Fuel ethanol from cellulosic biomass

Ethanol produced from cellulosic biomass is examined as a large-scale transportation fuel. Desirable features include ethanol's fuel properties as well as benefits with respect to urban air quality, global climate change, balance of trade, and energy security. Energy balance, feedstock supply, and environmental impact considerations are not seen as significant barriers to the widespread use of fuel ethanol derived from cellulosic biomass. Conversion economics is the key obstacle to be overcome. In light of past progress and future prospects for research-driven improvements, a cost-competitive process appears possible in a decade.     

Outward currents in developing Drosophila flight muscle

The development of two different voltage-sensitive potassium channels was studied in Drosophila flight muscle by voltage clamp techniques. Early in development active channels are not present in the membrane. The first channels to appear are the A current channels, which carry a fast, rapidly inactivating potassium current. The channels for delayed rectification appear later. Channels carrying inward current also appear only after the A current channels. During development, the A current may be easily studied in isolation from other currents and thus provides a desirable system for studying the genetic determinants of this current.     

Fate of captan and folpet in rats and their effects on isolated liver nuclei

Excretion and distribution of single and multiple intraperitoneal doses of [³⁵S]captan and [¹⁴C]folpet were similar in normal and 70% hepatectomized male rats. After receiving the single dose of captan, the rats eliminate approximately 76% of the radioactivity in the urine after 72 hr. The elimination in the feces for the same time period was 13%. Normal rats administered single or multiple doses of [¹⁴C]folpet excreted nearly 100% of the total dose in the urine within the first 24 hr. Nuclei isolated from the liver of normal and 70% hepatectomized rats receiving multiple doses of [³⁵S]captan contained 0.008–0.009 μg ³⁵S/g of tissue. Appreciable amounts of the radioactivity from [³⁵S]captan were bound by isolated nuclei from the livers of normal and partially hepatectomized rats. After a 1-hr treatment with [³⁶S]captan, the nuclei were fractionated into nuclear sap protein, deoxyribonucleoprotein (including histones), acidic ribonucleoprotein, and “residual” protein fractions. These proteins in normal nuclei bound 10, 14, 39, and 16% of the total label, respectively, with essentially the same results obtained with nuclei from regenerating rat liver. When compared by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, acidic nuclear proteins from treated and nontreated normal nuclei were characterized by band diffusion and the presence or absence of Amido Schwartz-staining bands. None of the abovementioned effects on histones from treated nuclei were observed. Captan treatment of isolated nuclei also altered the extraction characteristics of the nuclear protein fractions, presumably because of extensive aggregation of thiol-containing nuclear proteins.