Specificity of two isolated wheat carboxypeptidases

The substrate specificity of two purified carboxypeptidases from germinated wheat has been examined. Both enzymes were active on a wide variety of carbobenzoxy substituted peptides but inactive with unsubstituted dipeptides. Neither enzyme was active upon endoprotease or amidase substrates and only low levels of esterase activity were evident. In time course studies, both enzymes gave rapid non-specific sequential release of amino acids, including proline, from the carboxyterminal of proteins and polypeptides of known amino acid sequence.     

Sesquiterpenes of thalloid liverworts of the genera Conocephalum,Lunularia, Metzgeria and Riccardia

Thalloid liverworts of orders Metzgeriales and Marchantiales elaborate essential oils distinguishable from those of the Jungermanniales by the absence of β-barbatene and anastreptene. Riccardia sinuata elaborates a novel tricyclic exomethylene sesquiterpene of as yet undetermined structure. Conocephalum conicum elaborates cadinene-type sesquiterpenes. β-Cadinene from the latter species is clearly enantiomeric to the same product from vascular plants.     

Association of neutral α-glucosidase with cytoplasmic granules of peritoneal macrophages

A neutral α-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.20) activity was shown to be associated with granules which are sedimentable at 10 000 g after differential centrifugation of mouse peritoneal macrophage homogenates. When the post-nuclear supernatant was centrifuged in a sucrose density gradient, high activities for neutral α-glucosidase and β-glucuronidase (EC 3.2.1.31) were detected in the bottom fractions because of aggregation of the granules. Neutral α-glucosidase-containing granules were completely disaggregated by the addition of 20 units/ml of heparin and 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.2), which caused only a partial disaggregation of β-glucuronidase-containing granules. The addition of a high concentration of heparin, Tris buffer, or KCl to the gradient gave the same patterns of disaggregation of the granules. Under the condition in which about 50% of the total β-glucuronidase activity was released into the medium, depending on phagocytosis, very little α-glucosidase was released. These observations suggested that neutral α-glucosidase may localize in non-lysosomal granules.     

Biochemical and Immunological Characterization of Collagenase in Tissues of Metamorphosing Bullfrog Tadpoles

Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP, a specific inhibitor of collagenase) was found to inhibit thyroid hormone-induced tail regression, suggesting the important role of collagenase in this process. Collagenase was purified from culture media of back skin of tadpole of bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana . Anti-tadpole collagenase polyclonal antisera were obtained against the purified enzyme. The antibody inhibited the activity of tadpole collagenase. The antisera reacted to tissues of adult bullfrogs, tadpoles of african clawed frog, Xenopus laevis , and adult newts, Cynopus pyrrhogaster , and also reacted to human fibroblast collagenase. Immunoblot analyses suggested that tadpole collagenase lacks the procollagenase which is generally found in mammalian collagenases. Intense immunological stains were observed for the tissues of thyroid hormone-treated tadpoles as compared to those of untreated animals. Thyroid hormone increased amounts of collagenase not only in epidermal layer but also in mesenchymal tissues including fibroblastic cells.     

Chromosomal behavior in starfish (Asterina pectinifera) zygotes under the effect of aphidicolin, an inhibitor of DNA polymerase

When calf thymus histones were labeled fluorescently and microinjected into oocytes of the starfish, Asterina pectinifera, the labeled histones visualized chromosomes during maturation division and cleavage. In doing so, we confirmed the previously reported phenomenon that chromosomes became incompetent at the first cleavage in the aphidicolin-treated egg, although cleavage itself took place. Moreover, we found that chromosomes were aligned at the equator of the metaphase spindle of the first cleavage and that they did not separate into two groups at all, but made a lump in the middle of the spindle. Chromosomes finally entered one blastomere, although they did not participate in the following karyokinesis. DNA and microtubules were examined by cytochemistry and immunofluorescence in order to investigate the relation between chromosome movement and the microtubular cytoskeleton. The mitotic apparatus developed and grew in the aphidicolin-treated cells in the same manner as those in normal cells without normal chromatin condensation or chromosome movement during the first cleavage. However, the mitotic apparatus consisted of two asters without the spindle formed at subsequent cleavages. Electron microscopic study revealed that chromosomes did not condense normally and kinetochores were not detected during the first cleavage. These results indicate that the dynamic changes in microtubular structures during mitosis have poor relation with the chromosome behavior such as prophase chromosome condensation and anaphase chromosome movement.     

Effects of Hypoxia on the Activity of the Dopaminergic Neuron System in the Rat Striatum as Studied by In Vivo Brain Microdialysis

The purpose of the present study is to clarify the effects of hypoxia on the activity of the dopaminergic neurons in the brain and its mechanism of action. For this purpose, the effects of hypoxia on the extracellular levels of 3,4-dihy-droxyphenylethylamine (dopamine) were examined in the rat Striatum using in vivo brain microdialysis in the presence or absence of pretreatment with either tetrodotoxin (a blocker of voltage-dependent sodium channels) or nomifensine (a blocker of dopamine reuptake). Exposure to various degrees of hypoxia (15, 10, and 8% O₂ in N₂) increased dopamine levels in striatal dialysates to 200, 400, and 1,100%, respectively, of the control value. On reoxygenation, dopamine levels in the dialysates rapidly returned to the control level. Reexposure to hypoxia increased the dopamine levels to the same extent as during the first exposure. After addition of tetrodotoxin (40 mUM) to the perfusion fluid or pretreatment with nomifensine (100 mg/kg, i.p.), exposure to hypoxia no longer increased the dopamine levels. These results suggest that although hypoxia induces an increase in the extracellular dopamine levels (hence, an apparent increase in the activity of the dopaminergic neurons), this increase is not the result of an increase in dopamine release itself, but rather the result of inhibition of the dopamine reuptake mechanism.     

Evidence for resegmentation in the formation of the vertebral column using the novel approach of retroviral-mediated gene transfer

We have examined the somitic cell contribution to the vertebral column of the chick by genetic labeling of sclerotomal cells in early development. Single somites of embryonic Day 2 embryos were filled with retroviral particles containing the lacZ transducing vector BAG. After a further 14 or 17 days of incubation the embryos were fixed and the vertebral column was sectioned and stained histochemically for the lacZ gene product beta-galactosidase. Cells staining for the enzyme were found exclusively on the injected side of two vertebral segments; the staining was largely restricted, however, to the caudal half of the more rostral segment and the rostral half of the next more caudal segment. No embryos were observed with labeling in less than two vertebral segments. Moreover, labeled cells were not uniformly distributed within the labeled region of each vertebra; the neural arch, for example, usually contained a higher proportion of labeled cells than did the centrum. These observations support the concept of resegmentation, whereby a vertebra forms from sclerotomal cells derived from two consecutive somites resulting in a vertebral column shifted by one half segment with respect to the segmented boundaries of the somites. The quantitative distribution of labeled cells in the vertebrae also suggests that sclerotomal cells populate the region of a future vertebral segment in an orderly fashion dependent on when the cells migrate from the somite.     

Stage-specific cuticular proteins of Ostertagia circumcincta and Ostertagia ostertagi

In this study we have shown that NHS-biotin and I¹²⁵-streptavidin can detect cuticular polypeptides of Ostertagia spp. The labelled polypeptide profile of intact nematodes is simple compared to the profile obtained by labelling homogenates. None of the major internal polypeptides are labelled and the subset of proteins labelled in intact nematodes appears to be mainly surface associated. The results presented here demonstrate that NHS-biotin may be used as a reagent for the analysis of surface polypeptides. The surface polypeptide profiles of the five major developmental stages (L1, L2, L3, L4 and adult) of Ostertagia circumcincta show a series of stage-specific molecules with no polypeptides common to all stages, indicating that the cuticle is a dynamic structure which changes throughout the life cycle. Similarity comparison of Ostertagia ostertagi L3 and L4 stage surface profiles showed that each stage is clearly distinct; comparison of these stages between the two species shows an overall similarity.     

Electrophoretically estimated genetic distance and divergence time between chimpanzee and man

Amount of genetic differentiation between chimpanzee and man was estimated from the result of comparative electrophoretic screening of blood protein variations at 32 independent genetic loci. TheNei's genetic distance (D) was calculated as 0.4514, and from this value the divergence time between the two species was estimated as 2.26 million years; considering the variation among amino-acid substitution rate in different proteins, the corrected figures were given as genetic distance of 0.5706 and divergence time of 2.85 million years. This genetic difference is considered too small the two species to be allocated in different families, in accordance with the results of the similar kind of analyses byKing andWilson (1975) and Bruce andAyala (1979). Discussions were made for a discrepancy between the divergence times estimated by using and not by using the splitting time recognized by paleoprimatologists as a reference, and for the difference in the estimations made in different laboratories.