Increased Fucosylation of Chick Brain Proteins Following Training: Effects of Cycloheximide

When chicks are trained to avoid pecking a bead coated with methylanthranilate in a one-trial passive avoidance task there is an increase in fucose incorporation in vivo and in vitro in the right forebrain base of methylanthranilate (M)-trained compared to water (W)-trained chicks. The relation of this increase to de novo protein synthesis in vivo and in vitro has been examined. Cycloheximide (Cx), 1 mM, inhibited in vitro fucosylation of chick brain slices by 60% after 3 h. However, the training-related increase in in vitro fucosylation still persisted. When Cx was injected intraventricularly 10 min before training, the subsequent increase in in vitro fucosylation due to training was still apparent. When Cx was injected and [14C]leucine and [3H]fucose incorporation studied in vivo in M-trained and W-trained chicks, there was no increase in fucosylation due to training in the Cx-treated M-trained over the W-trained chicks. These results are taken to indicate that in vitro fucosylation and its increase subsequent to training is not protein synthesis-dependent, but that both in vivo and in vitro there are interactions between Cx and fucosylation steps that are independent of Cx's effects on protein synthesis.     

Synaptic Vesicle Proteins and Acetylcholine Levels in Chick Forebrain Nuclei Are Altered by Passive Avoidance Training

In a search for biochemical markers of modified synaptic function following training of day-old chicks on a passive avoidance task, we have assayed two monoclonal antibodies to synaptic vesicle proteins (anti-p65 and anti-SV2) and one raised to postsynaptic densities (411B). We have also measured total acetylcholine (ACh) content. Measurements were made on three forebrain regions known to show metabolic and morphological change consequent on training--the lobus parolfactorius (LPO), paleostriatum augmentatum (PA), and medial hyperstriatum ventrale (MHV)--in the right and left hemispheres 2 and 24 h after training chicks on a passive avoidance task, in which they learn to avoid pecking a bead coated with methylanthranilate [methylanthranilate-trained (M-trained)]. Control chicks were trained on a water-coated bead [water-trained (W-trained)]. Twenty-four hours after training, 411B levels showed no differences between W-trained and M-trained chicks in any region. M-training reduced the titre of anti-p65 by 16% in the left PA and 15% in the left MHV and that of anti-SV2 by 19% in the left PA. M-trained chicks showed reduced total ACh content in the LPO by up to 40% and in the PA by up to 48% but had no change in ACh level in the MHV. The decreases in antibody titre were not seen in forebrains analysed 2 h after training, but tendencies toward increases in levels in the right PA and MHV were observed with all three antibodies. Significant differences between right and left hemispheric regions, independent of training, were observed for all the antibodies and for ACh content.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

KAR1, a gene required for function of both intranuclear and extranuclear microtubules in yeast

Molecular analysis of the KAR1 gene of yeast has shown that it is required for both mitosis and conjugation. The gene was originally identified by mutations that prevent nuclear fusion. By in vitro mutagenesis and gene replacement we have demonstrated that the gene is an essential cell division cycle gene. Temperature-sensitive mutant strains show defects in spindle pole body duplication and chromosome disjunction. Overproduction of the gene product blocks spindle pole body duplication, producing a cell cycle arrest phenotype similar to that of the Kar- temperature-sensitive mutations. Long, aberrant extranuclear microtubules are formed in the temperature-sensitive mutants arrested at the nonpermissive temperature as well as in kar1-1 during conjugation. These observations suggest that the KAR1 gene is required for the normal function of both the intranuclear and extranuclear microtubules.     

Mechanism of ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase. Borohydride and hydroxylamine inactivate in the presence of ubiquitin

Ubiquitin (Ub) carboxyl-terminal hydrolase (E) catalyzes the hydrolysis, at the Ub-carboxyl terminus, of a wide variety of C-terminal Ub derivatives. We show that the enzyme is inactivated by millimolar concentrations of either sodium borohydride or hydroxylamine, but only if Ub is present. We have interpreted these results on the assumption that the hydrolase mechanism is one of nucleophilic catalysis with an acyl-Ub-E intermediate. The borohydride-inactivated enzyme has the following properties. It is a stoichiometric complex of E and Ub containing tritium from sodium boro[3H]hydride. This complex is stable at neutral pH in 5 M urea and can be isolated on the basis of size on a sieving column, but a labeled product the size of Ub is released under more strongly denaturing conditions. The "Ub" released in acid is Ub-carboxyl-terminal aldehyde, based on the observations that: it contains the tritium present in the reduced complex and it is able to form the inactive enzyme from a stoichiometric amount of fresh enzyme, and inactivation is accompanied by E-Ub adduct formation; it has chemical properties expected of an aldehyde: after a second reduction of the Ub released with boro[3H]hydride and complete acid hydrolysis, tritium counts are found in ethanolamine (the carboxyl-terminal residue of Ub is glycine). These results suggest that enzyme and Ub combine in an equilibrium reaction to form an ester or thiol ester adduct (at the Ub-carboxyl terminus), and that this adduct is trapped by borohydride to give a very stable inactive E-Ub (thio) hemiacetal which is unable to undergo a second reduction step and which can release Ub-aldehyde in mild acid. Inactivation in the presence of hydroxylamine of hydrolase occurs once during hydrolysis of 1200 molecules of Ub-hydroxamate by the enzyme. The hydrolysis/inactivation ratio is constant over the range of 10-50 mM hydroxylamine showing that forms of E-Ub with which hydroxylamine and water react are different and not in rapid equilibrium. The inactive enzyme may be an acylhydroxamate formed from an E-Ub mixed anhydride generated from the E-Ub (thiol) ester inferred from the borohydride study. A direct radioactive assay for the hydrolase has been developed using the Ub-C-terminal amide of [3H]butanol-4-amine as substrate.     

N protein is the predominant antigen recognized by vesicular stomatitis virus-specific cytotoxic T cells.

The specificity of anti-vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-specific cytotoxic T cells was explored with cell lines expressing VSV genes introduced by electroporation. Low levels of nucleocapsid (N) protein were detected on the surface of VSV-infected cells, but N protein could not be detected on the plasma membrane of transfected EL4 cells. Intracellular N protein was detectable by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or immunoprecipitation in some of the transfected cell lines but not in others, unless the transfected genes were induced by sodium butyrate. However, all of the stably transfected EL4 cell lines expressing the VSV-Indiana N protein were efficiently lysed by serotype-specific and cross-reactive anti-VSV cytotoxic T cells (CTLs). Primary cross-reactive anti-VSV CTLs appeared to be specific solely for N protein, based on cold-target competition assays using infected and transfected target cells. Cell lines expressing 100- to 1,000-fold less N protein than did VSV-infected cells were efficiently lysed by both primary and secondary anti-VSV CTLs. Cell lines expressing 100-fold less G protein than did VSV-infected cells were not lysed by either population of effectors. Significantly, cold-target competition studies with secondary CTLs demonstrated that N protein-expressing cell lines were more efficient competitors than were VSV-infected cells even though the latter expressed 100- to 1,000-fold more N protein. This was not an artifact of viral infection since infection of the transfected cell lines did not affect their ability to compete. The possibility that cell lines constitutively expressing internal virus proteins present antigen more effectively than infected cells do is discussed.     

Female rats are protected against the fructose induced mortality of copper deficiency

Experiments were conducted in copper deficient male and female rats fed diets containing fructose or starch in order to determine whether the same type of interaction between copper status and dietary carbohydrate found in male rats also occurs in the female rat. Mortality occurred only in the male rats fed the fructose diet deficient in copper with 40% of the animals dying during the 8 week study. Only anemia, hypercholesterolemia, increased BUN, heart hypertrophy and reduced body weight were observed in these animals which could be related to their mortality. Despite the increased mortality, plasma ceruloplasmin, erythrocyte SOD and hepatic copper concentrations were reduced to a similar extent in all rats regardless of the sex of the animals or of the type of dietary carbohydrate fed. The results of the present study indicate that although direct measurements of copper status of female rats fed fructose diet deficient in copper are similar to their male counterpart, they are apparently protected from the lethal consequences of the deficiency.     

Development of copper deficiency in rats fed fructose or starch: weekly measurements of copper indices in blood

Copper deficiency was induced in weanling rats fed diets whose sole source of carbohydrates was starch or fructose for 7 weeks. Conventional parameters of copper status, plasma copper concentrations, ceruloplasmin activity, and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were longitudinally monitored weekly to follow the development of the deficiency and to correlate these indices with the degree of severity of the deficiency. Although 30% of the rats fed a copper-deficient fructose diet died and no deaths occurred in rats fed the copper-deficient starch diet, plasma copper, ceruloplasmin, and SOD activities were reduced to a similar extent in all rats fed copper-deficient diets regardless of the type of dietary carbohydrate. Thus, none of the indices used accurately reflected the greater degree of deficiency or mortality in rats fed the fructose diet deficient in copper. The results of the present study underscore the need for more sensitive tests or alternative parameters to assess copper status in living animals.     

G1m(1) and G1m(2) allotypes in Albanian towns of Calabria

The G1m(1) and G1m(2) allotype distribution was analyzed in a population sample from 11 Albanian towns of Calabria. The unusually high frequency of the G1m(1) marker already observed in Calabria as well as the presence of the Gm(2) phenotype were shown. The Calabrian and Albanian populations were similar, but significantly different from other Italian populations.     

Uptake of radiolabeled copper from portal blood containing fructose or glucose

The present investigation was designed to study the uptake of⁶⁷Cu when administered directly, into the portal vein, along with either functose or glucose, by the liver and extrahepatic tissues. Following weaning, male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed for 3 wk either commercial laboratory ration (chow) or semipurified diets deficient in Cu (0.6 ppm) or supplemented with Cu (6.0 ppm) and containing 62% carbohydrate as either fructuse or cornstarch. After an overnight fast, a single dose of rat plasma (0.1 mL) containing fructose or glucose extrinsically labeled with⁶⁷Cu was injected directly into their portal vein. Although not always statistically significant, rats fed chow retained more radioactivity in the liver and several extrahepatic tissues when⁶⁷Cu was administered with fructose than with glucose. Regardless of Cu status, rats fed diets containing fructose retained more radioactivity in extrahepatic tissues than rats fed starch. There was an increased uptake of⁶⁷Cu by the liver, blood, muscle, and fat pad when fructose as compared to glucose was injected in combination with the isotope. These data strongly suggest that Cu requirements or utilization are greater when fructose is the main dietary carbohydrate. The results may also in part explain the reason for the increased severity of Cu deficiency in rats fed fructose.     

Linkage of cystic fibrosis locus and polymorphic DNA markers in 14 families

Linkage relationships between the cystic fibrosis (CF) locus and three polymorphic DNA markers were examined in 14 families, five of which were of Hispanic origin. Tight linkage was found between the CF locus and MET (maximum lod score = 7.16 at theta = .001), and between CF and pJ3.11 (maximum lod score = 3.87 at theta = .001). We observed two recombinations between CF and collagen, yielding a maximum lod score of 0.359 at theta = .125, and one recombination in the cluster CF-MET-pJ3.11. Analysis by the seriation method indicates the order COL-pJ3.11-CF-MET.