Effect of Bitter Melon Extracts on Lipid Levels in Japanese Subjects: A Randomized Controlled Study.

Dyslipidemia is exemplified by high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and represents a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and requires therapeutic intervention. Several experimental studies suggest that bitter melon (Momordica charantia) improves lipid metabolism in animal models of dyslipidemia and diabetes. This study evaluated the effects of bitter melon extracts on lipid metabolism following a 30-day treatment period in Japanese adults. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial included 43 adult volunteers who received either 100 mg of hot-water extracts of bitter melon (n = 23) or a placebo (n = 20) three times daily for 30 days. The body weight, blood pressure, and levels of LDL-C and other blood parameters of each subject were measured before and after the study period. The results showed that the intervention group exhibited significantly lower LDL-C levels (P = 0.02) as compared with the control group, and there were no significant changes in either group in terms of body weight, body mass index, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, or blood glucose. These results suggested that bitter melon extracts might effectively lower LDL-C levels in humans and exhibit potential therapeutic value for the management of dyslipidemic conditions.

Roles of the DNA binding proteins H-NS and StpA in homologous recombination and repair of bleomycin-induced damage in Escherichia coli.

The DNA binding protein H-NS promotes homologous recombination in Escherichia coli, but the role of its paralog StpA in this process remains unclear. Here we show that an hns mutant, but not an stpA mutant, are marginally defective in conjugational recombination and is sensitive to the double-strand-break-inducing agent bleomycin. Interestingly, the hns stpA double mutant is severely defective in homologous recombination and more bleomycin-sensitive than is the hns or stpA single mutant, indicating that the stpA mutation synergistically enhances the defects of homologous recombination and the increased bleomycin-sensitivity in the hns mutant. In addition, the transduction analysis in the hns stpA double mutant indicated that the stpA mutation also enhances the defect of recombination in the hns mutant. These results suggest that H-NS plays an important role in both homologous recombination and repair of bleomycin-induced damage, while StpA can substitute the H-NS function. The recombination analysis of hns single, stpA single, and hns stpA double mutants in the recBC sbcA and recBC sbcBC backgrounds suggested that the reduction of the hns single or hns stpA double mutants may not be due to the defect in a particular recombination pathway, but may be due to the defect in a common process of the pathways. The model for the functions of H-NS and StpA in homologous recombination and double-strand break repair is discussed.

The trans-envelope Tol-Pal complex is part of the cell division machinery and required for proper outer-membrane invagination during cell constriction in E. coli.

Fission of bacterial cells involves the co-ordinated invagination of the envelope layers. Invagination of the cytoplasmic membrane (IM) and peptidoglycan (PG) layer is likely driven by the septal ring organelle. Invagination of the outer membrane (OM) in Gram-negative species is thought to occur passively via its tethering to the underlying PG layer with generally distributed PG-binding OM (lipo)proteins. The Tol-Pal system is energized by proton motive force and is well conserved in Gram-negative bacteria. It consists of five proteins that can connect the OM to both the PG and IM layers via protein-PG and protein-protein interactions. Although the system is needed to maintain full OM integrity, and for class A colicins and filamentous phages to enter cells, its precise role has remained unclear. We show that all five components accumulate at constriction sites in Escherichia coli and that mutants lacking an intact system suffer delayed OM invagination and contain large OM blebs at constriction sites and cell poles. We propose that Tol-Pal constitutes a dynamic subcomplex of the division apparatus in Gram-negative bacteria that consumes energy to establish transient trans-envelope connections at/near the septal ring to draw the OM onto the invaginating PG and IM layers during constriction.

Convection effects on crystallinity in the growth of In0.3Ga0.7 as crystals by the traveling liquidus zone method.

The influence of convection in a melt on the crystallinity of the TLZ-grown In(0.3)Ga(0.7)As crystals has been investigated by growing crystals with various shapes and dimensions on the ground. No single crystals have been grown when the crystal diameter was 10 mm, but we were successful in growing single crystals by reducing crystal diameter to 2 mm. These results suggested the importance of suppressing convection in the melt during alloy crystal growth because constitutional supercooling tends to occur at the freezing interface or ahead of the interface by the segregation effect. Large area is required for substrate use in various applications. This requirement can be fulfilled by the crystal growth in microgravity because density difference-induced convection is suppressed in microgravity. Another means for suppressing convection without deteriorating area is plate-shape crystal growth with reduced thickness. The latter can be applied on the ground and we succeeded in growing single crystals of plate-shaped In(0.3)Ga(0.7)As by the traveling liquidus zone (TLZ) method. Dimensions of obtained single crystals were 10 mm in width and 2 mm in thickness and lengths ranged from 20 to 40 mm. Compositional uniformity was good and 0.3 +/- 0.02 in InAs mole fraction was achieved.

The role of UvrD in RecET-mediated illegitimate recombination in Escherichia coli.

To study the mechanism of RecET-mediated illegitimate recombination, we examined the formation of lambdabio-transducing phage in Escherichia coli in the presence or absence of UV irradiation. We have previously reported that coexpression of RecE and RecT enhances the frequency of recA-independent illegitimate recombination. RecJOR proteins are required for this RecET-mediated illegitimate recombination, and RecQ suppresses it. Here, we showed that the frequencies of both spontaneous and UV-induced RecET-mediated illegitimate recombination events are reduced by a uvrD mutation. It should be noted that UvrD is required for illegitimate recombination only in the presence, but not in the absence, of RecET. In contrast, frequencies of RecET-mediated illegitimate recombination were not affected by ruvAB, ruvC, recG, and recN mutations. The frequency of spontaneous and UV-induced illegitimate recombination in the uvrD recR double mutant was comparable to that of the uvrD single mutant, suggesting that UvrD works at the same step as RecR in the RecET-mediated recombination pathway. Nucleotide sequence analyses of the recombination junctions showed that RecET-mediated illegitimate recombination detected in UvrD-deficient strain is short-homology-dependent. Based on these and previous results, we propose a model for the role of UvrD on RecET-mediated illegitimate recombination.

Illegitimate recombination mediated by double-strand break and end-joining in Escherichia coli.

The frequency of illegitimate recombination has been measured by a lambda bio transducing phage assay during the induction of the E. coli lambda cI857 lysogen. Illegitimate recombination falls into two classes, short homology-independent and short homology-dependent illegitimate recombination. The former involves sequences with virtually no homology, and is mediated by DNA topoisomerases and controlled by the DNA binding protein HU. The latter is induced by UV irradiation or other DNA damaging agents and requires short regions of homology, usually contain 4 to 13 base pairs, at sites involved in recombination. It has been shown that the RecJ exonuclease promotes short homology-dependent illegitimate recombination, but that the RecQ helicase suppresses it. In addition, we have shown that the overexpression of RecE and RecT enhances the frequencies of spontaneous and UV-induced illegitimate recombination and that the RecJ, RecF, RecO, and RecR functions are required for this RecE-mediated illegitimate recombination. Moreover, we have also indicated that RecQ plays a role in the suppression of RecE-mediated illegitimate recombination, with the participation of DnaB, Fis, ExoI, and H-NS. Models have been proposed for these modes of recombination: the DNA gyrase subunit exchange model for short homology-independent illegitimate recombination and the "double-strand break and join" model for short homology-dependent illegitimate recombination. Many features of these models remain to be tested in future studies.

Illegitimate recombination mediated by double-strand break and end-joining in Escherichia coli.

The frequency of illegitimate recombination has been measured by a lambdabio transducing phage assay during the induction of the E. coli lambda c1857 lysogen. Illegitimate recombination falls into two classes, short homology-independent and short homology-dependent illegitimate recombination. The former involves sequences with virtually no homology, and is mediated by DNA topoisomerases and controlled by the DNA binding protein HU. The latter is induced by UV irradiation or other DNA damaging agents and requires short regions of homology, usually contain 4 to 13 base pairs, at sites involved in recombination. It has been shown that the RecJ exonuclease promotes short homology-dependent illegitimate recombination, but that the RecQ helicase suppresses it. In addition, we have shown that the overexpression of RecE and RecT enhances the frequencies of spontaneous and UV-induced illegitimate recombination and that the RecJ, RecF, RecO, and RecR functions are required for this RecE-mediated illegitimate recombination. Moreover, we have also indicated that RecQ plays a role in the suppression of RecEmediated illegitimate recombination, with the participation of DnaB, Fis, Exol, and H-NS. Models have been proposed for these modes of recombination: the DNA gyrase subunit exchange model for short homology-independent illegitimate recombination and the "double-strand break and join" model for short homologydependent illegitimate recombination. Many features of these models remain to be tested in future studies.

DiaA, a novel DnaA-binding protein, ensures the timely initiation of Escherichia coli chromosome replication.

The DnaA protein is the initiator of Escherichia coli chromosomal replication. In this study, we identify a novel DnaA-associating protein, DiaA, that is required for the timely initiation of replication during the cell cycle. DiaA promotes the growth of specific temperature-sensitive dnaA mutants and ensures stable minichromosome maintenance, whereas DiaA does not decrease the cellular DnaA content. A diaA::Tn5 mutation suppresses the cold-sensitive growth of an overinitiation type dnaA mutant independently of SeqA, a negative modulator of initiation. Flow cytometry analyses revealed that the timing of replication initiation is disrupted in the diaA mutant cells as well as wild-type cells with pBR322 expressing the diaA gene. Gel filtration and chemical cross-linking experiments showed that purified DiaA forms a stable homodimer. Immunoblotting analysis indicated that a single cell contains about 280 DiaA dimers. DiaA stimulates minichromosome replication in an in vitro system especially when the level of DnaA included is limited. Moreover, specific and direct binding between DnaA and DiaA was observed, which requires a DnaA N-terminal region. DiaA binds to both ATP- and ADP-bound forms of DnaA with a similar affinity. Thus, we conclude that DiaA is a novel DnaA-associating factor that is crucial to ensure the timely initiation of chromosomal replication.