Serum copper profile in patients with type 1 diabetes in comparison to other metals.

Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic condition in which the pancreas loses the ability to produce insulin due to an autoimmune destruction of the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. Pathophysiological complications related to diabetes include micro and macrovascular disease, nephropathy, and neuropathy that can also be affected by environmental factors such as lifestyle and diet.

Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate the serum levels of total copper, the copper-carrying protein, ceruloplasmin and nonceruloplasmin bound copper (nonceruloplasmin-Cu) and other essential and environmental metals and metalloids in subjects with T1D compared with healthy controls.

Affinity purification of streptavidin using tobacco mosaic virus particles as purification tags.

A new protein affinity purification system has been developed. Recombinant tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) was used as an affinity matrix for isolation and purification of the given protein of interest. In model experiments, streptavidin-specific heptapeptide sequence TLIAHPQ was inserted into TMV coat protein near the C end.

Cryptic polyadenylation sites within the coding sequence of three yeast genes expressed in tobacco.

Three yeast genes, MIP (mitochondrial DNA polymerase) and two genes, YCF1 (yeast cadmium factor 1) and PDR5 (pleiotropic drug resistance 5), conferring multidrug resistance, were provided with the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S transcription promoter and introduced into tobacco using an Agrobacterium tumefaciens T-DNA-derived vector. Transcripts of each gene much shorter than those expected were found in the transgenic plants. RT-PCR and S1 nuclease mapping of the PDR5 and MIP transcripts demonstrated the presence of one (PDR5), or several close (MIP), cryptic polyadenylation site(s) within the coding sequence of these yeast genes.