The steroidal glycoalkaloid α-tomatine

The literature relating to chemical, biochemical and biological aspects of the steroidal glycoalkaloid, α-tomatine, is reviewed. The alkaloid, which can be used as a starting compound for the synthesis of steroidal hormones, is toxic to a wide range of living organisms. The significance of tomatine to plants which elaborate it is discussed and some possible uses of the compound are mentioned.     

Molecular Mechanisms of Translation Initiation in Mammals Studied by in vitroReconstruction of Initiation Complexes

Papers on the mechanisms of translation initiation in mammals studied by reconstruction of initiation complexes from individual components are reviewed. The author points to the constraints of this approach and to the pitfalls ignoring which one might come to erroneous conclusions and even artifacts. In addition, some methods employed in the field as well as some technical problems are discussed in the paper, together with the means of obviating them. The review could be a guidebook for newcomers into this quite labor-consuming field.     

Complementarity of regulation for the two glutamine synthetases from Bacillus caldolyticus, an extreme thermophile

Chromatophores from Rhodopseudomonas capsulata cells grown semiaerobically in the dark oxidize NADH, succinate, and dichlorophenolindophenol. In the presence of N₃^? these activities are inhibited, but light induces oxidation of dichlorophenolindophenol with O₂ as a terminal electron acceptor. Cyanide also inhibits electron transport but much higher concentrations are required to inhibit the photooxidation than the dark oxidation. The photooxidation was studied in a mutant strain of Rhodopseudomonas capsulata (YIV) which cannot grow anaerobically in the light, but similarly to the wild type, grows in the presence of oxygen. Chromatophores from YIV mutant catalyze photophosphorylation and dark oxidation activities with the same properties as those of the wild type. However, the rate of photooxidation in the mutant is only one-third that of the wild type. Based on the differential inhibitor sensitivity and on the mutation it is suggested that the photooxidase is different from the two respiratory oxidases and that this photooxidation activity might be essential for growth of the cells under anaerobic conditions in the light.     

Nearest Neighbor Classification Rule for Mixtures of Discrete and Continuous Random Variables

In this paper very simple nonparametric classification rule for mixtures of discrete and continuous random variables is described. It is based on the method of nearest neighbor proposed by Cover and Hart (1967). The bounds on the limit of the nearest neighbor rule risks are given. Both lower and upper bound depend on the Bayes risk and the loss function. Finally the method is compared with other existing methods on some practical data set.     

Photosynthesis,Transpiration, and Water Use Efficiency of Vegetative and Reproductive Shoots of Grassland Species from North-Eastern China

The differences in net photosynthetic rate (P _N), transpiration rate (E), and water use efficiency (WUE) between the vegetative and reproductive shoots of three native grass species from the grassland of northeastern China [grey-green and yellow green populations of Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel., Puccinellia tenuiflora (Griseb) Scrib & Merr, Puccinellia chinampoensis Ohwi] were compared. The two type shoots experienced similar habitats, but differed in leaf life-span and leaf area. The leaf P _N and WUE for the vegetative shoots were significantly higher than those for the reproductive shoots in the grasses, while their E were remarked lower in the dry season. Relative lower leaf P _N and WUE for the reproductive shoots of grassland grasses may explain the facts of lower seed production and the subordinate role of seed in the grassland renewal in north-eastern China.     

Sequence heterogeneity and anomalous electrophoretic mobility of kinetoplast minicircle DNA from Leishmania tarentolae

Several unit-length minicircles from the kinetoplast DNA of Leishmania tarentolae were cloned into pBR322 and into M13 phage vectors. The complete nucleotide sequences of three different partially homologous minicircles were obtained. The molecules contained a region of approx. 80% sequence homology extending for 160–270 bp and a region unique to each minicircle. A 14-mer was found to be conserved in all kinetoplast minicircle sequences reported to date. The frequency distributions of various minicircle sequence classes in L. tarentolae were obtained by quantitative gel electrophoresis and by examination of the “T ladder” patterns of minicircles randomly cloned into M13 at several sites. By these methods we could assign approx. 50% of the total minicircle DNA into a minimum of five sequence classes. A sequence-dependent polyacrylamide gel migration abnormality was observed with several minicircle fragments both cloned and uncloned. The abnormality was dependent on the presence of a portion of the conserved region of the minicircle.     

The Mechanism of Supercoiled DNA Recognition by Eukaryotic Type I Topoisomerases: II. A Comparison of the Enzyme Interaction with Specific and Nonspecific Oligonucleotides

Data on the interaction of DNA type I topoisomerases from the murine and human placenta cells with specific and nonspecific oligonucleotides of various structures and lengths are summarized. The relative contributions of various contacts between the enzymes and DNA that have previously been detected by X-ray analysis to the total affinity of the topoisomerases for DNA substrates are estimated. Factors that determine the differences in the enzyme interactions with specific and nonspecific single- and double-stranded DNAs are revealed. The results of the X-ray analysis of human DNA topoisomerase I are interpreted taking into account data on the comprehensive thermodynamic and kinetic analysis of the enzyme interaction with the specific and nonspecific DNAs.