Mannose-specific lectin isolation from Canavalia ensiformis seeds by PHEMA-based cryogel

Mannose-specific lectin Concanavalin A (Con A) was purified from Canavalia ensiformis seeds. For this purpose, mannose attached poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) cryogel was prepared by cryopolymerization. Mannose was used as the affinity ligand and was covalently attached onto the PHEMA cryogel via carbodiimide activation. The PHEMA cryogel containing 23.3 mmol mannose/g polymer were used in the binding studies. Con A binding with the mannose attached PHEMA cryogel from Con A aqueous solution was 5.2 mg/g at pH 7. Maximum binding capacity for Con A from C. ensiformis seed extract was 39 mg/g. Con A was eluted with 0.3 M galactose, and the purity of Con A was determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It was observed that the mannose attached PHEMA cryogel can be used without significant decrease in Con A binding capacity after six binding-elution cycles.     

Quasi-elastic light scattering study of salt induced conformational transitions of chromatin subunit

The translational diffusion coefficient D_T of monodisperse solutions of 146 base pairs (bp) core particles was studied by the quasi-elastic light scattering technique. When the salinity was raised a change of D_T from 1.9 × 10^?7 cm² s^?1 to 3.2 × 10^?7 cm² s^?1 was detected at about 2 mM NaCl, followed by a smooth decrease of D_T beyond 0.6 M NaCl. The measurements of particle concentration and scattering vector effects on the D_T showed that the influence of interactions between particles can be disregarded. The interaction between particles and counterions is also discussed and does not appear to be the origin of the actual changes in D_T. These transitions of D_T are hence related to changes of shape and size of the particles. It is shown that the single transition at low salinity corresponds to a conformational change while the variation of D_T at high salinity can be interpreted by a destabilization of the edifice. In different regions of salinities, the observed values of D_T can lead to reasonable hydrodynamic models.     

Cultural Conditions and Some Properties of the Lipase of Humicola lanuginosa S-38

The cultural conditions for the production of thermostable lipase by a thermophilic fungus Humicola lanuginosa S-38 were investigated. The optimal cultural conditions to obtain the maximum yield of thermostable lipase with a 600-liter stainless steel fermentor were as follows: optimal medium- 2.0% soluble starch, 5.0% corn steep liquor, 0.2% K₂HPO₄, 0.1% MgSO₄·7H₂O, 0.5% CaCO₃, 0.5% soybean oil, 0.005% deforming agent (Adecanol LG-109); optimal fermentation conditions- temperature 45°C; rate of agitation 300 rpm; initial pH 7.0; rate of aeration 1/1 volume per volume of medium per minute. The optimal pH of the crude lipase preparation for the hydrolysis of the polyvinyl alcohol-emulsified olive oil was 8.0 and the optimal temperature was 60°C. It retained 100% of activity with the heat treatment at 60°C for 2 hr, but at 70°C for 20 min only 35% activity retained.     

Microscope laser light scattering spectroscopy of single biological cells

A microscope laser light scattering setup was developed, allowing us to do intensity autocorrelation spectroscopy on the light scattered from a volume as small as (2 μm)³. This non-invasive technique makes cytoplasmic studies possible inside single live biological cells. The effect of osmotic swelling and shrinking on the diffusion coefficient of hemoglobin inside intact red blood cells is shown as an illustrative example of the applicability and sensitivity of this new experimental method.     

Divalent mitogens as tools in the study of commitment of lymphocytes to proliferation

We have reinvestigated the question of whether lymphocytes are committed to proliferation by an early, relatively brief, exposure to mitogens with conventional multivalent lectin, concanavalin A, and antigen, dinitrophenyl bovine serum albumin and with strictly divalent lectin, succinyl concanavalin A and antigen, di-dinitrophenyl polyethylene oxide. Whereas very brief incubation with multivalent mitogens leads to substantial irreversible stimulation, much longer exposure to divalent mitogens is required. It appears that the stimulatory signal to any given cell is reversible until the onset of DNA synthesis.     

Early electrochemical events in lectin-lymphocyte interaction

Concanavalin A, at extremely low concentrations, will produce significant increases in the electrophoretic mobility of murine splenic T lymphocytes. It has been established that the alteration in cellular surface charge is mediated by a factor produced by those lymphocytes that have reacted directly with con A. We originally conjectured that the mobility change might be the consequence of an alteration in the distribution of the charged moieties of membrane glycoproteins. The results of experiments conducted at low temperature raise some questions about this mechanism. Further experiments have been performed to establish the nature of the physicochemical alterations in the peripheral zone of the factor-stimulated lymphocytes that are manifest as changes in cellular surface charge. The results of these studies indicate that, subsequent to the interaction of T lymphocytes with con A, there is a reduction in the number of positively charged amino groups effective at the electrophoretic surface of the cells.     

Sedimentation behavior of activated human granulocytes

Human peripheral blood granulocytes (PMNs) obtained from normal adults were studied by an analytical gravity sedimentation system. Exposure of PMNs to endotoxin-activated serum (EAS) in a Ficoll density gradient containing Hank’s balanced salt solution with calcium and magnesium produced significantly different sedimentation patterns compared to those from granulocytes exposed to normal serum under the same conditions. Experiments were performed to determine whether changes in granulocyte density, volume, shape, or aggregation were responsible for the sedimentation pattern of granulocytes exposed to EAS. The altered gravity sedimentation behavior of endotoxin-activated granulocytes was abolished when calcium and magnesium were not present in the Ficoll density gradient. Granulocyte aggregation was inhibited by the absence of calcium and magnesium in the medium during granulocyte stimulation, whereas the changes in granulocyte shape and volume associated with granulocyte stimulation were not affected. The data indicate that the altered granulocyte sedimentation pattern in the presence of EAS and calcium and magnesium was produced by granulocyte aggregation and not by changes in granulocyte volume or shape.     

Separation of oyster hemocytes by density gradient centrifugation and identification of their surface receptors

Glutaraldehyde-fixed hemocytes of Crassostrea virginica were subjected to differential centrifugation on a 5, 10, 15, and 25% discontinous sucrose gradient. Five subpopulations of cells were separated by this technique. Subpopulation 1 coincides with the small granulocytes, subpopulation 2 is comprised of hyalinocytes, subpopulation 3 of medium-sized granulocytes, subpopulation 4 of large granulocytes, and subpopulation 5 of a mixture of very large granulocytes and aggregates of small cells. By using several plant and animal lectins, it was ascertained that cells of subpopulations 1, 3, and 4 were agglutinated with Con A and extracts of the albumin glands of Helix pomatia and Cepaea nemoralis while those of subpopulation 2 were agglutinated by the same three lectins as well as wheat germ agglutinin. By applying the Con A-peroxidase cytochemical technique, it was determined that approximately 20% of the granulocytes of subpopulations 1 and 3 do not possess Con A-binding sites and only 18% of the large cells comprising subpopulation 5 possess such sites. These results suggest that the subpopulations of C. virginica granulocytes distinguishable by their dimensions and densities may be further subdivided by differences in specific surface binding sites.     

Surface thermodynamics of normal and pathological human granulocytes

Surface tensions of normal and pathological granulocytes were determined by (1) adhesion to solid substrates of different surface tensions while suspended in liquid media of different surface tensions, and by (2) measurement of cell-liquid-vapor contact angles obtained with sessile drops of saline water on cell monolayers. The results obtained by the two different methods were in close conformation with one another. With the cell adhesion emthod some residual leukocyte adhesion still persists even under conditions where there no longer is a van der Waals attraction between cells and solid substrate. At low ionic strength and by the abolishment of all multivalent cations through the admixture of EDTA, that residual cell adhesion virtually disappears (with normal as well as with pathological granulocytes), indicating that the earlier residual cell adhesion did indeed arise from electrostatic interactions mediated by multivalent cations (probably Ca²⁺). Comparison of the capacities for engulfment and the surface thermodynamics data of normal and pathological granulocytes obtained in this study leads to the novel observation that the phagocytic episode from half to complete engulfment of bacterial particles by granulocytes appears to be the crucial step from the thermodynamic point of view.     

Flagellar hook structures of Caulobacter and Salmonella and their relationship to filament structure

Native flagellar hooks from a polarly flagellated bacterium, Caulobacter crescentus, and polyhooks from a peritrichously flagellated bacterium, Salmonella typhimurium. have been studied by densitometry of electron micrographs of negatively stained specimens, followed by computerized Fourier analysis and three-dimensional reconstruction. The two structures are remarkably similar. In both cases, the subunits are arranged along a right-handed basic helix of 2.3 nm pitch with successive subunits separated by an azimuthal angle of 64 to 65 °, and there is a pronounced system of continuous 6-start grooves and ridges on the surface of the structures. The subunit of Salmonella (M_r 42,000, versus 70,000 for Caulobacter) is somewhat thinner and yields a smaller overall hook diameter. The “bent finger” subunit shape and orientation in both cases suggests that the hook could bend readily by a sliding motion in the 11-start direction at inner radii, with the 6-start groove preventing collision at outer radii. The basic helical pitch of the Salmonella hook structure, and the number of subunits per basic helical turn (5.56) makes it highly compatible with the Salmonella flagellar filament (2.6 nm pitch. 5.51 subunits per turn); so also does the elongated shape and tilt angle of the hook and flagellin subunits in the respective structures. The two structures may therefore conjoin directly in the intact flagellum, although participation of a minor protein is not ruled out by the data.     

Electrokinetic study of the reactions of peritoneal macrophages and eosinophils with IgG immune complexes

Electrophoretic light scattering (laser Doppler electrophoresis) has been employed to study the effects of guinea pig IgG immune complexes on the electrophoretic mobility distributions of guinea pig resident peritoneal cells. The resident population of cells is composed of macrophages (approximately 75%) and eosinophils (approximately 25%). These cells were separated according to the well-established method of Boyum. Populations of resident macrophages, eosinophils, and the unfractionated samples were incubated with soluble immune complexes, antigen alone, or antibody alone. The mean mobility of the resident macrophages decreased approximately 60% when incubated in the presence of immune complexes, although no effect could be discerned in the presence of antigen or antibody alone. The width of the resulting macrophage mobility distribution was larger than that of the control distributions, with a broad shoulder on the high-mobility side, indicating a heterogeneous response of the macrophages to the immune complexes. Eosinophils react in two distinct fashions. One population of eosinophils is present near the control experiments. The second population reacts in a manner very similar to that of macrophages. This suggest that at least two populations of eosinophils are present in the unstimulated guinea pig peritoneal cavity. Results that are intermediate between these two cases are found when unfractionated samples are studied.     

The evidence of large-scale DNA-induced compaction in the mycobacterial chromosomal ParB

The bacterial chromosome trafficking apparatus or the segrosome participates in the mitotic-like segregation of the chromosomes prior to cell division in several bacteria. ParB, which is the parS DNA-binding component of the segrosome, polymerizes on the parS-adjacent chromosome to form a nucleoprotein filament of unknown nature for the segregation function. We combined static light scattering, circular dichroism and small-angle X-ray scattering to present evidence that the apo form of the mycobacterial ParB forms an elongated dimer with intrinsically disordered regions as well as folded domains in solution. A comparison of the solution scattering of the apo and the parS-bound ParBs indicates a rather drastic compaction of the protein upon DNA binding. We propose that this binding-induced conformational transition is priming the ParB for polymerization on the DNA template.     

Primary structure of the major glycans of the N-acetyllactosamine type derived from the human immunoglobulins M from two patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia

The carbohydrate chains of the pathological human immunoglobulins M from two patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia were released by hydrazinolysis. The N-acetyllactosamine-type glycans were obtained by affinity chromatography on concanavalin A and fractionated by high-voltage paper electrophoresis. The primary structure of the major compounds was elucidated on the basis of carbohydrate analysis, methylation analysis, including mass-spectrometry, and 500 MHz ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. For both patients, this appeared to be a monosialyl monofucosyl biantennary structure; the compounds differed by the presence of an intersecting N-acetylglucosamine residue.     

Electrokinetic behavior of inside-out vesicles from human red cell membranes

The electrokinetic behavior of red cell membrane vesicles of normal (ROV) and inverted (IOV) sidedness has been characterized using the laser Doppler technique of electrophoretic light scattering (ELS). At neutral pH ROV have a (approx. 25%) higher electrophoretic mobility than IOV and the two peaks can be resolved in the ELS spectrum to provide a quantitative estimate of the IOV/ROV ratio which is consistent with the ratio determined by assay of the activity of acetylcholinesterase. The ROV peak coincides with the mobility of fresh red blood cells and of resealed ghosts. Neuraminidase treatment reduces the ROV mobility by a factor of 2.6, while the IOV peak is reduced only slightly (<5%). Treatment with trypsin results in a single narrow ELS peak at about 60% of the mobility of ROV. Treatment of IOV with phospholipase C leaves the electrophoretic mobility unaltered, whereas treatment with phospholipase D increases their mode mobility by 22%. The mobility titration curve of IOV from pH 2 to pH 10 reveals three distinct inflection points which may be assigned to chemical groups on the cytoplasmic surface of the red cell membrane.