Altered Ca2+ dependence of tension development in skinned skeletal muscle fibers following modification of troponin by partial substitution with cardiac troponin C

Binding of Ca2+ to the troponin C (TnC) subunit of troponin is necessary for tension development in skeletal and cardiac muscles. Tension was measured in skinned fibers from rabbit skeletal muscle at various [Ca2+] before and after partial substitution of skeletal TnC with cardiac TnC. Following substitution, the tension-pCa relationship was altered in a manner consistent with the differences in the number of low-affinity Ca2+-binding sites on the two types of TnC and their affinities for Ca2+. The alterations in the tension-pCa relationship were for the most part reversed by reextraction of cardiac TnC and readdition of skeletal TnC into the fiber segments. These findings indicate that the type of TnC present plays an important role in determining the Ca2+ dependence of tension development in striated muscle.     

Secondary care beyond Tomlinson: an opportunity to be seized or squandered?

The Tomlinson report''s emphasis on primary care and its essentially quantitative analysis of hospital care in London leaves little space for a picture of how secondary care for Londoners should look. In this article Fiona Moss and Martin McNicol argue that most outpatient work does not need to be done in hospitals. With proper organisation and better premises a genuinely specialist consultative service can be provided in primary health care centres, with benefit to patients and communication between primary and secondary care doctors. Hospitals would then house those outpatient services that needed major investigative facilities and much reduced inpatient capacity. It may no longer be necessary for each acute unit to offer a full range of services. Such a pattern of secondary care will have implications for the organisation of accident and emergency services and for postgraduate training. Above all Moss and McNicol argue that Tomlinson''s recommendations demand that general practitioners and specialists should re-examine the services hospitals provide and agree on the best settings for different sorts of health care and the most appropriate skills to provide it.     

Characterization of a vaccinia virus-encoded 42-kilodalton class I membrane glycoprotein component of the extracellular virus envelope.

Using a reverse genetic approach, we have demonstrated that the product of the B5R open reading frame (ORF), which has homology with members of the family of complement control proteins, is a membrane glycoprotein present in the extracellular enveloped (EEV) form of vaccinia virus but absent from the intracellular naked (INV) form. An antibody (C'-B5R) raised to a 15-amino-acid peptide from the translated B5R ORF reacted with a 42-kDa protein (gp42) found in vaccinia virus-infected cells and cesium chloride-banded EEV but not INV. Under nonreducing conditions, an 85-kDa component, possibly representing a hetero- or homodimeric form of gp42, was detected by both immunoprecipitation and Western immunoblot analysis. Metabolic labeling with [3H]glucosamine and [3H]palmitate revealed that the B5R product is glycosylated and acylated. The C-terminal transmembrane domain of the protein was identified by constructing a recombinant vaccinia virus that overexpressed a truncated, secreted form of the B5R ORF product. By N-terminal sequence analysis of this secreted protein, the site of signal peptide cleavage of gp42 was determined. A previously described monoclonal antibody (MAb 20) raised to EEV, which immunoprecipitated a protein with biochemical characteristics similar to those of wild-type gp42, reacted with the recombinant, secreted product of the B5R ORF. Immunofluorescence of wild-type vaccinia virus-infected cells by using either MAb 20 or C'-B5R revealed that the protein is expressed on the cell surface and within the cytoplasm. Immunogold labeling of EEV and INV with MAb 20 demonstrated that the protein was found exclusively on the EEV membrane.     

Inactivation of glutamine synthetases by an NAD:arginine ADP-ribosyltransferase

Glutamine synthetase from ovine brain has a critical arginine residue at the catalytic site (Powers, S. G., and Riordan, J.F. (1975) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S. A. 72, 2616-2620). This enzyme is now shown to be a substrate for a purified NAD:arginine ADP-ribosyltransferase from turkey erythrocyte cytosol that catalyzes the transfer of ADP-ribose from NAD to arginine and purified proteins. The transferase catalyzed the inactivation of the synthetase in an NAD-dependent reaction; ADP-ribose and nicotinamide did not substitute for NAD. Agmatine, an alternate ADP-ribose acceptor in the transferase-catalyzed reaction, prevented inactivation of glutamine synthetase. MgATP, a substrate for the synthetase which was previously shown to protect that enzyme from chemical inactivation, also decreased the rate of inactivation in the presence of NAD and ADP-ribosyltransferase. Using [32P]NAD, it was observed that approximately 90% inactivation occurred following the transfer of 0.89 mol of [32P]ADP-ribose/mol of synthetase. The erythrocyte transferase also catalyzed the NAD-dependent inactivation of glutamine synthetase purified from chicken heart; 0.60 mol of ADP-ribose was transferred per mol of enzyme, resulting in a 95% inactivation. As noted with the ovine brain enzyme, agmatine and MgATP protected the chicken synthetase from inactivation and decreased the extent of [32P]ADP-ribosylation of the synthetase. These observations are consistent with the conclusion that the NAD:arginine ADP-ribosyltransferase modifies specifically an arginine residue involved in the catalytic site of glutamine synthetase. Although the transferase can use numerous proteins as ADP-ribose acceptors, some characteristics of this particular arginine, perhaps the same characteristics that are involved in its function in the catalytic site, make it a favored ADP-ribose acceptor site for the transferase.