Avian colour vision and avian video playback experiments

Video playback potentially allows the presentation, manipulation, and replication of realistic moving visual stimuli, in a way that is impossible with real animals or static dummies, and difficult even with mechanical models. However, there are special problems attached to the use of this technology; this article concentrates on the problem of accurate colour rendition. Video and television simulate the colour of objects rather than reproduce the spectrum of light that they naturally emit, transmit, or reflect. This simulation is achieved by using relatively narrow waveband light to stimulate the cone cells in the retina in a similar pattern to that produced by the natural object. However, species differ in the spectral tuning of their photoreceptors, so a faithful colour rendition for a human is unlikely to be achieved for another species. This problem is discussed with special reference to birds, a taxon renown for its colourfulness and frequent use in behavioural experiments but which has a very different colour vision from that of humans. We stress that the major pitfalls that can arise when using video playback with avian subjects can also occur in ’normal’ behavioural experiments. However, the problems of faithful colour rendition are particularly severe with video, and the major benefits that the technology brings will only be realised under a limited range of circumstances, with careful validation experiments. Received: 24 January 2000 / Received in revised form: 28 March 2000 / Accepted: 1 April 2000     

In vivo catabolism of heparin cofactor II and its complex with thrombin: evidence for a common receptor-mediated clearance pathway for three serine proteinase inhibitors

The plasma clearance of 125I-labeled human heparin cofactor II and its complex with thrombin was studied in mice to determine whether a specific mechanism exists for the catabolism of the inhibitor-proteinase complex. Initial studies demonstrated that murine plasma contains a heparin cofactor II-like inhibitor as shown by the presence of a dermatan sulfate-sensitive thrombin inhibitor. Human heparin cofactor II cleared from the circulation of mice with an apparent half-life of 80 min while heparin cofactor II-thrombin complexes cleared with an apparent half-life of only 10 min. The specificity of the clearance mechanism was investigated by clearance competition studies involving coinjection of excess unlabeled heparin cofactor II-alpha-thrombin, antithrombin III-alpha-thrombin, or alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor-elastase, and by tissue distribution studies. The results demonstrated that the clearance of 125I-labeled heparin cofactor II-alpha-thrombin is a receptor-mediated process, and that the same hepatocyte receptor system recognizes complexes containing heparin cofactor II, antithrombin III, and alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor.     

Binding to human dipeptidyl peptidase IV by adenosine deaminase and antibodies that inhibit ligand binding involves overlapping, discontinuous sites on a predicted beta propeller domain.

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV) is an atypical serine protease that modifies the biological activities of certain chemokines and neuropeptides. In addition, human DPPIV, also known as the T-cell activation antigen CD26, binds adenosine deaminase (ADA) to the T-cell surface, thus protecting the T-cell from adenosine-mediated inhibition of proliferation. Mutations were engineered into DPPIV (five point, 16 single point and six deletion mutations) to examine the binding of ADA and 19 monoclonal antibodies. Deletions of C-terminal residues from the 738-residue extracellular portion of DPPIV showed that the 214 residues C-terminal to Ser552 were not required for ADA binding and that peptidase activity could be ablated by deletion of 20 residues from the C-terminus. Point mutations at either of two locations, Leu294 and Val341, ablated ADA binding. Binding by six anti-DPPIV antibodies that inhibited ADA binding was found to require Leu340 to Arg343 and Thr440/Lys441 but not the 214 residues C-terminal to Ser552. The 13 other antibodies studied bound to a truncated DPPIV consisting of amino acids 1-356. Therefore, the binding sites on DPPIV of ADA and antibodies that inhibit ADA binding are discontinuous and overlapping. Moreover, the 47 and 97 residue spacing of amino acids in these binding sites concords with their location on a beta propeller fold consisting of repeated beta sheets of about 50 amino acids.     

Design of constructs for the expression of biologically active recombinant human factors X and Xa. Kinetic analysis of the expressed proteins

Activation of vitamin K-dependent plasma proteases occurs by specific interaction with components of the blood coagulation cascade. In this report, we describe the direct expression and enzymatic characterization of the human coagulation zymogen factor X and its activated form, factor Xa, from transformed Chinese hamster ovary fibroblast cell lines. Expression was achieved using either a full-length factor X cDNA or a unique mutant factor Xa cDNA. The functional factor Xa precursor contained a novel tripeptide bridge in place of the native 52-amino acid activation peptide. This mutation allowed for intracellular processing and secretion of the activated form of factor X. Secreted recombinant factors X (rX) and Xa (rXa) were purified by sequential anion-exchange and immunoaffinity chromatography. The enzymatic activities of factors rX and rXa were compared with those of plasma factors X and Xa in three independent assay systems. In comparison to human plasma factor X, the amidolytic, prothrombinase complex, and plasma clotting activities of factor rX were 50, 85, and 43%, respectively. The corresponding comparative activities for factor rXa were 32, 64, and 48%, respectively. The ability to directly express mutant forms of biologically active human factor X will facilitate the structure/function analysis of this important blood coagulation protein and may lead to the development of novel coagulation inhibitors.     

The grasshopper X chromosome

The X chromosome can be identified with the light microscope throughout all stages of the gonial cell cycle (including interphase) in the grasshopper Brachystola magna. At gonial mitotic stages the X chromosome gives the appearance of being undercondensed or negatively heteropycnotic. At interphase the X projects out from the body of the nucleus. — Examination with the electron microscope reveals that the X is compartmentalized at least two gonial cell cycles prior to the entry of the cells into meiotic prophase. The membrane layers that envelope the X chromatin at interphase remain associated with the X chromosome throughout gonial mitotic stages providing the ultrastructural basis for the apparent negative heteropycnosis observed with the light microscope. — The X chromosome is inactive in RNA synthesis during gonial mitotic stages but is hyperactive in RNA synthesis when compared to autosomes at gonial interphase. — X chromosome condensation which reaches its maximum at premieotic interphase is initiated at or prior to the pre-pentultimate gonial division.     

N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-nitrosoureas covalently bound to nonionic and monocationic lexitropsin dipeptides. Synthesis, DNA affinity binding characteristics, and reactions with 32P-end-labeled DNA

The synthesis and characterization of a series of compounds that contain an N-alkyl-N-nitrosourea functionality linked to DNA minor groove binding bi- and tripeptides (lexitropsins or information-reading peptides) based on methylpyrrole-2-carboxamide subunits are described. The lexitropsins (lex) synthesized have either a 3-(dimethylamino)propyl or propyl substituent on the carboxyl terminus. The preferred DNA affinity binding sequences of these compounds were footprinted in 32P-end-labeled restriction fragments with methidiumpropyl-EDTA.Fe(II), and in common with other structural analogues, e.g., distamycin and netropsin, these nitrosoureas recognize A-T-rich runs. The affinity binding of the compound with the dimethylamino terminus, which is ionized at near-neutral pH, appeared stronger than that observed for the neutral dipeptide. The sequence specificity for DNA alkylation by (2-chloroethyl)nitrosourea-lex dipeptides (Cl-ENU-lex), with neutral and charged carboxyl termini, using 32P-end-labeled restriction fragments, was determined by the conversion of the adducted sites into single-strand breaks by sequential heating at neutral pH and exposure to base. The DNA cleavage sites were visualized by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. The alkylation of DNA by Cl-ENU-lex was compared to that by N-(2-chloroethyl)-N'-cyclohexyl-N-nitrosourea (CCNU), which has no DNA affinity binding properties. While all the Cl-ENU compounds generate DNA breaks as a consequence of the formation of N7-alkyl-guanine, the Cl-ENU-lex compounds induced, in a time- and dose-dependent fashion, intense DNA cleavage bands at adenine, cytosine, and thymine residues associated with affinity binding sites. These non-G cleavages induced by Cl-ENU-lex were inhibited by the coaddition of distamycin at concentrations that did not affect G alkylation break sites. CCNU, even at much higher concentrations, does not generate any similar detectable lesions at non-G sites. Therefore, linking the Cl-ENU moiety to minor groove binders is a viable strategy to qualitatively and quantitatively control the delivery and release of the ultimate DNA alkylating agent in a sequence-dependent fashion.