Anatomical variants of the celiac trunk.

Aim Of The Study: Determine the anatomical variants of the celiac trunk and describe it in its modal form using a scanner.

Patients: In total, 200 patients were included in this study.

Material And Methods: The study was carried out using a multi-detector scanner (SIEMENS Somatom Emotion Excel Edition, 16 bars).

Development of microsatellite markers in Fragaria, their use in genetic diversity analysis, and their potential for genetic linkage mapping.

We have developed 21 new microsatellites in the model diploid perennial species Fragaria vesca from an enriched genomic library developed using F. vesca 'Ruegen'. The transferability of the primer pairs to other Fragaria species was high; all 31 primer pairs produced amplicons in 3 accessions of the octoploid strawberry Fragaria x ananassa, whereas 24 (77%) amplified a product in 7 other diploid Fragaria species.

Site-directed mutagenesis of the Streptomyces R61 DD-peptidase. Catalytic function of the conserved residues around the active site and a comparison with class-A and class-C beta-lactamases.

The importance of various residues in the Streptomyces R61 penicillin-sensitive DD-peptidase has been assessed by site-directed mutagenesis. The replacement of the active Ser62 by a Cys residue yielded an inactive protein which was also unable to recognize penicillin. The activity of the Lys65----Arg mutant with the peptide and thiolester substrates was decreased 100-200-fold and the rate of penicillin inactivation was decreased 20,000-fold or more.

Importance of the His-298 residue in the catalytic mechanism of the Streptomyces R61 extracellular DD-peptidase.

Among the active-site-serine penicillin-recognizing proteins, the Streptomyces R61 extracellular DD-peptidase is the only one to have a His-Thr-Gly sequence [instead of Lys-Thr(Ser)-Gly] in 'box' VII. The His residue was replaced by Gln or Lys. Both mutations induced a marked decrease in the rates of both tripeptide substrate hydrolysis and acylation by benzylpenicillin and cephalosporin C.