Cakile is a facultative halophyte that normally grows on the primary sand dunes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Our experiments were designed to repeat and expand on previous studies investigating possible relationships between levels of pinitol and tolerance to salt stress in Cakile . Using gas chromatography, we looked for the presence of pinitol in Cakile grown in saline and freshwater environments. Preliminary results indicate that pinitol is probably not present, or is present in very low amounts, in Cakile grown in freshwater. Experiments are still in progress to determine if pinitol is present in Cakile grown in saline habitats.
Enzymes speed up chemical reactions by stabilizing transition states.
Lerner and Schultz used nature's ability to synthesize large biological macromolecules to create artificial synthetic enzymes able to catalyze specific reactions. By determining the transition state of a reaction and synthesizing a stable analog, Lerner and Schultz were able to conjugate transition state analogs to proteins. They injected these proteins into mice to generate an immune response. The antibody producing cells, which die in culture, were fused with myeloma tumor cells to create a stable population of hybridomas. These hybridomas lines were split until single hydbridomas able to produce antibodies and live in solution were isolated.