Enzymatic O-glycosylation of kappa-caseinomacropeptide by ovine mammary Golgi membranes

The results of subcellular fractionation of sheep mammary gland membranes indicate that N-acetylgalactosaminyl polypeptide transferase and galactosyl-N-acetylgalactosaminyl transferase, which are involved in the assembly of disaccharide units of kappa-casein, are localized chiefly in Golgi membranes. The glycosyltransferase activities incorporating N-acetyl [1-14C] galactosamine and [U-14C] galactose from uridine diphosphate N-acetyl [1-14C] galactosamine and uridine diphosphate [U-14C] galactose, respectively, were measured after membrane solubilization with Triton X-100 either with unglycosylated caseinomacropeptide, or with this polypeptide containing the N-acetylgalactosamine side chain residues (desialylated and degalactosylated caseinomacropeptide). Radioactive N-acetylgalactosamine was incorporated in the unglycosylated acceptor peptide, and the glycosidic bonds in the product were alkali labile, suggesting that they were linked to the hydroxyamino acid residues. In addition radioactive N-acetylgalactosamine was released after alpha N-acetyl-D-galactosaminidase treatment of labelled caseinomacropeptide. [U-14C] galactose was incorporated in the desialylated and degalactosylated acceptor peptide. Reductive alkaline treatment of [U-14C] galactose peptide resulted in the release of a major product, the chromatographic properties of which in TLC were identical with authentic galactosyl (1 leads to 3) N-acetylgalactosaminitol. The structure of the labelled disacchariditol determined after periodate oxidation (two equivalents) by gas liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed that the [U-14C] galactose was linked to position C-3 on the N-acetylgalactosaminyl-residue. The anomery of the galactose, as determined by a chemical method, indicates unambiguously a beta configuration.     

Co-expression of the proto-oncogene fos (c-fos) and an embryonic interferon (ovine trophoblastin) by sheep conceptuses during implantation.

Expression of the c-fos proto-oncogene by ovine conceptuses was analyzed by Northern and slot blots and indirect immunohistofluorescence in relation to the expression of the embryonic interferon-alpha (oTP) during implantation. c-fos was expressed initially in the trophoblast, and then in the allantois, when this tissue began to develop (day 17). In the embryonic tissues, the c-fos proto-oncogene was weakly expressed up to day 22 and increased thereafter. In the trophoblast, the expression of c-fos proto-oncogene was transient, occurring when the oTP gene was transcribed at a maximal level at the beginning of implantation (days 14-15), and decreased thereafter, following the pattern of oTP gene expression. This decline is due essentially to the arrest of c-fos and oTP gene expression by the trophoblastic cells which established cellular contacts with the uterine epithelium during the implantation process.     

Production and properties of inulinase from Aspergillus niger

Summary A thermostable inulinase was identified in a strain of A. niger. The highest activity was observed at 50 °C (50 Lml^–1) and 77% and 34% of this was retained at 60° and 65°C, respectively. pH stability, the effect of thermal stabilizers such as Propylene glycol (10%) and Sorbitol (10%) and effects of different cations were investigated. It was found that the activity was completely inhibited by Ag⁺ and Hg²⁺, while Na⁺ had an activator effect.     

Selection of antimalarial drug resistance after intermittent preventive treatment of infants and children (IPTi/c) in Senegal

Senegal has since 2003 used sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) for Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT) of malaria in risk groups. However, the large-scale IPT strategy may result in increasing drug resistance. Our study investigated the possible impact of SP-IPT given to infants and children on the prevalence of SP-resistant haplotypes in the Plasmodium falciparum genes Pfdhfr and Pfdhps, comparing sites with and without IPTi/c. P. falciparum positives samples (n = 352) were collected from children under 5 years of age during two cross-sectional surveys in 2010 and 2011 in three health districts (two on IPTi/c and one without IPTi/c intervention) located in the southern part of Senegal. The prevalence of SP-resistance-related haplotypes in Pfdhfr and Pfdhps was determined by nested PCR followed by sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe (SSOP)–ELISA. The prevalence of the Pfdhfr double mutant haplotypes (CNRN and CICN) was stable between years at < 10% in the control group (P = 0.69), while it rose significantly in the IPTi/c group from 2% in 2010 to 20% in 2011 (P = 0.008). The prevalence of the Pfdhfr triple mutant haplotype (CIRN) increased in both groups, but only significantly in the IPTi/c group from 41% to 65% in 2011 (P = 0.005). Conversely, the Pfdhps 437G mutation decreased in both groups from 44.6% to 28.6% (P = 0.07) and from 66.7% to 47.5% (P = 0.02) between 2010 and 2011 in the control and the IPTi/c groups, respectively. Combined with Pfdhfr, there was a weak trend for decreasing prevalence of quadruple mutants (triple Pfdhfr + Pfdhps 437G) in both groups (P = 0.15 and P = 0.34). During the two cross-sectional surveys, some significant changes were observed in the SP-resistance-related genes. However, since these changes were observed in the two groups, the IPTi/c strategy does only seem to have limited impact on resistance development and other factors as well. However, continuous monitoring will be needed, due to the up-scaling of the IPTi/c strategy in Senegal according to WHO recommendations.     

COVID-19-mediated patient delay caused increased total ischaemic time in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

Netherlands Heart Journal - The current study aimed to evaluate changes in treatment delay and outcome for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in the Netherlands during the first...     

Subunit Organization in the TatA Complex of the Twin Arginine Protein Translocase: A SITE-DIRECTED EPR SPIN LABELING STUDY*

The Tat system is used to transport folded proteins across the cytoplasmic membrane in bacteria and archaea and across the thylakoid membrane of plant chloroplasts. Multimers of the integral membrane TatA protein are thought to form the protein-conducting element of the Tat pathway. Nitroxide radicals were introduced at selected positions within the transmembrane helix of Escherichia coli TatA and used to probe the structure of detergent-solubilized TatA complexes by EPR spectroscopy. A comparison of spin label mobilities allowed classification of individual residues as buried within the TatA complex or exposed at the surface and suggested that residues Ile¹² and Val¹⁴ are involved in interactions between helices. Analysis of inter-spin distances suggested that the transmembrane helices of TatA subunits are arranged as a single-walled ring containing a contact interface between Ile¹² on one subunit and Val¹⁴ on an adjacent subunit. Experiments in which labeled and unlabeled TatA samples were mixed demonstrate that TatA subunits are exchanged between TatA complexes. This observation is consistent with the TatA dynamic polymerization model for the mechanism of Tat transport.     

Map position of phosphoglucomutase (Pgm) locus on autosome IV of house fly (Diptera: Muscidae)

We determined the map position of phosphoglucomutase (Pgm) locus on autosome IV of housefly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), by using three and five point linkage test crosses. Test strains had visible mutant markers (car, bwb, cyw, and aabys). We analyzed 1738 offspring in total from two groups of single-pair matings by electrophoresis. Here, we report the linkage of Pgm locus to autosome IV loci curly wing (cyw) and yellow eyes (ye) with recombination frequency of 16.9 and 1.1%, respectively. We combined the distances calculated from this study and the previously published data. An updated linkage map of the M. domestica L. Autosome IV was drawn based on combined data in terms of real map units obtained from the mapping function.