Protective activity of green tea against free radical- and glucose-mediated protein damage

Protein oxidation and glycation are posttranslational modifications that are implicated in the pathological development of many age-related disease processes. This study investigated the effects of green tea extract, and a green tea tannin mixture and its components, on protein damage induced by 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (a free radical generator) and glucose in in vitro assay systems. We found that green tea extract can effectively protect against protein damage, and showed that its action is mainly due to tannin. In addition, it was shown that the chemical structures of tannin components are also involved in this activity, suggesting that the presence of the gallate group at the 3 position plays the most important role in the protective activity against protein oxidation and glycation, and that there is also a contribution by the hydroxyl group at the 5' position in the B ring and the sterical structure. These findings demonstrate the mechanisms of the usefulness of green tea in protein oxidation- and glycation-associated diseases.     

Molecular analysis and physicochemical properties of electrophoretic variants of wild soybean Glycine soja storage proteins

Cultivated soybeans (Glycine max) are derived from wild soybeans (Glycine soja) and can be crossed with them to produce fertile offspring. The latter exhibit greater genetic variation than the former, suggesting a possibility that wild soybeans contain storage proteins with properties different from and better than those of cultivated soybeans. To identify a wild soybean suitable for breeding a new soybean cultivar, we analyzed seed proteins from 390 lines of wild soybeans by electrophoresis. We found some lines containing electrophoretic variants of glycinin and beta-conglycinin subunits: one line containing a small alpha' subunit of beta-conglycinin and two and five lines containing small A3 and large A4 polypeptides of glycinin, respectively. Beta-Conglycinin and glycinin containing such variant subunits exhibited solubility and emulsifying ability similar to those of the predominant types of wild and cultivated soybeans. Glycinins containing small A3 and large A4 gave a shoulder derived from the start of denaturation at a temperature 4 degrees C lower than that of glycinin from the predominant types of wild and cultivated soybeans, although their thermal denaturation midpoint temperatures were very similar to each other. Cloning and sequencing of the predominant and variant subunit cDNAs revealed that the small alpha' and the small A3 lacked 24 amino acid residues in the extension region and four amino acid residues in the hypervariable region, respectively, and that the large A4 did not have an insert corresponding to the difference in the electrophoretic mobility but Arg279 and Gln305 were replaced by glutamine and histidine, respectively, in the hypervariable region. These suggest that small differences even in the hypervariable region can affect the thermal stability, as well as the electrophoretic mobilities, of the proteins.     

云南稻种冲腿的孕穗期耐冷性QTL分析

 利用352 个探针分析了日本品种农林20和云南品种冲腿之间的限制性片段长度多态性（RFLP），从中筛选出157个在农林20和冲腿间显示多态性的探针，其中55个被用于其杂交后代（农林20/冲腿）的70个F3系统的孕穗期耐冷性数量性状位点（QTL）分析。结果初步显示出一些与水稻孕穗期耐冷性有关的QTL，它们主要分布在第1、3、4、5、6、7、8、10和第12染色体上。可能在第3和第7染色体上具有对孕穗期耐冷性作用较大的QTL。     

RAPDs和RFLPs分析甘蓝型杂交油菜亲本的遗传多样性

利用RAPD和RFLP分子标记技术对甘蓝型杂交油菜亲本遗传多样性的分析结果表明:(1)20个亲本间具有丰富的遗传多样性,40个引物扩增出277条多态性带,其中21条带为10个亲本所特有,12个探针得到了117条多态性杂交带,其中7条带为5个亲本所特有;(2)不育系与恢复系之间的遗传差异大于不育系内和恢复系内的遗传差异;(3)依RAPDs与RFLPs估     

Fatty acid‐binding protein expression in the gastrointestinal tract of calves and cows

Fatty acid‐binding protein (FABP) has high affinity for long‐chain fatty acids and appears to participate in the metabolism and intracellular transport of lipids. Liver‐ and intestinal‐type FABP (L‐FABP and I‐FABP, respectively) are expressed in the small intestine. However, in the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants, expression and localization of FABPs are unknown. In this study, we investigated the expression of I‐FABP and L‐FABP in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle. I‐ and L‐FABP had higher messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression levels in the duodenum and jejunum relatively to other gastrointestinal regions in both calves and cows. Furthermore, L‐FABP mRNA and protein expression were high in the colon. Both these protein types were confirmed to be in the cytosol of jejunal epithelial cells, where they were found in the villi rather than in the crypts. We concluded that duodenal and jejunal FABPs might be involved in the metabolism of fatty acids mainly in epithelial cells in cattle.     

Pathogenicity, Mating Ability and DNA Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms of Pyricularia Populations Isolated from Gramineae, Bambusideae and Zingiberaceae Plants

Eighty-five Pyricularia isolates were collected from 29 host species of Gramineae, Bambusideae and Zingiberaceae plants sampled in Brazil, Uganda, Ivory Coast, India, Nepal, China, Indonesia and Japan. These isolates were compared on the basis of pathogenicity, mating ability and restriction fragment length polymorphisms with single-copy DNA probes. Based on the pathogenicity to eight differential gramineous plants, these isolates were classified into seven pathotypes: finger millet type, foxtail millet type, common millet type, rice type, crabgrass type, Italian ryegrass/ weeping lovegrass type, and non-cereal/grass type. Genetic variation among these isolates was assessed by RFLP analysis with two restriction enzymes and nine single-copy DNA probes isolated from a finger millet strain. An UPGMA dendrogram based on the RFLPs revealed that the 85 isolates could be classified into seven major groups. Isolates from cereal crops (finger millet, foxtail millet, common millet, wheat and rice) and a grass, Brachiaria plantaginea, were clustered into a single group. They were further divided into six subgroups corresponding to the pathotypes. Among cereal crop isolates only an isolate from pearl millet was located into a different group. The remaining isolates were clustered into five groups designated as the crabgrass group, the buffelgrass and jungle rice group, the rice cutgrass, knotroot bristlegrass and Setaria tomentosa group, the bamboo and bamboo grass group and the Zingiber mioga group. The isolates from cereal crops were generally capable of mating with finger millet strains and constituted a closed mating compatibility group. These results suggested that the isolates from cereal crops form a single group with a common ancestor although they are pathogenic to taxonomically diverse plants. A combined analysis of the pathogenicity and genetic similarity suggested that the transmission of M. grisea isolates occurs in natural agroecosystems between finger millet and Eleusine africana, goosegrass or Bambusa arundinacea, between foxtail millet and green bristlegrass, and between rice and tall fescue, Italian ryegrass, sweet vernalgrass, reed canarygrass or Oryza longistaminata. Received 9 August 1999/ Accepted in revised form 12 November 1999     

First record of avian Plasmodium DNA from mosquitoes collected in the Yaeyama Archipelago, southwestern border of Japan

We studied the prevalence of avian Plasmodium in 509 mosquitoes of 9 species collected from the Ishigaki and Iriomote islands in the Yaeyama Archipelago, located southwest from the mainland of Japan. Two identical avian Plasmodium lineages were detected from Culex (Culiciomyia) nigropunctatus. Detected lineages were phylogenetically classified into different clade to avian Plasmodium lineages from birds and mosquitoes in the mainland of Japan but identical to a lineage detected from a resident bird, White-breasted Waterken (Amaurornis phoenicurus). This is the first detection of avian Plasmodium DNA from mosquitoes in the Yaeyama Archipelago and suggested that resident birds might have been infected with an avian Plasmodium lineage specific to the studied area and C. nigropunctatus could be the candidate vector mosquito species.