Carbon oxidation and incorporation patterns in batch cultures ofMethylomonas L3

Summary A recently developed methodology of directly measuring the oxidation and incorporation patterns of carbon substrate in continuous cultures of RuMP-type methylotrophs is extended to batch cultures of the obligate methylotrophMethylomonas L3. The ratio of cyclic to total substrate oxidation varies with the initial methanol concentration from 0 to 68%. Formaldehyde, as a methanol cosubstrate, enhances the net substrate oxidation. The substrate oxidation and incorporation pattern is also affected by the state of the culture inoculum.     

青海贵德、共和两盆地晚新生代哺乳动物

本文记述了青海省贵德及共和两盆地的几个含晚新生代哺乳动物化石地点的地层剖面及采自18个地点的26种(代表20个属)哺乳动物化石.对其中的 Myospalax arvicolinus, Microtus, Anancus, Leptobos crassus gonghenensis subsp. nov., L. vallisarni, Bison (Superbison) crassicornis, Boopsis breviceps作了较详细的描述和讨论.通过对动物群的分析初步确定了盆地主要堆积物的时代——贵德盆地:上新世—早更新世;共和盆地:早—中更新世,并简略探讨了两盆地的发育历史.     

土壤中含EB病毒诱导物的检测

从广西壮族自治区梧州市、苍梧县、罗城县和北京市收集的土壤标本中发现有EB病毒诱导物。梧州市和苍梧县沿公路和江河两旁桐油树下的土壤标本,对EB病毒早期抗原诱导的阳性率为40～58％。在其他大戟科植物下的土壤标本中,也发现有EB病毒诱导物。对桐油树下土壤中EB病毒诱导物与鼻咽癌发生的可能关系进行了讨论。     

Mutants of Chinese hamster cells deficient in thymidylate synthetase

Stable mutants of Chinese hamster V79 cells deficient in thymidylate synthetase (TS; E.C. 2.1.1.45) have been selected from cultures grown in medium supplemented with folinic acid, aminopterin, and thymidine (FAT). After chemical mutagenesis, the frequency of colonies resistant to the "FAT" medium increased more than 100-fold over the spontaneous frequency. The optimal expression time of the mutant phenotype was 5-7 days after mutagen treatment. The recovery of FAT-resistant colonies in the selective medium was not affected by the presence of wild-type cells at a density below 9,000 cells per cm2. All 21 mutants tested exhibited thymidine auxotrophy; neither folinic acid nor deoxyuridine could support mutant cell growth. There was no detectable TS activity in all 11 mutants so far examined and only about 50% of wild-type activity in three prototrophic revertants, as measured by whole-cell and cell-free enzyme assays. The apparent Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) for deoxyuridine-5'-monophosphate and inhibition constant (Ki) for 5-fluoro-deoxyuridine-5'-monophosphate, measured by whole-cell enzyme assay, appear to be similar for the wild-type and revertant cell lines. Using 5-fluoro-[6-3H]-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-monophosphate as active site titrant, the relative amounts of TS in crude cell extract from the parental, revertant, and mutant cells were shown to exist in a 1:0.5:0 ratio. Furthermore, the enzymes from two revertants were more heat labile than that of V79 cells. These properties, taken together, suggest that the FAT-resistant, thymidine auxotrophic phenotype may be the result of a structural gene mutation at the TS locus. The availability of such a mutant facilitates studies on thymidylate stress in relation to DNA metabolism, cell growth, and mutagenesis.     

β-decay,Bremsstrahlen, and the origin of molecular chirality

Summary A brief review is presented of the Vester-Ulbricht -decay Bremsstrahlen hypothesis for the origin of optical activity, and of subsequent experiments designed to test it. Certain of our experiments along these lines, begun in 1974 and involving the irradiation of racemic and optically active amino acids in a 61.7 KCi⁹⁰Sr–⁹⁰Y Bremsstrahlen source, have now been completed and are described. After 10.89 years of irradiation with a total Bremsstrahlen dose of 2.5×10⁹ rads, crystallinedl-leucine, norleucine, and norvaline suffered 47.2, 33.6, and 27.4% radiolysis, respectively, but showed no evidence whatsoever of asymmetric degradation.d- andl-Leucine underwent about 48% radiolysis and showed 2.4–2.9% radioracemization. Other samples in solution were too severely degraded to analyze. Probable intrinsic reasons for the failure of the Vester-Ulbricht mechanism to afford asymmetric radiolysis in the present and related experiments involving -decay Bremsstrahlen are enumerated.A portion of this material was presented at the 7th International Conference on the Origins of Life, Mainz, FRG, July 10–15, 1983     

Colonization of the gut of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) by Vibrio cholerae

Attachment of Vibrio cholerae to the mucosal surface of the intestine is considered to be an important virulence characteristic. Vibrio cholerae, an autochthonous member of brackish water and estuarine bacterial communities, also attaches to crustacea, a significant factor in multiplication and survival of V. cholerae in nature. The ability of V. cholerae to attach to the gut wall of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) was examined, and attachment was observed only in the hindgut and not the midgut of crabs, confirming a requirement for chitin in the attachment of V. cholerae to invertebrate and zooplankton surfaces. The new finding of attachment of V. cholerae to the hindgut of crabs may be correlated with the epidemiology and transmission of cholera in the aquatic environment. The crab model may also prove useful in elucidating the mechanism(s) of ion transport in crustacea.     

Somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration from immature inflorescence segments of Coix lacryma-jobi

Callus was obtained from segments of immature inflorescence of Coix lacryma-jobi cultured on N6 medium containing 1–2 mg/l 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 3–5% sucrose. Plantlets were regenerated when embryogenic calluses were transferred onto MS medium with 0.5 mg/l kinetin and 0.01 mg/l naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). Regenerated plants had the diploid chromosome number (2n=20).     

油菜饼的黄酮成分研究

从油茶饼正丁醇提取物中分离到两个黄酮甙,经UV、~1H NMR、~(13)C NMR、EI-MS、FAB-MS等仪器分析,鉴定为山奈酚-3-O-葡萄吡喃糖基(6→1)鼠李吡喃糖甙(1)和山奈酚-3-O-葡萄吡喃糖基-[(2→1)葡萄吡喃糖基](6→1)鼠李吡喃糖甙(2)。正丁醇提取物以酸水解亦分离到山奈酚(4)。油茶饼正丁醇提取物中还分离到蔗糖,得率达2.3％。