Sphingosine kinases and their metabolites modulate endolysosomal trafficking in photoreceptors.

Internalized membrane proteins are either transported to late endosomes and lysosomes for degradation or recycled to the plasma membrane. Although proteins involved in trafficking and sorting have been well studied, far less is known about the lipid molecules that regulate the intracellular trafficking of membrane proteins. We studied the function of sphingosine kinases and their metabolites in endosomal trafficking using Drosophila melanogaster photoreceptors as a model system.

CDase is a pan-ceramidase in Drosophila.

Ceramidases catalyze the conversion of ceramide to sphingosine. They are acylaminohydrolases that catalyze the deacylation of the amide-linked saturated fatty acid from ceramide to generate sphingosine. They also catalyze the reverse reaction of ceramide biosynthesis using sphingosine and fatty acid.

High frequency shoot regeneration from petal explants of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. in vitro.

An efficient and novel method was developed to initiate multiple shoots from the petal which is indispensable for normal and transgenic plant of Chrysanthemum morifolium. The study indicates that high frequency of plant regeneration that would be crucial for the application of genetic transformation methods. The 7 mm petal explants were cultured on a Murashige and Skoog's (MS) basal nutrient medium containing plant growth regulators (cytokinin or auxin-cytokinin) with various combinations and concentrations for the study of callus formation and shoot induction.