探索癌基因的成熟年代

1866年,Paul Broca 从他妻子家系的略图中,领悟到癌症的遗传因素。这一洞察所见,在他那时代似乎没有引起人们的注意(实际上,他的想法直至当代仍被 carl Segen 所忽视)。不过一个世纪以来,生物学家们都开始对肿瘤发生寻找遗传方面的解释。目前这个问题所获得的成果是:关于长期设想的“癌基因”已出现在我们的眼前。癌基因的发现首先是由于逆转病毒有转导细胞基因的偏好——正是在正常细胞 DNA 中寻找逆转病毒的癌基因使它实体化了。由此两个进一步的设想又增添到活跃的想象中去:一是逆转病毒DNA 的整合能够触动细胞基因,后者的激活明显地有引起肿瘤发生的作用;二是从各种肿瘤取得的 DNA 能够使啮盘类细胞发生瘤性生长,这种 DNA 似乎含有活     

植物无性杂交的新方法

在1950年苏联医学科学院生物学部举行的生活物质和细胞发展问题的会议上,奥·帕·勒柏辛斯卡娅院士在谈到植物界细胞起源问题时,曾表示任无性杂交的实践中,不用枝条而用植物的汁液嫁接可能性的意见.为了企图使这个可能性成为事实,我在1951年开始试验研碎另一种植物茎的方法得到汁液,注射到茎里去.因为植物组织缺乏弹性的缘故,经过几次失败之     

新疆晚三叠世哈萨克虫动物群的进一步研究

新疆上三叠统黄山街组的哈萨克虫是一种已经绝灭了的淡水甲壳类，它与背甲目的淡水鲎虫是形态相似、关系密切、平行演化的两个枝系，但地质和地理分布远比后者短和局限，在划分和对比有关陆相地层上十分有意义。过去国内外学者曾对它进行过多次研究，但对化石本身一些结构构造和形态功能的了解还不十分清楚，甚或有错误。本文所研究的材料采自吐鲁番、准噶尔和塔里木盆地，270块标本上有400多个体，近半数保存有软体印模，有些标本连胸肢上透明的扇叶的轮廓也由刚毛的痕模压印了出来，有些标本上还保存有卵粒、食物团、才由肛门排出的粪便以及刚刚孵化出来的幼仔等，精美绝伦，堪称化石矿珍藏。通过对这些材料的研究，发现哈萨克虫有一对远远分开的眼睛长在唇瓣后侧前额的外缘，背器官下方的圆形凸起不是“一双愈合的复眼”，而与颚间片上的构造有关；除第二触角外还有第一触角，比前者略短；11对胸肢的最后两对稍有变化，其前端的3个内肢退化成2个，修正了过去对每个胸肢结构构造认识上的错误，找到了鳃副叶与扇叶的正确位置。记述了淡水鲎虫与哈萨克虫的区别，阐明了后者的生活习性，并对其个体发育、筋肉系统、血液与脱氧的关系、生存古环境等方面的问题进行了讨论和探索     

Free-living dinitrogen-fixing bacteria isolated from petroleum refinery oily sludge

Dinitrogen-fixing activity (acetylene reduction and N(2) fixation) was found in an oily sludge originating from a petroleum refinery. Two representative dinitrogen-fixing bacterial strains were isolated from this oily waste. Their nitrogenase activity was effective when they were cultivated on sterilized sludge or simple carbon substrates (organic acid salts, sugars). Using the classical methods, these strains could not be unambiguously related to other diazotrophic taxa. The landfarming process is widely used for oily sludge disposal; this study shows that oily sludges are more than a simple carbon input into the soil but that they must also be considered as real sources of dinitrogen-fixing and probably degradative microorganisms.     

Fluorescent probes for detection of protozoan parasites

Fluorescent probes generally provide a rapid and simple staining technique, valuable for the rapid diagnosis of protozoal infections. However, many of these staining techniques have disadvantages for clinical tests: (I) they require a fluorescence microscope which is not always available in clinical laboratories; (2) the preparations are not permanent because the fluorescent probes do not withstand dehydration; (3) variable quenching of the fluorescence may occur, unless proper preventive measures are taken. In this article, Fumihiko Kawamoto and Nobuo Kumodo explain some of the most widely used fluorescent probes, and discuss how problems in their use can be minimised.     

Solubilization and Purification of NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase of Cucurbita Microsomes

An NAD(P)H dehydrogenase stimulated by quinone (P Pupillo, V Valenti, L de Luca, R Hertel 1986 Plant Physiol 80: 384-389) was solubilized from washed microsomes of zucchini squash hypocotyls (Cucurbita pepo L.) by use of 1% Triton X-100. The solubilized enzyme remained in solution in aqueous buffer and could be purified by a combination of Sepharose 6B chromatography and Blue Ultrogel chromatography. Of the three peaks of activity eluted from the latter column with a salt gradient, peak 3 had 50% or more of the activity and was almost pure enzyme. The preparation examined in SDS-gel electrophoresis consisted of two types of subunits, a (molecular weight 39,500) and b (37,000) in equal amounts. Peak 2 was less pure but had a similar polypeptide pattern. The active protein is proposed to be a heterotetramer (a₂b₂) having a molecular weight of about 150,000, as found by gel exclusion chromatography. The purified enzyme can reduce several quinones, DCPIP, cytochrome c, and with best efficiency ferricyanide, and is therefore a diaphorase. The kinetics for the substrates are negatively cooperative with Hill coefficients n_H = 0.55 ± 0.05 for NADPH and 0.22 ± 0.04 for duroquinone. A weak inhibition by p-hydroxymercuric benzoate and mersalyl (stronger with microsomal preparations) suggests the presence of essential sulfhydryl group(s). The possibility is discussed that the dehydrogenase is an NAD(P)H-P450 reductase or similar flavoprotein, and that it is responsible for the NADPH-cytochrome c reductase activity of plant microsomes.