CD8+ T cells from HIV-1-infected individuals inhibit acute infection by human and primate immunodeficiency viruses.

T lymphocytes expressing the CD8 surface antigen block HIV replication in CD4+ peripheral blood cells from HIV-infected individuals. We report here that CD4+ cells from HIV seronegative donors, when infected in vitro with HIV, also do not replicate virus when cocultured with CD8+ T cells from HIV-infected individuals. CD8+ cells from HIV-uninfected donors did not show this effect on virus replication. HLA-restriction of the antiviral response was not observed, and virus-containing cells were not eliminated from culture. The antiviral activity was broadly cross-reactive, as CD8+ cells from individuals infected only with HIV-1 suppressed the replication of diverse strains of HIV-1 and HIV-2, as well as the simian immunodeficiency virus. This ability of CD8+ cells to control HIV replication could play an important role in the maintenance of an asymptomatic state in HIV-infected individuals.     

Purification and characterization of porcine heart type 2A protein phosphatases.

Protein phosphatases 2A1 and 2A2 were isolated from porcine heart tissue extracts by precipitation at pH 5.0 and separated by chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel. Phosphatase 2A1 was then purified to apparent homogeneity by chromatography on phenyl-Sepharose, aminohexyl-Sepharose, Sephacryl S-300, and L-tyrosine-agarose. Phosphatase 2A2 was purified to apparent homogeneity by chromatography on phenyl-Sepharose, DEAE-Sephacel, aminohexyl-Sepharose and L-tyrosine-agarose. Purified phosphatases 2A1 and 2A2 had specific activities of 2200 and 2710 nanomoles of phosphate released from phosphorylase a/mg protein, respectively. The apparent molecular weights of phosphatases 2A1 and 2A2 on gel filtration were 155 and 105 kDa, respectively. Both enzymes contain 70 and 37 kDa subunits and 2A1 also contains a 57 kDa subunit. The 37 kDa catalytic subunit (2Ac) was obtained from the purified phosphatases by treatment with room temperature ethanol followed by sucrose density gradient centrifugation or gel filtration chromatography.     

Bovine bone activin enhances bone morphogenetic protein-induced ectopic bone formation.

A 25-kDa homodimeric protein was purified from demineralized bovine bone extract and identified as activin A. The bovine bone activin enhanced formation of ectopic bone in rat subcutis when implanted in combination with partially purified bovine bone morphogenetic protein (BMP-2, BMP-3) in collagen/ceramic carrier. The implants, removed at 14 days, contained markedly elevated levels of alkaline phosphatase activity. Histological examination revealed an extensive formation of woven bone with very little cartilage. In contrast, a combination of transforming growth factor-beta 2 and BMP promoted formation of bone with an abundance of cartilage. The implants with BMP alone exhibited some osteoinductive activity, while the implants with activin alone showed no activity. These results demonstrate that bone is a rich source of activin and that activin plays an important role in modulating bone formation.     

Inhibitor stabilization of human immunodeficiency virus type-2 proteinase dimer formation

We report the first direct observation of the subunit self-association behavior of highly purified recombinant human immunodeficiency virus type-2 (HIV-2) proteinase. Multiple samples of enzyme were subjected to sedimentation equilibrium analytical ultracentrifugation sequentially at 8.8 degrees C and two pH values in the presence and absence of a C2 symmetric, peptidomimetic inhibitor. At both pH values the enzyme exhibited sedimentation equilibrium behavior which fit a monomer-dimer-tetramer model. In the absence of inhibitor, the apparent Kd for dimer formation was less than approximately 100 microM and the apparent Kd for the weaker dimer-tetramer association was greater than approximately 100 microM. In the presence of inhibitor, at either pH, dimer formation was more strongly favored as indicated by a approximately 5-14-fold decrease in the apparent Kd for dimer formation and a approximately 1.2-4-fold increase in the apparent Kd for tetramer formation. The enhanced formation of dimer and decrease in higher order self-associated forms in the presence of an inhibitor is consistent with inhibitor stabilization of an active dimer. The inhibitor-induced stabilization of the dimeric species is consistent with a model for substrate-induced formation of active proteinase dimers in virion assembly.     

Risk factors for birth defects: data from the Atlanta Birth Defects Case-Control Study

The Atlanta Birth Defects Case-Control Study data comprises information obtained from interviews with parents of 4,900 babies born with major birth defects and with the parents of 3,000 babies born without defects. The source of cases is the Centers for Disease Control's Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects program; the case-control study is population-based. Birth defects are classified into 92 groups and cross-tabulated by 105 exposure/risk factor variables; data from selected cross-tabulations are presented. The associations of each of the 105 exposure variables with all types of defects combined are presented, as are the associations of each of the 92 defect groups with the specific exposure variable, maternal diabetes. These data can be used to evaluate hypotheses arising from other sources, and for the purpose of "generating" hypotheses. The data describing all 92 x 105 cross-tabulations are available to other investigators on floppy disk; write to Chief, Birth Defects and Genetic Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia 30333.     

Revised 2.3 A structure of porcine pepsin: evidence for a flexible subdomain

A revised three-dimensional crystal structure of ethanol-inhibited porcine pepsin refined to an R-factor of 0.171 at 2.3 A resolution is presented and compared to the refined structures of the fungal aspartic proteinases: penicillopepsin, rhizopuspepsin, and endothiapepsin. Pepsin is composed of two nearly equal N and C domains related by an intra dyad. The overall polypeptide fold and active site structures are homologous for pepsin and the fungal enzymes. The weak inhibition of pepsin by ethanol can be explained by the presence of one or more ethanol molecules, in the vicinity of the active site carboxylates, which slightly alter the hydrogen-bonding network and which may compete with substrate binding in the active site. Structural superposition analysis showed that the N domains aligned better than the C-domains for pepsin and the fungal aspartic proteinases: 107-140 C alpha pairs aligned to 0.72-0.85 A rms for the N domains; 64-95 C alpha pairs aligned to 0.78-1.03 A rms for the C domains. The major structural difference between pepsin and the fungal enzymes concerns a newly described subdomain whose conformation varies markedly among these enzyme structures. The subdomain in pepsin comprises nearly 100 residues and is composed of two contiguous segments within the C domain (residues 192-212 and 223-299). the subdomain is connected, or "hinged," to a mixed beta-sheet that forms one of the structurally invariant, active site psi-loops. Relative subdomain displacements as large as a 21.0 degrees rotation and a 5.9 A translation were observed among the different enzymes. There is some suggestion in pepsin that the subdomain may be flexible and perhaps plays a structural role in mediating substrate binding, determining the substrate specificity, or in the activation of the zymogen.     

Vital Fluorescent Staining Technique for Microspores of Brassica Napus

The ontogeny of early microspore-derived embryo development was followed using three stains. The stain 3,3'-diethyloxadicarbocyanine iodide, which previously had been reported to be specific for mitochondria, was observed also to demonstrate the exine of developing microspores of Brassica napus.It provided high contrast when used in combination with Tinapol 5BM, a stain for cellulosic cell walls, and aided identification of microspores with embryogenic potential. Hoechst 33342, a nuclear stain, alone or in combination with either or both of the other stains, could be used to highlight the nuclear developmental stage of the microspores. This paper describes procedures using these materials for the specific staining of exine, cell wall/intine and nucleus, thereby permitting their fate to be followed during the early phases of microspore-derived embryo development.     

Identification by mass spectrometry of threonine 97 in bovine myelin basic protein as a specific phosphorylation site for mitogen-activated protein kinase.

Bovine myelin basic protein (MBP) was found to be an excellent in vitro substrate (apparent Km = 50 microM) for MAP (mitogen-activated protein) kinase and can be used in lieu of microtubule-associated protein 2 for purification and functional studies of the enzyme. MBP phosphotransferase activity co-purified with MAP kinase during sequential DE52, phenyl-Superose, and gel filtration chromatography, and kinase activities for the two substrates were co-regulated by mitogen stimulation. MAP kinase phosphorylated MBP exclusively on threonine, and only one major phosphopeptide was generated by digestion with trypsin or endoproteinase Lys-C. Using mass spectrometry, we determined that the phosphorylation site is threonine 97, present in the conserved triproline loop of MBP, with (partial) sequence -Thr-Pro-Arg-Thr97-Pro-Pro-Pro-. Thr97 is a known in vivo phosphorylation site in MBP although enzymes capable of phosphorylating this site have not been identified previously. MAP kinase phosphorylated peptide 88-109 from rabbit MBP and a synthetic peptide 91-109 from human MBP but did not phosphorylate either the histone H1 peptide, utilized by p34cdc2, or the peptide substrate for the recently described proline-directed kinase. Thus, the sequence surrounding threonine 97 in bovine MBP may contain essential features of a recognition sequence for MAP kinase.     

Effects of magnesium on the dynamic instability of individual microtubules

We investigated the effect of magnesium ion (Mg) on the parameters of dynamic instability of individual porcine brain microtubules. Rates of elongation and rapid shortening were measured by using video-enhanced DIC light microscopy and evaluated by using computer-generated plots of microtubule length vs time. Increasing [Mg] from 0.25 to 6 mM increased the second-order association rate constant for elongation about 25% at each end. At plus ends, this resulted in a 1.5-2-fold increase in elongation rates over the tubulin concentrations explored. Rapid shortening rates were more dramatically affected by Mg. As [Mg] was increased from 0.25 to 6 mM, the average rate of rapid shortening increased about 3-fold at plus ends and 4-5-fold at minus ends. The ends had roughly equivalent average rates at low [Mg], of 30-45 microns/min. At any Mg concentration, rates of disassembly varied from one microtubule to another, and often an individual microtubule would exhibit more than one rate during a single shortening phase. Individual rates at 6 mM Mg varied from 12 to 250 microns/min. Over the concentration range explored, Mg affected the frequencies of transition from elongation to shortening and back only at minus ends. Minus ends were relatively stable at low [Mg], having 4 times the frequency of rescue than at high [Mg], and a lower frequency of catastrophe (particularly evident at low tubulin concentrations). Plus ends, surprisingly, were highly unstable at all Mg concentrations investigated, having about the same transition frequencies as did the least stable (high Mg) minus ends. Our results have implications for models of the GTP cap, again emphasizing that GTP caps cannot build up in proportion to elongation rate, and must be constrained to the tips of growing microtubules.     

A possible receptor-binding function for the N-terminus of connective tissue activating peptide III

Connective tissue activating peptide III (CTAP-III) is an 85-residue peptide which has been purified from platelets and shown to possess mitogenic activity toward a variety of fibroblastic cell lines. beta-Thromboglobulin (beta TG) is an 81-residue peptide which is derived from CTAP-III by cleavage of the N-terminal tetrapeptide Asn-Leu-Ala-Lys which results in the loss of mitogenic activity. The near-UV CD spectra for the two proteins indicated that the conformations as well as the electronic environments of the two disulfide bonds, and also of the single aromatic tyrosine residue, were similar in CTAP-III and beta TG. However, differences in the far-UV CD spectra of these proteins indicated a substantial decrease in alpha-helical content for beta TG (29%) as compared to CTAP-III (38%). Structure prediction analysis also suggested that the longer N-terminal segment of CTAP-III may form an alpha-helix. The N-terminal region of beta TG, which lacks this tetrapeptide, was predicted to be in an unordered, or possibly a turn, conformation. This predicted structural difference appears to be due to the high helix-forming potential of the N-terminal tetrapeptide Asn-Leu-Ala-Lys in CTAP-III. These results suggest a possible structural role for the N-terminal region of CTAP-III in the expression of the biologic activities of this protein. On the basis of these studies, a reasonable hypothesis to account for the difference in mitogenic activity between beta TG and CTAP-III is that the N-terminal region must be helical for receptor binding to occur.