Distribution of 5 S RNA in the liver of the South American rattlesnake,Crotalus durissus terrificus

Résumé Nous avons étudié la distribution du RNA 5S dans le foie du serpent sud-américainCrotalus durissus terrificus. Nos résultats ont montré que le RNA 5S de ce reptile est associé à la sous-unité ribosomique 60 S. D'autre part, la mobilité electrophorétique de ce RNA de faible poids moléculaire est la même que celle d'Escherichia coli et de pupe d'Apis mellifera L.

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Acknowledgment. We are greatly indebted to Dr.T. Yamane for a supply of 5S RNA ofEscherichia coli.     

Experimentelle Untersuchungen zum Wirkungsmechanismus der beiden entwicklungsphysiologisch aktiven Fraktionen des «Gehirnhormons» der Insekten (Aktivationsfaktor I und II) auf die Prothoracaldrüse

Summary 2 prothoracotropical factors (activation factor I and II) have been obtained by gel filtration techniques from brains and corpora cardiaca of the cockroachPeriplaneta americana. In contrast to activation factor II, activation factor I caused significant influence of RNA synthesis. The RNA pattern of prothoracic glands stimulated by activation factor I as demonstrated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis consists of different kinds of RNA. Short time incubation revealed effects on sRNA synthesis, while long time incubation demonstrated predominantly increase of ribosomal RNA synthesis. Measurements of the membrane potential of the prothoracic gland cells of the wax mothGalleria mellonella indicated an increase by activation factor II; activation factor I was without any visible effect. Our results demonstrate for the first time that the two activation factors induce different effects at cellular level.

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Für technische Unterstützung danken wir FräuleinA. Zinsser und FrauR. Meissner.

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Durchgeführt mit Mitteln des Ministeriums für Wissenschaft und Technik und mit Unterstützung durch die Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig.     

Untersuchungen über stabile und während der frühen Quellungsstadien neu synthetisierte Poly(A)-RNA vonAgrostemma-Samen

Summary RNA isolated from dry embryos ofAgrostemma githago seeds contains poly(A)-sequences, but in very small amounts. In the early phase of imbibition, an intensive synthesis of poly(A)-containing RNA is brought about. The importance of this synthesis of poly(A)-RNA is discussed.

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Herrn Dr.E. Serfling (Gatersleben, DDR) danke ich für methodische Hinweise und für die Überlassung einiger Chemikalien.     

Über Struktur und Aktivität der den H2O2-Zerfall katalysierenden Cu2+-Komplexe. — VI. Differenzierung von nativer RNS und nativer DNS bzw. denaturierter DNS auf Grund der katalytischen Eigenschaften

Summary The catalysis of H₂O₂ decomposition by Cu²⁺-complexes of RNA and DNA has been investigated. It is shown that both complexes decompose H₂O₂, but only the Cu²⁺-RNA-system shows peroxidative activity too, e.g. only in this case the nucleotide bases are degraded. Thermal denaturation of DNA also leads to a Cu²⁺-complex with peroxidative activity, the latter being dependent on the degree of denaturation.

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V. Mitteilung:S. Petri, H. Sigel undH. Erlenmeyer, Helv. chim. Acta49, 1778 (1966).

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12. Mitteilung überMetallionen und H ₂ O ₂; 11. Mitteilung:H. Ch. Curtius, P. Anders, R. Zell, H. Sigel undH. Erlenmeyer, Helv. chim. Acta49, 2256 (1966).     

Arabinose nucleoside triphosphates are no inhibitors for DNA-dependent RNA polymerases

Summary 1--d-arabinofuranosylcytosine-5-triphosphate and 9--d-arabinofuranosyladenosine-5-triphosphate were found to have no inhibitory potency for both mammalian DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II andE. coli DNA-dependent RNA polymerase.     

Antiviral substances in starfish

Zusammenfassung Eine Gruppe von teilweise chemisch charakterisierten Verbindungen, welche die Vermehrung des Influenza-Virus in Huhnembryo-Test verhindern, wurde aus den SeesternenAsterias forbesi, Asterias pectinifera undAcanthaster planci isoliert.

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This research was supported by the N.S.F. Sea-Grant Program. The author thanks Dr.H. W. Younken Jr. and Dr.L. R. Worthen for their encouragement and suggestions throughout this work. Thanks are also due to Dr.Hashimoto, Tokyo University, and Dr.Yasumoto, Tohoku University, for the specimen ofAsterina pectinifera, and Dr.B. M. Branham, University of Hawaii, forAcanthaster planci sample. The antiviral test was carried out by Dr.O. Liu, Northeast Shellfish Sanitation Research Center, D. H. E. W., Narragansett, Rhode Island, to whome the author expresses his sincere gratitude.     

The composition of extracted nuclei of developing frog embryos used as template material for RNA synthesis in vitro

Résumé Les quantités de protéines basiques et résiduelles, de phosphoprotéine et ded-RNA se trouvant dans les noyaux extraits d'embryons deRana pipiens diminuent en passant du stade de blastula à celui de la larve. Cette évidence suggère que l'accumulation progressive des protéines ou dud-RNA, en masquant le DNA n'offre pas le contrôle principal de la synthèse de l'RNA in vivo. Une réduction de la quantité de l'endogène RNA polymerase fonctionelle incluse dans la protéine résiduelle explique mieux la réduction de la synthèse dud-RNA dans les stades plus avancés du développement embryonnaire.     

Influence of gonadal hormones on the devleoping amphibian brain: Changes in ribonucleic acid,protein and activity levels of acetylcholinesterase on in vivo administration of progesterone

Summary The levels of RNA and protein and activity levels of acetylcholinesterase decreased in the brain of developing tadpoles of 13–15-day-oldBufo melanostictus on in vivo administration of progesterone (200 g/0.1 ml refined peanut oil). These changes suggest decelaration in the activity of the protein-synthetic machinery in progesterone administered animals.Acknowledgment: I am thankful to Dr.A. R. Kasturi Bai, Head of the Department of Zoology, Bangalore University for offering facilities to conduct the study.     

Über den Einbau von Dipeptiden in Ergotoxin-Alkaloide

Summary l-Valyl-l-leucine-U-¹⁴C,l-valyl-l-proline-U-¹⁴C-lactam andl-leucyl-l-proline-U-¹⁴C-lactam were administered to submerged cultures of an ergotoxine-mixture-producing strain ofClaviceps purpurea. The added dipeptides were split by the fungus into the corresponding amino acids prior to incorporation. Apparently dipeptides are no immediate precursors for the peptide side-chain of ergotoxinealkaloids.     

Gene-enzyme relationships in the tryptophan pathway ofSchizosaccharomyces pombe

Zusammenfassung Die Gen-Enzym-Beziehungen der Tryptophanbiosynthese vonSchizosaccharomyces pombe wurden untersucht. Die Trp-Synthetase und die PR-Transferase werden je von einem eigenen Gen codiert (trp2 resp.trp4). Dertrp1 Locus ist sowohl für die PRA-Isomerase als auch die InGP-Synthetase verantwortlich. Zusätzlich ist dieser Locus zusammen mit demtrp3 Locus an der Bildung einer aktiven AA-Synthetase beteiligt.

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The authors wish to thank ProfessorU. Leupold, Dr.R. Fluri, and Dr.H. Wyssling, Bern, and ProfessorR. Hütter, Zürich for their interest and help. This investigation was supported by grants of the Swiss National Foudation.     

The role of glycine in the biosynthesis of a terpene

Zusammenfassung Mit doppelt markiertem Glycin konnte gezeigt werden, dass das Kohlenstoffatom der Methylgruppe viel besser als das Kohlenstoffatom der Karboxylgruppe in die Isoprengruppe des Ophiobolins B ausCochiobolus miyabeanus eingebaut wird. Die Radioaktivität wird in Ophiobolin B eingebaut, wenn die folgenden Verbindungen verwendet werden: [3-¹⁴C]-Serin, [¹⁴C-Methyl]-Sarcosin, [¹⁴C-Methyl]-Methionin, und [¹⁴C] Formate.

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a)Studies on Biosynthesis. Part V. for Part IV, seeM. Anchel, A. K. Bose, K. S. Khanchandani andP. T. Funke, Phytochem.9, 2135 (1970). b) Presented in part at the 3rd Natural Products Symposium, University of West Indies, Jamaica, January 1970.

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The support of this research by Stevens Institute of Technology is gratefully acknowledged. We wish to thank Dr.J. H. Davis and Prof.L. Z. Pollara for their interest and encouragement and Drs.H. Levy, P. T. Funke, M. S. Manhas, P. K. Bhattacharyya andM. Anchel for valuable discussions and help with some of the experiments. We are particularly thankful to Dr.L. Canonica for providing us with cultures ofCochiobolus miyabeanus that made our work on ophiobolin B possible.     

Arginine-vasopressin,lysine-vasopressin,and oxytocin,C14-labeled in the glycine residue

Zusammenfassung Die Synthese von Arginin-Vasopressin, Lysin-Vasopressin und Oxytocin, deren Glycinrest eine¹⁴C-Markierung trägt, wird mit Hilfe der Festkörpermethode nachMerrifield beschrieben.

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Supported by National Institutes of Health grants No. AM-13567 and No. AM-10080 and the Atomic Energy Commission.

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Abbreviations follow the rules of the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature in Biochemistry5, 2485 (1966). All optically-active amino acids are ofl-configuration. The following additional abbreviations were used: N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (OSu), ethanol (EtOH), methanol (MeOH), acetic acid (AcOH),n-butanol (n-BuOH), pyridine (Pyr) and N,N-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCI). Protected peptides and hormones were visualized on thinlayer plates according to the procedure byH. Zahn andE. Rexroth, Z. analyt. Chem.148, 181 (1955). The biological activities of the hormones were measured against the U.S.P. Posterior Pituitary Reference Standard; the four-point design was used for these bioassays and standard errors were calculated according to the method ofC. I. Bliss,The Statistics of Bioassay (Academic Press, New York, N.Y. 1952).

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Acknowledgments. The authors wish to thank Mr.D. Schlesinger for some of the amino acid derivatives used, and MissM. Wahrenburg and Mrs.A. Silverman for bioassays.     

Locomotory energetics in a marsupial (Antechinomys spenceri) and a rodent (Notomys alexis)

Summary Steady state oxygen consumption was compared in a rodentNotomys alexis and a marsupialAntechinomys spenceri. The marsupial was found to diverge from predicted eutherian energetic patterns.N. alexis appears to use energy storage as a significant part of the step cycle before becoming bipedal. Aerobic scope and heat storage during running are similar in both species.We thankP. Baverstock, C. Watts andH. Aslin for the use of theAntechinomys, Ms.B. Whaite for assistance. Supported by Grants from the Nuffield Foundation, the Ingram Trust and the Flinders University Research Committee to RVB.     

Aflatoxin production in some varieties of soybeans (Glycine max L.)

Zusammenfassung Es wurden 5 Varietäten vonGlycine max. mit 2 toxinerzeugenden Aspergillusstämmen beimpft und auf ihre Aflatoxinbildung untersucht. Alle Varietäten lieferten Substrate, die zur Biosynthese messbarer Aflatoxinmengen durch beide Aspergillusstämme führten.

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Acknowledgements. The authors are extremely grateful to Dr.C. Gopalan, Director National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, for his keen interest and valuable suggestions. The authors are also indebted to Dr.L. A. Goldblatt of New Orleans for the generou supply of pure aflatoxin standards; to Dr.S. Raghavendra Rao, Regional Research Laboratory, Hyderabad, for the culture ofA. parasiticus (NRRL 2999) and to Dr.H. Murakami of Tokyo for the culture ofA. toxicarius (RIB 4002).     

Interspecific protoplast fusion and complementation inaspergilli

Summary Protoplast fusion and nutritional complementation between auxotrophic mutants ofAspergillus nidulans andAspergillus fumigatus has been achieved. It is concluded that the nutritional complementation may be due to interspecific aneuploidy.The authors thank Mr.L. Manczinger and Mr.Gy. Oravecz for producing and characterizing the required mutants; Dr.D. Goldstein for providing the strainA. nidulans R. 21; Dr.D. Kerridge for the wild-type strainA. fumigatus 5085; and Mr.L. Nagy, MissÉva Sziráki and MissMária Pölös for skilful technical assistance.     

Newton's early computational method for dynamics

On December 13, 1679Newton sent a letter toHooke on orbital motion for central forces, which contains a drawing showing an orbit for a constant value of the force. This letter is of great importance, because it reveals the state ofNewton's development of dynamics at that time. Since the first publication of this letter in 1929,Newton's method of constructing this orbit has remained a puzzle particularly because he apparently made a considerable error in the angle between successive apogees of this orbit. In fact, it is shown here thatNewton's implicitcomputation of this orbit is quite good, and that the error in the angle is due mainly toan error of drawing in joining two segments of the oribit, whichNewton related by areflection symmetry. In addition, in the letterNewton describes quite correctly the geometrical nature of orbits under the action of central forces (accelerations) which increase with decreasing distance from the center. An iterative computational method to evaluate orbits for central forces is described, which is based onNewton's mathematical development of the concept of curvature started in 1664. This method accounts very well for the orbit obtained byNewton for a constant central force, and it gives convergent results even for forces which diverge at the center, which are discussed correctly inNewton's letterwithout usingKepler's law of areas.Newton found the relation of this law to general central forces only after his correspondence withHooke. The curvature method leads to an equation of motion whichNewton could have solvedanalytically to find that motion on a conic section with a radial force directed towards a focus implies an inverse square force, and that motion on a logarithmic spiral implies an inverse cube force.     

Diketopiperazines containing L-proline from Streptomyces lavendulae and their stereochemistry in solution

Summary l-Valyl-l-proline (I),l-leucyl-l-proline (II),l-phenylalanyl-l-proline (III) andl-isoleucyl-l-proline (IV) anhydrides were isolated from the cultures ofStreptomyces lavendulae No. 314 and, on the basis of¹³C-NMR and CD spectra, their stereochemistry in solution is described.Acknowledgments. The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to Prof. H. Ogura, Kitasato University, for kind supply of the authenticl-valyl-l-proline anhydride and to Mr. A. Takakuwa, JASCO, for measuring the CD curves with J-40 automatic recording spectropolarimeter.     

Spontaneous occurrence of aneuploidy in somatic cells ofRana tigrina (Ranidae: Anura)

Zusammenfassung Es wurde Aneuploidie bis zu drei Chromosomen in den männlichen Körperzellen vonRana tigrina (Ranidae: Anura: Amphibia) beobachtet. Die Variationen betreffen:2n–3, 2n–2, 2n–1, 2n, 2n+1, 2n+2 und2n+3.

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Acknowledgments. My sincere thanks are due to Dr.S. P. Sharma, Zoology Department, for facilities; to Mr.R. K. Pillai and MissMadhu for technical assistance with preparations and Drs.K. K. Rishi andL. K. Vats for helpful suggestions.     

Macronuclear response ofParamaecium multimicronucleatum tol-lysine

Summary A strain ofParamaecium multimicronucleatum was exposed to a medium containingl-lysine; the concentrations of the amino acid were 0.1%, 0.5% and 1.0% for different sets of experiments. In these two latter concentrations, the macronucleus of the ciliate broke down into innumerable small fragments, the microspheres. The micronuclei remained inert. The microspheres left the body of paramaecium as cell-free, self-duplicating entities constituted of DNA and RNA and enveloped by a protein coat. They had no nuclear membrane and they resembled the prokaryotes. Grown in culture medium with 0.1% horse serum, the microspheres transformed into small amoebae having typical eukaryotic features. These amoebae maintained a typical cyst-trophic cycle during the successive sub-cultures; they had no similarity with the paramaecia.     

Der Mathematiker Abraham de Moivre (1667–1754)

Summary Before examining de Moivre's contributions to the science of mathematics, this article reviews the source materials, consisting of the printed works and the correspondence of de Moivre, and constructs his biography from them.The analytical part examines de Moivre's contributions and achievements in the study of equations, series, and the calculus of probability. De Moivre contributed to the continuing development from Viète to Abel and Galois of the theory of solving equations by means of constructing particular equations, the roots of which can be written in the form . He also discovered the reciprocal equations. In the course of this work de Moivre discovered an expression equivalent to (cos +i sin ) ⁿ =cos n +i sin n and, following Cotes, he succeeded in expressing the nth roots of unity in trigonometric form.In the theory of series, de Moivre developed a polynomial theorem encom-passing Newton's binomial theorem and, in particular, a theorem of recurrent series useful in the calculus of probability.The demands of the calculus of probability led de Moivre to an approximation for the binomial coefficients for large values of n. The interaction between de Moivre and James Stirling, particularly in regard to the asymptotic series for log (n!), is treated at length. This work supplied the foundation for de Moivre's limit theorem for the binomial distribution.The calculus of probability, which occupied him from 1708 onward, became in time ever more the center of de Moivre's inquiries. Proceeding from contemporary collections of gambling exercises, de Moivre, by introducing an explicit measure of probability for the so-called Laplace experiments, found the beginnings of a theory of probability. De Moivre expanded the classic application of probability calculus to games of chance by addressing himself to the problem of annuities and by adopting Halley's work with its conception of Probability of life. De Moivre was the first to publish a mathematically formulated law for the decrements of life derived from mortality tables.

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Abkürzungen a.a.O. am angegebenen Ort = Verweis auf das nach Verfassern alphabetisch geordnete Literaturverzeichnis. Eine vor a.a.O. in runden Klammern angegebene Zahl kennzeichnet die entsprechende Nummer der im Literaturverzeichnis aufgeführten Arbeiten eines Autors. - AC Ars conjectandi = Jakob Bernoulli (4) a.a.O. - AE Acta Eruditorum - a.S. alter Stil⁴⁷ - BM Bibliotheca Mathematica - DMV Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung - JL Journal Literaire - MA Miscellanea Analytica, London 1730 - n.S. neuer Stil⁴⁷ - PT Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London - r.F. rekurrente Folge - r.R. rekurrente Reihe - SMA Miscellaneis Analyticis Supplementum, London 1730 - v. veröffentlicht (nur im Briefverzeichnis verwendet) Prof. Dr. Kurt Vogel zum 80. Geburtstag Vorgelegt von J. E. Hofmann