Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Dominant Effects (dominant + effects)
Selected AbstractsEvaluation of a dynamic multi-class sediment transport model in a catchment under soil-conservation agricultureEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 11 2008Peter Fiener Abstract Soil erosion models are essential tools for the successful implementation of effective and adapted soil conservation measures on agricultural land. Therefore, models are needed that predict sediment delivery and quality, give a good spatial representation of erosion and deposition and allow us to account for various soil conservation measures. Here, we evaluate how well a modified version of the spatially distributed multi-class sediment transport model (MCST) simulates the effectiveness of control measures for different event sizes. We use 8 year runoff and sediment delivery data from two small agricultural watersheds (0·7 and 3·7 ha) under optimized soil conservation. The modified MCST model successfully simulates surface runoff and sediment delivery from both watersheds; one of which was dominated by sheet and the other was partly affected by rill erosion. Moreover, first results of modelling enrichment of clay in sediment delivery are promising, showing the potential of MCST to model sediment enrichment and nutrient transport. In general, our results and those of an earlier modelling exercise in the Belgian Loess Belt indicate the potential of the MCST model to evaluate soil erosion and deposition under different agricultural land uses. As the model explicitly takes into account the dominant effects of soil-conservation agriculture, it should be successfully applicable for soil-conservation planning/evaluation in other environments. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Protein engineering of Bacillus megaterium CYP102FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 10 2001The oxidation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes are involved in activating the carcinogenicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in mammals, but they are also utilized by microorganisms for the degradation of these hazardous environmental contaminants. Wild-type CYP102 (P450BM-3) from Bacillus megaterium has low activity for the oxidation of the PAHs phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene. The double hydrophobic substitution R47L/Y51F at the entrance of the substrate access channel increased the PAH oxidation activity by up to 40-fold. Combining these mutations with the active site mutations F87A and A264G lead to order of magnitude increases in activity. Both these mutations increased the NADPH turnover rate, but the A264G mutation increased the coupling efficiency while the F87A mutation had dominant effects in product selectivity. Fast NADPH oxidation rates were observed (2250 min,1 for the R47L/Y51F/F87A mutant with phenanthrene) but the coupling efficiencies were relatively low (< 13%), resulting in a highest substrate oxidation rate of 110 min,1 for fluoranthene oxidation by the R47L/Y51F/A264G mutant. Mutation of M354 and L437 inside the substrate access channel reduced PAH oxidation activity. The PAHs were oxidized to a mixture of phenols and quinones. Notably mutants containing the A264G mutation showed some similarity to mammalian CYP enzymes in that some 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, the K -region oxidation product from phenanthrene, was formed. The results suggest that CYP102 mutants could be useful models for PAH oxidation by mammalian CYP enzymes, and also potentially for the preparation of novel PAH bioremediation systems. [source] Bivariate combined linkage and association mapping of quantitative trait lociGENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 5 2008Jeesun Jung Abstract In this paper, bivariate/multivariate variance component models are proposed for high-resolution combined linkage and association mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL), based on combinations of pedigree and population data. Suppose that a quantitative trait locus is located in a chromosome region that exerts pleiotropic effects on multiple quantitative traits. In the region, multiple markers such as single nucleotide polymorphisms are typed. Two regression models, "genotype effect model" and "additive effect model", are proposed to model the association between the markers and the trait locus. The linkage information, i.e., recombination fractions between the QTL and the markers, is modeled in the variance and covariance matrix. By analytical formulae, we show that the "genotype effect model" can be used to model the additive and dominant effects simultaneously; the "additive effect model" only takes care of additive effect. Based on the two models, F -test statistics are proposed to test association between the QTL and markers. By analytical power analysis, we show that bivariate models can be more powerful than univariate models. For moderate-sized samples, the proposed models lead to correct type I error rates; and so the models are reasonably robust. As a practical example, the method is applied to analyze the genetic inheritance of rheumatoid arthritis for the data of The North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium, Problem 2, Genetic Analysis Workshop 15, which confirms the advantage of the proposed bivariate models. Genet. Epidemiol. 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Missense mutations of human homeoboxes: A reviewHUMAN MUTATION, Issue 5 2001Angela V. D'Elia Abstract The homeodomain (encoded by the homeobox) is the DNA-binding domain of a large variety of transcriptional regulators involved in controlling cell fate decisions and development. Mutations of homeobox-containing genes cause several diseases in humans. A variety of missense mutations giving rise to human diseases have been described. These mutations are an excellent model to better understand homeodomain molecular functions. To this end, homeobox missense mutations giving rise to human diseases are reviewed. Seventy-four independent homeobox mutations have been observed in 17 different genes. In the same genes, 30 missense mutations outside the homeobox have been observed, indicating that the homeodomain is more easily affected by single amino acids changes than the rest of the protein. Most missense mutations have dominant effects. Several data indicate that dominance is mostly due to haploinsufficiency. Among proteins having the homeodomain as the only DNA-binding domain, three "hot spot" regions can be delineated: 1) at codon encoding for Arg5; 2) at codon encoding for Arg31; and 3) at codons encoding for amino acids of recognition helix. In the latter, mutations at codons encoding for Arg residues at positions 52 and 53 are prevalent. In the recognition helix, Arg residues at positions 52 and 53 establish contacts with phosphates in the DNA backbone. Missense mutations of amino acids that contribute to sequence discrimination (such as those at positions 50 and 54) are present only in a minority of cases. Similar data have been obtained when missense mutations of proteins possessing an additional DNA-binding domain have been analyzed. The only exception is observed in the POU1F1 (PIT1) homeodomain, in which Arg58 is a "hot spot" for mutations, but is not involved in DNA recognition. Hum Mutat 18:361,374, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Radical Producing and Consuming Reactions of Hemoglobin: How Can We Limit Toxicity?ARTIFICIAL ORGANS, Issue 2 2009Chris E. Cooper Abstract Hemoglobin has a range of enzymatic activities that can affect its putative pharmacological role as an extracellular oxygen carrier. In the presence of peroxides, deoxyhemoglobin and methemoglobin can produce free radicals and induce lipid peroxidation. Oxyhemoglobin can oxidize the free radical nitric oxide to nitrate, yet deoxyhemoglobin can produce nitric oxide from nitrite. These enzymatic reactions can induce or diminish toxic side reactions when hemoglobin is added in vivo. For example the removal of the free radical vasodilator nitric oxide, or the addition of the lipid-derived vasoconstrictor F2-isoprostane, will both alter blood flow and blood pressure. In order to determine the dominant effects it is necessary to design molecules with differing radical reactivities. Molecules have been designed with these modifications and this article will review their role in determining mechanism as well as their possible functionality as blood substitutes. [source] Dynamical analysis of the calcium signaling pathway in cardiac myocytes based on logarithmic sensitivity analysisBIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 5 2008Tae-Hwan Kim Abstract Many cellular functions are regulated by the Ca2+ signal which contains specific information in the form of frequency, amplitude, and duration of the oscillatory dynamics. Any alterations or dysfunctions of components in the calcium signaling pathway of cardiac myocytes may lead to a diverse range of cardiac diseases including hypertrophy and heart failure. In this study, we have investigated the hidden dynamics of the intracellular Ca2+ signaling and the functional roles of its regulatory mechanism through in silico simulations and parameter sensitivity analysis based on an experimentally verified mathematical model. It was revealed that the Ca2+ dynamics of cardiac myocytes are determined by the balance among various system parameters. Moreover, it was found through the parameter sensitivity analysis that the self-oscillatory Ca2+ dynamics are most sensitive to the Ca2+ leakage rate of the sarcolemmal membrane and the maximum rate of NCX, suggesting that these two components have dominant effects on circulating the cytosolic Ca2+. [source] | ||||||||||