Molecular cloning and expression of human trophoblast antigen FDO161G and its identification as 3 beta-hydroxy-5-ene steroid dehydrogenase

The monoclonal antibody FDO161G reacts with a 43-kDa protein found in human extravillous trophoblast, syncytiotrophoblast, adrenal cortex, interstitial cells of the testis and ovarian follicle cumulus cells. cDNAs for this protein have been isolated from the lambda gt11 library, sequenced, and expressed in COS-7 cells. The protein was identified as 3 beta-hydroxy-5-ene steroid dehydrogenase (HSD). The sequence of the HSD protein raises questions about its association with cell membrane systems. The lack of reactivity of FDO161G with other tissues suggests that HSD has a limited tissue distribution and that other enzymes may exist in peripheral tissues, which can convert delta 5 3-hydroxysteroids to delta 4 3-ketosteroids.     

Inheritance of Resistance to Crown Gall in Pisum sativum

We screened a total of 1365 pea (Pisum sativum) lines for response to inoculation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens, strain B6, and characterized resistance in one cultivar, Sweet Snap. Sweet Snap seedlings were highly resistant to tumorigenesis under most conditions. Resistance was overcome at inoculum concentrations of greater than 10⁹ bacteria per milliliter. At such high concentrations, very small tumors developed on Sweet Snap in response to four wide-host-range Agrobacterium strains, but tumors on other cultivars were two-to sevenfold larger than those that formed on Sweet Snap. The hypervirulent strain A281 induced larger tumors on Sweet Snap than did other Agrobacterium strains, but tumors on other genotypes were more than 100% larger than those on Sweet Snap. Physiological experiments suggested that tumorigenesis in Sweet Snap is not blocked in early stages of infection, and genetic analysis indicated that inheritance of resistance to crown gall is a quantitative trait. In addition to the observed resistance in Sweet Snap, three `supersusceptible' genotypes, which developed very large tumors, also were identified.     

Transmission of Megatrypanum Trypanosomes to Cervus dama by Tabanidae1

Four fallow deer, Cervus dama, became infected with Trypanosoma (Megatrypanum) sp. by oral application of triturated guts from tabanids collected in an area with deer but without any cattle; four control calves remained negative. Upon challenge with triturated guts from tabanids from an area with pastured cattle, the four calves became infected with Trypanosoma (M.) theileri. The prepatent period in deer was five days or less. Haematopota spp. and Tabanus spp. were identified as vectors of the deer trypanosomes. It is concluded that the trypanosomes of C. dama belong to a Megatrypanum species that is not identical with T. theileri.     

The effects of light and temperature on photosynthate partitioning in Antarctic freshwater phytoplankton

The effects of temperature and radiation flux on the partitioningof photosynthetically fixed carbon into four intracellulai metabolicpools was investigated for natural phytoplankton assemblagesfrom an Antarctic freshwater lake. At ambient temperature, proteinsynthesis was saturated at low photon flux densities (30–40µmol m^–2 s^–1) and above this flux fixed carbonwas increasingly stored as lipid and polysaccharide. Increasingtemperature raised both the saturated rate of protein synthesisand the photon flux at which saturation occurred. There wasa corresponding decline in the accumulation of reserve products,particularly at low radiation fluxes. The consequences of thispattern of uptake for the phytoplankton is discussed.     

Physical mapping of three fruit ripening genes：Endopolygalacturonase,ACC oxidase and ACC synthase from apple（Malus x domestica） in an apple rootstock A106（Malus sieboldii

The apple rootstock,A106(Malus sieboldii),had 17 bivalents in pollen mother cells at meiotic metaphase 1,and 17 chromosomes in a haploid pollen cell.Karyotypes were prepared from root-tip cells with 2n=34 chromosomes,Seven out of 82 karyotypes(8.5%) showed one pari of satellites at the end of the short arm of chromosome 3.C-bands were shown on 6 pairs of chromosomes 2,4,6,8,14,and 16 near the telomeric regions of short arms.Probes for three ripening-related genes from Malus x domestica:endopolygalacturonase(EPG,0.6kb),ACC oxidase(1.2kb),and ACC synthase(2kb)were hybridized in situ to metaphase chromosomes of A106.Hybridization sites for the EPG gene were observed on the long arm of chromosome 14 in 15 out of 16 replicate spreads and proximal to the centromere of chromosomes 6 and 11.For the ACC oxidase gene,hylridization sites were observed in the telomeric region of the short arm of chromosomes 5 and 11 in 87% and 81% of 16 spreads respectively,proxiaml to the centromere of chromosome 1 in 81% of the spreads,and on the long arm of chromosome 13 in 50% of the spreads. Physical mapping of three fruit ripening genes in an apple rootstock A106.Twenty five spreads were studied for the ACC synthase gene and hybridization sites were observed in the telomeric region of the short arm of chromosome 12 in 96% of the spreads.chromosomes 9 and 10 in 76% of the spreads,and chromosome 17 in 56% of the spreads.     

Insights into the secretory pathway and vesicular transport in plant cells

Summary— The vectorial transport of membrane and macromolecules within the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells has been the subject of intense investigation over the last decade. In this paper we review some of the recent advances made in our understanding of vesicle transport and the secretory pathway in plant cells.     

Reversible dissociation of the plant golgi apparatus by brefeldin A

Summary— The effects of the drug Brefeldin A, shown to block the translocation of proteins between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus in animal cells, were studied on different plant cell systems. In suspension culture cells and root tissues, the Golgi aparatus was affected by Brefeldin A treatments resulting in distortion and dissociation of the Golgi stacks, coupled with appearance of numerous vesicles in the cytoplasm. This process was reversible. Therefore, Brefeldin A provides a powerful tool with which to study Golgi dynamics and function in plant as well as in animal cells.