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.     

Reactivity and binding of benzo(a)pyrene diol epoxide to poly(dG-dC).(dG-dC) and poly(dG-m5dC).(dG-m5dC) in the B and Z forms

The physical and covalent binding of the carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-oxide (BaPDE) to poly(dG-dC).(dG-dC) and poly(dG-m5dC).(dG-m5dC) in the B and Z forms were studied utilizing absorbance, fluorescence and linear dichroism techniques. In the case of poly(dG-dC).(dG-dC) the decrease in the covalent binding of BaPDE with increasing NaCl concentration (0.1-4 M) as the B form is transformed to the Z form is attributed to the effects of high ionic strengths on the reactivity and physical binding of BaPDE to the polynucleotides; these effects tend to obscure differences in reactivities with the B and Z forms of the nucleic acids. In the case of poly(dG-m5dC).(dG-m5dC) the B-to-Z transition is induced at low ionic strength (2 mM NaCl + 10 microM Co(NH3)6Cl3) and the covalent binding is found to be 2-3-times lower to the Z form than to the B form. Physical binding of BaPDE by intercalation, which precedes the covalent binding reaction, is significantly lower in the Z form than in the B form, thus accounting, in part, for the lower covalent binding. The linear dichroism characteristics of BaPDE covalently bound to the Z and B forms of poly(dG-m5dC).(dG-m5dC) are consistent with nonintercalative, probably external conformations of the aromatic pyrenyl residues.     

Upregulation of miR-183 represses neuropathic pain through inhibiton of MAP3K4 in CCI rat models

Many studies have verified that microRNAs contribute a lot to neuropathic pain progression. Furthermore, nerve-related inflammatory cytokines play vital roles in neuropathic pain progression. miR-183 has been identified to have a common relationship with multiple pathological diseases. However, the potential effects of miR-183 in the process of neuropathic pain remain undetermined. Therefore, we performed the current study with the purpose of finding the functions of miR-183 in neuropathic pain progression using a chronic sciatic nerve injury (CCI) rat model. We demonstrated that miR-183 expression levels were evidently reduced in CCI rats in contrast with the control group. Overexpression of miR-183 produced significant relief of mechanical hyperalgesia, as well as thermal hyperalgesia in CCI rats. Furthermore, neuropathic pain-correlated inflammatory cytokine expression levels containing interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) were obviously inhibited by upregulation of miR-183. Meanwhile, dual-luciferase reporter assays showed MAP3K4 was a direct downstream gene of miR-183. The expression levels of MAP3K4 were modulated by the increased miR-183 negatively, which lead to the downregulation of IL-6, IL-1β, and COX-2, and then reduced neuropathic pain progression, respectively. Overall, our study pointed out that miR-183 was a part of the negative regulator which could relieve neuropathic pain by targeting MAP3K4. Thus it may provide a new clinical treatment for neuropathic pain patients clinical therapy.     

Vascular endothelial cells: Targets for studying the activity of hair follicle cell-produced VEGF

Fetal bovine aortic endothelial cells (FBAEC) were exposed to purified fractions of conditioned medium from cultures of hair dermal papilla cells (DPC) to determine the existence of any vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-like paracrine activity of the latter. Such fractions were tested for stimulation of growth and migration of cultured FBAEC. In addition, VEGF secretion by DPC was measured by radioassay of VEGF receptors using FBAEC as target cells. The results showed that stimulation of FBAEC proliferation and migration following exposure to purified conditioned medium was dose-dependent. Radioreceptor assays of recombinant VEGF and purified DPC-conditioned medium showed competitive VEGF binding in FBAEC.Abbreviations CM conditioned medium - DMEM Dulbecco's modified eagle's medium - DPC dermal papilla cells - EDTA ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid - FBAEC fetal bovine aortic endothelial cells - FCS fetal calf serum - VEGF vascular endothelial growth factor     

Infrared spectra of carbon monoxide bound to mitochondria from diverse species and tissues reveal structurally similar cytochrome c oxidase dioxygen reaction sites

Infrared bands for CO bound to mitochondria from bovine and porcine hearts, bovine brain, rat kidney, and blowfly flight muscle and to intact blowfly flight muscle have been measured in the carbon-oxygen stretch region. Each spectrum contains a narrow band near 1963 cm-1 similar to the major band found earlier for the carbonyl cytochrome c oxidase purified from bovine heart. A second band near 1959 cm-1 ascribed to a less stable conformer of the purified oxidase carbonyl is also detected in mitochondria. These spectra support very similar CO (and O2) binding sites among all the oxidases examined whether the enzyme is purified or is still within mitochondria or intact tissue and therefore suggest that the reduced heme A ligand binding site has been highly conserved during evolution.     

A diphenylmethane derivative specific for the antiestrogen binding site found in rat liver microsomes

A new para-diphenylmethyl derivative, N,N-diethyl-2-[(4-phenylmethyl)-phenoxy]-ethanamine·HCl (N,N-DPPE) has been synthesized which binds with high affinity to the anti-estrogen binding site found in male rat liver microsomes. However, no evidence of significant interaction with the estrogen receptor can be observed at or below 10 μM in rat uterine cytosols; 10 nM N,N-DPPE fails to significantly induce progesterone receptor in MCF-7 cells. Tamoxifen also binds to anti-estrogen binding site but, unlike N,N-DPPE, binds significantly to estrogen receptor at much loeer concentrations and induces MCF-7 progesterone receptor. This property of high affinity for anti-estrogen binding site but not for estrogen receptor may make N,N-DPPE an important probe for the study of anti-estrogen binding site and its biological relevance.     

Relationships between the effects of redox potential, alpha-thenoyltrifluoroacetone and malonate on O(2) and H2O2 generation by submitochondrial particles in the presence of succinate and antimycin

A successful approach has been developed for the sequencing of apolipoprotein B based upon the procedure of Cleveland et al. [(1977) J. Biol. Chem. 252, 1102-1106] involving limited proteolysis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. Staphylococcus aureus protease was employed to produce large peptides which were isolated in relatively pure form by preparative gel electrophoresis. Two peptides were partially sequenced using spinning-cup microsequencing techniques. The sequences are: Peptide R2-5, -Ala-Leu-Val-Gly-Ile-Asn- Gly-Glu-Ala-Asn-Leu-Asp-Phe-Leu-Asn-Ile-Pro-Leu-Arg-Ile-Pro-Pro- Met-Arg-(Arg)-; Peptide R3-1, -Leu-Val-Ala-Lys-Pro-Ser-Val-Ser-Val-Glu- Phe-Val-Thr-Asn-Met-Gly-Ile-Ile-Pro-Lys-Phe-Ala-Arg-. Several stretches of residues suitable for the construction of oligonucleotide probes have been identified.