Antigenic Heterogeneity of Human IgD Immunoglobulins

SUBCLASSES of the three major classes of human immunoglobulins, IgG, IgA and IgM, are recognized: four of IgG are well defined^1,2 and at least two of IgA^3–5 and two of IgM^6,7 have been demonstrated. This communication presents evidence for the existence of an antigenic heterogeneity in the heavy chains of IgD, which may also be indicative of subclasses within this class of immunoglobulin.     

Coexistence of Intraspecies and Interspecies Specific Antigenic Determinants on the Major Structural Polypeptide of Mammalian C-type Viruses

THE report of a shared viral antigen (termed gs-3) among mammalian C-type viruses from four species¹, extending an earlier report of cross reactivity between mouse and cat viral antigens², has far reaching implications in the search for human cancer viruses or their gene products. The report is confirmed both by the data presented here and also by the data obtained by another laboratory³. Our gel diffusion assays using various selected sera against mouse, hamster and cat crude and purified C-type viral antigens indicate that the cross reactive antigenic determinants are specifically present on the major structural polypeptide of C-type viruses. The polypeptide also carries species specific determinants. These conclusions are drawn from complement fixation and gel diffusion tests using six types of antisera (either individual sera or pools) prepared as described in Table 1.     

Binding of Radioactively Labelled Concanavalin A and Wheat Germ Agglutinin to Normal and Virus-transformed Cells

VARIOUS substances isolated from plants cause animal cells to clump. Several of these lectins¹ preferentially agglutinate cells which have been transformed spontaneously or by chemicals or viruses^2–7. The best known lectins of this class are concanavalin A (Con A) isolated from jack beans⁸ and wheat germ agglutinin⁴, which seem to bind to carbohydrate groups on the cell surface. The determinants recognized by the lectins seem to be N-acetyl-D-glucosamine for WGA⁴ and probably α-methyl-D-glucopyranoside for Con A⁶.     

Reduced Polyteny of Ribosomal RNA Cistrons in Giant Chromosomes of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila hydei</Emphasis><Superscript>*</Superscript>

The polytenization of rRNA cistrons in Drosophila species is studied in an attempt to follow the course of under-representation of heterochromatic compared with euchromatic chromosome regions.     

Synthesis by Ribosomes of Viral Coat Protein containing Ester Linkages

Peptidyl transferase, the ribosomal enzyme which synthesizes peptide bonds, can catalyse the formation of ester linkages between α-hydroxyacyl-tRNA and aminoacyl-tRNA when ribosomes carry out a specific translation of phage R17 RNA in vitro.     

N-Acetylcysteine inactivates Migration Inhibitory Factor and Delayed Hypersensitivity Reactions

In vitro studies suggest that delayed hypersensitivity follows the production of migration inhibitory factor (MIF) by sensitive lymphocytes in the presence of specific antigen. This factor arrests the migration of macrophages in vitro and in vivo. After attraction, aggregation and activation in vivo, these bystander cells produce toxic substances which induce the local reaction¹. When lymphocytes from tuberculin (PPD) sensitized guinea-pigs were incubated with PPD, cell-free supernatant fluids of the cultures contained MIF². Such migration inhibitory fluids injected intradermally with PPD, into PPD-sensitive animals, enhanced the delayed hypersensitivity reaction³. Concentrated migration inhibitory supernatant fluids injected intradermally into unsensitized animals produced local reactions of induration and erythema within 6 h; reactions reached a maximum after 16 h. Histologically there was an infiltrate of mononuclear cells at the site of injection and neutrophils and eosinophils were also present¹.     

Structure of the Purple Membrane

IN the preceding article¹ it has been shown that a cell membrane fragment, the purple membrane, isolated from Halobacterium halobium² contains retinal bound in a mole ratio of 1 : 1 to a protein of molecular weight 26,000 which is the only protein present. We now describe the structure of the purple membrane and its localization in the bacterial cell envelope.     

Virus Specific RNA in Cells transformed by RNA Tumour Viruses

Virus specific RNA comprises 5% of the nuclear RNA and 0.5–1.0% of the cytoplasmic RNA of cells transformed by murine sarcoma viruses. Even cryptically transformed cells which possess no detectable virus or viral proteins synthesize detectable amounts of viral RNA.