Increased Expression of β-Amyloid Protein Precursor and Microtubule-Associated Protein τ During the Differentiation of Murine Embryonal Carcinoma Cells

Expression of the genes encoding the beta/A4 amyloid protein precursor (APP) and microtubule-associated protein tau was studied in an embryonal carcinoma cell line (P19) that differentiates in vitro into cholinergic neurons after treatment with retinoic acid. Expression of APP increased 34- (mRNA) and 50-fold (protein) during neuronal differentiation; APP-695 accounted for most of this increase. These remarkable increases in APP expression coincided with a proliferation of neuronal processes and with an increase in content of tau mRNA. Moreover, subsequent decreases in the levels of APP and tau mRNA coincided with the onset of the degeneration of the neuronal processes. Immunocytochemical staining suggested that greater than 85% of the P19-derived neurons are cholinergic and that APP is present in the neuronal processes and cell bodies. These results suggest that APP may play an important role in construction of neuronal networks and neuronal differentiation and also indicate that this embryonal carcinoma cell line provides an ideal model system to investigate biological functions of APP and the roles of APP and tau protein in development of Alzheimer's disease in cholinergic neurons.     

On predatory tendencies in the feeding ecology of the fairy shrimp Streptocephalus proboscideus (Frauenfeld, 1873) (Crustacea: Anostraca)

The feeding habits of the filter-feeding fairy shrimp Streptocephalus proboscideus are documented experimentally by offering them ciliates, Volvox, rotifers, nematodes and small crustaceans as prey. Escape capabilities (e.g. swimming speed) rather than size or shape were found to determine these animals' vulnerability to predation by the fairy shrimp. Ingestion rates for Volvox increased hyperbolically with size and, at the high temperatures in which they live, fairy shrimps may daily remove the equivalent of their body weight from the environment.     

Séquences tripeptidiques typiques du collagène: étude conformationnelle quantique

Theoretical and experimental investigations on the conformations of synthetic polytripeptides, with Gly-R₂-R₃ general repetitive sequence, are of great interest for the comprehension of the factors wich contribute to the triple helix stabilization.Using appropriate molecules as models, we have investigated by the PCILO method the intrinsic conformational possibilities of each « in situresidue for the following cases: Gly-imino-imino, Gly-amino-imino and Gly-imino-amino which represent the most important sequences occuring in the primary structure of collagen. The computations were carried out taking into account the two pyrrolidine ring puckerings and the preferential side-chains orientations.Extending our previous work concerning the isomeric polytripeptides Gly-X-Pro and Gly-Pro-X with X {Pro, Phe} we have studied the cases of X {Ala, Ser}. In this brief communication, we present a preliminary synthesis of these recent results.     

Assay of tannase (tanin acylhydrolase EC 3.1.1.20) by gas chromatography

A gas chromatographic method has been satisfactorily developed for the determination of gallic acid after enzymatic hydrolysis of methyl gallate by fungal tannase. The technique described herein permits a specific, quantitative analysis of the enzyme. The separate determination of both soluble and fixed tannase is described.     

Functional aspects of Abscisic Acid Metabolism in Cotyledons of Phaseolus vulgaris L. Seedlings

During the early stages of germination and vegetative development,cotyledons of intact bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) seedlingsshowed active ABA catabolism causing a low endogenous ABA content.At the end of the substrate mobilizing phase, when the cotyledonsbecame senescent, a drastic increase of the endogenous ABA contentlinked with a decrease of the ABA catabolic activity was observed.This indicates that a close connection exists between senescenceand endogenous ABA content and metabolism in bean cotyledons. Removal of the apical growth region induced in the cotyledonsactivation of the ABA catabolism and the endogenous ABA concentrationdecreased below the detection limit (0.1 ng/g fr wt) at theonset of the outgrowth of the axillary buds. From then, apicaldominance was restored and the cotyledons returned to the senescentstate, which was correlated with a drastic increase of theirendogenous ABA content. ¹ Bevoegd verklaard navorser N. F. W. O. ² Wetenschappelijk medewerker F. K. F. O. (Received November 25, 1980; Accepted February 13, 1981)     

Incorporation of the transmembrane hydrophobic domain of glycophorin into small unilamellar phospholipid vesicles Ion Flux studies

Human erythrocyte glycophorin is one of the best characterized integral membrane proteins. Reconstitution of the membrane-spanning hydrophobic segment of glycophorin (the tryptic insoluble peptide released when glycophorin is treated with trypsin) with liposomes results in the production of freeze-fracture intrabilayer particles of 80 Å diameter (Segrest, J.P., Gulik-Krzywicki, T. and Sardet, C. (1974) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 71, 3294–3298), with particles appearing at or above a tryptic insoluble peptide concentration of 4 mmol per mol phosphatidylcholine. In the present study, increasing concentrations of tryptic insoluble peptide were added to sonicated small unilamellar egg phosphatidylcholine vesicles and the rate of efflux of ²²Na⁺ was examined by rapid (30 s) gel filtration on Sephadex G-50. Below a concentation of 3–5 mmol tryptic insoluble peptide/mol phosphatidylcholine, ²²Na⁺ efflux occurs at a constant slow rate at given tryptic insoluble peptide concentrations. Above a concentration of 3–5 mM, the rate of efflux is biphasic at given tryptic insoluble peptide concentrations, exhibiting both an initial fast and a subsequent slow component. On the basis of graphic and computer curve-fitting analysis, with increasing tryptic insoluble peptide concentration, the rate of the slow component reaches a plateau at a tryptic insoluble peptide concentration of 3–5 mM and remains essentially constant until much higher concentrations are reached; the fast component increases linearly with increasing tryptic insoluble peptide concentration well beyond 5 mM. The most consistent interpretation of this data is as follows. The slow ²²Na⁺ efflux component is due to perturbations of small unilamellar vesicle integrity by tryptic insoluble peptide monomers. At a tryptic insoluble peptide concentration of 3–5 mmol/mol, a critical concentration is reached following which there is intrabilayer tryptic insoluble peptide self-association. The fast ²²Na⁺ efflux component is due to the increasing presence of tryptic insoluble peptide self-associated multimers the 80-Å particles seen by freeze-fracture electron microscopy) which results in a significantly larger bilayer defect than do tryptic insoluble peptide monomers. The failure of complete saturation of efflux by the fast component is ascribed to the presence of two populations of small unilamellar vesicles, some of which contain tryptic insoluble peptide multimers and some of which do not.Addition of cholesterol to the tryptic insoluble peptide/phosphatidylcholine vesicles decreases the rate of ²²Na⁺ efflux by inhibiting primarily the fast component. Freeze-fracture electron microscopy indicates that the presence of cholesterol has no effect on the size, number or distribution of 80-Å intra-bilayer particles in the tryptic insoluble peptide/phosphatidylcholine vesicles. These results are consistent with a mechanism to explain the fast Na⁺ efflux component involving protein-lipid boundary perturbations.Efflux of ⁴⁵Ca²⁺ from phosphatidylcholine vesicles is also enhanced by incorporation of tryptic insoluble peptide, but only if divalent cations (Ca²⁺ or Mg²⁺) are present in the external bathing media as well as inside the sonicated vesicles. If monovalent Na⁺ only is present in the bathing media no ⁴⁵Ca²⁺ efflux is seen. Under conditions where ⁴⁵Ca²⁺ efflux is seen, both a fast and a slow component are present, although both appear lower than corresponding rate constants for ²²Na⁺ efflux. These results suggest a coordinated mechanism for ion efflux induced by tryptic insoluble peptide and, together with the ²²Na⁺ efflux studies, may have mechanistic implications for the transbilayer phospholipid exchange (flip-flop) suggesed to be induced at glycophorin/phospholipid interfaces (de Kruiff, B., van Zoelen, E.J.J. and van Deenen, L.L.M. (1978) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 509, 537–542).     

Additions a la faune de sélaciens fossilesdu Maroc: 1: Sur la présence des genres Heptranchias,Alopias etOdontorhytis dans l'Yprésien des Ouled Abdoun

Recent researches in the phosphat-bearing basins ofMorocco have allowed to collect new selachian forms. In this paper, three Ypresian genera from Ouled Abdoun basin, new for Morocco, are described: Heptranchias howellii (Reed, 1946), Alopias denticulatus nov. sp. and Odontorhytis pappenheimiBöhm, 1926. The re-discovery of the genus Odontorhytis allows to state precisely its morphological dental features and to affirm that it is well a selachian and not a teleostean, as it was thought. The stratigraphic distribution of some species is stated precisely.