Activity of the respiratory inhibitor RF in human red cells in anaemia

Stroma-free haemolysates of red cells from patients with acute or latent anaemia inhibit the NADH oxidase activity of submitochondrial particles from beef heart. The inhibitory activities appeared significantly more frequently in anaemic patients than in normal persons and are likely due to the action of a factor which is identical or similar to the inhibitory protein RF present in rabbit reticulocytes. The possible use of the inhibitor assay for clinical purpose is under discussion.     

Mouse prolactin obtained by pituitary organ culture in a serum-free medium.

Mouse prolactin was purified by organ culture of pituitaries and electrophoresis of the medium. Mouse pituitaries were organ-cultured in 9-cm Petri dishes containing Waymouth's medium (MB 752/1) supplemented with penicillin (50 units/ml), streptomycin (100mug/ml), and bovine insulin (0.12 I.U./ml) for 8 days. Prolactin-rich culture medium was half-saturated with ammonium sulfate and centrifuged. The pellet was subjected to analytical disc electrophoresis (10% acrylamide). Gels were sectioned into 2-mm segments. Prolactin was eluted in 0.04M phosphate buffer (pH 7.2), dialyzed and lyophylized. Two hundred and forty ml medium in which 360 pituitaries were cultured yielded 29.3 mg lyophylized mouse prolactin. Although the preparation contained 2 other bands on acrylamide gel disc electrophoresis, a single precipitin line was seen in immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis, showing the identity of their antigenicity. From these results, two other proteins in the preparation were suggested to be deamidated prolactin.     

Metabolism of nicotinic acid in plant cell suspension cultures: II; Isolation, characterization and enzymology of nicotinic acid N-alpha-arabinoside (author's transl)]

A very hydrophilic compound was isolated from parsley cell suspension cultures in high yield after application of nicotinic acid. Using chemical, chromatographic and spectroscopic procedures the structure of this new plant constituent has been elucidated as nicotinic acid N-alpha-L-arabinopyranoside. This structure has been proved by chemical synthesis. An arabinosyltransferase was isolated from parsley cell suspension cultures and purified about 19-fold. The enzyme converted nicotinic acid N-alpha-arabinoside with UDP to nicotinic acid and UDP-arabinose. pH-Optimum (pH 7.0-8.0), Km value for nicotinic acid N-alpha-L-arabinoside (2.2 X 10(-4) mol/l) and mol. wt. (app. 70 000) of the transferase were measured. Function and biosynthesis of the arabinoside in cell cultures are discussed.     

Phenotypic dissections of the Blastocladiella emersonii zoospore's developmental choice

A developmentally homogeneous neural crest cell population has been used to assay the role of environmental factors in regulating crest cell differentiation. If cultured on tissue culture plastic, virtually all of the cells of this population differentiate into melanocytes. In contrast, when these cells are cultured for 3 or more days on substrata “conditioned” by somite fibroblasts, the proportion of cells undergoing melanogenesis decreased and the proportion expressing formaldehyde-induced fluorescence (FIF), characteristic of catecholamine-containing cells, increased. For a limited period of culture on somite-conditioned substrata, some cells in the population exhibit both pigment granules and fluorescence. Collagen-coated substrata decreased the number of cells that formed pigment but did not stimulate FIF. In contrast, optimum doses of exogenous cellular fibronectin mimicked the effect of somite-conditioned substrata, suppressing melanogenesis and promoting FIF. Glycosaminoglycan-derivatized substrata (i.e., hyaluronic acid, various chondroitin sulfate preparations, and heparin) did not alter the differentiative homogeneity of the cultured crest cell populations. The choice and expression of phenotype by some members of a cultured crest cell population can, therefore, be affected by environmental stimuli provided in the form of certain substrate-attached macromolecules. We suggest that optimal concentrations of some extracellular matrix components produced by embryonic tissue and normally encountered by migrating crest cells may elicit the expression of FIF in crest cells that would otherwise follow a different developmental pathway.     

Does heterochromatin variation potentiate speciation? A study in Nesokia

An increasing incidence of sex-chromosome variation in constitutive heterochromatin, including individuals with mosaic genotypes, has been observed in a single natural population of Nesokia indica, the Indian mole rat. Variations in the heterochromatic areas of the X chromosome are largely due to deletions at R-band-positive regions corresponding to folate-sensitive fragile sites. All individuals with either a pre- or post-zygotic loss or gain of sex-chromosome heterochromatin have so far proved to be infertile. Whether such F1 sterility is due to abnormal gonadal development, gametic incompetence, or other factors is not clear. More important is the indication that the constitutive heterochromatin of this species may contain coding DNA sequences with putative regulatory functions.