The complex structure of bacteriophage T4 includes a variety of proteins' which become assembled into mature particles during intracellular development of the virus. Some insight into the genetic control of this process has been provided by physiological studies with conditional lethal mutants, which show that over 40 phage genes are involved in T4 morphogenesis2 (Fig. 1). However, the mechanis...

T he B H 3-only B C L -2 protein B ID is thought, in som e cases, to be responsib le fo r the initiation o f cytochrom e c release from m itochondria during apoptosis. In o rder to study this process in an in vitro system , the ra t B id gene w as cloned, recom binant B ID purified , and truncated B ID (tB ID ) produced. A dditionally , reliable p rocedures w ere developed fo r the isolation o ...

Both alleles of the insulin gene of a patient with mild diabetes [maturity-onset-diabetes-of-the-young (MODY)-type syndrome] associated with hyperinsulinemia have been cloned, and the sequences have been determined. One allele contained a mutation (single nucleotide transition) in the coding sequence for the B chain at position 24 (TTC -) TCC), resulting in the loss of a restriction enzyme (Mbo...

Viruses are minuscule infectious particles composed of a protein coat and a nucleic acid core. They exist in a huge variety of forms and infect practically all living creatures: animals, plants, insects and bacteria. Insight into the infection process could facilitate new therapeutic strategies for viral and bacterial diseases as well as food preservation. An article by Aksyuk et al (2009) publ...

In the current issue, Mishra and colleagues demonstrate that mice lacking somatosensory neurons in the TRPV1 lineage are completely insensitive to thermal stimuli of any quality or modality, including both hot and cold temperatures. TRPV1 is a heat-gated ion channel expressed in most heat-sensitive nociceptive neurons and is the receptor for capsaicin, the pungent ingredient in ‘hot’ chili pepp...

In this study, the biodiesel produced from cottonseed oil was prepared by a method of Transesterification and its blends of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% in volume, and standard diesel fuel separately. The effects of biodiesel addition to diesel fuel on the performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of a naturally aspirated DI compression ignition engine were examined. Biodiesel has differe...

Acute liver failure (ALF) is a major success story in gastroenterology, with improvements critical care and transplant resulting significant patient outcomes the current era compared to dismal survival rates pretransplant era. However, ever-increasing list of candidates limited organ pool makes judicious selection use mandatory achieve good prevent wastage. Several scoring systems exist facilit...