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Biomedical subjects

A Muto

Publications and source records attributed to A Muto.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Reconstitution of functional human GM-CSF receptor in mouse NIH3T3 fibroblasts and BA/F3 proB cells.

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) plays a critical role in growth and differentiation of myeloid cells. We previously reconstituted high affinity human GM-CSF receptor (hGM-CSFR) in a proB cell line BA/F3 by cotransfecting alpha and beta chain cDNA clones and showed that the reconstituted receptor could transduce growth promoting signals. The high affinity hGM-CSFR was also reconstituted in mouse NIH3T3 cells, but its ability to transduce signals in fibroblasts remained unanswered. In the present study, we further characterized signal transduction by the reconstituted hGM-CSFR both in NIH3T3 cells and BA/F3 cells. We found that the reconstituted hGM-CSFR transduces signals in NIH3T3 fibroblasts and BA/F3 cells in response to human GM-CSF to activate transcription of c-fos, c-jun and c-myc protooncogenes. hGM-CSF also induces protein tyrosine phosphorylation and DNA synthesis in both cell types. The ability of hGM-CSFR to transduce signals was affected by inhibitors of tyrosine kinase. These results indicated that the hGM-CSFR is functional in fibroblasts, that signal transduction via the hGM-CSFR in fibroblasts involves tyrosine kinase(s) and that association of hGM-CSFR with factor(s) specific to hematopoietic cell lineage is not essential to transduce growth promoting signals.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed1993

[Postoperative arrhythmia after operation of esophageal cancer].

The postoperative arrhythmias (exclusive of sinus tachycardia) was reviewed in 77 patients (male: 69, female: 8, mean age: 63.9 years) who underwent esophagectomy for esophageal carcinoma. The results were as follows: 1. The incidence of postoperative arrhythmias in all patients but seven who had preoperative chronic atrial fibrillation (af) or pacemaker rhythm was 47.1%, and af was observed most frequently (45.5%). Postoperative arrhythmias occurred in patients with abnormal preoperative electrocardiographic findings more often than in those with normal preoperative electrocardiographic findings (53% vs 41%). The incidence of postoperative arrhythmias in aged patients (> or = 66 years old) was significantly higher than that in younger patients (< or = 65 years old) (64% vs 35%, p < 0.05). Other risk factors for postoperative arrhythmias were sex and history of hypertension. 2. Postoperative arrhythmias occurred more often in patients who underwent blunt dissection of the thoracic esophagus and reconstruction using the whole stomach via the posterior mediastinal route than in those who underwent esophagectomy with right thoracotomy and reconstruction using the gastric tube via the poststernal route (60.0% vs 45.0%). 3. Most supraventricular premature contractions and ventricular premature contractions occurred immediately after surgery or on the first postoperative day, and af often occurred during the first postoperative night or the second postoperative day. 4. For treatment, various antiarrhythmic agents were administered according to the patient's condition. Glucose-insulin-kalium therapy was especially effective (63%). None of the arrhythmias was fatal.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Recent evidence for evolution of the genetic code.

The genetic code, formerly thought to be frozen, is now known to be in a state of evolution. This was first shown in 1979 by Barrell et al. (G. Barrell, A. T. Bankier, and J. Drouin, Nature [London] 282:189-194, 1979), who found that the universal codons AUA (isoleucine) and UGA (stop) coded for methionine and tryptophan, respectively, in human mitochondria. Subsequent studies have shown that UGA codes for tryptophan in Mycoplasma spp. and in all nonplant mitochondria that have been examined. Universal stop codons UAA and UAG code for glutamine in ciliated protozoa (except Euplotes octacarinatus) and in a green alga, Acetabularia. E. octacarinatus uses UAA for stop and UGA for cysteine. Candida species, which are yeasts, use CUG (leucine) for serine. Other departures from the universal code, all in nonplant mitochondria, are CUN (leucine) for threonine (in yeasts), AAA (lysine) for asparagine (in platyhelminths and echinoderms), UAA (stop) for tyrosine (in planaria), and AGR (arginine) for serine (in several animal orders) and for stop (in vertebrates). We propose that the changes are typically preceded by loss of a codon from all coding sequences in an organism or organelle, often as a result of directional mutation pressure, accompanied by loss of the tRNA that translates the codon. The codon reappears later by conversion of another codon and emergence of a tRNA that translates the reappeared codon with a different assignment. Changes in release factors also contribute to these revised assignments. We also discuss the use of UGA (stop) as a selenocysteine codon and the early history of the code.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1992

[IL-3 gene, receptor and signal transduction].

Interleukin 3 (IL-3) plays a critical role in growth and differentiation of myeloid cells. The human IL-3 gene, located on chromosome 5 contains several cis-acting DNA sequences, i.e. CLE (conserved lymphokine element) and a GC rich region, similar to the GM-CSF gene. The expression of the GM-CSF and IL-3 genes in activated T cells may be regulated coordinately through these cis-regulatory elements. Recently, reconstitution experiments using isolated cDNA clones for receptor subunits have revealed that two distinct proteins are required for the high affinity receptors for GM-CSF, IL-3 and IL-5; the alpha subunits bind with the corresponding ligands with low affinity, and the beta subunit is shared in common. Tyrosine kinase activity appears to be involved in the signal transduction of the IL-3 and GM-CSF receptors.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Evolution of tRNAs and tRNA genes in Acholeplasma laidlawii.

The genes for 22 tRNA species from Acholeplasma laidawii, belonging to the class Mollicutes (Mycoplasmas), have been cloned and sequenced. Sixteen genes are organized in 3 clusters consisting of eleven, three and two tRNA genes, respectively, and the other 6 genes exist as a single gene. The arrangement of tRNA genes in the 11-gene, the 3-gene and the 2-gene clusters reveals extensive similarity to several parts of the 21-tRNA or 16-tRNA gene cluster in Bacillus subtilis. The 11-gene cluster is also similar to the tRNA gene clusters found in other mycoplasma species, the 9-tRNA gene cluster in M.capricolum and in M.mycoides, and the 10-tRNA gene cluster in Spiroplasma meliferm. The results suggest that the tRNA genes in mycoplasmas have evolved from large tRNA gene clusters in the ancestral Gram-positive bacterial genome common to mycoplasmas and B.subtilis. The anticodon sequences including base modifications of 15 tRNA species from A.laidlawii were determined. The anticodon composition and codon-recognition patterns of A.laidlawii resemble those of Bacillus subtilis rather than those of other mycoplasma species.

Acholeplasma laidlawii↗
PubMed1991

Levels of tRNAs in bacterial cells as affected by amino acid usage in proteins.

Transfer RNAs of Mycoplasma capricolum were separated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and the relative abundance of each of the 28 known tRNA species was measured. There existed a correlation between the relative amount of isoacceptor tRNAs and the frequency in choosing synonymous codons that could be translated by the isoacceptors. Furthermore, it was observed that the total amount of tRNAs for a particular amino acid was paralleled by the composition of the amino acid in ribosomal proteins. A similar relationship was obtained from reexamination of the previous data on Escherichia coli tRNAs, suggesting that the amount of tRNAs for an amino acid is affected by the usage of the amino acid in proteins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

CGG: an unassigned or nonsense codon in Mycoplasma capricolum.

CGG is an arginine codon in the universal genetic code. We previously reported that in Mycoplasma capricolum, a relative of Gram-positive eubacteria, codon CGG did not appear in coding frames, including termination sites, and tRNA(ArgCCG) pairing with codon CGG, was not detected. These facts suggest that CGG is a nonsense (unassigned and untranslatable) codon--i.e., not assigned to arginine or to any other amino acid. We have investigated whether CGG is really an unassigned codon by using a cell-free translation system prepared from M. capricolum. Translation of synthetic mRNA containing in-frame CGG codons does not result in "read-through" to codons beyond the CGG codons--i.e., translation ceases just before CGG. Sucrose-gradient centrifugation profiles of the reaction mixture have shown that the bulk of peptide that has been synthesized is attached to 70S ribosomes and is released upon further incubation with puromycin. The result suggests that the peptide is in the P site of ribosome in the form of peptidyl-tRNA, leaving the A site empty. When in-frame CGG codons are replaced by UAA codons in mRNA, no read-through occurs beyond UAA, just as in the case of CGG. However, the synthesized peptide is released from 70S ribosomes, presumably by release factor 1. These data suggest strongly that CGG is an unassigned codon and differs from UAA in that CGG is not used for termination.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Prokaryotic genetic code.

The prokaryotic genetic code has been influenced by directional mutation pressure (GC/AT pressure) that has been exerted on the entire genome. This pressure affects the synonymous codon choice, the amino acid composition of proteins and tRNA anticodons. Unassigned codons would have been produced in bacteria with extremely high GC or AT genomes by deleting certain codons and the corresponding tRNAs. A high AT pressure together with genomic economization led to a change in assignment of the UGA codon, from stop to tryptophan, in Mycoplasma.

Anticodon↗
PubMed1990

The organization and evolution of transfer RNA genes in Mycoplasma capricolum.

The genes for presumably all the tRNA species in Mycoplasma capricolum, a derivative of Gram-positive eubacteria, have been cloned and sequenced. There are 30 genes encoding 29 tRNA species. This number is the smallest in all the known genetic systems except for mitochondria. The sequences of 9 tRNA genes of them have been previously reported (1-3). Twenty-two genes are organized in 5 clusters consisting of nine, five, four and two genes (2 sets), respectively. The other eight genes exist as a single transcription unit. All the tRNAs are encoded each by a single gene, except for the occurrence of two tRNA(Lys)(TTT) genes. The arrangement of tRNA genes in the 9-gene cluster, the 5-gene cluster, the 4-gene cluster and one of the 2-gene clusters reveals extensive similarity with a part of the 21-tRNA gene cluster and/or the 16-tRNA gene cluster in Bacillus subtilis, respectively. The results suggest that the present M. capricolum tRNA genes have evolved from large tRNA gene clusters in the ancestral Gram-positive bacterial genome common to M. capricolum and B. subtilis, by discarding genes for redundant as well as non-obligate tRNAs, so that all the codons may be translated by as small a number of tRNAs as possible.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Evolutionary changes in the genetic code.

The genetic code has been influenced by directional mutation pressure affecting the base composition of DNA, sometimes in the direction of increased GC content and at other times, in the direction of AT. Such pressure led to changes in species-specific usages of codons and tRNA anticodons, and also in amino acid assignments of codons in mitochondria and in several intact organisms. These code changes are probably recent evolutionary events. The genetic code is not 'frozen', but instead it is still evolving.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Role of GC-biased mutation pressure on synonymous codon choice in Micrococcus luteus, a bacterium with a high genomic GC-content.

The GC (G + C, or G or C)-contents of codon silent positions in all two-codon sets and three codons AUY/A (IIe), and in most of the family boxes of Micrococcus luteus (genomic GC-content: 74%) are 95% to 100% in both the highly and weakly expressed genes. In some family boxes, there is a decrease in NNC codons and an increase in NNG codons from the highly expressed to weakly expressed genes without apparent involvement of NNU and NNA codons. From these observations, we conclude that the selective use of synonymous codons in M. luteus may be largely determined by GC-biased mutation pressure and that in the highly expressed genes tRNAs would act as a weak selection pressure in some family boxes. Available data suggest that the effect of selection pressure by tRNAs on the synonymous codon choice becomes more apparent in the highly expressed genes in eubacteria with intermediate GC-contents such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, and that the U/C ratio of the codon third positions in NNU/C-type two-codon sets in the weakly expressed genes would represent the approximate magnitude of directional mutation pressure throughout eubacteria.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Codon recognition patterns as deduced from sequences of the complete set of transfer RNA species in Mycoplasma capricolum. Resemblance to mitochondria.

The nucleotide sequences of the complete set of tRNA species in Mycoplasma capricolum, a derivative of Gram-positive eubacteria, have been determined. This bacterium represents the first genetic system in which the sequences of all the tRNA species have been determined at the RNA level. There are 29 tRNA species: three for Leu, two each for Arg, Ile, Lys, Met, Ser, Thr and Trp, and one each for the other 12 amino acids as judged from aminoacylation and the anticodon nucleotide sequences. The number of tRNA species is the smallest among all known genetic systems except for mitochondria. The tRNA anticodon sequences have revealed several features characteristic of M. capricolum. (1) There is only one tRNA species each for Ala, Gly, Leu, Pro, Ser and Val family boxes (4-codon boxes), and these tRNAs all have an unmodified U residue at the first position of the anticodon. (2) There are two tRNAThr species having anticodons UGU and AGU; the first positions of these anticodons are unmodified. (3) There is only one tRNA with anticodon ICG in the Arg family box (CGN); this tRNA can translate codons CGU, CGC and CGA. No tRNA capable of translating codon CGG has been detected, suggesting that CGG is an unassigned codon in this bacterium. (4) A tRNATrp with anticodon UCA is present, and reads codon UGA as Trp. On the basis of these and other observations, novel codon recognition patterns in M. capricolum are proposed. A comparatively small total, 13, of modified nucleosides is contained in all M. capricolum tRNAs. The 5' end nucleoside of the T psi C-loop (position 54) of all tRNAs is uridine, not modified to ribothymidine. The anticodon composition, and hence codon recognition patterns, of M. capricolum tRNAs resemble those of mitochondrial tRNAs.

Amino Acids↗