Fluctuation of algal alkaline phosphatase activity and the possible mechanisms of hydrolysis of dissolved organic phosphorus in Lake Barato

For freshwater cyanobacteria, the autofluorescence of phycocyanin is quite high while the in vivo fluorescence (IVF) yield of chlorophyll-a is relatively low, apparently because of low chlorophyll concentrations associated with photosystem II. In eucaryotic phytoplankton, even those with phycobili-protein accessory pigments (e.g. some cryptophytes), the opposite is true. Thus, an IVF ratio which relates phycocyanin to chlorophyll-a signals could be a good index of relative cyanobacterial abundance in the field. Spectrofluorometric scans of whole cells from laboratory cultures indicated that the ratio Em₆₆₀ @ Ex₆₃₀/Em₆₈₀ @ Ex₄₃₀ could be a very sensitive cyanobacterial indicator. Tandem flowthrough fluorometers were then fitted with the appropriate interference filters and their discriminatory power was evaluated with mixtures of cyanobacterial and eucaryotic phytoplankton. Although subject to many of the constraints of other IVF assays, tandem fluorometry should be particularly appropriate for real-time mapping of the relative spatial and temporal distributions of broad phytoplankton taxa in continuous vertical of horizontal profiles in lakes.     

Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequencing of oxyR, the positive regulatory gene of a regulon for an adaptive response to oxidative stress in Escherichia coli: homologies between OxyR protein and a family of bacterial activator proteins

Summary Treatment of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium cells with a low dose of hydrogen peroxide induces expression of a large number of genes, and confers resistance to oxidative stresses. The oxyR gene encodes a positive regulatory protein for a subset of these genes involved in the defense against oxidative damage. We cloned a DNA fragment that contains the E. coli oxyR region on a plasmid vector, and analyzed the nucleotide sequence of the gene. The amino acid sequence of OxyR protein, deduced from the nucleotide sequence, shows a high degree of homology to the sequences of a number of bacterial activator proteins including LysR, cysB, IlvY, MetR and NodD. The product of the oxyR gene identified by the maxicell procedure was a 34 kDa protein, which agrees with the size predicted from the nucleotide sequence of the gene.     

Accumulation of collagen III at the cleft points of developing mouse submandibular epithelium

The distribution of collagens I, III, IV and V was studied by immunoperoxidase staining of early developing mouse submandibular glands. Collagen I was always present in the extracellular matrices of the mesenchyme and at the epithelial-mesenchymal interfaces of the 12-day gland with no clefts and of the 13-day gland with a few definite clefts. Collagen III was found in a similar fashion to that of collagen I in the mesenchyme, but the distribution at the epithelial-mesenchymal interfaces was very different. In the mid 12-day gland with a round lobule, collagen III was distributed at every slightly indented site of basal epithelial surfaces. At the late 12-day stage, a few initial signs of cleft appeared on the surface, at which accumulation of collagen III became evident. Intense immunoreaction of collagen III in the early 13-day gland was seen at the bottom of every narrow cleft. No specific accumulation of collagens IV and V was observed in clefts of the late 12-day and early 13-day glands. Staining of collagen III in the 12-day gland cultured for 10 h in the presence of bovine dental pulp collagenase inhibitor, which has been shown to stimulate cleft initiation, was very prominent at the bottom of every narrow cleft. These observations suggest that collagen III works as a key substance for either in vitro or in vivo cleft initiation of the mouse embryonic submandibular epithelium.     

The role of interstitial collagens in cleft formation of mouse embryonic submandibular gland during initial branching

An interstitial collagenase was purified from the explant medium of bovine dental pulp and was shown to degrade collagens I and III but not IV and V. The enzyme halted cleft initiation in the epithelium of 12-day mouse embryonic submandibular glands in vitro, indicating the active involvement of interstitial collagens in the branching morphogenesis. Transmission electron microscopic observation of the intact 12-day gland without any clefts showed the scattered localization of a few collagen fibrils at the epithelial-mesenchymal interface of the bulb and also revealed the presence of numerous microfibrils around the stalk. Collagen bundles were regularly seen close to the wavy basal lamina at the bottom of clefts of the intact 13-day gland and 12-day gland cultured for 17 h under normal conditions. Mesenchymal cells were found in the clefts together with the frequent localization of peripheral nerve fibres and capillary endothelial cells. The collagen bundles were more often observed in the 12-day gland cultured in the presence of bovine dental pulp collagenase inhibitor, which had been shown to enhance cleft formation. In contrast, collagen fibrils were rarely found at the epithelial-mesenchymal interface of the 12-day gland cultured in the presence of Clostridial or bovine dental pulp collagenase. The findings indicated that the formation of interstitial collagen bundles is essential to form clefts in the epithelium both in vivo and in vitro.     

Three-dimensional SEM study of arteriovenous anastomoses in the dog's tongue using corrosive resin casts

Arteriovenous anastomoses (AVAs) participate in the regulation of blood flow. Although it has been speculated that AVAs in the dog's tongue play a role in the regulation of the body temperature, no published work is available on the structural characteristics of AVAs in the dog's tongue. The purpose of the present investigation was therefore to determine the frequency of AVAs and their structural characteristics by the fabrication of vascular corrosive resin casts and examination under a scanning electron microscope. This method permitted not only the visualization of the three-dimensional characteristics of AVAs, but also a clear differentiation between arterioles and venules. The total number of AVAs in the mucosal lamina propria of the dorsum of the left tongue half was 2,292. Several essential types such as S-shaped, hook-shaped, straight, bibranching and Y-shaped AVAs were observed, of which the S-shaped and similar types constituted the overwhelming majority; Y-shaped types have never been reported heretofore. This study also revealed that the locations where AVAs were most often distributed were, in descending order of frequency, the tip, the corpus and the root area of the tongue. This high frequency and strategic location of AVAs in the tongue strongly indicate that AVAs of the dog's tongue participate in the thermal regulation.     

Genetic polymorphism of human serum ribonuclease I (RNase I).

One of the human urinary ribonucleases (RNases) was isolated and purified to homogeneity (SDS-PAGE) by means of a series of column chromatographies. The enzyme, designated RNase 1, is a glycoprotein with a molecular weight of approximately 16,000. Rabbit antibody to the purified RNase 1 reacted with human urine and sera, as well as with the purified RNase 1. The genetic polymorphism of serum RNase 1 was studied by polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focusing (IEF-PAGE) in a pH range of 5-8, followed by immunoblotting with antisera specific for RNase 1. Two common phenotypes, RNASE1 1 and RNASE1 1-2, were easily recognized. The homogeneous phenotype, RNASE1 1, consisted of four major bands with different pI values, and the heterogeneous phenotype, RNASE1 1-2, was presumed to represent a mixture of each of the homogeneous phenotypes 1 and 2; however, the other homogeneous phenotype, RNASE1 2, was not detected in our samples. Family studies are in agreement with an autosomal codominant transmission of the two alleles. Population studies indicate that the frequencies of the RNASE 1 and RNASE1 2 alleles are .988 and .012, respectively.