人胚大脑神经细胞在无血清培养液中的生长特性

本文介绍无血清培养的人胚大脑细胞在体外存活10—14天,最长可达21天;含血清培养48小时后再置于无血清液中者,存活2—4周左右。神经细胞在分化成熟时所具有的形态学特性与体内相似。神经特异性烯醇酶(NSE)免疫组织化学法,证实培养3天的神经细胞开始成熟,成熟率逐日增加,最高达86％以上。10％血清组,培养日龄较长,可达月余,形态特征与无血清组相似,但非神经细胞数较高。[~3H]-GABA特异性摄取功能随培养日龄增多而增高。无血清培养法能产生较多的神经细胞,可作激素、微量元素、生长因子等对神经细胞分化发育影响的研究,是一种较好的单因子分析系统。     

组织培养次生代谢产物Ⅵ.甾类化合物(放射免疫测定法Radioimmunoassay)

在植物界中所发现的甾类化合物,除普遍存在的固醇外,也特异地存在于有限的植物种中,如椰子油中所含的雌酮,蕨类和罗汉松目植物中所含有昆虫蜕皮激素(ecdysones),马铃薯所含的茄碱(solanine),甾体激素合成的重要原料——薯蓣属植物的甾类化合物皂角苷(saponin),作为重要的心脏功能不全的特效药毛地黄属植物所含的强心配糖体[毛地黄毒苷(digitoxin)和地高辛(digoxin)]等都可作为代表。灵敏度高、特异性好的RIA(放射免疫法),用于少量植物培养细胞中微量甾类化合物的定量时十分有     

绒毛滋养层细胞直接制备染色体方法

本方法对绒毛滋养层细胞直接制备染色体作了改进。分别将制片手法,低渗液配制,秋水仙素浓度与固定时间等方面给以改良。后三者不同于Simoni及国内报道,作者认为低渗液成分,秋水仙素浓度与固定时间是不可分割与相互影响的。此法所得分裂相中,染色体形态及分散良好和显带清晰,方法稳定,有利于孕早期诊断的染色体结构分析。     

Common signal transduction system shared by STE2 and STE3 in haploid cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: autocrine cell-cycle arrest results from forced expression of STE2

Induction of STE2 expression using the GAL1 promoter both in a wild-type MATalpha strain and in a MATalpha ste3 strain caused transient cell-cycle arrest and changes in morphology ('shmoo'-like phenotype) in a manner similar to alpha cells responding to alpha-factor. In addition, STE2 expressed in a MATalp[ha ste3 mutant allowed the cell to conjugate with alpha cells but at an efficiency lower than that of wil-type alpha cells. This result indicates that signal(s) generated by alpha-factor in alpha cells can be substituted by signal(s) generated by the interaction of alpha-factor with the expressed STE2 product. When STE2 or STE3 was expressed in a matalpha1 strain (insensitive to both alpha- and a-factors), the cell became sensitive to alpha- or a-factor, respectively, and resulted in morphological changes. These results suggest that STE2 and STE3 are the sole determinants for alpha-factor and a-factor sensitivity, respectively, in this strain. On the other hand, expression of STE2 in an a/alpha diploid cell did not affect the alpha-factor insensitive phenotype. Haploid-specific components may be necessary to transduce the alpha-factor signal. These results are consistent with the idea that STE2 encodes an alpha-factor receptor and STE3 encodes an a-factor receptor, and suggest that both alpha- and a-factors may generate an exchangeable signal(s) within haploid cells.     

Structural transition in inactive Balbiani ring chromatin of Chironomus during micrococcus nuclease digestion

We have analysed by micrococcus nuclease digestion the chromatin structure of genes in the Balbiani ring (BR) regions of a Chironomus cell line. Gel electrophoresis of the DNA fragments reveals a repeating structure which consists of two repeat sizes, a long repeat seen in the large fragments and a small repeat seen in the small fragments. The two repeats hardly overlap, except in a narrow transition zone which is at a different fragment size in the BR 2.2 and the BR 2.1 gene. The sizes of the large repeats fit the repeat of the underlying DNA sequence. The short repeats are between 170 and 180 bp, and after H1 depletion the short repeat in the BR 2.2 gene is 160 bp. Our most favoured interpretation of these data is that in intact chromatin the nucleosomes in the BR genes are phased with respect to the repeating DNA sequence, whereas micrococcus nuclease digestion leads to loss of a nucleosome-positioning constraint and hence to rearrangement of the nucleosomes. Our results imply a possible artefact of nuclease digestion of chromatin, which has to be taken into account in mapping nucleosome positions.     

Host-specific regulation of nodulation genes in Rhizobium is mediated by a plant-signal, interacting with the nodD gene product

We have identified a nodD gene from the wide host-range Rhizobium strain MPIK3030 (termed nodD1) which is essential for nodulation on Macroptilium atropurpureum (siratro). Experiments with nodA–lacZ gene fusions demonstrate that the MPIK3030 nodD1 regulates expression of the nodABC genes. Additionally, we used nodC–lacZ fusions of Rhizobium meliloti to show that the MPIK3030 nodD1 gene induces expression of these fusions by interacting with plant factors from siratro and from the non-host Medicago sativa (alfalfa). The R. meliloti nodD genes, however, only interact with alfalfa exudate. In line with these results, no complementation of MPIK3030 nodD1 mutants could be obtained on siratro with the R. meliloti nodD genes, while the MPIK3030 nodD1 can complement nodD mutants of R. meliloti on alfalfa. Furthermore, R. meliloti transconjugants harbouring the MPIK3030 nodD1 efficiently nodulate the illegitimate host siratro. When compared with other nodD sequences, the amino acid sequence of the MPIK3030 nodD1 shows a conserved aminoterminus, whereas the carboxy-terminus of the putative gene product diverges considerably. Studies on a chimeric MPIK3030/R. meliloti nodD gene indicates that the carboxy-terminal region is responsible for the interaction with plant factor(s) and may have evolved in different rhizobia specifically to interact with plant–host factors.     

Stoichiometric differences in DNA molecules containing the atpA gene suggest mechanisms for the generation of mitochondrial genome diversity in maize

Four genomic arrangements of the maize mitochondrial atpA gene (encoding the α subunit of the F₁ ATPase), have been characterized. Most N (fertile) and S (male-sterile) cytoplasms contain two atpA arrangements of equal abundance. Prolonged exposure of blots of maize mitochondrial DNA probed with atpA-specific sequences show that cytoplasms previously reported to lack one of the atpA arrangements do contain the second arrangement but at low levels. Similarly, restriction fragments containing the atpA gene previously thought unique to male-sterile S and T cytoplasms are present in low abundance in fertile cytoplasms. These observations suggest that fertile and male-sterile cytoplasms of maize may be more closely related than previously thought, and suggest possible mechanisms to explain the observed mitochondrial genome diversity.     

Binding of a nuclear factor to a consensus sequence in the 5' flanking region of zein genes from maize

The genomic organization of the zein structural genes and of regulatory loci influencing their expression suggests that control of zein gene expression will involve interactions between cis elements in the flanking DNA sequences and products from trans-acting genes. The interaction between fragments from the 5' flanking region of a zein gene and specific, double-stranded oligonucleotides with crude nuclear extracts from maize endosperm have been studied by nitrocellulose filter binding, gel retention and DNase I footprinting assays. Specific binding of a nuclear factor was observed and the exact position of the protein binding site was determined. The 22-nt binding site included 14 bp of a 15-bp sequence conserved in all zein genes.