The giant panda is closer to a bear,judged by α- and β-hemoglobin sequences

Summary Using - and -hemoglobin sequences, we made a maximum likelihood inference as to the phylogenetic relationship among carnivores, including the two pandas, giant and lesser. Molecular phylogenetic studies up to 1985 had consistently indicated that the giant panda is more closely related to the bear than to the lesser panda. In 1986, however, a contradictory tree was constructed, using hemoglobins and so on, in which the two pandas link together (Tagle et al. 1986). In contrast to that tree, our conclusion supports the close relationship between bear and giant panda. The surface impression of a close relationship between the two pandas drawn from pairwise amino acid differences is explained by a rapid rate of hemoglobin evolution in the bear compared to that in the two pandas.Offprint requests to: T. Hashimoto     

Visual prey discrimination of queen and worker ants by a generalist lizard

Laboratory experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that widelyforaging generalist lizard,Eumeces okadae, visually discriminates palatable queen ants from unpalatable worker ants. The workers ofCamponotus japonicus andLasius niger were rejected on sight, while the queens of both species were eaten with little prior chemical examination by tongue flicks or licks. Comparison of the lizards' responses towards the workers and wingless queens of similar size indicated that neither body size nor presence or absence of wings accounted for difference in responses toward the 2 ant castes. The lizards probably discriminated different ant castes by body proportions.     

Expression and Promoter Activity of Genes for Isozymes of Horseradish Peroxidase

The expression and promoter activity of genes for isozymes ofhorseradish peroxidase, namely, prxCla, prxClb, prxC2 and prxC3,were studied. Organ-specific expression of these genes in horseradishplants was examined by Northern blot analysis. The group ofprxCl genes was expressed mostly in stems, while prxC2 and prxC3were expressed to a greater extent in roots. Hardly any expressionof any of the genes was detected in leaves. In transient-expressionassays with tobacco protoplasts, about 500 bp of the 5'-noncodingregions of each of the genes, ligated to the gene for ß-glucuronidase(GUS), exhibited significant promoter activity. In particular,the fragments extending from the initiation codon of the prxC2gene to –529 bp and –1 kbp supported high levelsof GUS activity, which were 4.4 and 11.4 times respectively,the activity observed under control of the 35S promoter fromcauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV). Conserved enhancer sequencesof human genes were found in the 5'-flanking region of prxC2,and deletion of the regions that contained the enhancer sequencesreduced the GUS activity. High levels of GUS activity were observedin transgenic tobacco plants that contained 1 kbp of the 5'flanking region of prxC2 fused to the GUS gene. GUS activitywas diminished when deletion from the 5' end extended as faras the CAAT box. No significant organ-specific expression ofGUS was observed with any such deletion. (Received April 15, 1992; Accepted September 11, 1992)     

Qualitative and quantitative difference in mutation induction between carbon- and neon-ion beams in normal human cells.

We investigated the difference in cell-killing effect and mutation induction between carbon- and neon-ion beams in normal human cells. Carbon- and neon-ion beams were accelerated by the Riken Ring Cyclotron (RRC) at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan. Cell-killing effect was measured as the reproductive cell death using the colony formation assay. Mutation induction at the HPRT locus was detected to measure 6-thioguanine-resistant clones. The mutation spectrum of the deletion pattern of exons of induced mutants was analyzed using the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Cell-killing effect was almost the same between carbon- and neon-ion beams with similar linear energy transfer (LET) values, while there observed a large difference in mutation frequency. Furthermore, in the case of neon-ion beams 60% of mutants showed total deletions and 35-40% showed partial deletions, while 95-100% of carbon-ion induced mutants showed total deletions. The results suggest that different ion species may cause qualitative and quantitative difference in mutation induction even if the LET values are similar.     

Involvement of umuDCST genes in nitropyrene-induced -CG frameshift mutagenesis at the repetitive CG sequence in the hisD3052 allele of Salmonella typhimurium

Expression of the umuDC operon is required for UV and most chemical mutagenesis in Escherichia coli. The closely related species Salmonella typhimurium has two sets of umuDC-like operons, umuDC _ST on the chromosome and samAB on a 60-MDa cryptic plasmid. The roles of theumuDC-like operons in chemically induced frameshift mutagenesis of the hisD3052 allele of S. typhimurium were investigated. Introduction of a pBR322-derived plasmid carrying umuDCST increased the rate of reversion of hisD3052, following treatment with 1-nitropyrene (1-NP) or 1,8-dinitropyrene (1,-8DNP) tenfold and fivefold, respectively, whereas it did not substantially increase the rate of reversion induced by other frameshift mutagens, i.e. 2-nitrofluorene (2NF) and 2-amino- 3-methyldipyrido[1,2-a:3 ,2-d]imi-dazole (Glu-P-1). Introduction of a pBR322-derived plasmid carrying samAB did not increase the incidence of reversion of hisD3052 observed with any of the mutagens examined. Deletion of umuDC _STSubstantially lowered the reversion rate induced by l-NP or 1,8-DNP, but it did not affect reversion induced by 2-NF, Glu-P-1 or N-hydroxyacetylaminofluorene (N-OH-AAF). Deletion of samAB had little impact on reversion incidence induced by any of the five frameshift mutagens. DNA amplification using the polymerase chain reaction technique followed by restriction enzyme analysis using BssHII, suggested that the mutations induced by the five frameshift mutagens were all CG deletions at the CGCGCGCG sequence in hisD3052. These results suggest that umuDCST, but not samAB, is involved in the -2 frameshift mutagenesis induced by l-NP and 1,8-DNP at the repetitive CG sequence, whereas neither operon participates in induction of the same type of mutations by 2-NF, Glu-P-1 or N-OH-AAF.     

Phylogenetic Position of the Mitochondrion-Lacking Protozoan Trichomonas tenax,Based on Amino Acid Sequences of Elongation Factors 1α and 2

Major parts of amino-acid-coding regions of elongation factor (EF)-1α and EF-2 in Trichomonas tenax were amplified by PCR from total genomic DNA and the products were cloned into a plasmid vector, pGEM-T. The three clones from each of the products of the EF-1α and EF-2 were isolated and sequenced. The insert DNAs of the clones containing EF-1α coding regions were each 1,185 bp long with the same nucleotide sequence and contained 53.1% of G + C nucleotides. Those of the clones containing EF-2 coding regions had two different sequences; one was 2,283 bp long and the other was 2,286 bp long, and their G + C contents were 52.5 and 52.9%, respectively. The copy numbers of the EF-1α and EF-2 gene per chromosome were estimated as four and two, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences obtained by the conceptual translation were 395 residues from EF-1α and 761 and 762 residues from the EF-2s. The sequences were aligned with the other eukaryotic and archaebacterial EF-1αs and EF-2s, respectively. The phylogenetic position of T. tenax was inferred by the maximum likelihood (ML) method using the EF-1α and EF-2 data sets. The EF-1α analysis suggested that three mitochondrion-lacking protozoa, Glugea plecoglossi, Giardia lamblia, and T. tenax, respectively, diverge in this order in the very early phase of eukaryotic evolution. The EF-2 analysis also supported the divergence of T. tenax to be immediately next to G. lamblia. Received: 15 February 1996 / Accepted: 28 June 1996     

Enhancement of DNA polymerase II activity in E. coli after treatment with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine.

The G₁(G₀) arrest induced in NRK cells by picolinic acid was preceded by marked changes in iron metabolism. In contrast, picolinic acid did not significantly prevent zinc uptake and changes in intracellular zinc were small and clearly preceded by changes in iron. A kinetic study revealed that iron uptake by NRK cells was rapidly halted by picolinic acid. Experiments with radioiron-labeled cells indicated that picolinic acid, in a dose dependent manner, effectively removed iron from the cells. The dose of picolinic acid that exactly removed iron from the cells was also the concentration that induced the G₁(G₀) arrest. Picolinic acid, therefore, may induce the growth inhibition by selectively withholding iron from the cells. These data strongly suggest that iron availability may be a controlling factor in the initiation of DNA synthesis in NRK cells.     

On the antisymmetry of the amino acid code table

Antisymmetry of the amino acid code table in terms of codon degeneracy is pointed out, and it is related to a physico-chemical problem of codon-anticodon interaction energy. A strong negative correlation between molecular weight of an amino acid and its codon degeneracy is pointed out, and its implication to the origin of the amino acid code table is discussed. Finally, an earlier form of the amino acid code table is proposed.