Faculty Opinions recommendation of Wild-type cone photoreceptors persist despite neighboring mutant cone degeneration.

Author(s):  
Gordon Fain
2019 ◽  
Vol 151 (11) ◽  
pp. 1287-1299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norianne T. Ingram ◽  
Alapakkam P. Sampath ◽  
Gordon L. Fain

We describe the first extensive study of voltage-clamp current responses of cone photoreceptors in unlabeled, dark-adapted mouse retina using only the position and appearance of cone somata as a guide. Identification was confirmed from morphology after dye filling. Photocurrents recorded from wild-type mouse cones were biphasic with a fast cone component and a slower rod component. The rod component could be eliminated with dim background light and was not present in mouse lines lacking the rod transducin-α subunit (Gnat1−/−) or connexin 36 (Cx36−/−). Cones from Gnat1−/− or Cx36−/− mice had resting membrane potentials between −45 and −55 mV, peak photocurrents of 20–25 picoamps (pA) at a membrane potential Vm = −50 mV, sensitivities 60–70 times smaller than rods, and a total membrane capacitance two to four times greater than rods. The rate of activation (amplification constant) was largely independent of the brightness of the flash and was 1–2 s−2, less than half that of rods. The role of Ca2+-dependent transduction modulation was investigated by recording from cones in mice lacking rod transducin (Gnat1), recoverin, and/or the guanylyl-cyclase–activating proteins (GCAPs). In confirmation of previous results, responses of Gnat1−/−;Gcaps−/− cones and triple-mutant Gnat1−/−;Gcaps−/−;Rv−/− cones recovered more slowly both to light flashes and steps and were more sensitive than cones expressing the GCAPs. Cones from all four mouse lines showed significant recovery and escaped saturation even in bright background light. This recovery occurred too rapidly to be caused by pigment bleaching or metaII decay and appears to reflect some modulation of response inactivation in addition to those produced by recoverin and the GCAPs. Our experiments now make possible a more detailed understanding of the cellular physiology of mammalian cone photoreceptors and the role of conductances in the inner and outer segment in producing cone light responses.


2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 382-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lewis ◽  
P. Williams ◽  
O. Lawrence ◽  
R. O. L. Wong ◽  
S. E. Brockerhoff

Author(s):  
M. H. Wheeler ◽  
W. J. Tolmsoff ◽  
A. A. Bell

(+)-Scytalone [3,4-dihydro-3,6,8-trihydroxy-l-(2Hj-naphthalenone] and 1,8-di- hydroxynaphthalene (DHN) have been proposed as intermediates of melanin synthesis in the fungi Verticillium dahliae (1, 2, 3, 4) and Thielaviopsis basicola (4, 5). Scytalone is enzymatically dehydrated by V. dahliae to 1,3,8-trihydroxynaphthalene which is then reduced to (-)-vermelone [(-)-3,4- dihydro-3,8-dihydroxy-1(2H)-naphthalenone]. Vermelone is subsequently dehydrated to DHN which is enzymatically polymerized to melanin.Melanin formation in Curvularia sp., Alternaria sp., and Drechslera soro- kiniana was examined by light and electron-transmission microscopy. Wild-type isolates of each fungus were compared with albino mutants before and after treatment with 1 mM scytalone or 0.1 mM DHN in 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. Both chemicals were converted to dark pigments in the walls of hyphae and conidia of the albino mutants. The darkened cells were similar in appearance to corresponding cells of the wild types under the light microscope.


Author(s):  
Karen S. Howard ◽  
H. D. Braymer ◽  
M. D. Socolofsky ◽  
S. A. Milligan

The recently isolated cell wall mutant slime X of Neurospora crassa was prepared for ultrastructural and morphological comparison with the cell wall mutant slime. The purpose of this article is to discuss the methods of preparation for TEM and SEM observations, as well as to make a preliminary comparison of the two mutants.TEM: Cells of the slime mutant were prepared for thin sectioning by the method of Bigger, et al. Slime X cells were prepared in the same manner with the following two exceptions: the cells were embedded in 3% agar prior to fixation and the buffered solutions contained 5% sucrose throughout the procedure.SEM: Two methods were used to prepare mutant and wild type Neurospora for the SEM. First, single colonies of mutant cells and small areas of wild type hyphae were cut from solid media and fixed with OSO4 vapors similar to the procedure used by Harris, et al. with one alteration. The cell-containing agar blocks were dehydrated by immersion in 2,2-dimethoxypropane (DMP).


Author(s):  
Thecan Caesar-Ton That ◽  
Lynn Epstein

Nectria haematococca mating population I (anamorph, Fusarium solani) macroconidia attach to its host (squash) and non-host surfaces prior to germ tube emergence. The macroconidia become adhesive after a brief period of protein synthesis. Recently, Hickman et al. (1989) isolated N. haematococca adhesion-reduced mutants. Using freeze substitution, we compared the development of the macroconidial wall in the wild type in comparison to one of the mutants, LEI.Macroconidia were harvested at 1C, washed by centrifugation, resuspended in a dilute zucchini fruit extract and incubated from 0 - 5 h. During the incubation period, wild type macroconidia attached to uncoated dialysis tubing. Mutant macroconidia did not attach and were collected on poly-L-lysine coated dialysis tubing just prior to freezing. Conidia on the tubing were frozen in liquid propane at 191 - 193C, substituted in acetone with 2% OsO4 and 0.05% uranyl acetate, washed with acetone, and flat-embedded in Epon-Araldite. Using phase contrast microscopy at 1000X, cells without freeze damage were selected, remounted, sectioned and post-stained sequentially with 1% Ba(MnO4)2 2% uranyl acetate and Reynold’s lead citrate. At least 30 cells/treatment were examined.


Author(s):  
James M. Slavicek ◽  
Melissa J. Mercer ◽  
Mary Ellen Kelly

Nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPV, family Baculoviridae) produce two morphological forms, a budded virus form and a viral form that is occluded into a paracrystalline protein matrix. This structure is termed a polyhedron and is composed primarily of the protein polyhedrin. Insects are infected by NPVs after ingestion of the polyhedron and release of the occluded virions through dissolution of the polyhedron in the alkaline environment of the insect midgut. Early after infection the budded virus form is produced. It buds through the plasma membrane and then infects other cells. Later in the infection cycle the occluded form of the virus is generated (reviewed by Blissard and Rohrmann, 1990).The processes of polyhedron formation and virion occlusion are likely to involve a number of viral gene products. However, only two genes, the polyhedrin gene and 25K FP gene, have been identified to date that are necessary for the wild type number of polyhedra to be formed and viral particles occluded.


2019 ◽  
Vol 476 (22) ◽  
pp. 3521-3532
Author(s):  
Eric Soubeyrand ◽  
Megan Kelly ◽  
Shea A. Keene ◽  
Ann C. Bernert ◽  
Scott Latimer ◽  
...  

Plants have evolved the ability to derive the benzenoid moiety of the respiratory cofactor and antioxidant, ubiquinone (coenzyme Q), either from the β-oxidative metabolism of p-coumarate or from the peroxidative cleavage of kaempferol. Here, isotopic feeding assays, gene co-expression analysis and reverse genetics identified Arabidopsis 4-COUMARATE-COA LIGASE 8 (4-CL8; At5g38120) as a contributor to the β-oxidation of p-coumarate for ubiquinone biosynthesis. The enzyme is part of the same clade (V) of acyl-activating enzymes than At4g19010, a p-coumarate CoA ligase known to play a central role in the conversion of p-coumarate into 4-hydroxybenzoate. A 4-cl8 T-DNA knockout displayed a 20% decrease in ubiquinone content compared with wild-type plants, while 4-CL8 overexpression boosted ubiquinone content up to 150% of the control level. Similarly, the isotopic enrichment of ubiquinone's ring was decreased by 28% in the 4-cl8 knockout as compared with wild-type controls when Phe-[Ring-13C6] was fed to the plants. This metabolic blockage could be bypassed via the exogenous supply of 4-hydroxybenzoate, the product of p-coumarate β-oxidation. Arabidopsis 4-CL8 displays a canonical peroxisomal targeting sequence type 1, and confocal microscopy experiments using fused fluorescent reporters demonstrated that this enzyme is imported into peroxisomes. Time course feeding assays using Phe-[Ring-13C6] in a series of Arabidopsis single and double knockouts blocked in the β-oxidative metabolism of p-coumarate (4-cl8; at4g19010; at4g19010 × 4-cl8), flavonol biosynthesis (flavanone-3-hydroxylase), or both (at4g19010 × flavanone-3-hydroxylase) indicated that continuous high light treatments (500 µE m−2 s−1; 24 h) markedly stimulated the de novo biosynthesis of ubiquinone independently of kaempferol catabolism.


2001 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. A564-A565
Author(s):  
L SCHWAKE ◽  
A HENKEL ◽  
H RIEDEL ◽  
B HADASCHIK ◽  
T SCHLENKER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2001 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. A728-A728
Author(s):  
D CHEN ◽  
L FRIISHANSEN ◽  
X WANG ◽  
C ZHAO ◽  
H WALDUM ◽  
...  

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