Contamination of soil, leaves and vegetables by polychlorinated biphenyls in Xiamen region, China

The paper aimed to identify the primary of polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) in the Jiulong River Estuary, investigate the spatial distribution of PCBs contamination in the environment, localize the atmospheric source and evaluate ongoing PCBs emissions by analyzing soil samples collected along the Jiulong River region. In addition, the accumulation of PCBs in the human food chain was quantified by analyzing leaf of orange trees and vegetable samples collected along a gradient of soil/atmospheric contamination moving away from the source. Consequently, the impact on the human health and the ecosystem was quantified, different management options were proposedto reduce this impact and to carry out research on organic contaminants along the Jiulong River and Xiamen region.

PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PUFFERFISH OF GENUS TAKIFUGU BY RAPD ANALYSIS

Amplifications with 300 10 base primers under predetermined optimal reaction yielded 2762 reproducible amplified fragments ranging from 200 to 3000 bp. Genetic distances among five species of Takifugu and Lagocephalus spadiceus as outgroup were calculated based on the presence/absence of the amplified fragments. Topological phylogenic trees of the 5 species of Takifugu and the outgroup were generated by Parsimony and Neighbor Joining analysis based on RAPD data set. The genetic distance between T. rubripes and T. pseudommus was almost the same as that between individuals within each species, but was much smaller than that among T. rubripes , T. pseudommus and the other species. The molecular data from RAPD analysis convincingly showed that T. rubripes and T. pseudommus should be the same species.

Visualization of Golgia apparatus as an intracellular calcium store by laser scanning confocal microscope

Using laser scanning confocal microscopy, we have found that the in cells loaded with fluo-3/AM, highest intracellular Ca(2+) in the perinuclear region is associated with the Golgi apparatus. The spatiotemporal subcellu lar distribution of Ca(2+) in living human fibroblasts exposing to calcium-free medium in response to agonists has been investigated. PDGF, which releases Ca(2+) from intracellular stores by inositol(1, 4, 5)-trisphosphate pathway,produced a biphasic transient rise in intracellular calcium.The initial rise was resulted from a direct release of calcium from the Golgi apparatus. Calcium could be also released from and reaccumulated into the Golgi apparatus by the stimulation of thapsigargin, an inhibitor of the Ca(2+) transport ATPase of intracellular calcium store. Permeablizing the plasma membrane by 10 μM digitonin resulted in the calcium release from the Golgi apparatus and depletion of the internal calcium store. These results suggest that the Golgi apparatus plays a role in Ca(2+) regulation in signal transduction.

Effect of osmotic shock on the redox system in plasma membrane of Dunaliella salina

The unicellular halotolerant alga Dunaliella salina had the ability to oxidize NADH and reduce Fe(CN)63-. The redox reactions were to some extent stimulated by slight hyperosmotic shock (2.0 mol/L → 2.6 mol/L NaCl), butmarkably inhibited by abrupt hyperosmotic shock (2.0mol/L → 3.5 mol/L NaCl) and hypoosmotic shock (2.0mol/L → 1.0 mol/L NaCl; 2.0 mol/L→0.67 mol/L NaCl).With the adaptation of algal cells to osmotic shock by accumulating or degrading intracellular glycerol, the plasmalemma redox activities were also restored. The O2 uptake stimulated by NADH could be promoted by FA and SHAM. Hypoosmotic shock increases the basal respiration rate of alga cells, but weakened the stimulating effects of NADH, FA and SHAM on O2 uptake. On the other hand, hyperosmotic shock reduced the basal respiration rate, but relatively enhanced the above effects of NADH, FA and SHAM. H+ extrusion of alga cells was inhibited by NADH and stimulated by Fe(CN)63- Vanadate and DES could inhibit H+ efflux, but had little effect in the presence of NADH and Fe(CN)63-. Both hyperand hypoosmotic shock stimulated H+ extrusion. This effect could be totally inhibited by vanadate and DES, but almost unaffected by 8-hydroxyquinoline. It was suggested that H+-ATPase probably played a more important role in H+ extrusion and osmoregulation under the conditions of osmotic shock.

Organic Compounds in Silica Bodies of Rice Revealed by X-ray Microanalysis and Micro-infrared Spectroscopy

To understand the possible mechanism controlling the formation of silicon bodies in higher plants, we need to know the nature of organic compounds associated with silicon bodies and induces silicon precipitation in plant cells. A new method was developed to isolate pure silicon body in fresh leaves of rice (Oryaa sativa L. Var. 297) at low temperature by grinding and centrifugation procedures, which avoided degradation of organic molecules induced by high temperature and strong oxidizing acids used in the traditional method. The energy dispersive X-ray spectrum under scanning electron microscope showed that there was a great amount of carbon in silicon bodies in addition to silicon and oxygen. Organic compounds intimately associated with silicon bodies were released by treatment with HF solution. Analysis of the organic compounds by micro-infrared spectroscopy revealed the presence of polyphenol and polysaccharide and a little protein.

Simplified heavy metal staining techniques demonstrated with Fast Plant leaf tissue

Fast Plant (Brassica rapa,Cruciferae)leaf tissue fixed in glutaradehyde-acrolein and post-fixed in osmium,was examined for response to several easilyprepared heavy metal stains.Lead and uranium,separately and in combination,gave typical results across the spectrum of cell orgeanelles.As s single stain following osmium,bismuth produced images seemingly equivalent to lead and uranium.Phosphotungstic acid produced very good membrane delineation but produced a washed-out background image similar to that from lead staining .Carbohydrate compounds were especially responsive to ruthenium;the cytoplasm and the matrix of all organelles were also stained very well.The procedures were no more demanding than traditional staining methods and may be easily used in research and teaching .Fast Plant materials are a reliable,quick nand easy source of living material.

Transcriptional Regulatory Networks Activated by PI3K and ERK Transduced Growth Signals in Human Glioblastoma Cells

Determining how cells regulate their transcriptional response toextracellular signals is key to the understanding of complex eukaryotic systems. This study wasinitiated with the goals of furthering the study of mammalian transcriptional regulation andanalyzing the relative benefits of related computational methodologies. One dataset available forsuch an analysis involved gene expression profiling of the early growth factor response to plateletderived growth factor (PDGF) in a human glioblastoma cell line; this study differentiated geneswhose expression was regulated by signaling through the phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) versus theextracellular-signal regulated kinase (ERK) pathways. We have compared the inferred transcriptionfactors from this previous study with additional predictions of regulatory transcription factorsusing two alternative promoter sequence analysis techniques. This comparative analysis, in which thealgorithms predict overlapping, although not identical, sets of factors, argues for meticulousbenchmarking of promoter sequence analysis methods to determine the positive and negative attributesthat contribute to their varying results. Finally, we inferred transcriptional regulatory networksderiving from various signaling pathways using the CARRIE program suite. These networks not onlyincluded previously described transcriptional features of the response to growth signals, but alsopredicted new regulatory features for the propagation and modulation of the growth signal.