Enhancer-site downstream binding protein activity is enriched in rat tissues that express the class I alcohol dehydrogenase gene.

The activity of the rat class I alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) is enriched in certain tissues including the liver, intestine and testis. The tissue-specific expression of the gene encoding ADH in the rat was studied and found to closely correlate with tissue isozymic activity. A factor designated enhancer-site downstream binding protein (EDBP) was recently identified in the rat liver and found to interact with the proximal promoter of the class I ADH gene. The distribution of EDBP in nuclear extracts obtained from various tissues was examined based on its sequence-specific DNA binding property and found to correlate with tissue ADH expression. These findings suggest that EDBP is potentially a positive regulatory factor which is involved in controlling the tissue-specific expression of the ADH gene.     

Nonserine esterases from rat liver cytosol

An effort to identify the major general esterases of rat liver cytosol that are insensitive to the serine esterase inhibitor paraoxon (diethyl 4-nitrophenyl phosphate) has led to the isolation of a dozen enzymes. Four of these are electrophoretically homogeneous. Although purified on the basis of their hydrolytic activity toward 4-nitrophenyl acetate, each of the enzymes has a very broad and overlapping substrate specificity for aromatic esters. Thiol esters serve as substrates but, within the limits of the methods used, amides are not hydrolyzed.     

Molecular diffusion into horse spleen ferritin: a nitroxide radical spin probe study.

Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography were employed to study the molecular diffusion of a number of small nitroxide spin probes (approximately 7-9 A diameter) into the central cavity of the iron-storage protein ferritin. Charge and polarity of these radicals play a critical role in the diffusion process. The negatively charged radical 4-carboxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (4-carboxy-TEMPO) does not penetrate the cavity whereas the positively charged 4-amino-TEMPO and 3-(aminomethyl)-proxyl radical and polar 4-hydroxy-TEMPO radical do. Unlike the others, the apolar TEMPO radical does not enter the cavity but instead binds to ferritin, presumably at a hydrophobic region of the protein. The kinetic data indicate that diffusion is not purely passive, the driving force coming not only from the concentration gradient between the inside and outside of the protein but also from charge interactions between the diffusant and the protein. A model for diffusion is derived that describes the observed kinetics. First-order half-lives for diffusion into the protein of 21-26 min are observed, suggesting that reductant molecules with diameters considerably larger than approximately 9 A would probably enter the protein cavity too slowly to mobilize iron efficiently by direct interaction with the mineral core.     

Approximate methods for estimating the pattern of nucleotide substitution and the variation of substitution rates among sites

We propose two approximate methods (one based on parsimony and one on pairwise sequence comparison) for estimating the pattern of nucleotide substitution and a parsimony-based method for estimating the gamma parameter for variable substitution rates among sites. The matrix of substitution rates that represents the substitution pattern can be recovered through its relationship with the observable matrix of site pattern frequences in pairwise sequence comparisons. In the parsimony approach, the ancestral sequences reconstructed by the parsimony algorithm were used, and the two sequences compared are those at the ends of a branch in the phylogenetic tree. The method for estimating the gamma parameter was based on a reinterpretation of the numbers of changes at sites inferred by parsimony. Three data sets were analyzed to examine the utility of the approximate methods compared with the more reliable likelihood methods. The new methods for estimating the substitution pattern were found to produce estimates quite similar to those obtained from the likelihood analyses. The new method for estimating the gamma parameter was effective in reducing the bias in conventional parsimony estimates, although it also overestimated the parameter. The approximate methods are computationally very fast and appear useful for analyzing large data sets, for which use of the likelihood method requires excessive computation.      

聚焦色谱法测定肌型肌酸激酶亚型

报道了测定CK-MM亚型的聚焦色谱法,此法简单,快速,结果可靠,线性范围宽,最低检测限（8U／L）较正常参考值低,比国外报道的类似方法高6倍以上,分离度亦有改进.测定了20例健康人血清亚型分布,与文献报道结果相近.该法自动化程度高,已在急性心梗的诊断中实际应用.     

Comparison of models for nucleotide substitution used in maximum- likelihood phylogenetic estimation

Using real sequence data, we evaluate the adequacy of assumptions made in evolutionary models of nucleotide substitution and the effects that these assumptions have on estimation of evolutionary trees. Two aspects of the assumptions are evaluated. The first concerns the pattern of nucleotide substitution, including equilibrium base frequencies and the transition/transversion-rate ratio. The second concerns the variation of substitution rates over sites. The maximum-likelihood estimate of tree topology appears quite robust to both these aspects of the assumptions of the models, but evaluation of the reliability of the estimated tree by using simpler, less realistic models can be misleading. Branch lengths are underestimated when simpler models of substitution are used, but the underestimation caused by ignoring rate variation over nucleotide sites is much more serious. The goodness of fit of a model is reduced by ignoring spatial rate variation, but unrealistic assumptions about the pattern of nucleotide substitution can lead to an extraordinary reduction in the likelihood. It seems that evolutionary biologists can obtain accurate estimates of certain evolutionary parameters even with an incorrect phylogeny, while systematists cannot get the right tree with confidence even when a realistic, and more complex, model of evolution is assumed.      

Effect of bicarbonate and root zone temperature on uptake of Zn,Fe, Mn and Cu by different rice cultivars (Oryza sativa L.) grown in calcareous soil

Pot experiments were conducted with a calcareous soil (Inceptisol) to elucidate the effects of bicarbonate (0 and 20 mM) and root zone temperature (15° and 25°C) on the uptake of Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu by "Zn-efficient" and "Zn-inefficient" rice cultivars. Bicarbonate decreased concentrations and total uptake of Zn in shoots of "Zn-inefficient" cultivars, especially of IR 26 at 25°C, but not in Zn-efficient cultivars. Bicarbonate decreased concentrations and uptake of Fe in shoots of Zn inefficient cultivars, particularly in IR 26. Concentrations and total uptake of Mn were lower in bicarbonate treatment in the Zn-inefficient cultivars at 15°C, and in all cultivars at 25°C. However, concentration and uptake of Cu were not affected by bicarbonate in all cultivars. Compared to the 25°C root zone temperature, the concentrations and total uptake of both Zn and Cu in shoots at 15°C were lower in Zn-inefficient than in the Zn-efficient cultivars. The results indicate that Zn-efficiency in rice is causally related to high tolerance of plant to elavated bicarbonate concentrations in soil solution.     

Trace elements in hair of blackfoot disease

Blackfoot disease is a peripheral vascular disease resulting in gangrene of the lower extremities. Though extensive epidemiological study has implicated that high arsenic content in artesian well water of the endemic area, bears some important connection with the disease, the etiology of the disease is still unknown. In this study, attention is paid to multielement determination in order to find out whether the trace elements in hair of Blackfoot disease patients are different from those of the controls. Experimental results indicate that the concentrations of As and Se in hair of patients are significantly higher than those of the controls, but Ca and Zn are significantly lower than those of the controls. The possible connection of these elements with the etiology of the disease is discussed.     

The effect of hydration on the dynamics of trimethoprim bound to dihydrofolate reductase. A deuterium NMR study.

To determine the effect of hydration on the dynamics of a protein complex, we used deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to examine a trimethoprim (TMP)/E. coli dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) complex in its lyophilized, partially hydrated, polycrystalline, and ammonium sulfate-precipitated states. The results indicate that TMP is rigid in the lyophilized powder state. The dynamic behavior could be restored by partial rehydration. At 30 wt% hydration the deuterium spectrum of the partially hydrated sample was indistinguishable from that of the polycrystalline and ammonium sulfate-precipitated samples, suggesting that the structure of the protein/TMP complex is similar in the three physical states. Furthermore, we found that the para- and meta-methoxyl groups have very different dynamical behavior.