Mixed ether bath for electrodeposition of aluminum

Anisole added to the bath mixture improves Brenner aluminum plating bath technique. Mixture has lower bath vapor-pressure and the electro-deposits obtained have greater physical strength than deposits from the Brenner bath

Cloning and expression of the Propionibacterium shermanii methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase gene in Escherichia coli : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biochemistry at Massey University

Genomic DNA was isolated from Propionibacterium shermanii (52W). A 454 bp DNA fragment coding for the methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase (EC 5.1.99.1, subsequently referred to as epimerase) was amplified from genomic DNA by the polymerase chain reaction using primers designed from the known DNA sequence of the gene. The P. shermanii epimerase gene was ligated into the 2.47 kbp expression vector pT7-7. The ligation reaction mixture was transformed into electroporation competent E.coli XL1-Blue cells. Plasmid DNA prepared from several transformants was analysed, by agarose gel electrophoresis of restriction enzyme digestions, and transformed into E.coli SRP84/pGP1-2 cells to identify potential epimerase expression constructs (pTEEX) by heat shock induction. The insert DNA of one of the putative pTEEX epimerase constructs was fully sequenced and shown to be identical to the known DNA sequence of the epimerase gene described by Davis (1987). Using the sequenced expression construct pTEEX, recombinant epimerase was expressed to 20-35% of the total cell protein in the protease deficient E.coli strain SRP84 using the dual plasmid expression system of Tabor and Richardson (1985). The recombinant epimerase was ~95-100% soluble in E.coli. The recombinant epimerase and the 'wild-type' epimerase produced by P. shermanii were purified using the procedures developed for the 'wild-type' epimerase. The addition of a heat-treatment step (70°C for 15 min) early in the purification of the recombinant enzyme successfully exploited the unusually high thermostability of the epimerase protein. The epimerase protein was found to have an anomalously low electrophoretic mobility in a modified Laemmli discontinuous Tris-glycine alkaline buffer system for SDS-PAGE gels compared to the Weber and Osborn continuous phosphate buffer system. Using the latter system, a subunit molecular weight of 16.6 kDa was obtained. This is consistent with the molecular weight of 16.72 kDa (methionine on) calculated from the inferred amino acid sequence. The N-terminal sequence of the purified 'wild-type' and recombinant epimerases were identical although only half of N-terminal methionine residues were removed from the recombinant protein. The subunit molecular weight, specific activity, activation by divalent metal ions and behaviour in crystallization trials of the 'wild-type' and recombinant epimerases were very similar. Recombinant epimerase crystals were grown in a buffer containing 0.2 M ammonium acetate and 0.1 M citrate, pH 5.6, containing 30% PEG 4000 as precipitant. These crystals were relatively poorly ordered and diffracted to only 4.5 Ǻ resolution, but crystals of the recombinant epimerase that diffract to 2.6Ǻ can be grown under appropriate conditions

A study of quantitative genetics on some characters of the meadowfoam plant (Limnanthes alba Benth.) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Applied Science degree in Plant Science at Massey University

The meadowfoam plant is a moisture-loving native of the west coast of the North American continent near the borders of USA and Canada. It has recently stirred great interest in the chemical oil industry due to the potential of its seed oil to substitute for sperm whale oil. Due to the relative lack of published literature on this plant, an experiment was planned to study the quantitative genetics of some of its characters. Thirty-six half-sib families were planted and the following characters were examined: plant height; diameter; uprightness; intensity of redness on branches and its distribution; leaf shape; period to first flower; seed set; mature seed retained; degree of seed shattering; and thousand-seed mass. Factor analysis was also performed on the flowering pattern of the plants. Results indicated that all characters were heritable in the broad-sense, and all but two characters (diameter and degree of seed shatter) had significantly heritable narrow-sense heritabilities. The amount of genetic variability present in this species is also very high. Plant improvement methods based on selection are therefore recommended. Predictions on genetic advance show that the characters plant height, seed retention, leaf shape, and red intensity and distribution on branches showed greatest promise for rapid improvement

Epigenetic Biomarkers for Environmental Exposures and Personalized Breast Cancer Prevention.

Environmental and lifestyle factors are believed to account for >80% of breast cancers; however, it is not well understood how and when these factors affect risk and which exposed individuals will actually develop the disease. While alcohol consumption, obesity, and hormone therapy are some known risk factors for breast cancer, other exposures associated with breast cancer risk have not yet been identified or well characterized. In this paper, it is proposed that the identification of blood epigenetic markers for personal, in utero, and ancestral environmental exposures can help researchers better understand known and potential relationships between exposures and breast cancer risk and may enable personalized prevention strategies

Research and development of electroformed aluminum solar cell contacts and interconnects Periodic progress report, 5 Jun. - 4 Oct. 1969

Development of electroformed aluminum solar cell contacts and interconnect

The network of stabilizing contacts in proteins studied by coevolutionary data

The primary structure of proteins, that is their sequence, represents one of the most abundant set of experimental data concerning biomolecules. The study of correlations in families of co--evolving proteins by means of an inverse Ising--model approach allows to obtain information on their native conformation. Following up on a recent development along this line, we optimize the algorithm to calculate effective energies between the residues, validating the approach both back-calculating interaction energies in a model system, and predicting the free energies associated to mutations in real systems. Making use of these effective energies, we study the networks of interactions which stabilizes the native conformation of some well--studied proteins, showing that it display different properties than the associated contact network