Molecular analysis of FMRFamide- and FMRFamide-related peptides (FaRPS) in the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis.

1997 ◽  
Vol 200 (10) ◽  
pp. 1483-1489 ◽  
Author(s):  
P K Loi ◽  
N Tublitz

The display of complex color patterns of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis is under the regulation of the FMRFamide-related peptide (FaRP) family, but their exact identities are unknown. We report the isolation and characterization of a full-length FaRP cDNA from the brain of S. officinalis. This cDNA is 1850 base pairs long, including an open reading frame of 996 base pairs. The cDNA encodes a precursor protein containing four FaRPs: ALSGDAFLRF, FIRF, FLRF and FMRF. Each propeptide has a C-terminal glycine residue that is presumably converted post-translationally to an amide. Every FaRP propeptide is also flanked by basic amino acid residues at the amino and carboxy termini, indicative of putative cleavage sites during post-translational processing. Each of the four FaRPs encoded by this cDNA causes chromatophore expansion when assayed in an in vitro chromatophore bioassay. Thus, it is likely that one or more of the FaRPs identified in this study are involved in controlling chromatophore activity in cuttlefish.

1975 ◽  
Vol 53 (11) ◽  
pp. 1207-1213 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. D. Burtnick ◽  
W. D. McCubbin ◽  
C. M. Kay

The inhibitory component of the troponin complex (TN-I) was purified from bovine cardiac muscle, using a combination of ion exchange and molecular exclusion chromatographies in the presence of urea. It has the ability to inhibit the Mg2+-activated ATPase (EC 3.6.1.3) of a synthetic cardiac actomyosin preparation and this inhibition is reversed by the addition of cardiac calcium binding component of troponin (TN-C). Conventional sedimentation equilibrium experiments suggest a molecular weight for cardiac TN-I of 22 900 ± 500. However, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) gels indicate a molecular weight of 27 000 ± 1000. The mobility of TN-I on SDS gels may be anomalous due to the high proportion of basic amino acid residues in the protein. Cardiac TN-I and TN-C interact to form a tight complex, even in the presence of 6 M urea. The results of this study invite direct comparison with results published for rabbit skeletal TN-I.


1977 ◽  
Vol 165 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
R J Naudé ◽  
W Oelofsen

1. Avian corticotropin (ACTH) was purified from both fresh and aged pituitary glands of the ostrich Struthio camelus. 2. The isolation of corticotropin in pure form involved acid/acetone extraction, NaCl fractionation, CM-cellulose chromatography and Sephadex G-50 chromatography. 3. The hormone preparations from fresh and aged glands behaved as single substances on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, and both preparations were found to consist of 39 amino acid residues, in identical molar proportions for the different amino acids. 4. The isoelectric points of the two hormone preparations were estimated to be in the range pH 8.3-8.7, indicating possible differences in amide content, and the N-terminal amino acid of both preparations appeared to be serine. 5. The hormone preparations from fresh and aged glands exhibited similar biological potencies (73 and 77 i.u./mg respectively), as measured by steroidogenesis in vitro. 6. Apart from possible differences in amide content, the corticotropin preparations obtained from fresh and aged glands appear to be indistinguishable.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-84
Author(s):  
Ahmad Riduan ◽  
Rainiyati Rainiyati ◽  
Yulia Alia

Every plant rhizospheres in any ecosystem there are various living microorganisms including Arbuscular Mycorrhizae Fungi (AMF).  An isolation and characterization is required to investigate the species or type of the AMF. This research was aimed at studying the isolation and characterization of AMF sporulation in soybean rhizospheres in Jambi Province. The results of evaluation on soil samples before trapping showed that there are spores from three genus of AMF twelve types Glomus , two types Acaulospora and one type of Enthrophospora.  Following single spore culture in soybean rhizosphere, 5 spore types were obtained:  Glomus sp-1, Glomus sp-4, Glomus sp-7, Glomus sp-8 Glomus sp-10.


Genetics ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 1033-1044 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Watanabe ◽  
D R Kankel

Abstract Previous genetic studies have shown that wild-type function of the l(1)ogre (lethal (1) optic ganglion reduced) locus is essential for the generation and/or maintenance of the postembryonic neuroblasts including those from which the optic lobe is descended. In the present study molecular isolation and characterization of the l(1)ogre locus was carried out to study the structure and expression of this gene in order to gain information about the nature of l(1)ogre function and its relevance to the development of the central nervous system. About 70 kilobases (kb) of genomic DNA were isolated that spanned the region where l(1)ogre was known to reside. Southern analysis of a l(1)ogre mutation and subsequent P element-mediated DNA transformation mapped the l(1)ogre+ function within a genomic fragment of 12.5 kb. Northern analyses showed that a 2.9-kb message transcribed from this 12.5-kb region represented l(1)ogre. A 2.15-kb portion of a corresponding cDNA clone was sequenced. An open reading frame (ORF) of 1,086 base paris was found, and a protein sequence of 362 amino acids with one highly hydrophobic segment was deduced from conceptual translation of this ORF.


2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Veiga-Malta ◽  
Margarida Duarte ◽  
Márcia Dinis ◽  
Pedro Madureira ◽  
Paula Ferreira ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Streptococcus sobrinus, one agent of dental caries, secretes a protein that induces lymphocyte polyclonal activation of the host as a mechanism of immune evasion. We have isolated from culture supernatants of this bacterium a protein with murine B-cell-stimulatory properties and subsequently cloned the relevant gene. It contains an open reading frame of 825 bp encoding a polypeptide with 275 amino acid residues and a molecular mass of 30 kDa. The protein displays high sequence homology with NAD+ synthetases from several organisms, including a conserved fingerprint sequence (SGGXD) characteristic of ATP pyrophosphatases. The polypeptide was expressed in Escherichia coli as a hexahistidine-tagged protein and purified in an enzymatically active form. The recombinant NAD+ synthetase stimulates murine B cells after in vitro treatment of spleen cell cultures, as demonstrated by its ability to induce up-regulation of the expression of CD69, an early marker of lymphocyte activation. Stimulation with the recombinant NAD+ synthetase was also observed with other B-cell markers, such as CD19+, B220+, and CD21+. Cell proliferation follows the activation induced by the recombinant NAD+ synthetase.


Parasitology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 139 (8) ◽  
pp. 998-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. CUI ◽  
T. LEI ◽  
D. Y. YANG ◽  
P. HAO ◽  
Q. LIU

SUMMARYImmune mapped protein 1 (IMP1) is a newly discovered protein in Eimeria maxima. It is recognized as a potential vaccine candidate against E. maxima and a highly conserved protein in apicomplexan parasites. Although the Neospora caninum IMP1 (NcIMP1) orthologue of E. maxima IMP1 was predicted in the N. caninum genome, it was still not identified and characterized. In this study, cDNA sequence encoding NcIMP1 was cloned by RT-PCR from RNA isolated from Nc1 tachyzoites. NcIMP1 was encoded by an open reading frame of 1182 bp, which encoded a protein of 393 amino acids with a predicted molecular weight of 42·9 kDa. Sequence analysis showed that there was neither a signal peptide nor a transmembrane region present in the NcIMP1 amino acid sequence. However, several kinds of functional protein motifs, including an N-myristoylation site and a palmitoylation site were predicted. Recombinant NcIMP1 (rNcIMP1) was expressed in Escherichia coli and then purified rNcIMP1 was used to prepare specific antisera in mice. Mouse polyclonal antibodies raised against the rNcIMP1 recognized an approximate 43 kDa native IMP1 protein. Immunofluorescence analysis showed that NcIMP1 was localized on the membrane of N. caninum tachyzoites. The N-myristoylation site and the palmitoylation site were found to contribute to the localization of NcIMP1. Furthermore, the rNcIMP1-specific antibodies could inhibit cell invasion by N. caninum tachyzoites in vitro. All the results indicate that NcIMP1 is likely to be a membrane protein of N. caninum and may be involved in parasite invasion.


1984 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 305-319
Author(s):  
S.J. Goss

‘77orn’, a derivative of the Morris rat hepatoma 7777, stably expresses high levels of ornithine transcarbamoylase (OTC) and carbamoylphosphate synthetase I (CPS-I), and is able to grow indefinitely in ornithine-medium (medium with ornithine in place of arginine). Variants that have lost this ability are isolated from 77orn by a ‘suicide’ selective technique dependent on the cellular incorporation of [3H]ornithine. These variants, which have reduced levels of CPS-I, or of both CPS-I and OTC, are shown to have developed multiple hormonal requirements; their enzyme deficiencies can be reversed by use of an appropriately supplemented medium. In particular, CPS-I is inducible by dexamethasone and dibutyryl-cyclic-AMP in combination. Cholera toxin can be used instead of cyclic-AMP, but then butyrate is additionally required if the induction is to be maintained in the long term. The use of these agents in excess can depress OTC. Several other hepatomas, and alos explanted foetal rat liver cells, have similar requirements for CPS-I expression. It is argued that multiple hormonal requirements for CPS-I production are normal in liver cells in vitro, and that hormone-independent hepatomas should be regarded as abnormal. The implications of this for the somatic cell genetic investigation of differentiation are briefly discussed.


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