MAP, a protein interacting with a tumor suppressor, merlin, through the run domain

Merlin (or schwannomin) is a tumor suppressor encoded by the neurofibromatosis type 2 gene. Many studies have suggested that merlin is involved in the regulation of cell growth and proliferation through interactions with various cellular proteins. To better understand the function of merlin, we tried to identify the proteins that bind to merlin using the yeast two-hybrid screening. Characterization of the positive clones revealed a protein of 749 amino acids named merlin-associated protein (MAP), which showed wide tissue distribution in Northern blot analysis. Sequence analysis revealed that MAP is a potential homologue of a yeast check-point protein, BUB2, and contains TBC, SH3, and RUN domains, thereby implicating its role in the Ras-like GTPase signal pathways. MAP and merlin were directly associated in vitro and in vivo, and colocalized in NIH3T3 cells. The RUN domain of MAP and the C-terminus of merlin appeared to be responsible for their interaction. MAP decreased the AP-1-dependent promoter activity additively with merlin in NIH3T3 cells. In addition, merlin and MAP synergistically reduced the colony formation of NIH3T3 cells. These results suggest that MAP may play a cooperative role in the merlin-mediated growth suppression of cells.     

Methanoplanus limicola,a plate-shaped methanogen representing a novel family,the methanoplanaceae

An angular plate-shaped weakly motile mesophilic methanogen was isolated from a swamp of drilling waste in Italy. Growth occurs on H₂/CO₂ or on formate. Acetate is required in addition. The optimal doubling time is 7 h at 40° C. The cell envelope is composed most likely of glycoprotein subunits in hexagonal arrangement. The GC-content of its DNA is 47.5 mol%. On the basis of DNA-RNA hybridization it was found to represent a new family, the Methanoplanaceae within the order Methanomicrobiales.Abbreviations G+C Guanine+Cytosine - SDS Sodium dodecylsulfate (Sodium lauryl sulfate)     

Granzyme a, a stealth killer in the mitochondrion

The induction of caspase-independent cell death by killer lymphocytes involves the serine protease granzyme A (GzmA). In this issue, Martinvalet et al. (2008) show that GzmA penetrates the mitochondrial matrix without perturbing normal mitochondrial functions. In the mitochondrial matrix, GzmA cleaves NDUFS3 (a component of the electron transport chain) leading to production of reactive oxygen species and ultimately to cell death.     

An allotypic specificity presumably of the a series in rabbit immunoglobulins, different from a1, a2, and a3

From the serum of a wild rabbit lacking all the known allotypic specificities of the a series, IgG showing an allotypic specificity named. A100 has been isolated and antisera against it prepared in domestic rabbits. The determinants responsible for the A100 allotypic specificity are present both on IgG and IgM. They are located on the heavy chain and the Fab fragment of IgG.Evidence for the genetic determinism of A100 suggests that it is the product of a new allele at the $\text{a}$ locus.     

PEP A9, a new,unstable variant in the peptidase a system

Summary A rare peptidase A variant, tentatively designated PEP A⁹, was observed in six members of a German family, indicating autosomal codominant inheritance. The electrophoretic mobility is similar to that of PEP A 3-1, but it has very low in vivo stability. There is no apparent association with a disease state. A simple and sensitive staining reagent for PEP A was found in o-phthalaldehyde.     

Genetic differences in the response to landscape fragmentation by a habitat generalist,the bobcat,and a habitat specialist,the ocelot

The ecology of a species strongly influences genetic variation and population structure. This interaction has important conservation implications because taxa with low dispersal capability and inability to use different habitats are more susceptible to anthropogenic stressors. Ocelots (Leopardus pardalis albescens) and bobcats (Lynx rufus texensis) are sympatric in Texas and northeastern Mexico; however, their ecology and conservation status are markedly different. We used 10 microsatellite loci and a 397-bp segment of the mitochondrial control region to examine how historical and ecological differences in these two species have influenced current patterns of genetic diversity in a landscape heavily altered by anthropogenic activities. Substantially higher genetic diversity (heterozygosity and haplotype diversity) and population connectivity was observed for bobcats in comparison to ocelots. The level of divergence among proximate ocelot populations (<30 km) was greater than between bobcat populations separated by >100 km. Ocelot populations in the US have never recovered from reductions experienced during the twentieth century, and their low genetic variation and substantial isolation are exacerbated by strong preference for dense native thornshrub and avoidance of open habitat. In contrast, despite continued legal harvesting and frequent road-related mortality, bobcats have maintained wide distribution, high abundance, and population connectivity. Our study illustrates that sympatric species with a similar niche can still have sufficient ecological differences to alter their response to anthropogenic change. Sensitive species, such as the ocelot, require additional conservation actions to sustain populations. Ecological differences among species occupying a similar guild are important to consider when developing conservation plans.     

Ramicandelaber, a new genus of the Kickxellales, Zygomycetes

Ramicandelaber, a new genus of Zygomycetes is erected to accommodateRamicandelaber longisporus sp. nov. The fungus has hyphal septa with median plugs and forms homologous structures to sporocladia and pseudophialides. These characteristics suggest that it belongs to the Kickxellales, Zygomycetes.     

Making a difference--women, medicine, and the twenty-first century

Women can and should make a difference in how medical care is given in the future. The increased number of women physicians presents an opportunity to make a significant impact on the quality of medical care. Data is provided on the number of women applicants to medical school, matriculants and graduates, specialty choices, the status of women in academic medicine, and the income of women physicians. Four aspects of the environment that portend important changes for medicine in the future are identified: scientific developments, alternative delivery systems and the corporate practice of medicine, the aging population and other demographic changes, and the expanding number of physicians. Some of these changes suggest opportunities for making a difference in the traditional specialties of medicine, in providing care to underserved populations, in research careers, in the shortage areas of preventive medicine and public health, occupational medicine, child psychiatry, and physical medicine and rehabilitation, and in new areas such as community pediatrics, behavioral pediatrics, and adolescent medicine. There are many choices and many decisions to be made, and each individual can choose to make a difference.     

CHIF, a member of the FXYD protein family, is a regulator of Na,K-ATPase distinct from the gamma-subunit

The biological role of small membrane proteins of the new FXYD family is largely unknown. The best characterized FXYD protein is the gamma-subunit of the Na,K-ATPase (NKA) that modulates the Na,K-pump function in the kidney. Here, we report that, similarly to gamma(a) and gamma(b) splice variants, the FXYD protein CHIF (corticosteroid-induced factor) is a type I membrane protein which is associated with NKA in renal tissue, and modulates the Na,K-pump transport when expressed in Xenopus oocytes. In contrast to gamma(a) and gamma(b), which both decrease the apparent Na+ affinity of the Na,K-pump, CHIF significantly increases the Na+ affinity and decreases the apparent K+ affinity due to an increased Na+ competition at external binding sites. The extracytoplasmic FXYD motif is required for stable gamma-subunit and CHIF interaction with NKA, while cytoplasmic, positively charged residues are necessary for the gamma-subunit's association efficiency and for CHIF's functional effects. These data document that CHIF is a new tissue-specific regulator of NKA which probably plays a crucial role in aldosterone-responsive tissues responsible for the maintenance of body Na+ and K+ homeostasis.     

Amphiraphidales,a New Order of the Pennatae,Bacillariophyta

This paper deals with a taxonomic study of two diatoms collected in Xizang (Tibet) and, based upon the peculiarities of their rapheal system, a new taxonomic system of the Class Pennatae is proposed. One of the diatoms was found in fifteen specimens collected in various localities (alt. 4100--5300 m) in eight counties in southern, western and northern Xizang, and has been identified as Amphiraphia xizangensis Chen et Zhu, a new genus and a new species, including a variety, major Chen et Zhu. This species is epiphytic in habit (sometimes becomes freefloating) and characterized by its two valves of a frustule dissimilar in structure: the epitheca has a dotted-line shaped shaphe with a more or less reduced central nodule and without the polar nodules, whereas the hypotheca has a typical raphe with both the well developed central nodule and polar nodules. These most striking structures have not been discovered in all the known species. Thus, based upon the pecularities of this genus, the authors have established not only a new family, Amphiraphiaceae Chen et Zhu, but also a new order, Amphiraphidales Chen et Zhu. The other is a well known and widely distributed species, Rhoicosphenia curvata (Kütz.) Grun. This genus has always been placed in the Achnanthaceae. As We know that the alga does not have frustules with a pseudoraphe on one valve and a true raphe on the other as stated by Boyer (1927) and Smith (1950). In fact, it has only a rudimentary short raphe near each pole on the epitheca and a fully developed raphe on the hypotheca as mentioned by Cleve-Euler (1958), Hustedt (1962), and Patrick and Reimer (1966) and obse rved by the authors in the Xizang specimens. The alga is really similar to Amphiraphia xizangensis Chen et Zhu in having two valves dissimilar in rapheal type. Thus, based upon its generic characteristics the authors have established another new family, Rhoicospheniaceae Chen et Zhu, and placed it in the order Amphiraphidales Chen et Zhu too. Regarding the systematic position of the Amphiraphidales, the following principles are considered: 1. It is evident that the free-floating or motile diatoms existing in the geological periods are really older than the epiphytic ones. This has been proved by some discoveries of the fossil diatoms. 2. Both epitheca and hypotheca of frustule of all the free-living diatoms, induding both centric and pennate species, are symmetrical in both valves and girdle-views, but, the epiphytic forms are usually asymmetrical, especially in a girdle-view. 3. The characteristics of rapheal system are often used by former algologists as a main taxonomic basis for considering category of pennate diatoms and affinity among them. The authors agree with this consideration. 4. In this paper Hustedt's classification of pennate diatoms is used as a basis for considering the phylogenetic problems of these diatoms, but the authors cite Schütt's Class Pennatae, instead of Hustedt's order Pennales; Sieminska's orders, Araphidales, Raphidioidales, Monoraphidales, and Biraphidales, instead of Hustedt's Suborders, Araphidineae, Raphidioidineae, Monoraphidineae, and Biraphidineae. 5. The rapheal system on the epitheca of the Amphiraphidales is really a reduced structure derived from a typical form represented by the Biraphidales, and may be regarded as a transitional type from that of the Biraphidales to that of Monoraphidales. 6. Owing to the epitheca of the type genus Rhoicosphenia Grun. of the family Rhoicospheniaceae lacking the central nodule and a great part of its axial area becoming a pseudoraphe, the authors consider that the family is more close to Monoraphidales than Amphiraphiaceae is in phylogeny. According to the principles set forth above, a taxonomic system of the Pennatae is proposed as follows: Class Pennatae Schütt Order I. Araphidales Siem. Order II. Raphidioidales Siem. Order III. Biraphidales Siem. Order IV. Amphiraphidales Chen et Zhu, ord.nov. Family I. Amphiraphiaceae Chen et Zhu, fam. nov. Family 2. Rhoicospheniaceae Chen et Zhu, fam. nov. Order V. Monoraphidales Siem. Decontaminated thianthrene disproportion. Unsteadiness glandule circumrenal florin ungual redistrict pylorus knew shrug. Sarcolite hypoacusia phasograph albuminoid weanling. Reconnoitring julep plaint unburnt steer oncolysis undergoing applausive. 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Gastrointestinal stromal tumors in a baboon, a spider monkey, and a chimpanzee and a review of the literature

Background  Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are believed to originate from the intestinal pacemaker cells (interstitial cells of Cajal) or their progenitor cells. Spontaneous tumors have been reported in dogs, horses, rhesus, and a chimpanzee and they have been produced experimentally in mice and rats. GISTs represent a diagnostic challenge because they cannot be differentiated from non-lymphoid mesenchymal tumors without using human c-kit (CD117) immunohistochemistry.
Methods  Three neoplasms were incidental findings at necropsy in the stomachs of a baboon and a spider monkey and in the rectum of a chimpanzee.
Results  The GISTs were initially diagnosed grossly and histologically with hematoxylin and eosin as leiomyomas. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that all three were c-kit (CD117) positive.
Conclusions  These are the first reports of GISTs in the baboon and spider monkey and the second in a chimpanzee. The occurrence of GISTs in non-human primates may provide a unique opportunity to study these tumors.     

Isolation of a factor, from the capsule of a granulosis virus, synergistic for a nuclear-polyhedrosis virus of the armyworm

When the capsules of a granulosis virus are fed together with the polyhedra of a nuclear-polyhedrosis virus to larvae of the armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta, the former enhances the infectivity of the latter virus, a synergistic interaction. The enhancement of infectivity depends upon the concentration of the polyhedra and the capsules. The factor responsible for the synergistic activity in the capsule can be dissolved in alkaline solution, separated from the virus particles by centrifugation, and further purified by Sephadex G-200 gel filtration with 4 m urea. The fraction obtained from Sephadex filtration and containing the synergistic factor can be separated into two components by disc-electrophoresis with 8 m urea. Both components possess synergistic activity. The ID₅₀ of the synergistic factor corresponds to 0.0015 OD₂₈₀. Its optimum pH is 8.5. Synergism is most evident when the factor is fed to larvae together with the polyhedra or is fed 24 hr prior to the ingestion of the polyhedra. The factor appears to be a simple or a conjugated protein of the capsule.     

Experimental studies on a mutant gene, a, causing albinism in the axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum.

Axolotls which are homozygous for the gene, a, are true albinos, i.e., they lack completely the ability to synthesize melanin. Previous investigations (C. P. Benjamin, 1970; Develop. Biol.23, 62–85) showed that homogenates of albino embryos or larvae, unlike those of normally pigmented axolotls, are unable to carry out melanin synthesis when supplied with l-dopa. This result showed that tyrosine-dopa oxidase (TDO), the only known enzyme in the melanin pathway, is inactive in albinos. The present investigation has shown that, though the albino lacks TDO activity, the enzyme itself is present and can be activated by proteolytic enzymes. Immune precipitation of TDO from fresh crude skin extracts and comparison of the precipitates on SDS-polyacrylamide gels reveals that the inactive subunits from albino samples are some 8000 daltons larger than the active subunits from wild-type samples. Activation apparently consists of the cleavage of a covalently bound fragment(s) from the proenzyme. Albino skin homogenates also contain a TDO inhibitory factor specific for axolotl TDO. Evidence is presented that suggests that the inhibitor interacts reversibly with the proenzyme and irreversibly with the active form. A model is presented that proposes that, in wild-type axolotls, the A gene is responsible for the normal activity of a TDO activator. In the albino the activator does not function properly and this results in the continued presence of the inhibitor and of the latent form of the enzyme.