转基因植物中反义基因对乙烯生物合成的抑制作用

乙烯调节着高等植物的许多生理和发育过程,包括果实成熟、叶脱落、衰老和伤反应.虽然在果实成熟和叶片衰老过程中,mRNA的积累与乙烯的产量以及感量相关,但控制乙烯合成的调节机制以及乙烯促进基因表达的机理并不清楚.此前我们曾报告,互补DNApTOM13与某种mRNA的作用相同,而这种mRNA的合成与趋熟果实及受伤叶片中乙烯的合成相关.pTOM13mRNA编码一种相对分子量约35000的蛋白.对cDNA和三个相关基因的克隆以及测序已经完成,但该蛋白质的作用尚未知道.我们认为,应用pTOM13时,反义RNA降低了乙烯的生物合成,降低程度与反义RNA量的多少…     

Black-tailed prairie dog populations one year after treatment with rodenticides

Three rodenticide treatments, zinc phosphide with prebait, strychnine with prebait, and strychnine without prebait, were applied to black-tailed prairie dog Cynomys ludovicianus colonies in west central South Dakota. Results were compared immediately posttreatment and for one year after application. Zinc phosphide was the most effective for reducing prairie dog numbers immediately. When burrow activity levels of prairie dogs were initially reduced by 45% with strychnine only, they returned to untreated levels within ten months. When initial reductions were 95% with zinc phosphide, however, the number of active burrows was still reduced 77% in September the following year. Strychnine with prebait treatment showed initial reductions of 83% in burrow activity. Bait consumption by prairie dogs was highest for zinc phosphide.     

Field study of plant survival as affected by amendments to bentonite spoil

Efforts to reclaim amended and raw bentonite spoils with six plant species (two forbs, three shrubs, and one tree) were evaluated over a 4-year period. Plant species included fourwing saltbush ( Atriplex canescens [Pursh] Nutt.), big sagebrush ( Artemisia tridentata tridentata Nutt.), Rocky Mountain Juniper ( Juniperus scopulorum Sarg.), Russian olive ( Elaeagnus angustifolia L.) common yarrow ( Achillea millifolium L.) and scarlet globemallow ( Sphaeralcea coccinea [Pursh] Rydb.). Spoil treatments included addition of gypsum, sawdust, perlite, straw, and vermiculite; the control treatment was amended. Fourwing saltbush had 52% survival across all spoil treatments, with greatest survival occurring on perlite-treated spoil (80%), followed by gypsum (70%) and vermiculite amendments (70%). Survival of other plant species ranged from 0 to 2% averaged across all treatments after 4 years. No differences in plant survival occurred among amendments when all species were considered.     

Synthese von Vitamin-A-Methyläther

Summary Preliminary report on the synthesis of vitamin A methyl ether starting from 4-trimethylcyclohexenyl-2-methyl-butenal and 1-methoxy-3-methyl-pentenin.     

Substantial increase of protein stability by multiple disulphide bonds

Disulphide bonds can significantly stabilize the native structures of proteins. The effect is presumed to be due mainly to a decrease in the configurational chain entropy of the unfolded polypeptide. In phage T4 lysozyme, a disulphide-free enzyme, engineered disulphide mutants that crosslink residues 3-97, 9-164 and 21-142 are significantly more stable than the wild-type protein. To investigate the effect of multiple-disulphide bonds on protein stability, mutants were constructed in which two or three stabilizing disulphide bridges were combined in the same protein. Reversible thermal denaturation shows that the increase in melting temperature resulting from the individual disulphide bonds is approximately additive. The triple-disulphide variant unfolds at a temperature 23.4 degrees C higher than wild-type lysozyme. The results demonstrate that a combination of disulphide bonds, each of which contributes to stability, can achieve substantial overall improvement in the stability of a protein.     

Demonstration of retinoic acid isomers in human urine under physiological conditions

Untransformed retinoic acid has never been demonstrated in human excreta under normal physiological conditions. We have developed a two-step liquid chromatographic system for the demonstration of subnanogram amounts of this compound in human urine without administration of any precursor.     

Uninterrupted protein synthesis is essential for survival in the early stages of carbontetrachloride-induced hepatocellular necrosis in the mouse

Summary The fatal syndrome produced by cycloheximide given 6 h after a hepatonecrogenic dose of CCl₄ is due neither to direct toxic synergism between CCl₄ and cycloheximide nor to transient sinusoidal thrombosis. It is suggested that survival in the presence of unknown factors released from dying liver cells requires uninterrupted protein synthesis. The life-saving effect of sterilization of the intestine by antibiotics indicates that the gut flora or its products play a vital role in pathogenesis.Acknowledgments. I wish to thank Mr C. R. West for carrying out the statistical analysis, Mrs Brenda Brooks for histological processing, and Berk Pharmaceuticals Ltd for information on Ancrod defibrination in mice.