Evidence for a correlation between late replication and autosomal gene inactivation in a familial translocation t(X;21)

Summary A familial translocation t(X;21)(q2700;q11) is studied. A girl, trisomic for almost all the chromosome 21, has a mildly abnormal phenotype. A second girl, phenotypically abnormal, is monosomic for the juxtacentromeric region of chromosome 21 only. A comparison of the replication pattern and of the activity of superoxide dismutase (gene located on chromosome 21) shows a clear correlation between late replication, gene inactivation and phenotype expression of chromosome 21.This work has been supported by CNRS (ERA 47)     

Assembly of the mitochondrial membrane system XIX

Summary Two F^- mutants deficient in conjugation with F-type donors are isolated and characterized. Phenotypically, these mutants are similar; they have heptose-less lipopolysaccharide and lack some outer membrane protein. Genotypically, they are different. One mutant harbours a point mutation in the 70 to 74 min region, while the other is deleted for the chromosomal region 6.5 to 8.5 min. Comparison of the properties of the conjugation-deficient mutants described in this paper with other such mutants suggests than an outer membrane protein is the receptor for the F-pilus.     

Attribution des signaux de résonance magnétique nucléaire-13c de disaccharides peracétylés dans la série du D-glucose

Selective, double irradiation allows the assignment of most ¹³C-n.m.r. signals in a series of per-O-acetyl disaccharides composed of two D-glucose residues linked α-(1→3), β-(1→3), α-(1→4), β-(1→4), α-(1→6), β-(1→6), and α,α-(1→1). The main influences that affect the chemical shifts are discussed and the spectra of β-cellobiose octaacetate and β-maltose octaacetate are compared to those of cellulose and amylose triacetate, respectively, to show the possibilities and limitations of a disaccharide model for the interpretation of the ¹³C-spectrum of a polymer.     

Dérivés d'acides 3-(β-d-érythrofuranosyl)-pyrazolecarboxyliques

Treatment of 2,5-anhydro-1-bromo-1-deoxy-2,3-O-isopropylidene-1-p-nitrophenylhydrazono-d-ribose with methyl acetylenecarboxylate gave methyl 3-(2,3-O-isopropylidene-β-d-erythrofuranosyl)-1-p-nitrophenylpyrazole- (8) and 5-carboxylate (9). Amidification at C-5 of 8 was easier than at C-4 of 9. Similarly, dimethyl 3-(2,3-O-isopropylidene-β-d-erythrofuranosyl)- 1 - p-nitrophenylpyrazole-4,5-dicarboxylate gave specifically a 5-carbamoyl derivative, the structure of which was established by comparison of the ¹³C-n.m.r.spectrum with those of a series of glycosylpyrazoles. The correlation between the experimental values of the chemical shifts of the carbon atoms of the pyrazole ring and the values calculated by addition of the contributions of the various groups linked to the ring was better (R 0.98) than the correlations obtained by calculation by the CNDO/2 method of the total electron population (R 0.92) or of the π-electron population of each carbon atom (R 0.85).     

Further studies on polyploid amphibians

The manner in which centromere regions of mitotic chromosomes are distributed with respect to the age of their DNA was studied. Cells of the Indian deer, Muntiacus muntjak, were grown in the presence of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) for two generations and stained with the fluorescent dye Hoechst 33258. Chromatids containing granddaughter DNA appear dim when compared with those containing grandparental DNA. The frequencies of the various anaphase patterns of bright and dim centromere regions were binomially distributed, indicating random distribution of chromatids with respect to the age of their DNA templates.     

Amino acid sequence and immunological properties of chachalaca egg white lysozyme

Summary The amino acid sequence of lysozyme c from chachalaca egg white was determined. Like other bird lysozymes c, that of the chachalaca has 129 amino acid residues. It differs from other avian lysozymes c by 27 to 31 amino acid substitutions as well as by being devoid of phenylalanine. It contains substitutions at 9 positions which are invariant in the other 7 bird lysozymes of known sequence. Although the chachalaca is classified zoologically in the order Galliformes, which includes chickens and other pheasant-like birds, its lysozyme differs more from those of pheasant-like birds than do the lysozymes c of ducks. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequence comparisons confirms that the lineage leading to chachalaca lysozyme c separated from that leading to other galliform lysozymes c before the duck lysozyme c lineage did. This indicates a contrast between protein evolution and evolution at the organismal level. Immunological comparison of chachalacalysozyme c with other lysozymes of known sequence provides further support for the proposal that immunological cross-reactivity is strongly dependent on degree of sequence resemblance among bird lysozymes.103rd communication on lysozymes from the Laboratory of P. Jollès. Supported in part by grants from C.N.R.S. (ER 102), I.N.S.E.R.M. (Groupe de recherche U-116), N.S.F. (GB-42028X), and N.I.H. (GM-21509).     

Xanthones from Tovomita pyrifolium

The wood of Tovomita pyrifolium (Guttiferae) contains the novel tovopyrifolins A [1,6-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-5-prenyl-6′,6′-dimethylpyrano (2′,3′:3,2)xanthone], B (1,5-dihydroxy-3,4-dimethoxyxanthone) and C (1,3,5-trihydroxy-2-methoxyxanthone) and also the known tovophyllins A and B [structure revised to 1,6-dihydroxy-5-prenyl-6′, 6′-dimethylpyrano(2′,3′:3,2)-6″,6″-dimethylpyrano(2″,3″:7,8)xanthone].