Changes in the levels of wheat- and barley-germ agglutinin during embryogenesis in vivo,in vitro and during germination

Radioimmunoassay has been used to measure levels of wheat-germ agglutinin and barley-germ agglutinin during embryogenesis and germination. The two lectins exhibited similar patterns of accumulation during grain maturation in vivo and both decreased to low levels after imbibition of harvest-ripe grains for 3 d. Precocious germination of immature wheat and barley embryos excised and cultured in vitro could be prevented either by inclusion of abscisic acid or mannitol in the culture medium. Changes in the level of wheat-germ agglutinin induced by in vitro culture depended on the maturation stage of the embryo. No direct correlation was found between application of exogenous abscisic acid and accumulation of the lectin.     

Calcium control of glycogen synthase activities in mouse diaphragms, rat adipocytes and rat hepatocytes

The following article provides evidence that cellular calcium controls the activity of glycogen synthase in all three major glycogen storage tissues; muscle, fat, and liver. Depletion of cellular calcium resulted in a moderate increase of glycogen synthase %I activities in intact mouse diaphragms, in isolated rat adipocytes, and in rat hepatocytes. The increase in %I activity of glycogen synthase was more pronounced when the uridine di-phosphoglucose concentration in the glycogen synthase assay was lowered from 4.4 mM to 0.2 mM. Calcium depletion resulted in an approximately two-fold decrease in the Ka values for glucose-6-phosphate in all three tissues. The activities of glycogen synthase also correlated well with the content of cell-associated calcium in rat hepatocytes. The glucose-6-phosphate independent activities of glycogen synthase in extracts of calcium-replete and calcium-depleted tissue approached the same value following the exposure to crude phosphoprotein phosphatase. The activities of glycogen phosphorylase decreased in calcium-depleted tissues and cells. Insulin stimulated the activity of glycogen synthase in muscle and fat in the absence of added sugar and in the absence of extracellular calcium. It is concluded that glycogen synthase is under the control of calcium in the three main glycogen storage tissues. The actions of calcium are probably mediated through the actions of calcium-sensitive protein kinase(s).     

Do colonic bacteria contribute to cholesterol gall-stone formation? Effects of lactulose on bile.

Ten healthy middle-aged women volunteered for a study to test the effect of lactulose--a synthetic, non-absorbable disaccharide--on the colonic metabolism of bile acids and on bile lipid composition. Lactulose (60 g daily in eight cases, 39 g daily in two) was taken as a proprietary syrup for six weeks, and bile was collected by duodenal intubation before and immediately after six weeks. All subjects showed a fall in the percentage of the 7-alpha-dehydroxylated bile acid deoxycholic acid (mean 28.4 +/- SEM 3.7 to 15.6 +/- 2.4; p less than 0.002) and a rise in the percentage of the primary bile acid chenodeoxycholic acid (mean 33.2 +/- 42.9 +/- 2.9; p less than 0.001). The percentage of cholic acid rose in eight subjects but mean values did not differ significantly. Bile was initially super-saturated with cholesterol in most subjects and became less saturated with cholesterol in all but one (mean saturation index 1.40 +/- 0.11 to 1.19 +/- 0.07; p less these 0.005). These data support the theory colonic bacteria contribute to cholesterol gall-stone formation.     

Specificity of sterol-glucosylating enzymes from Sinapis alba and Physarum polycephalum.

1. Sinapis alba L. seedlings contain glycosyltransferase catalyzing the synthesis of sterol glucosides in the presence of UDPglucose as sugar donor. The major activity occurs in the membranous fraction sedimenting at 300--9000 x g. Successive treatment of the particulate enzyme fraction with acetone and Triton X-100 affords a soluble glucosyltransferase preparation which can be partly purified by gel filtration on Sephadex G-150. Molecular weight of the glucosyltransferase is 1.4 . 10(5). Apparent Km values for UDPglucose and sitosterol are 8.0 . 10(-5) M and 5.0 . 10(-6) M, respectively. 2. Comparison was made of the S. alba glucosyltransferase with a similar sterol-glucosylating enzyme isolated from non-photosynthesizing organism Physarum polycephalum (Myxomycetes). UDPglucose was the most efficient glucose donor in both cases but the enzyme from Ph. polycephalum can also utilize CDPglucose and TDPglucose. Glucose acceptors are, in case of both enzymes, sterols containing a beta-OH group at C-3 and a planar ring system (5 alpha-H or double bond at C-5). The number and position of double bonds in the ring system and in the side chain, as well as the presence of additional alkyl groups in the side chain at C-24 are of secondary importance. 3. The present results indicate that both enzymes can be regarded as specific UDPglucose:sterol glucosyltransferases. Certain differences in their specificity towards donors and acceptors of the glucosyl moiety suggest, however, a different structure of the active sites in both enzymes.     

Studies on the reaction between human growth hormone and oleic acid using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Through the work of U. J. Lewis and E. V. Cheever (1967, Endocrinoloyg81, 1338–1348) and U. J. Lewis, E. V. Cheever, and B. K. Seavey (1968, J. Biol. Chem.243, 260–267) it has been known for a number of years that human growth hormone (hGH), and many other proteins, reacts with unsaturated fatty acids to give rise to species with enhanced electrophoretic mobility. In view of the possible importance of this reaction in the genesis of charge isomeric protein artifacts, and for the understanding of hGH as a system of multiple isomers with distinct, and in some cases enhanced, specific activities, the nature of this reaction was investigated further. It was found that (1) the positions of oleic acid and growth hormone on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) are coincident, indicating that the reaction leads to binding of the fatty acid to the protein: (2) the increment in molecular net charge on growth hormone is proportional to the molar ratio between the reactants, oleic acid and hGH; (3) the binding is noncovalent since it reverses under conditions of isoelectric focusing; (4) the reaction product has a molecular size indistinguishable from that of the reactant, hGH, by the criteria of “quantitative” PAGE (however, the reaction product exhibits an elevated negative molecular net charge in PAGE at pH 10.2); (5) the apparent isoelectric points of the hormone and its reaction products with oleic acid are indistinguishable in isoelectric focusing; (6) the interaction does not seem to involve the carboxyl charges on oleic acid since it is independent of ionic strength; (7) a noncovalent hydrophobic interaction with the protein is indicated since the range of electrophoretic mobilities exhibited by the hGH-oleic acid complex is smaller in the presence of benzyl alcohol in the gel than that exhibited by controls in it absence; (8) the reaction does not seem to involve free radical derivatives of the unsaturated fatty acid since it is not altered when the polyacrylamide gel is in a nonoxidative state; (9) the effect of the reaction with oleic acid on the tryptophan spectrum reflects only nonspecific interaction of the hormone-concomitant tryptophan perturbation.