Nitrate reductase of primary roots of red spruce seedlings : effects of acidity and metal ions

Nitrate reductase activity (NRA) was found in primary roots, but not in foliage of red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) seedlings. Nitrate induced NRA:NH₄⁺ did not induce and slightly depressed NRA in older seedlings. Induction required 8 hours and, once induced, NRA decreased slowly in the absence of exogenous NO₃⁻. Seedlings were grown in perlite with a complete nutrient solution containing NH₄⁺ to limit NR induction. Established seedlings were stressed with nutrient solutions at pH 3, 4, or 5 supplemented with Cl⁻ salts of Al, Cd, Pb, or Zn each at two concentrations. NRA in primary root tips was measured at 2, 14, 28, and 42 days. NRA induction was greatest at pH 3, and remained high during the period of study. NRA induction at pH 4 was lower. Metal ions suppressed NRA at pH 3 and 5, but enhanced NRA at pH 4. It is concluded that acidity and soluble metals in the root environment of red spruce are unlikely to be important factors in nitrogen transformations in red spruce roots.     

Catabolism of leukotriene A4 into B4, C4, and D4 by rat liver subcellular fractions

[3H]Leukotriene A4 was incubated with various subcellular fractions of rat liver homogenates. After solvent extraction and purification on C18 Sep-Pak cartridges, tritiated products migrating on reversed-phase HPLC with authentic unlabelled leukotriene C4, D4 and B4 were observed. The identity of leukotriene C4 was confirmed through enzymatic conversion into D4 by gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase as well as by bioassay on the rat stomach fundus after HPLC purification. The contractile response to the extracted material was blocked by the SRS antagonist, FPL 55712. Leukotriene B4 synthesis was located in the 100 000 X g supernatant, while C4 synthesis was present in the corresponding pellet. Leukotriene C4 formation was enhanced when reduced glutathione was supplemented in the incubation medium. These results demonstrate the presence in rat liver of various enzymatic steps in leukotriene A4 catabolism.     

Measurement of myosin adenosinetriphosphatase and myosin content in cultured heart cells

An assay specific for myosin ATPase in whole-cell extracts of cultured heart cells has been developed. Myosin ATPase is measured by the production of Pi from ATP in the presence of high ionic strength (0.5 M KCl) at pH 9.1. Enzyme activity is maximal with 10 mM CaCl2 and completely inhibited with 5 mM MgCl2. Spontaneously beating myocytes grown in the presence of 10% newborn calf serum and 0.1 mM 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine show a significant rise in myosin ATPase between Days 1 and 4 in culture. The measurement of myosin ATPase allows for the quantitation of cellular myosin content, and can be used to assess changes in myosin content that occur during growth, development, and cellular repair.     

cAMP induces a rapid and reversible modification of the chemotactic receptor in Dictyostelium discoideum

Stimulation, within 1 min after cAMP stimulation, of aggregation-competent Dictyostelium discoideum amebae was found to cause a rapid (within 1 min) modification of the cell's surface cAMP receptor. The modified receptor migrated on SDS PAGE as a 47,000-mol-wt protein, as opposed to a 45,000-mol-wt protein labeled on unstimulated cells. The length of time this modified receptor could be detected depended upon the strength of the cAMP stimulus: 3-4 min after treatment with 10(-7) M cAMP, cells no longer possessed the 47,000-mol-wt form of the cAMP receptor. Instead, the 45,000-mol-wt form was present. Stimulation of cells with 10(-5) M cAMP, however, resulted in the persistent (over 15 min) expression of the modified receptor. The time course, concentration dependence, and specificity of stimulus for this cAMP-induced shift in the cAMP receptor were found to parallel the cAMP-stimulated phosphorylation of a 47,000-mol-wt protein. In addition, both phenomena were shown to occur in the absence of endogenous cAMP synthesis. The possibility that the cAMP receptor is phosphorylated in response to cAMP stimulation, and the role of this event in cell desensitization, are discussed.     

Development of heart cells in culture: studies using an affinity purified antibody to a myosin light chain

Cultured neonatal rat heart cells can be used to study the factors that regulate cardiac contractility and myocyte development in vitro. An antibody to the 26,000 dalton light chain of myosin (MLC1), has been produced and purified on a Sepharose 4B affinity column prepared with rat heart myosin. When primary cultures of myocytes are studied by indirect immunofluorescence using this antibody a predictable pattern of myofibrillar structure is observed to develop over 72 h. This myosin cytoskeleton is highly organized and the myosin fibrils exhibit cross striations. The antibody does not stain non-muscle heart cells and there is no evidence for myocyte division in culture. The qualitative immunofluorescent pattern of myosin organization is the same in both spontaneously beating and in non-contracting cells.     

The interaction of murine IgG subclass proteins with human monocyte Fc receptors

The use of murine monoclonal antibodies in the immunotherapy of human disease has prompted interest in the interactions of murine IgG with Fc receptors (FcR) expressed on human effector cells. We examined the heterocytophilic interactions between monomeric murine IgG subclass proteins and the FcR expressed on human monocytic cells (peripheral blood monocytes and interferon (IFN)-gamma-induced U937 cells). All four murine IgG2a antibodies and both murine IgG3 antibodies that were tested bound to human monocyte FcR with high affinity (10(8) to 10(9) M-1). By contrast, the affinities of four murine IgG1 and four IgG2b monomers were 100-fold to 1000-fold lower than the affinity of the human IgG1-FcR interaction. A 68,000 to 72,000 dalton protein was isolated by affinity chromatography from blood monocytes and from IFN-gamma-induced U937 cells on murine IgG2a, IgG3, and human IgG immunoadsorbents. In binding assays with IFN-stimulated U937 cells, murine IgG2a and IgG3 antibodies showed complete cross-blocking with a human IgG1 myeloma protein, indicating that murine and human IgG interact with the same population of Fc-binding proteins. No evidence for heterogeneity of cross-reactive FcR was observed. The ability of murine IgG2a and IgG3 monomers to compete with human IgG1 monomers for binding to human monocyte FcR suggests the potential usefulness of antibodies of these isotypes in the immunotherapy of diseases in which monocyte- or macrophage-mediated, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity may play a role in the modification or remission of disease.     

Activation requirements for antigen- and mitogen-induced interferon-gamma release from cytotoxic T lymphocytes

We have studied the activation signals that regulate interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) secretion from murine cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) upon binding mitogen or antigen. CTL clones were found to require at least 1 hr of stimulation with concanavalin A (Con A) in order to produce detectable levels of IFN-gamma. Full activation of IFN-gamma synthesis in CTL clones occurred after stimulation for 2 hr or more, and in those cultures CTL continued to produce high levels of IFN-gamma even after the effects of Con A had been neutralized. Splenic T cells and uncloned long-term CTL lines required a longer period of stimulation than cloned CTL for Con A-induced IFN-gamma secretion. The relationship between IFN-gamma secretion and cytotoxic activity was studied in an antigen-specific system. These studies reveal marked differences in the types of effector responses generated by CTL upon contact with antigen, demonstrating that some antigen-bearing cells promote high levels of IFN-gamma secretion and are poorly lysed by CTL, whereas other cell lines are lysed with high efficiency by CTL but induce low levels of IFN-gamma secretion.     

Defective in vitro T cell colony formation in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

Depressed T cell immunity is a universal characteristic of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In the present study, 25 patients with AIDS and opportunistic infections, 22 individuals with AIDS-related complex (ARC, or chronic lymphadenopathy syndrome), and 20 healthy homosexuals were evaluated by means of the T cell colony assay. Forty-seven healthy heterosexual controls showed an average of 3964 +/- 319 colonies/7.5 X 10(5) cells, with a range of 880 to 9340. The mean in the 20 healthy homosexuals (3173 +/- 483) did not differ significantly from the controls; in this group, only three patients had values less than 1000 colonies/plate. By contrast, all AIDS patients and 14 ARC patients had colony counts less than 1000. The mean value for the AIDS patients was only 24 +/- 15 (p less than 0.0005 compared with either controls or healthy homosexuals); values in the ARC group were intermediate (1180 +/- 360). The addition of interleukin 2 to the plates promoted correction of the proliferative abnormality in ARC patients. This interleukin increased colony scores in the AIDS group, but the mean value was still significantly less than controls. Comparison indicated that the colony assay is a more sensitive indicator for detecting proliferative abnormalities than responses to PHA, Con A, or pokeweed mitogen in suspension cultures.     

Surface marker characterization of EBV target cells in normal blood and tonsil B lymphocyte populations

Human FACS-sorted B lymphocyte subpopulations were investigated for their susceptibility to immortalization by Epstein Barr virus (EBV). Only B cells reacting with the monoclonal antibody B2 were immortalized, whereas cells reacting with anti-human IgG or the monoclonal antibody BB2 were not responding. Cells positive or negative for IgM, IgD, Burkitt's lymphoma antigen (BLA), BB1, and HB2 were all transformed by EBV.     

Accumulation of heat shock proteins in field-grown cotton

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) plants grown under field water deficits exhibited an 80 to 85% reduction in leaf area index, plant height, and dry matter accumulation compared with irrigated controls. Midday photosynthetic rates of dryland plants decreased 2-fold, and canopy temperatures increased to 40°C at 80 days after planting compared with canopy temperatures of 30°C for irrigated plants. Leaves from dryland plants which had exhibited canopy temperatures of 40°C for several weeks accumulated stainable levels of polypeptides with apparent molecular weights of 100, 94, 89, 75, 60, 58, 37, and 21 kilodaltons. These polypeptides did not accumulate in leaves from irrigated plants.

Addition of [³⁵S]methionine to leaves of growth chamber-grown cotton plants and subsequent incubation at 40°C for 3 hours radiolabeled polypeptides with molecular weights similar to those that accumulate in dryland cotton leaves. These data suggest that the proteins which accumulate in water-stressed cotton leaves at elevated temperatures (40°C) are heat shock proteins and that these proteins can accumulate to substantial levels in field-stressed plants.