A family of mammalian Na+-dependent L-ascorbic acid transporters.

Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) is essential for many enzymatic reactions, in which it serves to maintain prosthetic metal ions in their reduced forms (for example, Fe2+, Cu+), and for scavenging free radicals in order to protect tissues from oxidative damage. The facilitative sugar transporters of the GLUT type can transport the oxidized form of the vitamin, dehydroascorbic acid, but these transporters are unlikely to allow significant physiological amounts of vitamin C to be taken up in the presence of normal glucose concentrations, because the vitamin is present in plasma essentially only in its reduced form. Here we describe the isolation of two L-ascorbic acid transporters, SVCT1 and SVCT2, from rat complementary DNA libraries, as the first step in investigating the importance of L-ascorbic acid transport in regulating the supply and metabolism of vitamin C. We find that SVCT1 and SVCT2 each mediate concentrative, high-affinity L-ascorbic acid transport that is stereospecific and is driven by the Na+ electrochemical gradient. Despite their close sequence homology and similar functions, the two isoforms of the transporter are discretely distributed: SVCT1 is mainly confined to epithelial systems (intestine, kidney, liver), whereas SVCT2 serves a host of metabolically active cells and specialized tissues in the brain, eye and other organs.     

一种从航天器VLBI观测记录中获取航天器速度信息的方法

介绍一种对航天器的VLBI原始电压观测记录中提取多普勒频移量的方法，并用于对lunarprospector的较左VLBI观测记录的分析中，同时得到航天器的VLBI和多普勒观测数据，有利于对航天器空间位置和速度信息的同时获取。     

Spin Effects in Collisions of Electrons with Atoms and Molecules

IntroductionThedynamicsofelectron-atomandelectron-moleculecollisionshasbeenthefocusofmuchinterestinthepastbecauseofitsrelevanceingasdischargesandplasmas,includinggaslasers,orastrophysicalproblemsofpracticalinterest.Avarietyofinvestigationshavebeenperformedtostudysuchprocessesinsomedetail.Moresophisticatedexperimentalmethodsincludepolarization-correlationmeasurementstoobtaingeneralizedSTUparameters,spinasymmetrieswithpolarizedtargets(alsosuperelasticscatteringfromlaserexcitedtarget),opticalpar…     

Neuere Anschauungen über die Meteorologie und Klimatologie des Föhns

Summary The results of new researches about the föhn in the Swiss Alps in connection with the theory ofH. von Ficker show that the energy of the cyclonic föhn has two sources: the pressure gradient and the baroclinic field. This is caused by the isobaric differences of temperature between the Alps and the free atmosphere in the lee. The result is a current with a descending component in the lee. At the beginning, the descent of the föhn is due to the outstreaming of the cold air on the ground. In its further development the energy of the föhn increases so much as to sweep the cold air off the valleys.The development of föhn in an anticyclonic system ist also explained. Furthermore the two kinds of föhn are discussed in regard to their climatological influences.

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Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos.     

An unusually large multifunctional polypeptide in the erythromycin-producing polyketide synthase of Saccharopolyspora erythraea

Erythromycin A, a clinically important polyketide antibiotic, is produced by the Gram-positive bacterium Saccharopolyspora erythraea. In an arrangement that seems to be generally true of antibiotic biosynthetic genes in Streptomyces and related bacteria like S. erythraea, the ery genes encoding the biosynthetic pathway to erythromycin are clustered around the gene (ermE) that confers self-resistance on S. erythraea. The aglycone core of erythromycin A is derived from one propionyl-CoA and six methylmalonyl-CoA units, which are incorporated head-to-tail into the growing polyketide chain, in a process similar to that of fatty-acid biosynthesis, to generate a macrolide intermediate, 6-deoxyerythronolide B. 6-Deoxyerythronolide B is converted into erythromycin A through the action of specific hydroxylases, glycosyltransferases and a methyltransferase. We report here the analysis of about 10 kilobases of DNA from S. erythraea, cloned by chromosome 'walking' outwards from the erythromycin-resistance determinant ermE, and previously shown to be essential for erythromycin biosynthesis. Partial sequencing of this region indicates that it encodes the synthase. Our results confirm this, and reveal a novel organization of the erythromycin-producing polyketide synthase, which provides further insight into the mechanism of chain assembly.