Vol 50, No 5 (2016)

Comparative cytological analysis of intra- and intertissular cytomictic interactions in the microsporogenesis of mono- and dicotyledonous plants has been performed for two cellular systems: the microsporocytes and the tapetum. Cytomixis was shown to be more common for intratissular interactions, and cytomixis in the tapetum exhibited taxon-specific features, both structural and temporal. Nuclear migration in the microsporocytes mostly occurred during the zygotene–pachytene and exhibited certain synchrony with cytomixis in the tapetum. Intertissular cytomictic interactions (between the tapetum and the microsporocytes) were detected only in monocotyledonous plant anthers. Intertissular interactions may reflect more intense competition for space between the tapetum and the microsporocytes during the differentiation of anther tissues. The polyploid nuclei of the tapetum and the syncytia are powerful acceptors that can compete with the microsporocytes and attract the chromatin during translocation of the latter. The absence of intertissular interactions in dicotyledonous plants may be indicative of a better balance between the processes of differentiation of somatic and generative tissues of the microsporangium as compared to monocotyledonous plants.

The anatomical research of the vegetative organs of the cytoplasmatic hybrid grown in vitro and containing the Brassica napus nucleus and the Lesquerella fendleri chloroplasts was carried out and compared to the parental forms. It was found that the anatomical structure of the cybrid is similar to rapeseed. Anomalous changes in the epithelial, parenchymal, and connective tissue of the leaf, stalk, stem, and root of the cybrid were detected. The appearance of the anatomical defects can be explained by nuclear-cytoplasmatic incompatibility, which is the cause of low adaptability of the cybrid to in vivo conditions and takes place due to alien chloroplast gene expression in the remote species.

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) exerts an anabolic effect that is manifested upon periodic exposure to the hormone and a catabolic effect that is observed in case of a prolonged uninterrupted exposure to high doses of the hormone. The latter effect is characteristic of a range of pathologies, such as the hyperfunction of the parathyroid glands. The analysis of the effects of periodic and continuous administration of PTH fragment 1–34 on the differentiation of bovine prechondroblasts maintained in chondrogenic and osteogenic media was the aim of the present study. Alcian blue staining of monolayers of cultured cells maintained in a chondrogenic medium revealed the stimulation of chondrogenesis (manifested as higher intensity of matrix staining) in the case of continuous PTH administration. Alizarin red staining of monolayers of cultured cells maintained in an osteogenic medium revealed more intensive mineralization of the matrix in plates with cells that were exposed to PTH in a periodical manner. The results of the histochemical study were confirmed using electrophoretic detection of osteocrin and type II collagen.

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) demonstrated that genetic variation in intron 2 of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) was a novel risk for breast cancer. We investigated whether two SNPs rs1219648 and rs2981582 in intron 2 of FGFR2 were associated with the risk of breast cancer in Chinese women. A total of 340 female breast cancer patients and 400 normal age-matched controls were recruited. Two SNPs were genotyped using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. The two SNPs rs1219648 and rs2981582 showed no association with the risk of breast cancer. A subgroup analysis by menopausal status demonstrated that the distribution of rs2981582 T alleles, including CT and TT genotypes, was significantly higher in premenopausal patients compared with postmenopausal patients. The TT genotype in rs2981582 was more strongly associated with ER-positive than with ER-negative tumors by ER status analysis. Analysis by haplotypes showed that no haplotypes associated with breast cancer. The results showed no association between two SNPs, rs1219648 and rs2981582 and breast cancer risk, although in a stratified analysis rs2981582 strongly associated with premenopausal and ER-positive breast cancer patients in Chinese women.

In this study, data on the production of branched root hairs in the seedlings of A. thaliana under progressive water deficit were presented. The overall production of branched hairs was quite high under stress conditions and amounted to 8.27%. On the contrary, this form of root hairs was almost absent in the control group (0.27%). The highest number of branched hairs was produced at the beginning of the stress action. Branched root hairs are quite uniform structures in the sense of their morphology. To solve the question of how the branched hairs grow, the structure of actin cytoskeleton was explored. This structure was different in the root hair and in its branch, which is an indication that the hair stops its growth at the moment when the branching starts. We have also characterized the production of branched root hairs in hormonal mutants of Arabidopsis and found the involvement of auxin in this process.

To study the influence of intraperitoneal injected extracellular ubiquitin on regeneration of leucopoiesis calculation of nuclear cell count in bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) smears stained with azure-eosin was performed. In the first, control group of animals inhibition of haematopoiesis achieved by means of 100 mg/kg cyclophosphamide LD₅₀ 50–200 mg/kg injection. Bone marrow and peripheral blood samples from the first group of rats had been taken at 24, 48, 72, 96 and 168 h points after injection of cytostatic. Animals of the second, test group were injected by 200 μg/mL ubiquitin 72 h later after cytostatic injection. Our experiments revealed that ubiquitin makes corrections in regeneration of leucopoiesis and leads to normalisation of the process. Ubiquitin regulates stem cell activity, normalizes the release of functional cells into bloodstream, supposedly retains progenitor cells in zones of differentiation and maturation, and restores the nuclear cell ratio in PB and BM. We suppose that obtained results are important for elucidation of new pathways of ubiquitinylation and give us possibilities to find new therapeutics for regeneration of leucopoiesis that is very essential for treatment of radiated bone marrow and chemotherapeutic side effects in cancer patients.

As a basic study, the fusion expressions of two functionally related proteins were described. The side-by-side fusion construction, expression, purification and functional characterization of Arabidopsis papainlike cysteine proteinase (CP) and cysteine proteinase inhibitor (CPI) were successfully carried out by using an Escherichia coli expression system without affecting the recombinant bacterial growth. The purification products of two different fused constructs designated as “R1: H₂N-maltose binding protein-CPI-CP-COOH and R2: H₂N-maltose binding protein-CP-CPI-COOH” showed inverse enzymatic/inhibitory activities, in vitro. Analysis of the constructs by using computational tools revealed that the arrangement of CP/CPI pair in fusion forms might be the important criteria for proper tertiary organization, structural folding and functional property. The overall results showed that the C-terminally located molecule could be the active folded structure in each fusion construct. The achievements of the present work may be utilized in a specific protein engineering application such as manufacturing the novel switchable expression systems in the future.