cDNA and protein sequence of a major pea seed albumin (PA 2 : Mr≈26 000)

Summary Pea albumin 2 (PA2:M_r26000) is a major component of the albumin fraction derived from aqueous salt extracts of pea seed. Sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel resolve PA2 into two closely related components (PA2a and PA2b). A cDNA clone coding for one of these components has been sequenced and the deduced amino acid sequence compared with partial, chemically-determined sequences for cyanogen bromide peptides from both PA2 components. Complete amino acid sequences were obtained for the C-terminal peptides. The PA2 molecule of 230 amino acids contains four imperfect repeat sequences each of approximately 57 amino acids in length.The combined sequence data, together with a comparison of PA2-related polypeptides produced in vitro and in vivo, indicate that PA2 is synthesized without a signal sequence and does not undergo significant post-translational modification. Although both forms of PA2 contain Asn-X-Thr consensus sequences, neither form is glycosylated. Accumulation of PA2 contributes approximately 11% of the sulfur-amino acids in pea seeds (cysteine plus methionine equals 2.6 residues percent). Suppression of levels of PA2 polypeptides and their mRNAs in developing seeds of sulfur-deficient plants is less marked than that for legumin, in spite of the lower content of sulfur-amino acids in legumin.     

Biosynthesis,cDNA and amino acid sequences of a precursor of conglutin δ, a sulphur-rich protein from Lupinus angustifolius

The biosynthesis of conglutin has been studied in developing cotyledons of Lupinus angustifolius L. Precursors of conglutin formed the major sink for [³⁵S]-cysteine incorporated by developing lupin cotyledons, and these precursors were rapidly sequestered into the endoplasmic reticulum. The sequence of a cDNA clone coding for one such precursor of conglutin was determined. The structure of the precursor polypeptide for conglutin predicted from the cDNA sequence contained an N-terminal leader peptide of 22 amino acids directly preceding a subunit polypeptide of M _r 4520, together with a linking region of 13 amino acids and a subunit polypeptide of M _r 9558 at the C-terminus. The amino acid sequence predicted from the cDNA sequence showed minor variations from that established by sequencing of the protein purified from mature dried seeds (Lilley and Inglis, 1986). These were consistent with the existence of a multi-gene family coding for conglutin . Comparison of the sequences of conglutin with those of other 2S storage proteins showed that the cysteines involved in internal disulphide bridges between the mature subunits of conglutin , were maintained throughout this family of proteins but that little else was conserved either at the protein or DNA level.     

Trait–state interactions in the etiology of nightmares.

Various personality and psychopathology traits are associated with nightmare frequency. This study investigated whether trait variables might also account for individual differences in the longitudinal relationship between daily mood and nightmare incidence each night. Forty-two participants (35 women, 7 men; mean age = 40.10 years) reported having nightmares at least once per month and completed a 14-day dream and mood (anxiety and depression) log. Within-subject correlations between state anxiety and nightmare incidence or absence the following night and between state depression and nightmare incidence or absence were computed. None of the trait measures had significant correlations with these within-subject correlations. However, when only participants scoring above the group median on Hartman’s thin boundariness were analyzed, thin boundariness, Symptom Checklist—Global Severity, adverse life events, and childhood adversity were associated with the incidence of nightmares as a function of state anxiety or depression on a night-by-night basis, with correlation coefficients between .43 and .52. This supports the hypothesis of trait predispositions for a nightmare reaction to daily state anxiety or depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and Dream Recall Frequency: Further Negative Findings

On the basis of previous findings of dream recall frequency being associated with thin boundariness and sensitivity we assessed the association between DRF and variables that appear related to these two measures. Data from 93 participants (47 males, 46 females, mean age 21.3 yrs., SD = 3.5) show that dream recall frequency (DRF) correlates marginally with neuroticism (r = .20) and interrogative suggestibility (r = .21), the latter result indicating that DRF obtained by questionnaire may be subject to demand bias. DRF had very low correlations with various other personality variables (need for cognition, personal locus of control, hypochondriasis, morningness-eveningness), and with narrative memory, confabulation of narrative memory, and habitual sleep length. DRF correlated positively with POMS elated (-depressed) for males (r = .31) but negatively for females (r = –.19), this significant difference in correlations may be due to sex differences in DRF in response to stress. The frequent findings of small or nonsignificant correlations between DRF and personality are discussed in terms of similar low correlations in personality psychology, but we conclude that DRF is usually sampled adequately, and that the results of no simple relationship with personality (except boundariness, creativity, and positive attitude towards dreams) are therefore robust and may indicate that dream recall is mainly determined physiologically.     

Lucid dreaming frequency and change blindness performance.

There are reports of lucid dreaming being cued by the recognition that a dream event is bizarre from the point of view of waking life. However, for dreams in general, there is a lack of ability to notice or question bizarre occurrences. A waking-life analog of this inability is here proposed to be change blindness. In change blindness tasks, a prominent alteration to a photograph occurs repeatedly, but it is rare for these changes to be spotted immediately. It was hypothesized that lucid dreamers would perform better on change blindness tasks than would nonlucid dreamers. Contrary to the hypothesis, individuals who reported having lucid dreams more than once per month (n = 13), occasional lucid dreamers (n = 13), and nonlucid dreamers (n = 12) were found not to differ significantly on performance on 6 change blindness tasks. How the usually proficient unconscious detection of errors during waking life is disabled during dreams remains to be determined, but it does not seem from the results here to have a simple relationship with the waking-life phenomenon of change blindness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the dream-lag effect for REM and NREM stage 2 dreams

This study investigates evidence, from dream reports, for memory consolidation during sleep. It is well-known that events and memories from waking life can be incorporated into dreams. These incorporations can be a literal replication of what occurred in waking life, or, more often, they can be partial or indirect. Two types of temporal relationship have been found to characterize the time of occurrence of a daytime event and the reappearance or incorporation of its features in a dream. These temporal relationships are referred to as the day-residue or immediate incorporation effect, where there is the reappearance of features from events occurring on the immediately preceding day, and the dream-lag effect, where there is the reappearance of features from events occurring 5-7 days prior to the dream. Previous work on the dream-lag effect has used spontaneous home recalled dream reports, which can be from Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM) and from non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (NREM). This study addresses whether the dream-lag effect occurs only for REM sleep dreams, or for both REM and NREM stage 2 (N2) dreams. 20 participants kept a daily diary for over a week before sleeping in the sleep laboratory for 2 nights. REM and N2 dreams collected in the laboratory were transcribed and each participant rated the level of correspondence between every dream report and every diary record. The dream-lag effect was found for REM but not N2 dreams. Further analysis indicated that this result was not due to N2 dream reports being shorter, in terms of number of words, than the REM dream reports. These results provide evidence for a 7-day sleep-dependent non-linear memory consolidation process that is specific to REM sleep, and accord with proposals for the importance of REM sleep to emotional memory consolidation.     

Crystalline monoclonal Fab fragment with specificity towards an influenza virus neuraminidase

An Fab fragment from a monoclonal antibody (NTS10/1) has been crystallized. The antigen, influenza virus A/Tokyo/3/67 (N2) neuraminidase, is also crystalline and its structure analysis is in progress. The Fab crystals are trigonal, space group P3₁21 with cell dimensions $\text{a = 132·3}\text{A}\text{?}\text{, c = 73·8}\text{A}\text{?}$. This crystalline material forms a complex with the neuraminidase with an equilibrium binding constant in excess of 10¹¹m^?1. The molecular weight of the complex is 406,000 ± 20,000 indicating that four Fab fragments are attached to each neuraminidase tetramer. The separate crystallization of antigen and Fab fragment opens the way to map, for the first time, the complementary surfaces of an antigen-antibody complex.     

Association of lucid dreaming frequency with Stroop task performance.

Lucid dreaming involves the attentional skill of having metacognition about the dreamer's state of consciousness at the same time as being engaged in the dream scenario. A combination of two levels of cognition also occurs in the incongruent condition of the Stroop task, where there is interference between the attentional demands of a relatively difficult (color naming) and an easy (reading) task. It was thus hypothesized that frequent lucid dreamers would perform better on the Stroop task than would nonlucid dreamers. Individuals who reported having lucid dreams more than once per month (n = 15) were found to be significantly faster on the incongruent condition of the Stroop task than were occasional lucid dreamers (n = 15) or nonlucid dreamers (n = 15). The groups did not differ on the standard colored nonword control condition. Continuity in attentional ability between waking and dreaming cognition was thus found. This continuity may counteract the psychophysiologically dominant and possibly evolutionarily selected lack of self-awareness in dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wolbachia stimulates immune gene expression and inhibits plasmodium development in Anopheles gambiae

The over-replicating wMelPop strain of the endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis has recently been shown to be capable of inducing immune upregulation and inhibition of pathogen transmission in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. In order to examine whether comparable effects would be seen in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, transient somatic infections of wMelPop were created by intrathoracic inoculation. Upregulation of six selected immune genes was observed compared to controls, at least two of which (LRIM1 and TEP1) influence the development of malaria parasites. A stably infected An. gambiae cell line also showed increased expression of malaria-related immune genes. Highly significant reductions in Plasmodium infection intensity were observed in the wMelPop-infected cohort, and using gene knockdown, evidence for the role of TEP1 in this phenotype was obtained. Comparing the levels of upregulation in somatic and stably inherited wMelPop infections in Ae. aegypti revealed that levels of upregulation were lower in the somatic infections than in the stably transinfected line; inhibition of development of Brugia filarial nematodes was nevertheless observed in the somatic wMelPop infected females. Thus we consider that the effects observed in An. gambiae are also likely to be more pronounced if stably inherited wMelPop transinfections can be created, and that somatic infections of Wolbachia provide a useful model for examining effects on pathogen development or dissemination. The data are discussed with respect to the comparative effects on malaria vectorial capacity of life shortening and direct inhibition of Plasmodium development that can be produced by Wolbachia.