Biochemical properties of the pathogenesis-related proteins from tobacco

This review describes the discovery and identification of the pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs) from tobacco. In crude leaf extracts the PRs are distinguished from the proteins in uninfected plants by their solubility at pH 3, resistance to a range of proteases, and mobility in polyacrylamide gels upon electrophoresis (PAGE) in non-denaturing conditions. PAGE has been used as a qualitative and semi-quantitative assay for PRs, and their migration in gels made from different acrylamide concentrations has been used to identify charge and size isomers and electrophoretically identical PRs in different tobacco cultivars. The subunit composition and molecular weight (mol. wt) of the four PRs identified first in Xanthi-nc were determined by SDS-PAGE; staining the gels has shown that these same four proteins in Samsun NN did not contain carbohydrate, lipid or nucleic acid, nor were they isozymic forms of twenty five enzymes known to increase in activity following infection with TMV. Evidence suggests that most of the PRs in Xanthi-nc and Samsun NN are extracellular.The purification of several PRs from Xanthi-nc, Samsun NN and other tobaccos is described, as well as their mol. wt, subunit and amino acid composition. PRs 1a, b and c consist of a single polypeptide and have similar mol. wt and amino acid compositions. Antisera prepared against purified Xanthi-nc b₁ protein have been used to determine serological relationships between PRs and form the basis of a very sensitive quantitative assay using ELISA. The regulation of synthesis of some PRs has been shown to involve translational control.     

The genetic control of antibody formation

Studies of the molecular biology of lymphoid cells have markedly increased our understanding of how millions of different antibodies can be synthesized by a single animal. To date, the most detailed understanding has been achieved for the mouse, primarily because of the relatively greater experimental availability of this species. These studies, as well as those involving other species, have shown that the complete genes for antibody polypeptide chains are assembled from disparate genetic elements which are originally widely separated in the genome. The assembly process itself, together with the coding information present in the germ line genetic elements, contributes to the diversity of structure (and thus combining specificities) shown by mature antibody molecules. Specifically, the diversity of structure characteristic of antibody variable regions is due to three distinct mechanisms: innate variability of germ line genes; mismatching of individual gene segments during their somatic rearrangement leading to junctional diversity; and somatic mutation in variable region genetic material during or after the rearrangement. These processes lead to the wide array of combining specificities that permit the humoral immune system of a mature animal to interact with essentially any non-self antigen which it encounters. Complex genetic rearrangements are also responsible for the class switching phenomenon long known to be characteristic of the humoral immune response. A form of homologous recombination between constant region genes, possibly mediated by specific "switching" enzymes, is now believed to be involved in this phenomenon. It is also currently believed that the restriction of gene rearrangement processes to one of the two possible chromosomes of a diploid pair in each cell is responsible for the phenomenon of allelic exclusion that has long been associated with the normal functioning of mammalian B-cells.     

THE ADSORPTION OF LINURON, ATRAZINE AND EPTC BY MODEL ALIPHATIC ADSORBENTS AND SOIL ORGANIC PREPARATIONS

Summary. Model adsorbents were prepared by treating cellulose phosphate powder with a series of alkyltrimethylammonium compounds in which the size of the alkyl group was varied from C₈to C₁₈. The adsorption of linuron, atrazine and EPTC by these materials was found to increase logarithmically with increasing chain length. The extent of the adsorption was large compared with the adsorption of these herbicides by a humic acid and by a preparation made by removing the bulk of the inorganic constituents of a peat soil with a mixture of HCl and HF. Since soil organic matter is thought to contain alkyl groups, it is concluded that the possible influence of such groups should be considered in any discussion of the mechanisms involved in the adsorption of organic molecules by soils.
Adsorption du linuron, de I'atrazine de l'EPTC par des adsorbants de la série aliphatique et des préparations organiques de sol     

THE YIELD AND QUAEITY OF RED BEET SEED AS AFFECTED BY DESICCANT SPRAYS AND HARVEST DATE

Summary. Diquat and sodium monochloroacetate (SMA) were used to desiccate seed crops of red beet in experiments from 1963 to 1965. The seed plants became brown and dry about 7 days after spraying and were then judged suitable for combine harvesting, although this was not done in these experiments. Yields of seed 7 days after spraying were as good as those from the control plants, but were lower than the control yields when harvested 14 days after spraying. In laboratory tests in moist sand at 20° C the percentage of the embryos which germinated was not markedly affected by diquat or SMA treatment. The emergence of seedlings in the field, however, was affected adversely by treatment of the seed crop with 11 and 22 oz/ac of diquat ion in 1963 and by SMA at 20 lb/ac in 1964 and 1965. Diquat at 6·6 oz/ac in 120 gal/ac water in 1964 and 1965 had no serious adverse effects on embryo emergence. Residues of diquat ion in seed varied from 2 to 4 ppm, but the impairment of embryo emergence by diquat was believed to be due to the premature arrest of growth of the seed on the desiccated plants.
It is concluded that when harvesting conditions are poor, desiccants could be valuable.
Influence des traitements dessicants et de la date de récolte sur le rendement et la qualité de la sentence de betterave rouge