Accelerated degradation of aldicarb and its metabolites in cotton field soils.

The degradation of aldicarb, and the metabolites aldicarb sulfoxide and aldicarb sulfone, was evaluated in cotton field soils previously exposed to aldicarb. A loss of efficacy had been observed in two (LM and MS) of the three (CL) field soils as measured by R. reniformis population development and a lack of cotton yield response. Two soils were compared for the first test-one where aldicarb had been effective (CL) and the second where aldicarb had lost its efficacy (LM). The second test included all three soils: autoclaved, non-autoclaved and treated with aldicarb at 0.59 kg a.i./ha, or not treated with aldicarb. The degradation of aldicarb to aldicarb sulfoxide and then to aldicarb sulfone was measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in both tests. In test one, total degradation of aldicarb and its metabolites occurred within 12 days in the LM soil. Aldicarb sulfoxide and aldicarb sulfone were both present in the CL soil at the conclusion of the test at 42 days after aldicarb application. Autoclaving the LM and MS soils extended the persistence of the aldicarb metabolites as compared to the same soils not autoclaved. The rate of degradation was not changed when the CL natural soil was autoclaved. The accelerated degradation was due to more rapid degradation of aldicarb sulfoxide and appears to be biologically mediated.

The pre-hydrolysis state of p21(ras) in complex with GTP: new insights into the role of water molecules in the GTP hydrolysis reaction of ras-like proteins.

BACKGROUND: In numerous biological events the hydrolysis of guanine triphosphate (GTP) is a trigger to switch from the active to the inactive protein form. In spite of the availability of several high-resolution crystal structures, the details of the mechanism of nucleotide hydrolysis by GTPases are still unclear. This is partly because the structures of the proteins in their active states had to be determined in the presence of non-hydrolyzable GTP analogues (e.g. GppNHp). Knowledge of the structure of the true Michaelis complex might provide additional insights into the intrinsic protein hydrolysis mechanism of GTP and related nucleotides. RESULTS: The structure of the complex formed between p21(ras) and GTP has been determined by X-ray diffraction at 1.6 A using a combination of photolysis of an inactive GTP precursor (caged GTP) and rapid freezing (100K). The structure of this complex differs from that of p21(ras)-GppNHp (determined at 277K) with respect to the degree of order and conformation of the catalytic loop (loop 4 of the switch II region) and the positioning of water molecules around the gamma-phosphate group. The changes in the arrangement of water molecules were induced by the cryo-temperature technique. CONCLUSIONS: The results shed light on the function of Gln61 in the intrinsic GTP hydrolysis reaction. Furthermore, the possibility of a proton shuffling mechanism between two attacking water molecules and an oxygen of the gamma-phosphate group can be proposed for the basal GTPase mechanism, but arguments are presented that render this protonation mechanism unlikely for the GTPase activating protein (GAP)-activated GTPase.

In vitro selection of fast-hybridizing and effective antisense RNAs directed against the human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

The rate of double strand formation between procaryotic antisense RNA and complementary RNA in vitro is known to correlate with the effectiveness of antisense RNA in vivo. In this work, an in vitro assay for determining the hybridization rates of a large number of antisense RNA species was developed. A set of HIV-1-directed antisense RNAs with the same 5'-end but successively shortened 3'-ends was produced by alkaline hydrolysis of a 150 nt HIV-1-directed antisense transcript. This mixture was used to determine hybridization rates for individual chain lengths with a complementary HIV-1-derived RNA in vitro. The second order binding rate constants of individual antisense RNA species differed by more than a factor of 100, although in some cases, slow-hybridizing and fast-hybridizing antisense RNAs differed by only two or three 3'-terminally-located nucleotides. The results indicated that there was not a trivial dependence of binding rates on the chain length of antisense RNAs. Further, the binding rate constants determined in vitro for individual antisense RNA species correlated with the extent of inhibition of HIV-1 replication in vivo.