Transformation of Aspergillus nidulans with a cloned, oligomycin-resistant ATP synthase subunit 9 gene

Summary An allele (oliC31) of the A. nidulans oliC gene has been cloned using homology with the equivalent gene from N. crassa. OliC31 codes for an oligomycin-resistant, triethyltin-hypersensitive form of subunit 9 of the mitochondrial ATP synthase complex. Direct selection for oligomycin-resistance was possible following transformation of A. nidulans with the oliC31 gene. The phenotypes of transformants cultured in the presence of oligomycin were indicative of the position of integration of the transforming plasmid within the genome. Subsequent recombination events involving the integrated oliC31 gene were also apparent from altered levels of resistance to oligomycin or triethyltin. This gene should prove useful as a marker for transformation of strains lacking auxotrophic lesions and in gene replacement or disruption experiments.     

Effectiveness of 1.5 keV aluminium K and 0.3 keV carbon K characteristic X-rays at inducing DNA double-strand breaks in yeast cells

Induction of DNA double-strand breaks in diploid wild-type yeast cells, and inactivation of diploid mutant cells (rad54-3) unable to repair DNA double-strand breaks, were studied with aluminium K (1.5 keV) and carbon K (0.278 keV) characteristic X-rays. The induction of DNA double-strand breaks was found to increase linearly with absorbed dose for both characteristic X-rays. Carbon K X-rays were more effective than aluminium K X-rays. Relative to 60Co gamma-rays the r.b.e.-values for the induction of DNA double-strand breaks were found to be 3.8 and 2.2 for carbon K and aluminium K X-rays respectively. The survival curves of the rad54-3 mutant cells were exponential for both ultrasoft X-rays. For inactivation of rad54-3 mutant cells, the r.b.e.-values relative to 60Co gamma-rays were 2.6 and 2.4 for carbon K and aluminium K X-rays, respectively. The DNA double-strand break data obtained with aluminium K and carbon K X-rays are in agreement with the data obtained for gene mutation, chromosome aberrations and inactivation of mammalian cells, suggesting that DNA double-strand breaks are the possible molecular lesions leading to these effects.     

Iron-dependent production of a heat-modifiable, 23,000-Mr outer membrane protein in Paracoccus denitrificans.

Production of a 23,000-Mr major outer membrane protein of Paracoccus denitrificans ATCC 13543 was dependent upon the addition of iron to a succinate-salts medium. The 23,000-Mr protein was not produced in an iron-deficient medium, but production of five outer membrane proteins in the 85,000- to 72,000-Mr range and of catechol were induced. The 23,000-Mr protein was not produced in a complex medium even when ferric citrate was added to the medium. Production of the protein was influenced by the carbon source and was decreased by peptone.     

Testing of microbial demulsifiers with heavy crude emulsions

Summary It has already been demonstrated that model water-in-kerosene systems and toluene diluted heavy crude oil emulsions can be broken by microbial agents. In this studyN. amarae andR. rhodochrous are used on undiluted, water-in-heavy crude oil emulsions. The high viscosity of the undiluted emulsions severely limits the demulsifying ability of the bacteria towards these field emulsions.     

Chemokinetic accumulation of human neutrophils on immune complex-coated substrata: analysis at a boundary

The locomotory behavior of human blood neutrophil leukocytes was studied at a boundary between two surfaces with different chemokinetic properties. This was achieved by time-lapse cinematography of neutrophils moving on coverslips coated with BSA, then part-coated with immune complexes by adding anti-BSA IgG with a straight-line boundary between the BSA and the immune complexes. Cell locomotion was filmed in microscopic fields bisected by the boundary, and kinetic behavior was assessed by comparing speed (orthokinesis), turning behavior (klinokinesis), and the rate of diffusion of the cells on each side of the boundary, using a recently described mathematical analysis of kinesis. In the absence of serum or complement, the proportion of motile cells and their speed and rate of diffusion were greater on BSA than on antiBSA, but there was no consistent difference in turning behavior between cells on the two surfaces. The immune complexes were therefore negatively chemokinetic in comparison with BSA, and this resulted from a negative orthokinesis with little or no contribution from klinokinesis. As would be predicted theoretically, this resulted in gradual accumulation of cells on the immune complexes even in the absence of a chemotactic factor. In further studies, a parallel plate flow chamber was used to show that, under conditions of flow, neutrophils accumulated much more rapidly on a surface coated with BSA- anti-BSA than on BSA alone. Moreover, neutrophils on immune complex- coated surfaces lost their ability to form rosettes with IgG-coated erythrocytes. This suggests that neutrophils on immune complex-coated surfaces redistribute their Fc receptors (RFc gamma) to the under surface, and that the lowered speed of locomotion is due to tethering of neutrophils by substratum-bound IgG-Fc.     

Ah receptor for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin: ontogeny in chick embryo liver

Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH, cytochrome P1-450) is induced in chick liver very early during embryonic development if embryos are treated with 3-methylcholanthrene-type compounds such as 3,4,3'4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl. In mammals, AHH induction is known to be mediated by the Ah receptor. Liver from embryonic and newly hatched chicks was found to contain a cytosolic receptor for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) which has properties that are very similar to properties of the Ah receptor previously characterized in mammalian tissues. In chick embryo liver, cytosolic binding sites for TCDD were of high affinity (Kd for [3-H]-TCDD = 0.2 nM) and were specific for 3-methylcholanthrene-type inducers. The specific binding component sedimented at about 9S on sucrose density gradients prepared at low ionic strength. A high level of Ah receptor was detected in chick embryo liver by the fifth day of incubation (5 DI); this is at least 24 hours prior to the onset of AHH inducibility. The Ah receptor concentration increased from 5 DI to 8 DI, the period when chick liver is undergoing early morphological differentiation. After 8 DI, Ah receptor levels dropped substantially and remained low into the posthatching period. In contrast, AHH inducibility was high by 7 DI and remained high throughout embryonic development and into the posthatching period. The discrepancy between Ah receptor levels and the degree of AHH inducibility suggests that only a small fraction of the Ah receptor population is required for maximal AHH induction.     

The influence of contact guidance on chemotaxis of human neutrophil leukocytes

Chemotaxis of human neutrophil leukocytes moving on or in aligned 3D fibrin gels is more efficient if the cells are moving along the axis of fibre alignment than if they have to cross the fibres. This was shown by using two assays, one in which the cells were responding to a distant (600 micrometers) gradient source diffusing from a filter paper impregnated with formyl-Met-Leu-Phe and incorporated into the gel, the other in which the cells were responding to nearby (20--30 micrometers) Candida albicans spores in serum. In the former assay, impairment of chemotaxis across the axis of fibre alignment was highly significant. In the latter, cells showed efficient chemotaxis to the spores, but took more irregular paths when crossing the aligned fibres than when running along them. Neutrophils show contact guidance in aligned collagen or fibrin gels (Wilkinson et al., Exp cell res 140 (1982) 55) [1], thus the cells were subjected simultaneously to two directional cues in these experiments, one the chemotactic gradient and the other a contact guidance field. These cues may reinforce or interfere with each other depending on their relative orientation. Since many tissues in vivo show alignment or more complex forms of patterning, tissue architecture is likely to be an important determinant of the efficiency of cellular mobilization in inflamed or infected sites.     

Lipopolysaccharides from Pseudomonas maltophilia: composition of the lipopolysaccharide and structure of the side-chain polysaccharide from strain N.C.I.B. 9204

Lipopolysaccharide was extracted from defatted cell-walls of Pseudomonas maltophilia N.C.I.B. 9204. The major fatty acid components were 9-methyldecanoic acid, 2-hydroxy-9-methyldecanoic acid, 3-hydroxy-9-methyldecanoic acid, 3-hydroxy-dodecanoic acid, and 3-hydroxy-11-methyldodecanoic acid. Monosaccharide components of the phosphorylated core-oligosaccharide were D-glucose, D-mannose, D-galacturonic acid, 2-amino-2-deoxyglucose, and a 3-deoxyoctulosonic acid. The putative O-specific polysaccharide was composed mainly of 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucose, D-arabinose, and 6-deoxy-L-talose, but also contained an O-acetyl group and small proportions of rhamnose and 6-deoxy-3-O-methyltalose. Degradative and n.m.r. (1H and 13C) studies showed that the polymer had a branched trisaccharide repeating-unit with the following structure; the O-acetyl group was tentatively assigned to C-2 of the 6-deoxytalopyranosyl residue. (Formula: see text).     

Organ-related differences in binding of Dolichos biflorus agglutinin to vascular endothelium

We screened cryostat sections of tissues from 10 inbred strains of mice with a panel of conjugated lectins, in a search for polymorphisms which could be used as markers in mouse chimeras. In DDK and RIII mice, but not the other strains tested, there are binding sites on the membrane of vascular endothelial cells for Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA), which is specific for terminal nonreducing N-acetyl galactosamine residues. The expression of DBA binding sites on RIII and DDK endothelium is not, however, uniform: there are consistent differences between blood vessels in different organs. These observations provide evidence of an organ-related heterogeneity in vascular endothelium which is open to biochemical analysis, and which raises the possibility that endothelial cells carry a “tissue address.”