Activation of Phycomyces adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate phosphodiesterase by blue light.

Cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase can be extracted from sporangiophores of $\text{Phycomyces}\text{blakesleeanus}$. Activity is enhanced by 1–10 μM FAD and FMN but not by riboflavin. Moderate intensity of blue light also activates the enzyme, especially in the presence of 1mM GTP. The enzyme must be extracted and stored in the absence of blue light for this result. Forty times the intensity of red light has no effect. This finding is consistent with the very sudden transient drop in cyclic AMP level upon light stimulation in the intact sporangiophore.     

Antimetabolic activities of 2-fluoro-L-histidine.

2-Fluoro-L-Histidine inhibits protein synthesis in various cell cultures, as measured by ³H-leucine incorporation. This histidine analog also inhibits the cytopathogenicity of a number of RNA and DNA viruses in primary and continuous cell cultures; it blocks the transformation of normal mouse (MO) cells by murine sarcoma virus, and partially suppresses the release of murine leukemia virus by a continuously infected mouse cell line (JLSV5). In human skin fibroblasts, it reduces the interferon-inducing capacity of poly(I)·poly(C). Inhibition of cell protein synthesis may be the common cause of the various effects. 4-Fluoro-L-histidine is essentially inert in all of the test systems examined.     

Nectaries on the fruit of Crescentia and other Bignoniaceae

Nectar glands are described for the first time on the developing fruits ofCrescentia cujete L. and their presence noted on fruits in 15 other genera of the Bignoniaceae. The nectaries are tiny, nonvascularized, patelliform structures of epidermal origin. They attract ants which are postulated to function in an antiherbivore role.     

The regulation of glycogen metabolism. Purification and characterisation of protein phosphatase inhibitor-1 from rabbit skeletal muscle.

Inhibitor-1 is a protein which inhibits phosphorylase phosphatase only when it has been phosphorylated by cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinase [Huang, F. L. and Glinsmann, W. H. (1976) Eur. J. Biochem. 70, 419--426]. Inhibitor-1 was purified by a heat treatment at 90 degrees C, precipitation with ammonium sulphate, chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, gel filtration on Sephadex G-100, and finally rechromatography of the phosphorylated protein on DEAE-cellulose, The protein was purified 4000-fold and 1.5 mg per 1000 g muscle was obtained in seven days corresponding to an overall yield of 15-20%. The purified protein was in a state approaching homogeneity as judged by the criteria of polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and ultracentrifugal analysis. The concentration of inhibitor-1 in vivo was calculated to be 1.5 micron, which is at least as high as the concentration of phosphorylase phosphatase. The amino acid composition of inhibitor-1 showed several unusual features. Glutamic acid and proline accounted for nearly one third of the residues, tyrosine, tryptophan and cysteine were absent, and the content of aromatic amino acids was very low. The molecular weight measured by sedimentation equilibrium centrifugation was 19200 and by amino acid analysis was 20800. These values were lower than the mol. wt 26000 determined empirically by gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate, and much lower than the apparent molecular weight of 60000 estimated by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. The gel filtration behaviour, stability to heating at 100 degrees C and amino acid composition suggest that inhibitor-1 may possess little ordered structure. The phosphorylated from of inhibitor-1 contained close to one molecule of covalently bound phosphate per mole of protein, which is consistent with the previous finding of a unique decapeptide sequence at the site of phosphorylation, Ile-Arg-Arg-Arg-Arg-Pro-Thr(P)-Pro-Ala-Thr- [Cohen, P., Rylatt, D. B. and Nimmo, G. A. (1977) FEBS Lett. 76, 182-186].the phosphorylated form of inhibitor-1 inhibited phosphorylase phosphatase activity (0.02U) by 50% at a concentration of only 7.0 nM in the standard assay, but the phosphorylated decapeptide was 1000-2000 times less effective as an inhibitor.     

Biochemical characterization of density-separated human erythrocytes.

A simple, reproducible method for the separation of human erythrocytes, described recently (Murphy, J. R. (1973) J. Lab. Clin. Med. 82, 334-341) has been utilized for the purpose of obtaining a wide range of biochemical data on these cells. Using phthalate ester density centrifugation of the fractions obtained by Murphy's method, we established that the cells were separated exclusively on the basis of their densities. Data on a wide range of biochemical and hematological parameters, when compared with previously reported density separation procedures showed that this simple technique can be used to fractionate the cells according to their densities (age) in their own plasma. Cells of increasing density consistently and reproducibly exhibited an increase in hemoglobin concentration, a moderate elevation in Na+ and a decrease in the following: K+, acetylcholinesterase, sialic acid, membrane protein, 2,3-diphosphoglycerate, ATP, cholesterol, phospholipid, mean corpuscular volume and critical hemolytic volume, However, no change in mean corpuscular hemoglobin was evident. The observed differences were not artifacts of the centrifugation process. This was determined in recentrifuged top fractions from which new top and bottom cells were obtained. The latter cells resembled the top fraction from which they were obtained, rather than the original bottom fraction. Whereas the parameters mentioned above exhibited consistency and reproducibility, such was not the case with the ATPase values. Depending on the cell density group examined and/or buffer as well as other conditions, significant variability in the activity levels of the ouabain sensitive, as well as the Ca2+ -stimulated ATPase, was observed. Use of these enzyme activities as indicators of cell age must be viewed with caution.     

Ectopic pairing and evolution of 5S ribosomal RNA genes in the chromosomes of Drosophila funebris

5S ribosomal RNA from Drosophila melanogaster labeled with ¹²⁵I was used to locate the 5S rRNA genes in chromosomes of D. funebris by means of in situ hybridization. Silver grains were observed at three distinct sites, one of which was a recognized reverse repeat. Only one half of the reverse repeat, however, hybridizes with 5S rRNA and the significance of this phenomenon is discussed. A case of ectopic pairing between two different 5S sites in the genome is reported, and the significance of ectopic pairing is considered.The author was a Predoctoral Fellow supported by Grant GM 1974 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health.Contribution from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, operated by the Union Carbide Corporation for the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration.     

Mechanism of the thrombin-mediated burst in oxygen consumption by human platelets.

We present evidence that added thrombin stimulates release of endogenous arachidonic acid by suspensions of human platelets. We also show that added arachidonic acid causes a burst in O2 consumption that mimics one of the well described effects of thrombin on these cells. Further, added aspirin, a known inhibitor of the burst in O2 consumption caused by thrombin, also blunted the stimulatory effect of arachidonate on O2 consumption, and eicosatetraynoate, a known inhibitor of arachidonate oxygenation, blunted the burst in O2 consumption initiated by both thrombin and arachidonate. We conclude that rapid oxygenation of endogenously released arachidonic acid accounts for the thrombin-mediated burst in oxygen consumption by platelets.     

The phosphorylation of rabbit skeletal muscle glycogen synthase by glycogen synthase kinase-2 and adenosine-3':5'-monophosphate-dependent protein kinase.

Purified glycogen synthase is contaminated with traces of two protein kinases that can phosphorylate the enzyme. One is protein kinase dependent on adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) and the second is an activity termed glycogen synthase kinase-2 [Nimmo, H.G. and Cohen P, (1974)]. Glycogen synthase kinase-2 has been found to be localized relatively specifically in the protein-glycogen complex. It has been purified 4000-fold by two procedures, both of which involve disruption of the complex, followed by the DEAE-cellulose and phosphocellulose chromatographies. However the salt concentration at which glycogen synthase kinase-2 is eluted from DEAE-cellulose depends on the method that is used to disrupt the complex. The results indicate that glycogen synthase kinase-2 is firmly attached to a protein component of the complex. The isolation procedures separate glycogen synthase kinase-2 from phosphorylase kinase, cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase and other glycogen-metabolising enzymes. Glycogen synthase kinase-2 is the major phosvitin kinase in skeletal muscle, although glycogen synthase is a six to eight-fold better substrate than phosvitin under the standard assay conditions. Phosphorylase kinase and phosphorylase b are not substrates for glycogen synthase kinase 2. Following incubation with cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinase, cyclic AMP and Mg-ATP, the phosphorylation of glycogen synthase reaches a plateau at 1.0 molecules of phosphate incorporated per subunit and the activity ratio measured in the absence and presence of glucose 6-phosphate falls from 0.8 to a plateau of 0.18. The Ka for glucose 6-phosphate of this phosphorylated species, termed glycogen synthase b1, is the 0.6 mM. Following incubation with glycogen synthase kinase-2 and Mg-ATP, the phosphorylation reaches a plateau of 0.92 molecules of phosphate incorporated per subunit and the activity ratio decreases to a plateau of 0.08. The Ka for glucose 6-phosphate of this phosphorylated species, termed glycogen synthetase b2, is 4 mM. In the presence of both cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinase and glycogen synthase kinase-2, the phosphorylation of glycogen synthase reaches a plateau when 1.95 molecules of phoshophate have been incorporated per subunit. The activity ratio is 0.01 and the Ka for glucose 6-phosphate is 10 mM. The results indicate that glycogen synthase can be regulated by two distinct phosphorylation-dephosphorylation cycles. The implication of these findings for the regulation of glycogen synthase in vivo are discussed.     

Intracellular cAMP levels in normal rat mammary gland and adenocarcinoma. In vivo vs in vitro.

Intracellular cAMP levels determined by radioimmunoassay technique were compared in normal rat mammary gland and DMBA-induced mammary adenocarcinoma as well as in epithelial cells derived from these tissues and grown in monolayer cultures. It was found that cAMP levels were higher in mammary tumors (0.643 p mole/mg wet weight) than in normal gland (0.158 p mole/mg). In contrast, cAMP levels in cultured adenocarcinoma cells were lower than those in normal mammary epithelial cells. The apparent contradiction may be a consequence of the fact that $\text{in vivo}$ cAMP values represent the average value of the composite cell types and not the epithelial components in question.