Comprehensive behavioral testing in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington's disease shows no benefit from CoQ10 or minocycline

Previous studies of the effects of coenzyme Q10 and minocycline on mouse models of Huntington’s disease have produced conflicting results regarding their efficacy in behavioral tests. Using our recently published best practices for husbandry and testing for mouse models of Huntington’s disease, we report that neither coenzyme Q10 nor minocycline had significant beneficial effects on measures of motor function, general health (open field, rotarod, grip strength, rearing-climbing, body weight and survival) in the R6/2 mouse model. The higher doses of minocycline, on the contrary, reduced survival. We were thus unable to confirm the previously reported benefits for these two drugs, and we discuss potential reasons for these discrepancies, such as the effects of husbandry and nutrition

Rhizobium Meliloti Homologs of Escherichia Coli Mur Genes

The pectate-lyase-encoding gene pelB of Erwinia chrysanthemi ec 16 was used as a probe for hybridization to Rhizobium meliloti Rml021 chromosomal DNA under low-stringency conditions. An Rml021 DNA fragment that hybridized to this probe was cloned and sequenced. Results of RNA hybridization indicate that a portion of the cloned fragment is transcribed in R. meliloti. Although the Rml021 fragment shares no significant nucleotide sequence identity with Ecl6 pelB, it includes an ORF (open reading frame) that shares a high degree of nt sequence identity with the Escherichia coli murD gene. This gene codes for UDP-N-acetylmuramoyl-l-alanyl-d-glutamate synthetase, which catalyzes a step in the synthesis of the E. coli cell wall. The R. meliloti putative murD sequence is preceded by a partial ORF that shares sequence identity with mraY. The orientation of the two ORFs in R. meliloti is similar to that of the E. coli murD and mraY genes

Host Restriction and Transduction in Rhizobium meliloti

A host restriction difference exists between Rhizobium meliloti Rm41 and SU47 exists as indicated by the reduce plating efficiency of transducing phage ΦM12h1. Restriction can be attenuated by incubating cells at 42°C for 3 h; this procedure overcomes a block to transduction from SU47 to Rm41

Political discussions at Gordon Conference [4]

SCOPUS: le.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Activity of the yeast FLP recombinase in Arabidopsis

The coding sequence for FLP recombinase, originally from the 2μ plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was introduced into Arabidopsis behind the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. FLP activity was monitored by the glucuronidase activity resulting from inversion of an antisense-oriented GUS reporter gene flanked by a pair of FRT target sites in inverted repeat. FLP-dependent Gus activity was observed in both transient assays and transgenic plants. The FLP system will be useful for a variety of in planta genetic manipulations