Antitumour activities of levans produced by Zymomonas mobilis strains

Levans produced by four Zymomonas mobilis strains showed antitumour activity against sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich carcinoma in Swiss albino mice. Levans from two strains (ZAP and CP4) had the highest effects. NMR analysis showed that the polymers were composed only of fructose units. The results suggested that the antineoplasic effect is associated to the polysaccharide molecular weight and that a particular molecular weight range may be responsible for this effect.     

Genome‐wide scans to detect positive selection in Large White and Tongcheng pigs

Due to the direction, intensity, duration and consistency of genetic selection, especially recent artificial selection, the production performance of domestic pigs has been greatly changed. Therefore, we reasoned that there must be footprints or selection signatures that had been left during domestication. In this study, with porcine 60K BeadChip genotyping data from both commercial Large White and local Chinese Tongcheng pigs, we calculated the extended haplotype homozygosity values of the two breeds using the long‐range haplotype method to detect selection signatures. We found 34 candidate regions, including 61 known genes, from Large White pigs and 25 regions comprising 57 known genes from Tongcheng pigs. Many selection signatures were found on SSC1, SSC4, SSC7 and SSC14 regions in both populations. According to quantitative trait loci and network pathway analyses, most of the regions and genes were linked to growth, reproduction and immune responses. In addition, the average genetic differentiation coefficient F_ST was 0.254, which means that there had already been a significant differentiation between the breeds. The findings from this study can contribute to further research on molecular mechanisms of pig evolution and domestication and also provide valuable references for improvement of their breeding and cultivation.     

Mapping of C2, Bf, and C4 genes to the swine major histocompatibility complex (swine leukocyte antigen)

Three miniature swine lines, inbred for swine leukocyte antigen (SLA) haplotypes, a, c, and d, and a recombinant line, haplotype g, were analyzed for possible restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) by Southern blot hybridization with human C2, factor B (Bf), and C4 specific probes. The search for RFLP by using a human C2 probe failed to reveal any variants. However, a Taq I polymorphism was identified with the human Bf probe and Bam HI and Pvu II polymorphisms were identified with the human C4 probe. Overlapping restriction fragments were found with the C2 and Bf probes, which strongly suggests close linkage of C2 and Bf genes in swine. Segregation analyses of the Bf and C4 polymorphisms indicated that the polymorphic fragments followed a Mendelian pattern of inheritance. The recombinant haplotype g, which expresses class I genes of haplotype c and class II genes of haplotype d, was shown to produce an identical RFLP pattern, by using the Bf and C4 probes, as haplotype d, but different from that of haplotype c. This indicates that there is a close association of [C4-Bf-C2] and class II genes in miniature swine. Although these data do not show conclusively the location of the [C4-Bf-C2] genes, it is hypothesized that swine [C4-Bf-C2] genes are located between the class II and class I genes, as has been demonstrated in mouse and man.     

Conformational changes in bacteriorhodopsin studied by infrared attenuated total reflection.

We report on a new method based on Fourier transform infrared (FTIR)-difference spectroscopy for studying the conformational changes occurring during the photocycle of bacteriorhodopsin. Previous studies have been made by measuring the absorbance of an infrared (IR) beam transmitted through a thin hydrated purple membrane film. In contrast, the present study utilizes the technique of attenuated total reflection (ATR). Purple membrane is fixed on the surface of a germanium internal reflection crystal and immersed in a buffer whose pH and ionic composition can be varied. Measurements of the amide I and II absorbance with light polarized parallel and at 45 degrees to the crystal surface reveals that the membrane is highly oriented. An ATR-FTIR-difference spectrum of the light to dark (bR570 to bR548) transition is similar but not identical to the transmittance FTIR-difference spectrum. This disagreement between the two methods is shown to be due in the ATR case to the absorption of transition moments oriented predominantly out of the membrane plane. Raising the pH of La3+ substituted purple membrane films from 6.8 to 8.0 slows the M-decay rate sufficiently so that a bR570 to M412 difference spectrum can be obtained with steady state illumination at room temperature. A comparison of this difference spectrum with that obtained at -23 degrees C using the transmittance method reveals several changes that cannot be attributed to out-of-plane transition moments.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

"Protistan" nomenclature: analysis and refutation of some potential objections

The nomenclature used for higher taxonomic categories of protista arose under the influence of the two-kingdom system, and is widely recognized as being evolutionarily misleading. The occurrence and promulgation of multiple, contradictory taxonomic systems have added to the confusion. Recently, we proposed a solution to this problem which involves identifying the largest taxa that are widely recognized to be monophyletic, and naming them using a commonly recognizable prefix and the suffix "protista". Thus, nomenclatural prejudice is eliminated, and, by keeping the system informal and thus circumventing the Linnaean system, our system remains flexible in accommodating new data yet should retain a great degree of stability. Here we discuss possible criticisms of our proposal, such as whether the introduction of more terms could lead to further taxonomic and nomenclatural instability, and conclude that our proposal remains a most reasonable solution to the problem of protistan nomenclature.     

Small-scale turbulence and plankton contact rates

Theoretical and empirical studies of plankton trophodynamicsare usually based on some function of the relative density ofpredator-and-prey plankton. Such approaches based only on therelative density of predator and prey generally underestimatepredator-prey contact rates because contact depends on boththe relative density and the relative velocity of predator andprey. We estimate the components of predator-and-prey contactthat are due to small-scale turbulence. The small-scale turbulenceeffect suggests reconsidering estimates of plankton food requirements,energy gain-and-loss from foraging and mechanisms associatedwith patch formation and dissipation.     

Influence of SLA haplotype on preimplantation embryonic cell number in miniature pigs

Embryonic cell number in miniature pigs inbred for specific SLA haplotypes (a, c, and d) was determined on Day 6 by nuclear staining and, on Days 9 and 11, by DNA analyses (first day of oestrus = Day 0). Pigs exhibiting first behavioural oestrus at 08:00 h were hand-mated to an SLA homozygous boar 12 and 24 h later. Numbers of embryos flushed from uteri at 08:00-10:00 h on Days 6, 9 and 11 were greater (P less than 0.05) for SLAd females than for SLAa or SLAc females, which did not differ (8.2 vs 6.8 and 6.2, respectively). Recovery rates (embryos recovered/CL number) were similar, averaging 75.8% for all three SLA haplotypes. Embryos from SLAd dams contained fewer blastomeres (23 cells) on Day 6 than did embryos from SLAa (89 cells) or SLAc (79 cells) females. The reduced cell numbers of SLAd vs SLAa or SLAc embryos continued to Day 9 (28 vs 107 and 67 ng DNA/embryo) and Day 11 (167 vs 674 and 586 ng DNA/embryo). These results suggest an effect of the SLA complex on preimplantation embryonic development.     

Food-signal theory: population regulation and the functional response

A fully stochastic food-signal model, a function of a patchy-preyencounter sequence, and a prey-processing function is described.The model shows how prey density and its second-order statisticalproperties can sequester prey from predators, questioning theuse of only numerical abundance of predator and prey organismsas a measure of preya — predator interactions. The modelhighlights the notion that patch structure can be generatedby relative velocity of predator and prey as well as by theirspatial distribution. The model extends ideas that include the‘biological pump’ and the downwelling of carbonfrom the upper ocean, the functional response, optimal-foragingtheory, and the connections between population dynamics andvariability in the physical environment.