Magnetic susceptibility of various ferrihemoglobin species.

Measurements of the magnetic susceptibility of guinea pig, human A, and pigeon ferrihemoglobins as a function of pH at 30°C demonstrate maxima very near the extrema found for the standard enthalpies and standard entropies of ligand binding, i.e., at the so-called “characteristic pH” values, which are very different for these three species. Ligand binding is dependent on spin state, at least through the characteristic pH behavior, which is not yet understood.     

Microbial cleavage of various organophosphorus insecticides.

Bacteria able to utilize Aspon, Azodrin, Dasanit, diazinon, malathion, Orthene, parathion, Trithion, dimethoate, Dylox, methyl parathion, and Vapona as sole phosphorus sources were isolated from soil and sewage. Individual isolates used from 3 to 10 of these insecticides as sole phosphorus sources. The extent of growth of two Pseudomonas strains in media containing diazinon and malathion was in the range expected from the amount of insecticide supplied, and their proliferation resulted in disappearance of the chemical. Resting cells of the pseudomonads derived from cultures grown on diazinon or malathion but not orthophosphate caused extensive destruction of these two organophosphates in the presence or absence of chloramphenicol. Extracts of the two bacteria derived from organophosphate-grown cultures catalyzed the disappearance of Aspon, Azodrin, Dasanit, diazinon, malathion, Orthene, parathion, and Trithion but not dimethoate, Dylox, methyl parathion, and Vapona. Results from gas chromatographic analysis suggested that the extracts formed dimethyl phosphate from azodrin, dimethyl phosphorodithioate from malathion, diethyl phosphorodithioate from Trithion, and diethyl phosphorothioate from Dasanit, diazinon, and parathion. Dimethyl phosphate, dimethyl phosphorothioate , dimethyl phosphorodithioate, diethyl phosphate, and diethyl phosphorothioate were not used by the pseudomonads as sole phosphorus sources.     

Alcohol-oxidizing enzymes from various organisms.

1. Enzymes that catalyse the oxidation of aliphatic alcohols to aldehydes are reviewed. 2. Special attention is given to phenazine methosulphate-linked alcohol dehydrogenases from bacteria and to flavin-containing alcohol oxidases from yeasts, moulds and higher plants. 3. Some properties of the microsomal ethanol-oxidative system of rat liver are discussed.     

Microbial cleavage of various organophosphorus insecticides.

Bacteria able to utilize Aspon, Azodrin, Dasanit, diazinon, malathion, Orthene, parathion, Trithion, dimethoate, Dylox, methyl parathion, and Vapona as sole phosphorus sources were isolated from soil and sewage. Individual isolates used from 3 to 10 of these insecticides as sole phosphorus sources. The extent of growth of two Pseudomonas strains in media containing diazinon and malathion was in the range expected from the amount of insecticide supplied, and their proliferation resulted in disappearance of the chemical. Resting cells of the pseudomonads derived from cultures grown on diazinon or malathion but not orthophosphate caused extensive destruction of these two organophosphates in the presence or absence of chloramphenicol. Extracts of the two bacteria derived from organophosphate-grown cultures catalyzed the disappearance of Aspon, Azodrin, Dasanit, diazinon, malathion, Orthene, parathion, and Trithion but not dimethoate, Dylox, methyl parathion, and Vapona. Results from gas chromatographic analysis suggested that the extracts formed dimethyl phosphate from azodrin, dimethyl phosphorodithioate from malathion, diethyl phosphorodithioate from Trithion, and diethyl phosphorothioate from Dasanit, diazinon, and parathion. Dimethyl phosphate, dimethyl phosphorothioate , dimethyl phosphorodithioate, diethyl phosphate, and diethyl phosphorothioate were not used by the pseudomonads as sole phosphorus sources.     

Isolation and identification of Cryptosporidium from various animals in Korea. I. Prevalence of Cryptosporidium in various animals

Cryptosporidium, a coccidian protozoa, commonly causes a self-limiting diarrheal illness in humans and animals. Fecal samples from various animals in Chonbuk district were observed using Sheather's flotation technique, Kinyoun's modified acid-fast staining, and osmic acid pre-fixed Giemsa staining. The oocysts were detected in 74 cages (29.6%) out of 250 cages of mature mice, 26 (13.3%) out of 195 mature house rats, 75(15.0%) out of 4-week-old 500 fowls, 98(19.9%) out of 6 to 8-month-old 500 pigs, and 111(22.2%) out of 2 to 5-year-old 500 dairy cattle, respectively. The degree of prevalence was slight in general, but actual prevalence was higher than infection rate because the detection rates were higher in repeated-preparation examinations in comparison to the first examination. Meanwhile, large and small types of oocysts were detected from mice, house rats, pigs, and cattle, and medium type from fowls.     

Comparative specificities of trehalases from various species.

1. Using derivatives or non-symmetrical analogs of alpha,alpha-trehalose, we studied the catalytic specificities of trehalases from various species: Pseudomonas fluorescens, Melolontha vulgaris, porcine and human kidneys. 2. alpha,Beta-trehalose, beta,beta-trehalose, 6,6'dideoxy alpha,alpha-trehalose, alpha-D-xylopyranosyl alpha-D-xylopyranoside were shown to be neither substrates nor inhibitors. 3. 6'deoxy alpha,alpha-trehalose, alpha-D-glucopyranosyl alpha-D-xylopyranoside, alpha-D-allopyranosyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside and alpha-D-galactosyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside, which all possess an intact alpha-D-glucopyranosyl residue, were split by all these trehalases. 4. alpha-D-glucopyranosyl alpha-D-mannopyranoside, alpha,alpha-trehalosamine are competitive inhibitors. 5. These results show the importance of the primary alcohol group at C-6, of the equatorial configuration of the OH groups at C-2, C-3 and C-4 and of the modification of the structure at C-2 of the substrate for the catalytic activity.     

Chromosomal heterogeneity of various Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae field strains.

Restriction enzyme digestion and field inversion gel electrophoresis were used to analyze the chromosomes of strains of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and the related organism Mycoplasma flocculare. The chromosome size for the M. hyopneumoniae type strain was calculated from individual fragments to be 1,011.3 +/- 32.9 kbp. The chromosomes of M. hyopneumoniae field strains were approximately the same size. The restriction patterns obtained for the chromosomes of phenotypically similar M. hyopneumoniae strains were quite different. Therefore, the species M. hyopneumoniae seems to be very heterogeneous. A field inversion gel electrophoresis analysis of the entire chromosomes allowed us to distinguish M. hyopneumoniae strains easily and hence to characterize further the species M. hyopneumoniae. The chromosome size for M. flocculare was calculated to be 988.3 +/- 39.5 kbp. Restriction enzyme XhoI, which statistically should cut the M. hyopneumoniae chromosome frequently, did not cut the DNA of any of the M. hyopneumoniae strains but did digest M. flocculare DNA, indicating that there is a site-specific modification at CTCGAG which probably belongs to a restriction modification system in M. hyopneumoniae and is absent in M. flocculare.     

Iron status in runners of various running specialties.

The blood iron status of 44 male runners of various running specialties (18 sprinters, 13 middle- and 13 long-distance runners) is evaluated by measuring serum ferritin (SF), serum iron (Si), hemoglobin concentration (Hb), hematocrit (Ht), red blood cells content (RBC) and haptoglobin concentration (Hp). The results of these analyses (except Hp) are compared to those obtained in sedentary male subjects (control group) of the same mean age. Mean SF, SI, Hb and Ht measured in athletes are significantly lower than in control group. The remarkably low Hp values obtained in athletes suggests the occurrence of hemolysis. Using unpaired t test, it appears that the blood iron status of these runners does not depend on their running specialty.     

Occurrence of protein phosphorylation in various bacterial species.

1. The occurrence of protein phosphorylation in Escherichia coli B, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus sphaericus, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Arthrobacter S1-55, was investigated by means of both in vivo and in vitro experiments. 2. In each bacterial species the presence of several phosphorylated proteins was evidenced by gel electrophoresis and autoradiography after either labelling of growing cells with [32P]orthophosphate or incubating cellular extracts with radioactive ATP. 3. The analysis of the radioactive moiety of proteins showed that they contained phosphoserine, phosphothreonine and phosphotyrosine. These three phosphoamino acids were found in varying proportions depending both on the bacterial species and, within the same species, on the conditions used for labelling proteins, either in vivo or in vitro. 4. By measuring the effect of cyclic nucleotides on the extent of protein phosphorylation in cellular extracts, it was observed that, in all five bacterial species analyzed, neither cyclic AMP nor cyclic GMP was able to stimulate the activity of protein kinases. 5. All together these results bring evidence that protein phosphorylation catalyzed by protein kinases is a post-translational modification widespread among prokaryotes.