Importance of immunoelectrophoresis in agar and disc electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel for characterizing different strains of Bordetella pertussis

The antigenic composition of typical and atypical B. pertussis strains obtained in the foci of pertussis infection, as well as experimentally obtained antibiotic-resistant B. pertussis strains, has been studied by the methods of immunoelectrophoresis in agar and electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel (PAAG). Immunoelectrophoresis in agar has been found capable of differentiating B. pertussis culture from a group of unidentified morphologically similar Gram-negative bacilli by their antigenic composition and thus suitable for use as an additional criterion in the identification of atypical B. pertussis strains. PAAG electrophoresis has permitted finding differences in the set of protein antigens in the control strain and in its clones obtained by multiple subculturing in media with antibiotics added.     

The use of DNA hybridization in situ for identifying chromosomal rearrangements in the karyotyping of cell lines]

A complex karyological analysis of three human cell lines (PLC-PRF-5, MT-4 and U937) was carried out that involved traditional methods of G-, C-banding and silver staining, in addition to the in situ hybridization technique using 4 alpha-satellite DNA probes: DNA specific for centromeric regions of chromosome 11, 6, 13, and 21, and 14 and 22. The application of this additional method allowed to identify, prove or detalize the structure of 13 markers in PLC-PRF-5 cells, 1 marker in MT-4 cells, and 3 markers in U937 cells. The results show that the in situ hybridization method would be successful in cell line karyotyping for a more objective identification of some markers difficult for analysis.     

Plant cell proliferation and its regulators

Plant growth, where one of the key processes is cell division, is controlled by phytohormones. In this mini-review, an analysis of the literature on the molecular mechanisms controlling plant cell proliferation by phytohormones is presented.     

Primary structure of the gene for protein VP1 from foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype O1 isolated in the USSR]

The nucleotides sequence has been determined for the viral RNA and some of its cDNAs coding for the major antigenic protein of the epidemic stomatitis O1-194 and O1-1618 VP1 viruses. The expressed microheterogeneity has been registered for the population of the strain O1-194.     

Complete or partial trisomy for the long arm of chromosome 1 in patients with various hematologic malignancies

This study contains data obtained from a cytogenetic investigation of six patients with acute and chronic leukaemia. The karyotypes of bone marrow or blood cells of these patients showed a partial or complete trisomy for the long arm of chromosome 1. Three observations revealed a pronounced resistance of cell clones with 1q+ towards cytostatic therapy, and a comparatively short life span of patients after detection of 1q+. The importance of these changes for the role of some chromosomes and chromosome loci in leukaemogenesis is discussed.     

Cloning the gene for vaccinia virus strain L-IVP growth factor in Escherichia coli]

The growth factor gene of the vaccinia virus LIVP strain has been primarily cloned in a 4.3 kbp long BamHI-EcoRI fragment and then subcloned in a 440 bp fragment. It was shown that clone 4 of the LIVP strain contains a single copy of this gene while the WR strain contains a repeat. The gene is located on a 4.3 kbp BamHI-EcoRI fragment but not on a 2.2 kbp fragment and has four nucleotide changes, three of which result in amino acid substitutions.     

Study of the activity of the nucleolus organizer segments in the chromosomes of normal, leukemic and neoplastic human cells by silver nitrate staining

The application of a modified Ag-1 method for staining nucleolar organizer regions (NOR) in chromosomes has shown that the total number of AgNO3-stained NOR varies from 6 to 8 in cells of normal individuals as well as in the phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulated blood cells of patients suffering from acute leukemia (AL) and chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML). No AgNO3-stained NOR were detected either in non-PHA stimulated blood cells of AL or CML patients, apart from one case of a 48 hours blood culture without PHA from blast crisis CML, where 100 per cent mitotic cells displayed 3-6 AgNO3-stained chromosomes. In a Hela cell line with the modal number equal to 50 and the average number od acrocentrics being 9.3 per cell, the AgNO3-stained NOR numbered constantly 5. In tumor cells from pleural fluid of metastatic ovary tumor patient, with the modal number of cells varying from 50 to 160, the total number of AgNO3-stained NOR increased from 13 to 26 per metaphase. A hypothesis is forward to explain the negative Nor staining property in leukemia, according to which the activities of ribosomal cistrons (rDNA) in the miotic cells of relatively mature granulocytic and erythrocytic cells are either very much reduced or totally arrested.