Sevenless: a cell-specific homeotic mutation of the Drosophila eye

Each ommatidium in the compound eye of the Drosophila mutant sevenless lacks photoreceptor number seven (R7) from the normal ommatidial complement of eight photoreceptors. A comparison of mutant and normal development reveals that this deficit is caused by the cell-specific transformation of the cell normally fated to produce R7 into a lens-secreting accessory cell, a cone cell.     

Limulus lateral eye: properties of receptor units in the unexcised eye

Single receptor units in the compound eye of the horseshoe crab were illuminated, and their impulse discharges were recorded without removing the eye from the animal. The receptors were spontaneously active in darkness and responded without saturation over a light intensity range of 10(10) to 1. When the eye was excised, the receptors did not discharge in darkness and had an intensity range of 10(5) to 1, as is usually found. Experiments show that these and other differences result from cutting off the blood supply to the eye when it is excised. In addition, the range and shape of the intensity characteristic suggest that more than one receptor mechanism encodes light intensity in this eye.     

Truncated RanGAP encoded by the Segregation Distorter locus of Drosophila

Segregation Distorter (SD) in Drosophila melanogaster is a naturally occurring meiotic drive system in which the SD chromosome is transmitted from SD/SD+ males in vast excess over its homolog owing to the induced dysfunction of SD+-bearing spermatids. The Sd locus is the key distorting gene responsible for this phenotype. A genomic fragment from the Sd region conferred full distorting activity when introduced into the appropriate genetic background by germline transformation. The only functional product encoded by this fragment is a truncated version of the RanGAP nuclear transport protein. These results demonstrate that this mutant RanGAP is the functional Sd product.     

Visual receptor potential: modification by injected current in the limulus lateral eye

The latent period of the light-evoked receptor potential was increased by hyperpolarizing currents injected directly into doubly impaled retinular cells. Indirect hyperpolarization of these cells by injection of hyperpolarizing current into the eccentric cell or other intraommatidial retinular cells either shortened or did not change the latent period. The modification of the latent period may depend upon the direction of current flow across some regions of the membrane system constituting the rhabdomere. The reduction in magnitude of the receptor potential obtained with strong hyperpolarizing currents may also depend upon the direction of current flow. The results support the conclusion that the receptor potential originates in retinular cells within the membrane system of the rhabdomere.     

A distinct potassium channel polypeptide encoded by the Drosophila eag locus.

Many of the signaling properties of neurons and other electrically excitable cells are determined by a diverse family of potassium channels. A number of genes that encode potassium channel polypeptides have been cloned from various organisms on the basis of their sequence similarity to the Drosophila Shaker (Sh) locus. As an alternative strategy, a molecular analysis of other Drosophila genes that were defined by mutations that perturb potassium channel function was undertaken. Sequence analysis of complementary DNA from the ether à go-go (eag) locus revealed that it encodes a structural component of potassium channels that is related to but is distinct from all identified potassium channel polypeptides.     

A component of calcium-activated potassium channels encoded by the Drosophila slo locus.

Calcium-activated potassium channels mediate many biologically important functions in electrically excitable cells. Despite recent progress in the molecular analysis of voltage-activated K+ channels, Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels have not been similarly characterized. The Drosophila slowpoke (slo) locus, mutations of which specifically abolish a Ca(2+)-activated K+ current in muscles and neurons, provides an opportunity for molecular characterization of these channels. Genomic and complementary DNA clones from the slo locus were isolated and sequenced. The polypeptide predicted by slo is similar to voltage-activated K+ channel polypeptides in discrete domains known to be essential for function. Thus, these results indicate that slo encodes a structural component of Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels.     

Presence of lateral eye lens crystallins in the median eye of the american chameleon

With the use of immunofluorescence techniques, gamma globulin antibody specific for the crystallins of Anolis carolinensis lateral eye lens was applied to sections through the median (parapineal) eye of Anolis carolinensis. Only the median eye lens exhibited fluorescence specific for the crystallins; other structures were negative. These results indicate that the lens of the reptilean median eye shares tissue-specific antigenic determinants with the lens of the lateral eye. This suggests a possible evolutionary relation between the two structures, based on biochemical, as well as previously reported anatomical, criteria.     

Pyrrolysine encoded by UAG in Archaea: charging of a UAG-decoding specialized tRNA

Pyrrolysine is a lysine derivative encoded by the UAG codon in methylamine methyltransferase genes of Methanosarcina barkeri. Near a methyltransferase gene cluster is the pylT gene, which encodes an unusual transfer RNA (tRNA) with a CUA anticodon. The adjacent pylS gene encodes a class II aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase that charges the pylT-derived tRNA with lysine but is not closely related to known lysyl-tRNA synthetases. Homologs of pylS and pylT are found in a Gram-positive bacterium. Charging a tRNA(CUA) with lysine is a likely first step in translating UAG amber codons as pyrrolysine in certain methanogens. Our results indicate that pyrrolysine is the 22nd genetically encoded natural amino acid.     

Extrusion and death of DPP/BMP-compromised epithelial cells in the developing Drosophila wing

During animal development, epithelial cell fates are specified according to spatial position by extracellular signaling pathways. Among these, the transforming growth factor beta/bone morphogenetic protein (TGF-beta/BMP) pathways are evolutionarily conserved and play crucial roles in the development and homeostasis of a wide range of multicellular tissues. Here we show that in the developing Drosophila wing imaginal epithelium, cell clones deprived of the BMP-like ligand Decapentaplegic (DPP) do not die as previously thought but rather extrude from the cell layer as viable cysts exhibiting marked abnormalities in cell shape and cytoskeletal organization. We propose that in addition to assigning cell fates, a crucial developmental function of DPP/BMP signaling is the position-specific control of epithelial architecture.     

Metalloregulatory DNA-binding protein encoded by the merR gene: isolation and characterization

The MerR protein mediates the induction of the mercury resistance phenotype in bacteria; it has been isolated in order to study the effects of metal-ion induced changes in the metabolism of prokaryotic cells at the molecular level. After DNA sequences responsible for negative autoregulation were removed, the 16-kilodalton protein was overproduced and purified to more than 90 percent homogeneity by a salt extraction procedure that yields about 5 milligrams of protein per gram of cells. Complementation data, amino terminal analysis, gel filtration, and deoxyribonuclease I protection studies demonstrate that the purified merR gene product is a dimer under nondenaturing conditions and that it binds specifically to DNA, in the presence and absence of mercury, at a palindromic site which is directly between the -10 and -35 regions of the structural genes and adjacent to its own promoter. These initial results indicate that MerR is a DNA-binding metalloregulatory protein that plays a central role in this heavy metal responsive system and they delineate an operator site in the mer operon.     

Transfer of a protein encoded by a single nucleus to nearby nuclei in multinucleated myotubes

Specialized regions of muscle fibers may result from differential gene expression within a single fiber. In order to investigate the range of action of individual nuclei in multinucleated myotubes, C2 myoblasts were transfected to obtain stable cell lines that express a reporter protein that is targeted to the nucleus. Hybrid myotubes were then formed containing one or a few transfected nuclei as well as a large number of nuclei from the parental strain. In order to determine how far the products of a single nucleus extend, transfected nuclei were labeled with [3H]thymidine before fusion and the myotubes were stained to identify the reporter protein. In such myotubes the fusion protein was not confined to its nucleus of origin, but was restricted to nearby nuclei.     

Antigens encoded by the 3'-terminal region of human T-cell leukemia virus: evidence for a functional gene

Antibodies in sera from patients with adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma or from healthy carriers of type I human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) recognize an antigen of approximately 42 kilodaltons (p42) in cell lines infected with HTLV-I. Radiolabel sequence analysis of cyanogen bromide fragments of p42 led to the conclusion that this antigen is encoded in part by LOR, a conserved portion of the "X" region that is flanked by the envelope gene and the 3' long terminal repeat of HTLV-I. It is possible that this novel product mediates the unique transformation properties of the HTLV family.     

Hyperbaric oxygenation: the eye as a limiting factor

In dogs exposed to 100 percent oxygen at 3 atmospheres absolute pressure for more than 4 hours, a characteristic retinal lesion, manifested as the cytoid-body change, occurs. The selectivity of this injury suggests that the eye may be used as a sensitive indicator and as a site for study of oxygen toxicity. The cytoid body, an entity of disputed genesis, was produced experimentally for the first time.     

Lipids of Drosophila: a newly detected lipid in the male

A thin-layer chromatographic analysis of Drosophila melanogaster revealed a lipid to be found almost exclusively in the adult male. The compound or class of compounds having an R(F) close to that of methyl oleate is present in substantial amounts and is located predominantly in the ejaculatory bulb. It appears from genetic studies that the formulation of the lipid is not mediated by the Y chromosome.     

A new HTLV-III/LAV protein encoded by a gene found in cytopathic retroviruses

The DNA of the HTLV-III/LAV group of retroviruses contains certain additional open reading frames that are not found in typical avian or mammalian retroviruses. The role of these sequences in encoding for gene products that may be related to pathogenesis remains to be resolved. An open reading frame whose 5' end overlaps with the pol gene, but is unrelated to the env gene, has been observed in HTLV-III/LAV and visna virus, both cytopathic mammalian retroviruses. Evidence presented here shows that this open reading frame is a bona fide coding sequence of HTLV-III/LAV and that its product, a protein with a molecular weight of 23,000, induces antibody production in the natural course of infection.     

The secondary laticifer differentiation in rubber tree is induced by trichostatin A,an inhibitor of histone acetylation

The secondary laticifer, a specific tissue in the secondary phloem of rubber tree, is differentiated from the vascular cambia. The number of the secondary laticifer in the trunk bark of rubber tree is positively correlated with rubber yield. Although jasmonates have been demonstrated to be crucial in the regulation of secondary laticifer differentiation, the mechanism for the jasmonate-induced secondary laticifer differentiation remains to be elucidated. By using an experimental morphological technique, the present study revealed that trichostatin A (TSA), an inhibitor of histone deacetylation, could induce the secondary laticifer differentiation in a concentration-dependent manner. The results suggest that histone acetylation is essential for the secondary laticifer differentiation in rubber tree.     

Induction of a neuronal proteoglycan by the NMDA receptor in the developing spinal cord

Activation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subclass of glutamate receptors is a critical step in the selection of appropriate synaptic connections in the developing visual systems of cat and frog. Activity-dependent development of mammalian motor neurons was shown to be similarly mediated by activation of the NMDA receptor. The expression of the Cat-301 proteoglycan on motor neurons was developmentally regulated and could be specifically inhibited by blockade of the NMDA receptor at the spinal segmental level. In the adult, Cat-301 immunoreactivity on motor neurons was not diminished by NMDA receptor blockade. The NMDA receptor may regulate the expression of a class of neuronal proteins (of which Cat-301 is one example) that underlie the morphological and physiological features of activity-dependent development.     

Retinal tapetum lucidum: a novel reflecting system in the eye of teleosts

A new type of tapetum lucidum has been found in eyes of bony fishes (teleosts). It is retinal, lying in the processes of the pigment epithelial cells; it has a white appearance and reflects light diffusely. The cell processes are loaded with highly refractile lipid particles; as examined by electron microscopy these are about 400 nanometers in diameter, spherical, and homogeneous. This tapetum lucidum has been found in seven families of teleost fishes occurring in inshore waters and rivers of South Texas, all of which have high turbidity; the correlation indicates a role in dim-light vision.     

Obestatin, a peptide encoded by the ghrelin gene, opposes ghrelin's effects on food intake

Ghrelin, a circulating appetite-inducing hormone, is derived from a prohormone by posttranslational processing. On the basis of the bioinformatic prediction that another peptide also derived from proghrelin exists, we isolated a hormone from rat stomach and named it obestatin-a contraction of obese, from the Latin "obedere," meaning to devour, and "statin," denoting suppression. Contrary to the appetite-stimulating effects of ghrelin, treatment of rats with obestatin suppressed food intake, inhibited jejunal contraction, and decreased body-weight gain. Obestatin bound to the orphan G protein-coupled receptor GPR39. Thus, two peptide hormones with opposing action in weight regulation are derived from the same ghrelin gene. After differential modification, these hormones activate distinct receptors.