Requirement for a macromolecular factor for sodium azide activation of guanulate cyclase.

Sodium azide, a highly nucleophilic agent and a potent metabolic inhibitor, markedly increased guanylate cyclase activity from supernatant fractions of rat liver homogenates. The effect of sodium azide was not observed with partially purified guanulate cyclase from liver or crude soluble guanylate cyclase from cerebral cortex. However, the effect of sodium azide could be restored by the readdition of a fraction isolated from rat liver homogenates. The macromolecular factor required for the sodium azide effect was separated from soluble guanylate cyclase of rat liver with DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, and some of its properties were examined. The factor was nondialyzable and heat labile.     

Mechanism and stereospecificity of alpha-hydroxylation of lignoceric acid in rat brain.

Cerebronic acid (2-hydroxytetracosanoic acid) is the major fatty acid component of cerebrosides and sulfatides in mammalian brain. Our previous communication demonstrated the synthesis of cerebronic acid from lignoceric acid (tetracosanoic acid) by a rat brain preparation in the presence of molecular oxygen and a reduced pyridine nucleotide (Hoshi, M., and Kishimoto, Y. (1973) J. Biol. Chem., 248, 4123–4130). The present'studies on the conversion of (RS)-[2-³H]-, (RS)-[3-³H]-, (R)-[2-³H]-, and (S)-[2-³H]lignoceric acids to cerebronic acid by rat brain preparations establish that the pro-R hydrogen at the α-carbon of lignoceric acid is replaced by a hydroxyl group with overall retention of configuration.     

Adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate and guanosine 3′,5′-monophosphate: concentrations in Morris hepatomas of different growth rates

Cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP levels were examined in Morris hepatoma explants in vivo. All eight tumor lines examined had significantly elevated cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP levels when compared to normal liver from tumor-bearing rats. No apparent correlation was observed between the rates of tumor growth and cyclic nucleotide levels; however, two tumor lines (3924A and 7288ctc) had very high levels of cyclic GMP.     

Plasma neurotensin release and gastric emptying in the dumping syndrome

Seventy-three patients were studied after ingesting a liquid glucose meal, tagged with ¹¹³Indium. Nineteen of these patients were awaiting surgery for their duodenal ulcer, while 54 were studied postoperatively, 25 of whom experienced troublesome postprandial (dumping) symptoms in their daily lives. The radioactive marker emptied significantly faster in the symptomatic patients than in the symptomfree, pre and post-operative groups (initial emptying rate 3.45 ± 0.23, compared with 1.16 ± 0.19 and 1.27 ± 0.15% fall in counts/min respectively; p < 0.01). Initial (20 min) rises in the plasma concentrations of neurotensin-like immunoreactivity measured during the test correlated significantly with the rate of gastric emptying in all patients, being greatest in patients with dumping symptoms. Physiological concentrations of neurotensin have been shown to delay gastric emptying. The excessive rise in plasma neurotensin-like immunoreactivity in patients with dumping symptoms, presumably occuring as a result of the rapid passage of nutrients to the neurotensin-rich ileum, may possibly have a compensatory role in slowing further emptying from the stomach.     

Purified guanylate cyclase: characterization, iodination and preparation of monoclonal antibodies

Guanylate cyclase was purified from the soluble fraction of rat lung using a modification of procedures published previously. The purified enzyme exhibited specific activities, at pH 7.6, of 219-438 nmoles/mg protein/min and 34-60 nmoles/mg protein/min with Mn2+ and Mg2+ as cation cofactors, respectively. The specific activity changed as a function of the protein concentration due to a change in Vmax with no alteration of the Km for GTP. The enzyme migrated as a single band coincident wih guanylate cyclase activity on nondenaturing polyacrylamide and isoelectric focusing gels (isoelectric point = 5.9). Purified guanylate cyclase had an apparent molecular weight of 150,000 daltons as determined by gel filtration chromatography and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate revealed a single subunit of 72,000 daltons, suggesting that the enzyme is a dimer of an identical subunit. The purified enzyme could be activated by nitric oxide, indicating that this compound interacts directly with the enzyme.     

Dual-parameter flow cytometric analysis coupling the measurements of forward-angle light scatter and DNA content of archival ovarian carcinomas of low malignant potential

Paraffin-embedded archival specimens from 45 cases of ovarian carcinoma of low malignant potential (OCLMP) were analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM) using propidium iodide (PI) staining. Since single-parameter FCM analysis is often deficient in the resolution of subtle near-diploid DNA-aneuploid populations, forward-angle light scatter (FALS) was measured as a second parameter. DNA aneuploidy was identified in 15 cases (33%). In 7 of those 15 cases, aneuploidy was resolved with single-parameter FCM; in the remaining 8 cases, DNA aneuploidy was resolved only following dual-parameter analysis coupling DNA content and FALS. In all 15 cases, a single near-diploid aneuploid population was observed (mean DNA index = 1.2); there were no tetraploid aneuploid cases. The proliferative activity for all 45 cases studied ranged from 1.0% to 8.9%, with a mean of 3.5%. No difference in mean proliferative activity was observed between the aneuploid and diploid tumors (P greater than .05). To exclude the possibility that PI staining artifacts caused the observed aneuploidy, five of the eight cases shown to be aneuploid by dual-parameter analysis were further studied using an alternate DNA-binding dye, DAPI, yielding similar results. To exclude the possibility that contaminating stromal and/or inflammatory cells caused the observed aneuploidy, samples from a subset of the dual-parameter cases were sorted, revealing the aneuploid populations to be composed primarily of tumor nuclei.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Bacterial SCP from methanol in Kuwait: Product revovery and composition

The rationale behind KISR's involvement in SCP is explained and emphasis towards the use of aerobic thermophilic/thermotolerant methanol-utilizing bacterial cultures is stressed. An attempt is made to correlate different pilot plant harvesting procedures for biomass recovery with product quality. The latter is expressed as crude and true protein content, moisture and ash content, mineral composition of the ash, and amino acids profiles. The most suitable harvesting procedures were found to be those using a mild heat-acid or acid-heat treatment. Both of these procedures gave high recovery efficiencies and suitable product nutrition.     

Molecular evidence for the rapid propagation of mouse t haplotypes from a single, recent, ancestral chromosome

Mouse t haplotypes are variant forms of chromosome 17 that exist at high frequencies in worldwide populations of two species of commensal mice. To determine both the relationship of t haplotypes to each other and the species within which they exist, 35 representative t haplotypes were analyzed by means of 10 independent molecular probes, including five DNA clones and five polypeptide spots identified by means of two- dimensional gel electrophoresis. All of the tested haplotypes were found to share restriction fragments and polypeptide spots that are absent in mice carrying wild-type forms of chromosome 17. This observation provides the first direct evidence that all of the known t haplotypes are descendents of a single ancestral chromosome. The absence of variation among t haplotypes could mean that this ancestral chromosome existed relatively recently, in which case it would be necessary to postulate introgressions of t haplotypes across species lines to explain their presence in both Mus domesticus and M. musculus. Alternatively, it is possible that the ancestral chromosome existed prior to the split between M. domesticus and M. musculus and that, by chance, our probes fail to detect polymorphisms that exist among the t haplotypes. A further result of our analysis is the characterization of a partial t haplotype in a wild population of Israeli mice.      

The cost of ant attendance and melezitose secretion in the black bean aphid Aphis fabae

1. The aphid Aphis fabae (Scopoli) is facultatively tended by Lasius niger (Linnaeus) ants. Previously, we found that A. fabae colonies can be made up of several clones, and that clones display significant differences in the composition of their honeydew sugars, especially in the amount of the ant attractant sugar melezitose that they produce. 2. These clonal differences could greatly impact the strength of the mutualistic interaction with ants as well as the aphids' fitness. 3. Hence, the aim of this study was to compare the fitness of different A. fabae clones that differed in their melezitose secretion, and whether or not they were tended by ants. 4. Individual fitness indices, colony growth, and alate production of single‐clone aphid colonies were analysed. 5. The results demonstrate that the fitness consequences of ant attendance critically depend on an interaction between levels of melezitose production. In particular, we show that high‐melezitose secreting clones produce fewer alates and hence might have a lower dispersal ability in the presence of ants. 6. Furthermore, these data confirm previous evidence that ant attendance is costly and results in the production of fewer apterae.