Plant-wide names for partial cDNA sequences of rice usingBlast and4th dimension

A total of 687 DNA sequence accessions from the Mendel database (release 1.04, 3 November 1994) assigned standardized designations for plant genes and gene products were used in aBLAST similarity search of 7557 rice partial cDNA sequences and 287 other rice sequences from the Japanese Rice Genome Research Program. We describe procedures for data manipulation, import and export from and to Macintosh and Unix, and the use of 4th Dimension relational database management system (RDBMS) in data processing. Altogether 275 sequences showed strong similarity hits. Using the CPGN nomenclature, we assign putative designations for genes and gene products. Assignments include representatives of 26 gene products, including 58 cDNA sequences similar to α-tubulins (TubA), 23 similar to β-tubulins (TubB) and 51 similar to cytosolic subunit C of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (NAD) (GapC). The results of the similarity searches are listed and are also available electronically. The assignments have been submitted to the CPGN working groups for verification and for later inclusion in the GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ sequence databases, which will include the standardized designations in the accession data fields. Member of the ISPMB Commission on Plant Gene Nomenclature, representing the Rice Genome Research Program of Japan. Reprint requests to T. Sasaki.     

Electron microscopic study of endogenous peroxidase activity in human liver macrophages

We evaluated the conditions of fixation for ultrastructurally demonstrating the endogenous peroxidase (PO) activity of macrophages in biopsied human liver. The application of microwaving and immersion fixation with tannic acid and aldehydes allowed excellent visualization of PO activity in the nuclear envelope (NE), rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER), and cytoplasmic granules (CG), with good preservation of cellular ultrastructures. The macrophages with PO activity showed one of the following five patterns of PO localization: positive in both the NE and rER but negative in the CG (type 1); negative in both the NE and rER but positive in the CG (type 2); negative in the NE but positive in both the rER and CG (type 3); positive in all three (type 4); PO negative (type 5). The type 1 cells resembled typical Kupffer cells, type 2 cells monocytes, and type 3 and 4 cells the exudate-resident macrophages considered to be a transitional form between exudate and resident macrophages. Type 5 cells may also be a transitional form between the exudate and resident macrophage, or an end-stage macrophage derived from exudate macrophages which have lost their PO activity. Tannic-acid-aldehyde immersion fixation with microwaving may be a useful method in the study of the PO activities of macrophages in biopsied human liver specimens.     

Alkaline phosphatase reactivity in rabbit airway epithelium: a potentially useful marker for airway basal cells

The purpose of this study was to investigate alkaline phosphatase (ALPase) reactivity in rabbit airway epithelial cells. Acetone-fixed, methyl benzoate and xylene-cleared (AMeX-treated) paraffin sections of trachea, bronchus, and lung tissue were stained by an azo dye coupling method for ALPase and examined by light microscopy. Electron histochemical staining was also performed in order to study the sensitivity and specificity of reactivity in each cell type. ALPase reactivity at the light microscopic level was observed exclusively in trachco-bronchial basal cells, and not in bronchiolar basal cells. By electron microscopy, ALPase reactivity was noted in 97.9% of basal cells in the trachea, 97.0% of basal cells in the bronchus, and 94.5% of basal cells and 15.4% of Clara cells in the bronchiole. This was also true for dispersed tracheal epithelial cells. Reactivity was rarely observed in ciliated cells, non-goblet-type secretory cells, and undetermined cells. The reactivity was heatlabile, levamisole-sensitive, and of a non-specific type. These findings indicate that basal cells of rabbit trachea and bonchus have fairly high specificity for ALPase of a non-specific isozyme (92.2% and 95.6%, respectively). Therefore, ALPase is considered to be a useful marker for these cells.     

Photomicrobial electrode for selective determination of sulphide

Summary A photomicrobial electrode, which uses the photosynthetic bacteria Chromatium sp. in conjunction with a hydrogen electrode, was developed for the determination of sulphide. The response time of the photomicrobial electrode was 5–10 min. A linear relationship was obtained between the current of the electrode and the sodium sulphide concentration below 3.5 mM. The minimum detectable concentration of sodium sulphide was 0.4 mM. Selectivity of the sensor is satisfactory. A good agreement was obtained between the photomicrobial electrode and the ethylene blue method (correlation coefficient: 0.90).     

Efflux of gamma-aminobutyric acid from and appearance of free arachidonic acid inside synaptosomes

When synaptosomes were depolarized in the presence of Ca2+, or when Ca2+ was added to synaptosomes pretreated with Ca2+ ionophore (A23187), free arachidonic acid was clearly increased within synaptosomes, and at the same time an efflux of gamma-aminobutyric acid from synaptosomes was observed. Moreover, when synaptosomes labelled with [14C]arachidonic acid were depolarized in the presence of Ca2+, there was a significant decrease in the radioactivity of the fatty acid of phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylcholine. Exogenously added arachidonic acid, but not other fatty acids, stimulated the efflux of gamma-aminobutyric acid in the absence of Ca2+. These observations suggest that the release of arachidonic acid from phospholipids is an intrinsic part of the biochemical mechanism that modulates the gamma-aminobutyric acid efflux.     

There is selective accumulation of a growth factor in chicken skeletal muscle. II. Transferrin accumulation in dystrophic fast muscle

Transferrin or a transferrin-like protein, with ability to stimulate myogenesis and terminal differentiation in vitro, is found in fast chicken muscle during embryonic development. After hatching, however, transferrin is no longer accumulated or is only weakly accumulated by fast muscles like the pectoralis major and the posterior latissimus dorsi but continues to be accumulated by slow muscles like the anterior latissimus dorsi. In congenic lines of chickens bearing the gene for muscular dystrophy, however, adult fast muscles do not lose the ability to accumulate transferrin. While transferrin is found selectively in adult normal and dystrophic muscle it does not appear to be synthesized by muscle cells. Immunocytochemical localization shows that transferrin is accumulated not so much by muscle fibers as it is by single cells in the muscle interstitial space. The relationship between transferrin presence and growth patterns in adult skeletal muscle is not currently understood but evidence suggests that transferrin stimulation of myogenesis observed in vitro may be mediated in vivo by non-muscle cells dwelling within the muscle interstitial space. These cells may act as transferrin-uptake sources for subsequent satellite cell stimulation.     

Some Properties of the Arginine Decarboxylase in Vicia faba Leaves

Growth of Vicia faba seedlings is accompanied by a rapid increasein arginine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.19 [EC] ) in the leaves and epicotyl.Increased enzyme activity was observed under saline conditionsin the presence of NaCl and with osmotic stress by mannitol.The partially purified enzyme (about 86-fold) readily decarboxylatedL-arginine, while D-arginine, L-homoarginine, L-ornithine andL-lysine were decarboxylated very slowly, and L-citrulline andL-glutamic acid were not decarboxylated. The K_m value was 5.8?10^–4M for L-arginine. The optimal pH and temperature for activitywere 8.5 and 45?C, respectively. p-Chloromercuribenzoate andN-ethylmaleimide were effective inhibitors of the enzyme. Inhibitionby spermidine, putrescine and agmatine suggested a possiblefeed-back mechanism in the pathway of polyamine biosynthesis. (Received October 11, 1983; Accepted February 24, 1984)     

Siblings with renal tubular acidosis and nerve deafness. The first family in Japan

Summary Two siblings with renal tubular acidosis (RTA) and nerve deafness were examined. It was found by ammonium chloride and bicarbonate loading tests that the 6-year-old brother had a hybrid type of RTA and his 4-year-old sister, a distal type of RTA. Enzyme activity and amount of enzyme protein of carbonic anhydrase isoenzyme I and II in red blood cells, measured using an immunoadsorbent method, were normal in both cases. Although this indicated that the RTAs of these patients are not generated by the carbonic anhydrase deficiency, an investigation with renal tissue is necessary to arrive at a final conclusion.