We investigated the carbon isotope ratios and the diurnal pattern of malate accumulation in leaves and aerial roots of eight species of Phalaenopsis grown in greenhouses. The leaves of all the species showed carbon isotope ratios and the diurnal patterns of malate content typical of CAM plants. However, the aerial roots exhibited a large variation in the diurnal pattern of malate content among species and even among plants within the same species, although carbon isotope ratios were always CAM-like values. Some aerial roots showed the typical diurnal pattern of CAM, but others maintained high or low malate contents during a day without fluctuation. In order to characterize more strictly the nature of the malate variation in the aerial roots, we further investigated a possible variation of the diurnal pattern of malate among different aerial roots within an individual for Phalaenopsis amabilis and P. cornu-cervi. The diurnal pattern of malate content was varied even among different aerial roots within the same plant. Thus the photosynthetic carbon metabolism in aerial roots of orchids is fairly complex. and H. Motomura ... [et al.].
Plants of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) were raised in a sand root medium watered with nutrient solutions, under greenhouse conditions. As the N-supply increased, shoot dry mass was enhanced to a greater extent than root dry mass, thus leading to an increased shoot to root ratio. In leaves, contents of total soluble saccharides, non-reducing saccharides, and inorganic phosphate increased linearly with increasing N-supply. An opposite response was found for reducing saccharides and starch. In general, content of non-reducing saccharides was considerably greater than starch content. Activity of sucrose synthase was not detected, regardless of the N-treatments; by contrast, activity of neutral and acid invertases increased with increasing N-availability. Roots accumulated more total soluble saccharides, but less reducing saccharides and starch, as the N-supply increased. Photosynthetic rates decreased with increasing N-deficiency. Such a decrease was circumstantially associated to reducing saccharide, but not starch, accumulation. Results suggest a limited capacity for carbon export from source leaves under N-limitation. and J. L. Cruz ... [et al.].
Carbonic anhydrase (CA) is a metalloenzyme that performs interconversion between CO2 and the bicarbonate ion (HCO3-). CAs appear among all taxonomic groups of three domains of life. Wide spreading of CAs in nature is explained by the fact that carbon, which is the major constituent of the enzyme’s substrates, is a key element of life on the Earth. Despite the diversity of CAs, they all carry out the same reaction of CO2/HCO3- interconversion. Thus, CA obviously represents a universal enzyme of the
carbon-based life. Within the classification of CAs, here we proposed the existence of an extensive family of CA-related proteins (γCA-RPs) - the inactive forms of γ-CAs, which are widespread among the Archaea, Bacteria, and, to a lesser extent, in Eukarya. This review focuses on the history of CAs discovery and integrates the most recent data on their classification, catalytic mechanisms, and physiological roles at various organisms., E. Kupriyanova, N. Pronina, D. Los., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The review incorporates recent information on carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC: 4.2.1.1) pertaining to types, homology, regulation, purification, in vitro stability, and biological functions with special reference to higher plants. CA, a ubiquitous enzyme in prokaryotes and higher organisms represented by four distinct families, is involved in diverse biological processes, including pH regulation, CO2 transfer, ion exchange, respiration, and photosynthetic CO2 fixation. CA from higher plants traces its origin with prokaryotes and exhibits compartmentalization among their organs, tissues, and cellular organelles commensurate with specific functions. In leaves, CA represents 1-20 % of total soluble protein and abundance next only to ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBPCO) in chloroplast, facilitating CO2 supply to phosphoenol pyruvate carboxylase in C4 and CAM plants and RuBPCO in C3 plants. It confers special significance to CA as an efficient biochemical marker for carbon sequestration and environmental amelioration in the current global warming scenario linked with elevated CO2 concentrations. and A. Tiwari ... [et al.].
The leaves of 30-d-old plants of Brassica juncea Czern & Coss cv. Varuna were sprayed with 10-6 M aqueous solutions of indole-3-yl-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA3), kinetin (KIN), and abscisic acid (ABA) or 10-8 M of 28-homobrassinolide (HBR). All the phytohormones, except ABA, improved the vegetative growth and seed yield at harvest, compared with those sprayed with deionised water (control). HBR was most prominent in its effect, generating 32, 30, 36, 70, 25, and 29 % higher values for dry mass, chlorophyll content, carbonic anhydrase (E.C. 4.2.1.1) activity, and net photosynthetic rate in 60-d-old plants, pods per plant, and seed yield at harvest, over the control, respectively. The order of response to various hormones was HBR > GA3 > IAA > KIN > control > ABA. and S. Hayat ... [et al.].
Thyroid hormones are powerful modulators of heart function and susceptibility to arrhythmias via both genomic and non-genomic actions. We aimed to explore expression of electrical coupling protein connexin-43 (Cx43) in the heart of rats with altered thyroid status and impact of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3) supplementation. Adult male Lewis rats were divided into following six groups: euthyroid controls, hyperthyroid (treated with T3) and hypothyroid (treated with methimazol) with or without six-weeks lasting supplementation with omega-3 (20 mg/100 g/day). Left and right ventricles, septum and atria were used for immunoblotting of Cx43 and protein kinase C (PKC). Total expression of Cx43 and its phosphorylated forms were significantly increased in all heart regions of hypothyroid rats compared to euthyroid controls. In contrast, the total levels of Cx43 and its functional phosphorylated forms were decreased in atria and left ventricle of hyperthyroid rats. In parallel, the expression of PKC epsilon that phosphorylates Cx43, at serine 368, was increased in hypothyroid but decreased in hyperthyroid rat hearts. Omega-3 intake did not significantly affect either Cx43 or PKC epsilon alterations. In conclusion, there is an inverse relationship between expression of cardiac Cx43 and the levels of circulating thyroid hormones. It appears that increased propensity of hyperthyroid while decreased of hypothyroid individuals to malignant arrhythmias may be in part attributed to the changes in myocardial Cx43., B. Szeiffová Bačová, T. Egan Beňová, C. Viczenczová, T. Soukup, H. Rauchová, S. Pavelka, V. Knezl, M. Barančík, N. Tribulová., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The contrasting pattern of cardiac inotropy induced by human peptide endothelin-1 (ET-1) has not been satisfactorily explained. It is not clear whether ET-1 is primarily responsible for increased myocardial ET-1 expression and release with resultant inotropic effects, or for the induction of myocardial hypertrophy and heart failure. There are at least two subtypes of endothelin receptors (ETA and ETB) and the inotropic effects of ET-1 differ depending on the receptor involved. Along with some other groups, we reported significant subtype-ETB endothelin receptor down-regulation in human cardiac cells preincubated with endothelin agonists (Dřímal et al. 1999, 2000). The present study was therefore designed to clarify the subtype-selective mechanisms underlying the inotropic response to ET-1 and to its ETB-selective fragment (8-21)ET-1 in the isolated rat heart. The hearts were subjected to (1-21)ET-1 and to (8-21)ET-1, or to 30 min of stop-flow ischemia followed by 40 min of reperfusion, both before and after selective blockade of endothelin receptors.The present study revealed that both peptides, ET-1 and its (8-21)ET-1 fragment, significantly reduced coronary blood flow in nmolar and higher concentrations. The concomitant negative inotropy and chronotropy were marked after ET-1, while the infusion of the ET-1(8-21) fragment produced a slight but significant positive inotropic effect. Among the four endothelin antagonists tested in continuous infusion only the non-selective PD145065 and ETB1/B2-selective BQ788 (in mmolar concentrations) slightly reduced the early contractile dysfunction of the heart induced by ischemia, whereas ETA-selective PD155080 partially protected the rat heart on reperfusion., J. Dřímal, V. Knezl, J. Dřímal Jr , D. Dřímal, K. Bauerová , V. Kettmann, A.M. Doherty , M. Štefek., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Hypothermic incubation of chicken eggs leads to smaller embryos with enlarged hearts, originally described as hypertrophic. Over the years, however, accumulated evidence suggested that hyperplasia, rather than hypertrophy, is the predominant mechanism of cardiac growth during the prenatal period. We have thus set to reevaluate the hypothermia model to precise the exact cellular mechanism behind cardiac enlargement. Fertilized chicken eggs were incubated at either 37.5 °C (normothermia) or 33.5 °C from embryonic day (ED) 13 onward (hypothermia). Sampling was performed at ED17, at which point wet embryo and heart weight were recorded, and the hearts were submitted to histological examination. In agreement with previous results, the hypothermic embryos were 29% smaller and had hearts 18% larger, translating into a 67% increase in the heart to body weight ratio (P < 0.05 for all parameters). The cell size was essentially the same between control and hypothermic hearts in all regions analysed. Likewise, there was no significant relationship between the cell size and heart weight; however, in the hypothermic hearts, there was a trend showing positive correlation between cell sizes in different cardiac regions and heart weight. Proliferation rate, determined on the basis of anti-phosphohistone H3 immunofluorescence, showed an overall increase in the hypothermic group, reaching statistical significance (P = 0.02, t-test) in the right ventricle. The proliferation rate was similar among different regions of the same heart. However, the correlation between the proliferation rate and heart weight was only small (r2 = 0.007 and r2 = 0.234 for the normothermic and hypothermic group, respectively). We thus
conclude that hyperplasia is the predominant response mechanism in this volume-overload model; mechanistically, decreased heart rate at lower temperature increases the end-diastolic and stroke volume, minimizing the drop in cardiac output through the Frank-Starling mechanism. and Corresponding author: David Sedmera
More than four decades passed since sigma receptors were first
mentioned. Since then, existence of at least two receptor
subtypes and their tissue distributions have been proposed.
Nowadays, it is clear, that sigma receptors are unique ubiquitous
proteins with pluripotent function, which can interact with so
many different classes of proteins. As the endoplasmic resident
proteins, they work as molecular chaperones - accompany
various proteins during their folding, ensure trafficking of the
maturated proteins between cellular organelles and regulate their
functions. In the heart, sigma receptor type 1 is more dominant.
Cardiac sigma 1 receptors regulate response to endoplasmic
reticulum stress, modulates calcium signaling in cardiomyocyte
and can affect function of voltage-gated ion channels. They
contributed in pathophysiology of cardiac hypertrophy, heart
failure and many other cardiovascular disorders. Therefore,
sigma receptors are potential novel targets for specific treatment
of cardiovascular diseases.