Prevalence of Human Herpesvirus 6 Variants A and B in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected from 13 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and 13 healthy controls were analyzed for the presence of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) DNA by variant-specific polymerase chain reaction and dot blot hybridization. HHV-6 DNA was detected in 7 of 13 (53%) patients, and of those 7 patients, 4 were positive for HHV-6 variant A DNA and 3 were for variant B. No HHV-6 DNA was detected in the controls. Serum antibody titers to the late antigen and antibody prevalence to the early antigen of HHV-6 were significantly higher in the patient group. These results suggest active replication of HHV-6 in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.     

Accumulation of Phenylpropanoids in Cotyledons of Morning Glory (Pharbitis nil) Seedlings during the Induction of Flowering by Poor Nutrition

Flowering of Pharbitis nil strain Violet is induced in continuouslight under poor nutritional conditions. High-performance liquidchromatography of extracts of the cotyledons revealed that twocompounds in addition to chlorogenic acid accumulate under suchconditions. The compounds were identified as pinoresinol glucosideand p-coumaroylquinic acid. The endogenous levels of these phenylpropanoidswere correlated with the flowering response when nutrition waspoor. However, activation of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis seemednot to be essential for the induction of flowering. (Received May 17, 1993; Accepted July 26, 1993)     

Amplifiedbcl-2/JH rearrangements in reactive lymphadenopathy

Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to examine the occurrence ofbcl-2/JH joining produced by t(14;18) chromosomal translocation, amplified DNA was detected in 2 of 18 lymph nodes showing reactive lymphadenopathy. The PCR was repeated in these two lymphs nodes using the same DNA samples, but no amplification was detected at the second attempt. Thus the amplified DNA was considered to be derived from one copy of joinedbcl-2/JH in one cell, or from a few copies in a few clonal cells with the same joinedbcl-2/JH. These results suggest that false joining ofbcl-2/JH at the t(14;l8) junction may occur in reactive lymph nodes.     

Osteological and histological comparison of the development of the interphalangeal intercalary skeletal element between hyloid and ranoid anurans

Some frog species have a unique skeletal element, referred to as the intercalary element (IE), in the joints between the terminal and subterminal phalanges of all digits. IEs are composed of cartilage or connective tissue and have a markedly differ shape than the phalanges. IEs are highly related to the arboreal lifestyle and toe pads. The IE is found only in neobatrachian frogs among anurans, suggesting that it is a novelty of Neobatrachia. IEs are widely distributed among multiple neobatrachian lineages and are found in the suborders Hyloides and Ranoides (the two major clades in Neobatrachia). However, it is unclear whether the IEs found in multiple linages resulted from convergent evolution. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to examine how similar or different the developmental trajectories of the IEs are between Hyloides and Ranoides. To that end, we compared the osteological and histological developmental processes of the IEs of the hyloid frog Dryophytes japonicus and the ranoid frog Zhangixalus schlegelii. Both species shared the same IE-initiation site and level of tissue differentiation around the IE when it began to form in tadpoles, although the IE developments initiated at different stages which were determined by external criteria. These results suggest that similar mechanisms drive IE formation in the digits of both species, supporting the hypothesis that the IEs did not evolve convergently.     

N-Glycan structures of squid rhodopsin.

To determine the glycoforms of squid rhodopsin, N-glycans were released by glycoamidase A digestion, reductively aminated with 2-aminopyridine, and then subjected to 2D HPLC analysis [Takahashi, N., Nakagawa, H., Fujikawa, K., Kawamura, Y. & Tomiya, N. (1995) Anal. Biochem.226, 139-146]. The major glycans of squid rhodopsin were shown to possess the alpha1-3 and alpha1-6 difucosylated innermost GlcNAc residue found in glycoproteins produced by insects and helminths. By combined use of 2D HPLC, electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry and permethylation and gas chromatography-electron ionization mass spectrometry analyses, it was revealed that most (85%) of the N-glycans exhibit the novel structure Manalpha1-6(Manalpha1-3)Manbeta1-4GlcNAcbeta1-4(Galbeta1-4Fucalpha1-6)(Fucalpha1-3)GlcNAc.     

A new gobiid fish,Acanthogobius insularis,from the Ryukyu Islands,Japan

A new gobiid species,Acanthogobius insularis, is described from 88 specimens collected from Amami-oshima Island and Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan. The species is distinguished from its congeners by the combination of dorsal and anal fin ray counts, vertebral counts, cephalic sensory system patterns and coloration.     

Reconstitution of a pentameric complex of dimeric transforming growth factor beta ligand and a type I,II, III receptor in baculoviral-infected insect cells

Summary Two transmembrane serine-threonine kinases (type I and II receptors), a membrane-anchored proteoglycan (type III), and a homodimeric ligand participate in the transforming growth factor beta type on (TGFβ1) signal transduction complex. The expression of recombinant receptors in insect cells co-infected with up to three recombinant baculoviruses was employed to study interactions among the ectodomains of the three types of receptors and the TGFβ1 ligand in absence of uncontrollable extrinsic factors in mammalian cells. Multi-subunit complexes were assembled in intact cells and purified on glutathione-conjugated beads for analysis by tagging one of the subunits with glutathione S-transferase (GST). Intrinsic ligand-independent interactions were observed among receptor subunits as follows: type III–III type I–I, type III-I, and type II-I. The homeotypic complex of type II–II receptors and the heterotypic type III-II interaction was ligand dependent. The type I, but not the type III, subunit displaced about 50% of the type II component in either ligand-dependent homomeric type II-type II complexes or heteromeric type III-type II complexes to form type II-I or type III-II-I oligomers, respectively. The type II subunit displaced type I subunits in oligomers of the type I subunit. Specificity of type I receptors may result from differential affinity for the type II receptor rather than specificity for ligand. A monomeric subunit of the TGFβ1 ligand bound concurrently to type III and type II or type III and type I receptors, but failed to concurrently bind to the type II and type I subunits. The binding of TGFβ1 to the type I kinase subunit appears to require an intact disulfide-linked ligand dimer in the absence of a type III subunit. The combined results suggest a pentameric TGFβ signal transduction complex in which one unit each of the type III, type II, and type I components is assembled around the two subunits of the dimeric TGFβ1 ligand. An immobilized GST-tagged subunit of the receptor complex was utilized to assemble multi-subunit complexesin vitro and to study the phosphorylation events among subunits in the absence of extrinsic cell-derived kinases. The results revealed that (a) a low level of ligand-independent autophosphorylation occurs in the type I kinase; (b) a high level of autophosphorylation occurs in the type II kinase; (c) both the type III and type I subunits aretrans-phosphorylated by the type II subunit; and (d) the presence of both type I and II kinases complexed with the type III subunit and dimeric TGFβ1 ligand in a pentameric complex causes maximum phosphorylation of all three receptor subunits.