The liverwort Marchantia polymorpha is an emerging model organism on account of its ideal characteristics for molecular genetics in addition to occupying a crucial position in the evolution of land plants. Here we describe a method for gene targeting by applying a positive/negative selection system for reduction of non-homologous random integration to an efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transfo...

Bovine follicle-stimulating hormone (bFSH), a pituitary gonadotropin, is a heterodimer hormone that consists of a common alpha-subunit non-covalently associated with the hormone-specific beta-subunit. Unfortunately, expression levels of recombinant bFSH or its subunits are invariably low. We report here the secretory expression of biologically active bFSHalpha and bFSHbeta subunit in the methyl...

We describe the cloning of the Hansenula polymorpha PER1 gene and the characterization of the gene and its product, PER1p. The gene was cloned by functional complementation of a per1 mutant of H. polymorpha, which was impaired in the import of peroxisomal matrix proteins (Pim- phenotype). The DNA sequence of PER1 predicts that PER1p is a polypeptide of 650 amino acids with no significant sequen...

Brazil has a high diversity of flies of the genus Drosophila, and part of this richness is represented by the cardini group. We analyzed the fluctuations in the richness and abundance of this group, in environments that had never previously been studied in the northeastern region of Brazil. Among the 28,204 drosophilids sampled, 1,294 belonged to the cardini group and were represented by D. pol...

A suspension culture of the moss Marchantia polymorpha was incubated with either [3H]ethanolamine or [3H]myristic acid, precursors of a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor. By both of these a secretory protein of 47 kDa was consistently labelled. Amino acid composition analysis of the chromatographically purified 47-kDa protein exhibited the occurrence of ethanolamine and glucosamine at a...

The seeds of Medicago disciformis and Medicago turbinata contain lectins for T or Th but not Tk or Tx red cell cryptantigens. Extracts of Medicago disciformis seeds are a useful addition to a panel of lectins used in the classification of red cell cryptantigens and of red cell polyagglutinability.

Cytogenetic characterization of D. polymorpha was carried out using banding techniques such as C-banding, fluorochrome CMA3 and silver nitrate treatment. The diploid chromosome number of both investigated D. polymorpha forms (typical and albinotic) was the same 2n = 32 (NF = 56). The karyotype consisted of 5 pairs of metacentric, 7 pairs of submetacentric and four pairs of subtelo-acrocentric c...

BACKGROUND The thermotolerant methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha is capable of alcoholic fermentation of xylose at elevated temperatures (45 - 48 degrees C). Such property of this yeast defines it as a good candidate for the development of an efficient process for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. However, to be economically viable, the main characteristics of xylose fermen...