Molecular cloning and analysis of the CRY1 gene: a yeast ribosomal protein gene.

Using cloned DNA from the vicinity of the yeast mating type locus (MAT) as a probe, the wild type allele of the cryptopleurine resistance gene CRY1 has been isolated by the technique of chromosome walking and has been shown to be identical to the gene for ribosomal protein 59. A recessive cryR1 allele has also been cloned, using the integration excision method. The genetic distance from MAT to CRY1 is 2.2 cM, while the physical distance is 21 kb, giving a ratio of about 10 kb/cM for this interval. The phenotypic expression of both plasmid borne alleles of the gene can be detected in vivo. The use of this gene as a hybridization probe to examine RNA processing defects in the rna 2, rna 3, rna 4, rna 8, and rna 11 mutants is also discussed.     

Ultrastructural localization of the high molecular weight proteins associated with in vitro-assembled brain microtubules

Microtubules isolated from brain extracts by in vitro assembly (1, 19, 23) are composed principally of two tubulins and two high molecular weight proteins (microtubule-associated proteins [MAPS] 1 and 2) (2,5,7,20). Recently, it was demonstrated that in vitro-assembled brain microtubules (neurotubules) are coated with filaments (5, 7) which are similar to the filaments attached to neurotubules in situ (4, 15, 21, 24, 25), and it was suggested that the filaments are composed of the higher molecular weight MAPs (5, 7, 12). In this study, microtubules were assembled in the presence and absence of the MAPs, and thin sections of the microtubules were examined by electron microscopy. The results show that the filaments only occur on microtubules assembled in the presence of the MAPs and it is therefore concluded that the filaments are composed of the high molecular weight MAP's.     

pp60c-src has less affinity for the detergent-insoluble cellular matrix than do pp60v-src and other viral protein-tyrosine kinases.

A difference in affinity for a Nonidet P-40-insoluble cellular matrix was observed between the products of the viral and cellular src genes. It has previously been demonstrated that pp60v-src is associated with a detergent-insoluble matrix containing the cellular cytoskeleton (J. G. Burr, G. Dreyfuss, S. Penman, and J. M. Buchanan, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77:3484-3488, 1980). We observed a similar association of the transforming proteins of Fujinami sarcoma virus (P130gag-fps) and Yamaguchi 73 avian sarcoma virus (P90gag-yes), both of which are tyrosine-specific protein kinases. However, we found that the endogenous c-src product, pp60c-src, was not tightly bound to the detergent-insoluble matrix. This does not appear to have been due to differences in the cytoskeleton between transformed and nontransformed cells since pp60c-src was also solubilized by nonionic detergent in cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus. This difference in the affinities of the v-src and c-src products for cytoskeletal proteins may contribute to the inability of pp60c-src to transform cells.     

Interet diagnostique d’une injection intracaverneuse de 20 μg de Prostaglandine E1 dans l’impuissance

Intracavernous injection of 20 μg of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) was carried out in 130 impotent patients. The erectile response was compared to the results of arteriological investigations including nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity monitoring (NPTR) in 59 patients. The response of 60 patients positively categorized as exclusively psychogenic or vasculogenic was also compared to the pattern of the response to 80 mg of papaverine observed in a previous study by the same authors. The PGE1 test may not discriminate psychogenic from wholly organic patients since its results are not correlated to those of NPTR. It helps for the screening of vasculogenic impotence. Lack of response or a partly rigid response is consistent with this actiology but is not specific for it. A fully response makes it unlikely. Compared to papaverine, PGE1 induces less non rigid responses in psychogenic patients (15% versus 35% with papaverine) and more fully rigid responses in vasculogenic patients (respectively 12% and 5 %). Consequently the specificity of the PGE1 test is higher but its sensitivity lower than that of papaverine so that there is no clear difference in the effectiveness of the tests. Nevertheless the PGE1 test should be preferred, because it is safer. Prolonged erections occured in only 5 patients, and all ceased spontaneously. However 4 presented severely painful erections.     

Sequence and genetic analysis of a dispensible 189 nucleotide snRNA from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The structure of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene that encodes a small nuclear RNA (snRNA) of 189 nucleotides is described. This gene, designated SNR189, is located 400 base pairs upstream of the CRY1 gene on yeast chromosome III. Gene replacement analysis revealed the SNR189 gene to be dispensable for growth under a variety of culture conditions. The snR189 sequence lacks homology with other sequenced yeast or metazoan snRNAs.