1,721,625 research outputs found
Cloning, sequencing, and expression of the gene coding for bile acid 7-alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase from Eubacterium sp. VPI 12708
No full textSouthern blot analysis indicated that the gene encoding the constitutive, NADP-linked bile acid 7 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase of Eubacterium sp. strain VPI 12708 was located on a 6.5-kb EcoRI fragment of the chromosomal DNA. This fragment was cloned into bacteriophage lambda gt11, and a 2.9-kb piece of this insert was subcloned into pUC19, yielding the recombinant plasmid pBH51. DNA sequence analysis of the 7 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase gene in pBH51 revealed a 798-bp open reading frame, coding for a protein with a calculated molecular weight of 28,500. A putative promoter sequence and ribosome binding site were identified. The 7 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase mRNA transcript in Eubacterium sp. strain VPI 12708 was about 0.94 kb in length, suggesting that it is monocistronic. An Escherichia coli DH5 alpha transformant harboring pBH51 had approximately 30-fold greater levels of 7 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase mRNA, immunoreactive protein, and specific activity than Eubacterium sp. strain VPI 12708. The 7 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase purified from the pBH51 transformant was similar in subunit molecular weight, specific activity, and kinetic properties to that from Eubacterium sp. strain VPI 12708, and it reached with antiserum raised against the authentic enzyme on Western immunoblots. Alignment of the amino acid sequence of the 7 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase with those of 10 other pyridine nucleotide-linked alcohol/polyol dehydrogenases revealed six conserved amino acid residues in the N-terminal regions thought to function in coenzyme binding
Expression of the bile acid-inducible NADH:flavin oxidoreductase gene of Eubacterium sp. VPI 12708 in Escherichia coli
No full textThe intestinal microorganism Eubacterium sp. VPI 12708 synthesizes a bile acid-inducible NADH:flavin oxidoreductase (NADH:FOR) which presumably functions in the 7 alpha-dehydroxylation of cholic acid to deoxycholic acid. The baiH gene encoding NADH:FOR was subcloned into an IPTG-inducible expression vector, pBaiH2.2. Escherichia coli DH5 alpha cells transformed with pBaiH2.2 expressed 10-fold higher levels of NADH:FOR upon induction with IPTG than did Eubacterium sp. VPI 12708 cells induced with cholic acid. The NADH:FOR produced by E. coli DH5 alpha(pBaiH2.2) was purified to \u3e 95% electrophoretic homogeneity in three steps. The purified NADH:FOR was similar to that of Eubacterium sp. VPI 12708 in subunit and native M(r) (ca. 72,000 and 210,000, respectively), pH optimum, sensitivity to inhibitors, and electron acceptor specificity. It contained 1 mol of FAD, up to 2 mol of iron, and 1 mol of copper per mol of subunit. The enzyme reduced synthetic quinones, dyes, flavins, and O2 with NADH as the electron donor, but did not reduce disulfide compounds, various unsaturated bile acids, cytochrome c, physiological quinones, or cell fractions from Eubacterium sp. VPI 12708. Addition of purified NADH:FOR to Eubacterium sp. VPI 12708 cell extracts altered the balance of oxidized and reduced bile acid intermediates produced during cholic acid 7 alpha-dehydroxylation, suggesting that the enzyme may regulate the cellular ratio of NAD to NADH
Development of a Gene Transfer System in Clostridium Scindens VPI 12708
Get PDFClostridium scindens VPI 12708 (previously known as Eubacterium sp. VPI 12708) is a bile-acid dehydroxylating bacterium originally isolated from the feces of a colon cancer patient. Many genes required for bile acid 7-a dehydroxylation are found on a large bile acid inducible operon (bai) that has been extensively studied. However the bai promoter, which directs expression of the bai operon, has yet to be characterized due, in part, to a lack of a functional genetic transfer system for this strain. A spontaneous rifampinresistant Clostridium scindens VPI 12708 mutant was used as a recipient to determine the efficacy of conjugation as a method of DNA transfer. The Clostridium perfringens plasmid pECU-001, containing a chloramphenicol acetyl transferase marker, and the Birmingham IncP-a oriT was transformed into Escherichia coli S17-1 which was used as a donor for conjugation. E. coli EM24 (Rif R) served as a recipient to ensure the donor was conjugal. All bacterial cultures were grown to mid-log phase and harvested by centrifugation. Matings between the donor and recipient were carried out on the surface of anaerobic tryptic soy agar slants. hloramphenicol-resistant E. coli EM24 colonies were isolated suggesting E. coli S17-1 was conjugal under the conditions tested. Chloramphenicol-resistant Clostridium scindens VPI 12708 (RifR) colonies were isolated using both 4:1 and 1:4 (vol:vol) donor: recipient ratios. Plasmid preparations with subsequent restriction map analysis from putative Clostridium scindens VPI 12708 transconjugants confirmed the presence of pECU-001. Conjugal transfer of pWKU-001 (which is pECU-001 with the bai promoter insert and a downstream b-glucuronidase reporter gene) was attempted using a similar protocol, but with erythromycin as selection for recipient. The plasmid was successfully introduced into C. scindens, however pWKU-001 was not maintained and lost from the culture. These data suggest DNA can be introduced into Clostridium scindens VPI 12708 via E. coli S17-1-mediated conjugal transfer, which may prove useful for the study of the genetic regulation of the bai promoter. Unfortunately, pWKU-001 appears to be unstable and unsuitable in present form for extensive studies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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