Degeneracy of antibody specificity

Evidence was obtained, by direct binding assays (radioimmunoassays) and by inhibition of binding assays, that after immunization some of the antibody molecules produced are degenerate in that they bind not only the immunizing antigen, but also unrelated ligands. It can be concluded that the exquisite specificity of the immune response is not necessarily a property of any given antibody molecule but is, at least to some extent, due to the summation of specificities held in common by the population of antibody molecules produced during the response.     

Circadian clock adjustment to plant iron status depends on chloroplast and phytochrome function

Plant chloroplasts are not only the main cellular location for storage of elemental iron (Fe), but also the main site for Fe, which is incorporated into chlorophyll, haem and the photosynthetic machinery. How plants measure internal Fe levels is unknown. We describe here a new Fe‐dependent response, a change in the period of the circadian clock. In Arabidopsis, the period lengthens when Fe becomes limiting, and gradually shortens as external Fe levels increase. Etiolated seedlings or light‐grown plants treated with plastid translation inhibitors do not respond to changes in Fe supply, pointing to developed chloroplasts as central hubs for circadian Fe sensing. Phytochrome‐deficient mutants maintain a short period even under Fe deficiency, stressing the role of early light signalling in coupling the clock to Fe responses. Further mutant and pharmacological analyses suggest that known players in plastid‐to‐nucleus signalling do not directly participate in Fe sensing. We propose that the sensor governing circadian Fe responses defines a new retrograde pathway that involves a plastid‐encoded protein that depends on phytochromes and the functional state of chloroplasts.     

Transport of sugars across the plasma membrane of beetroot protoplasts

Protoplasts isolated from beetroot tissue took up glucose preferentially whereas sucrose was transported more slowly. The ¹⁴C-label from [¹⁴C]glucose and [¹⁴C]sucrose taken up by the cells could be detected rapidly in phosphate esters and, after feeding of [¹⁴C]glucose was found also in sucrose. The temperature-dependent uptake process (activation energy E_A about 50 kJ · mol^–1) seems to be carrier mediated as indicated by its substrate saturation and, for glucose, by competition experiments which revealed positions C₁, C₅ and C₆ of the D-glucose molecule as important for effective uptake. The apparent K_m(20° C) for glucose (3-O-methylglucose) was about 1 mM whereas for sucrose a significantly lower apparent affinity was determined (K_m about 10 mM). When higher concentrations of glucose (5 mM) or sucrose (20 mM) were administered, the uptake process followed first-order kinetics. Carrier-mediated transport was inhibited by N,N-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, Na-orthovanadate, p–chloromercuribenzenesulfonic acid, and by uncouplers and ionophores. The uptake system exhibited a distinct pH optimum at pH 5.0. The results indicate that generation of a proton gradient is a prerequisite for sugar uptake across the plasma membrane. Protoplasts from the bundle regions in the hypocotyl take up glucose at higher rates than those derived from bundle-free regions. The results favour the idea that apoplastic transport of assimilates en route of unloading might be restricted to distinct areas within the storage organ (i.e. the bundle region) whereas distribution in the storage parenchyma is symplastic.Abbreviations CCCP Carbonylcyanide m–chlorophenylhydrazone - DCCD N,N-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide - DOG deoxyglucose - Mes 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid - 3-OMG 3-O-methylglucose - PCMBS p–chloromercuribenzenesulfonic acid - SDS Sodium dodecyl sulfate - Tris 2-amino-2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-propanediol     

5-aza-C-induced changes in the time of replication of the X chromosomes of Microtus agrestis are followed by non-random reversion to a late pattern of replication

Treatment with 5-azacytidine (5-aza-C) causes an advance in the time of replication and enhances the DNase-I sensitivity of the inactive X chromosome in Gerbillus gerbillus fibroblasts. We found that these changes were not stably inherited and upon removal of the drug the cells reverted to the original state of one active and one inactive X chromosome. In order to determine whether this reversion was random, we used a cell line of female Microtus agrestis fibroblasts in which the two X chromosomes are morphologically distinguishable. In this work we show that the reversion to a late pattern of replication is not random, and the originally late replicating X chromosome is preferentially reinactivated, suggesting an imprinting-like marking of one or both X chromosomes. The changes in the replication pattern of the X chromosome were associated with changes in total DNA methylation. Double treatment of cells with 5-aza-C did not alter this pattern of euchromatin activation and reinactivation. A dramatic advance in the time of replication of the entire X linked constitutive heterochromatin (XCH) region was however, observed in the doubly treated cells. This change in the replication timing of the XCH occurred in both X chromosomes and was independent of the changes observed in the euchromatic region. These observations suggest the existence of at least two independent regulatory sites which control the timing of replication of two large chromosomal regions.Deceased on 2 Jan. 1987     

Pathways of adenine nucleotide catabolism in primary rat muscle cultures

The pathways of AMP degradation and the metabolic fate of adenosine were studied in cultured myotubes under physiological conditions and during artificially induced enhanced degradation of ATP. The metabolic pathways were gauged by tracing the flow of radioactivity from ATP, prelabelled by incubation of the cultures with [14C]adenine, into the various purine derivatives. The fractional flow from AMP to inosine through adenosine was estimated by the use of the adenosine deaminase (EC 3.5.4.4) inhibitors, coformycin and 2'-deoxycoformycin. The activities of the enzymes involved with AMP and adenosine metabolism were determined in cell extracts. The results demonstrate that under physiological conditions, there is a small but significant flow of label from ATP to diffusible bases and nucleosides, most of which are effluxed to the incubation medium. This catabolic flow is mediated almost exclusively by the activity of AMP deaminase (EC 3.5.4.6), rather than by AMP 5'-nucleotidase (EC 3.1.3.5), reflecting the markedly higher Vmax/Km ratio for the deaminase. Enhancement of ATP degradation by inhibition of glycolysis or by combined inhibition of glycolysis and of electron transport resulted in a markedly greater flux of label from adenine nucleotides to nucleosides and bases, but did not alter significantly the ratio between AMP deamination and AMP dephosphorylation, which remained around 19:1. Combined inhibition of glycolysis and of electron transport resulted, in addition, in accumulation of label in IMP, reaching about 20% of total AMP degraded. In the intact myotubes at low adenosine concentration, the anabolic activity of adenosine kinase was at least 4.9-fold the catabolic activity of adenosine deaminase, in accord with the markedly higher Vmax/Km ratio of the kinase for adenosine. The results indicate the operation in the myotube cultures, under various rates of ATP degradation, of the AMP to IMP limb of the purine nucleotide cycle. On the other hand, the formation of purine bases and nucleosides, representing the majority of degraded ATP, indicates inefficient activity of the IMP to AMP limb of the cycle, as well as inefficient salvage of hypoxanthine under these conditions.     

Identification of a HeLa mRNA fraction which can correct the DNA-repair defect in Fanconi anaemia fibroblasts

Injection of Fanconi anaemia (complementation group A) fibroblasts with HeLa mRNA is shown to correct their abnormal response to a psoralen cross-linking challenge, namely permanent repression of DNA synthesis. Injection of gradient-fractionated mRNA led to identification of a single fraction, containing mRNA of approximately 650 bases, which is responsible for this effect. This finding suggests that Fanconi anaemia (group A) cells are deficient in a small protein, up to 20 kDa in size, which is involved in the cellular response to DNA interstrand cross-links.     

Fanconi's anaemia: correlation of genetic complementation group with psoralen/UVA response

Summary The correlation found by Moustacchi (1987) between cellular response to a crosslinking challenge and genetic heterogeneity in Fanconi's anaemia is confirmed for an earlier set of complementation groups (Zakrzewski and Sperling 1980). This allows the matching of the two independently established complementation groupings and better characterization of their DNA repair-related biochemical properties.