Identification of ovalbumin phenotypes of the Asian indigenous chicken populations using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism

Three electrophoretic variations (AA, BB and AB) of ovalbumin controlled by codominant alleles Ov^A and Ov^B have been observed in various chicken populations. We compared nucleotide sequences of the open reading frame between two alleles of ovalbumin gene. The difference between the two alleles was found as a non‐synonymous substitution of asparagine to aspartic acid as a result of AAT to GAT point mutation at position 8032–8034 in exon 8. We developed polymerase chain reaction‐restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR‐RFLP) protocol in combination with Mbo I restriction endnuclease mapping for the detection of this substitution. By the PCR‐RFLP the allelic frequency of the Ov^B was estimated to be within the range of 0.000–0.150 in 11 Asian indigenous chicken populations and 0.000 in four improved breeds used in the present study. Gene frequency, estimated by PCR‐RFLP in the present study, paralleled that obtained by protein polymorphisms of egg white. Thus, this study provides, for the first time, information of the occurrence of ovalbumin allele Ov^A and Ov^B in Asian indigenous chicken populations.     

Mercapturic acid formation from lindane in rats

4-Chloro-, 2,4-dichloro-, 3,4-dichloro-, 2,3,5-trichloro-, and 2,4,5-trichlorophenylmercapturic acids were identified as main metabolites of lindane, γ-isomer of 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachloro-cyclohexane, in rat urine. Pathways to these metabolites were shown to include $\text{(}\text{36}\text{45}\text{)-}\text{hexachlorocyclohexene}$ as the most important intermediary metabolite. $\text{(}\text{346}\text{5}\text{)-}\text{Pentachlorocyclohexene}$ and $\text{(}\text{346}\text{5}\text{)-}\text{tetrachlorocyclohexene}$ also seem to be involved in these pathways, while $\text{(}\text{36}\text{45}\text{)-}\text{pentachlorocyclohexene}$ plays a minor role in the pathway. Glutathione conjugation, using the rat liver soluble fraction, occurred directly on the polychlorocyclohexenes, not on their further transformed products. In in vivo biodegradation, $\text{(}\text{36}\text{45}\text{)-}\text{hexachlorocyclohexene}$ may be dechlorinated and dehydrochlorinated at the endoplasmic reticulum before it undergoes the glutathione conjugation in cytosol, although other polychlorocyclohexenes generally react in a manner similar to that in the in vitro reaction.     

Beating the standard quantum limit with four-entangled photons

Precision measurements are important across all fields of science. In particular, optical phase measurements can be used to measure distance, position, displacement, acceleration, and optical path length. Quantum entanglement enables higher precision than would otherwise be possible. We demonstrated an optical phase measurement with an entangled four-photon interference visibility greater than the threshold to beat the standard quantum limit-the limit attainable without entanglement. These results open the way for new high-precision measurement applications.     

The use of CPPU for efficient propagation of pineapple

The use of forchlorfenuron (N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N′-phenylurea) (CPPU) for efficient propagation of pineapples was investigated. About 85% of axillary buds can be forced to sprout by soaking defoliated stem pieces (12 cm in length) in a 2.5 or 5.0 mg l⁻¹ CPPU solution for more than 3 h. The use of old stems taken from the third or fourth ratoon plants had the advantage of less liability to fungal decay, as compared to young stems from the first crop plants. The CPPU treatment combined with the removal of shoots from stems at monthly intervals significantly increased the number of shoots per stem piece (about 15 shoots per piece at 5.0 mg l⁻¹ CPPU), and resulted in a more uniform shoot size (the percentage of shoots within a range of 5–15 cm in length was about 90% at 5.0 mg l⁻¹ CPPU). The rooting of shoots was easily promoted within 1 month by treating the basal portion of shoots with 20 mg l⁻¹ indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) for 15 min. The CPPU method required about 5 months for plantlet propagation. From these results, we found that pineapple plantlets could be efficiently propagated by the following method: (1) soaking defoliated stems in a 2.5–5.0 mg l⁻¹ CPPU solution for more than 3 h; (2) harvest of developed shoots from the stems at regular intervals; and (3) promotion of rooting on the shoots at 20 mg l⁻¹ IBA for 15 min.     

DNA transposon fossils present on the conditionally dispensable chromosome controlling AF-toxin biosynthesis and pathogenicity of Alternaria alternata

The strawberry pathotype of Alternaria alternata produces host-specific AF-toxin and causes Alternaria black spot of strawberry. Previously, we isolated cosmid clones pcAFT-1 and pcAFT-2 from strain NAF8 of the strawberry pathotype that contain AF-toxin biosynthetic genes, named AFT genes. In a molecular characterization here of pcAFT-1 and pcAFT-2, 11 AFT genes and five transposon-like sequences, named TLS-S1 to TLS-S5, were detected. The nucleotide sequences of TLS-S1 and TLS-S4 share high homology, and their putative products have similarity to transposases of the hAT family transposons. Thus, TLS-S1 and TLS-S4 were renamed TLS-S1-1 and TLS-S1-2, respectively. Amino acid sequences deduced from TLS-S2, TLS-S3, and TLS-S5 have similarity to transposases of the Fot1/Pogo family transposons, but they are significantly different. All five sequences have incomplete open reading frames (ORFs) for transposases owing to deletions, termination codons, and/or frameshifts, indicating that they are inactivated elements. Analysis of genomic distribution of these sequences revealed that they are specifically distributed on a 1.05-Mb chromosome of NAF8, which has been identified as a conditionally dispensable (CD) chromosome encoding AFT genes. The presence of three, four, and three copies of TLS-S1, TLS-S2, and TLS-S3, respectively, and a single copy of TLS-S5 on the CD chromosome were estimated by DNA gel blot analysis. The remaining copy of TLS-S1 and the three copies of TLS-S2 were isolated and identified to also encode incomplete ORFs. Thus, it appears that all copies of the transposon-like sequences identified are inactivated elements (fossils) unique to the CD chromosome in the genome of the strawberry pathotype. The nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under the accession numbers AB236733 (TLS-S1-1), AB236734 (TLS-S1-2), AB236735 (TLS-S1-3), AB236736 (TLS-S2-1), AB236737 (TLS-S2-2), AB236738 (TLS-S3), and AB236739 (TLS-S5)     

Serum adenosine deaminase activity in bovine liver diseases

A total of 60 cattle were examined for the presence of pathological liver lesions. The liver lesions were classified as glycogen degeneration, liver abscess, sawdust liver and fatty degeneration. The value of serum adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity was investigated as a pilot study for diagnosing liver diseases in cattle. Serum ADA activity was significantly higher in cases with glycogen degeneration (9.8 +/- 3.8 U/l) , liver abscess (10.4 +/- 3.2 U/l), sawdust liver (11.5 +/- 7.3 U/l) and fatty degeneration (20.8 +/- 7.7 U/l) than in the controls. The results indicate that ADA activity increases with the degree of hepatocellular damage. We concluded that serum ADA activity may be of value in bovine liver disease diagnosis.     

Glutathion peroxidase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities in bovine blood and liver

A total of 46 cattle, including 25 as control, 16 with glycogen degeneration and 5 with severe fatty degeneration were studied. Whole blood and liver tissue specimens were used to measure glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD) activities. The present study determined the value of these parameters in diagnosing glycogen and fatty degeneration in cattle from the point of the status of antioxidation and lipid peroxidation. The results showed a significant decrease in hepatic GSH-Px activity and a significant increase in hepatic G6PD activity in cases of fatty degeneration. On the other hand, there were no significant changes in erythrocytic and hepatic GSH-Px and G6PD activities in cases of glycogen degeneration. The results indicated lipoperoxidation process in the liver tissues increased in cases of fatty degeneration. Therefore, supplying animals suffering from fatty liver with sufficient quantities of nutrient antioxidants may be valuable when treatment is considered.     

Pesticide residues in food--acute dietary exposure

Consumer risk assessment is a crucial step in the regulatory approval of pesticide use on food crops. Recently, an additional hurdle has been added to the formal consumer risk assessment process with the introduction of short-term intake or exposure assessment and a comparable short-term toxicity reference, the acute reference dose. Exposure to residues during one meal or over one day is important for short-term or acute intake. Exposure in the short term can be substantially higher than average because the consumption of a food on a single occasion can be very large compared with typical long-term or mean consumption and the food may have a much larger residue than average. Furthermore, the residue level in a single unit of a fruit or vegetable may be higher by a factor (defined as the variability factor, which we have shown to be typically x3 for the 97.5th percentile unit) than the average residue in the lot. Available marketplace data and supervised residue trial data are examined in an investigation of the variability of residues in units of fruit and vegetables. A method is described for estimating the 97.5th percentile value from sets of unit residue data. Variability appears to be generally independent of the pesticide, the crop, crop unit size and the residue level. The deposition of pesticide on the individual unit during application is probably the most significant factor. The diets used in the calculations ideally come from individual and household surveys with enough consumers of each specific food to determine large portion sizes. The diets should distinguish the different forms of a food consumed, eg canned, frozen or fresh, because the residue levels associated with the different forms may be quite different. Dietary intakes may be calculated by a deterministic method or a probabilistic method. In the deterministic method the intake is estimated with the assumptions of large portion consumption of a 'high residue' food (high residue in the sense that the pesticide was used at the highest recommended label rate, the crop was harvested at the smallest interval after treatment and the residue in the edible portion was the highest found in any of the supervised trials in line with these use conditions). The deterministic calculation also includes a variability factor for those foods consumed as units (eg apples, carrots) to allow for the elevated residue in some single units which may not be seen in composited samples. In the probabilistic method the distribution of dietary consumption and the distribution of possible residues are combined in repeated probabilistic calculations to yield a distribution of possible residue intakes. Additional information such as percentage commodity treated and combination of residues from multiple commodities may be incorporated into probabilistic calculations. The IUPAC Advisory Committee on Crop Protection Chemistry has made 11 recommendations relating to acute dietary exposure.     

The effects of one-time hoof trimming on blood biochemical composition, milk yield, and milk composition in dairy cows

Although not scientifically proven, hoof trimming has been empirically shown to increase milk yields in healthy dairy cows. In this study, we examined the effect of one-time hoof trimming on blood biochemical composition, milk yield, and milk composition in healthy dairy cows. Eleven cows in the mid to late lactation period that were clinically fit and without hoof disease were subjected to hoof trimming, and metabolic profile tests and dairy herd improving tests were performed before and three weeks after the hoof trimming. The metabolic profiles showed changes in albumin, blood urea nitrogen, ammonia, glucose, and beta-hydroxybutyric acid as a result of the hoof trimming. This was indicated by the fact that the cows began to intake more roughage after hoof trimming than prior to hoof trimming, and rumen fermentation became stable. There was no change in milk yield after trimming. However, the milk fat and milk protein compositions were significantly increased after trimming.     

Pesticide soil sorption parameters: theory, measurement, uses, limitations and reliability

The soil sorption coefficient Kd and the soil organic carbon sorption coefficient KOC of pesticides are basic parameters used by environmental scientists and regulatory agencies worldwide in describing the environmental fate and behavior of pesticides. They are a measure of the strength of sorption of pesticides to soils and other geosorbent surfaces at the water/solid interface, and are thus directly related to both environmental mobility and persistence. KOC is regarded as a 'universal' parameter related to the hydrophobicity of the pesticide molecule, which applies to a given pesticide in all soils. This assumption is known to be inexact, but it is used in this way in modeling and estimating risk for pesticide leaching and runoff. In this report we examine the theory, uses, measurement or estimation, limitations and reliability of these parameters and provide some 'rules of thumb' for the use of these parameters in describing the behavior and fate of pesticides in the environment, especially in analysis by modeling.