The additional Sakaguchi positive component in chymotrypsin A alpha.

Quantitative Sakaguchi analysis of the B- and C- chains of chymotrypsin revealed the presence, in the latter chain, of an additional Sakaguchi positive component which was not detectable by amino acid analysis using ion-exchange chromatography. Analysis of the cyanogen bromide cleavage products of the C-chain suggests that the peptide sequence 149–192 of chymotrypsin is responsible for the additional Sakaguchi positive component.     

Generation of immune specificity: A working hypothesis

A speculative model for epigenetic generation of immune specificity is presented. It is based on the idea that combinatorial splicing within the same pre-mRNA molecule could generate a variety of mRNAs leading to a diversity of immunoglobulins. The model postulates a special role for the nuclear envelope where translation of intron sequences into messenger maturation proteins would take place. The postulates are justified and experimental implications of the model are discussed.     

The metabolic defect of methionine dependence occurs frequently in human tumor cell lines

Methionine dependence is the inability of cells to grow when methionine (Met) is replaced by its immediate precursor homocysteine (Hcy) in the culture medium (Met^?Hcy⁺ medium). All normal unestablished cell strains tested to date have been shown to be methionine-independent and thus grow almost as well in Met^?Hcy⁺ medium as they do in Met⁺Hcy^? medium. Results presented here indicate that out of 23 cell lines derived from diverse types of human tumors, 11 do not grow at all in Met^?Hcy⁺ medium and are absolutely methionine-dependent and 3 grow only slightly in this medium. Many of the tumor cell lines tested have little else in common other than the fact that they are methionine-dependent. The high frequency of occurrence of methionine dependence in diverse types of human tumor cells indicates that methionine dependence may be an important aspect of oncogenic transformation and therapeutically exploitable.     

Low molecular weight DNA ligase of chick embryo.

A nuclear DNA ligase from chick embryos was isolated by the non-aqueous method and partially purified. Its activity is several fold lower than that of the enzyme found in the cytoplasmic fraction of the chick embryos. The pH dependance curve shows a single optimum for the nuclear enzyme activity, over a very narrow pH range. The molecular weight of the nuclear enzyme is 82000 and the activity is inhibited with a low K_Iby d-ATP.     

Primary structure of Bacillus subtilis tRNAsTyr

tRNA_I^Tyr and tRNA_II^Tyr have been purified from B.subtilis and their nucleotide sequence determined. tRNA_I^Tyr differs from tRNA_II^Tyr only by the extent of modification of the adenosine in 3′ position adjacent to the anticodon, i⁶A and ms²i⁶A respectively.     

Redox reactions of the hydrogenase-cytochrome C3 system from Desulfovibrio gigas with the synthetic analogue of ferredoxin active sites [Fe4S4 (SCH2CH2OH)4]2−

The synthetic cluster [Fe₄S₄ (SCH₂CH₂OH)₄]^2? and ferredoxin I from $\text{Desulfovibrio}\text{gigas}$ have been comparatively reacted in the presence of hydrogen with two enzyme components isolated from the $\text{D.}\text{gigas}$ electron carrier system: hydrogenase and cytochrome c₃. The reactions have been followed by spectrophotometric and manometric methods. No reduction is detected unless both enzymes are simultaneously present. The easy reduction in the presence of hydrogenase-cytochrome c₃ combination takes place in two stages corresponding each to one equivalent of reduction. The first stage is reversible while the second is not and yields a super reduced species deriving from the cluster complex.     

Characterization of a small apolar anion binding site of human serum albumin.

Small unbranehed fatty acid anions inhibit the fast reaction between p-nitrophenylacetate and human serum albumin. Plots of reactivity versus fatty acid anion-albumin ratios resemble simple binding isotherms from which corresponding dissociation constants have been calculated. For the homologous fatty acid anions, butyrate through decanoate, dissociation constants decrease from 3.2 × 10^?4 to 1 × 10^?7m, respectively, by uniform increments per methylene group according to the relationship ?ΔG °(kcal) = 0.804_n + 2.30, where n is the number of constituent methylene groups. Small fatty acid anions thus appear to interact primarily with a single, relatively uniform apolar binding site with a capacity sufficient for nine methylene groups. Fatty acid anions larger than decanoate interact significantly with other sites and do not obey the same relationship. The reactivity of diluted human serum with p-nitrophenylacetate was found to be one-third to one-half of that expected for its content of serum albumin, but as in vitro, it could be completely inhibited by small amounts of decanoate.