Elevated levels of dietary ascorbic acid increase immune responses in channel catfish

Channel catfish fingerlings were fed purified diets containing 0 to 3000 mg/kg of ascorbic acid until external signs of scurvy were seen in the fish fed the ascorbic acid-deficient diet. At this time, resistance to bacterial infection, antibody production, complement activity and phagocytic activity were assessed for fish from the various dietary treatments. Mortality rates of fish experimentally infected with Edwardsiella ictaluri, the bacterium causing enteric septicemia in channel catfish, decreased with increases in dietary ascorbic acid doses, ranging from 100% for fish fed the ascorbic acid-deficient diet to 15% for fish fed 300 mg ascorbic acid per kilogram diet and 0 for fish fed 3000 mg ascorbic acid per kilogram diet. Antibody response to E. ictaluri antigen, hemolysis of sensitized sheep erythrocytes by complement activity and phagocytic engulfment of E. ictaluri by peripheral phagocytes were each impaired in fish fed the diet without supplemental ascorbic acid; intracellular bactericidal activity of the phagocytes was not affected by ascorbic acid deficiency. There were no differences in antibody production, complement activity, or phagocytic activities among fish fed diets containing 30-300 mg ascorbic acid/kg of diet. However, the dose level of 3000 mg ascorbic acid/kg significantly enhanced antibody production and complement activity.

Viral integration near c-myc in 10-20% of mcf 247-induced AKR lymphomas

We induced AKR thymomas by injecting retrovirus MCF 247 that we had tagged with a fragment of phage lambda in its U3 region. About 10-20% of the 26 primary tumors studied showed both rearranged and germline c-myc bands in Southern blots. The rearranged c-myc genes were cloned from two of the tumors and studied by Southern analysis in two others. In all four cases, rearrangement was due to integration of MCF 247 proviruses about 2 kilobases (kb) 5' of the three c-myc exons and in the opposite transcriptional orientation. Thus, viral integrations were clustered within a 1-kb range in the tumors that revealed c-myc rearrangements. Three of the four proviruses appeared to be intact, whereas the fourth had an internal deletion of about 3 kb.

Three human transforming genes are related to the viral ras oncogenes

Three distinct transforming genes present in human tumor cell lines are all related to the viral oncogenes of Harvey and Kirsten murine sarcoma viruses, designated v-H-ras and v-K-ras, respectively. The transforming gene of a bladder carcinoma cell line has been shown to be a human homolog to v-H-ras [Parada, L. F., Tabin, C. J., Shih, C. & Weinberg, R. A. (1982) Nature (London) 297, 474-478; Santos, E., Tronick, S. R., Aaronson, S. A., Pulciani, S. & Barbacid, M. (1982) Nature (London) 298, 343-347]. The transforming gene common to one colon (SK-CO-1) and two lung carcinoma (SK-LU-1 and Calu-1) cell lines is the same human homolog of v-K-ras as is the transforming gene previously identified in a lung carcinoma cell line Lx-1 [Der, C. J., Krontiris, T. G. & Cooper, G. M. (1982) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 79, 3637-3640]. The transforming gene of SK-N-SH neuroblastoma cells is weakly homologous to both v-H-ras and v-K-ras. NIH 3T3 cells transformed with the SK-N-SH transforming gene contain increased levels of a protein serologically and structurally related to the protein products of the v-H-ras and v-K-ras genes. Therefore, it represents a third member of the ras gene family, which we have called N-ras. Based on the homology with the v-ras genes, we have established the orientation of transcription and approximate coding regions of the cloned human K-ras and N-ras genes.

Structural studies of P22 phage, precursor particles, and proteins by laser Raman spectroscopy

For the study of the protein--protein and protein--nucleic acid interactions in the assembly of virus particles, laser Raman spectra have been obtained in H2O and D2O solutions and as a function of temperature for the following Salmonella phage P22 components: mature phage particles, isolated mature phage DNA, mature protein shells empty of DNA, precursor protein shells (procapsids), and purified coat, scaffolding and tail-spike proteins. The spectra confirm that the condensed DNA within the phage capsid assumes the B-form secondary structure similar to aqueous DNA and reveal no evidence of specific molecular interactions between subgroups of DNA and protein subunits of the phage capsid. No differences were detected in the highly irregular secondary structure of the major capsid protein in mature capsids, empty capsids (lacking DNA), procapsids, and empty procapsids (lacking scaffolding protein). Features of both primary and secondary structures of the viral scaffolding and tail-spike proteins are also revealed by the spectra. Differences in thermal stability of tyrosyl side-chain interactions were observed between scaffolding protein extracted from the procapsid and within the procapsid. These differences correspond to different hydrogen bonding configurations of p-hydroxyphenyl groups and provide indirect evidence for the participation of the scaffolding proteins in specific macromolecular interactions within the procapsid.

Genetic properties of chromosomally integrated 2 mu plasmid DNA in yeast

We obtained strains of yeast with large segments of 2 mu plasmid DNA integrated at several chromosomal locations by selecting genetically for recombination between a chromosomal sequence carried on a 2 mu-circle-containing hybrid plasmid and a homologous sequence on the chromosome. In all diploids examined, the presence of 2 mu circle sequences causes a marked instability of the chromosome into which the 2 mu DNA is inserted. Although in some cases the loss of genetic markers is due to physical loss of the entire chromosome, in most cases the loss of markers appears to be due to a mitotic homozygotization of markers: the allelic information from the homologous chromosome replaces the information distal to the integrated 2 mu DNA. The instability caused by integrated 2 mu DNA sequences requires the activity of the specialized site-specific recombination system encoded by the 2 mu plasmid. We propose that the presence of integrated 2 mu DNA allows efficient integration of additional copies of the intact 2 mu plasmid by the action of the plasmid-coded special recombination system. Unequal sister-strand exchanges within the inverted repetition would result in the formation of dicentric chromosomes whose breakage during mitosis might begin a cycle analogous to the breakage-fusion-bridge cycle described many years ago in maize.