To clarify the composition of low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GSs) in a soft wheat cultivar, we cloned and characterized LMW-GS genes from a cDNA library and genomic DNA in Norin 61. ...Based on alignment of the conserved N- and C- terminal domains of the deduced amino-acid sequences, these genes are classified into 12 groups. One of these groups (group 5), the corresponding gene of which has not been reported previously, contains two additional hydrophobic amino-acid clusters interrupting the N-terminal repetitive domain. Other groups (groups 11 and 12), which were not identified in other cultivars as a protein product, showed all eight cysteines in the C-terminal conserved domain. With specific primer sets for these groups it was revealed that Glu-D3 and Glu-A3 encoded the former and the latter, respectively. Both groups of genes were expressed in immature seeds. The presence of these groups of LMW-GSs may affect the dough strength of soft wheat.
We compared the cognitive functions and interictal cerebral glucose metabolism of 11 patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) with frequent seizures to those of 10 patients with MTLE with ...rare seizures; the groups were matched for age, sex, education, IQ, and focus side. The frequent-seizure group had more set-shifting impairment that correlated with glucose hypometabolism in the prefrontal cortices. Our results suggest that frequent seizures in MTLE are associated with hypofunction of the prefrontal cortex.
With 2 figures and 2 tables
To clarify the genetic factors generating intraspecific variations of floral traits in cultivated rice, QTL analyses were performed using five mapping populations: ...Milyang23/Akihikari recombinant inbred lines (RILs); Asominori/IR24 RILs; Nipponbare/Kasalath backcross inbred lines; IR64/Azucena doubled haploid lines; and IR64/Kinandang Patong F2 lines. Totally 160 QTLs for 10 floral traits were detected in these populations. Comparison of all QTL locations in each trait revealed that totally 99 for glume, 43 for pistil and 18 QTLs for stamen traits detected were widely distributed in 80, 36 and 14 chromosome regions, respectively. This indicates that many regions were associated with variations of floral traits in cultivar. Most of the QTLs for pistil and stamen traits showed small phenotypic effects in the five populations. Although many QTLs for the glume traits also had small effects, some QTLs for glume length and width showed large effects. These suggest that few QTLs with large effects may play a key role in variation of glume size while many QTLs with small effects may control variations of pistil and stamen sizes.
Doublecortin-like protein kinase (DCLK) is a Ser/Thr protein kinase predominantly expressed in brain. DCLK is composed of three functional domains; the N-terminal doublecortin-like (DC) domain, the ...C-terminal kinase domain and Ser/Pro-rich (SP) domain in between DC and kinase domains. Although the DC domain is known to mediate microtubule association, functional roles of the SP domain and the kinase domain on microtubule association is not known. In this study, we investigated the microtubule-binding activity of zebrafish DCLK (zDCLK) using various deletion mutants and chimeric proteins. The microtubule-binding activity of various mutants of zDCLK was assessed both by immunocytochemical analysis and by biochemical analysis using detergent extraction method. When the kinase domain was removed from zDCLK, the microtubule-binding activity was significantly enhanced. Although the zDCLK(DC + SP) mutant showed a strong microtubule-binding activity, the DC domain alone showed much lower microtubule-binding activity, indicating that the SP domain of zDCLK plays a role in enhancing microtubule-binding activity of the DC domain. These results suggest that both the kinase domain and the SP domain are involved in regulating the microtubule-binding activity of DCLK.
Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and their receptors (BMPRs) are thought to play an important role in bone morphogenesis. The purpose of this study was to determine the locations of BMP-2/-4, ...osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1, also termed BMP-7), and BMP type II receptor (BMPR-II) during rat fracture healing by immunostaining, and thereby elucidate the possible roles of the BMPs and BMPR-II in intramembranous ossification and endochondral ossification. In the early stage of fracture repair, the expression of BMP-2/-4 and OP-1 was strongly induced in the thickened periosteum near the fracture ends, and coincided with an enhanced expression of BMPR-II. On day 7 after fracture, staining for BMP-2/-4 and OP-1 immunostaining was increased in various types of chondrocytes, and was strong in fibroblast-like spindle cells and proliferating chondrocytes in endochondral bone. On day 14 after fracture, staining with OP-1 antibody disappeared in proliferating and mature chondrocytes, while BMP-2/-4 staining continued in various types of chondrocytes until the late stage. In the newly formed trabecular bone, BMP-2/-4 and OP-1 were present at various levels. BMPR-II was actively expressed in both intramembranous ossification and endochondral ossification. Additionally, immunostaining for BMP-2/-4 and OP-1 was observed in multinucleated osteoclast-like cells on the newly formed trabecular bone, along with BMPR-II. In reference to our previous study of BMP type I receptors (BMPR-IA and BMPR-IB), BMPR-II was found to be co-localized with BMPR-IA and BMPR-IB. BMP-2/-4 and OP-1 antibodies exhibited distinct and overlapping immunostaining patterns during fracture repair. OP-1 may act predominantly in the initial phase of endochondral ossification, while BMP-2/-4 acts throughout this process. Thus, these findings suggested that BMPs acting through their BMP receptors may play major roles in modulating the sequential events leading to bone formation.
Muon identification in the Belle experiment at KEKB Abashian, A; Abe, K; Abe, K ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2002, Volume:
491, Issue:
1-2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This paper describes the muon identification method and its performance in the Belle experiment at KEKB. Muon and hadron likelihood are calculated for each track using its range and transverse ...scattering in the KL-and-muon detector (KLM). We apply a cut on the normalized muon likelihood Lμ to identify the track as a muon. Above the detection threshold of 0.6GeV/c, the measured muon detection efficiency and pion fake rate are approximately constant for momenta greater than 1.0 and 1.5GeV/c, respectively. Between 1.0 and 3.0GeV/c, the averaged muon detection efficiency is 89% and the pion fake rate per track is 1.4% over the KLM acceptance, using the standard selection criterion Lμ>0.9.
The relationship between plasma angiopoietin-like protein 3 (ANGPTL3), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity and hepatic triglyceride lipase (HTGL) activity has not been investigated in the ...metabolism of remnant lipoproteins (RLPs) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in human plasma.
ANGPTL3, LPL activity, HTGL activity, RLP-C and RLP-TG and small, dense LDL-cholesterol (sd LDL-C) were measured in 20 overweight and obese subjects in the fasting and postprandial states.
Plasma TG, RLP-C, RLP-TG and sd LDL-C were inversely correlated with LPL activity both in the fasting and postprandial states, but not correlated with HTGL activity and ANGPTL3. However, plasma HDL-C was positively correlated with LPL activity both in the fasting and postprandial states, while inversely correlated with HTGL activity. ANGPTL3 was inversely correlated with HTGL activity both in the fasting and postprandial states, but not correlated with LPL activity.
HTGL plays a major role in HDL metabolism, but not RLP metabolism. These findings suggest that ANGPTL3 is strongly associated with the inhibition of HTGL activity and regulates HDL metabolism, but not associated with the inhibition of LPL activity for the metabolism of RLPs in human plasma.
The present study investigated the sensitivity of magnetoencephalography (MEG) for spikes depending on sensor type in patients with mesial temporal epileptic focus. We recorded MEG in 6 patients with ...mesial temporal epileptic focus using two sensor types (magnetometer and gradiometer) simultaneously. The number of spikes detected and the corresponding equivalent current dipole (ECD) parameters (distance from the coordinated head center (radius), and dipole moment) were evaluated with respect to sensor type. Among 426 MEG ‘consensus spikes’ determined by 3 reviewers, 378 spikes satisfied the predetermined criteria for source localization. Comparing ECD parameters, spikes detected by magnetometer alone displayed a smaller radius and larger dipole moment than those detected by gradiometer alone. Spikes estimated in the mesial temporal area were more frequently detected by magnetometer alone (38.5%) than by gradiometer alone (11.5%), whereas spikes in the lateral temporal area were detected less by magnetometer alone (3.7%) than by gradiometer alone (53.9%). The present results suggest that a magnetometer is advantageous for spike detection in patients with mesial temporal epileptic focus. This also implies the higher sensitivity of magnetometer for deep sources.
Doublecortin-like protein kinase (DCLK), a Ser/Thr protein kinase predominantly expressed in brain and eyes, is believed to play crucial roles in neuronal functions. However, the regulatory ...mechanisms for DCLK activation and its physiological targets are still unknown. In the present study, we found that a deletion mutant consisting of the catalytic domain of zebrafish DCLK, zDCLK(377-677), exhibited the highest activity among various mutants. Since fully active zDCLK(377-677) showed essentially the same substrate specificity as wild-type zDCLK, we used it to search for physiological substrates of zDCLK. When a zebrafish brain extract was resolved by isoelectric focusing and then phosphorylated by zDCLK(377-677), a highly basic protein with a molecular mass of ~90 kDa was detected. This protein was identified as synapsin II by mass spectrometric analysis. Synapsin II was found to interact with the catalytic domain of zDCLK and was phosphorylated at Ser-9 and Ser-58. When synaptosomes were isolated from zebrafish brain, both synapsin II and zDCLK were found to coexist in this preparation. Furthermore, synapsin II in the synaptosomes was efficiently phosphorylated by zDCLK. These results suggest that zDCLK mediates its neuronal functions through phosphorylation of physiological substrates such as synapsin II.
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