力的能量转换率分别为0.76、0.90、0.96％和0.61、0.72、0.77％;净初级生产力转移到滤食性鱼净产量的能量转换率分别为4.02、4.63、5.27％;辅助能转移到鱼净产量的能量转换率分别为12.20、11.33。11.74％。在3个产量级型池塘中,以15t/ha产量级的能量转换率为最佳型。     

High-resolution mapping of the S and Z loci of Phalaris coerulescens.

Self incompatibility (SI) in Phalaris coerulescens is gametophytically determined by two unlinked multi allelic loci (S and Z). Neither the S nor Z genes have yet been cloned. As part of a map-based cloning strategy, high-resolution maps of the S and Z regions were generated from distorted segregating populations using RFLP probes from wheat, barley, oat, and Phalaris. The S locus was delimited to 0.26 cM with two boundary markers (Xwg811 and Xpsr168) and cosegregated with Xbm2 and Xbcd762. Xbcd266 was the closest marker linked to Z (0.9 cM). A high level of colinearity in the S and Z regions was found in both self-incompatible and -compatible species. The S locus was localized to the subcentromere region of chromosome 1 and the Z locus to the long arm end of chromosome 2. Several rice BAC clones orthologous to the S and Z locus regions were identified. This opens the possibility of using the rice genome sequence data to generate more closely linked markers and identify SI candidate genes. These results add further support to the conservation of gene order in the S and Z regions of the grass genomes.     

Developmental control of xylem hydraulic resistances and vulnerability to embolism in Fraxinus excelsior L.: impacts on water relations

The freezing tolerance of many plants, such as pea (Pisum sativum),is increased by exposure to low temperature or abscisic acidtreatment, although the physiological basis of this phenomenonis poorly understood. The freezing tolerance of pea shoot tips,root tips, and epicotyl tissue was tested after cold acclimationat 2C, dehydration/rehydration, applications of 10^–4M abscisic acid (ABA), and deacclimation at 25C. Tests wereconducted using the cultivar ‘Alaska’, an ABA-deficientmutant ‘wil’, and its ‘wildtype’. Freezinginjury was determined graphically as the temperature that caused50% injury (T₅₀) from electrical conductivity. Endogenous ABAwas measured using an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay,and novel proteins were detected using 2-dimensional polyacrylamidegel electrophoresis. The maximum decrease in T₅₀ for root tissuewas 1C for all genotypes, regardless of treatment. For ‘Alaska’shoot tips and epicotyl tissue, exogenous ABA increased thefreezing tolerance by –1.5 to –4.0C, while coldtreatment increased the freezing tolerance by –7.5 to–14.8C. Cold treatment increased the freezing toleranceof shoot tips by –9 and –15C for ‘wil’and ‘wild-type’, respectively. Cold acclimationincreased endogenous ABA concentrations in ‘Alaska’shoot tips and epicotyls 3- to 4-fold. Immunogold labeling increasednoticeably in the nucleus and cytoplasm of the epicotyl after7 d at 2C and was greatest after 30 d at the time of maximumfreezing tolerance and soluble ABA concentration. Cold treatmentinduced the production of seven, three, and two proteins inshoot, epicotyl, and root tissue of ‘Alaska’, respectively.In ‘Alaska’ shoot tissue, five out of seven novelproteins accumulated in response to both ABA and cold treatment.However, only a 24 kDa protein was produced in ‘wil’and ‘wild-type’ shoot and epicotyl tissues aftercold treatment. Abscisic acid and cold treatment additivelyincreased the freezing tolerance of pea epicotyl and shoot tissuesthrough apparently independent mechanisms that both resultedin the production of a 24 kDa protein. Key words: Pisum sativum, cold acclimation, immuno-localization     

Phase separation in short-chain lecithin/gel-state long-chain lecithin aggregates

Small bilayer particles form spontaneously from gel-state long-chain phospholipids such as dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and 0.2 mol fraction short-chain lecithins (e.g., diheptanoyl-phosphatidylcholine). When the particles are incubated at temperatures greater than the Tm of the long-chain phosphatidylcholine (PC), the particles rapidly fuse (from 90-A to greater than or equal to 5000-A radius); this transition is reversible. A possible explanation for this behavior involves patching or phase separation of the short-chain component within the gel-state particle and randomization of both lipid species above Tm. Differential scanning calorimetry, 1H T1 values of proteodiheptanoyl-PC in diheptanoyl-PC-d26/dipalmitoyl-PC-d62 matrices of varying deuterium content, solid-state 2H NMR spectroscopy as a function of temperature, and fluorescence pyrene excimer-to-monomer ratios as a function of mole fraction diheptanoyl-PC provide evidence that such phase separation must occur. These results are used to construct a phase diagram for the diheptanoyl-PC/dipalmitoyl-PC system, to propose detailed geometric models for the different lipid particles involved, and to understand phospholipase kinetics toward the different aggregates.     

不同年份油桃园三种主要害虫与其天敌的关系

为了科学施药,合理保护和利用自然天敌进行油桃害虫的综合防治,用灰色系统分析方法、生态位分析方法和空间格局聚集强度指数分析方法,对2008年及2009年春-夏季油桃园桃蚜、小绿叶蝉和山楂叶螨与其主要捕食性天敌在数量、时间和空间格局等方面关系进行分析,两年春-夏季综合排序的结果是,桃蚜主要捕食性天敌依次是黑带食蚜蝇、异色瓢虫、三突花蟹蛛;小绿叶蝉主要捕食性天敌依次为三突花蟹蛛、锥腹肖蛸和草间小黑蛛;山楂叶螨主要捕食性天敌依次为草间小黑蛛、八斑球腹蛛和三突花蟹蛛。2008年秋季桃蚜的主要天敌依次是八斑球腹蛛、中华草蛉和锥腹肖蛸;小绿叶蝉的主要天敌依次是草间小黑蛛、锥腹肖蛸和黑带食蚜蝇;山楂叶螨的主要天敌依次为八斑球腹蛛、异色瓢虫和中华草蛉。两年春-夏季之间3种害虫及天敌数量差异均不显著。     

四种细菌L型的形态定量分析

用抗生素或臭氧的方法诱导出四种细菌和Ｌ型后,用图像分析技术定量检测Ｌ型多形性,表面积、最大直径、周长、等效圆直径和形状因子,并作比较分析。四种细菌Ｌ型及Ｌ型中的巨形体在上述５项形态学参数指标上除形状因子外均较细菌型明显增大,而形状因子参数明显小于细菌型。细菌Ｌ型之间在形态学指标上的差异有显著性（ｐ＜０．０５）。形态定量分析能准确客观地反映形态定性观察的结果以及细菌Ｌ型的形态变异程度,为细菌Ｌ型的形态定量分析提供依据。