Effects of illumination on absorption peak shifts in spectra of intact etiolated cotyledons of Pharbitis nil I. Existence of two kinds of shift patterns

Two patterns were found in the shifts of absorption peaks inspectra of intact etiolated Pharbitis cotyledons illuminatedat room temperature. One was a well-known pattern, P649C678C683C672,called the "high-intensity illumination pattern" in this study.The other, called the "low-intensity illumination pattern,"was P649C672. (Received June 16, 1976; )     

Effect of piperonyl butoxide and diphenylamine on lipid peroxidation in ozonated chloroplasts

Lipid peroxide (LPO) formation was remarkable when isolatedtobacco chloroplasts were bubbled with high concentrations ofozone, though the fatty acid composition and the fractionationpattern of glycolipids and phospholipids in the chloroplastlipids changed little after ozone fumigation of the leaves.Piperonyl butoxide (PB), a potent protectant against ozone injury,strongly inhibited LPO formation in ozonated chloroplasts. PBalso prevented ozone-induced decreases in the amounts of linolenicand linoleic acids in the chloroplast lipids. These resultssuggest that PB inhibition of LPO formation may be involvedin the protective mechanism against ozone phytotoxicity. However,the mode of PB action differed on some points from that of diphenylamine,which is an antioxidant and also effective against ozone injury.The mode of PB action is discussed. ¹ Present address: The Central Research Institute, Japan Tobacco& Salt Public Corporation, Umegaoka, Midori-ku, Yokohama227, Japan. (Received July 5, 1976; )     

Studies on the control of cell division in a green alga,Ankistrodesmus gracilis (Chlorococcales)

The effects of various kinds of nitrogen compounds on the proliferation patterns ofAnkistrodesmus gracilis were examined. Among the tested compounds, the addition of peptone, arginine or glutamine to the N-free medium was the most effective on cell growth. The effectiveness was also shown in media containing one of several kinds of amino acid. In both peptone and arginine media the alga proliferated with multiple fission type of cell division, whereas the cultures grown in glutamine or serine medium contained 2-celled colonies at high frequencies. The latter was an efficient culture condition for cell reproduction with binary fission. The evidence for the behavior of nuclear and cytoplasmic division in these growth patterns were obtained from observations of thin sectioned materials.     

Resistance to tolerance induction in B cells of autoimmune mice—Abnormal expansion of low affinity IgG-producing B-cell population

Several strains of mice are known to develop spontaneous autoimmune diseases like lupus erythematosus and they show various immunological abnormalities as well. Despite different genetic backgrounds, they manifest various immunological abnormalities in common, e.g., polyclonal B-cell activation (PBA) and resistance to tolerance induction. To elucidate mechanisms of the development of autoimmunity, tolerance inducibility was examined in autoimmune and normal mice using trinitrophenylated carboxymethyl cellulose (TNP-CMC) as tolerogen which is known to induce TNP-specific B-cell tolerance without the participation of T cells. NZB and MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr mice were used as autoimmune mice and C57BL/6, BALB/c, and MRL/Mp-+/+ mice as nonautoimmune mice. When TNP-CMC-injected mice were challenged with T-independent antigens, all of the mice tested were shown to be tolerant. In contrast, when TNP-CMC-injected mice were challenged with T-dependent antigen and secondary IgG responses were assessed, autoimmune mice showed rather hyperreactivity, while nonautoimmune mice showed hyporesponsiveness. Cyclophosphamide improved this defective tolerance inducibility. By the solid-phase radioimmunoassay it was revealed that average affinity of serum anti-TNP antibodies produced in TNP-CMC-injected mice was low. Such low affinity antibodies were produced in large amount in autoimmune mice. Hence, it was suggested that B-cell clones destined to produce low affinity IgG antibodies were responsible for the resistance to tolerance induction and such clones were expanding in autoimmune mice.     

Cytochemical and electron microscopic demonstration of organelle translocation and the inhibition of such translocation by colchicine during the mitosis of rat hepatocytes

Hepatocyte lysosomes, mitochondria, and peroxisomes show a dramatic translocation during mitosis induced by partial hepatectomy. During prophase, all three organelles move to the perinuclear cytoplasm. In metaphase, they become concentrated in the polar regions. During telophase, these organelles form clusters in the juxtanuclear regions. This organelle translocation is inhibited by the administration of a low concentration of colchicine, suggesting an involvement of microtubules in their movement.     

Autophagy in yeast demonstrated with proteinase-deficient mutants and conditions for its induction

For determination of the physiological role and mechanism of vacuolar proteolysis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mutant cells lacking proteinase A, B, and carboxypeptidase Y were transferred from a nutrient medium to a synthetic medium devoid of various nutrients and morphological changes of their vacuoles were investigated. After incubation for 1 h in nutrient-deficient media, a few spherical bodies appeared in the vacuoles and moved actively by Brownian movement. These bodies gradually increased in number and after 3 h they filled the vacuoles almost completely. During their accumulation, the volume of the vacuolar compartment also increased. Electron microscopic examination showed that these bodies were surrounded by a unit membrane which appeared thinner than any other intracellular membrane. The contents of the bodies were morphologically indistinguishable from the cytosol; these bodies contained cytoplasmic ribosomes, RER, mitochondria, lipid granules and glycogen granules, and the density of the cytoplasmic ribosomes in the bodies was almost the same as that of ribosomes in the cytosol. The diameter of the bodies ranged from 400 to 900 nm. Vacuoles that had accumulated these bodies were prepared by a modification of the method of Ohsumi and Anraku (Ohsumi, Y., and Y. Anraku. 1981. J. Biol. Chem. 256:2079-2082). The isolated vacuoles contained ribosomes and showed latent activity of the cytosolic enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. These results suggest that these bodies sequestered the cytosol in the vacuoles. We named these spherical bodies "autophagic bodies." Accumulation of autophagic bodies in the vacuoles was induced not only by nitrogen starvation, but also by depletion of nutrients such as carbon and single amino acids that caused cessation of the cell cycle. Genetic analysis revealed that the accumulation of autophagic bodies in the vacuoles was the result of lack of the PRB1 product proteinase B, and disruption of the PRB1 gene confirmed this result. In the presence of PMSF, wild-type cells accumulated autophagic bodies in the vacuoles under nutrient-deficient conditions in the same manner as did multiple protease-deficient mutants or cells with a disrupted PRB1 gene. As the autophagic bodies disappeared rapidly after removal of PMSF from cultures of normal cells, they must be an intermediate in the normal autophagic process. This is the first report that nutrient-deficient conditions induce extensive autophagic degradation of cytosolic components in the vacuoles of yeast cells.     

S-(1,2-dicarboxyethyl)glutathione and activity for its synthesis in rat tissues

The contents of S-(1,2-dicarboxyethyl)glutathione (DCE-GS) in several tissues of rat were determined by HPLC. The peptide was present at concentrations (nmol/g tissue) of 119 in lens, 71.6 in liver, and 27.4 in heart. It was, however, not detected in spleen, kidney, cerebrum, or cerebellum. In rat liver, DCE-GS was located primarily in the cytosolic fraction. The substrates for the enzymic synthesis of DCE-GS were GSH and L-malate. In rats, the DCE-GS-synthesizing activity was found to be highest in the liver and in the cytosol of rat liver subcellular fractions. The DCE-GS-synthesizing enzyme was partially purified from rat liver cytosolic fraction by ammonium sulfate fractionation, Phenyl Superose chromatography, hydroxyapatite chromatography, and gel filtration. The molecular mass of the enzyme was estimated to be 53 kDa by gel filtration and SDS-PAGE, showing it to be a monomeric protein. The Km values for GSH and L-malate were 2.3 and 4.0 mM at 37 degrees C, respectively. The enzyme did not utilize 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene, p-nitrophenyl bromide, trans-4-phenyl-3-buten-2-one, or p-nitrobenzyl chloride, which were substrates for previously characterized glutathione S-transferases. The isolated enzyme preparation showed no fumarase activity, which supported the conclusion that the formation of DCE-GS was not the result of a nonenzymic reaction following the synthesis of fumarate from L-malate by the isolated enzyme. The N-terminal amino acid of this polypeptide was presumably blocked since no sequence was obtained by automatic sequencing after electro-blotting onto a siliconized-glass fiber (SGF) sheet.     

Inhibition of platelet aggregation by S-(1,2-dicarboxyethyl)glutathione, intrinsic tripeptide in liver, heart, and lens

S-(1,2-Dicarboxyethyl)glutathione (DCE-GS) found in animal tissues or baker's yeast showed strong inhibitory effects on blood coagulation and platelet aggregation. The inhibitory effect of blood coagulation was almost the same as those of EDTA, oxalate, and citrate. DCE-GS did not show chelating activity. As for ADP- or thrombin-induced platelet aggregations, DCE-GS exerted a potent effect on the secondary aggregation, while it was less active in the primary aggregation. DCE-GS gave a distinct lag period in the time course of the secondary aggregation induced by collagen and inhibited most strongly the aggregation induced by arachidonic acid compared with those elicited by ADP, thrombin, and collagen. The peptide, however, did not inhibit the platelet aggregation induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate. Although both DCE-GS and EDTA inhibited the platelet aggregation which was triggered by ADP, their inhibitory manners were entirely different.     

Hydrogen exchange kinetics of nucleic acids: Double and triple helices with Hoogsteen-type basepairs

The kinetics of hydrogen-tritium exchange reaction have been followed by a Sephadex technique of a double-helical poly(ribo-2-methylthio-adenylic acid)·poly(ribouridylic acid) complex with the Hoogsteen-type basepair. Only one hydrogen in every 2-methylthio-adenine·uracil basepair has been found to exchange at a measurably slow rate, 0.023 s^?1 (at 0°C), which is, however, much greater than that for a double-helix with the Watson-Crick type A·U pair. The kinetics of hydrogen-tritium exchange were also examined by triple-helical poly(rU)·poly(rA)·poly(rU) which involves both the Watson-Crick and Hoogsteen basepairings. Here, three hydrogens in every U·A·U base triplet have been found to exchange at a relatively slow rate, 0.0116 s^?1 (at 0°C). The kinetics of hydrogen-deuterium exchange reactions of these polynucleotide helices have also been followed by a stopped-flow ultraviolet absorption spectrophotometry at various temperatures. On the basis of these experimental results, the mechanism of the hydrogen exchange reactions in these helical polynucleotides was discussed. In the triple helix, the rate-determining process of the slow exchange of the three (one uracil-imide and two adenine-amino) hydrogens is considered to be the opening of the Watson-Crick part of the U·A·U triplet. This opening is considered to take place only after the opening of the Hoogsteen part of the triplet.     

A new acid carboxypeptidase,O-1, fromAspergillus oryzae

A new acid carboxypeptidase was purified fromAspergillus oryzae grown on solid bran culture medium. The purified enzyme was found to be homogeneous by disc gel electrophoresis at pH 9.4 and isoelectric focusing. The enzyme was termedA. oryzae acid carboxypeptidase O-1 with isoelectric point 4.08. The substrate specificity of the new enzyme was investigated with proangiotensin, angiotensin, and bradykinin. Even when the proline was present at the penultimate position of the peptide, the enzyme rapidly hydrolyzed the carboxyterminal Pro-X (X=amino acid) peptide bond. TheK _m andk _cat values for angiotension (–Pro⁷–Phe⁸) at pH 3.7 and 30°C were 0.2 mM and 1.7 sec^–1, respectively.