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Direct isomerization of 6-oxo-3 alpha,5-cyclo-5 alpha-steroids to 6-oxo-delta 2-5 alpha-steroids was accomplished by pyridinium hydrobromide in dimethyl-formamide.
The aquatic, apneustic larva of the midge, Chironomus riparius, has a very thin (up to 5 micrometers), readily deformable, post-cephalic cuticle. The ultrastructure of this cuticle from newly moulted and older final instar animals, and exuvia shed at pupation, has been examined using routine methods and also after the extraction of proteins with formamide and acetic acid. From the results described, and using established criteria, it is inferred that an exocuticle is present and represents about 25% of the thickness of the mature procuticle, the remainder being endocuticle. Therefore, it would seem that this exceptionally delicate cuticle conforms to the conventional plan of tanned or sclerotized solid cuticles, unlike those reported in the larvae of cyclorrhaphous dipterans such as blowflies or other soft-bodied insects. This is the first account, using experimental techniques, of the fine structure of sectioned cuticle from nematocerous dipteran larvae. It also indicates the value of the exuvium as a source of information about cuticle structure.
In a study primarily designed to evaluate the inhibitory effects of aspirin on N-[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazolyl]formamide (FANFT)-initiated and saccharin-promoted bladder carcinogenesis, significant renal lesions were observed. Thus, administration in the diet of aspirin and sodium saccharin to F344 male rats for 68 weeks resulted in significant lesions of the renal papilla. In contrast to the bladder, aspirin enhanced the frequency and severity of the proliferative action of sodium saccharin on the epithelium of the renal papilla (p less than 0.05 compared to rats treated with either compound alone). The majority of rats administered the two chemicals together demonstrated moderate to severe urothelial hyperplasia of the renal papilla. Columnar metaplasia of the papillary epithelium also occurred frequently in rats fed the combination of chemicals. The rats treated with a combination of sodium saccharin and aspirin had a high incidence of renal papillary necrosis which was also present to a lesser extent among rats treated with aspirin only. Papillary calcification was also frequently observed in the rats fed the combination of aspirin and sodium saccharin. Sodium saccharin or aspirin alone reduced the light microscopic incidence and severity of rat nephropathy, a common finding in aging rats. It would appear that the hyperplastic and renal papillary toxic effects of aspirin and sodium saccharin are independent responses, and that the administration of the two chemicals together greatly accentuates these responses.
This study was undertaken to determine the ability of a series of 19 compounds representing different chemical classes of carcinogens to induce lung tumors in strain A/J mice after either ip or po administration. Aflatoxin B1, dibutylnitrosamine, 1,2-dimethylhydrazine, and methylnitrosourea induced a significant increase in the lung tumor response in both sexes after ip and po administration. Azaserine was active in both sexes only after ip administration. Benzene, 1,2-dibromoethane, and epichlorohydrin, following ip administration, produced significant increases in the tumor response in at least one sex. Aflatoxin B1, azaserine, benzene, 1,2-dibromoethane, dibutylnitrosamine, and epichlorohydrin were more active when given ip than after po administration. In contrast, dimethylhydrazine and methylnitrosourea were more active (in females only) when given po. 2-Acetylaminofluorene, azobenzene, chloroform, 1,4-dioxane, FANFT (N-[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazolyl]formamide), lead subacetate, methylmethanesulfonate, beta-naphthylamine, beta-propiolactone, safrole, and 2,4,6-tri-chlorophenol did not induce lung tumors in strain A/J mice. These data confirm previous observations on the importance of the route of chemical administration on the lung tumor response in strain A mice, and on the inability of the lung tumor bioassay to detect certain liver and bladder carcinogens and unstable alkylating agents.
Cognate genes of nine members of the Palyam serogroup of orbiviruses have been identified and their relatedness to the prototype, Palyam virus, has been determined. Viral dsRNA segments were electrophoresed through 10% polyacrylamide gels, transferred to membranes, and hybridized to labeled RNA from Palyam virus under hybridization conditions using 52 degrees, 50% formamide, 5 X SSC. Cognate genes of each virus isolate were identified by hybridizing their genomes to [5'-32P]pCp-labeled, isolated segments from Palyam virus. Single segments from Palyam hybridized to no more than one segment in the other isolates. Nine of the 10 genes exhibited nucleic acid sequence homology between Palyam and seven of the other eight isolates. Gene 2 of Palyam hybridized only with gene 2 of CSIRO Village, and it was correlated with serotype specificity. Since CSIRO Village is the only member of the serogroup which cross-reacts with Palyam in neutralization tests, gene 2 may encode the neutralization antigen. Variation in the intensity of the hybridization signals of the remaining nine genes within a given virus indicated that the number and identity of conserved genes differed between members of the group. Genes 5, 7, and 9 were the most conserved genes for all members of the serogroup, while the levels of relatedness of Palyam genes 1, 3, 4, 8, and 10 to their cognates in the other isolates varied under these hybridization conditions.
Four different alleles of the gene encoding VP4, an outer capsid rotavirus protein, have been recognized among human rotaviruses. To investigate the relative frequency of these alleles, hybridization probes corresponding to a hyperdivergent region (nucleotides 205 to 554) of the fourth gene from three human rotavirus strains, Wa, DS1, and M37 (each of which has a distinct gene four allele), were synthesized by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, using as templates either cloned DNA or cDNA. The latter were obtained by reverse transcription of viral RNA from each of the three strains. The probes were hybridized to heat-denatured rotavirus double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) or single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) which was directly dotted onto nylon membranes. Under hybridization conditions of high stringency (50% formamide, 4x SSC, 54 degrees), it was possible to detect this region in as little as 4 ng of total rotavirus RNA. The probes enabled the detection and classification of these three gene 4 alleles in rotavirus strains recovered from field studies.
The structure and replication of human leukocyte mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was investigated in healthy young adult males (23--37 years old), middle-aged males (42--52 years old) with secondary polycythemia, and elderly males (80--89 years old) who exhibited different degrees of age-related disease syndromes. The distribution of the various cell types within the white cell population was within normal limits in all samples. Total mtDNA was isolated in ethidium bromide--CsCl gradients and examined by electron microscopy after spreading by the aqueous and formamide techniques. The individual frequencies of catenated forms ranged from 2 to 6% but showed relatively little change (declining slightly) with age. The individual frequencies of circular dimers varied from 0 to 0.1% in the young adult and polycythemic groups and in 10 out of 12 elderly individuals. One elderly individual had a circular dimer frequency of 0.3% (including a circular molecular of tetramer size) and another had 4.5%. This finding suggest that agerelated cellular pathology may exist in the blood-forming system in some cases. The mode of replication of leukocyte mtDNA agrees well with that described for mouse L cells. There was no evidence of aberrant mtDNA replication as a result of aging.
Serologic cross-reactions among streptococcal groups A, A-variant (A-V), and C cell wall polysaccharides were found previously in studies employing capillary or quantitative precipitin techniques. Similar cross-reactions occur with radioimmune precipitation using extrinsically labeled 125I-streptococcal antigens. This study was performed to determine the degree of cross-reactivity when intrinsically labeled 14C-polysaccharide antigens were used in the radioimmune precipitin assay. Unadsorbed antisera from rabbits immunized with group A streptococci bound 3-5% as much 14C-A-V antigen as homologous A carbohydrate but undetectable amounts of C polysaccharide. Similarly, A-V antisera bound 3-5% as much 14C-A or 14C-C carbohydrate as A-V antigen. Group C antiserum bound 1-2% as much A and A-V antigens as C carbohydrate. Thus, less than 3% of intrinsically labelled 14C-A or 14C-C carbohydrate represents exposed A-V antigenic sites, i.e., exposed polyrhamnose backbone. Otherwise, group A, C, or A-V carbohydrates failed to exhibit heterologous determinants. Anti-peptidoglycan antibodies in antisera did not result in serologic cross-reactivity. These data suggest that formamide-extracted streptococcal group-specific polysaccharides, intrinsically labeled with 14C, may possess greater group specificity than 125I-carbohydrates and yield only negligible cross-reactivity with heterologous antisera. This degree of cross-reactivity does not appear to be sufficient to account for the persistently elevated serum levels of antibody to group A carbohydrate in patients with rheumatic heart disease.
The development of animal bladder tumor models as a research tool for different modes of therapy has been widely evaluated. Recently these tumors have either spontaneously grown or have been propagated in inbred strains. Bladder tumors have also been chemically produced by N-[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazolyl] formamide (FANFT) when orally administered over a long period of time. It has been further reported that these tumors have been inhibited by various chemotherapy regimens. The availability of an experimental bladder tumor model offers an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of a prescribed treatment. In our studies FANFT was noted to produce only from 33 to 40% bladder tumors in several experiments in an inbred strain of rats conducted over several years. Reproducible transplantability of these tumors was not demonstrable in the same inbred strain. In addition, treatment with mitomycin C an an effective chemotherapeutic agent was not detectable in part, since comparably the percentage of control bladder tumor growth was low. These findings of a three-year study should be carefully considered when evaluating recommendations for clinical adjuvant chemotherapy based on results obtained with FANFT.
The use of a tumor colony assay was evaluated for its ability to predict anticancer drug response in an N[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazolyl] formamide mouse bladder tumor model. One-hour and continuous drug exposure were compared to determine what effect altering drug concentration and time of exposure would have on the predictability of the tumor colony assay in the murine model. Ten anticancer drugs were tested in the murine model, and tumor cells removed from control mice were used for in vitro drug testing. One-hour and continuous drug exposure (using the one-hour drug level) were performed simultaneously and the in vitro and in vivo data compared. Using one-hour drug incubation in the tumor colony assay resulted in a true positive predictive rate of 54 per cent and a true negative predictive rate of 70 per cent. Continuous drug incubation overestimated drug sensitivity resulting in a drop in the predictability of the tumor colony assay. We conclude that using one-hour drug exposure the tumor colony assay is predictive of chemotherapeutic drug response in this murine bladder tumor model.
The effect of the potent inflammatory mediator, platelet activating factor (PAF) was studied on the vascular permeability of selected rat tissues using the extravasation of Evans blue dye (EB) as a marker. EB (20 mg/kg) was injected in the caudal vein together with increasing doses of PAF (0.1, 1.0 and 5.0 micrograms/kg). The animals were killed and the dye was extracted in selected organs using formamide (4 ml/g wet weight tissues) and the content was expressed as EB micrograms/g dry weight. Extravasation of EB varied markedly from one tissue to another and increased as a function of time (from 0 to 60 min). PAF (5.0 micrograms/kg) increased the pancreas and duodenum vascular permeability by 15 and 5 fold respectively. At the doses of 0.1 and 1.0 microgram/kg, PAF induced a slight increase (P less than 0.01) of the vascular permeability of the heart 5 min after the injection. The PAF antagonist BN-52021 (2 and 10 mg/kg) produced a dose-dependent inhibition of the PAF effects on the pancreas, heart and duodenum. Maximum inhibition (approximately 100%) was achieved at the dose of 10 mg/kg. This antagonist given in the absence or the presence of PAF reduced the lung plasma extravasation below control levels. A thromboxane antagonist, L-655,240 (1.0 and 5.0 mg/kg) also inhibited PAF-induced increases in vascular permeability in heart, duodenum and pancreas. It also reduced below control levels the EB extravasation in kidneys, spleen and lungs. Maximum inhibition (50% for the duodenum, and 40% for the pancreas) was achieved at the dose of 5.0 mg/kg.
Foldback DNA is defined by its rapid, concentration-independent renaturation, consistent with intramolecular base pairing of inverted repeat sequences. Foldback DNA, isolated from renatured mouse main band DNA by hydroxyapatite chromatography, is spread for electron microscopy by the formamide isodenaturing technique. A large fraction of the molecules can be recognized as intramolecular "hairpins"--structures in which complementary sequences on a single DNA strand form base-paired "stem" regions analogous to tRNA stems. The stem regions of the hairpins have a wide distribution of lengths, averaging about 1000 base pairs. About 60% of the stem regions terminate in single-stranded loops, ranging from 400 to many thousands of nucleotides in length, while 40% of the hairpins do not have discernible loops. There are about 40,000 hairpin-forming sequences in the main band portion of the mouse haploid genome. They appear to be either clustered in groups or confined to about one third of the DNA, rather than uniformly or randomly distributed. Another large fraction of the molecules seen in foldback DNA consists of linear structures, some of which are probably also hairpins. The electron microscopic results, along with simple theoretical considerations, make possible a better interpretation of our previous studies of the yield and S1 nuclease resistance of mouse foldback DNA.
We describe a method for linking RNA and DNA covalently to finely divided cellulose through a diazotized aryl amine, which reacts primarily with guanine and uracil (thymine) residues of single strands. The high efficiency of coupling and high capacity of the cellulose for nucleic acid make possible a product with as much as 67 mug of nucleic acid per mg of cellulose. The product is especially suitable for hybridization experiments where very low backgrounds are important, and it is stable in 99% formamide at 80 degrees C so that hybridized nucleic acid can be recovered easily. Full length linear Simian Virus 40 (SV40) DNA, produced by cleavage of SV40(I) DNA with S1 nuclease, can be coupled to diazo cellulose with an efficiency of 80-90%, and is effective in hybridization experiments with SV40 DNA, complementary RNA synthesized in vitro from SV40(I) DNA with E. coli RNA polymerase, and the SV40-specific fraction of total RNA from SV40-infected and transformed cells. In these experiments an excess of cellulose-bound DNA was used, and the efficiency of hybridization was about 90% when ribonuclease treatment of the hybrids was omitted.
Rabbit globin mRNA was copied by AMV reverse transcriptase in the presence of various concentrations of deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs). The cDNAs were analyzed by electrophoresis under denaturing conditions in formamide-polyacrylamide gels. Discrete size products were detected, ranging from 65 to 650 nucleotides-that is, up to the full length of the mRNA template. Increasing the concentrations of all four dNTPs stimulated formation of full-length transcripts and made the incomplete copies less abundant. Hybridization and nuclease digestion experiments indicated that the full-size product is indeed a complete transcript of globin mRNA. Similar results were obtained with chorion mRNAs. The possible usefulness of the discrete partial transcripts is discussed.
Nuclear viral RNAs synthesized early in productive infection with adenovirus 2 were analyzed by hybridization to specific viral DNA fragments. Radioactive RNAs were subjected to electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels containing 98% formamide, and the fractionated RNA was hybridized to specific DNA fragments generated by cleavage with endo R-Eco Ri or endo R-Sma l. The viral genes expressed early in infection are located in four different segments of the genome. When nuclear RNA was hybridized to DNA fragments representing each of these segments, discrete RNA size classes were detected. For each of these four regions of the genome, some of the discrete nuclear RNAs were larger than the cytoplasmic mRNAs. As calculated from electrophoretic mobility, the molecular weight of these nuclear RNA size classes ranged from 15% to several fold greater than that of the corresponding cytoplasmic mRNAs. Hybridization-inhibition experiments were performed to analyze the sequences present in one of these larger nuclear transcripts, a 22S RNA transcribed from the left-hand end of the genome. This 22S nuclear RNA was transcribed from the same strand as the viral mRNA, for it contained cytoplasmic sequences; it also contained sequences restricted to the nucleus. The larger nuclear RNAs may serve as precursors to the cytoplasmic viral mRNAs synthesized early in infection.
The 19S and 16S polyoma virus late mRNAs have been separated on sucrose-formamide density gradients and translated in vitro. The 16S RNA codes only for polyoma capsid protein VP1, while the 19S RNA codes in addition for capsid protein VP2. Since the 19S and 16S species have been previously mapped on the viral genome, these results allow us to deduce the location of the sequences coding for VP1 and VP2. Comparison of the chain lengths of the capsid proteins with the size of the viral mRNAs coding for them suggests that VP1 and VP2 are entirely virus-coded. Purified polyoma 19S RNA directs the synthesis of very little VP1 in vitro, although it contains all the sequences required to code for the protein. The initiation site for VP1 synthesis which is located at an internal position on the messenger is probably inactive either because it is inaccessible or because it lacks an adjacent "capped" 5' terminus. Similar inactive internal initiation sites have been reported for other eucarotic viral mRNAs (for example, Semliki forest virus, Brome mosaic virus, and tobacco mosaic virus), suggesting that while eucaryotic mRNAs may have more than one initiation site for protein synthesis, only those sites nearer the 5' terminus of the mRNA are active.
The different species of polyoma virus-spedific RNA molecules present in the cytoplasm of 3T6 cells 30 hr after viral infection have been characterized by molecular hybridization between nonradioactive polyadenlated RNA, fractionated by sedimentation through sucrose-formamide density gradients, and the 32P-labeled separated strands of restriction endonuclease fragments of polyoma DNA. Two relatively abundant RNA molecules, sedimenting at 16S and at 19S, transcribed from the L strand of the viral DNA, as well as a minor 20S species transcribed from the E strand of the DNA, were detected. The most abundant viral transcript, the 16S RNA molecule, was estimated to be complementary to the 22% of the L-strand DNA extending from 47 to 25 map units. The less abundant 19S L DNA strand transcript included all the sequences present in the 16S RNA and mapped between 68 and 25 map units. The minor 20S RNA molecule was tentatively identified as a transcript of the E-strand DNA from the entire early region of the polyoma genome. These three viral RNA molecules together exhaust greater than 95% of the coding capacity of the viral DNA. A small region of the DNA (4-5%), including the origin of DNA replication, does not appear to determine sequences present among the major stable species of vital mRNA.
Nuclei isolated from human cells productively infected with adenovirus 2 have been shown to synthesize four low molecular weight RNA species which hybridize efficiently to viral DNA. One species corresponds to the 5.5S or VA RNA (Ohe, Weissman, and Cooke, 1969), and is designated V156. The other three species are novel and have been designated V200, V140, V130, since they are approximately 200, 140, and 130 nucleotides in length, respectively. These viral RNAs retain their distinct electrophoretic properties after denaturation with formamide. RNA species with electrophoretic mobilities similar to those of the V200, V156, and V140 RNAs have been found in the cytoplasmic fraction of cells at late times after adenovirus infection. In isolated nuclei, the V200, V156, V140, and V130 RNAs are all synthesized by DNA-dependent RNA polymerase III, since synthesis is sensitive to high but not to low concentrations of alpha-amanitin. The synthesis of these low molecular weight RNAs continues for a prolonged period of time in isolated nuclei, suggesting that reinitiation occurs. Adenovirus 2 DNA fragments obtained by digestion with restriction endonucleases Eco RI and Sma I were used to map the location of the DNA sequences which encode the RNAs. All the low molecular weight RNAs hybridized to a region of the genome between o.18 and 0.38 fractional lengths from the left end of the adenovirus genome, suggesting that the respective DNA sequences are clustered. Other nonviral low molecular weight RNAs are synthesized in nuclei isolated from infected cells. These include the cellular 5S rRNA species which was minitored by its hybridization to purified 5S DNA from Xenopus laevis.