Inactivation of maize phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase by urea

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase purified from leaves of maize (Zea mays, L.) is sensitive to the presence of urea. Exposure to 2.5 m urea for 30 min completely inactivates the enzyme, whereas for a concentration of 1.5 m urea, about 1 h is required. Malate appears to have no effect on inactivation by urea of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. However, the presence of 20 mm phosphoenolpyruvate or 20 mm glucose-6-phosphate prevents significant inactivation by 1.5 m urea for at least 1 h. The inactivation by urea is reversible by dilution. The inhibition by urea and the protective effects of phosphoenolpyruvate and glucose-6-phosphate are associated with changes in aggregation state.     

Subgroups of Tcr α chains and correlation with T-cell function

T-cell receptor (Tcr) chains are classified into four subgroups (I, II, III, and miscellaneous) based on the amino acid residues at positions 61 and 62. Subgroup I has Gly Phe at these positions, subgroup II has Arg Phe, subgroup III has Arg Leu, and subgroup miscellaneous has several other combinations. Variability plots for subgroups I, II, and III sequences show higher values around positions 93–103, 105, 108, 111, 113, and 115, suggesting that these positions may interact with the processed antigen molecules. Smaller peaks are present at various other regions which may bind the major histocompatibility complex class I or II molecules. The patterns of variability within one subgroup are similar for all species, for human alone, and for mouse alone. These subgroup patterns appear much less complicated than patterns for sequences in all subgroups taken together, implying that subgroups may be related to Tcr functions. Among 83 mouse chains, 15 are from cytotoxic cells and 40 from helper cells. Of the 15 from cytotoxic cells, 11, 2, 0, and 2 are in subgroups I, II, III, and miscellaneous; and of the 40 from helper cells, 9, 16, 12, ans 3 are in subgroups I, II, III, and miscellaneous, respectively. Thus, a correlation between sequence and function of Tcr chains seems possible. Address correspondence and offprint requests to: M. Schiffer.     

Enantioselective hydrolysis of hydrophobic amino acid derivatives by lipases

Microbial lipases preferentially cleave the L-isomers of N-benzyloxycarbonyl (Z)-hydrophobic D,L-amino acid methyl esters which is the same as that of subtilisin. This implies that lipases and proteases may share the same ancestor in the evolutionary point and lipases can be practically applied to resolve racemic hydrophobic amino acid derivatives.     

广西隆林祥播中二叠世生物礁的钙藻化石

本文描述了广西隆林祥播中二叠世茅口期生物礁中的钙藻化石17属18种,其中新属5个:Paralithoporella gen. nov., Guangxilamina gen. nov., Favoporella gen. nov., Sinophyllum gen. nov.,和Monostysisyrinx gen. nov.; 新种9个:Solenopora guangxien sis sp. nov., Paralithoporella sincrisis gen. et sp. nov., Guangxilamina incompta gen. et sp. nov., Favoporella hexagona gen. et sp. nov., Ivanovia permica sp. nov., Anchicodium expressum sp. nov., Sinophyllum hexagonum gen. et sp. nov., Sphaeroporella minima gen. et sp. nov., Monostysisyrinx circula ris gen. et sp. nov.。本文还建立一新科——Monostysi sy rinaceae。在当前生物礁中,钙藻是重要的造礁生物,可以起造架、粘结、障积等作用,也可作为居礁生物或造粒生物     

伍氏游仆虫接合过程中老大核后碎块的去向

在伍氏游仆虫(Euplotes woodruffi)接合后体发育过程中,已呈退化状态的老大核后碎块,在细胞第二次形态发生时,逐渐恢复其正常形态结构。T形新大核原基向后延伸而与恢复正常形态的老大核后碎块紧密靠拢。此时在光镜下观察,很容易误认为二者已融合为一。但在接合后体分裂之前,老大核后碎块再次瓦解,T形大核原基缩短成棒状而与老大核后碎块分开,此时二者界限分明。细胞分裂后,残存的老大核后碎块停留于后子虫中,最后被吸收。几个关键时期大核原基和老大核后碎块DNA含量的测定,也证明新老大核不融合。本文还讨论了老大核后碎块在有性过程中的功能。     

电刺激大鼠扣带前回对血压和心率的影响

电刺激大鼠扣带前回(ACg),血压升高,心率加快,同时缰核(Hb)内20.7％的神经元兴奋,22.4％的神经元抑制,56.9％的神经元无反应。双侧Hb内微量注射盐酸利多卡因,可明显阻断电刺激ACg引起的心血管反应。结果表明,ACg对心血管活动的调节,一部分是通过改变Hb的活动来实现的,Hb是ACg调节心血管活动的下行性通路之一。     

Kringle domains and plasmin denaturation.

The rate of plasmin denaturation was in the order of Lys-plasmin greater than miniplasmin greater than microplasmin. Fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) dose dependently increased the denaturation rate of Lys-plasmin and mini-plasmin with a maximal rate constant at the FDP/plasmin ratio of about 0.5. The denaturation rate constant of microplasmin was not affected. FDP increased the rate of plasmin denaturation was in parallel with its effect on the interaction among kringle domains. Without FDP only trace amounts of plasminogen dimer could be detected by cross-linking with bis-(sulfo-succinimidyl)-suberate followed by SDS gel electrophoresis. In the low concentration of FDP significant amounts of oligomers of Glu-, mini-plasminogens, kringle 1-3 and kringle 1-5 were observed. High concentration of FDP, however, decreased plasminogen oligomer.     

Purification and characterization of a gamma-like DNA polymerase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

A crude in vitro system which initiates chloroplast DNA synthesis near the D-loop site mapped by electron microscopy [Wu, M., Lou, J. K., Chang, D. Y., Chang, C. H., & Nie, Z. Q. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83, 6761-6765] consists of soluble proteins and proteins extracted from purified thylakoid membrane. In this paper, a DNA polymerase activity was purified to near homogeneity from the soluble protein fraction of this in vitro system by sequential chromatographic separations on heparin-agarose, DEAE-cellulose, and single-stranded DNA-agarose columns and sedimentation in a glycerol gradient. In the glycerol gradient, the enzyme activity sedimented at a position corresponding to a 110-kDa protein. Electrophoretic analysis of the highly purified fraction on SDS-polyacrylamide gel revealed a major polypeptide band with an apparent molecular mass of approximately 116 kDa. In situ DNA polymerase activity assay shows that the DNA polymerization function is associated with the 116-kDa band and an 80-kDa band which could be a subunit of the enzyme. Polymerization activity is inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide, ethidium bromide, and dideoxycytosine triphosphate and is relatively resistant to aphidicolin. Poly(dA).(dT)10 and gapped double-stranded DNA are preferred templates. The purified enzyme contains no exonuclease activity and can initiate DNA replication in a supercoiled plasmid DNA template containing the chloroplast DNA replication origin.