Two cDNA clones coding for the legumin protein of Pisum sativum L. contain sequence repeats

The sequence of two cDNA clones coding for the whole of the -subunit and most of the -subunit of legumin are presented together with a considerable amount of protein sequence data to confirm the predicted amino acid sequence. A unique feature shown by these cDNAs is the presence of three 56 base pair tandem repeats in the region encoding the C terminal of the polypeptide. The tandem repeats are also exhibited in the predicted polypeptide sequence as three 18 amino acid repeats which contain extremely high proportions of polar, mainly acidic, residues. The new sequences are compared to the previously published sequence of some shorter legumin cDNAs (Nature 295: 76–79). In the region where the sequences overlap, the previous cDNAs differ from the new ones by only a few base substitutions but most of the repeated region is not present though the sequences on either side are. The possibility that the absence of the repeats may reflect the difference between two types of legumin gene, rather than an artefact of the cloning of the cDNAs, is discussed.     

DNA content in the genus Xenopus

Nuclear DNA amounts were determined by cytofluorometry for twelve species and subspecies of the genus Xenopus. Absolute values, in pg per nucleus, were obtained by direct comparison with human lymphocyte nuclei. The lowest DNA amount (3.55 pg) was found in X. tropicalis, which possess only 20 chromosomes, and the highest (16.25 pg), in the hexaploid X. ruwenzoriensis, with 108 chromosomes. The two recently discovered tetraploid species, X. sp.n. and X. vestitus have, respectively, 12.57 and 12.83 pg of DNA. Among the species and subspecies with 36 chromosomes, the DNA content ranges from 6.35 to 8.45 pg.     

Macromolecular Synthesis and Degradation in Arthrobacter During Periods of Nutrient Deprivation

Cells of Arthrobacter atrocyaneus and A. crystallopoietes, harvested during their exponential phase, were starved in 0.03 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) for 28 days. During this time, the cells maintained 90 to 100% viability. Experimental results were similar for both organisms. Total cellular deoxyribonucleic acid was maintained. Measurable degradation rates for deoxyribonucleic acid as determined by radioisotope techniques were not observed, and only during the initial hours of starvation could a synthetic rate be determined. Total ribonucleic acid levels remained stable for the first 24 h of starvation, after which slow, continuous loss of orcinol-reactive material occurred. Synthetic and degradative rates of ribonucleic acid, as determined by radioisotope techniques, dropped quickly at the onset of starvation. Constant basal rates were attained after 24 h. In A. atrocyaneus, total cell protein was degraded continuously from the onset of starvation. In A. crystallopoietes, total cell protein remained stable for the first 24 h, after which slow continuous loss occurred. After 28 days, the total protein per cell was similar for both organisms. In the first week, amino acid pools stabilized at about 50% of the values characteristic of growth. Rates of degradation of protein decreased rapidly for the first 24 h for both organisms, but leveled to a constant basal rate thereafter. Rates of new protein synthesis dropped during the first 24 h and by 48 h achieved a constant basal rate.     

MORPHOGENESIS OF CAPITATE GLANDULAR HAIRS OF CANNABIS SATIVA (CANNABACEAE)

The glandular secretory system in Cannabis sativa L. (marihuana) consists of three types of capitate glandular hairs (termed bulbous, capitate-sessile, and capitate-stalked) distinguishable by their morphology, development, and physiology. These gland types occur together in greatest abundance and developmental complexity on the abaxial surface of bracts which ensheath the developing ovary. Bulbous and capitate-sessile glands are initiated on very young bract primordia and attain maturity during early stages of bract growth. Capitate-stalked glands are initiated later in bract growth and undergo development and maturation on medium, to full sized bracts. Glands are epidermal in origin and derived, with one exception, from a single epidermal initial. The capitate-stalked gland is the exception and is of special interest because it possesses a multicellular stalk secondarily derived from surrounding epidermal and subepidermal cells. Glands differentiate early in development into an upper secretory portion and a subtending auxiliary portion. The secretory portion, depending on gland type, may range from a few cells to a large, flattened multicellular disc of secretory cells. The secretory portion produces a membrane-bound resinous product which caps the secretory cells. Capitate-stalked glands are considered to be of particular evolutionary significance because they may represent a gland type secondarily derived from existing capitate-sessile glands.     

Stereoselective action of acylated crude papain toward mandelic and atrolactic hydrazides

Acylated crude papain has been shown to exert stereoselective behavior toward racemic hydrazides devoid of an amino acid residue, namely, (RS)-mandelic and (RS)-atrolactic hydrazides. These hydrazides functioned as nucleophiles to yield N¹,N²-diacylhydrazines. Several achiral acylating agents for the enzyme were chosen, including Z-glycine, BOC-glycine, AOC-glycine, and hippuric acid. With the exception of hippuric acid as the acylating agent, the reaction product, in every instance for these achiral hydrazides, consisted of an excess of the (+)-N¹,N²-diacylhydrazine. The relative rates of product formation for the mandelic hydrazides were considerably greater than for corresponding reactions with racemic atrolactic hydrazide. When chiral Z-l-alanine was employed to acylate crude papain, the stereoselective action was most pronounced, with the formation of a mixture of diastereoisomers consisting of 73% N¹-(Z-l-alanyl)-N²-[(R)-mandelyl]hydrazine. The relative reactivities for the electrophiles was Z-l-alanine ? Z-glycine ? hippuric acid ? AOC-glycine > BOC-glycine. The hydrazides of (R)-, (S)-mandelic, and (RS)-atrolactic acids were prepared by conversion of the corresponding acids to their esters by means of a catalytic dehydrating agent and subsequent treatment with a methanolic solution of hydrazine.     

Toward an Ecological Model of African Plio-Pleistocene Hominid Adaptations

What was the environmental complex in which the Plio-Pleistocene hominids were evolving? What situations selected f o r increasing variation in hominid morphology? A n ap-preciation of ecological dynamics is important to develop answers to those questions. The circumstances that accompany periodically more severe semiarid successions appear to have promoted a shqt in early australopithecine morphology toward hyper-robust forms. Successional dynamics (including ameliorated conditions) may have resulted in repeated sympat y of potentially competing lines. Through the process of character divergence, some earliergracile populations appear to have emerged more Homo-like by the end of the Pliocene. Palaeodemographic analysis combined with detailed ecological modeling offers new possibilities f o r explorato y retrodictions concerned with common and divergent hominid adaptations. [australopithecines. palaeoecology, early Homo]     

Abundance of protein-bound sulfhydryl and bisulfide groups at chromosomal nucleolus organizing regions

Silver stainability of the chromosomal nucleolus organizing regions that contain the structural genes for ribosomal RNA can be abolished by proteolytic and oxidative treatments. Histone extraction has no effect. This indicates that reducing groups of non-histone chromosomal proteins are responsible for silver staining. Treatment with fluorescent sulfhydryl and disulfide specific reagents followed by silver staining demonstrates coincidence of silver dots and brightly fluorescent spots at the short arms of human acrocentric chromosomes where ribosomal RNA-genes are located. After treatment with cupric sulfite reagent in the presence of urea fluorescence and silver staining was no longer possible. Silver staining has been reported to be associated with ribosomal RNA-gene activity. Acrocentric chromosomes that are negative in silver staining also lack the brightly fluorescent spots. Therefore, we conclude that an abundance of protein-bound sulfhydryl and disulfide groups occur at nucleolar organizing regions with active genes. Differentially fluorescing spots could not be observed after staining with fluorescamine. So, either the sulfhydryl reagents used in this study are much more sensitive than fluorescamine to study protein distributions in cytological preparations, or our observations point to a local accumulation of some specific protein(s) rich in sulfhydryls. The presence of many sulfhydryl and disulfide groups at the nucleolus organizing regions seems suggestive of a great flexibility of protein(s) by transition of sulfhydryl groups to disulfide bridges and vice versa at these highly active regions of the genome.