Conserved sequence motifs in levansucrases and bifunctional β-xylosidases and α-l-arabinases

AbstractComparison of the amino acid sequences of two families of glycosyl hydrolases reveals that they are related in a region in the central part of the sequences. One of these families (GH family 68) includes levansucrases and the other one (glycosyl hydrolase family 43) includes bifunctional β-xylosidases and α-l-arabinofuranosidases. The similarity of the primary structure of proteins from these families allows us to consider the invariant glutamate residue as a component of their active center. It is shown for the first time that glycosyl hydrolases recognizing different glycofuranoside residues can have a common sequence motif

GH97 is a new family of glycoside hydrolases, which is related to the α-galactosidase superfamily

BACKGROUND: As a rule, about 1% of genes in a given genome encode glycoside hydrolases and their homologues. On the basis of sequence similarity they have been grouped into more than ninety GH families during the last 15 years. The GH97 family has been established very recently and initially included only 18 bacterial proteins. However, the evolutionary relationship of the genes encoding proteins of this family remains unclear, as well as their distribution among main groups of the living organisms. RESULTS: The extensive search of the current databases allowed us to double the number of GH97 family proteins. Five subfamilies were distinguished on the basis of pairwise sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis. Iterative sequence analysis revealed the relationship of the GH97 family with the GH27, GH31, and GH36 families of glycosidases, which belong to the α-galactosidase superfamily, as well as a more distant relationship with some other glycosidase families (GH13 and GH20). CONCLUSION: The results of this study show an unexpected sequence similarity of GH97 family proteins with glycoside hydrolases from several other families, that have (β/α)(8)-barrel fold of the catalytic domain and a retaining mechanism of the glycoside bond hydrolysis. These data suggest a common evolutionary origin of glycosidases representing different families and clans

A Comparison Analysis between the Standards Used in the Dneiper River Basin Clean-up and European Union Legislation

A recent case study involved the clean-up efforts of the Dnieper River Basin by three countries, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The objective of the study was to provide a method for the identification, assessment, and prioritization of the most significant sources of pollution based on their impacts and characteristics. Herein, the standards employed in the Dnieper case study are comparatively analyzed against the relevant EU directives. The purpose in doing so was to determine if the standards employed in this project could serve as a benchmark for the necessary environmental regulations that would be required if these three countries were admitted into the European Union. The main discrepancies found between the standards of the Dnieper case study and the EU directive were differing measuring standards and the vagueness associated with various standards in the case study

Agriculture Policy Is Health Policy.

The Farm Bill is meant to supplement and secure farm incomes, ensure a stable food supply, and support the American farm economy. Over time, however, it has evolved into a system that creates substantial health impacts, both directly and indirectly. By generating more profit for food producers and less for family farmers; by effectively subsidizing the production of lower-cost fats, sugars, and oils that intensify the health-destroying obesity epidemic; by amplifying environmentally destructive agricultural practices that impact air, water, and other resources, the Farm Bill influences the health of Americans more than is immediately apparent. In this article, we outline three major public health issues influenced by American farm policy. These are (1) rising obesity; (2) food safety; and (3) environmental health impacts, especially exposure to toxic substances and pesticides

Optimizing Waste Flows in the OSU Network

The purpose of this project is to develop a comprehensive model of waste flows at The Ohio State University to enable cost-effective waste reduction. The ultimate goal will be to establish effective solutions that help OSU to move beyond environmental compliance, and take pro-active steps to operate with minimum adverse impact on the environment. This project represents an opportunity to reverse the traditional notion of waste and apply industrial ecology concepts to explore the effectiveness of applying a systems perspective to sustainable modeling. The model will take the form of EcoFlow™. Developed by researchers at the Center for Resilience at OSU, EcoFlow™ models waste flows in complex networks including multiple inputs, outputs, and decision nodes, to develop a resilient waste management system. In application to OSU, six waste generators were analyzed as input sources that generated five different types of waste. Flow pathways, both currently under operation and hypothetical, provide routes for waste materials to be processed into economically valuable products or energy. Examples of pathways analyzed in the model include recycling, composting, and the capture and utilization of methane gas. The application of EcoFlow™ utilizes operations research techniques, namely integer programming. This allows for mass balance equations, capacity constraints, and both transportation and operating costs to be integrated into the model to best optimize the objective function. In the case of OSU, the model is programmed to maximize profits within the network. Furthermore, each pathway will be analyzed to show the potential environmental and economic benefits to the waste generator and the waste consumer and how this interacts with the University’s triple bottom line, which includes economic, environmental, and social potentials. Results provide the University with a model of their current waste system and recommend best practices for operation. However most importantly, the OSU EcoFlow™ model offers the University an important tool that systematically optimizes waste flow while simultaneously creating a network that is both economically and ecologically resilient. Advisors: Joseph Fiksel and Jerald BrevickCenter for ResilienceCollege of Engineerin

The Rhetoric Of The Hip Hop Hustler: Shifting Representations Of American Identity

The nature of American identity is highly contested in the twenty-first century. This dissertation seeks to understand how this state of uncertainty produces a rhetorical opening for new and unimagined rhetorical possibilities. As citizens lose faith in the narratives that have defined national identity, the populace becomes open to a new narrative and a new figure to represent American identity. I argue that the hip hop mogul, or what I label the Hustler, seizes this rhetorical opportunity to rewrite the narrative of the Self-Made Man, a narrative that has historically been figured as white and masculine. The Self-Made Man is important to understandings of American identity because this figure has come to represent the ideal citizen-subject. To accurately account for the rhetorical force of the Hustler, this dissertation proposes that the field of rhetoric consider a theory that accounts for improbable rhetorical texts and performances. I turn to the theories developed by Lawrence Grossberg to identify the conditions that give rise to the improbable rhetorical texts of the Hustler. Using Grossberg\u27s approach of conjunctural analysis, and applying his theory of embedded/disembedded domains, I account for the Hustler\u27s emergence and the rhetorical strategies he employs. I illustrate this exploration with a thematic analysis of Decoded, the autobiography of Jay-Z, an exemplar Hustler. I argue that the Hustler is a significant rhetorical figure, in that he produces and performs a new mode of black masculinity that is unlike seen previously in the popular American imagination. This mode of black masculinity disrupts and shifts long held governing logics that have ordered notions of race in America. By recasting the Self-Made Man, as black, and thereby also proposing a new view of the United States, the Hustler produces a new sensibility of achieving success in America. The traveling of this new Hustler sensibility to unintended and unimagined audiences illustrates, not only the impact of the Hustler on American identity, but also, points to why a theory that accounts for improbable rhetorics is needed by the field

Endo-α-1,4-polygalactosaminidases and their homologs: Structure and evolution

Endo-α-1,4-polygalactosaminidase is a rare enzyme. Its catalytic domain belongs to the GH114 family of glycoside hydrolases. It is shown by phylogenetic analysis that the evolution of the corresponding genes involved duplications, elimination, and horizontal transfer. The domain and secondary structures of endo-α-1,4-polygalactosaminidases are discussed. A hypothesis is put forward as to the structure of the active center of the enzyme. Iterative screening of a protein database reveals evolutionary relationships of the GH114 family with the GH13, GH18, GH20, GH27, GH29, GH31, GH35, GH36, and GH66 families of glycoside hydrolases and with the COG1306, COG1649, COG2342, GHL3, and GHL4 families of proteins with unknown enzymatic functions. Unclassified homologs are grouped into 13 new families of hypothetical glycoside hydrolases: GHL5-GHL15, GH36J, and GH36K. © 2011 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Draft genome sequence of Methyloferula stellata AR4, an obligate methanotroph possessing only a soluble methane monooxygenase

Methyloferula stellata AR4 is an aerobic acidophilic methanotroph, which, in contrast to most known methanotrophs but similar to Methylocella spp., possesses only a soluble methane monooxygenase. However, it differs from Methylocella spp. by its inability to grow on multicarbon substrates. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of this bacterium