Structural transformations of arabinogalactan from the Siberian larch during mechanochemical processing and the biological properties of the products

It has been found by gel-penetrating chromatography and quantitative ¹³C NMR spectroscopy that mechanochemical processing of arabinogalactan isolated from the wood of the Siberian larch changes the molecular mass distribution, monosaccharide composition, and the degree of branching of its macromolecules. This is due to the partial destruction of polysaccharide macromolecules and subsequent recombination of resulting fragments. The intensity of these processes depends on the conditions of mechanochemical processing. Based on the data of IR and ¹³C NMR spectra, the conclusion has been drawn that no functionalization of arabinogalactan macromolecules occurs under these conditions. The toxicopharmacological properties of mechanically processed arabinogalactan have been studied. Its acute toxicity is >5000 mg/kg.     

Deoxyuridine triphosphatase: A potential site of interaction with pyrimidine nucleotide analogues

Deoxyuridine triphosphatase has been purified from cultured human lymphoid cells in high yield and stable form by a relatively simple procedure. The properties differed somewhat from those reported previously, e.g. apparent K_m, molecular weight, and effects of divalent metals. No other naturally occurring dNTP or NTP serves as substrate, however, the enzyme may be an important site of interaction with intracellular derivatives of analogues of dUrd. It is shown here that deoxyuridine triphosphatase acts on araUTP, 6-azadUTP, 2′-FdUTP, and 2′,3′-dideoxyUTP, but the enzyme has no effect on 5-C1dUTP, 5-BrdUTP, 5-HgdUTP and dUrd-5′[α-thio]triphosphate. For the preparation of one of the analogues, the enzyme, trans-N-deoxyribosylase, from Lactobacillus, was used to prepare the deoxynucleoside from the base, a procedure that may have general usefulness.     

Imatinib Reverses Doxorubicin Resistance by Affecting Activation of STAT3-Dependent NF-κB and HSP27/p38/AKT Pathways and by Inhibiting ABCB1

Despite advances in cancer detection and prevention, a diagnosis of metastatic disease remains a death sentence due to the fact that many cancers are either resistant to chemotherapy (conventional or targeted) or develop resistance during treatment, and residual chemoresistant cells are highly metastatic. Metastatic cancer cells resist the effects of chemotherapeutic agents by upregulating drug transporters, which efflux the drugs, and by activating proliferation and survival signaling pathways. Previously, we found that c-Abl and Arg non-receptor tyrosine kinases are activated in breast cancer, melanoma, and glioblastoma cells, and promote cancer progression. In this report, we demonstrate that the c-Abl/Arg inhibitor, imatinib (imatinib mesylate, STI571, Gleevec), reverses intrinsic and acquired resistance to the anthracycline, doxorubicin, by inducing G2/M arrest and promoting apoptosis in cancer cells expressing highly active c-Abl and Arg. Significantly, imatinib prevents intrinsic resistance by promoting doxorubicin-mediated NF-κB/p65 nuclear localization and repression of NF-κB targets in a STAT3-dependent manner, and by preventing activation of a novel STAT3/HSP27/p38/Akt survival pathway. In contrast, imatinib prevents acquired resistance by inhibiting upregulation of the ABC drug transporter, ABCB1, directly inhibiting ABCB1 function, and abrogating survival signaling. Thus, imatinib inhibits multiple novel chemoresistance pathways, which indicates that it may be effective in reversing intrinsic and acquired resistance in cancers containing highly active c-Abl and Arg, a critical step in effectively treating metastatic disease. Furthermore, since imatinib converts a master survival regulator, NF-κB, from a pro-survival into a pro-apoptotic factor, our data suggest that NF-κB inhibitors may be ineffective in sensitizing tumors containing activated c-Abl/Arg to anthracyclines, and instead might antagonize anthracycline-induced apoptosis.     

Retrovirus-induced feline pure red cell aplasia: the kinetics of erythroid marrow failure

Cats viremic with feline leukemia virus subgroup C (FeLV-C) develop pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) characterized by the loss of detectable late erythroid progenitors (CFU-E) in marrow culture. Normal numbers of early erythroid progenitors (BFU-E) and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (CFU-GM) remain, suggesting that the maturation of BFU-E to CFU-E is impaired in vivo. We have examined the cell cycle kinetics of BFU-E and their response to hematopoietic growth factor(s) to better characterize erythropoiesis as anemia develops. Within 3 weeks of FeLV-C infection, yet 6-42 weeks before anemia, the traction of BFU-E in DNA synthesis as determined by tritiated thymidine suicide increased to 43 +/- 4% (normal 23 +/- 2%) while there was no change in the cell cycle kinetics of CFU-GM. In additional studies, we evaluated the response of marrow to the hematopoietic growth factor(s) present in medium conditioned by FeLV-infected feline embryonic fibroblasts (FEA/FeLV CM). With cells from normal cats or cats viremic with FeLV-C but not anemic, a 4-fold increase in erythroid bursts was seen in cultures with 5% FEA/FeLV CM when compared to cultures without CM. However, just prior to the onset of anemia, when the numbers of detectable CFU-E decreased, BFU-E no longer responded to FEA/FeLV CM in vitro. BFU-E from anemic cats also required 10% cat or human serum for optimal in vitro growth. These altered kinetics and in vitro growth characteristics may relate to the in vivo block of BFU-E differentiation and PRCA. Finally, when marrow from cats with PRCA was placed in suspension culture for 2 to 4 days in the presence of cat serum and CM, the numbers of BFU-E increased 2- to 4-fold although no CFU-E were generated. By 4 to 7 days, CFU-E were detected, suggesting that conditions contributing to the block of erythroid maturation did not persist. The suspension culture technique provides an approach to study further the defect in erythroid differentiation characteristic of feline PRCA.     

Interaction between the black yeast Aureobasidium pullulans and the gall midge Lasioptera ephedricola in gall formation on the desert shrub Ephedra trifurca

Galls produced by the cecidomynd Lastoptera ephedncola on Ephedia trifurca always have a black ring associated with them while galls produced by the congener L ephedrae never do Black ring material after microscopic examination and culture proved to be Aureobasidium pullulans In addition to lacking black ring material neither L ephedrae galls nor healthy stems consistently yielded Aureobasidium on culture Gall and larva size measurements indicated that continued larval presence is not necessary for gall development, suggesting fungus initiated gall formation However inoculation of healthy stems with Aureobasidium caused lesions hut not galls The mycelium m galls did not appear grazed and neither larvae nor pupae contained Aureobasidium propagules suggesting that larvae do not feed directly on fungi These data also suggest that there is no trans-pupal passage of fungus from larvae or pupae to adults Newly emerged females do not carry fungal propagules suggesting that thcy are not inoculated upon exiting the gall Gall position leaf culture and stem culture data suggest that the fungus is picked up from leaves prior to oviposition     

Physical mapping of inhibin β-A in domestic cattle

The gene for the -A subunit of inhibin (INHBA) was assigned to bovine syntenic group U13 by bovine x rodent hybrid somatic cells and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A 482-bp PCR fragment was used to clone a 37-kb cosmid. This cosmid was assigned to bovine Chromosome (Chr) 4 (BTA 4) by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). This is the first assignment of a U13 marker to a bovine chromosome. A restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was detected with PstI within the INHBA cosmid.     

Quantification of microtubule stutters: dynamic instability behaviors that are strongly associated with catastrophe

Microtubules (MTs) are cytoskeletal fibers that undergo dynamic instability (DI), a remarkable process involving phases of growth and shortening separated by stochastic transitions called catastrophe and rescue. Dissecting DI mechanism(s) requires first characterizing and quantifying these dynamics, a subjective process that often ignores complexity in MT behavior. We present a Statistical Tool for Automated Dynamic Instability Analysis (STADIA) that identifies and quantifies not only growth and shortening, but also a category of intermediate behaviors that we term “stutters.” During stutters, the rate of MT length change tends to be smaller in magnitude than during typical growth or shortening phases. Quantifying stutters and other behaviors with STADIA demonstrates that stutters precede most catastrophes in our in vitro experiments and dimer-scale MT simulations, suggesting that stutters are mechanistically involved in catastrophes. Related to this idea, we show that the anticatastrophe factor CLASP2γ works by promoting the return of stuttering MTs to growth. STADIA enables more comprehensive and data-driven analysis of MT dynamics compared with previous methods. The treatment of stutters as distinct and quantifiable DI behaviors provides new opportunities for analyzing mechanisms of MT dynamics and their regulation by binding proteins.     

Cultivation of Mesophilic Soil Crenarchaeotes in Enrichment Cultures from Plant Roots

Because archaea are generally associated with extreme environments, detection of nonthermophilic members belonging to the archaeal division Crenarchaeota over the last decade was unexpected; they are surprisingly ubiquitous and abundant in nonextreme marine and terrestrial habitats. Metabolic characterization of these nonthermophilic crenarchaeotes has been impeded by their intractability toward isolation and growth in culture. From studies employing a combination of cultivation and molecular phylogenetic techniques (PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism, sequence analysis of 16S rRNA genes, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and real-time PCR), we present evidence here that one of the two dominant phylotypes of Crenarchaeota that colonizes the roots of tomato plants grown in soil from a Wisconsin field is selectively enriched in mixed cultures amended with root extract. Clones recovered from enrichment cultures were found to group phylogenetically with sequences from clade C1b.A1. This work corroborates and extends our recent findings, indicating that the diversity of the crenarchaeal soil assemblage is influenced by the rhizosphere and that mesophilic soil crenarchaeotes are found associated with plant roots, and provides the first evidence for growth of nonthermophilic crenarchaeotes in culture.     

Grazers and soil moisture determine the fate of added 15NH4 + in Yellowstone grasslands

The influence of ungulate grazers on nutrient cycling and ecosystem productivity in grasslands has been shown to differ with moisture, nutrient availability, and feedbacks between above- and belowground activities. We examined the movement of nitrogen (N), applied as (¹⁵NH₄)₂SO₄, through both dry and mesic sites in the northern range of Yellowstone National Park to test the hypothesis that plants were more able to acquire added N in grazed relative to ungrazed sites. Previous studies showed enhanced N mineralization in grazed areas, and detritus removal by grazers was predicted to enhance early-season plant growth. Thirteen months after tracer addition, there were no differences in plant ¹⁵N as a function of grazing, but historically ungrazed sites retained more ¹⁵N in accumulated litter than at grazed sites. This result demonstrated the importance of detritus in regulating redistribution of incoming N and the role of grazers in this process. Site moisture status influenced ¹⁵N recovery in all pools—soils, microbial biomass, and plants—and greater plant ¹⁵N acquisition occurred in roots at dry relative to mesic sites. Understanding how grazers influence nutrient cycling at the landscape scale requires further investigation of interactions among soil moisture, plant production, litter accumulation, grazing intensity, and belowground processes.