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Induction of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima Duch.) glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) by different stresses and endogenous trans-2-hexenal content were determined in search of a common signal for GST induction. All of the stresses showed significant induction, As 2 O 3 causing the highest induction followed by trans-2-hexenal. The trans-2-hexenal content was highest in trans-2-hexenal-treated seedlings and next-highest in methyl jasmonate-treated seedlings, whereas high temperature-and As 2 O 3 -treated seedlings had trans-2-hexenal contents lower than that of control seedlings. Induction of GST, lipoxygenase (LOX) and hydroperoxide lyase (HPL) was compared, since trans-2-hexenal and methyl jasmonate are the products of the LOX pathway. All four stresses showed weak LOX induction, high temperature causing the highest induction. However, only methyl jasmonate caused weak HPL induction. Both antioxidants or oxidants induced GST to different degrees. Glutathione contents of reduced glutathione (GSH) or oxidized glutathione (GSSG)-treated seedlings were significantly higher than the content of control seedlings, whereas those treated with other antioxidants or oxidants had contents similar to or less than control seedlings. The GSH:GSSG ratio was lowest in GSSG-treated seedlings and next-lowest in GSH-treated seedlings. The results of this study suggest that pumpkin GSTs are not induced through a common signalling pathway and that redox perturbation plays a role in pumpkin GST induction.

Background: New short-read sequencing technologies produce enormous volumes of 25-30 base paired-end reads. The resulting reads have vastly different characteristics than produced by Sanger sequencing, and require different approaches than the previous generation of sequence assemblers. In this paper, we present a short-read de novo assembler particularly targeted at the new ABI SOLiD sequencing technology.

In order to determine transmission line parameters of superconducting coplanar striplines with thickness smaller than the magnetic penetration depth of the striplines, in which the influences of enlarged kinetic inductance and strongly nonuniform current distribution make it useless to apply the conventional design formula developed for normal conductors, we have conducted theoretical and experimental studies on the geometrical effects of the kinetic inductance and the microwave loss of the thin coplanar striplines. The analytical expression for the kinetic inductance of the coplanar stripline is given using the conformal mapping technique, and it is shown with the London equation and the two fluid-model that the microwave loss is directly proportional to the kinetic inductance. The comparison has been made between theory and experiment concerning the kinetic inductance and the microwave quality factor of NbN coplanar striplines with various thicknesses and widths. It is shown that the observed characteristics are well modeled by the analytical expression.

Data were collected from a total of 41 goat farmers in 26 different villages of Barguna and Patuakhali district of Bangladesh to explore knowledge about the goat husbandry practices. Most of the farmers reared goats in semi-intensive system, took winter care and took bath of their goats in the summer. Main feed item of goats were green grass, tree leaves and main water source was pond though some farmers supplied concentrate to their goats. However, most of goat farmers used vaccine against PPR disease and de-wormed their goats. Majority of goat keepers used village buck to inseminate their does and most of the farmers gave service charge to the buck keepers while most of them did not keep bucks for insemination. Moreover, the study reported that the litter size increased with the increase of parity number of goats.

The glutathione transferase (GST) superfamily plays key roles in the detoxification of various xenobiotics. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of a silkworm protein belonging to a previously reported theta-class GST family. The enzyme (bmGSTT) catalyzes the reaction of glutathione with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, 1,2-epoxy-3-(4-nitrophenoxy)-propane, and 4-nitrophenethyl bromide. Mutagenesis of highly conserved residues in the catalytic site revealed that Glu66 and Ser67 are important for enzymatic function. These results provide insights into the catalysis of glutathione conjugation in silkworm by bmGSTT and into the metabolism of exogenous chemical agents.

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