Electromyography of pronators and supinators in great apes.

We obtained electromyographic recordings from the supinator, biceps brachii, pronator quadratus, and pronator teres muscles of a chimpanzee and a gorilla and from the supinator, pronator quadratus, and biceps brachii muscles of an orangutan as they stood and walked quadrupedally on horizontal and inclined surfaces, engaged in suspensory behavior, reached overhead, and manipulated a variety of foods and artifacts. In Pan troglodytes and Pan gorilla, as in Homo sapiens, the supinator muscle is the prime supinator, with the biceps brachii muscle serving to augment speed or force of supination. Primary of the pronator quadratus muscle over the pronator teres muscle during pronation is less clear in the African apes than in humans. Possibly, pongid radial curvature or forelimb elongation or both factors are related to the somewhat different patterns of activity that we observed in the pronator muscles of Pan versus those reported for Homo sapiens. In Pongo pygmaeus, as in P. troglodytes and P. gorilla, the pronator quadratus muscle acts as a pronator and the supinator muscle acts to supinate the hand at the radioulnar joints. The biceps brachii muscle is active at low levels as the orangutan supinates its hand with the elbow flexed.     

Retinoic acid modulates the pattern of cell division in embryos ofLymnaea stagnalis (Mollusca)

All-trans retinoic acid is well known as a modulator of positional specification in vertebrate development. A similar mechanism may operate in molluscan development. Molluscan development is characterized by an invariant pattern of cell divisions, which allows the study of individual cells in the developing organism. Low concentrations of exogenous retinoic acid applied during gastrulation affect the cell division pattern in the early larval stage of the molluscLymnaea stagnalis. A few cells from the apical plate, a larval organ consisting of seven large cleavage-arrested cells, were induced by retinoic acid to resume cell division. They typically formed an area of proliferating small cells that resembles the adjacent areas of precursor cells of adult ectoderm. The identification of individual cells that are transformed by retinoic acid may provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying positional specification within the embryo.     

Positional information in imaginal discs transformed by homoeotic mutations

Summary Mutations of the bithorax complex result in segmental transformations in the thorax and abdomen ofDrosophila. The haltere discs from larvae homozygous forbx ³ orpbx are transformed so that the discs contain cells that will produce wing cuticle as well as cells that produce haltere cuticle. The pattern regulation behavior of these discs has been examined. The fate maps of the two discs were established, and then the regulative behavior of a number of fragments from both types of mutant discs was established by culturing the fragments in vivo prior to metamorphosis. The most important conclusion from this work is that the cells producing, haltere cuticle and wing cuticle within the same disc share the same positional information and that they communicate during pattern regulation.     

磷脂酰甘油分子种与杨树抗寒性关系的研究

用高效液相色谱（ＨＰＬＣ）方法分析了杨树叶磷脂酰甘油（ＰＧ）的分子种组成,用酶解和气相色谱（ＧＣ）方法分析了ＰＧ脂肪酸定位,比较了抗寒性不同的杨树叶片ＰＧ分子种。结果表明,杨树叶片ＰＧ主要含有以下的分子种脂肪酸组成（ｓｎ－１和ｓｎ－２）：１８：１８：２（１８：２／１８：３）,１８：３／１６：１（３ｔ）;１８：３／１６：０;１８：２／１６：１（３ｔ）;１６：０／１８：２,１８：２／１６：０;１８：１     

Reversed type of color-pattern modifications of butterfly wings: a physiological mechanism of wing-wide color-pattern determination

Application of cold shock or tungstate to butterfly pupae produces a unique color-pattern modification type on the adult wings, in which the color-pattern elements are dislocated toward the reduced focal elements. This modification-inducing activity has been primarily attributed to the putative cold-shock hormone (CSH) that is secreted into the hemolymph upon cold shock. Here, using a species of nymphalid butterfly Junonia almana, a new "reversed" type of the color-pattern modifications of butterfly wings was obtained by the application of heat shock or thapsigargin, a calcium-ATPase inhibitor, in which most elements were dislocated away from the enlarged focal elements. This result suggests that the endocrine secretion of CSH is sensitive to a wide range of temperature shocks, which then affects the cellular interpretation of the wing-wide positional information that is emitted from the focal locations. Ecdysteroid contributes to the wing-wide patterning primarily independently from CSH, but these two systems negatively interact with each other, probably in the intracellular signaling pathways.     

The mechanism of solvent effect on the positional selectivity of Candida antarctica lipase B during 1,3-diolein synthesis by esterification

We investigated the influence of solvent on the positional selectivity of Novozym 435 which was the immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) during the esterification of oleic acid with glycerol for 1,3-diolein preparation previously. Herein, molecular modeling was used to elucidate the underlying mechanism of the solvent effect on the positional selectivity of the enzyme. The results showed that the binding energy of sn-1 hydroxyl of glycerol molecular with CALB became higher, and the binding energy of sn-2 hydroxyl of glycerol molecular with CALB became lower along with the increase of the solvent log P. It was demonstrated that, increasing log P of the solvent, the enzyme selectivity to sn-1 hydroxyl of glycerol molecular grew weaker, and the selectivity to sn-2 hydroxyl of glycerol molecular grew stronger.     

Pnlip encoding pancreatic lipase is possible candidate for obesity QTL in the OLETF rat

The Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat exhibits polygenic obesity, and one of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) responsible for a susceptibility to obesity in the OLETF, Nidd6/of, has been mapped to the approximately 10-cM genomic region between D1Rat166 and D1Rat90 on chromosome 1 in (OLETF x normal) F2 intercross. In this study, we have attempted to identify the causal gene for the Nidd6/of QTL. A Nidd6/of congenic strain, constructed by introgressing the OLETF allele on the mapped Nidd6/of region in the normal F344 rat strain, confirmed the existence of the Nidd6/of as obesity QTL. The Nidd6/of region was refined to a approximately 2.3-cM genomic region between D1Rat225 and D1Rat90, using informative recombinants selected from (Nidd6/of congenic x F344) F1 x Nidd6/of congenic backcross progenies. Among 46 genes located within the approximately 2.3-cM region, pancreatic lipase gene, Pnlip, was regarded as the most prominent and physiologically relevant positional candidate for the Nidd6/of QTL. We found that Pnlip possesses an OLETF allele-specific increase of mRNA levels in the pancreas, and that the OLETF allele is longer in variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) within the 5'-flanking region than normal alleles. We further showed that the Nidd6/of QTL completely cosegregates with Pnlip VNTR in the informative recombinants from (Nidd6/of congenic x F344) F1 x Nidd6/of congenic backcross progenies. These results suggest that Pnlip is possible candidate for the Nidd6/of QTL.     

Isolation and characterization of two positional isomers of novel heterogeneous branched cyclomaltohexaoses (alpha-cyclodextrins) having a D-galactobiosyl residue on the side chain

Transgalactosylated products, 2-O-alpha-D-galactobiosyl-cyclomaltohexaoses (alpha-cyclodextrins, alphaCDs), were synthesized by alpha-galactosidase from coffee bean using melibiose and alphaCD as a donor substrate and an acceptor, respectively. Two positional isomers of 2-O-alpha-galactobiosyl-alphaCDs were isolated and purified by HPLC, and their structures were elucidated by FABMS and NMR spectroscopies, as well as by an enzymatic degradation method. The chromatographic behavior of these novel galactosylated alphaCDs was compared on three HPLC columns with different separation modes.