Influence of recurrent nerve severance on haemolymph proteins inPeriplaneta americana L.

Zusammenfassung Es wird gezeigt, dass bei der weiblichen SchabePeriplaneta americana Durchtrennung des Nervus recurrens zu einer Reduktion der Hämolymphproteine führt.     

Isolation of biologically active alkaloids from Korean mistletoeViscum album,coloratum

Summary Anticancer activity of certain highly cytotoxic alkaloids present in Korean mistletoe has been demonstrated in experimental animals. Unlike European mistletoe, no cytotoxic proteins were found in the Korean mistletoe.This work was presented at ACS/CSJ Chemical Congress, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 1–6, 1979.We are thankful to Jerome Foundation, Los Angeles, California for a generous grant for the support of this work.     

Absolute comparison of simulated and experimental protein-folding dynamics

Protein folding is difficult to simulate with classical molecular dynamics. Secondary structure motifs such as alpha-helices and beta-hairpins can form in 0.1-10 micros (ref. 1), whereas small proteins have been shown to fold completely in tens of microseconds. The longest folding simulation to date is a single 1- micro s simulation of the villin headpiece; however, such single runs may miss many features of the folding process as it is a heterogeneous reaction involving an ensemble of transition states. Here, we have used a distributed computing implementation to produce tens of thousands of 5-20-ns trajectories (700 micros) to simulate mutants of the designed mini-protein BBA5. The fast relaxation dynamics these predict were compared with the results of laser temperature-jump experiments. Our computational predictions are in excellent agreement with the experimentally determined mean folding times and equilibrium constants. The rapid folding of BBA5 is due to the swift formation of secondary structure. The convergence of experimentally and computationally accessible timescales will allow the comparison of absolute quantities characterizing in vitro and in silico (computed) protein folding.     

Potential fly-ash utilization in agriculture: A global review

Though in last four decades various alternate energy sources have come into the limelight, the hyperbolic use of coal as a prime energy source cannot be counterbalanced. Disposal of high amount of fly-ash from thermal power plants absorbs huge amount of water, energy and land area by ash ponds. In order to meet the growing energy demand, various environmental, economic and social problems associated with the disposal of fly-ash would continue to increase. Therefore, fly-ash management would remain a great concern of the century. Fly-ash has great potentiality in agriculture due to its efficacy in modification of soil health and crop performance. The high concentration of elements (K, Na, Zn, Ca, Mg and Fe) in fly-ash increases the yield of many agricultural crops. But compared to other sectors, the use of fly-ash in agriculture is limited. An exhaustive review of numerous studies of last four decades took place in this paper, which systematically covers the importance, scope and apprehension regarding utilization of fly-ash in agriculture. The authors concluded that though studies have established some solutions to handle the problems of radioactivity and heavy metal content in flyash, long-term confirmatory research and demonstration are necessary. This paper also identified some areas, like proper handling of dry ash in plants as well as in fields, ash pond management (i.e., faster decantation, recycling of water, vertical expansion rather than horizontal), monitoring of soil health, crop quality, and fate of fly-ash in time domain, where research thrust is required. Agricultural lime application contributes to global warming as Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assumes that all the carbon in agricultural lime is finally released as CO2to the atmosphere. It is expected that use of fly-ash instead of lime in agriculture can reduce net CO2emission, thus reduce global warming also.     

Exploiting a natural conformational switch to engineer an interleukin-2 'superkine'

The immunostimulatory cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a growth factor for a wide range of leukocytes, including T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. Considerable effort has been invested in using IL-2 as a therapeutic agent for a variety of immune disorders ranging from AIDS to cancer. However, adverse effects have limited its use in the clinic. On activated T cells, IL-2 signals through a quaternary 'high affinity' receptor complex consisting of IL-2, IL-2Rα (termed CD25), IL-2Rβ and IL-2Rγ. Naive T cells express only a low density of IL-2Rβ and IL-2Rγ, and are therefore relatively insensitive to IL-2, but acquire sensitivity after CD25 expression, which captures the cytokine and presents it to IL-2Rβ and IL-2Rγ. Here, using in vitro evolution, we eliminated the functional requirement of IL-2 for CD25 expression by engineering an IL-2 'superkine' (also called super-2) with increased binding affinity for IL-2Rβ. Crystal structures of the IL-2 superkine in free and receptor-bound forms showed that the evolved mutations are principally in the core of the cytokine, and molecular dynamics simulations indicated that the evolved mutations stabilized IL-2, reducing the flexibility of a helix in the IL-2Rβ binding site, into an optimized receptor-binding conformation resembling that when bound to CD25. The evolved mutations in the IL-2 superkine recapitulated the functional role of CD25 by eliciting potent phosphorylation of STAT5 and vigorous proliferation of T cells irrespective of CD25 expression. Compared to IL-2, the IL-2 superkine induced superior expansion of cytotoxic T cells, leading to improved antitumour responses in vivo, and elicited proportionally less expansion of T regulatory cells and reduced pulmonary oedema. Collectively, we show that in vitro evolution has mimicked the functional role of CD25 in enhancing IL-2 potency and regulating target cell specificity, which has implications for immunotherapy.     

Aspects of natural history in a sand boa,Eryx muelleri (Erycidae) from arid savannahs in Burkina Faso,Togo, and Nigeria (West Africa)

The ecology of West African arid savannah snakes is still poorly known, especially in regard to the fossorial species. Here, field data on distribution, morphometrics, habitat use and diet are reported for the sand boa Eryx muelleri (Erycidae) from three different countries, i.e. Burkina Faso, Togo and Nigeria. This snake was observed in 21 distinct localities, and a total of 39 individuals was recorded. The species is likely fairly common and locally abundant. Mean body length of snakes was similar among countries and between sexes, but males had proportionately longer tails than females. Body length was significantly positively correlated with both tail length and head length. Adult sex ratio was close to parity. Most of the specimens were found in well-vegetated spots with low percentage of bare soil. There were apparently both ontogenetic and intersexual dietary variations: (1) a single analysed juvenile fed upon a small-sized lizard, whereas adults fed considerably upon young rodents; and (2) females fed exclusively upon young rodents and males upon both lizards and young rodents. In conservation terms, the species is actively exported from Togo for the pet trade, and additional individuals may also be illegally collected in other countries.     

Phosphatases ofMycobacterium 607

Zusammenfassung Die Phosphatase(n)-Aktivität der zellfreien Extrakte vonMycobacterium 607 wurde untersucht und Pyrophosphat, ATP, ADP und Fructose-1,6-diphosphat hydrolisiert. Eigene Eigenschaften der Phosphatasen wurden studiert. Auch wurde nachgewiesen, dass die Hydrolyse von ATP und ADP durch mindestens zwei verschiedene Enzyme hervorzurufen ist.

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Supported in part by funds from Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi and Grant No. E-3427, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases U.S.P.H.S. Thanks are due to Dr.R. Viswanathan for his interest in this work.     

Structure and stereochemistry of coccuvine (Cocculus laurifolius DC)

Summary Coccuvine C₁₇H₁₉NO₂, m.p. 137–38°, a new alkaloid fromCocculus laurifolius DC has been assigned the structure and stereochemistry as (I) on the basis of spectroscopic studies and chemical correlation.