Manipulation of starch granule size distribution in potato tubers by modulation of plastid division.

Starch granule size is an important parameter for starch applications in industry. Starch granules are formed in amyloplasts, which are, like chloroplasts, derived from proplastids. Division processes and associated machinery are likely to be similar for all plastids.

Changes in tissue prostatic acidic phosphatase during endocrine treatment of patients with prostatic carcinoma.

Objective: We have previously developed methods for the quantification of different macromolecules in aspiration biopsy material and described the changes in prostate-specific antigen (T-PSA) during cancer treatment. We have now studied the changes in tissue prostatic acidic phosphatase (T-PAP) in 58 endocrine-treated patients with prostatic carcinoma and compared these data with cancer development data and tissue PSA (T-PSA) levels.

Material And Methods: PAP and PSA were quantified in aspiration biopsies taken before treatment and after 6 and 12 months of treatment.

A transformation method for obtaining marker-free plants of a cross-pollinating and vegetatively propagated crop.

It is generally thought that transformation of plant cells using Agrobacterium tumefaciens occurs at a very low frequency. Therefore, selection marker genes are used to identify the rare plants that have taken up foreign DNA. Genes encoding antibiotic and herbicide resistance are widely used for this purpose in plant transformation.

Estrogens affect endothelin-1 mRNA expression in LNCaP human prostate carcinoma cells.

Objective: To study effects of estrogens on endothelin-1 (ET-1) mRNA expression in the androgen-sensitive LNCaP-FGC cell line and its androgen-resistant derivative LNCaP-r. Further, if effects of estrone sulfate (E1S) are mediated via conversion to estradiol-17beta (E2). Estrogens have been shown to down-regulate ET-1, a mediator of the osteoblastic response of bone to metastatic prostate cancer.

Tissue concentrations of tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) and prostatic specific antigen (PSA) in 42 patients with prostatic carcinoma.

Background: Following development of methods to quantitate biochemical markers in aspiration biopsies we showed that tissue concentration of prostate specific antigen (T-PSA) decreased with increasing malignancy while serum PSA increased. We also found that T-PSA predicts the clinical outcome better than earlier used prognostic markers.

Methods: In order to further study biochemical markers in prostatic cancer a membrane protein, tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA), which is a complex of polypeptide fragments of cytokeratins 8, 18, and 19, was quantitated in 42 patients with newly diagnosed carcinoma of the prostate.