Esters of trehalose from Corynebacterium diphtheriae: A modified purification procedure and studies on the structure of their constituent hydroxylated fatty acids

The purification procedure of 6,6′-diesters of trehalose from Corynebacterium diphtheriae was modified and the isolated substance was analysed by mass spectrometry as its permethylated derivative. The fatty acid moiety released from the glycolipid after alkaline hydrolysis was studied by mass spectral analysis of the O-methylated and O-acetylated methyl ester derivatives. By argentation thin-layer chromatography, three species of O-acetylated methyl esters were recognized, corresponding to saturated, mono-unsaturated and di-unsaturated α-branched-β-hydroxylated fatty acids. The double bond was located by ozonolysis of the O-acetylated methyl ester derivatives, by gas chromatography of the reaction product and mass spectrometry of the effluent from the gas chromatograph. The main components of each species of α-branched-β-hydroxylated fatty acids found in the gly colipid fraction of C. diphtheriae were 2-tetradecyl-3-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid (C₃₂H₆₄O₃, corynomycolic acid), 2-tetradecyl-3-hydroxy-11-octadecenoic acid (C₃₂H₆₂O₃, corynomycolenic acid), 2-tetradec-7′-enyl-3-hydroxy octadecanoic acid (C₃₂H₆₂O₃) and 2-tetradec-7′-enyl-3-hydroxy-11-octadecenoic acid (C₃₂H₆₀O₃, corynomycoldienic acid). The glycolipid fraction from C. diphtheriae is obviously a complex mixture of 6,6′-diesters of trehalose.     

Photochemical covalent binding of urocanic acid to polynucleic acids

Photolysis of E-[ring-2-14C]urocanic acid (UA) with native or denatured calf thymus DNA leads to covalent binding of the radiolabel to the nucleic acid. A similar observation is made upon photolysis of the labeled UA with the polyribonucleotides, in which case a strong preference is observed for binding to poly[U]. DNA or poly[U], which had been reacted with UA and purified by dialysis and multiple precipitations, releases UA upon further irradiation with 254 nm light (as expected for cyclobutane adducts). Quantum efficiencies for binding of the UA to native DNA have been measured at 308 and 266 nm and are 0.30 x 10(-5) and 1.3 x 10(-4), respectively, at comparable reactant concentrations. The large increase at the shorter wavelength (where DNA absorption is more competitive) is taken as evidence for the primary role of a DNA excited state in initiating the binding reaction(s).     

Synthesis of thiol-functionalized N-acetylmuramyl peptide congeners suitable for their conjugation to target molecules

N-Acetylmuramyl-dipeptide and tripeptide derivatives containing at the C-terminus a masked thiol function, i.e. the S-tert-butylthiocysteamine residue, were synthesized via direct condensation of N-acetylmuramic acid with the peptide moiety using the dicyclohexylcarbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide procedure. Reduction with tributylphosphine in aqueous organic media generates the free thiol function for a selective conjugation of these immunomodulants with target molecules via unsymmetrical disulfide bridging with a second thiol group by the sulfenohydrazide procedure or via thio-ether linkage by the addition to maleimido--or aziridine-derivatives.     

Role of subdermal current shunts in the failure of frogs to regenerate.

Large, uniform, skin-driven currents (20-40 muamp/cm2) leave the ends of limb stumps of post-metamorphic frogs (Rana pipiens) from about the first through the tenth day after amputation. However, right after amputation, while currents of comparable density may leave the periphery of the cut surface, current densities are greatly depressed in the center of this surface. We suggest that this depression is brought about by shunting through the subdermal lymph space (characteristic of anurans but not urodeles); continues in covert form after formation of a wound epithelium; and helps explain the ability of small, imposed currents to initiate frog limb regeneration.     

Adsorption from fetal calf serum of collagen-like proteins which bind fibronectin and promote cell attachment

Baby hamster kidney cells were seeded onto Western blots of fetal serum proteins which had been extracted from several foreign surfaces. This revealed that the major cell adhesive proteins adsorbed onto these surfaces from fetal serum were (1) fibronectin of Mr 220,000 Da and (2) vitronectin of Mr 65,000 and 78,000 Da. Two minor bands of cell attachment were observed at Mr 153,000 and Mr 134,000 Da in the fetal serum proteins extracted from heparin-agarose and serotonin-agarose. However, by exposing the Western blots of separated proteins to a second round of serum proteins, prior to cell blotting, very strong cell adhesive bands were revealed at Mr 153,000, 134,000, and 120,000 Da. By (i) modifying the composition of the serum proteins used to treat the Western blots, (ii) using specific antibodies to fibronectin, and (iii) using radiolabeled fibronectin, it was conclusively demonstrated that the new cell adhesive bands owed their increased cell attachment activity to secondary binding of fibronectin. The new bands were shown (i) to be trypsin sensitive and collagenase sensitive and therefore to be collagen-like proteins and (ii) to react negatively in immunoblots using anti-fibronectin, anti-vitronectin, anti-fibrinogen, anti-fetuin or anti-thrombospondin. In SDS-PAGE (i) the Mr 120,000-Da protein comigrated with the alpha 2-chain of Type I collagen, (ii) the Mr 134,000-Da protein comigrated with the alpha 1-chain of Type I collagen, and (iii) the Mr 153,000-Da protein comigrated with the pN-alpha 1-chain of Type III collagen. Since the novel collagen-like proteins acted as strong sites of cell attachment on nitrocellulose blots by binding fibronectin, they might well promote cell attachment on the foreign surfaces from which they were extracted.