Rapid Differentiation Between Nocardia and Streptomyces by Paper Chromatography of Whole-Cell Hydrolysates

Whole-cell hydrolysates were prepared from 58 strains of nocardiae and streptomycetes. Strains morphologically intermediate between the two genera and morphological variants of the same strains were included. Paper chromatograms made from the whole-cell hydrolysates clearly demonstrated meso-diaminopimelic acid as a major constituent of cultures of Nocardia spp., and LL-diaminopimelic acid as a major constituent of cultures of Streptomyces spp. In cultures of ten strains of N. madurae and of three of N. pelletieri, meso-diaminopimelic acid predominated, thereby supporting the assignment of these species to the genus Nocardia.     

Studies on the Hemolytic Properties of Protamine

The basic protein protamine causes a rapid hemolysis when incubated with the red blood cells of many mammalian species. The age of the cells does not affect the process. Neutralization of the active side groups of the protamine molecule with formalinization demonstrates that a specific degree of charge is necessary for hemolysis, as more than 30 per cent of the guanidine groups must remain unreacted to maintain activity. Unlike the hemolysis induced by the synthetic polypeptides polylysine and polyhomoarginine, protamine hemolysis is temperature-dependent. Whole lipoprotein material derived from red blood cell membranes inhibits protamine hemolysis to a greater extent than do the membranes themselves, serum, serum protein fractions, or cholesterol. The phosphatide and protein moieties derived from the membranes are quite avid in inhibiting protamine hemolysis. A probable explanation is that intracellular aggregation of these structural elements may cause changes in electrostatic charge and surface tension which result in increased permeability. The hemolytic and antitumor cell properties of protamine could not be segregated from its animal toxicity. Despite formalinization to a degree which eliminated the former, the compound remained quite toxic to mice and rabbits.     

Histochemical characteristics of chemoreceptor organs (Glomera)

Summary Some important histochemical characteristics of the carotid, aortic and coronary glomera have been studied in man and the rabbit.All glomera present a similar histochemical pattern. Type I glomus cells contain acetylcholinesterase, monoamine oxidase and norepinephrine. Type II glomus cells are highly positive for cholinesterase, carbonic anhydrase and nucleoside phosphatases hut they do not contain acetylcholinesterase nor catecholamines. It is postulated that the type I glomus cell is the true chemoreceptor cell. Together with the type II glomus cell, which is considered to be a special type of glial cell, a functional metabolic unit is established. Efferent nerve fibres could be adrenergic; by way of cholinergic transmission action potentials could be initiated in the afferent nerve fibres.The following Abbreviations will be used AChE acetylcholinesterase - ChE cholinesterase - iso-OMPA tetraisopropylpyrophosphoramide - DFP di-isopropylfluorophosphate - 62C47 15-bis-(4-trimethylammonium-phenyl) pentan-3-one-diiodide - CAH carbonic anhydrase - ATP-ase adenosine triphosphatase - NP-ases nucleoside phosphatases - UDP uridine diphosphate - UTP uridine triphosphate - IDP inosine diphosphate - CTP cytidine triphosphate - CaFoMa calcium-formol-macrodex - Glut glutaraldehyde - TPP-ase thiamine pyrophosphatase - MAO monoamine oxidase - CA catecholamines - NE norepinephrine     

Die Ultrastruktur der Kapillarwand in der menschlichen Placenta zur Zeit der Schwangerschaftsmitte

Zusammenfassung Die Wand der Kapillaren in der menschlichen Placenta aus der Schwangerschaftsmitte wird elektronenmikroskopisch untersucht und zu der Wand des Sinusoides der reifen Placenta in Beziehung gesetzt. Bereits zur Zeit der Schwangerschaftsmitte sind vereinzelt Sinusoide nachweisbar, doch treten sie gegenüber den Kapillaren zahlenmäßig in den Hintergrund.Die Kapillaren des Zottenbinnenraumes besitzen keine Basalmembran; sie sitzen meist, nur durch einen Spalt getrennt, einer Pericytenschicht auf. Die Pericyten haben häufig fußförmige Ausläufer, die die Basalmembran des Cytotrophoblasten erreichen. Die Kapillarendothelien sind zwar einreihig angeordnet, überlappen aber einander in ausgedehnter Weise.Im Cytoplasma der Kapillarendothelien findet man häufig eine feinfilamentäre Zeichnung, jedoch nur nach Kaliumpermanganat-Kontrastierung.Die Kapillaren der unreifen Placenta sind durch das Fehlen der Basalmembran, durch die ungewöhnliche Dicke und durch die starke Überlappung ihres Endothels für eine Gefügedilatation besonders geeignet.Mit Unterstützung durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

Rearrangement of VHa1-encoding Ig gene segment to the a2 chromosome in an a1/a2 heterozygous rabbit. Evidence for trans recombination

VDJ genes were cloned from leukemic B cells of an a1/a2 heterozygous Emu-cmyc transgenic rabbit. Restriction mapping and nucleotide sequence analysis indicated that one clone, 5C3, had a VHa1-encoding gene segment functionally rearranged to a JH gene segment from the a2 chromosome. This VDJ gene may be the result of a trans recombination between a VH gene on the a1 chromosome and a JH gene segment on the a2 chromosome or, it may be the result of a cis recombination if the a2 chromosome contains VHa1-encoding gene segments.     

Lectin binding to cells of Schistosoma mansoni sporocysts and surrounding Biomphalaria glabrata tissue

The binding of different lectins to the surface of mother and daughter sporocysts of Schistosoma mansoni (Trematoda) and to cells of its intermediate host Biomphalaria glabrata (Gastropoda) was investigated. The test system consisted of several biotin-labeled lectins, an avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex and 3,3'-diaminobenzidine. The fixatives used were Formalin, Bouin's and Zenker's solutions; unfixed material was also studied. Most lectins reacted equally with host tissue and parasite tissue. However, receptors for Ulex europaeus I (most probably fucose) were only demonstrated on daughter sporocysts. Thus, a method was found to specifically mark Schistosoma mansoni daughter sporocysts in the digestive gland tissue of its intermediate host. Mother sporocysts and surrounding host tissue differed in their distribution of galactosyl groups. Both lack fucose and N-acetyl-galactosamine. The differences in lectin binding of galactosyl determinants were also observed during the in vitro development of mother to daughter sporocysts.     

Origin of ultraviolet damage in DNA

A novel ultraviolet (u.v.) footprinting technique has been used to analyze the formation of u.v. photoproducts at 250 bases of a 5 S rRNA gene under conditions where the gene is either double or single-stranded. Because many more types of u.v. damage can be detected by the u.v. footprinting technique than has been previously possible, we have been able to examine in detail why certain bases in DNA are damaged by u.v. light while others are not. Our measurements demonstrate that the ability of u.v. light to damage a given base in DNA is determined by two factors, the sequence of the DNA in the immediate vicinity of the photoproduct, and the flexibility of the DNA at the site of the photoproduct. For pyrimidines, the predominant photoreaction in double-stranded DNA involves covalent dimerization between adjacent pyrimidine residues. Dimerization is much easier in melted DNA because the geometrical changes required for adjacent pyrimidine residues to dimerize are easier in single-stranded DNA. The absorption of a u.v. photon cannot simultaneously induce the geometrical changes required for adjacent pyrimidines or other bases to dimerize with one another. Rather, upon the absorption of a u.v. photon, only those thermally excited bases that are in a geometry capable of easily forming a photodimer during excitation, can photoreact. In contrast to adjacent pyrimidines, non-adjacent pyrimidines (pyrimidines flanked on either side by a purine) do not readily form u.v. photoproducts in double-stranded DNA. Because photoreactions at non-adjacent pyrimidine residues are greatly enhanced in single-stranded DNA, their failure to form in double-helical DNA is attributed to torsional constraints imposed by the double helix which make it difficult for non-adjacent pyrimidines to adopt a geometry necessary for photoreaction. Although purines are believed to be resistant to u.v. damage, our measurements demonstrate that at moderate u.v. dosages purines which are flanked on their 5' side by two or more contiguous pyrimidines readily form u.v. photoproducts in double-stranded DNA. Flanking pyrimidines appear to activate purine photoreactions by transferring triplet excitation energy to the purine. Melting of the DNA helix greatly inhibits the ability of flanking pyrimidines to activate purine photoreactions, presumably by disrupting intimate orbital overlap required for triplet transfer.     

Aberrant fatty acyl alpha-hydroxylation in human neuroblastoma tumor gangliosides

Abnormalities of ganglioside structure characterize the neoplastic state, and aberrant glycosylation has been implicated as underlying many new tumor ganglioside structures. However, variations in ceramide structure can also result in novel tumor gangliosides. To address systematically this aspect of ganglioside metabolism, we have initiated a study of the structures of the ceramide species of an oligosaccharide-homogeneous human tumor-derived ganglioside, GM2. The ganglioside was isolated from neuroblastoma tissue and purified by normal-phase high pressure liquid chromatography. Marked ceramide heterogeneity was observed; 18 individual ceramide species of neuroblastoma GM2 were separated by reversed-phase high pressure liquid chromatography and collected. Their structures were determined by a combination of negative- and positive-ion fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry and collisionally activated dissociation tandem mass spectrometry of the underivatized gangliosides. The striking finding was the detection of alpha-hydroxylation of a significant fraction of each of the major fatty acid species (16:0, 18:0, 20:0, 22:0, and 24:1); alpha-hydroxylated species quantitatively represented almost one-fifth of the total tumor GM2 species. Fatty acyl hydroxylation was also detected in the ceramide of several other human tumor gangliosides. In contrast, as previously known, fatty acyl hydroxylation was not detected in the normal human brain gangliosides GM3, GM2, and GM1. We propose that aberrant fatty acid alpha-hydroxylation is a novel and sometimes quantitatively significant characteristic of human tumor ganglioside metabolism.     

A covalently constrained congener of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae tridecapeptide mating pheromone is an agonist

An analog of alpha-factor, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae tridecapeptide mating pheromone (Trp-His-Trp-Leu-Gln-Leu-Lys-Pro-Gly-Gln-Pro-Met-Tyr), in which the side chains of Lys7 and Gln10 were covalently linked, was synthesized using solid phase methodologies. The yield of the purified cyclic analog cyclo7,10[Nle12]alpha-factor was 30%, and its structure was verified by amino acid analysis, peptide sequencing, fast atom bombardment-mass spectrometry, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Cyclo7,10[Nle12]alpha-factor caused growth arrest and morphological alterations in S. cerevisiae MATa cells qualitatively identical to those induced by linear pheromone and was one-fourth to one-twentieth as active as the linear alpha-factor depending upon the S. cerevisiae strain tested. Consistent with the relative activities of the linear and cyclic peptides, binding competition studies indicated that cyclo7,10[Nle12]alpha-factor had approximately 20-40-fold less affinity for the alpha-factor receptor. Hydrolysis of the cyclic peptide by the target cells did not lead to opening of the ring and was less rapid than that of linear alpha-factor. The alpha-factor antagonist des-Trp1-[Ala3,Nle12]alpha-factor reversed the activity of the cyclic analog, and cyclo7,10[Nle12]alpha-factor was not active at the restrictive temperature in a temperature-sensitive receptor mutant. These results support the conclusion that the cyclic alpha-factor occupies the same binding site within the receptor as is occupied by the natural pheromone. The cyclic alpha-factor represents a rare example of an agonist among covalently constrained congeners of small linear peptide messengers.