Mutants of the obligate methylothroph Methylobacillus flagellatum KT defective in genes of the ribulose monophosphate cycle of formaldehyde fixation

Pseudomonas cepacia MBA4 able to utilize monobromoacetic acid as a sole source of carbon and energy was isolated from soil by enrichment culture. In batch culture the ability to utilize the substrate was conferred by a single halidohydrolase-type dehalogenase which demonstrated a high activity towards the enrichment substrate. The purified enzyme, designated as dehalogenase IVa by activity-stain polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, had a relative molecular weight of 45,000 and was comprised of two electrophoretically identical subunits with relative molecular weights of 23,000. Dehalogenase IVa demonstrated isomer specificity, being active towards the L-isomer of 2-monochloropropionic acid only. The significance of activity-stain polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in characterizing dehalogenases and their ubiquitous distribution among bacterial genera are discussed.Abbreviations MCA Monochloroacetic acid - DCA dichloroacetic acid - MBA monobromoacetic acid - 2MPCA 2-monochloropropionic acid - 2MBPA 2-monobromopropionic acid     

Effect of formaldehyde on growth of obligate methylotroph Methylobacillus flagellatum in a substrate non-limited continuous culture

The ribulose monophosphate cycle methylotroph Methylobacillus flagellatum was grown under oxyturbidostat conditions on mixtures of methanol and formaldehyde. Formaldehyde when added at low concentration (50 mg/l) increased the methanol consumption and the yield of biomass. The presence of 150–300 mg/l of formaldehyde resulted in an increase of the growth rate from 0.74 to about 0.79–0.82 h^-1. The presence of 500 mg/l of formaldehyde in the inflow decreased culture growth characteristics. Activities of methanol dehydrogenase and enzymes participating in formaldehyde oxidation and assimilation were measured. The enzymological profiles obtained are discussed.Abbreviations MDH methanol dehydrogenase - NAD-linked FDDH NAD-linked formaldehyde dehydrogenase - DLFDDH dye-linked formaldehyde dehydrogenase - DLFDH dye-linked formate dehydrogenase - GPDH glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase - PGDH 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase - RuMP cycle ribulose monophosphate cycle     

The Src family of tyrosine protein kinases in hemopoietic signal transduction.

The Src family of tyrosine protein kinases represent an expanding class of closely related intracellular enzymes that participate in the signal transduction pathways of a variety of surface receptors. One of the more surprising aspects of the information relating Src protein kinases to receptor signaling is the apparent diversity of receptor types with which the Src-related enzymes are reported to interact physically or functionally. Traditional biochemical and genetic approaches have yielded much information regarding the interactions between the Src tyrosine protein kinases and other cellular proteins in defined cell types, and emerging technologies, most notably homologous recombination in embryonal stem cells to achieve gene "knockouts," are providing new insights into the participation of the Src-related gene products in signal transduction and development.     

Transformation of a new Gram-positive methylotroph,Brevibacterium methylicum,by plasmid DNA

Summary Brevibacterium methylicum is a newly isolated Gram-positive facultatively methylotrophic bacterium that uses the NAD⁺-dependent methanol dehydrogenase for methanol oxidation and assimilates its carbon via the ribulose monophosphate cycle. Protoplasts prepared by lysozyme treatment of B. methylicum cells grown in the presence of glycine were transformed by plasmid shuttle vectors pCEM500 (16.5 kb; Sm^r/Sp^r, Km^r/Gm^r) and pEC71 (7.1 kb; Km^r/Nm^r) constructed on the basis of B. lactofermentum plasmid pAM330 and replicating in Escherichia coli and in amino-acid-producing coryneform bacteria. The resistance markers were found to be expressed in B. methylicum and autonomous plasmid DNAs of various size were isolated from the transformants. The presence of the pAM330 replicon in these plasmids was demonstrated by DNA-DNA hybridization experiments. Offprint requests to: J. Nevera     

Development of a system vector-host in methylotrophic bacteria

Cloning of methylotropic and other Gram negative bacteria's genes was performed using vectors derived from IncP4 plasmids. Plasmids, such s RSF1010 are 8.8 kb in length, have a high copy number and broad host range and can be mobilized efficiently by a number of conjugative plasmids. IncP4 plasmids have relatively few restriction enzyme's targets suitable for cloning. In this paper the construction of versatile and special purpose IncP4 vectors available for cloning DNA into broad range of bacterial species are described. The seria of versatile vectors involves the transposon containing plasmid and two-replicon vectors.In genetic construction of special vector for direct cloning of restriction fragments the genetic regulation elements of Tn 1 were used. On the base of IncP4 replicon special vectors for construction of bank genes (cosmids) and the vectors for cloning of regulation sequence were also constructed.     

Big flies, small repeats: the "Thr-Gly" region of the period gene in Diptera

The region of the clock gene period (per) that encodes a repetitive tract of threonine-glycine (Thr-Gly) pairs has been compared between Dipteran species both within and outside the Drosophilidae. All the non- Drosophilidae sequences in this region are short and present a remarkably stable picture compared to the Drosophilidae, in which the region is much larger and extremely variable, both in size and composition. The accelerated evolution in the repetitive region of the Drosophilidae appears to be mainly due to an expansion of two ancestral repeats, one encoding a Thr-Gly dipeptide and the other a pentapeptide rich in serine, glycine, and asparagine or threonine. In some drosophilids the expansion involves a duplication of the pentapeptide sequence, but in Drosophila pseudoobscura both the dipeptide and the pentapeptide repeats are present in larger numbers. In the nondrosophilids, however, the pentapeptide sequence is represented by one copy and the dipeptide by two copies. These observations fulfill some of the predictions of recent theoretical models that have simulated the evolution of repetitive sequences.      

Inhibition of the anti-CD3-induced T cell proliferation by crosslinking of stimulatory antibodies in the presence of PMA and interleukin-2.

Anti-CD3 antibodies are directed to the nonpolymorphic part of the T cell receptor complex and may activate human peripheral T cells. Under some circumstances crosslinked anti-CD3 has been described to augment the proliferative response. Here we demonstrate that crosslinking of stimulatory anti-CD3 antibodies by anti-IgG in cell suspension abolishes their effect on proliferation of human resting peripheral T cells in the presence of PMA and/or IL-2. This effect was observed within a wide range of anti-CD3 concentrations (1 ng/ml to 1 microgram/ml) independent of the presence of monocytes. The inhibition was not due to the induction of cell death, since cells remained propidium iodide-negative after treatment. Protein-tyrosine phosphorylation after anti-CD3 crosslinking was more pronounced than in the presence of noncrosslinked anti-CD3. This indicates that the signal was transmitted after anti-CD3 crosslinking, however, it was unable to induce T cell proliferation. Reduced IL-2 receptor expression after anti-CD3 crosslinking and the inability of exogenous IL-2 to restore the proliferative response might indicate a reduced susceptibility to IL-2 as a reason for the described phenomenon.     

Accumulation of poly-(hydroxybutyrate) by a non-sulfur photosynthetic bacterium,Rhodobacter sphaeroides RV at different pH

Summary Effect of pH of culture media on intracellular accumulation of poly-(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) by a non-sulfur photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain RV was studied in pH-stat cultures. Sub-optimal pH for growth, 8.0 or 8.5 gave the higher content of PHB rather than optimal pH 7.5 for growth. These results show that growth and PHB accumulation of the bacteria can be controlled by pH of culture media.