Fluorogenic RNA-Based Biosensor to Sense the Glycolytic Flux in Mammalian Cells.

The visualization of metabolic flux in real time requires sensor molecules that transduce variations of metabolite concentrations into an appropriate output signal. In this regard, fluorogenic RNA-based biosensors are promising molecular tools as they fluoresce only upon binding to another molecule. However, to date no such sensor is available that enables the direct observation of key metabolites in mammalian cells.

[Antimutagenic activity of wheat beta-purothionin Tk-AMP-BP].

Antimutagenic activity on human RD cells was studied for beta-purothionin Tk-AMP-BP isolated from seeds of wheat Triticum kiharae, which has a higher stress resistance. Cadmium chloride at 5 x 10(-6) M was used as a mutagen. The numbers of DNA breaks in mutagen-treated and intact cells were inferred from the single-stranded to double-stranded DNA ratio and expressed as protection coefficients.

[Heterologous expression of a synthetic gene encoding a novel hevein-type antimicrobial peptide of Leymus arenarius in Escherichia coli cells].

A novel antifungal peptide, LAMP-Ia, was isolated from sand-elymus (Leymus arenarius) seeds. Expression of a synthetic gene encoding this peptide in Escherichia coli cells was obtained. The target peptide was expressed as a fusion with thioredoxin.

[Specifics of the coat protein gene in Russian strains of the cucumber green mottle mosaic virus].

The primary structure of the coat protein (CP) gene was examined for pathogenic strain MS-1 and vaccine strain VIROG-43M of the cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV). In CP amino acid composition, strains MS-1 and VIROG-43M are typical representatives of CGMMV: their CPs have 98-100% homology to CPs of other tobamoviruses of the group. The CP gene has the same nucleotide composition in pathogenic MS-1 and vaccine VIROG-43M, indicating that strain attenuation is not determined by this gene.

[A single reverse mutation in the 126/183-kda replicase gene of the attenuated tomato strain V-69 of tobacco mosaic virus increases the virus pathogenicity].

To determine the roles of the mutations that were earlier found in the structure of the attenuated tomato strain V-69 of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), the nucleotide sequences of genomic RNAs of its four pathogenic revertants have been identified and analyzed. The comparison of the structures of viral genomes has demonstrated that all revertants studied have a single reverse mutation at position 1654 relative to the parental TMV strain V-69. This reversion has been introduced into the plasmid construction harboring a full-length cDNA copy of the TMV strain V-69 RNA, and the infective transcripts synthesized in vitro have been tested on TMV-sensitive tomato and tobacco plants.