Enhanced expression of group II phospholipase A2 in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Enzyme activity, protein contents, and mRNA contents of group II phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surgically obtained from 8 patients were compared with those in either its neighboring liver tissues or control liver tissues. The PLA₂ specific activity towards the mixed micelles of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylglycerol and cholate was significantly greater in the tumor tissues (6.62 ± 1.46 nmol/min/mg) than those in the surrounding liver tissues (1.33 ± 0.22 nmol/min/mg) and controls (0.43 ± 0.04 nmol/min/mg). The results of immunoblot analysis using a specific anti-human group II PLA₂ antibody and of Northern blot analysis using a human group II PLA₂ cDNA as a probe demonstrated that group II PLA₂ was responsible for the increased enzyme activity. The contents of immunoreactive group II PLA₂ in the tumor tissues (8.81 ± 1.24 ng/mg) were significantly higher than those in the surrounding liver tissues (1.77 ± 0.27 ng/mg); those in the control tissues were below the analytical range of the method used. The group II PLA₂ mRNA was also significantly increased in the tumor tissues, compared with that in the surrounding liver tissues, whereas it was not detectable in th controls. This indicates that group II PLA₂ in HCC is induced at the pretranslational level.     

A Novel Method for Generating Nested Deletions Using the in Vitro Bacteriophage T3 DNA Packaging System

To sequence a DNA segment inserted into a cosmid vector underthe directed sequencing strategy, we established a simple andrapid method for generating nested deletions which uses thein vitro packaging system of bacteriophage T3 DNA. The principleis based on the previous finding that this system can translocateany linear double-stranded DNA up to 40 kb into the phage capsidin a time-dependent manner and the encapsulated DNA becomesDNase-resistant. For this purpose, we constructed a cosmid vectorthat carries two different antibiotic selection markers at bothsides of the multiple cloning site, and after insertion of aDNA segment, the clone was linearized by -terminase at the cossite. After the packaging reaction in vitro followed by DNasetreatment, the encapsulated DNA was introduced into Escherichiacoli cells to give clones with unidirectional deletions by differentialantibiotic selection. Restriction and sequence analyses of deletionclones demonstrated that an ordered set of clones with nesteddeletions, ranging from less than 1 kb to 25 kb, was createdfrom either the end of the DNA segment. Thus, nested deletionclones that cover the entire region of a 40-kb cosmid insertcan be obtained by a single packaging reaction, and its restrictionmap can be simultaneously obtained.     

Some properties and occurrence of cytochrome c-552 in the aerobic photosynthetic bacterium Roseobacter denitrificans

Characteristics and occurrence of cytochrome c-552 from an aerobic photosynthetic bacterium, Roseobacter denitrificans, were described.Relative molecular mass of the cytrochrome was 13.5 kDa on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and 15,000 by gel filtration. This cytochrome was a acidic protein having a pI of 5.6 and E_m was +215 mV at pH 7.0. Absorption peaks were at 278, 408 and 524 nm in the oxidized form and 416, 523 and 552 nm in the reduced form.Amino acid composition and N-terminal amino acid sequence of cytochrome c-552 determined for 24 residues had low similarities to those of cytochrome c-551 of this bacterium, which is homologous to cytochrome c ₂, although the physico-chemical properties of these two cytochromes were similar to each other.Cytochrome c-552 was maximally synthesized in the light under aerobic conditions but not in the dark. The synthesis also occurred in the presence of alternative acceptors such as trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and nitrate under anaerobic conditions. Our results suggest that cytochrome c-552 is involved in TMAO respiration and denitrification in R. denitrificans, although the effect of light remains to be solved.Abbreviations E_m Midpoint redox potential - PAGE Polyacrylamide ge electrophoresis - SDS-PAGE Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis - TMAO Trimethylamine N-oxide     

A theory of evaluation applied to human-environment systems

1. 1. The writers present the general theory of evaluation that is being developed by their group.

2. 2. The evaluation of a human environment is a complex mental process.

3. 3. In an effort to express numerically the quality of an environment, one tends to oversimplify the complex aspects of it and the entailing problems in relation to its inhabitants.

4. 4. In this paper, some examples are taken in the evaluation of thermal environments, wherein much has been said and done in setting up numerical scales to express human comfort, and yet neither clear-cut explanations nor convincing logic seem to exist to terminate the argument over the widely scattered and sometimes seemingly contradicting experimental data.

5. 5. The writers suggest that many of the reasons for this confusion may be traced back to the oversimplified notion of evaluation.

6. 6. It is shown that there are various possibilities when looking at the scales of evaluation.

7. 7.|The nominal scale, least studied of all the four traditional scales, may be given a prominent place in evaluating a thermal environment. The pseudo-interval order scale is another example.

Inhibition of Helicobacter pylori glycosulfatase activity toward gastric sulfomucin by nitecapone.

A glycosulfatase activity toward gastric sulfomucin was identified in the extracellular material elaborated by H. pylori. The enzyme exhibited maximum activity at pH 5.7 in the presence of Triton X-100 and CaCl2, and displayed on SDS-PAGE an apparent molecular weight of 30kDa. The H. pylori glycosulfatase effectively caused desulfation of N-acetylglucosamine-6-sulfate and galactose-6-sulfate of the carbohydrate chains of mucins, as well as that of glucose-6-sulfate of glyceroglucolipids, but was ineffective towards galactosyl- and lactosylceramide sulfates which contain galactose-3-sulfate. The glycosulfatase activity towards human gastric sulfomucin was affected by an antiulcer agent, nitecapone, which at its optimal concentration (100 micrograms/ml) caused a 61% inhibition. The results show that H. pylori through its glycosulfatase activity causes desulfation of sulfated mucins and glyceroglucolipids of the protective mucus layer, and that nitecapone is able to interfere with this detrimental action.     

Coevolution of Bacteriophage PP01 and Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Continuous Culture

The interaction between Escherichia coli O157:H7 and its specific bacteriophage PP01 was investigated in chemostat continuous culture. Following the addition of bacteriophage PP01, E. coli O157:H7 cell lysis was observed by over 4 orders of magnitude at a dilution rate of 0.876 h⁻¹ and by 3 orders of magnitude at a lower dilution rate (0.327 h⁻¹). However, the appearance of a series of phage-resistant E. coli isolates, which showed a low efficiency of plating against bacteriophage PP01, led to an increase in the cell concentration in the culture. The colony shape, outer membrane protein expression, and lipopolysaccharide production of each escape mutant were compared. Cessation of major outer membrane protein OmpC production and alteration of lipopolysaccharide composition enabled E. coli O157:H7 to escape PP01 infection. One of the escape mutants of E. coli O157:H7 which formed a mucoid colony (Mu) on Luria-Bertani agar appeared 56 h postincubation at a dilution rate of 0.867 h⁻¹ and persisted until the end of the experiment (~200 h). Mu mutant cells could coexist with bacteriophage PP01 in batch culture. Concentrations of the Mu cells and bacteriophage PP01 increased together. The appearance of mutant phage, which showed a different host range among the O157:H7 escape mutants than wild-type PP01, was also detected in the chemostat culture. Thus, coevolution of phage and E. coli O157:H7 proceeded as a mutual arms race in chemostat continuous culture.     

Immunostimulatory activities of monoglycosylated α-d-pyranosylceramides

We compared the immunostimulatory effects of chemically synthesized α-galactosylceramides (α-GalCers), α-glucosylceramides (α-GluCers), 6″-monoglycosylated α-GalCer and 6″- or 4″-monoglycosylated α-GluCer and made the following observations: (1) the length of the fatty acid side chain in the ceramide portions greatly affects the immunostimulatory effects of α-GalCers and α-GluCers; (2) the configuration of the 4″-hydroxyl group of the inner pyranose moiety plays an important role in the immunostimulatory effects of monoglycosylated α- -pyranosylceramides; (3) the free 4″-hydroxyl group of the inner pyranose of monoglycosylated α- -pyranosylceramides plays a more important role in their immunostimulatory effects than the free 6″-hydroxyl group.     

Vacuolar protein sorting in fission yeast: cloning, biosynthesis, transport, and processing of carboxypeptidase Y from Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

PCR was used to isolate a carboxypeptidase Y (CPY) homolog gene from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The cloned S. pombe cpy1+ gene has a single open reading frame, which encodes 950 amino acids with one potential N-glycosylation site. It appears to be synthesized as an inactive pre-pro protein that likely undergoes processing following translocation into appropriate intracellular organelles. The C-terminal mature region is highly conserved in other serine carboxypeptidases. In contrast, the N-terminal pro region containing the vacuolar sorting signal in CPY from Saccharomyces cerevisiae shows fewer identical residues. The pro region contains two unusual repeating sequences; repeating sequence I consists of seven contiguous repeating segments of 13 amino acids each, and repeating sequence II consists of seven contiguous repeating segments of 9 amino acids each. Pulse-chase radiolabeling analysis revealed that Cpy1p was initially synthesized in a 110-kDa pro-precursor form and via the 51-kDa single-polypeptide-chain intermediate form which has had its pro segment removed is finally converted to a heterodimer, the mature form, which is detected as a 32-kDa protein on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing conditions. Like S. cerevisiae CPY, S. pombe Cpy1p does not require the N-linked oligosaccharide moiety for vacuolar delivery. To investigate the vacuolar sorting signal of S. pombe Cpy1p, we have constructed cpy1+-SUC2 gene fusions that direct the synthesis of hybrid proteins consisting of N-terminal segments of various lengths of S. pombe Cpy1p fused to the secreted enzyme S. cerevisiae invertase. The N-terminal 478 amino acids of Cpy1 are sufficient to direct delivery of a Cpy1-Inv hybrid protein to the vacuole. These results showed that the pro peptide of Cpy1 contains the putative vacuolar sorting signal.     

Sequences of E/NS1 Gene Junction from Four Dengue-2 Viruses of Northeastern Thailand and Their Evolutionary Relationships with Other Dengue-2 Viruses

We determined the 240-nueleotide sequences of the E/NS1 gene junction of four dengue-2 viruses by the primer extension dideoxy chain termination method. These viruses were isolated from dengue patients with different clinical severities in Nakhon Phanom, Northeastern Thailand in 1993. The results were compared with the 52 published dengue-2 sequences of the same gene region. Sequence divergence of four new isolates varied from 4.17% to 5.42% compared with dengue-2 prototype New Guinea C strain whereas it varied from 5.42% to 6.67% and from 6.67% to 7.09% when compared with Jamaica 1409 strain and PR159/S1 strain, respectively. All nucleotide substitutions were found at the 3rd position of the codons which were silent mutations. All 56 isolates studied were classified into five genotypic groups by constructing the dendrogram. The results indicated that four new isolates from Northeastern Thailand belong to genotype II of dengue virus serotype 2, and were most closely related to prototype New Guinea C strain. We also observed the variation in nucleotide and amino acid sequences among clusters of isolates (Thailand-1980, Malaysia-1989 and Thailand-1993) which were obtained from the dengue patients with different clinical severities. The significance of these genetic differences have been discussed in terms of the possible correlation between genetic variability and virulence.