The Basil and Josephine stories: Fitzgerald\u27s incompatible worlds

Typically, members of the middle-class of American society are fascinated by the extremely wealthy people of the upper-class. One can spend hours lost in daydreams about the lifestyles of the rich -- the intriguing and even famous people they encounter, the costly, luxurious garments they wear, or the delicacies they relish. To imagine such a life seems to lighten the drudgery of one\u27s own, possibly acting as a stimulus and driving one towards seemingly unattainable goals. The lives of the extremely wealthy are virtually impossible for most middle-class people to imagine, and likewise life in middle America may be difficult for the wealthy to comprehend. Few authors have been more interested in this relationship between the middle-class and the upper-class of America than F. Scott Fitzgerald was. In virtually all of his works, whether in his novels, short stories, poetry, essays or letters, this author\u27s fascination with the relationship between these two classes is ever-present

Spatial variation in selected vegetable crops in Tennessee

Modern technology, environmental concerns, and economics are a few of the reasons that today\u27s producers are forced to develop better ways to produce crops than in previous years. The technologies and practices of site-specific farming or prescription farming is rapidly spreading across the farming industry. The ability to spatially control the application rates within a field is revolutionizing the modem farm. To evaluate the feasibility of this new technology, the degree of spatial variation present in the field should be known. The history of the field and the crops must be documented as well as the requirements for the crop to be grown. In recent years there has been considerable research in the area of site-specific farming relating to grain and cereal crops. However, there has been little research, on site-specific farming in vegetable production. During the 1993 growing season The University of Tennessee Departments of Agricultural Engineering, Plant and Soil Science conducted an experiment in conjunction with PictSweet Inc., a commercial vegetable producer, to document the magnitude of spatial variation and the effect of the variation on yield of two vegetable crops. Two fields in West Tennessee that were in production by the producer were selected. The first field was in vegetable production for the first time by the producer and the crop grown was Italian green beans. The second field had been in vegetable production for several years. The crop under investigation in this field was butter beans. Plots were established in both fields which measured ten feet in length along a single bed Each field was monitored for plant response, soil moisture, and soil fertility. Soil fertility variables considered from each plot include aluminum, calcium, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, phosphorus, zinc, and pH. Measurements of these soil variables were collected twice during the growing season of the crop and at two depths, 6-12 inches. Soil moisture samples were taken several times during the growing season using a neutron probe. These variables were then analyzed graphically and statistically to study the variation of each across the fields and to determine their effects on the crops. Spatial variation existed across both fields not only in yields but also in the other variables measured and collected. Results suggested that there was not any single limiting variable in the study. However, it was apparent that there were interactions between variables that had an effect on yield. It was also noted that interactions not measured in this study played a role in spatial variation in the crops. Many of these variables were management controlled

Cholesterol-binding by the yeast CAP family member pry1 requires the presence of an aliphatic side chain on cholesterol

Pathogen-related yeast protein 1 (Pry1) is a Saccharomyces cerevisiae member of the CAP/SCP/TAPS superfamily. Although, CAP proteins have been proposed to be implicated in a number of physiological processes, such as pathogen virulence, sperm maturation and fertilization, host-pathogen interactions and defense mechanisms, the molecular mode of action of these proteins is poorly understood. CAP proteins are mostly secreted and they are stable in the extracellular space over a wide a range of conditions. All members of this superfamily contain a common CAP domain of approximately 150 amino acids, which adopts a unique α-β-α sandwich fold. We have previously shown that the yeast CAP family members act as sterol-binding and -export proteins in vivo and that the Pry proteins bind cholesterol and cholesteryl acetate in vitro. The conserved CAP domain of Pry1 is necessary and sufficient for sterol binding. Based on these observations, it is conceivable that CAP proteins exert their biological function through a common mechanism, such as binding and sequestration of sterols or related small hydrophobic compounds. Here we analyze the ligand specificity of Pry1 in more detail and show that the presence of the aliphatic isooctane side chain of the sterol but not the 3-hydroxyl group is important for binding to Pry1

Yeh1 constitutes the major steryl ester hydrolase under heme-deficient conditions in <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>

Steryl esters are stored in intracellular lipid droplets from which they are mobilized upon demand and hydrolyzed to yield free sterols and fatty acids. The mechanisms that control steryl ester mobilization are not well understood. We have previously identified a family of three lipases of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that are required for efficient steryl ester hydrolysis, Yeh1, Yeh2, and Tgl1 (R. Köffel, R. Tiwari, L. Falquet, and R. Schneiter, Mol. Cell. Biol. 25:1655-1668, 2005). Both Yeh1 and Tgl1 localize to lipid droplets, whereas Yeh2 is localized to the plasma membrane. To characterize the precise function of these three partially redundant lipases, we examined steryl ester mobilization under heme-deficient conditions. S. cerevisiae is a facultative anaerobic organism that becomes auxotrophic for sterols and unsaturated fatty acids in the absence of molecular oxygen. Anaerobic conditions can be mimicked in cells that are deficient for heme synthesis. We here report that Yeh1 is the sole active steryl ester hydrolase under such heme-deficient conditions, indicating that Yeh1 is activated whereas Yeh2 and Tgl1 are inactivated by the lack of heme. The heme-dependent activation of Yeh1 is mediated at least in part by an increase in steady-state levels of Yeh1 at the expense of Yeh2 and Tgl1 in exponentially growing cells. This increase in steady-state levels of Yeh1 requires Rox3, a component of the mediator complex that regulates transcription by RNA polymerase II. These data thus provide the first link between fat degradation and the transcriptional control of lipase activity in yeast