CorrectionsBIOCHEMISTRY. For the article ''Interaction of RNA polymerase with forked DNA: Evidence for two kinetically significant intermediates on the pathway to the final complex,'' by Laura Tsujikawa, Oleg V. Tsodikov, and Pieter L. deHaseth, which appeared in number 6, March 19, 2002, of Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (99, 3493-3498; First Published March 12, 2002; 10.1073͞ pnas.062487299), the authors note the following concerning RNA polymerase (RNAP) concentrations. No correction was made for the fraction of RNAP (0.5) that is active in promoter binding. With this correction, the values of K 1 and K app (but not K f ) would increase by about a factor of 2. The relative values would remain essentially unchanged. Also, the legends to Figs. 2, 3, and 5 contain errors pertaining to the symbols used for data obtained with and without heparin challenge, the duration of the challenge, and the concentration of added heparin. The figures and the corrected legends appear below. Fig. 2. Determination of equilibrium affinities by titration of wt Fork with RNAP. The reactions contained 1 nM wt Fork and variable amounts of RNAP as shown and were analyzed by electrophoretic mobility shift immediately (OE; data shown are averages of three independent experiments) or after a challenge with 100 g͞ml heparin for 10 min (F; data shown are averages of four independent experiments). The curves shown reflect the simultaneous errorweighted fits of the data to Eqs. 3 and 4 -7. The parameters are shown in Table 1 (line 1). www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.013667699 Fig. 3. Kinetics of complex formation. RNAP (65 nM) and wt forked DNA (1 nM) were incubated for various time intervals and then complex formation was determined immediately (Ϫheparin) or after a 2-min challenge with 100 g͞ml heparin (ϩheparin). The Ϫheparin data (s) were fit (error-weighted) with Eq. 8 with a 2 ϭ 0 (kaϪ ϭ 0.10 Ϯ 0.01 s Ϫ1 ) and the ϩheparin data (OE) with both single (k aϩ ϭ 0.036 Ϯ 0.004 s Ϫ1 ; thin line) and double-exponential (ka 1 ϭ 0.044 Ϯ 0.002 s Ϫ1 ; ka 2 ϭ (5 Ϯ 3) ϫ 10 Ϫ4 s Ϫ1 ; thick line) equations. Fig. 5.Comparison of the kinetics for formation and dissociation of competitor-resistant complexes between RNAP and wt Fork. Association data were obtained as described in the text and the legend for Fig. 3 except the concentration of forked DNA was 10 nM. Dissociation kinetics were obtained by challenging with 100 g͞ml heparin a mixture of RNAP and forked DNA that had been incubated for 30 min. The curves represent double-exponential fits of the data to Eq. 10. (A) wt RNAP. The observed association rate constants (s) are shown in the legend for Fig. 3; for the slow phase of the dissociation of the wt Fork-wt RNAP complex (F), kd 2 ϭ (1.3 Ϯ 0.2) ϫ 10 Ϫ4 s Ϫ1 . (B) YYW RNAP. The slow phase of the association reaction (F) has a ka 2 ϭ (1.1 Ϯ 0.3) ϫ 10 Ϫ3 s Ϫ1 ; the slow phase of the dissociation reaction (s), a kd 2 ϭ (6 Ϯ 1) ϫ 10 Ϫ4 s Ϫ1 . Fig. 6. BCL-6 preferentially binds to the wild-type exon 1 in Ly1 cells. Both Ly1 and the control Ly7 cells wer...

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Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT1) is the most common form of inherited peripheral neuropathy. Although the disease is genetically heterogeneous, it has been demonstrated that the gene defect is the most frequent type (CMT1A) is the result of a partial duplication of band 17p11.2. Recent studies suggested that the peripheral hypomyelination syndrome in the trembler (Tr) mouse, a possible animal model for CMT1 disease, is associated with a point mutation in the peripheral myelin protein-22 gene (pmp-22). Expression of pmp-22 is particularly high in Schwann cells, and the protein is found in peripheral myelin. We now report that the human PMP-22 gene is contained within the CMT1A duplication. We therefore, suggest that increased dosage of the PMP-22 gene may be the cause of CMT1A neuropathy.

Ten polymorphic loci, located in a 1 Mb interval across the cystic fibrosis locus, were analyzed on normal and mutant CFTR genes. A different distribution of haplotype backgrounds among normal and mutant CFTR genes was observed. With exception of the D7S8 locus, the three most common mutations, delta F508, G542X and N1303K, were found on an identical haplotype background. In agreement with the observed linkage equilibrium between the Q1463Q and D7S8 loci, both alleles at the D7S8 locus were found on delta F508 CFTR genes. However, the G542X and N1303K mutations, which have been estimated to be at least 35000 years old, were found to be associated with a single allele at the D7S8 locus. Absence of recombination between the D7S8 and Q1463Q loci was also observed on normal CFTR genes with this haplotype background. At the Tn locus in intron 8, allele 9 known to result in very efficient splicing was associated with the most frequent mutations. At the M470V locus, located in a conserved region of the first nucleotide binding fold, the amino acid methionine was found to be associated with the frequent mutations, in particular with mutations located in one of the two nucleotide binding folds which are generally known as severe mutations with regard to exocrine pancreatic function. On mutant CFTR gene, this locus was in complete association with the centromeric D9 locus, in the absence of a complete association with the intervening loci.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

We have previously shown a duplication in 17p11.2 with probe pVAW409R3 (D17S122) in 12 families with hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy type I (HMSN I) or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1 (CMT1). In this study we aimed to estimate the size of the duplication using additional polymorphic DNA markers located in 17pll.2-p12. Two other 17pll.2 markers, pVAW412R3 (Dl7S125) and pEW401 (D17S61), were found to be duplicated in all HMSN I patients tested. Furthermore, all HMSN I patients showed the same duplication junction fragment with probe pVAW409R3. On the genetic map the duplicated markers span a minimal distance of 10 cM while on the physical map they are present in the same Nod restriction fragment of 1150 kb. The discrepancy between the genetic and physical map distances suggests that the 17pl1.2 region is extremely prone to recombinational events. The high recombination rate may be a contributing factor to the genetic instability of this chromosomal region.

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The gene coding for the amyloid protein, a component of neuritic plaques found in brain tissue from patients with Alzheimer's disease, has been localized to chromosome 21, and neighbouring polymorphic DNA markers segregate with Alzheimer's disease in several large families. These data, and the association of Alzheimer's disease with Down's syndrome, suggest that overproduction of the amyloid protein, or production of an abnormal variant of the protein, may be the underlying pathological change causing Alzheimer's disease. We have identified a restriction fragment length polymorphism of the A4-amyloid gene, and find recombinants in two Alzheimer's disease families between Alzheimer's disease and the A4-amyloid locus. This demonstrates that the gene for plaque core A4-amyloid cannot be the locus of a defect causing Alzheimer's disease in these families. These data indicate that alterations in the plaque core amyloid gene cannot explain the molecular pathology for all cases of Alzheimer's disease.