心肺压力感受器持续卸荷对前臂血流、血管阻力及心率变异性谱的影响

低压值下体负压（ＬＢＮＰ）可仅使心肺压力感受器卸荷。采用－２ｋＰａＬＢＮＰ实验结果表明：ＬＢＮＰ既不引起动脉血压变化,也不引起心率改变,但却引起基础胸阻抗（Ｚ。）从对照的２１．８±０．４升高到２２．５±０．５Ω（Ｐ＜０．０１）,前臂血管阻力（ＦＶＲ）从１２．３±０．９升高到１９．９±１．４Ｕ（Ｐ＜０．０１）,前臂血流（ＦＢＦ）从对照时７．１±０．５降低到４．３±０．３ｍｌ·ｍｉｎ￣（－１）·１００ｍｌ￣（－１）,心率变异性谱（ＨＲＶ）未发生任何变化,即心肺压力感受器卸荷时心脏自主神经活动水平与均衡性不受影响。由于ＦＶＲ和ＦＢＦ的变化可间接反映外周血管交感传出活动水平,上述实验结果提示,心肺压力感受器对外周血管及心脏自主神经活动的调节可能存在机能分化现象。     

被子植物系统发育研究的现状与展望

为植物界最大的类群—被子植物建立一个能真正反映植物的进化历史和系统发育（phylogeny）的分类系统一直是许多植物系统学家和进化学家所向往的。到目前为止,已经提出的被子植物分类系统至少有二十多个。问题在于这样的分类系统能否说已符合于系统发育的要求？要回答这个问题,首先必须弄清系统发育的真正含义是什么。     

A Novel Type of Substrate Specificity of Rice BAPAase (Benzoyl-L-arginine p-nitroanilide Hydrolase) with Mixed Endopeptidase and Carboxypeptidase

The substrate specificity of rice embryo benzoyl-L-argininep-nitroanilide hydrolase (BAPAase) was examined. No endopeptidaseactivity toward protein substrates was detectable. Small peptides(less than 8 residues) and amide, ester substrates, however,were hydrolyzed very well at the carboxyl side of the lysineor arginine residue. No other peptide bond was hydrolyzed. TheN-terminal arginine of the substrates was released very slowly.Peptides with lysine or arginine penultimate to the C-terminalposition were hydrolyzed well and released an amino acid. Theoxidized insulin B chain (30 residues) was cleaved very slowlyat the C-terminal Lys-Ala bond, whereas an Arg-Gly bond at aninner position was not cleaved. The hydrolytic rate increasedafter the chain length was shortened by chymotryptic digestion.These results show that the rice embryo BAPAase is a novel enzymewhich has mixed endopeptidase-carboxypeptidase activity towardthe Arg-X and Lys-X bonds of small peptides, a characteristicintermediate between trypsin and serine carboxypeptidase. Thisenzyme may act in the breakdown of small peptides that havephysiological functions. (Received May 26, 1984; Accepted August 29, 1984)     

Purification and Characterization of Rice Embryo BAPAase (Benzoyl-L-arginine p-nitroanilide Hydrolase)

Benzoyl-L-arginine p-nitroanilide hydrolase (BAPAase), whichhas both endopeptidase and carboxypeptidase activity towardthe Arg-X or Lys-X bond of small peptides [Shibata and Doi (1984)Plant & Cell Physiol. 25: 1421], was purified from riceembryos by ammonium sulfate and polymin fractionations and byion exchange, gel exclusion and hydrophobic chromatographies.The purified enzyme was homogeneous when analyzed by polyacrylamidegel electrophoresis. It was unstable in the absence of surface-activereagents such as Triton X-100. Maximum activity for benzoyl-Largininep-nitroanilide (L-BAPA) or carboxypeptidase activity towardbutoxycarbonyl-Gly-Lys-Leu was obtained at pH 9.0. L-BAPA athigh concentrations inhibited the enzyme's activity. Di-isopropylphosphofluoridate, N-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone, leupeptinand antipain, which are specific inhibitors of trypsin, inhibitedBAPAase activity, but soybean and rice bran trypsin inhibitorhad no effect on it. Sulfhydryl reagents strongly inhibitedthe BAPAase activity. (Received May 26, 1984; Accepted August 29, 1984)     

Two polypeptides associated with the ribonucleic acid polymerase core of Bacillus subtilis during sporulation.

The ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase from log-phase and sporulating cells of Bacillus subtilis was analyzed to determine whether any structural changes occurred during sporulation. The elution pattern of RNA polymerase from a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-cellulose column revealed that sporulating cells at stages III and IV contained a new RNA polymerase fraction in addition to the vegetative holoenzyme (alpha2betabeta'sigma). Stage III cells contained the vegetative holoenzyme and a new enzyme with the composition alpha2betabeta'delta1; the molecular weight of delta1 was 28,000. Stage IV cells contained the vegetative holoenzyme, the delta1-containing enzyme, and another enzyme with the composition alpha2betabeta'delta2. The delta2 factor had a molecular weight of around 20,000. The delta-containing enzymes have a higher affinity for the DNA-cellulose column and a higher specific activity on various templates than vegetative holoenzyme. The simultaneous appearance of these enzymes with vegetative holoenzymes in sporulating cells is consistent with the data found previously with DNA-RNA hybridization studies, which showed that sporulating cells contained both vegetative and sporulation messenger RNAs.     

Calcium dependent action potentials in skeletal muscle fibres of a beetle larva, Xylotrupes dichotomus

The ionic requirement for generating action potentials in ventral longitudinal muscle fibers dissected from beetle larvae was examined by conventional electrophysiological techniques. Muscle fibers that generated only graded responses in physiological saline were able to generate an all-or-none action potential when the potassium permeability of the membrane was inhibited by tetraethylammonium⁺ added to the saline. The peak of the action potential thus elicited was intimately related to the external Ca⁺⁺ concentration. The action potential was blocked by Co⁺⁺ which is known as a competitive inhibitor of Ca-spikes. Neither tetrodotoxin (3 μM) nor a Na-free condition effectively blocked the generation of the action potential. Mg⁺⁺ induced a shift in the peak of the action potential; this was, however, due to the stabilizing action of Mg⁺⁺ but not due to the penetration of Mg⁺⁺ through the muscle membrane. No action potential was elicited in the muscle fiber when immersed in a Ca-free, EGTA saline even when a high concentration of either Mg⁺⁺, Na⁺, or tetraethylammonium⁺ was present. The action potential of the larval muscle fiber was thus concluded to be a Ca-spike, through the channel of which Na⁺ or Mg⁺⁺ did not penetrate.     

A procedure to remove protease activities from Bacillus subtilis sporulating cells and their crude extracts.

A simple procedure was developed to remove both extracellular and intracellular proteases associated with aporulating Bacillus subtilis cells. Cells are washed four times with 1 m KCl before breakage and their crude extracts are treated with 2 mm diisopropylfluorophosphate before passage through a hemoglobin-Sepharose affinity column. RNA polymerase in crude B. subtilis extracts treated by this procedure was stable, functionally and structurally, for more than 1 month at 4°C. This process for removing all proteases should work essentially with any crude extracts containing proteolytic activities.     

Behavior of vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein in mouse LM cells with modified membrane-phospholipids

LM cells in which the membrane phospholipids had been modified with choline analogues were infected with vesicular stomatitis virus. The choline analogues tested were choline, N,N'-dimethylethanolamine, N-monomethylethanolamine and ethanolamine. These modifications per se did not affect the syntheses of individual viral proteins. The viral glycoprotein was detected in the plasma membranes of all the modified cells by pronase digestion in pulse-chase experiments, but the amount of glycoprotein susceptible to proteolysis varied, decreasing in these modified cells in the following order: N,N'-dimethylethanolamine- greater than choline- greater than N-monomethylethanolamine- greater than ethanolamine-treated cells. After a 4-h chase, glycoprotein was mainly distributed in the plasma membranes of cells modified with N,N'-dimethylethanolamine, whereas it was found in both the microsomes and plasma membranes of cells modified with other analogues. Fairly large amounts of glycoprotein were also found in the soluble fraction of ethanolamine-treated cells, but not in that of choline- or N,N'-dimethylethanolamine-treated cells. More precise experiments on the behaviour of glycoprotein with a short period of chase strongly suggested that migration of glycoprotein from the microsomes to the plasma membranes was fastest in cells modified with N,N'-dimethylethanolamine and slowest in cells modified with ethanolamine. Membrane lipid modifications also resulted in release of different numbers of progeny virions from the cells, release of virions from the cells decreasing in the following order: N,N'-dimethylethanolamine- greater than choline- greather N-monomethylethanolamine- greater than ethanolamine-treated cells. These results indicate that modification of membrane phospholipids influences not only the insertion of glycoprotein into the microsomes and its migration to the plasma membranes, but also the production of progeny virions.     

Sigma factor is not released during transcription in Bacillus subtilis.

The relationship between sigma (sigma) and delta (delta) factors of Bacillus subtilis RNA polymerase has been analyzed during initiation of RNA synthesis. When core enzyme (E) containing delta factor (E delta) binds to DNA, the delta factor is released with the formation of an E-DNA complex. The addition of sigma to the E-DNA complex results in the formation of a stable E sigma-DNA complex which can synthesize RNA upon addition of nucleoside triphosphates. Sigma factor, significantly, is not released from the core during RNA synthesis. These results suggest that delta and sigma factors can act sequentially during initiation of RNA synthesis with delta acting as a DNA recognition factor and sigma acting as an initiation factor. The results do not preclude the possibility that E sigma can initiate RNA synthesis correctly since E sigma alone can bind to DNA and initiate RNA synthesis.     

Relationships among the three light-induced absorbance changes related to the reaction-center of photosystem II

The relationships among X₅₉₁, Cyt-b₅₅₉ and C-550 in the primaryphotoact of PS-II were analysed by examining the effects ofvarious inhibitory substances and treatments on the light-inducedabsorbance changes of these components. The results were fully explainable by the scheme previouslypresented by Huzisige, in which two photoreactions are involvedin PS-II. Our conclusion is that X₅₉₁ acts as the electron acceptorfor one of the photoreactions in PS-II. (Received October 23, 1978; )