Enhancement of electric and magnetic wave fields at density gradients

We use Freja satellite data to investigate irregular small-scale density variations. The observations are made in the auroral region at about 1000-1700 km. The density variations are a few percent, and the structures are found to be spatial down to a scale length of a few ion gyroradii. Irregular density variations are often found in an environment of whistler mode/lower hybrid waves and we show that at the density gradients both the electric and magnetic wave fields are enhanced

Cloning of a metalloprotease gene involved in the virulence mechanism of Vibrio anguillarum.

Genetic evidence has previously suggested that a zinc metalloprotease is involved in the invasive mechanism of the fish pathogen Vibrio anguillarum NB10. In this study, the metalloprotease gene was cloned and sequenced. The sequence encodes a polypeptide (611 amino acids) that contains a putative signal sequence followed by a large leader sequence and the mature protein (44.6 kDa). Since the purified protein has a molecular mass of 36 kDa instead of the predicted 44.6 kDa, the mature protein is most likely processed a third time. Comparative analyses of the protein sequence showed high homologies to other bacterial metalloproteases within the zinc-binding and active-site regions. The Vibrio cholerae hemagglutinin/protease and the Pseudomonas aeruginosa elastase were exceptions in that the homology extended throughout the entire putative preproprotein. A chromosomal metalloprotease mutant was made via the integration of foreign DNA into the protease gene. This mutant did not secrete the metalloprotease, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide protein analysis and by growth on gelatin agar. Transcomplementation of the chromosomal mutation revived the secretion of the metalloprotease and its activity on gelatin agar. Interestingly, when supernatant proteins were analyzed by gelatin-SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis, two different proteases (75 and 30 kDa) were detected in the mutant strain but not in the transcomplemented strain or the wild-type strain. Moreover, fish infection studies were done, and implications for the role of the metalloprotease in the virulence mechanism of V. anguillarum are discussed