Q & A

Leslie Orgel is a Professor and Senior Fellow at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of California at San Diego. The first part of his career was devoted to the theoretical inorganic chemistry of transition metal ions. This led to the publication of a book on Ligand-Field Theory. Since 1964, he has concentrated on aqueous solution chemistry that might be relevant to the origin of life. He has authored or co-authored two books on the origin of life.     

An interview with Dr. Paolo Sassone-Corsi on his highly cited paper published in Cell Cycle

Paolo Sassone-Corsi graduated in genetics at the University of Naples, Italy, and then conducted post-doctoral studies at the CNRS in Strasbourg, France, and at The Salk Institute, San Diego California. After being Directeur de Recherche at the CNRS in France from 1990 to 2006, he moved to the University of California, Irvine, where he is Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology. His research focuses on the mechanisms of gene expression, including chromatin remodeling, circadian rhythms and germ cells.     

Range and Frequency of Africanized Honey Bees in California (USA)

Africanized honey bees entered California in 1994 but few accounts of their northward expansion or their frequency relative to European honey bees have been published. We used mitochondrial markers and morphometric analyses to determine the prevalence of Africanized honeybees in San Diego County and their current northward progress in California west of the Sierra Nevada crest. The northernmost African mitotypes detected were approximately 40 km south of Sacramento in California’s central valley. In San Diego County, 65% of foraging honey bee workers carry African mitochondria and the estimated percentage of Africanized workers using morphological measurements is similar (61%). There was no correlation between mitotype and morphology in San Diego County suggesting Africanized bees result from bidirectional hybridization. Seventy percent of feral hives, but only 13% of managed hives, sampled in San Diego County carried the African mitotype indicating that a large fraction of foraging workers in both urban and rural San Diego County are feral. We also found a single nucleotide polymorphism at the DNA barcode locus COI that distinguishes European and African mitotypes. The utility of this marker was confirmed using 401 georeferenced honey bee sequences from the worldwide Barcode of Life Database. Future censuses can determine whether the current range of the Africanized form is stable, patterns of introgression at nuclear loci, and the environmental factors that may limit the northern range of the Africanized honey bee.     

Coccidioidin sensitivity in San Diego schools

San Diego is located within the geographic distribution of known occurrence of Coccidioides immitis contamination of the soil. Forty-five to fifty-five cases are diagnosed in San Diego hospitals each year. Skin tests were administered to one thousand and twenty-seven ninth grade students in five selected San Diego schools. Coccidioidin 1:100 was administered by Mantoux technique, intradermally. Induration was measured at forty-eight hours. Greater than 5 mm of induration was noted in 9.7% of students tested. Among 378 students who had been lifelong residents of San Diego County, 7% had greater than 5 mm of induration. Coccidioidomycosis is endemic in San Diego but the level of endemicity is rather modest.     

Potential of adenovirus as a vector for sustained gene expression

Inder Verma received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, in 1971, and was a postdoctoral fellow (with David Baltimore) in the Department of Biology, Massachussetts Institute of Technology. He is currently American Cancer Society Professor of Molecular Biology, Chair of the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology, University of California at San Diego. Inder Verma is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). He is a member of the editorial boards of The Journal of Gene Medicine, Journal of Virology and Gene, and serves on several other scientific advisory boards. His major fields of interest are molecular analysis of oncoproteins, and suppressor genes, gene therapy involving retroviral, adenoviral, AAV vectors, and generation of novel lentiviral vectors. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meeting Announcement

The San Diego Glycobiology Symposium March 13–14, 2009, Shelter Pointe Hotel and Marina, SanDiego, California, USA The 12th Annual San Diego Glycobiology Symposium will take placeat the Shelter Pointe Hotel and Marina in San Diego, California.The symposium is jointly organized     

Myasthenia Gravis

Taken from the weekly Pediatric Grand Rounds held at the University Hospital of San Diego County, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, June 20, 1972     

The Transformation of Rural Mexico: Reforming the Ejido Sector.

The Transformation of Rural Mexico: Reforming the Ejido Sector. Wayne A. Cornelius and David Myhre. eds. San Diego, CA: Center for US-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego, 1998. 438 pp.     

Detection of virus-like particles in the liver of black and white ruffed lemurs with hepatitis

Two young black and white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata variegata) died at the San Diego Zoo (San Diego, California, USA) with extensive liver lesions suggestive of acute viral infection. Immunoassays performed to detect hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers were negative. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers overlapping the HBV core gene produced an amplicon of approximately 411 base pairs (bp) from serum DNA of a HBV-positive western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) but not from serum DNA of either lemur. Cesium chloride gradient fractions of liver homogenates from both lemurs contained a peak protein fraction with a density of 1.18 g/cm3. Electron microscopic analysis of fraction contents, concentrated by ultracentrifulgation, revealed numerous pleomorphic, spherical particles varying in diameter from 16-25 nm. In one of the lemurs, this peak fraction also contained a double-shelled virus-like particle 47-50 nm in diameter. The size, morphology, and density of these particles suggest they are members of the Hepadnaviridae, a group of hepatotropic DNA-genome viruses for which HBV is the prototype.     

Distribution of the stimulatory GTP-binding proteins, Gs and Golf, within olfactory neuroepithelium

Several lines of evidence suggest that, for certain odorants,olfactory signal transduction may be mediated by a stimulatoryG-protein coupled adenylate cyclase cascade. Two stimulatoryG-proteins, G_olf and G_s, are expressed in olfactory tissue.To evaluate their relative contributions to the process of odorantsignal transduction, specific antisera were used to determinethe distribution and relative abundance of G_olf and G_s in ratolfactory neuroepithelium and olfactory sensory cilia. Theseanalyses demonstrate that (1) Golf is far more abundant thanG_s in olfactory neuroepithelium and (2) G_olf is essentiallythe only stimulatory G-protein present in olfactory sensorycilia. ¹Present address: Gene Expression Laboratory, The Salk Institute,PO Box 85800, San Diego, CA 92138, USA     

Implication of the alpha 1 beta 1 interface in the hemoglobin affinity changes. A comparative study between normal and San Diego fully ligated hemoglobins

The alpha 1 beta 1 interface of normal and mutated San Diego hemoglobins in their fully liganded form was investigated, through the SH vibrational absorption of beta-112 cysteine, by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The center frequency of this thiol group was significantly shifted in San Diego hemoglobin compared with normal human hemoglobin. Different dimer organization between the two proteins was also revealed by circular dichroism of the heme. These findings agree well with assessment that the alpha 1 beta 1 interface, far from being inert, is involved in the affinity changes of the hemoglobin molecule.     

Oxidation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons under Sulfate-Reducing Conditions

[(sup14)C]naphthalene and phenanthrene were oxidized to (sup14)CO(inf2) without a detectable lag under strict anaerobic conditions in sediments from San Diego Bay, San Diego, Calif., that were heavily contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) but not in less contaminated sediments. Sulfate reduction was necessary for PAH oxidation. These results suggest that the self-purification capacity of PAH-contaminated sulfate-reducing environments may be greater than previously recognized.     

Book reviews/Buchbesprechungen

Schumann, Eckart H. (ed.): Coastal Ocean Studies off Natal, South Africa. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York-London-Paris-Tokyo-Hong-Kong
R oyce , W. F.: Fishery Development. Orlando/San Diego/New York: Academic Press 1987
E llis , A.E. (Ed.): Fish Vaccination. London, San Diego: Academic Press 1988.
P otts , G.W., W ooton , R.J. (Eds.): Fish Reproduction: Strategies and Tactics. London/San Diego/New York
S hepherd , C., B romage , N.: Intensive Fish Farming. BSP Professional Books div. of Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd. 1988.
B lüm , V., C asado , J., L ehmann , J., M ehring , E.: Farbatlas der Histologie der Regenbogenforelle. Hrsg. von d. Landesanstalt für Fischerei Nordrhein-Westfalen. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Paris, Tokyo     

Biodegradation,biotransformation and the Belmont

Keynote Address at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial Microbiology, San Diego, August 1992.     

Advances in microRNA Biology

Meeting report from 49th Annual Drosophila Research Conference, April 2008 in San Diego, CA     

A cornucopia of genomes

A report on the Plant and Animal Genome XIV Conference, San Diego, USA, 14-18 January 2006.     

Plant and animal genomes achieve functionality

A report on the conference 'Plant and Animal Genomes XIII', San Diego, USA, 15-19 January 2005.     

Turning over the pieces of the post-genomic jigsaw puzzle

NMHCC Second International Conference: Post-Genomic Analysis of Therapeutic Targets preceded by a Preconference Symposium: Genomic Disease Modeling and Targeting, San Diego, CA, USA, 3–4 August 1998.     

Book review

Biological Fouling of Industrial Water Systems: A Problem Solving Approach, by Marc W Mittelman and Gill G Geesey. Published by Water Micro Associates (1987), San Diego. 357pp. ISBN 0–9619642–0–0     

Macromolecular technologies: applications and improvements

A report on the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) meeting, San Diego, USA, 24-27 February, 2001.