Promotion of Rooting in Azukia Cuttings by Possible Glycoproteins Extracted from Lentinus edodes Culture

Macromolecules purified from Lentinus edodes mycelia cultureenhanced adventitious root formation in Azukia epicotyl cuttings.Partial purification by sequential column chromatographies gavematerial composed of 71% polysaccharides and 29% proteins. Thesugar moiety consisted of mainly xylose, glucose and arabinose,the sum of their contents being more than 76% of the total carbohydrates.The protein moiety consisted of mainly glycine and serine, whichaccounted for more than 40% of the total amino acid residues. (Received June 9, 1984; Accepted November 12, 1984)     

Phorbol ester increases the level of interleukin 2 mRNA in mitogen-stimulated human lymphocytes

TPA alone did not induce the production of IL 2 in human tonsillar lymphocytes but enhanced the PHA-induced IL 2 production by seven-fold. That the effect of TPA was due to an increase in IL 2 mRNA was demonstrated by examining the amount of IL 2 mRNA translatable in Xenopus laevis oocytes, and by Northern blotting analysis using IL 2 cDNA as a probe. In these ways, it was shown that TPA alone did not induce any significant IL 2 mRNA synthesis, but when added together with PHA it increased the level of IL 2 mRNA by at least 10-fold, as compared with that induced by PHA alone.     

The Tropic Effect of Intrarectal Deoxycholate On Rat Colorectum Is Unaffected By Oral Metronidazole

Abstract. Intrarectal administration of sodium deoxycholate (SDC) enhances experimental colorectal carcinogenesis, an effect that is partly vitiated by oral metronidazole. the effect of topical SDC with or without concurrent metronidazole on colorectal cell proliferation was explored in male Sprague-Dawley rats ( n = 30) allocated to five groups. Two groups received thrice weekly intrarectal instillations of 1 ml N saline or 1 ml 0.12 m SDC. A third group received SDC plus metronidazole 22.5 mg/kg/day in the drinking water. Controls had no instillations or metronidazole alone. At time of killing (10 weeks), crypt cell production rate (CCPR) was determined by the stathmokinetic technique for four large-bowel segments. Saline had no significant effect on colorectal CCPR but SDC produced increases throughout, varying from 53% in the proximal colon to 222% in the rectum ( P < 0.01). Metronidazole did not reduce this effect, although given alone it reduced colonic CCPR by 40 to 50%. the direct tropic effect of bile acids could largely explain their cocarcinogenic properties. Since metronidazole does not prevent this increase in cell proliferation, its mildly protective role against cancer may reflect the presence of fewer anaerobes capable of degrading bile acids to carcinogenic metabolites.     

Isolation and characterization of a human interleukin 2 gene

An interleukin 2 (IL-2) gene was isolated from a Charon 4A human gene library. Electron microscopic examination of 15 heteroduplexes formed between the genomic DNAs and the IL-2 cDNAs demonstrated that the size of the IL-2 gene is about 5.1 +/- 0.5 kb and that there are at least two introns in this gene. Nucleotide sequence of the 5' flanking region of the IL-2 gene showed a homology with that of the corresponding region of the human immune interferon gene.     

Isolation and characterization of nucleases from a clinical isolate of Serratia marcescens kums 3958

Two new extracellular nucleases, nucleases SM1 and SM2, were purified from the culture fluid of S. marcescens kums 3958, a fresh clinical isolate. The purification was carried out by the following steps; ammonium sulfate precipitation, and DEAE-cellulose and Sephadex G-100 column chromatography. At the final step, nucleases SM1 and SM2 were purified about 3,700- and 1,000-fold, respectively. They were free from phosphomonoesterase and phosphodiesterase activities. The pIs were 8.1 and 7.5 for nucleases SM1 and SM2, respectively. The molecular weight was estimated to be 35,000 for both enzymes by SDS-polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. The results of amino acid analyses showed that both the threonine and serine contents were higher in nuclease SM2 than in SM1. Furthermore, nuclease SM1 was more stable than nuclease SM2 at 4 degrees C. The other properties of the two enzymes were similar; pH optimum (8.0), Mg2+ or Mn2+ for activation, and inhibition by chemical reagents such as EDTA and pyrophosphate. No significant difference was found in base specificity between nucleases SM1 and SM2. Both enzymes specifically degraded double-stranded homopolymers, especially poly(I). poly(C), as well as yeast RNA and calf thymus DNA. They hardly degraded, however, single-stranded homopolymers such as poly(dA), poly(G), and poly(U).     

Isolation and characterization of a third proteoglycan (PG-Lt) from chick embryo cartilage which contains disulfide-bonded collagenous polypeptide

Chick embryo epiphyseal cartilage has been shown to contain three different proteoglycan species (PG-H, PG-Lb, and PG-Lt). This report is concerned with the purification and characterization of the third proteoglycan, PG-Lt. The proteoglycan can be separated from the other two by virtue of its low buoyant density in a CsCl density gradient and further purified by consecutive ion exchange and gel chromatography. The final preparation is composed of PG-Lt monomer and PG-Lt oligomer. The amino acid composition of PG-Lt is quite different from that of PG-H and PG-Lb and rather resembles that of collagens with respect to high content of glycine and high degrees of hydroxylation of proline and lysine. PG-Lt monomer is composed of disulfide-bonded subunits of Mr congruent to 120,000 and 190,000 as demonstrated by its gel electrophoretic behavior after reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol. The latter, but not the former, contains dermatan sulfate chains with glucuronic acid/iduronic acid residues and yields a protein-enriched core molecule of Mr congruent to 100,000 after digestion with chondroitinase ABC. Both of the protein subunits are completely digestible with bacterial collagenase. Immunofluorescence microscopic examination of cartilage tissues, using an antibody against PG-Lt, shows that this proteoglycan exists in both the cartilage matrix and perichondrial noncartilagenous region. When chondrocytes are plated onto tissue culture dishes, the antibody stains strands found on the cell surfaces and in the intercellular space of substrate-attached cell layers, suggesting that PG-Lt mediates cell-to-cell and cell-to-substrate contacts.     

Gibberellin Production in Cultured Cells of Nicotiana tabacum

Endogenous gibberellins (GAs) in several kinds of crown gallcells and cultured cells derived from normal tissue of Nicotianatabacum were systematically analyzed by gas chromatography-selectedion current monitoring (GC-SICM) after chromatographic purifications,and GA₁, GA₉, GA₁₉ and GA₂₀ were identified. Agrobacterium tumefaciens,a pathogen of crown gall, was confirmed not to produce GAs inits culture. We also investigated endogenous GAs of mother plant,tobacco, and found the same kinds of GAs as in cultured cells. ³ Present address: College of Agriculture, Chonnam NationalUniversity, Kwangju 500, Korea. (Received May 19, 1982; Accepted July 22, 1983)     

Superinfection with R Factors by Transduction in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium

Superinfection immunity is found in the conjugal transfer of R factors between two fi(+) R factors and between two fi(-) R factors (fi = fertility inhibition), as we reported previously. In contrast, no reduction in the frequencies of transduction of an fi(+) R factor 222 was caused by the presence of fi(+) R factors in the recipients in transduction systems with phage P1kc in Escherichia coli K-12 and with phage P22 in Salmonella typhimurium LT-2. The absence of superinfection immunity in transduction may be due to the difference in the route of entry of the R factor. The frequencies of transduction of an fi(+) R factor were reduced, although slightly, by the presence of fi(-) R factors in the recipients. This reduction is probably due to host-controlled restriction of the entering fi(+) R factor by the fi(-) R factors in the recipients, since transduction of an fi(+) R factor by the transducing phage propagated on the strain carrying both fi(+) and fi(-) R factors was not reduced by the presence of homologous fi(-) R factors in the recipients. The fi(+) R factor 222, when transduced to the recipient strains carrying other R factors, recombined genetically at high frequencies with these resident R factors, regardless of their fi type.