T cell activation by coxsackievirus B4 antigens in type 1 diabetes mellitus: evidence for selective TCR Vbeta usage without superantigenic activity.

Numerous clinical and epidemiological studies link enteroviruses such as the Coxsackie virus group with the autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). In addition, there are reports that patients with type 1 DM are characterized by skewing of TCR Vbeta chain selection among peripheral blood and intraislet T lymphocytes. To examine these issues, we analyzed TCR Vbeta chain-specific up-regulation of the early T cell activation marker, CD69, on CD4 T cells after incubation with Coxsackievirus B4 (CVB4) Ags. CD4 T cells bearing the Vbeta chains 2, 7, and 8 were the most frequently activated by CVB4. Up-regulation of CD69 by different TCR families was significantly more frequent in new onset type 1 DM patients (p = 0.04), 100% of whom (n = 8) showed activation of CD4 T cells bearing Vbeta8, compared with 50% of control subjects (n = 8; p = 0.04). T cell proliferation after incubation with CVB4 Ags required live, nonfixed APCs, suggesting that the selective expansion of CD4 T cells with particular Vbeta chains resulted from conventional antigen processing and presentation rather than superantigen activity. Heteroduplex analysis of TCR Vbeta chain usage after CVB4 stimulation indicated a relatively polyclonal, rather than oligo- or monoclonal response to viral Ags. These results provide evidence that new-onset patients with type 1 DM and healthy controls are primed against CVB4, and that CD4 T cell responses to the virus have a selective TCR Vbeta chain usage which is driven by viral Ags rather than a superantigen.     

Direct binding of a myasthenia gravis related epitope to MHC class II molecules on living murine antigen-presenting cells.

MHC gene products present antigenic epitopes to the antigen receptor on T cells. Nevertheless, direct binding of such epitopes to MHC class II proteins on normal living antigen-presenting cells (APCs) has not yet been demonstrated. We have previously shown a significant difference in the ability of T cells of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients to proliferate in response to the synthetic peptide p195-212 of the human acetylcholine receptor (AChR) alpha-subunit in comparison to healthy controls. The observed proliferative responses correlated significantly with HLA-DR5. Moreover, lymph node cells of various mouse strains that were primed with the T cell epitope, p195-212, were found to proliferate to different extents. To investigate these observations further, we designed an assay for direct binding of p195-212 to MHC class II proteins on the surface of freshly prepared splenic adherent cells. Binding of a biotinylated p195-212 was monitored using phycoerythrin-avidin by flow cytometry. Fifteen to sixty per cent of the cells were labeled following incubation with the biotinylated peptide. Binding was observed only to splenic adherent cells derived from mouse strains of which T cells were capable of proliferating in response to p195-212. The binding specificity, in terms of epitope structure and its site of interaction on the cells, was shown by its inhibition with an excess of the unlabeled peptide or with the relevant monoclonal anti-I-A antibodies. These results constitute the first direct evidence for the specific binding of a T cell epitope to live APC.     

毛枝南蛇藤根皮中南蛇藤素的分离鉴定及含量测定

从卫矛科南蛇藤属植物毛枝南蛇藤(Celastrus hookeri Prain)根皮中首次分离出一个红色立方体形结晶,经紫外、红外、高分辨质谱和~(13)C核磁共振谱分析,并与有关文献数据对照,确认是南蛇藤素。作者用薄层扫描和高效液相两种方法初步测定了毛枝南蛇藤根皮和根的木栓化表皮的南蛇藤素含量,结果表明南蛇藤素主要集中在根的木栓化表皮,含量在12%以上,而在整个根皮中的含量大约为1%。     

Detecting non-neutral heterogeneity across a region of DNA sequence in the ratio of polymorphism to divergence

Natural selection, in the form of balancing selection or selective sweeps, can result in a decoupling of the amounts of molecular polymorphism and divergence. Thus natural selection can cause some areas of DNA sequence to have greater silent polymorphism, relative to divergence between species, than other areas. It would be useful to have a statistical test for heterogeneity in the polymorphism to divergence ratio across a region of DNA sequence, one that could identify heterogeneity greater than that expected from the neutral processes of mutation, drift, and recombination. The only currently available test requires that a region be arbitrarily divided into sections that are compared with each other, and the subjectivity of this division could be problematic. Here a test is proposed in which runs of polymorphic and fixed sites are counted, where a "run" is a set of one or more sites of one type preceded and followed by the other type. The number of runs is smaller than otherwise expected if polymorphisms are clumped together. By simulating neutral evolution and comparing the observed number of runs to the simulations, a statistical test is possible which does not require any a priori decisions about subdivision.      

Yeast mutants deficient in heme biosynthesis and a heme mutant additionally blocked in cyclization of 2,3-oxidosqualene.

Mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were isolated which were blocked in heme biosynthesis and required heme for growth on a nonfermentable carbon source. They were rho+, and grew fermentatively on ergosterol or cholesterol and Tween 80, as a source of oleic acid. Cells grown on ergosterol and Tween 80 lacked cytochromes and catalase which were restored by growth on heme. The mutants comprised five nonoverlapping complementation groups. Tetrad analysis showed that the pleiotropic properties of each of the mutants resulted from a single mutation in one of five unlinked loci (hem1 to hem5) affecting heme biosynthesis. Biochemical studies confirmed that each mutation resulted in loss of a single enzyme activity. hem1 mutants grew on delta-aminolevulinate and lacked delta-aminolevulinate synthase activity, hem2 mutants lacked delta-aminolevulinate dehydratase, and hem3 mutants uroporphyrin I synthase. Mutants in hem1, hem2, and hem3 had an additional requirement for methionine on synthetic medium supplemented with either heme or ergosterol and Tween 80, owing to a lack of sulfite reductase which contains siroheme, a modified uroporphyrin III. Since hem4 and hem5 mutants have sulfite reductase activity under all growth conditions, they are blocked after uroporphyrin III. Cell extracts of a hem4 mutant incubated with delta-aminolevulinate accumulated coproporphyrin III suggesting a block in coproporphyrinogenase, the enzyme which converts coproporphyrinogen III to protoporphyrinogen. Cells and extracts of a hem5 mutant accumulated protoporphyrin IX. Since it was the only mutant that grew on heme but not on protoporphyrin IX, a block in ferrochelatase was suggested for this strain. Mutant strains grown on heme had the sterol composition of wild type cells, whereas without heme only squalene, small amounts of lanosterol, and added sterol was observed. A heme product therefore participates in the transformation of lanosterol to ergosterol. A hem3 mutant was isolated which was also blocked between 2,3-oxidosqualene and lanosterol (erg12). When grown on lanosterol or ergosterol (with Tween 80) it accumulated a compound which was identified as 2,3-oxidosqualene by comparison with the synthetic compound in thin layer and gas-liquid chromatography, and by proton magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy. Supplementation with heme did not remove the requirement for sterol, but it enabled the mutant to convert lanosterol to ergosterol.     

低温胁迫下凤眼莲叶片的适应——脱落酸和可溶性蛋白质含量升高

本文报道低温胁迫下风眼莲叶片脱落酸(ABA)、可溶性蛋白质和水势的测定结果。低温胁迫时脱落酸和可溶性蛋白质含量远高于对照,(前者含量最高可达对照的4倍,后者可达到对照的2.75倍),而且脱落酸和蛋白质含量随温度降低而升高。蛋白质的生物合成抑制剂亚胺环己酮证明,可溶性蛋白质含量升高,原因是有部分是新合成的。在各种低温处理下获得了几乎相同于对照的叶片水势。我们推测:低温胁迫下,脱落酸水平的相应变化不是由于低温诱导水分胁迫所致,而是低温胁迫本身诱导。     

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic data of the major albumin from Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC

The major seed albumin from Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC, winged bean albumin 1, has been crystallized from ethanol as rhombic needles in a form suitable for high resolution x-ray crystallographic studies. The space group is I4(1)22 with cell parameters a = b = 95.6 A, and c = 86.0 A. Amino acid sequence homology between winged bean albumin 1 and legume 7 S globulins suggests that the former may be related to a structural domain of the 7 S globulins.