Fitness of RNA virus decreased by Muller's ratchet

Why sex exists remains an unsolved problem in biology. If mutations are on the average deleterious, a high mutation rate can account for the evolution of sex. One form of this mutational hypothesis is Muller's ratchet. If the mutation rate is high, mutation-free individuals become rare and they can be lost by genetic drift in small populations. In asexual populations, as Muller noted, the loss is irreversible and the load of deleterious mutations increases in a ratchet-like manner with the successive loss of the least-mutated individuals. Sex can be advantageous because it increases the fitness of sexual populations by re-creating mutation-free individuals from mutated individuals and stops (or slows) Muller's ratchet. Although Muller's ratchet is an appealing hypothesis, it has been investigated and documented experimentally in only one group of organisms--ciliated protozoa. I initiated a study to examine the role of Muller's ratchet on the evolution of sex in RNA viruses and report here a significant decrease in fitness due to Muller's ratchet in 20 lineages of the RNA bacteriophage phi 6. These results show that deleterious mutations are generated at a sufficiently high rate to advance Muller's ratchet in an RNA virus and that beneficial, backward and compensatory mutations cannot stop the ratchet in the observed range of fitness decrease.     

Detection and characterization of a folding intermediate in barnase by NMR

Protein engineering is being developed for mapping the energetics and pathway of protein folding. From kinetic studies on wild-type and mutant proteins, the sequence and energetics of formation of tertiary interactions of side chains can be mapped and the formation of secondary structure inferred. Here we cross-check and complement results from this approach by using a recently developed procedure that traps and characterizes secondary structure in intermediate states using 1H NMR. The refolding of barnase is shown to be a multiphasic process in which the secondary structure in alpha-helices and beta-sheets and some turns is formed more rapidly than is the overall folding.     

Co-localization of molecules involved in antigen processing and presentation in an early endocytic compartment

The pathways of intracellular traffic involved in antigen processing and presentation have been defined by immunoelectron microscopy. The export pathway for class II histocompatibility molecules and the antigen import pathway meet in a peripheral endocytic compartment having all the molecular machinery believed to be required for antigen processing and presentation, including internalized surface immunoglobulins, proteolytic enzymes and invariant chains. This compartment defines a site where peptides from endocytosed antigen can bind class II molecules en route to the cell surface for presentation to T cells.     

Small G proteins are expressed ubiquitously in lymphoid cells and do not correspond to Bcl-2

The bcl-2 gene is consistently associated with t(14; 18) chromosomal translocations observed in a large fraction of human B-cell lymphomas. The t(14; 18) translocation results in deregulated expression of the bcl-2 gene and synthesis of inappropriately high levels of the Bcl-2 protein. Gene transfer studies suggest a role for Bcl-2 in cell survival, growth enhancement and oncogenic transformation. To test the suggestion that GTP-binding by Bcl-2 may mediate its biological effects we characterized the GTP-binding proteins in lymphoid cells expressing Bcl-2. Expression of several small GTP-binding proteins was found to be ubiquitous and did not vary with levels of Bcl-2. By using immunological, electrophoretic and cell-fractionation techniques, we separated Bcl-2 from G proteins of small relative molecular mass (Mr) and showed that it is incapable of binding GTP. Our results show that small Mr G proteins are widely expressed in lymphoid cells and that Bcl-2 is not a novel member of this GTP-binding protein family.     

Cd-Pb-Sb三元系垂直截面平衡相图的理论计算与实验测定

本文计算了Cd-Pb-Sb三元合金体系的垂直截面相图,同时采用差热分析(DTA)方法测定了该体系中四个垂直截面的平衡相图。计算结果与实验测定的相图和文献报道的结果符合得较好,表明所用的计算方法是可靠的。     

豆渣、鸡粪厌氧消化制取沼气发酵条件的研究

本研究以豆渣、鸡粪为原料,经厌氧消化生产沼气,实验按两种原料碳、氮实际含量经过计算后进行组合,并使其碳、氮比调整为15.6∶1。在投料率为5％、投料浓度13％、滞留期20天、pH7.2—7.5、温度控制在35±1℃的条件下,产气率可达到3.9M~3/M~3料容·日。     

光学干涉条纹图象处理及应用

本文应用数字图象处理与识别技术在 IBMPC/AT 图象处理系统上实现了光学干涉条纹图象的自动分析.文中提出的曲面平滑方法既可消除随机噪声又可使退化的图象得到改善.探讨了用二维灰值检测的方法获取条纹的准峰值或准谷值线.提出了用记忆跟踪算法自动消除噪声线段、剔除条纹毛刺的方法.文中还介绍了自动确定条纹级数的简要原理,最后给出了干涉条纹图象处理的实例.     

花背蟾蜍冬眠期和繁殖期几种器官组织中酶的研究

本文利用聚丙烯酰胺凝胶盘状电泳,测定了花背蟾蜍冬眠期和繁殖期6种器官组织中乳酸脱氢酶(LDH)同工酶的相对活性.结果表明,6种器官组织中 LDH 同工酶的活性表现明显的季节和性别差异.在肝脏的 LDH 同工酶酶谱中还出现亚带和第6条酶带.     

苏门答腊金合欢群落叶蒸腾作用和水分状况的研究

本文对厦门地区苏门答腊金合欢群落叶蒸腾作用和水分状况以及它们与生态因子的关系进行了研究,该群落叶蒸腾强度平均值为 477.9 mg·g~(-1)(FW)·h~(-1)。其蒸腾强度的日变化受土壤含水量和气候因子的综合影响,但在不同时期的影响程度不同。其蒸腾强度的季节变化与土壤和叶片本身的含水量呈正相关,与后者的相关系数是 0.96。该植物叶片束缚水量,束缚水与总水量比值,水势均与气温呈负相关,其数值均高于乡土耐旱树种相思树。     

Expression and characterization of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common lethal genetic disease that manifests itself in airway and other epithelial cells as defective chloride ion absorption and secretion, resulting at least in part from a defect in a cyclic AMP-regulated, outwardly-rectifying Cl- channel in the apical surface. The gene responsible for CF has been identified and predicted to encode a membrane protein termed the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Identification of a cryptic bacterial promoter within the CFTR coding sequence led us to construct a complementary DNA in a low-copy-number plasmid, thereby avoiding the deleterious effects of CFTR expression on Escherischia coli. We have used this cDNA to express CFTR in vitro and in vivo. Here we demonstrate that CFTR is a membrane-associated glycoprotein that can be phosporylated in vitro by cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies directed against distinct domains of the protein immunoprecipitated recombinant CFTR as well as the endogenous CFTR in nonrecombinant T84 cells. Partial proteolysis fingerprinting showed that the recombinant and non-recombinant proteins are indistinguishable. These data, which establish several characteristics of the protein responsible for CF, will now enable CFTR function to be studied and will provide a basis for diagnosis and therapy.