Heritabilities for and genetic and environmental correlations between uterine capacity, ovulation rate, and body mass (BM) were estimated in mice. Uterine capacity was defined as the number of fetuses (LUC or RUC for left or right side) in one uterine horn for unilaterally ovariectomized females. Ovulation rate (corpora lutea, LCL or RCL for left or right ovary) was measured on the remaining si...

The inhibition mechanisms of the firefly luciferase (Luc) by the two major products of the reactions catalysed by Luc, oxyluciferin and dehydroluciferyl-adenylate (L-AMP), were investigated. Light production in the presence and absence of these inhibitors (0.5 to 2 microM oxyluciferin; 0.0025 to 1.25 microM L-AMP) has been measured in 50 mM Hepes buffer (pH=7.5), 10 nM Luc, 250 microM ATP and D...

BACKGROUND The AP-1 family of transcription factors has been implicated in the control of the expression of many genes in response to environmental signals. Previous studies have provided temporal profiles for c-fos expression by taking measurements from many animals at several points in time, but these studies provide limited information about dynamic changes in expression. Here, we have devis...

Biochars have increasingly been used as adsorbents for organic and inorganic contaminants in soils. However, during the carbonization process of pyrolysis, contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated dioxins and furans (PCDD/DF) can be generated. In this study, biochars made from sawdust, were prepared at various temperatures ranging from 250 to 700 °C. T...

Photoperiod is a significant modulator of behavior and physiology for many organisms. In rodents changes in photoperiod are associated with changes in circadian period and photic resetting of circadian pacemakers. Utilizing rhythms of in vivo behavior and in vitro mPer2::luc expression, we investigated whether different entrainment photoperiods [light:dark (L:D) 16:8 and L:D 8:16] alter the per...

Small, multigene families organized in a tandem array can facilitate the rapid evolution of the gene cluster by a process of meiotic unequal crossing-over. To study this process in a multicellular organism, we created a synthetic RBCSB gene cluster in Arabidopsis thaliana and used this to measure directly the frequency of meiotic, intergenic unequal crossing-over between sister chromatids. The ...

The glucagon-stimulated transcription of the cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase-1 (PCK1) gene is mediated by cAMP and positively modulated by oxygen in primary hepatocytes. Rat hepatocytes were transfected with constructs containing the first 2500, 493 or 281 bp of the PCK1 5'-flanking region in front of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene. With all three construc...