It is shown here by flow cytometry that Bacillus subtilis YabA negatively regulates the timing of replication initiation. When the level of YabA was reduced, replication began at a decreased cell mass and when the level was increased, initiation was delayed. Synchrony of replication initiation was also disrupted at low levels of YabA. Yfp-YabA localized as foci in cells. Since YabA was reported to interact with DnaN (beta subunit of DNA polymerase III), co-localization of Yfp-YabA with the polymerase was examined using a Cfp fusion with DnaX (tau subunit of DNA polymerase III). It is reported that YabA appears to localize at the replication forks only at a late stage of DNA replication.

SUMMARY BackgroundHepatic encephalopathy has a negative effect on patient health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Zinc supplementation has been effective with regard to altered nitrogen metabolism.

More improvement in disorders of nitrogen metabolism in liver cirrhosis occurred after administration of BCAA with zinc than after BCAA alone over 5-6 months of treatment. Further investigation is necessary to determine mechanisms of the action and longer-term clinical efficacy.

Eucheuma serra agglutinin (ESA) derived from a marine red alga, Eucheuma serra, is a lectin that specifically binds to mannose-rich carbohydrate chains. ESA is a monomeric molecule, with a molecular weight of29,000. ESA induced cell death against several cancer cell lines, such as colon cancer Colo201 cells and cervix cancer HeLa cells. DNA ladder detection and the induction of caspase-3 activity suggested that the cell death induced by ESA against cancer cells was apoptosis. ESA bound to the cell surface of Colo201 cells in the sugar chain dependent manner. This means that the binding of ESA to the cell surface is specific for mannose-rich sugar chains recognized by ESA. The binding of ESA to the cell surface of Colo201 cells was slightly suppressed by the high concentrations of serum because of the competition with serum components possessing the mannose-rich sugar chain motifs. On the other hand, a lipid vesicle is a very useful microcapsule constructed by multilamellar structure,and adopted as drug or gene carrier. ESA was immobilized on the surface of the lipid vesicles to apply the lipid vesicles to cancer specific drug delivery system. ESA-immobilized lipid vesicles were effectively bound to cancer cell lines compared with plane vesicles.

Amylose contents in 39 strains of rice starch, including waxy starch, low amylose containing starch, and non‐waxy starch, were measured. Seguchi et al. [1] reported that waxy wheat starch exhibits a ghost appearance by staining and swelling with 25% KI/10%I2 solution at 25 °C. We subjected the 39 rice strains to staining in the same manner. We found that the relative ghost area (%) in a rice starch, which is a measure of granule swelling in 25%KI/10%I2 solution, , is related to its amylose content (r = ‐0.78). As the relative ghost area (%) of the rice starch increased rapidly when the amylose content decreased below 5%, we concluded that at least 5% of amylose is required to maintain the structure of rice starch granules. Furthermore, the red‐brown central region in ghostly appearing granules decreases with amylose level and the surrounding light brown region increases. When the starch does not contain amylose, the ghost is entirely light brown. The decrease in the area of the red‐brown central region with decreasing amylose content suggests that amylose is concentrated in the red‐brown central region of the ghost.