Site-directed mutagenesis to determine essential residues of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase ofRhodospirillum rubrum

Both Lys-166 and His-291 of ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase fromRhodospirillum rubrum have been implicated as the active-site residue that initiates catalysis. To decide between these two candidates, we resorted to site-directed mutagenesis to replace Lys-166 and His-291 with several amino acids. All 7 of the position-166 mutants tested are severely deficient in carboxylase activity, whereas the alanine and serine mutants at position 291 are ∼40% and ∼18% as active as the native carboxylase, essentially ruling out His-291 in theRhodospirillum rubrum carboxylase (and by inference His-298 in the spinach enzyme) as a catalytically essential residue. The ability of some of the mutant proteins to undergo carbamate formation or to bind either ribulosebisphosphate or a transition-state analogue remains largely unimpaired. This implies that Lys-166 is not required for substrate binding; rather, the results corroborate the earlier postulate that Lys-166 functions as an acid-base group in catalysis or in stabilizing a transition state in the reaction pathway.     

Formation of heterophile antibodies by human tonsilar lymphocytes: II. In vitro stimulation with allogeneic cells

Short-term cultures of human tonsilar lymphocytes (HTL), 5 × 10⁶ cells/culture, in medium RPMI 1640 supplemented with human group AB serum were studied for the production of plaque-forming cells (PFC) against sheep (SRBC) and bovine (BRBC) red blood cells following in vitro stimulation by various allogeneic lymphoid cells. Of 55 HTL specimens examined, 48 produced a significant number (50–300/culture) of PFC against SRBC and/or BRBC following the in vitro stimulation. The optimal doses of the stimulator HTL and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were 10⁷ and 5 × 10⁶/culture, respectively. After the stimulation, PFC appeared in significant numbers on the third day, reached the peak number on the sixth day, and decreased sharply in number thereafter. Removal of E-rosetting cells from both stimulator and responder populations abolished the PFC formation. PFC formation against SRBC was inhibited by solubilized Forssman antigen, while PFC formation against BRBC was inhibited strongly by Hanganutziu-Deicher antigen, hardly by Paul-Bunnell antigen and not at all by Forssman antigen. Supernatants of mixed lymphocyte culture of PBL were shown to enhance PFC formation of HTL cultures stimulated by allogeneic lymphocytes. The results of this study indicated that in vivo primed B cells of the HTL were triggered in vitro by allogeneic stimulation for the heterophile antibody formation. Since these antibodies are apparently directed against Forssman and Hanganutziu-Deicher antigens, the “allo” nature of these antigens as well as their relationship to the previously described heterophile transplantation antigens have to be clarified.     

Schistosoma mansoni: Electrophoretic characterization of strains selected for different levels of infectivity to snails

Individual adult Schistosoma mansoni from strains selected for high or low infectivity to specific strains of the snail intermediate host, Biomphalaria glabrata, were subjected to enzyme electrophoresis on starch gels. Fourteen enzyme systems were analyzed in an attempt to find electrophoretic markers associated with genes for infectivity to snails. The S. mansoni strains were selected from different isolates from Puerto Rico in several strains of B. glabrata. Of an estimated 18 loci, 3 were polymorphic and the remainder monomorphic. For 1 of the 3 polymorphic enzyme loci, lactate dehydrogenase (Ldh, EC 1.1.1.27), phenotype frequencies were correlated with infectivity to snails. In schistosome strains of low infectivity, frequencies of the Ldh-N phenotype ranged between 0.56 and 0.69, while in strains of high infectivity, Ldh-N frequencies were typically 0.91 to 1.00. Whether the correlation is accidental or due to some form of association, such as chromosomal linkage, between the locus responsible for variation in lactate dehydrogenase and a gene for infectivity to snails remains to be determined.     

The utilization of bromodeoxyuridine incorporation into DNA for the analysis of cellular kinetics

Recently developed differential staining techniques based on the incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) into DNA permits the unequivocal identification of metaphase cells which have replicated once, twice, and three or more times. This technique has the potential of being utilized in the examination of kinetics of dividing cell populations. This potential is examined in a phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocyte system. Determinations of the effect of increasing concentrations of BUdR on the distribution of metaphase cells between different generation cycles reveals no inhibition of cellular kinetics below 35 μM. The ability to distinguish third generation metaphase cells from subsequent generations is examined through the determination of “labelled” centromeric regions. The applicability of this system to current cellular kinetics is discussed.     

Histamine suppression of human lymphocyte responses to mitogens.

Exogenously added histamine in non-cytotoxic concentrations (10^?5?10^?3M) suppresses in vitro proliferation of lymphocytes induced by PHA or Concanavalin A. This suppressive effect was observed when histamine was present for as short as $\text{1}\text{2}$ hr in the beginning of the culture. Histamine, in concentrations as high as 10^?3M, did not cause increased release of isotope from ⁵¹Cr-labeled lymphocytes following 4 hr of incubation. The histamine H₂ receptor antagonist, metiamide, but not the H₁ receptor antagonists diphenhydramine or chlorpheniramine, blocked the histamine suppressive effect. Some of the biological implications of these findings are discussed.     

利用基于CRISPR-Cas9 的基因编辑技术对miR-29a在GT1-7 细胞中进 行基因敲除

目的:本文利用CRISPR-Cas9技术在GT1-7细胞中对miR-29a基因进行基因编辑,用于构建miR-29a基因敲除GT1-7细胞模型。方法:通过构建Cas9稳转的GT1-7细胞株并转染sgRNA质粒用于在靶向miR-29a基因区域引发突变。然后构建EGFP与sgRNA共表达质粒并转染Cas9稳转GT1-7细胞,利用流式细胞仪富集表达绿色荧光蛋白的阳性细胞和分选阳性单克隆细胞。最后利用实时荧光定量PCR(realtimefluorescencequantitativePCR)对富集细胞和单克隆细胞进行miR-29a表达量检测。结果:T7E1检测结果显示CRISPR-Cas9系统有效地在miR-29a基因区域引发了突变。荧光定量PCR结果显示,与对照组相比,富集后阳性细胞miR-29a的表达量整体下降了50%左右(P0.05)。此外,通过流式筛选获得了一个纯合miR-29a基因敲除细胞克隆,与对照组相比,其miR-29a的表达量下降了75%左右(P0.05)。结论:本文建立了一种有效编辑GT1-7细胞基因的方法,并采用该方法构建了miR-29a稳定敲除细胞模型。