The effect of carbon tetrachloride on the lipoproteins of rat-liver cell sap and serum

Albino Plant Formation in Androgenic Cultures: An Old Problem and New Facts

High frequency of albino plant formation in isolated microspore or anther cultures is a great problem limiting the possibility of their exploitation on a wider scale. It is highly inconvenient as androgenesis-based doubled haploid (DH) technology provides the simplest and shortest way to total homozygosity, highly valued by plant geneticists, biotechnologists and especially, plant breeders, and this phenomenon constitutes a serious limitation of these otherwise powerful tools. The genotype-dependent tendency toward albino plant formation is typical for many monocotyledonous plants, including cereals like wheat, barley, rice, triticale, oat and rye - the most important from the economical point of view. Despite many efforts, the precise mechanism underlying chlorophyll deficiency has not yet been elucidated. In this chapter, we review the data concerning molecular and physiological control over proper/disturbed chloroplast biogenesis, old hypotheses explaining the mechanism of chlorophyll deficiency, and recent studies which shed new light on this phenomenon.

Study of soluble lipoprotein in rat liver mitochondria

1. A water-soluble lipoprotein was isolated and purified from osmotically shocked preparations of rat liver mitochondria by using a technique of Sephadex-sandwich disc electrophoresis. 2. The purified lipoprotein migrates as a distinct sharp zone in high-resolution electrophoretic systems, indicating high degree of purity. 3. The lipoprotein resembles mitochondrial membranes with respect to lipid composition and lipid/protein ratio. 4. The lipoprotein and its apoprotein fraction obtained by delipidization at -18 degrees C to -20 degrees C have common properties with respect to their fluorescence spectra, instability to storage and electrophoretic mobility. 5. The purified lipoprotein has an excitation maximum at 325nm and a fluorescence maximum at 418nm. 6. Storage at 4 degrees C for 4 days or repeated freezing and thawing results in 15-30% decrease in electrophoretic mobility. 7. The patterns of incorporation in vitro of [1-(14)C]leucine into proteins of the soluble lipoprotein and of mitochondrial membrane of isolated rat liver mitochondria suggest a probable precursor role for the apoprotein in the formation of mitochondrial membrane protein. 8. Lipoprotein preparations isolated from mitochondrial fractions of rat kidney, brain and heart and of chicken and mouse liver resemble closely that obtained from rat liver mitochondria, suggesting that the soluble lipoprotein could be a distinct entity of mitochondrial origin.