We present here the life and the work of Paul A. Castelfranco (1921-2021), a very special person who was not only a top chemist of chlorophyll biosynthesis, but also made major contributions on fatty acid oxidation, acetate metabolism and cellular organization. He led an extraordinary and exemplary life as a human being.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZika virus infection during pregnancy can cause serious birth defects, including microcephaly and brain abnormalities (1). Population-based birth defects surveillance systems are critical to monitor all infants and fetuses with birth defects potentially related to Zika virus infection, regardless of known exposure or laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection during pregnancy. CDC analyzed data from 15 U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: The use of the impulse oscillometry system (IOS) allows differentiated lung function testing with a minimum of cooperation at normal tidal breathing. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the association of body mass (overweight and obese) with oscillometric parameters in preschool children.
Methods: A preschool medical check of 518 children (age 6.
J Physiol Pharmacol
November 2009
Lung function measurements play an essential role in early diagnosis and monitoring of bronchial asthma in children. For clinical evaluation, measurements are commonly compared to reference values. However, these reference values are calculated based on measurements performed in groups of mostly older children and young adults two or three decades ago.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOptimum conditions for headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) in the analysis of monomethylmercury (MeHg) have been determined. Sodium tetra(n-)propylborate (NaBPr(4)) is used as derivatization reagent to promote volatility. A simple aluminium bar was used to cool the SPME fiber to about 2 degrees C during the equilibration phase just before extraction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA number of hypothetical physiological roles have been proposed for the cyanide-insensitive alternative pathway in plants (Palmer, 1976; Laties, 1982; Meeuse, 1984; Purvis and Shewfelt, 1994; Wagner and Krab, 1995). The calorimetric observations of Raskin and co-workers (Ordentlich et al., 1991; Nevo et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol
May 1996
Metabolic rates of tissue sections from freshwater mussel gills and mouse brain and lung tissue were measured by calorimetry in ampules pressurized with gas mixtures. Increasing partial pressure of oxygen or total pressure with constant partial pressure of O2 does not affect the respiratory quotient but increases rates of tissue metabolism. Changes in metabolic activity occur over pressure and Po2 ranges commonly encountered by humans engaged in SCUBA diving.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrecise time and temperature dependences of the decrease of metabolism of cultured cells of tomato (Lysopersicon esculentum (L.) Mill. L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study describes methods and equipment for measurement of metabolic heat rates of cells and tissues under conditions that provide simultaneous determinations of the flux rates of both O2 and CO2. Isothermal measurement of metabolic heats are conducted in a sealed ampule. A trapping solution is employed to absorb metabolic CO2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of salinity stress on metabolic heat output of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) root tips was measured by isothermal microcalorimetry. Several varieties differing in tolerance to salinity were compared and differences quantified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA detailed examination of the arguments of Cram (1980 New Phytol 84: 1-17) against the uptake of major nutrients in plants by endocytosis shows that the arguments do not exclude the possibility of receptor-mediated endocytosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA major 75 kD protein group from the tomato plasma membrane was semipurified on polyacrylamide gels and used to raise a rabbit antiserum. The resulting antiserum recognized a single 75 kilodalton band from phase partitioned tomato plasma membrane (from both suspension cells and mature, green fruit) after resolution on one-dimensional polyacrylamide gels. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel analysis of proteins from tomato plasma membrane showed that the 75 kilodalton antiserum recognized a group of proteins ranging from 63.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe have constructed a tomato genomic library in the gamma Charon 4 phage vector. The library was screened with a pea cDNA probe encoding a chlorophyll a/b-binding protein (CAB), and several recombinant phages containing tomato CAB genes were isolated and characterized by restriction mapping, heteroduplex analysis and nucleotide sequencing. Two phages with overlapping segments of the tomato genome contain a total of four CAB genes, all arranged in tandem.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe plastochron model was used to evaluate the differences in the growth response of two Lycopersicon spp. grown under two temperature regimes (25/18 and 12/5°C). Two altitudinal accessions of L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMitochondrial lipids from Lycopersicon hirsutum undergo a broad thermal transition beginning well below 0 degrees C and ending at approximately 25 degrees C. Differential thermal analysis of mitochondrial lipids isolated from ecotypes of L. hirsutum that differ in chilling sensitivity indicates that these lipid preparations have physically similar properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant Physiol
August 1977
Tomato cell suspensions and seedlings (Lycopersicon esculentum) responded comparably when exposed to chilling temperatures (10 C or below). Seedling growth and cellular activities related to cell viability and culture growth (triphenyltetrazolium chloride reduction, fluoroscein diacetate uptake, and hydrolysis) were sharply diminished below 10 C. Arrhenius plots of the respiratory O(2) consumption by both seedlings and cell suspensions had a break at 10 C, as is characteristic for chilling-sensitive species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTomato seedlings treated with ethanolamine showed altered phospholipid composition. The changes included altered acyl chain composition as well as changes in the relative amounts of the phospholipid classes. Specifically, there was an increase in phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine with a concomitant decrease in phosphatidylcholine and no overall increase in phospholipids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCastor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is included among the group of plants sensitive to chilling temperatures. Seedlings of this species were shown to exhibit visible symptoms of this injury, as well as impaired radicle growth and storage product mobilization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSucrose-gradient purified mitochondria, glyoxysomes, and proplastids from germinating castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) endosperm were examined by electron-spin resonance spectroscopy. A temperature-induced phase change was demonstrated in all of these organelles, their derivative membranes, and in micelles formed from the membrane phospholipids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFresh weight and dry weight as well as quantitative and qualitative protein changes in the developing soybean (Glycine max) seed were described from 12 days after flowering until maturity. The seed proteins were separated on sucrose density gradients into three major fractions, having average sedimentation coefficients of 2.2S, 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoybean (Glycine max) storage proteins were characterized by sedimentation and by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under dissociating (8 m urea) and nondissociating conditions. Three sedimenting classes of proteins were found, with sedimentation coefficients of 2.2S, 7.
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