Seasonal variations in the loosely sorbed phosphorus fraction of the sediment of a shallow and hypereutrophic lake

Material cycling

Seasonal variations in the loosely sorbed phosphorus fraction of the sediment of a shallow and hypereutrophic lake     

Chlorierte Kohlenwasserstoffe in Brutv?geln aus dem Binnenland Niedersachsens

Zusammenfassung Rückstände chlorierter Kohlenwasserstoffe in Eiern und Lebern von im Binnenland Niedersachsens brütenden Vogelarten — Feldsperling, Mehlschwalbe, Weißstorch, Graureiher, Saatkrähe, Stockente und andere Arten — werden angegeben und deren Abhängigkeit von Brutort, Nahrung und Zugverhalten diskutiert.

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Chlorinated hydrocarbons of some bird species breeding in the inland of Lower Saxony (FRG)

Summary Residues of chlorinated hydrocarbons in eggs and livers of some bird species — Tree Sparrow, House Martin, White Stork, Heron, Rook, Mallard, and further species — are presented. The dependence on place of breeding, food web, and migration is discussed.

     

Novel yeast protein kinase (YPK1 gene product) is a 40-kilodalton phosphotyrosyl protein associated with protein-tyrosine kinase activity.

Extracts of bakers' yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) contain protein-tyrosine kinase activity that can be detected with a synthetic Glu-Tyr copolymer as substrate (G. Schieven, J. Thorner, and G.S. Martin, Science 231:390-393, 1986). By using this assay in conjunction with ion-exchange and affinity chromatography, a soluble tyrosine kinase activity was purified over 8,000-fold from yeast extracts. The purified activity did not utilize typical substrates for mammalian protein-tyrosine kinases (enolase, casein, and histones). The level of tyrosine kinase activity at all steps of each preparation correlated with the content of a 40-kDa protein (p40). Upon incubation of the most highly purified fractions with Mn-ATP or Mg-ATP, p40 was the only protein phosphorylated on tyrosine. Immunoblotting of purified p40 or total yeast extracts with antiphosphotyrosine antibodies and phosphoamino acid analysis of 32P-labeled yeast proteins fractionated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that the 40-kDa protein is normally phosphorylated at tyrosine in vivo. 32P-labeled p40 immunoprecipitated from extracts of metabolically labeled cells by affinity-purified anti-p40 antibodies contained both phosphoserine and phosphotyrosine. The gene encoding p40 (YPK1) was cloned from a yeast genomic library by using oligonucleotide probes designed on the basis of the sequence of purified peptides. As deduced from the nucleotide sequence of YPK1, p40 is homologous to known protein kinases, with features that resemble known protein-serine kinases more than known protein-tyrosine kinases. Thus, p40 is a protein kinase which is phosphorylated in vivo and in vitro at both tyrosine and serine residues; it may be a novel type of autophosphorylating tyrosine kinase, a bifunctional (serine/tyrosine-specific) protein kinase, or a serine kinase that is a substrate for an associated tyrosine kinase.     

Identification of a 42-kilodalton phosphotyrosyl protein as a serine(threonine) protein kinase by renaturation.

We have surveyed fibroblast lysates for protein kinases that might be involved in mitogenesis. The assay we have used exploits the ability of blotted, sodium dodecyl sulfate-denatured proteins to regain enzymatic activity after guanidine treatment. About 20 electrophoretically distinct protein kinases could be detected by this method in lysates from NIH 3T3 cells. One of the kinases, a 42-kilodalton serine(threonine) kinase (PK42), was found to possess two- to fourfold-higher in vitro activity when isolated from serum-stimulated cells than when isolated from serum-starved cells. This kinase comigrated on sodium dodecyl sulfate-gels with a protein (p42) whose phosphotyrosine content increased in response to serum stimulation. The time courses of p42 tyrosine phosphorylation and PK42 activation were similar, reaching maximal levels within 10 min and returning to basal levels within 5 h. Both p42 tyrosine phosphorylation and PK42 activation were stimulated by low concentrations of phorbol esters, and the responses of p42 and PK42 to TPA were abolished by chronic 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) treatment. Chronic TPA treatment had less effect on serum-induced p42 tyrosine phosphorylation and PK42 activation. PK42 and p42 bound to DEAE-cellulose, and both eluted at a salt concentration of 250 mM. Thus, PK42 and p42 comigrate and cochromatograph, and the kinase activity of PK42 correlates with the tyrosine phosphorylation of p42. These findings suggest that PK42 and p42 are related or identical, that PK42 is activated by tyrosine phosphorylation, and that this tyrosine phosphorylation can be regulated by protein kinase C.     

Initial steps of phloroglucinol metabolism in Penicillium simplicissimum

The pathway for the aerobic catabolism of 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene (phloroglucinol) by a new strain of Penicillium was investigated using both in vivo and in vitro cell-free systems. The fungal strain was isolated by enrichment on phloroglucinol and identified as P. simplicissimum (Oud) Thom. It grew optimally at pH 5.5 and 27°C with 119 mM (1.5%w/v) of phloroglucinol in a basal mineral salts medium. Vapours of the crystalline substrate placed in a Petri-plate lid supported the growth of the fungal colonies on the agar surface. Mycelia grown on phloroglucinol accumulated 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene and resorcinol in the medium. Washed, resting mycelia grown on phloroglucinol, when resuspended in a buffer utilized oxygen in the presence of catechol, resorcinol, pyrogallol and phloroglucinol. A NADPH-dependent reductase in the cell-free extract reduced phloroglucinol to dihydrophloroglucinol. This electron donor could not be replaced by NADH. Resorcinol hydroxylase, phloroglucinol reductase, catechol-1,2-oxygenase, and catechol-2,3-oxygenase were detected in cell-free extracts of mycelia grown on phloroglucinol. The possible steps in the degradation of phloroglucinol are discussed.     

Cell kinetic disturbances induced by treatment of human diploid fibroblasts with 5-azacytidine indicate a major role for DNA methylation in the regulation of the chromosome cycle

Summary BrdU-Hoechst flow cytometry was used to investigate the effects of DNA hypomethylation, induced by treatment with 5-azacytidine (5AC), on cell proliferation. When human fibroblast-like cells derived from skin and amniotic fluid were exposed to 5AC during three successive cell cycles, their clone-forming ability was diminished after removal of the drug. Treated cells were rendered quiescent by culture with low serum in the absence of the drug. Upon serum stimulation, they showed a diminished fraction of proliferating cells, which exhibited a prolonged transit through the S and G2 phase of the cell cycle, and a permanent arrest within the G2 compartment. This pattern of disturbed cell proliferation may in part explain the changes in replication banding pattern reported in the literature. Cytogenetic analysis of 5AC-treated cells revealed numerous endomitoses and tetraploid metaphases indicating a disturbed chromosome cycle in association with these cell kinetic perturbations.     

Increased frequency of 6-thioguanine-resistant peripheral blood lymphocytes in Werner syndrome patients

Summary The frequency of spontaneous 6-thioguanine (TG)-resistant peripheral blood lymphocytes in five unrelated Werner syndrome (WS) patients was determined using an autoradiographic labeling assay. The average frequency of TG-resistant lymphocytes was eightfold higher in WS patients than in sex- and age-matched normal control donors. This finding and previous identification of increased spontaneous chromosomal rearrangements and deletions in WS cells or cell lines suggest that WS is a human genomic instability or mutator syndrome.     

Enhanced tumor susceptibility of immunocompetent mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus

Summary Mice infected i.v. with high doses of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV; 10⁵–10⁶ plaqueforming units) 8–10 days prior to challenge with the methylcholanthrene-induced fibrosarcoma tumor cell line MC57G or the melanoma cell line B16 tumor cells showed an enhanced tumor susceptibility with respect to both growth kinetics of the tumor and the minimal dose necessary for tumor take. After transient initial growth, MC57G tumor cells were all rejected by uninfected C57BL/6 mice by day 14. Mice preinfected i.v. with LCMV 3 weeks before or at the time of tumor challenge, but not those infected 2 months before or 7 days after, showed increasing tumor growth, the tumor take being 100% for 10⁶, 50% for 10⁵ and 37% for 10⁴ MC57G tumor cells injected into the footpad compared with resistance to 10⁶ cells in normal mice. B16 melanoma cells also grew more rapidly in LCMV-preinfected mice and by day 40 tumors were established with about 100 times fewer cells, i.e. about 10³ compared with 3×10⁴–3×10⁵ for uninfected mice. Analysis of the growth of tumor cells in normal and in LCMV-carrier mice revealed that the latter mice were not more susceptible to LCMV-infected than to uninfected MC57G. Since LCMV-carrier mice fail to mount LCMV-specific T cell responses, these results suggest that anti-LCMV-specific T cells may be responsible for acquired immunodeficiency hampering immune surveillance against the tumors studied.Supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation 3.259–0.87 and the Kanton of Zürich     

Cytogenetic analysis of 400 sperm from three translocation heterozygotes

Summary Sperm chromosome complements were studied in three men who carried reciprocal translocations. A total of 400 sperm were karyotyped after in vitro penetration of hamster eggs: 217 sperm from t(2;9) (q21;p22), 164 from t(4;6) (q28;p23) and 19 from t(7;14) (q21;q13). All possible 22 and 31 meiotic segregations were observed for t(2;9) and t(4;6); for t(7;14) only 22 segregations were observed. For alternate segregations, the number of normal sperm was not significantly different from the number of sperm carrying a balanced form of the translocation in any of the translocations, as theoretically expected. The percentage of sperm with an unbalanced form of the translocation was 57% for t(2;9), 54% for t(4;6) and 47% for t(7;14). There was no evidence for an interchromosomal effect in any of the translocations since the frequencies of numerical abnormalities (unrelated to the translocation) were within the normal range of control donors. The frequencies of X- and Y-bearing sperm did not differ significantly from 50%. Results from a total of 17 reciprocal translocations studied by sperm chromosomal analysis were reviewed.