A dosage-sensitive modifier of retrotransposon-induced alleles of the Drosophila white locus.

The apricot allele of the white locus results from the insertion of the retrotransposon copia. Mutations in a newly discovered locus, the Darkener-of-apricot (Doa), suppress wa and some of its revertants. Of 44 other white alleles tested, only wsp55 is affected by Doa, although, in contrast, it is enhanced by Doa mutations. The Doa locus modulates wa and wsp55 expression as a function of its own dosage. Mutations in Doa are dominant suppressors or enhancers and are recessive lethals. Rare Doa mutant homozygotes escaping lethality demonstrate extreme phenotypic suppression of wa and enhancement of wsp55. RNA from wa is substantially wild-type in structure in escapers, although reduced in quantity.     

Misdivision analysis of centromere structure in maize.

The size and organization of a representative plant centromere from the supernumerary B chromosome were determined using a repeated sequence specific to the centric region. Several derivatives of the B chromosome that suffered from misdivision of the centromere were analyzed for the content and organization of their B repeat. In all these derivatives, major rearrangements were detected. Some misdivisions produced a significant reduction in size of the B-specific cluster. These results demonstrate that the B repeat is part of the functional centromere, that it is spread throughout its length, and that plant centromeres are composed of repeat units that can be significantly changed in copy number without a change in function.     

A Trans-Acting Regulatory Gene That Inversely Affects the Expression of the White, Brown and Scarlet Loci in Drosophila

A trans-acting regulatory gene, Inr-a, that alters the level of expression of the white eye color locus as an inverse function of the number of its functional copies is described. Several independent lines of evidence demonstrate that this regulatory gene interacts with white via the promoter sequences. Among these are the observations that the inverse regulatory effect is conferred to the Adh gene when fused to the white promoter and that cis-regulatory mutants of white fail to respond. The phenotypic response to Inr-a is found in all tissues in which white is expressed, and mutants of the regulator exhibit a recessive lethality during larval periods. Increased white messenger RNA levels in pupal stages are found in Inr-a/+ individuals versus +/+ and a coordinate response is observed for mRNA levels from the brown and scarlet loci. All are structurally related and participate in pigment deposition. These experiments demonstrate that a single regulatory gene can exert an inverse effect on a target structural locus, a situation postulated from segmental aneuploid studies of gene expression and dosage compensation.     

Recombination in the B Chromosome of Maize to Produce a-B-a Chromosomes

The translocations between the supernumerary B chromosomes and the normal A chromosomes of maize provide a valuable tool for gene localizations, dosage studies and characterization of mutants as null, leaky or gain-of-function. A procedure is described, that relies on recombination in the B chromosome, for marking each of the various B-A translocations with a single dominant marker that will allow dosage classifications of individuals at the mature kernel stage. This marker is R-scm3, which conditions anthocyanin pigment in the aleurone of the endosperm and the scutellum of the embryo. A test for recombination in the B chromosome was conducted by crossing together two translocations, that were broken on opposite sides of the B centromere, and in different A chromosome arms, namely TB-1La and TB-10L18. An example was recovered that linked genetic markers on 1L and 10L to the B centromere. Cytological examination at pachytene of meiosis confirmed the new chromosomal linkage. The use of this procedure to produce a comprehensive set of uniformly marked B-A translocations is discussed.     

The cytogenetic localization of the alcohol dehydrogenase-1 locus in maize

The alcohol dehydrogenase-1 (Adh) locus in maize has been positioned relative to thirteen reciprocal translocations that have breakpoints in the long arm of chromosome 1(1L). The methods of Gopinath and Burnham (1956) to produce interstitial segmental trisomy with overlapping translocations and of Rakha and Robertson (1970) to produce compound B-A translocations were coupled with the co-dominant nature of the ADH isozymes to allow the cytological placement. The results of several crosses are consistent with Adh being in the region of 0.80-0.90 of 1L.--The duplication that results from the overlap of translocations 1-3(5267) and 1-3(5242) and that includes Adh was studied with respect to meiotic segregation and pollen transmission. When heterozygous with normal chromosomes, a low level of recombination within the duplicated regions is detectable and the duplication and normals are recovered with equal frequencies through the female. In the pollen, the hyperploid grains cannot compete equally with the euploids in achieving fertilization.--The use of co-dominant heteromultimeric isozymes as genetic markers for the development of a series of interstitial segmental trisomics in maize is discussed.     

Quantitatively Increased Somatic Transposition of Transposable Elements in Drosophila Strains Compromised for RNAi

In Drosophila melanogaster, small RNAs homologous to transposable elements (TEs) are of two types: piRNA (piwi-interacting RNA) with size 23-29nt and siRNA (small interfering RNA) with size 19-22nt. The siRNA pathway is suggested to silence TE activities in somatic tissues based on TE expression profiles, but direct evidence of transposition is lacking. Here we developed an efficient FISH (fluorescence in Situ hybridization) based method for polytene chromosomes from larval salivary glands to reveal new TE insertions. Analysis of the LTR-retrotransposon 297 and the non-LTR retroposon DOC shows that in the argonaut 2 (Ago2) and Dicer 2 (Dcr2) mutant strains, new transposition events are much more frequent than in heterozygous strains or wild type strains. The data demonstrate that the siRNA pathway represses TE transposition in somatic cells. Nevertheless, we found that loss of one functional copy of Ago2 or Dcr2 increases somatic transpositions of the elements at a lower level depending on the genetic background, suggesting a quantitative role for RNAi core components on mutation frequency.     

Single-gene detection and karyotyping using small-target fluorescence in situ hybridization on maize somatic chromosomes

Combined with a system for identifying each of the chromosomes in a genome, visualizing the location of individual genetic loci by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) would aid in assembling physical and genetic maps. Previously, large genomic clones have been successfully used as FISH probes onto somatic chromosomes but this approach is complicated in species with abundant repetitive elements. In this study, repeat-free portions of sequences that were anchored to particular chromosomes including genes, gene clusters, large cDNAs, and portions of BACs obtained from public databases were used to label the corresponding physical location using FISH. A collection of probes that includes at least one marker on each chromosome in the maize complement was assembled, allowing a small-target karyotyping system to be developed. This set provides the foundation onto which additional loci could be added to strengthen further the ability to perform chromosomal identification in maize and its relatives. The probes were demonstrated to produce signals in several wild relatives of maize, including Zea luxurians, Z. diploperennis, and Tripsacum dactyloides.     

Cytokine profile of autologous conditioned serum for treatment of osteoarthritis, <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis>effects on cartilage metabolism and intra-articular levels after injection

Introduction  

Intraarticular administration of autologous conditioned serum (ACS) recently demonstrated some clinical effectiveness in treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). The current study aims to evaluate the in vitro effects of ACS on cartilage proteoglycan (PG) metabolism, its composition and the effects on synovial fluid (SF) cytokine levels following intraarticular ACS administration.