Mammalian oocyte meiotic maturation involves oocyte polarization and a unique asymmetric division, but until now, the underlying mechanisms have been poorly understood. Arp2/3 complex has been shown to regulate actin nucleation and is widely involved in a diverse range of processes such as cell locomotion, phagocytosis and the establishment of cell polarity. Whether Arp2/3 complex participates in oocyte polarization and asymmetric division is unknown. The present study investigated the expression and functions of Arp2/3 complex during mouse oocyte meiotic maturation. Immunofluorescent staining showed that the Arp2/3 complex was restricted to the cortex, with a thickened cap above the meiotic apparatus, and that this localization pattern was depended on actin. Disruption of Arp2/3 complex by a newly-found specific inhibitor CK666, as well as by Arpc2 and Arpc3 RNAi, resulted in a range of effects. These included the failure of asymmetric division, spindle migration, and the formation and completion of oocyte cytokinesis. The formation of the actin cap and cortical granule-free domain (CGFD) was also disrupted, which further confirmed the disruption of spindle migration. Our data suggest that the Arp2/3 complex probably regulates oocyte polarization through its effect on spindle migration, asymmetric division and cytokinesis during mouse oocyte meiotic maturation.

The rice pathogen recognition receptor, XA21, confers resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae strains producing the type one system-secreted molecule, AvrXA21. X. oryzae pv. oryzae requires a regulatory twocomponent system (TCS) called RaxRH to regulate expression of eight rax (required for AvrXA21 activity) genes and to sense population cell density. To identify other key components in this critical regulatory circuit, we assayed proteins expressed in a raxR gene knockout strain. This survey led to the identification of the phoP gene encoding a response regulator that is up-regulated in the raxR knockout strain. Next we generated a phoP knockout strain and found it to be impaired in X. oryzae pv. oryzae virulence and no longer able to activate the response regulator HrpG (hypersensitive reaction and pathogenicity G) in response to low levels of Ca 2؉ . The impaired virulence of the phoP knockout strain can be partially complemented by constitutive expression of hrpG, indicating that PhoP controls a key aspect of X. oryzae pv. oryzae virulence through regulation of hrpG. A gene encoding the cognate putative histidine protein kinase, phoQ, was also isolated. Growth curve analysis revealed that AvrXA21 activity is impaired in a phoQ knockout strain as reflected by enhanced growth of this strain in rice lines carrying XA21. These results suggest that the X. oryzae pv. oryzae PhoPQ TCS functions in virulence and in the production of AvrXA21 in partnership with RaxRH.

Pseudo-first-order rate constants (k(obs)) have been measured spectrophotometrically for reactions of O-4-nitrophenyl thionobenzoate (2) with a series of primary and acyclic secondary amines. The plots of k(obs) vs amine concentration are linear for the reaction of 2 with primary amines. The slope of the Brønsted-type plot for the reaction of 2 with primary amines decreases from 0.77 to 0.17 as the amine basicity increases, indicating that the reaction proceeds through a zwitterionic addition intermediate in which the rate-determining step changes from the breakdown of the intermediate to the reaction products to the formation of the intermediate as the amine basicity increases. On the other hand, for reactions with all the acyclic secondary amines studied, the plot of k(obs) vs amine concentration exhibits an upward curvature, suggesting that the reaction proceeds through two intermediates, e.g., a zwitterionic addition intermediate and an anionic intermediate. The microscopic rate constants (k(1), k(-)(1), k(2), and k(3) where available) have been determined for the reactions of 2 with all the primary and secondary amines studied. The k(1) value is larger for the reaction with the primary amine than for the reaction with the isobasic acyclic secondary amines, while the k(-)(1) value is much larger for the latter reaction than for the former reaction. The k(3) value for the reaction with secondary amine is independent of the amine basicity. The small k(2)/k(-)(1) ratio is proposed to be responsible for the deprotonation process observed in aminolyses of carbonyl or thiocarbonyl derivatives.

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