True physiological imaging of subcellular dynamics requires studying cells within their parent organisms, where all the environmental cues that drive gene expression, and hence the phenotypes that we actually observe, are present. A complete understanding also requires volumetric imaging of the cell and its surroundings at high spatiotemporal resolution, without inducing undue stress on either. We combined lattice light-sheet microscopy with adaptive optics to achieve, across large multicellular volumes, noninvasive aberration-free imaging of subcellular processes, including endocytosis, organelle remodeling during mitosis, and the migration of axons, immune cells, and metastatic cancer cells in vivo. The technology reveals the phenotypic diversity within cells across different organisms and developmental stages and may offer insights into how cells harness their intrinsic variability to adapt to different physiological environments.

Polarized movement of auxin generates concentration gradients within plant tissues to control cell division patterns and growth direction by modulating microtubule organization. In this study, we identify a reverse mechanism, wherein microtubules influence polar auxin transport. We show that the microtubule-associated protein CLASP interacts with the retromer component sorting nexin 1 (SNX1) to mediate an association between endosomes and microtubules. clasp-1 null mutants display aberrant SNX1 endosomes, as do wild-type plants treated with microtubule-depolymerizing drugs. Consistent with SNX1's role in trafficking of the auxin efflux carrier PIN-FORMED2 (PIN2), clasp-1 mutant plants have enhanced PIN2 degradation, and PIN2 movement to lytic vacuoles is rapidly induced by depolymerization of microtubules. clasp-1 mutants display aberrant auxin distribution and exhibit numerous auxin-related phenotypes. In addition to mechanistically linking auxin transport and microtubules, our data identify a ubiquitous endosome-microtubule association in plants.

Mini-PCNL is safe and effective for managing renal calculi in adult patients. Although smaller working sheath is associated with longer operative time, Mini-PCNL has significantly lower incidence of bleeding necessitating transfusion and higher stone-free rate for multiple caliceal stones in comparison with the standard PCNL.

The 2-µm laser resection method was more effective than TURBT in reducing rates of intra- and postoperative complications, but offered no additional benefit regarding tumour recurrence.

This review surveys the chemical and biological literature dealing with the isolation, structural elucidation and bioactivity of hericenones and erinacines from the fruiting body and mycelium of Hericium erinaceus, concentrating on work that has appeared in the literature up to December 2009.

A cosmid bank of Serratia marcescens was established from which DNA fragments were cloned into the plasmid pBR322, which conferred the chromosomally encoded hemolytic activity to Escherichia coli K-12. By transposon mutagenesis with TnlO00 and Tn5 ISSOL::phoA (TnphoA), the coding region was assigned to a DNA fragment, designated hly, comprising approximately 7 kilobases. Two proteins with molecular weights of 61,000 (61K protein) and 160,000 (160K protein) were expressed by the pBR322 derivatives and by a plasmid which contained the hly genes under the control of a phage T7 promoter and the T7 RNA polymerase. When strongly overexpressed the 160K protein was released by E. coli cells into the extraceliular medium concomitant with hemolytic activity. The genes encoding the 61K and the 160K proteins were transcribed in the same direction. Mutants We characterized an exoprotease of Serratia marcescens and studied its secretion (24). The strains we used were all strongly hemolytic in a liquid assay but caused only very narrow lysis zones on blood agar. Hemolysis was unrelated to the formation of the exoprotease (4). The hemolytic activity resided in the membrane fraction (4). Hemolytic bacteria have been shown to induce the release of the leukotrienes LTC4 and LTB4 from polymorphnuclear leukocytes, the release of histamine from rat mast cells, and chemiluminescence of neutrophils (2, 3). It was concluded that via these inflammatory mediators hemolysin may increase vascular permeability, edema formation, and granulocyte accumulation and thus contribute to the pathogenicity of Serratia spp. (18; W. Konig, Y. Faltin, J. Scheffer, B. Konig, H. Schoffler, and V. Braun, unpublished data).Hemolysis required actively metabolizing cells and could be inhibited by various energy poisons (4). Hemolytic activity was not found in the culture supernatant of various Serratia strains grown under different conditions, nor could it be released from cells (4). Therefore, we used a genetic approach to characterize the hemolytic determinant of S. marcescens. MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strains and culture conditions. The strains used are listed in Table 1. The rough mutant SN8 was obtained as a partially bacitracin-resistant derivative by using a method developed by H. Rotering (personal communication, this institute). Bacitracin affects 0-antigen synthesis by inhibiting recycling of the 0-antigen polyisoprenoid carrier (25).Colonies of S. marcescens W1436 that grew on 1/8 TY agar plates near a filter paper disk which contained 10 mg of bacitracin were examined by gel electrophoresis to determine whether they expressed smooth or rough lipopolysac-* Corresponding author.charide (27). Of 20 colonies tested, 4 lacked the ladder of bands characteristic of 0-antigen heterogeneity.Cells were routinely grown in TY medium (0.8% tryptone [Difco Laboratories], 0.5% yeast extract, 0.5% sodium chloride, pH 7). The antibiotic ampicillin (25 or 50 jig/ml) or kanamycin (50 jig/ml) was added to maintain the plasmids.Cosmid cloning. Chromosomal DNA o...

These results suggested that allicin may play a protective role in diabetic nephropathy via the TGF-β1/ERK pathway in diabetic rats. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

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