Isolation of a methylated mannose-binding protein from terrestrial worm Enchytraeus japonensis.

To elucidate a biological role of the methylated mannose residues found in N-glycans of terrestrial worm Enchytraeus japonensis, we first synthesized 3-O-methyl mannose- and 4-O-methyl mannose-derivatives and immobilized them to Sepharose 4B beads in order to isolate the sugar-binding protein. When whole protein extracts from the worms was applied to a series of the columns immobilized with the modified and unmodified mannose-derivatives, respectively, a protein with a molecular weight of 25,000 was isolated by 4-O-methyl mannose-immobilized column chromatography, and termed as a methylated mannose-binding protein (mMBP). mMBP bound weakly to a mannose-immobilized column and moderately to a 3-O-methyl mannose-immobilized column.

Imaging aid for thoracic surgery: multidetector-row computed tomography evaluation of the tracheobronchial structure and bronchial tube selection for one-lung anesthesia.

Objective: The tracheobronchial structures were evaluated by multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT), which provided imaging information for one-lung anesthesia during thoracic surgery.

Methods: The subjects consisted of 100 patients. Three-dimensional (3D) images of the tracheobronchial structures and the bronchial tubes were created.

Mitochondria are more numerous and smaller in pink-eyed dilution melanoblasts and melanocytes than in wild-type melanocytes in the neonatal mouse epidermis.

Abstract The mouse pink-eyed dilution (p) locus is known to control the melanin content in melanocytes. However, it was not known whether the p gene is involved in regulating the proliferation and differentation of melanocytes during development, especially the biogenesis of melanosomes and other organelles. Epidermal cell suspensions of neonatal dorsal skin derived from mice wild type for the p locus (black, C57BL/10JHir-P/P) and their congenic mutant phenotype (pink-eyed dilution, C57BL/10JHir-p/p) were cultured in serum-free melanocyte-proliferation medium (MDMD).

Behavior of nuclei during zoosporogenesis in Bryopsis plumosa (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta).

The behavior of nuclei during zoosporogenesis in Bryopsis plumosa (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta) was examined by fluorescence and electron microscopy. Each mature filamentous sporophyte had a single lenticular nucleus, which was about 25 microm in diameter and embedded in a thick cytoplasmic layer. At the commencement of multinucleation, giant nuclei with large vacuolated nucleoli, giant nuclei containing chromosomes, and dumbbell-shaped nuclei were observed.

Stem water transport of Lithocarpus edulis, an evergreen oak with radial-porous wood.

The stem water conducting system of an evergreen broad-leaved oak, Lithocarpus edulis (Mak.) Nakai, was investigated. Evergreen broad-leaved oaks (Lithocarpus, Castanopsis, Cyclobalanopsis, Quercus) belonging to the Quercoideae are a major component of Asian monsoon forests, and are characterized by the possession of radial-porous wood.

Purification and properties of a lectin from ascomycete mushroom, Ciborinia camelliae.

A lectin was isolated from an ascomycete mushroom, Ciborinia camelliae which was specific to N-acetyl-D-galactosamine. On SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; this lectin gave a single band of approximately 17-kDa in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol, but formed dimers, trimers and tetramers in its absence. Amino acid analysis revealed the lectin contained two cysteines and no methionine.