Preface

Goldman Festschrift

Preface     

Hydrophilic C-terminal domain of the Escherichia coli mannitol permease: phosphorylation, functional independence, and evidence for intersubunit phosphotransfer

The mannitol-specific enzyme II (mannitol permease) of the Escherichia coli phosphotransferase system (PTS) catalyzes the concomitant transport and phosphorylation of D-mannitol. Previous studies have shown that the mannitol permease (637 amino acid residues) consists of 2 structural domains of roughly equal size: an N-terminal, hydrophobic, membrane-bound domain and a C-terminal, hydrophilic, cytoplasmic domain. The C-terminal domain can be released from the membrane by mild proteolysis of everted membrane vesicles [Stephan, M.M., & Jacobson, G.R. (1986) Biochemistry 25, 8230-8234]. In this report, we show that phosphorylation of the intact permease by [32P]HPr (a general phosphocarrier protein of the PTS) followed by tryptic separation of the two domains resulted in labeling of only the C-terminal domain. Phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain occurred even in the complete absence of the N-terminal domain, showing that the former contains most, if not all, of the critical residues comprising the interaction site for phospho-HPr. The phosphorylated C-terminal domain, however, could not transfer its phospho group to mannitol, suggesting that the N-terminal domain is necessary for mannitol binding and/or phosphotransfer from the enzyme to the sugar. The elution profile of the C-terminal domain after molecular sieve chromatography showed that the isolated domain is monomeric, unlike the native permease which is likely a dimer in the membrane. Experiments employing a deletion mutation of the mtlA gene, which encodes a protein lacking the first phosphorylation site in the C-terminal domain (His-554) but retaining the second phosphorylation site (Cys-384), demonstrated that a phospho group could be transferred from phospho-HPr to Cys-384 of the deletion protein, and then to mannitol, only in the presence of the full-length permease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Chlorierte Kohlenwasserstoffe in Brutv?geln aus dem Binnenland Niedersachsens

Zusammenfassung Rückstände chlorierter Kohlenwasserstoffe in Eiern und Lebern von im Binnenland Niedersachsens brütenden Vogelarten — Feldsperling, Mehlschwalbe, Weißstorch, Graureiher, Saatkrähe, Stockente und andere Arten — werden angegeben und deren Abhängigkeit von Brutort, Nahrung und Zugverhalten diskutiert.

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Chlorinated hydrocarbons of some bird species breeding in the inland of Lower Saxony (FRG)

Summary Residues of chlorinated hydrocarbons in eggs and livers of some bird species — Tree Sparrow, House Martin, White Stork, Heron, Rook, Mallard, and further species — are presented. The dependence on place of breeding, food web, and migration is discussed.

     

Odorant response of isolated olfactory receptor cells is blocked by amiloride

Summary Olfactory receptor cells were isolated from the nasal mucosa ofRana esculenta and patch clamped. Best results were obtained with free-floating cells showing ciliary movement. 1)On-cell mode: Current records were obtained for up to 50 min. Under control conditions they showed only occasional action potentials. The odorants cineole, amyl acetate and isobutyl methoxypyrazine were applied in saline by prolonged superfusion. At 500 nanomolar they elicited periodic bursts of current transients arising from cellular action potentials. The response was rapidly, fully and reversibly blocked by 50 m amiloride added to the odorant solution. With 10 m amiloride, the response to odorants was only partially abolished. 2)Whole-cell mode: Following breakage of the patch, the odorant response was lost within 5 to 15 min. Prior to this, odorants evoked a series of slow transient depolarizations (0.1/sec, 45 mV peak to peak) which reached threshold and thus elicited the periodic discharge of action potentials. These slow depolarizing waves were reversibly blocked by amiloride, which stabilized the membrane voltage between –80 and –90 mV. We conclude that amiloride inhibits chemosensory transduction of olfactory receptor cells, probably by blocking inward current pathways which open in response to odorants.     

A method for the rapid establishment of normal adult mammalian colonic epithelial cell cultures

Summary Normal colonic epithelial cell cultures of mammalian origin are required to facilitate the study of both normal cellular functions as well as pathogenesis of certain (human) colonic diseases. To date, little information is available regarding the growth requirements of colonic epithelial cells in culture of eitehr animal or human origin. Such data would enable the development of a long-term culture system for these cells. In this study, we present methodology that results in the establishment of homogeneous cultures of adult rabbit colonic epithelial reproducibly, quickly, and in quantity. The epithelial nature of the cultures is unambiguously established by intermediate filament typing using antikeratin antibodies. Such culutres can now be used for a variety of functional studies as well as to investigate the growth requirements of colonic epithelial in culture. This work was supported by the Blinder Foundation for Crohn’s Disease Research, Harbor UCLA IBD Center (AM 36200) and grant AM 27806 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.     

Plant protoplasts and genetic engineering II

Book Review

Plant protoplasts and genetic engineering IIY.P.S. Bajaj (Ed.), (Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, Vol. 9). Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1989. 510 pages. DM398.00. ISBN 3-540-50789-2     

A morphometric comparison of dissimilar early development in sibling species of Platynereis (Annelida,Polychaeta)

Summary Early development of Platynereis massiliensis was studied in serial sections of fixed embryos and in living or fixed embryos whose nuclei had been made visible with a fluorescent label. The unfertilized egg is an ellipsoid with three axes of differing length. The longest axis corresponds to the dorsoventral axis of the developing embryo. Egg volume is ten times that in the sibling species, P. dumerilii, mainly due to increased yolk content. The timing and spatial pattern of cleavage were observed from first cleavage to the 62-cell stage. Volumes of the blastomeres, their nuclei, their yolk-free cytoplasm and their yolk were determined from serial sections up to the 29-cell stage. In the P. massiliensis embryo, cell cycles are on average 3.7 times longer than in P. dumerilii; volume proportions among the blastomeres also differ and the macromeres containing the bulk of yolk are particularly large, but otherwise the cleavage patterns, differential segregation of yolk and yolk-free cytoplasm, and the histogenetic fates of the blastomeres are the same as in P. dumerilii. This equivalence of cell lineage and of cytoplasmic segregation mechanisms in both species, maintained in spite of the different appearance of the embryos, suggests functional importance of and selective constraint on these developmental features. The relatively accelerated divisions of the 2d cell line in P. massiliensis may be interpreted as the precocious development of cell lines which give rise to adult structures. Several structures, obviously functional in developing P. dumerilii, have lost their function in P. massiliensis: the egg contains few cortical granules, giving rise to only a moderate egg jelly layer in the zygote; prototroch cells develop cilia, but the heavy embryo is unable to swim; the larva develops three pairs of parapodia but, unlike the corresponding stage in P. dumerilii, is not capable of coordinate locomotion. This loss of motility is related to the brooding habit of the species developing inside the parental tube and is explained as the result of a switch from pelagic to benthic, protected reproduction in P. massiliensis. Offprint requests to: A.W.C. Dorresteijn     

Ferritin enhances production of DNA strand breaks by 6-hydroxydopamine,ascorbic acid and H2O2 in CCC PM2 bacteriophage DNA

Damage of CCC PM2 DNA by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) and ascorbic acid (AA), compounds that are both able to release iron from ferritin, was significantly enhanced in the presence of ferritin. H₂O₂, a product of 6-OHDA autoxidation, did not induce DNA strand breaks in the absence of ferritin and only to a minor extent in the presence of ferritin. DNA damage by 6-OHDA and AA could be reduced by the hydroxyl radical scavenger mannitol, the iron chelator desferrioxamine, and, partly, by a combination of superoxide dismutase and catalase. These inhibitory effects were clearly less pronounced in the presence of ferritin. Ferritin obviously played an important role as a source of iron in the pro-oxidative processes of 6-OHDA and AA. These features might be of importance in cancer therapy since many tumor cells contain elevated ferritin levels.     

Defect of sperm assembly in a neurological mutant of the mouse, wobbler (WR)

In the wobbler (WR) mouse, a neuromuscular mutant characterized by a motoneuron degeneration and male infertility, the cellular basis of the defect in spermiogenesis was studied by light and electron microscopy as well as by lectin binding. Spermatozoa of the wobbler mutant had rounded heads, and their motility was reduced. In histological sections of WR testes, spermatogenesis appeared normal up to the stage of round spermatids, but the elongation and flattening of the nucleus during late spermiogenesis did not occur. Numbers of spermatid nuclei in WR testes were reduced to 70%-80% of controls. The acrosomal marker glycoprotein, peanut agglutinin receptor, was synthesized, but the acrosomal membrane did not attach to the nucleus. The disturbance in spermiogenesis of the wobbler mouse is not due to impaired descent of the testis, nor to a lack of testosterone, and is distinct from that observed in other mouse mutants (quaking, QK; Purkinje cell degeneration, PCD) with combined neurological and spermiogenesis defects.     

The Evolution of Restricted Recombination and the Accumulation of Repeated DNA Sequences

We suggest hypotheses to account for two major features of chromosomal organization in higher eukaryotes. The first of these is the general restriction of crossing over in the neighborhood of centromeres and telomeres. We propose that this is a consequence of selection for reduced rates of unequal exchange between repeated DNA sequences for which the copy number is subject to stabilizing selection: microtubule binding sites, in the case of centromeres, and the short repeated sequences needed for terminal replication of a linear DNA molecule, in the case of telomeres. An association between proximal crossing over and nondisjunction would also favor the restriction of crossing over near the centromere. The second feature is the association between highly repeated DNA sequences of no obvious functional significance and regions of restricted crossing over. We show that highly repeated sequences are likely to persist longest (over evolutionary time) when crossing over is infrequent. This is because unequal exchange among repeated sequences generates single copy sequences, and a population that becomes fixed for a single copy sequence by drift remains in this state indefinitely (in the absence of gene amplification processes). Increased rates of exchange thus speed up the process of stochastic loss of repeated sequences.