Aerobic operation of an immersed hollow fibre membrane bioreactor, treating municipal wastewater supplemented with molasses solution, has been studied across mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentrations between 8 and 32 g L(-1), the higher concentrations being normally associated with thickening operations. Only a marginal loss in membrane permeability was noted between 8 and 18 g L(-1) ...

Based on a two-step polymerization method, two sulfobetaine-based zwitterionic monomers, including 3-(methacryloylamino) propyl-dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium hydroxide (MPDSAH) and 2-(methacryloyloxyethyl) ethyl-dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium (MEDSA), were successfully grafted from poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane surfaces in the presence of N,N'-methylene bisacryla...

Many plasma membrane components are organized into detergent-resistant membrane microdomains referred to as lipid rafts. However, there is much less information about the organization of membrane components into microdomains outside of lipid rafts. Furthermore, there are few approaches to determine whether different membrane components are colocalized in microdomains as small as lipid rafts. We...

The role of heterotrimeric G proteins in pollen germination, tube growth, and signal transduction of extracellular calmodulin (CaM) was examined in lily pollen. Two kinds of antibodies raised against animal Gzalpha, one against an internal sequence and the other against its N terminus, cross-reacted with the same 41-kD protein from lily pollen plasma membrane. This 41-kD protein was also specif...

G-protein-coupled receptors enable cells to recognize numerous external stimuli and to transmit corresponding signals across the plasma membrane to trigger appropriate cellular responses. Crystal structures of a number of these receptors have now been determined in inactive and active conformations bound to chemically and functionally distinct ligands. These crystal structures illustrate overal...

Pasteurella multocida toxin (PMT), the major virulence factor responsible for zoonotic atrophic rhinitis, is a protein deamidase that activates the alpha subunit of heterotrimeric G proteins. Initial activation of G alpha-q-coupled phospholipase C-beta-1 signaling by PMT is followed by uncoupling of G alpha-q-dependent signaling, causing downregulation of downstream calcium and mitogenic signal...