Neural Plasticity of Neonatal Hypoglossal Nerve for Effective Suckling

“This is a preprint of an article published in JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH 2007; 85(11): 2518-2526”ArticleJournal of Neuroscience Research. 85(11): 2518-2526 (2007)journal articl

Origin of Prunus x yedoenins 'Somei-yoshino' based on sequence analysis of PolA1 gene

Prunus × yedoensis ‘Somei-yoshino’ is the most popular cultivar of flowering cherry in Japan. Although the origin of this cultivar has been considered hybrid between P. pendula f. ascendens and P. lannesiana var. speciosa, the paternity of P. lannesiana has not been clearly proven by molecular analysis. To reveal the origin of ‘Somei-yoshino,’ we analyzed sequences of intron 19 and exon 20 of PolA1, a single-copy nuclear gene encoding the largest subunit of RNA polymerase I. One of two exon 20 sequences found in ‘Somei-yoshino’ was the same as that of P. pendula, whereas the other sequence was shared with several taxa in seven wild species, including P. jamasakura and P. lannesiana. ‘Someiyoshino’ contained two different haplotypes of the intron 19 sequences; one was the same as that of P. lannesiana, which is endemic to the Izu and Boso Peninsula in Japan. While another haplotype of ‘Somei-yoshino’ was different from that of P. pendula by two SNPs but identical to one of two haplotypes of P. pendula ‘Komatsu-otome,’ which is a cultivar found in the Ueno Park, Tokyo. These results indicated that ‘Somei-yoshino’ probably originated by the hybridization of cultivars derived from P. pendula and P. lannesiana

Enzymes immobilized in Langmuir-Blodgett films: Why determining the surface properties in Langmuir monolayer is important?

ABSTRACT In this review we discuss about the immobilization of enzymes in Langmuir-Blodgett films in order to determine the catalytic properties of these biomacromolecules when adsorbed on solid supports. Usually, the conformation of enzymes depends on the environmental conditions imposed to them, including the chemical composition of the matrix, and the morphology and thickness of the film. In this review, we show an outline of manuscripts that report the immobilization of enzymes as LB films since the 1980’s, and also some examples of how the surface properties of the floating monolayer prepared previously to the transfer to the solid support are important to determine the efficiency of the resulting device