Absence of cell wall chitin in Saccharomyces cerevisiae leads to resistance to Kluyveromyces lactis killer toxin

Kluyveromyces lactis killer toxin causes sensitive strains of a variety of yeasts to arrest at the G1 stage of the cell cycle, and to lose viability. We describe here the isolation and characterization of a class of recessive mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that leads to toxin resistance and a temperature-sensitive phenotype. These mutant cells arrest growth at 37°C with a characteristic phenotype of elongated buds. Cloning of the gene complementing these defects revealed it to be CAL1, coding for chitin synthase 3 activity. Calcofluor staining of the mutant cells indicated that chitin is absent both at 23°C and 37°C. Given that the CAL1 activity is responsible for the synthesis of most of chitin in yeast cells, and that in its absence the cells are viable but resistant to the killer toxin, our results strongly suggest that chitin might represent the receptor for this killer toxin.     

DETERMINATION OF THE FAVORED PATTERN IN NEURAL SPIKE TRAIN WITH MONTE CARLO METHOD AND TEMPLATE METHOD

The modern neuroelectrical physiology indicates that there are certain patterns inneural spike train which appear more frequently than others.These favored patterns(FP)maybe related to the mechanism of neural information processing in central nervous system.Inthis paper,the quantized Monte Carlo method and template method used in favored patternrecognition are described.The Monte Carlo method determines favored patterns or the possiblefavored patterns,while the template method is used for choosing the FP from the candidates andcounting the number of the FP in the spike train.This work will be pursued for extracting theFP in some complicated spike train.     

A nuclear gene required for the expression of the linear DNA-asociated killer system in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis

The killer system of Kluveromyces lactis is associated with two linear DNA plasmids, pGKL1 and pGKL2. The killer toxin and the immunity determinant are coded for by pGKL1. Mutations which we have named KEX1. The KEX1 gene of K. lactis has been cloned by complementation of kex1 mutations by using a recombinant plasmid pool containing the entire Kluyveromyces lactis genome, on a multicopy plasmid KEp6, which contains the Saccharomyces cerevisiae URA3 gene as a marker. Genetic analyses of strains carrying a distrupted kex1 allele demonstrated that the cloned DNA corresponded to the KEX1 gene. The cloned KEX1 gene of K. lactis has low but significant sequence homology with the KEX2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In vivo complementation of the kex1 mutations of K. lactis by the KEX2 gene of S. cerevisiae, and complementation of the kex2 mutations of S. Cerevisiae by the KEX1 gene of K. lactis, demonstrated that KEX1 of K. Lactis is functionally related to the KEX2 gene of S. cerevisiae. K. lactis diploids homozygous for kex1 are deficient for sporulation.     

A yeast antiviral protein,SKI8, shares a repeated amino acid sequence pattern with β-subunits of G proteins and several other proteins

SKI8 is a yeast antiviral gene, essential for controlling the propagation of M double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and thus for preventing virus-induced cytopathology. Our DNA sequence of SKI8 shows that it encodes a 397 amino acid protein containing two copies of a 31 amino acid repeat pattern first identified in mammalian β-transducin and Cdc4p of yeast. There are also four copies of this repeat in yeast Mak11p, necessary for M dsRNA propagation, and three copies in the putative product of the Dictyostelium AAC3 gene. Analysis of 36 cases of the repeat unit shows they have a consensus predicted structure: N–helix–sheet–turn–sheet–turn–sheet–helix–C.     

吉林油田南山湾地区薄层砂体定量预测

稀疏脉冲约束反演是一种基于地震道的反演，它有效地综合了测井数据并受地质模型的约束，既较完整地保留了地震数据的基本特征，又提高了分辨率，这对于无井和少井区储层预测尤其具有重要意义。本文利用该方法对吉林油田南山湾地区三维地震资料进行反演，发现葡萄花油层井点处油层平均波阻抗与薄层砂总厚度呈很好的线性关系，以此为基础实现了无井区薄层砂体定量解释，预测了本区砂体厚度变化，为下一步钻探提供了依据。     

Rapid asymmetrical evolution of Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeasts

Genetic instability causes very rapid asymmetrical loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at the cyh2 locus and loss of killer K2 phenotype in some wine yeasts under the usual laboratory propagation conditions or after long freeze-storage. The direction of this asymmetrical evolution in heterozygous cyh2(R)/CYH2(S) hybrids is determined by the mechanism of asymmetrical LOH. However, the speed of the process is affected by the differences in cell viability between the new homozygous yeasts and the original heterozygous hybrid cells. The concomitant loss of ScV-M2 virus in the LOH process may increase cell viability of cyh2(R)/cyh2(R) yeasts and so favour asymmetrical evolution. The presence of active killer K2 toxin, however, abolishes the asymmetrical evolution of the hybrid populations. This phenomenon may cause important sudden phenotype changes in industrial and pathogenic yeasts.     

Genetics of heat-curability of killer virus of yeast

The cytoplasmically inherited M double-stranded (ds) RNA genome segment of killer virus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is heat-curable in some yeast strains but not in others. Temperature sensitivity is conferred on both M₁ and M₂ dsRNA satellite virus segments by the L-A-HN allele of the killer helper virus genome, but not by the L-A-H allele. Both diploidy and mating type heterozygosity of the host cell are also correlated with increased virus curability.     

Analysis of β-glucans and chitin in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall mutant using high-performance liquid chromatography

We have previously shown that mutations in the yeast KNR4 gene resulted in pleiotropic cell wall defects, including resistance to killer 9 toxin, elevated osmotic sensitivity to SDS and increased resistance to zymolyase, a (1→3)-β-glucanase. In this report, we further demonstrated that knr4 mutant cells were more permeable to a chromogenic substrate, X-GAL, suggesting that the mutant cell walls were leakier to certain non-permeable molecules. To determine if these defects resulted from structural changes in the cell walls, we analysed the alkali-insoluble cell wall components using HPLC assays developed for this purpose. Comparative analysis using four isogenic strains from a ‘knr4 disrupted’ tetrad demonstrated that mutant cell walls contained much less (1→3)-β-glucan and (1→6)-β-glucan; however, the level of chitin, a minor cell wall component, was found to be five times higher in the mutant strains compared to the wild-type strains. The data suggested that the knr4 mutant cell walls were dramatically weakened, which may explain the pleiotropic cell wall defects.     

A comparison of the functional characteristics of wheat stored as grain with wheat stored in spike form

In this study, wheat grain and wheat spike with 12%, 14% and 16% moisture content were stored at 10, 20 and 30 °C for 0, 3, 6 and 9 months. After storage, wheat samples were investigated for hectolitre weight, gluten content, Zeleny sedimentation volume, enzyme activity, acidity, phytic acid and L colour value. Storage of wheat at different storage forms (spike and grain) and storage conditions showed considerable changes in grain quality. In general, the storage period of 3 months positively affected wheat quality. However, hectolitre weight, gluten, Zeleny sedimentation, enzyme activity, acidity and colour of wheat got worse at storage periods beyond 3 months. Hectolitre weight, wet and dry gluten, Zeleny sedimentation, phytic acid content and L Colour value of wheat stored in both spike and grain form significantly decreased during storage. However, the increase in grain moisture content, storage time and temperature resulted in significant increase in total titratable acidity and falling number values of wheat. Falling Number and phytic acid values of wheat stored in spike form were generally lower than wheat stored in grain form. Storage in spike form had a positive effect on especially wet gluten content of wheat stored at non-optimal storage conditions such as high grain moisture content and high temperature. Wet gluten of wheat stored in spike form was higher than that of wheat stored grain form after storage at 30 °C for 6 and 9 months. Wheat stored in spike form is more resistant than wheat stored in grain form against adverse storage conditions such as high moisture content and temperature and longer storage time.     

开关磁阻电机功率变换器IGBT关断电压尖峰的分析与抑制

本文针对开关磁阻电机（SRM）功率变换器中的IGBT在关断时出现的尖峰电压进行了分析,就如何抑制IGBT关断尖峰电压提出了解决方法,并分别从减小主电路杂散电感和减小IGBT关断时电流的变化率两个方面出发,在结构上使用多组电解电容和叠层母排,以便减小换流回路,从而减小杂散电感。在驱动方面使用有源嵌位技术,减小IGBT关断时的电流变化率。