The bacteriophage T4 gene nrdB codes for the small subunit of the enzyme ribonucleotide reductase. The T4 nrdB gene was localized between 136.1 kb and 137.8 kb in the T4 genetic map according to the deduced structural homology of the protein to the amino acid sequence of its bacterial counterpart, the B2 subunit of Escherichia coli. This positions the C‐terminal end of the T4 nrdB gene approximately 2 kb closer to the T4 gene 63 than earlier anticipated from genetic recombinational analyses. The most surprising feature of the T4 nrdB gene is the presence of an approximately 625 bp intron which divides the structural gene into two parts. This is the second example of a prokaryotic structural gene with an intron. The first prokaryotic intron was reported in the nearby td gene, coding for the bacteriophage T4‐specific thymidylate synthase enzyme. The nucleotide sequence at the exon‐intron junctions of the T4 nrdB gene is similar to that of the junctions of the T4 td gene: the anticipated exon‐intron boundary at the donor site ends with a TAA stop codon and there is an ATG start codon at the putative downstream intron‐exon boundary of the acceptor site. In the course of this work the denA gene of T4 (endonuclease II) was also located.
Field studies suggest that recent epizootics of hepatic neoplasms in some feral fish populations are associated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure, but attempts to induce liver tumors in these species under laboratory conditions have been unsuccessful. Several studies have shown hepatic neoplasma to be inducible in laboratory fish species following PAH exposure at the free-swimming life stage. However, neither the susceptibility of the fish embryonic life stage to tumor induction by PAHs nor the potential of these carcinogens to induce oncogenic point mutations analogous to those reported in feral fish hepatic tumors have been clearly established. To address this, rainbow trout embryos were exposed by passive water uptake to 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), a potent model PAH in many mammalian tumor protocols. DMBA was rapidly absorbed by trout eggs and metabolized. The major non-polar metabolites identified were 12-hydroxymethyl-7-methylbenz[a]anthracene and 3,4-dihydroxy-3,4-dihydro-DMBA, whereas approximately 25% of the water soluble metabolites were identified as glucuronides by beta-glucuronidase treatment. Embryonic DNA adduction increased with time of DMBA exposure (2.2 +/- 0.3 pmol DMBA-equivalents/mg DNA at 24 h). Liver tumor incidence nine months after DMBA treatment was found to increase with DMBA concentration and exposure period (3.8% at 1 p.p.m./2 h; 23% at 5 p.p.m./2 h; 85% at 5 p.p.m./24 h). Stomach adenomas and nephroblastomas also were observed at low incidence in the DMBA-treated trout. Among 11 hepatic tumors examined, nine carried Ki-ras alleles with activating point mutations in codon 12 (4/11 GGA-->AGA; 4/11 GGA-->GTA) or codon 61 (1/11 CAG-->CTG). This spectrum differs substantially from those reported for DMBA-initiated mouse skin papillomas or hepatic tumors. These results may have important environmental implications because they suggest that even a brief exposure to PAHs during a sensitive stage of development may adversely affect some fish populations. They also indicate considerable variation in DMBA ras gene mutations among species and target organs.
The suspect human hepatocarcinogen aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a well-known potent initiator of hepatic tumors in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Both hepatocellular carcinomas and mixed hepatocellular/cholangiocellular carcinomas are induced by AFB1 in trout, with the mixed form predominating. We previously isolated two c-ras genes from trout liver cDNA, and in the present study we analyzed DNA from 14 AFB1-induced trout liver tumors for point mutations in exon 1 of both genes. Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and oligonucleotide hybridization methods, a high proportion (10/14) of the AFB1-initiated tumor DNAs showed evidence of activating point mutations in the trout c-Ki-ras gene. Of the 10 mutant ras genotypes, seven were codon 12 GGA----GTA transversions, two were codon 13 GGT----GTT transversions, and one was codon 12 GGA----AGA transition. Nucleotide sequence analysis of cloned PCR products from four of these tumor DNAs provided definitive evidence for two codon 12 GGA----GTA mutations, one codon 12 GGA----AGA mutation, and one codon 13 GGT----GTT mutation, in complete agreement with the oligonucleotide hybridization results. No mutations were detected in exon 1 of a second trout ras gene also expressed in liver, nor in DNA from control livers. This is the first report of experimentally induced ras gene point mutations in a lower vertebrate fish model. The results indicate that the hepatocarcinogen AFB1 induces c-Ki-ras gene mutations in trout similar to those in rat liver tumors.
Extract (MM-emia). With the exception of one patient (4) all MM-emiaMethylmalonyl-CoA carbonylmutase (mutasel activity was measured in fibroblast extracts from 15 patients with methylmalonic acidemia and in extracts of postmortem tissues from 6 of these children. Propionate oxidation and synthesis of 5'-deoxyadenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl, the vitamin B I Z coenzyme that is part of the mutase holoenzyme) were measured in intact fibroblasts. Mutase activity was low in the absence of added AdoCbl in fibroblast extracts from both control subjects and patients. When the assay included supplemental AdoCbl, mutase activity increased in the control subjects ( t o 24.0 pmol succinatelmg proteinlmin) and in extracts from eight of the patients (20.8 pmol/mg proteinlmin), but showed almost no change in extracts from the other seven patients (0.16 pmol/mg proteinlmin). We have defined the eight fibroblast lines that showed normal mutase activity in the presence of AdoCbl as "responsive lines" and the other seven lines as "nonresponsive." In the liver or kidney extracts of postmortem tissues. mutase activity responded to AdoCbl supplementation if fibroblast mutase activity from that patient had responded, and failed to respond if fibroblast activity failed to respond. Mean propionate oxidation in intact fibroblasts was much higher in control lines than in either responsive or nonresponsive lines (0.728 vs 0.097 vs 0.080 nmol C0,/106 cells/hr, respectively). AdoCbl synthesis was normal (0.27 pg AdoChl/mg cells wet weight) in nonresponsive fibroblasts but was undetectable ( <0.005 pg/mg cells) in the responsive lines. Thus, the deficiency of mutase activity in responsive fibroblast lines is due to the failure to synthesize significant amounts of AdoCbl, whereas the deficiency in nonresponsive lines is due to some other abnormality, presumably a defect in the mutase apoenzyme. SpeculationFibroblasts can be used to define whether patients with methylmalonic acidemia have an error of vitamin B,, metabolism if both mutase activity and AdoCbl synthesis are measured. The response of fibroblast mutase activity to the addition of AdoCbl reflects accurately the responsiveness of the enzyme in other tissues of the body. If an error of vitamin B,, metabolism is diagnosed with cultured fibroblasts, a prolonged trial of vitamin B,, therapv is warranted in the patient to seek evidence of in virzo responsibeness and clinical benefit from vitamin therapy.individuals exhibit an enzymatic block a t the terminal, vitamin BIZ-dependent methylnialonyl-CoA carbonylmutase (mutase, EC 5.4.99.2) step, either as the result of apoenzyme failure or defective coenzyme synthesis. In the former situation, excretion of methylmalonic acid ( M M A ) does not decrease with massive doses of vitamin B,,. whereas in the latter, significant drops in urinary M M A are noted. Mahoney and coworkers (9) have demonstrated in tissue culture that fibroblasts from one patient who responds to vitamin B,, therapy did not synthesize 5'-deoxyadenosylcobalamin coenzyme adequately. C...
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