Degradation of methylmercury by selenium

When methylmercury was incubated in the presence of selenite and reduced glutathione (GSH), the mercury which was extracted into benzene under acidic condition decreased gradually with the elapse of time. This decrease was due to the cleavage of mercury-carbon bond of methylmercury. The reaction did not proceed when selenite or GSH was singly added to the reaction mixture. L-Cysteine, 2-mercaptoethanol and sodium sulfide in place of GSH also were effective for decomposition of methylmercury in combination with selenite, but oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and L-cystine were not. This suggests that reduction of selenite is needed for the degradation of methylmercury. Thus, the effect of reduced metabolites of selenite produced by GSH was investigated. Glutathione selenotrisulfide (GSSeSG) requierd GSH for the degradation of methylmercury, whereas H₂Se possessed a strong activity even in the absence of GSH. This may indicate that H₂Se is involved directly in the conversion of methylmercury to inorganic mercury. This phenomenon found in $\text{in vitro}$ experiments is discussed in relation to the biotransformation of methylmercury.     

The age distribution of neutralizing antibodies against varicella-zoster virus in healthy individuals

A seroepidemiological survey of varicella was made in the Nagoya area by the neutralization (NT) test. Of 1,473 recorded cases of varicella, 81.4% were under 6 years old and 9.6% were under one year old; of the 168 recorded cases under one year old, about 30% were under 5 months old. Examination of 11 pairs of mother and cord sera and 13 pairs of mother and infant sera showed that transfer of NT antibody was in general good, even in babies that were small for their age or smnall at birth after 28 weeks gestation. The transferred maternal antibody decreased rapidly, becoming undetectable in babies of 4 months old. Then with increase in age the percentgage of seropositive children gradually increased, being 53.3% at 4 to 5 years old, and 100% in those of over 9 years old, with a temporary decrease in young adults in their twenties.     

Phosphorylation of the AfsR product, a global regulatory protein for secondary-metabolite formation in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2).

The AfsR protein is essential for the biosynthesis at the wild-type level of A-factor, actinorhodin, and undecylprodigiosin in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and Streptomyces lividans. Because overexpression of the afsR gene caused some deleterious effect on these strains, a multicopy plasmid carrying the whole afsR gene was introduced into Streptomyces griseus, from which a crude cell lysate was prepared as a protein source. The AfsR protein was purified to homogeneity from the cytoplasmic fraction through several steps of chromatography, including affinity column chromatography with ATP-agarose and use of anti-AfsR antibody for its detection. The molecular weight of AfsR was estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and by gel filtration to be 105,300, which is in good agreement with that deduced from the nucleotide sequence of afsR. The purified AfsR protein was found to be phosphorylated through the transfer of the gamma-phosphate group of ATP in the presence of the cell extracts of S. coelicolor A3(2) and S. lividans. This phosphorylation proceeded very rapidly, and no competition was observed with CTP, GTP, UTP, or cyclic AMP. In the cell extract of S. griseus, no activity phosphorylating the AfsR protein was detected, suggesting that this activity is not generally present in Streptomyces spp. but is specific to certain species. It is conceivable that the extent of phosphorylation of the AfsR protein modulates its regulatory activity which, in turn, regulates expression of some target gene(s) involved in the secondary-metabolite formation in S. coelicolor A3(2).     

Gray and Red Fragments of the Egg of the Ascidian Ciona savignyi: Preferential Development of Muscle Cells from Gray Fragments

The egg of the ascidian Ciona savignyi is pinkish red with brownish myoplasm that contains the putative determinants responsible for differentiation of muscle cells. When dechorionated unfertilized eggs were centrifuged at moderate speed, eggs were divided into centripetal, small gray fragments and centrifugal, large red fragments. The former contained the female pronucleus and clear cytoplasm, while most of the latter was filled with yolk granules. An antibody raised against the myoplasm of C. intestinalis eggs extensively stained the cortical region of gray fragments, while the antibody stained only small regions of the red fragments. After insemination, both fragments cleaved and gave rise to partial embryos. When development of muscle and epidermal cells in the partial embryos was examined with specific antibodies, muscle development was conspicuous in gray partial embryos, while epidermal differentiation was extensive in red partial embryos. Furthermore, when expression of markers of differentiation was examined in cleavage-arrested gray and red fragments, the number of arrested gray fragments exhibiting the muscle marker was about three-fold greater than in controls. These results suggest that putative muscle determinants are concentrated into gray fragments.     

Real-Time Monitoring of Slow-Wave Sleep by Electroencephalogram Variance

Based on statistical variance as an index of electroencephalogram (EEG) parameters, we monitored slow-wave sleep in both humans and rats in real time and on-line with a widely used personal computer. This EEG variance method may be a useful tool to carry out biological rhythm research, including sleep studies.     

Transfer of the phosphatidyl moiety of phosphatidylglycerol to phosphatidylethanolamine in Escherichia coli

Phosphatidylglycerol was pulse-labeled with radioactive lipid precursors in a serine auxotroph of Escherichia coli. Most of the radioactivity of phosphatidylglycerol labeled in a serine-depleted medium was transferred to phosphatidylethanolamine during a chase in the presence of L-serine, but not in its absence. Metabolism of fatty acyl moieties labeled with [1-14C]acetate, acylated glycerol moieties labeled with [2-3H]glycerol, and phosphate moieties labeled with 32Pi, followed by a chase in the presence of cerulenin, showed that the intact phosphatidyl moiety of phosphatidylglycerol was transferred to phosphatidylethanolamine. The composition of phosphatidylethanolamine molecular species was unaltered and not perturbed by the transfer of the phosphatidyl moiety of phosphatidylglycerol. The increase of phosphatidylethanolamine with a concomitant decrease of phosphatidylglycerol was not coupled with the postulated turnover of phosphatidylglycerol to membrane-derived oligosaccharides and lipoprotein. It is suggested that phosphatidylglycerol is capable of providing its phosphatidyl moiety for the production of phosphatidylethanolamine in response to the relief of serine limitation by addition of L-serine.     

Dynamic states of phospholipids in Escherichia coli B membrane. Electron spin resonance studies with biosynthetically generated phospholipid spin labels

Mobility of phospholipid hydrocarbons in the Escherichia coli B membrane fractions was studied by labeling phosphatidylethanolamine or phosphatidylglycerol in situ by biosynthetic incorporation of the spin label. For this purpose, CDP-diacylglycerol spin label was synthesized from phosphatidic acid spin label and cytidine 5'-phosphoromorpholidate and purified by thin-layer chromatography. DCP-diacylglycerol spin label was then incorporated into phospholipids biosynthetically. ESR spectra of these E. coli B membrane fractions showed that phosphatidylglycerol tended to interact with membrane proteins through the mediation of Mg2+, whereas phosphatidylethanolamine had less of this tendency and was more involved in the formation of the bulk of the bilayer continuum of the membrane. These conclusions were also supported by labeling membranes with exogenous spin-labeled phospholipids, although there was some indication that exogenous phospholipids were incorporated into sites different from the sites of incorporation of phospholipids newly synthesized in situ.     

Purification and positional specificity of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase from Escherichia coli membranes.

SN-Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase was solubilized from membranes of Escherichia coli B and K-12 and purified on an affinity column of Sepharose 4B coupled with 6-phosphogluconic acid. Phosphatidylglycerol was required for activation and stabilization of the purified enzyme. The acyl residues were exclusively transferred to the position 1 of sn-glycerol 3-phosphate by the enzyme, regardless of whether the acyl-CoA was saturated or unsaturated.     

Studies on cephalopod rhodopsin: photoisomerization of the chromophore.

Photoisomerization of the chromophore of squid rhodopsin is dependent upon the irradiation temperature. Above 0 degrees C, only 11-cis in equilibrium all-trans reaction proceeds and the all-trans leads to 9-cis reaction is limited to extremely low efficiency. At liquid nitrogen temperature, 11 cis in equilibrium all-trans in equilibrium 9-cis reaction takes place. At intermediary low temperatures (-80 degrees C to -15 degrees C) another isomer of retinal may be produced by the irradiation, which forms a pigment having an absorbance maximum at 465 nm (P-465). The formation of P-465 decreases remarkably in the narrow temperature range from -30 degrees C to 0 degrees C where mesorhodopsin converts to metarhodopsin. Medsorhodopsin is quite different from metarhodopsin in the photoisomerization of the chromophore because P-465 is produced from the former but not from the latter. No P-465 is produced both at liquid nitrogen temperature and above 0 degrees C. P-465 is more labile than any of the other photoproducts so far known, that is isorhodopsin, alkaline and acid metarhodopsins. P-465 is converted to metarhodopsin by irradiation.