Cloning and overexpression of two cDNAs encoding the low-CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e-inducible chloroplast envelope protein LIP-36 from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a unicellular green alga, grows photoautotrophically at very low concentrations of inorganic carbon due to the presence of an inducible CO2-concentrating mechanism. During the induction of the CO2-concentrating mechanism at low-CO2 growth conditions, at least five polypeptides that are either absent or present in low amounts in cells grown on high-CO2 concentrations are induced. One of these induced polypeptides with a molecular mass of 36 kD, LIP-36, has been localized to the chloroplast envelope. The protein was purified and the partial internal amino acid sequences were obtained through lys-C digestion. Two cDNAs encoding LIP-36 have been cloned using degenerate primers based on the amino acid sequences. The two genes encoding LIP-36 are highly homologous in the coding region but are completely different in the 5\u27-end and 3\u27-end untranslated regions. The deduced protein sequences show strong homology to the mitochondrial carrier protein superfamily, suggesting that LIP-36 is a chloroplast carrier protein. The regulation of the expression of these two genes at high- and low-CO2 growth conditions is also different. Both genes were highly expressed under low-CO2 growth conditions, with the steady-state level of LIP-36 G1 mRNA more abundant. However, neither gene was expressed at high-CO2 growth conditions. The gene products of both clones expressed in Escherichia coli were recognized by an antibody raised against LIP-36, confirming that the two cDNAs indeed encode the C. reinhardtii chloroplast envelope carrier protein LIP-36

Rights Without Remedies: The Court Party Theory and the Demise of the Court Challenges Program

The author argues that the Court Challenges Program’s 2006 cancellation was based on claims that judicial review is undemocratic, including those made by three academics, Rainer Knopff, F.L. Morton and Ian Brodie; the Court Party Theorists (the “CPT”). Through a study of Charter equality cases, this paper examines the CPT’s arguments regarding judicial activism, interest groups and interveners and finds they are largely unsupported by statistical evidence. Further, the debate about judicial review and democracy obscures judicial review’s important auditing function over the legislature’s constitutional adherence. This audit depends on individuals’ capacity to pursue Charter litigation, an ability compromised by the access to justice crisis. The author examines this crisis and the efforts to fill the funding gap left by the CCP’s cancellation and concludes that a publicly-funded program like the CCP is best-placed to ensure that the Charter remains a relevant tool for enforcing fundamental human rights in Canada.MAS