I examined hypotheses about lateral transfer of type II antifreeze protein (AFP) genes among "distantly" related teleost fish. The effects of episodic directional selection on amino acid evolution were also investigated. The strict consensus results showed that the type II AFP and type II antifreeze-like protein genes were transferred from Osmerus mordax to Clupea harengus, from the ancestral l...

A recently identified Antarctic fish protein termed antifreeze potentiating protein (AFPP) is thought to act as an adjunct to the previously characterised antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs), the two acting together to inhibit ice crystal growth in vivo. Elucidating the functional properties of the new AFPP requires access to large amounts of pure product, but the paucity of natural material neces...

Drosophila melanogaster experience cold shock injury and die when exposed to low non-freezing temperatures. In this study, we generated transgenic D. melanogaster that express putative Ixodes scapularis antifreeze glycoprotein (IAFGP) and show that the presence of IAFGP increases the ability of flies to survive in the cold. Male and female adult iafgp-expressing D. melanogaster exhibited higher...

We calculate the electromagnetic moments and radii of the ∆(1232) in the nonrelativistic quark model, including two-body exchange currents. We show that two-body exchange currents lead to nonvanishing ∆ and N → ∆ transition quadrupole moments even if the wave functions have no D-state admixture. The usual explanation based on the single-quark transition model involves D-state admixtures but no ...

By combining the information from 19F, 1H-HOESY and PGSE NMR methodologies, unprecedented direct evidence has been obtained for the formation of supramolecular assemblies in solution between the trinuclear cyclic AuI basic compounds ([Au(mu-C2,N3-bzim)]3 (bzim = 1-benzylimidazolate), 1, and [Au(mu-C,N-C(OEt)=N-p-C6H4-CH3)]3, 2, on one hand, and the trinuclear cyclic HgII acid complex [Hg(mu-C,C...

We discuss the implications of partial dynamical SU(3) symmetry (PDS) for the structure of the lowest K=0 + (K = 0 2) collective excitation in deformed nuclei. We consider an interacting boson model Hamiltonian whose ground and γ bands have good SU(3) symmetry while the K = 0 2 band is mixed. It is shown that the double-phonon components in the K = 0 2 wave function arise from SU(3) admixtures ...

A quasi-elastic light-scattering technique was used to study the hydrodynamic conformations of antifreeze glycoproteins from an Antarctic fish. Antifreeze glycoprotein is composed of repeating units of Ala-Ala-Thr, with each threonine O-linked to a disaccharide, and it exists as several polymers of different numbers of this repeating unit. Molecular weights of the two major active polymers are ...

Microgravity experiments for ice crystal growth were conducted twice in the Japan Experiment Module “Kibo” of the International Space Station. Experimental cartridges newly developed for each experiment were transported to the space station and installed in the SCOF facility. All of the experiments were possibly could be performed by using a tele-control system on the ground. Crystal patterns d...