Paracuaria hispanica n. sp. (Nematoda: Acuariidae), a stomach parasite of the pyrenean desman Galemys pyrenaicus Geoffr. (Insectivora: Talpidae), with a redefinition of the genus Paracuaria Rao, 1951

Adult and fourth-stage larvae of Paracuaria hispanica n. sp., from the stomach of the Pyrenean desman Galemys pyrenaicus Geoffroy (Insectivora: Talpidae) in northern and central Spain, are described. The new species differs from the other members of the genus Paracuaria (P. adunca and P. soricis), among other morphological details, in its smaller body and spicule sizes, the presence of a cuticular ring around the tip of the female tail, and the existence of lateral alae running longitudinally along its body from the cervical region to the tail. In view of the latter feature, the genus Paracuaria is redefined. The fourth stage larva of the new species is distinguished from that of P. adunca by its monocuspid deirids. P. hispanica occurred in 45% of the 20 host specimens examined.     

Cloning and Expression of a 5-Hydroxytryptamine7 Receptor Positively Coupled to Adenylyl Cyclase

Abstract: In a number of different cell types, phosphorylation of a 63-kDa protein has been shown to increase rapidly in response to stimuli that lead to an increase in intracellular calcium. Here, a stimulus-sensitive protein at this molecular weight is identified in PC12 cells and rat cortical synaptosomes as phosphoglucomutase. In addition, the added phosphate is shown to be in an oligosaccharide terminating in phosphodiester-linked glucose. In synaptosomes, incorporated radioactivity, following incubation with [¹⁴C]glucose or the [β-³⁵S]phosphorothioate analogue of UDP-glucose, was found to increase within 5 s of stimulation and return to baseline within 25 s. Despite the many pathways utilizing glucose, this was the only detectable protein glycosylation observed in synaptosomes. These results indicate that cytoplasmic glycosylation is reversible and rapidly regulated, and suggest that phosphoglucomutase undergoes an alteration in function and/or topography in response to increases in intracellular calcium.     

On the detection of nonrandom associations between DNA polymorphisms in natural populations of Drosophila

The capacity to detect nonrandom associations between restriction-map variants was examined in eight gene regions of Drosophila melanogaster (yellow-achaetescute, white, Zw, Adh, Est6, and rosy) and D. pseudoobscura (Adh and Xdh), on the basis of published population data. The statistical power from individual pairwise tests was both heterogeneous and generally low across gene regions. Sample sizes larger than those currently being used are needed to ensure any power to detect disequilibrium by individual tests. It is found that the heterogeneity in power is mostly explained by large differences in the intensity of sample disequilibrium among regions. The yellow-achaete- scute, Zw, and Adh loci of D. melanogaster displayed both the highest mean power (approximately 0.4) and a very great disequilibrium (mean absolute values of D' were 0.8-1). By contrast, all the other gene regions exhibited lower mean power (approximately 0.2) and moderate levels of disequilibrium (0.4-0.6). Although the proportion of significant pairwise associations, especially for white, Est6, and rosy in D. melanogaster and for Adh and Xdh in D. pseudoobscura, is more or less close to the type I error, simultaneous-inference significance tests show that gametic disequilibrium is occurring at the eight DNA regions examined.      

Inducible transport of citrate in Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC 7469

Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC 7469 exhibited diauxie when grown in a medium containing both glucose and citrate as energy source. Glucose was used as the primary energy source during the glucose-citrate diauxie. Uptake of citrate was carried out by an inducible citrate transport system. The induction of citrate uptake system was repressed in the presence of glucose. This repression was reversible and mediated by cAMP.     

Mutational analysis of U1 function in Schizosaccharomyces pombe: pre-mRNAs differ in the extent and nature of their requirements for this snRNA in vivo.

The U1 snRNP is known to play a critical role in spliceosome assembly, at least in part through base pairing of its RNA moiety to the substrate, but many details remain to be elucidated. To further dissect U1 snRNA function, we have analyzed 14 single point mutations in the six nucleotides complementary to the 5' splice site for their effects on growth and splicing in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Three of the four alleles previously found to support growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are lethal in S. pombe, implying a more critical role for the 5' end of U1 in fission yeast. Furthermore, a comparison of phenotypes for individual nucleotide substitutions suggests that the two yeasts use different strategies to modulate the extent of pairing between U1 and the 5' splice site. The importance of U1 function in S. pombe is further underscored by the lethality of several single point mutants not examined previously in S. cerevisiae. In total, only three alleles complement the U1 gene disruption, and these strains are temperature-sensitive for growth. Each viable mutant was tested for impaired splicing of three different S. pombe introns. Among these, only the second intron of the cdc2 gene (cdc2-I2) showed dramatic accumulation of linear precursor. Notably, cdc2-I2 is spliced inefficiently even in cells containing wild-type U1, at least in part due to the presence of a stable hairpin encompassing its 5' splice site. Although point mutations at the 5' end of U1 have no discernible effect on splicing of pre-U6, significant accumulation of unspliced RNA is observed in a metabolic depletion experiment. Taken together, these observations indicate that the repertoire of U1 activities is used to varying extents for splicing of different pre-mRNAs in fission yeast.     

Pharmacological Characterization of the Voltage-Dependent Ca2+ Channels Present in Synaptosomes from Rat and Chicken Central Nervous System

Abstract: The voltage-dependent calcium channels present in mammalian and chicken brain synaptosomes were characterized pharmacologically using specific blockers of L-type channels (1,4-dihydropyridines), N-type channels (ω-conotoxin GVIA), and P-type channels [funnel web toxin (FTX) and ω-agatoxin IVA]. K⁺-induced Ca²⁺ uptake by chicken synaptosomes was blocked by ω-conotoxin GVIA (IC₅₀ = 250 nM). This toxin at 5 µM did not block Ca²⁺ entry into rat frontal cortex synaptosomes. FTX and ω-agatoxin IVA blocked Ca²⁺ uptake by rat synaptosomes (IC₅₀ = 0.17 µl/ml and 40 nM, respectively). Likewise, in chicken synaptosomes, FTX and ω-agatoxin IVA affected Ca²⁺ uptake. FTX (3 µl/ml) exerted a maximal inhibition of 40% with an IC₅₀ similar to the one obtained in rat preparations, whereas with ω-agatoxin IVA saturation was not reached even at 5 µM. In chicken preparations, the combined effect of saturating concentrations of FTX (1 µl/ml) and different concentrations of ω-conotoxin GVIA showed no additive effects. However, the effect of saturating concentrations of FTX and ω-conotoxin GVIA was never greater than the one observed with ω-conotoxin GVIA. We also found that 60% of the Ca²⁺ uptake by rat and chicken synaptosomes was inhibited by ω-conotoxin MVIID (1 µM), a toxin that has a high index of discrimination against N-type channels. Conversely, nitrendipine (10 µM) had no significant effect on Ca²⁺ uptake in either the rat or the chicken. In conclusion, Ca²⁺ uptake by rat synaptosomes is potently inhibited by different P-type Ca²⁺ channel blockers, thus indicating that P-type channels are predominant in this preparation. In contrast, Ca²⁺ uptake by chicken synaptosomes is sensitive to ω-conotoxin GVIA, FTX, ω-agatoxin IVA, and ω-conotoxin MVIID. This suggests that a channel subtype with a mixed pharmacology is present in chicken synaptosomes.     

Effects of electron donors on Ca2+-dependent K+ transport in one-step inside-out vesicles from the human erythrocyte membrane

The interactions between reducing agents and Ca2+ in the activation of Ca2+-dependent K+ transport have been studied in one-step inside-out vesicles. The artificial electron donor system ascorbate + phenazine methosulphate increases the apparent sensitivity to Ca2+ by about 5-times over control values (half activation constant, about 5 X 10(-8) M) while oxidized cytochrome c decreases the sensitivity to about 1/3 of the controls. Using redox buffers at a fixed pCa it is shown that the shift from the low to the high-affinity state can be accounted by the reduction of a membrane component accepting two electrons and with an apparent standard redox potential (pH 7.5) of 47 mV. The electrons can be transferred directly from reduced PMS or to oxidized cytochrome c, but not from ascorbate, NADH or reduced glutathione.     

Effects of Chlorine Concentration on the Structure of Poliovirus

Chlorine concentrations below 0.8 mg/liter inactivated poliovirus without causing separation of the viral components. These results indicate that the release of RNA from the capsids is the result, not the cause, of virus inactivation by chlorine.     

Production of superoxide and activity of superoxide dismutase in rabbit epididymal spermatozoa

Mature rabbit spermatozoa from the cauda epididymidis suspended in potassium Tris phosphate buffer at 24 degrees C produced O2.-, as measured by reduction of acetylated ferricytochrome c, with an intrinsic rate of 0.20 nmol/min per 10(8) cells. This rate increased to 1.80 nmol/min per 10(8) cells in the presence of 10 mM cyanide. These spermatozoa contain 2.8 units per 10(8) cells of superoxide dismutase activity, 95% of which is sensitive, and 5% of which is insensitive, to cyanide inhibition. These activities correspond to the cytosolic Cu-Zn form and the mitochondrial Mn form of the dismutase, respectively. Only the cyanide-sensitive form is released from the sperm on hypo-osmotic treatment or sonication. Hypo-osmotically treated rabbit epididymal spermatozoa produced O2.- with an intrinsic rate of 0.24 nmol/min per 10(8) cells, which increased to 0.58 nmol/min per 10(8) cells in the presence of 10 mM cyanide. Both intact and hypo-osmotically treated cells react with O2.- in a second order reaction as inferred from the hyperbolic dependence on cell concentration of O2.- production rate in both the absence and presence of cyanide. The second order rate constant for this reaction with intact cells, kS, was calculated to be 22.9 X 10(-8) (cells/ml)-1 min-1 in its absence. For hypo-osmotically treated cells, the values of kS were 10.8 X 10(-8) (cells/ml)-1 min-1 and 8.2 X 10(-8) (cells/ml) -1 min-1, respectively. Since hypo-osmotically treated cells have lost much of their plasma membrane, the lower value of kS for the treated cells implies that this membrane is one site of reaction of O2.- with the cells. The increase in kS in the presence of cyanide, which inhibits superoxide dismutase and so increases O2.- production, suggests that the cells become more reactive with O2.- as its production rate increase, as would be expected for the occurrence of radical chain oxidation. This in turn suggests that superoxide dismutase plays a major role in protecting rabbit sperm against damage from lipid peroxidation.