Tubular Transport Maxima of PAH and Diodrast Measured Individually in the Aglomerular Kidney of Lophius, and Simultaneously as Competitors Under Conditions of Equimolar Loading

The maximal tubular transfer rates (Tm) of both p-aminohippurate (PAH) and diodrast (3,5-diiodo-4-pyridone-N-acetic acid or iodopyracet) were found to be fixed and reproducible when measured separately in Lophius (goosefish) under standard laboratory conditions. Expressed on a molar basis Tm_PAH was four times Tm_D. However, when these transport competitors were presented simultaneously in equimolar concentrations with the plasma levels of each sufficiently high enough to saturate the carrier system, the relative rates of excretion were reversed with the diodrast transfer rate then four times that of PAH. The combined rate of excretion was far below Tm_PAH alone, and roughly equal to Tm_D. Interaction with a common carrier was indicated by the gradations in degree of inhibition which resulted when plasma concentration ratios of diodrast to PAH were extended from 0.1 to 3.2, and PAH transfer rates expressed as percentage of Tm_PAH were correspondingly depressed from 17 to 1.0 per cent respectively. These observations again point up the inverse relationship between transfer rate and competitive effectiveness which exists for members of a series of substances actively transported by a common mechanism. It appears that carrier affinity and dissociation characteristics may be quite different for various compounds in a series, and also that these parameters may vary significantly from species to species.     

Biochemical Studies on Amphibian Metamorphosis : I. The effect of thyroxine on protein synthesis in the tadpole

Thyroxine has been shown to accelerate the synthesis of carbamyl phosphate synthetase in the liver of Rana catesbeiana. Stimulation of carbamyl phosphate synthetase synthesis by thyroxine appears to be relatively specific because of the following observations: (1) succinoxidase activity decreased during the time that carbamyl phosphate synthetase increased; (2) liver catalase responded more slowly than carbamyl phosphate synthetase to thyroxine; (3) the ratio of biochemical changes/morphological changes was greatly altered during thyroxine-induced metamorphosis. The relationships between the concentration of thyroxine and (1) temperature; (2) duration of exposure of the tadpole to thyroxine; and (3) the activity of carbamyl phosphate synthetase during the induced synthesis of carbamyl phosphate synthetase by thyroxine are discussed. Chloramphenicol and thiouracil partly counteracted the effect of thyroxine on the synthesis of carbamyl phosphate synthetase.     

A Rapid Screening Test for Aflatoxin-synthesizing Aspergilli of the flavus-oryzae Group

A rapid test for the recognition of aflatoxin-synthesizing strains of the Aspergillus flavus–oryzae group is described. For this purpose the strains are cultivated on Czapek–Dox agar enriched with an aqueous extract of groundnuts, and in which sodium nitrate is replaced by ammonium chloride. Toxin production is observed by the production of a bright blue fluorescence in the medium when placed under an ultraviolet lamp.     

Phosphorylation of phospholipase C-gamma by cAMP-dependent protein kinase

The mechanism by which cAMP modulates the activity of phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PLC) was studied. Elevation of cAMP inhibited both basal and norepinephrine-stimulated phosphoinositide breakdown in C6Bu1 cells which contain at least three PLC isozymes, PLC-beta, PLC-gamma, and PLC-delta. Treatment of C6Bu1 cells with cAMP-elevating agents (cholera toxin, isobutylmethylxanthine, forskolin, and 8-bromo-cAMP) increased serine phosphate in PLC-gamma, but the phosphate contents in PLC-beta and PLC-delta were not changed. In addition, cAMP-dependent protein kinase selectively phosphorylated purified PLC-gamma among the three isozymes and added a single phosphate at serine. The serine phosphorylation, nevertheless, did not affect the activity of PLC-gamma in vitro. We propose, therefore, that the phosphorylation of PLC-gamma by cAMP-dependent protein kinase alters its interaction with putative modulatory proteins and leads to its inhibition.     

Tyrosine phosphorylation of phospholipase C-II in vitro by the epidermal growth factor receptor

In a number of cell lines, epidermal growth factor (EGF) rapidly stimulates the breakdown of inositol phospholipids. Phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PLC), therefore, plays an important role in this biological response to EGF, but the mechanism by which EGF-receptor complexes modulate the activation of PLC is not understood. We have previously suggested that tyrosine phosphorylation of PLC or an unknown PLC-associated protein by the EGF receptor is involved in the activation process (Wahl, M. I., Daniel, T. O., and Carpenter, G. (1988) Science 241, 968-970) and have recently shown by immunoprecipitation that the addition of EGF to 32P-labeled cells increases tyrosine and serine phosphorylation of PLC-II (Wahl, M. I., Nishibe, S., Suh, P.-G., Rhee, S. G., and Carpenter, G. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86, 1568-1572). In this communication we demonstrate that PLC-II (Mr = 145,000) purified from bovine brain can be phosphorylated in vitro in an EGF-dependent manner by the tyrosine kinase activity of the purified EGF receptor. While PLC-II is an efficient phosphorylation substrate for the purified EGF receptor, PLC-I is a poor substrate and PLC-III is not phosphorylated to any detectable extent. Though all three PLC isozymes possess typical tyrosine phosphorylation sequences, the EGF receptor is surprisingly selective in vitro for the phosphorylation of PLC-II. High performance liquid chromatography comparison of tryptic phosphotyrosyl peptides from PLC-II phosphorylated in vivo and in vitro indicated a similar pattern of multiple tyrosine phosphorylation sites. These findings show that the EGF receptor can directly phosphorylate PLC-II in an efficient and selective manner.     

Computational sequence analysis of matrix metalloproteinases

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) play a cardinal role in the breakdown of extracellular matrix involved in a variety of biological and pathological processes. Research on MMPs has classified and characterized these enzymes according to their matrix substrate specificity, gene and protein domain structure, and regulation of activity and expression. However, the discovery of new MMPs has introduced a need for a more comprehensive and systematic method of classification and quantitative comparison of known and newly discovered members. This study compiles a sequence alignment, constructs a dendrogram, and calculates physical data and homology percentage assignments in order to obtain further insight into MMP structure-function relationships. Thorough analysis of MMP primary sequence domains, physical data patterns, and statistical analysis of sequence homology yields higher resolution in the similarities and differences that group MMP members.     

Effect of soybean oil on the enhanced expression of hirudin gene in Hansenula polymorpha

Summary A heterologous gene from bloodsucking leech for anticoagulant, hirudin, has been expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha. The addition of 1%(v/v) soybean oil to the medium as a stabilizer enhanced the expression of the hirudin gene in H. polymorpha with MOX promoter. The production of hirudin in the medium with soybean oil was 320mg/L in a 5L fermenter.     

Production of a polysaccharide, methylan, in Methylobacterium organophilum by controlling ammonium ion

Summary Cell growth increased proportionally to the initial concentration of ammonium ion, however, methylan production was significantly inhibited at the high concentration of ammonium ion. The control of ammonium ion within the desired level(usually 0.45 g/l) was needed to reduce the inhibition. Methylan production was increased to 12.5 g/l by maintaining ammonium ion below 0.15 g/l.     

Optimal conditions for levan formation by an overexpressed recombinant levansucrase

Summary A genetically modified levansucrase, which contained His-affinity tag in its C-terminal, was constructed by PCR reaction using two synthetic primers. This modified protein was produced up to 30 % in total cell protein of E. coli, and was purified by a one-step affinity chromatography. The optimum pH for levan production was pH 5 and the optimum temperature was 0 °C. The higher velocity of levan formation within shorter enzyme reaction times was achieved by increasing the levels of enzyme concentration. The optimal sucrose concentration for levan production was around 20 %. Under these conditions, more than 50 g levan/l was produced.