Effect of ethanol and zinc on ALA-dehydratase activity in red blood cells

Subcutaneous injection of zinc as sulphate to rats activates sigma-aminolaevulinic acid dehydratase (ALA-D) in red blood cells within few days of injection. This activation counteracts the inhibitory effect of orally administered ethanol.

A urinary pentasaccharide in bovine mannosidosis

Abnormally high amounts of low molecular weight mannose-rich carbohydrate material were found in the urine of an Angus calf with mannosidosis. At least five oligosaccharide fractions were detected by paper chromatography. The most abundant compound was purified by gel chromatography, zone electrophoresis, and two consecutive preparative paper chromatographic steps. The yield was 10 mg/liter of urine. From structural studies including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, optical rotation, sugar analysis, methylation analysis, and partial enzymatic degradation the following structure was deduced: alpha-D-Manp-(1 leads to 6)-beta-D-Manp-(1 leads to 4)-beta-D-GlcNAcp-(1 leads to 4)-beta-D-GlcNAcp-(1 leads to 4)-D-GlcNAc. This oligosaccharide is distinct from all the oligosaccharides previously described which are excreted by patients with mannosidosis.

Structural studies on the O-specific side-chains of the cell-wall lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli O 75

The structure of the O-specific side-chains of the cell-wall lipopolysaccharide of Escherichia coli O 75 has been investigated, using methylation analysis and Smith degradation as the principal methods. The O-specific side-chain was found to be composed of a tetrasaccharide repeating-unit of the following structure: (see article)

A new type of carbohydrate-protein linkage in a glycopeptide from normal human urine

A glycopeptide, 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-alpha-L-fucopyranosyl-L-threonine, has been isolated from normal human urine. The glycopeptide was isolated by gel chromatography, preparative zone electrophoresis, paper chromatography, and high voltage electrophoresis. The average yield of the glycopeptide was in the range of 0.2 to 0.3 mg/liter of urine. Sugar analysis and amino acid analysis gave equimolar amounts of glucose, fucose, and threonine. Linkages and sequential order were established by methylation analysis of the glycopeptide after degradation of the amino acid residue with ninhydrin. The permethylated product was analyzed on gas liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Anomeric configuration was deduced from optical rotation.

Nature of the tumor-associated determinant(s) of carcinoembryonic antigen

The carbohydrate moiety of carcinoembryonic antigen could be sequentially degraded by repeated cycles of periodate oxidation, reduction, and mild acid hydrolysis (Smith degradation). After three complete degradations, all fucose and sialic acid, 80% of the galactose, 65% of the mannose, and about 40% of the N-acetylglucosamine were eliminated without impairing the ability of degraded carcinoembryonic antigen to react with specific antisera against the antigen. Inhibition studies in a carcinoembryonic antigen/rabbit anti-carcinoembryonic antigen precipitating system with oligosaccharides covering previously known internal structures of glycoproteins and presumably corresponding to the internal carbohydrate region of the antigen, demonstrated that none of the compounds tested was inhibitory. Nor could any inhibitory effect on the binding of carcinoembryonic antigen to antibody against the antigen in a radioimmunoassay system be domonstrated for the carbohydrate moiety prepared by hydrazinolysis or the glyco peptide fraction isolated after papain degradation of the antigen. However, if carcinoembryonic antigen is completely reduced and alkylated, with three intrachain disulfide bonds cleaved per 10-5 g, the immunological activity is reduced to 3-5% of untreated antigen. Furthermore, treatment of the antigen with 0.5 NaOH at 20 degrees for 2 hr completely abolished its ability to react with antiserum, whereas its ability to precipitate with a series of lectins was unchanged. No release of low-molecular-weight carbohydrate orchange in sugar composition of alkali-treated antigen was observed. Our tentative conclusion is that the carbohydrate moiety of carcinoembryonic antigen does not contain the tumor-associated determinant(s).

The structure of capsular polysaccharide of the Pneumococcus type II

The pneumococcus type II capsular polysaccharide (SII) is composed of singly-branched hexasaccharide repeating units, for which three alternative structures have been proposed. The correct structure has now been determined by consecutive eliminations of the sugar residues in the side chain. The terminal D-glucuronic acid group was eliminated by treating the fully methylated and esterified SIIpolysaccharide first with base, and then with weak acid. The hydroxyl group at C-6 in the penultimate D-glucose residue released by this elimination was transformed into the 6-deoxy-6-tosyl derivative, and the residue thereafter eliminated by treatment with base. As the side-chains were eliminated by these reactions, it is considered that they contain only two sugar residues, which thus excludes two of the three alternative structures. Structure 1 was further confirmed by subjecting SII to a Smith degradation, which yielded the tetrasaccharide L-Rhap-(1 yields 3)-L-Rhap-(1 yields 3)-L-Rhap-(1 yields 2-erythritol, characterised by methylation analysis.

Salmonella typhimurium mutations conferring resistance to Felix O phage without loss of smooth character: phage attachment and immunochemical and structural analyses of lipopolysaccharides

Salmonella typhimurium mutants, called Felix O-resistant (FOR), selected for resistance to phage Felix O (FO) which has its receptor in the core lipopolysaccharide (LPS), retain most of the properties of the smooth parent strain (MacPhee, Krishnapillai, Roantree & Stocker, 1975). LPS extracted from one parent and two FOR strains by the phenol-water and the phenol-chloroform-light petroleum methods have been subjected to passive haemagglutination inhibition and methylation analysis. The amount of LPS, the amount of O-specific sugars in the LPS, and the average length of the O chains were almost the same in parent and mutant strains. Neither passive haemagglutination nor methylation analysis revealed the presence of incomplete cores in the mutant strains. Determination of the rates of attachment of P22 (receptor in O chain) and FO phages to whole bacteria of the same strains also suggested there is as much O-chain material in the FOR strains as in the parent strain. The data suggest that the FOR strains are the result of a mutation in the synthesis of the core, leaving few, if any, completed cores accessible to the FO phage.

Effect of synthetic disaccharide-protein conjugate as an immunogen in Salmonella infection in mice

The synthetic disaccharide 3-O-alpha-tyvelopyranosyl-alpha-D-mannopyranoside, identical to the O antigen 9 determinant in Salmonella, covalently linked to bovine serum albumin and suspended in Freund complete adjuvant, was used as an immunogen in mice. Antibodies in high titer were formed against the O9 determinant as estimated by a bactericidal assay, whereas only low titers of hemagglutinating antibodies were found. A sensitive in vivo assay demonstrated that in immunized mice, after challenge with two strains of equal virulence but with different O antigens (O9, 12 and O4, 5, 12, respectively), the growth of the strain with the O9 determinant was suppressed in comparison to that with the O4 determinant.