Phenotypic expression in E. coli of a DNA sequence coding for mouse dihydrofolate reductase.

The construction and analysis of bacterial plasmids that contain and phenotypically express a mammalian genetic sequence are described. Such plasmids specify a protein that has enzymatic properties, immunological reactivity and molecular size characteristic of the mouse dihydrofolate reductase, and render host cells resistant to the antimetabolic drug trimethoprim.     

中国古代的置闰法：一个概率问题

概述了中国传统历法中置闰算法的沿革,特别是比较了早期历法中置闰算法的异同。指出在推算闰月可能发生的位置时,《三统历》（公元前１０４年）采用以中气推闰,《后汉四分历》（８５年）选择以经朔推闰,而《大衍历》（７２４年）则设计出以气盈朔虚推闰,并推导出按照平气平朔置闰时,闰月出现位置的概率计算公式,对于大闰周或无闰财的历法而言按推算结果得本月置闰的概率为０．４５３５,前一个月置闰的概率为０．５４１３,前两个月置闰的概率为０．００５２。     

Expected change: U.S. recombinant DNA guidelines

Continuing the trend towards relaxing controls on recombinant DNA research, the National Institutes of Health published revised guidelines in the Federal Register of 21 April 1982. Although the existing system of mandatory controls and institutional biosafety committees is retained, no class of experiments will be totally prohibited, and the guidelines dealing with containment levels have been greatly simplified.     

Nuclear cataract caused by a lack of DNA degradation in the mouse eye lens

The eye lens is composed of fibre cells, which develop from the epithelial cells on the anterior surface of the lens. Differentiation into a lens fibre cell is accompanied by changes in cell shape, the expression of crystallins and the degradation of cellular organelles. The loss of organelles is believed to ensure the transparency of the lens, but the molecular mechanism behind this process is not known. Here we show that DLAD ('DNase II-like acid DNase', also called DNase IIbeta) is expressed in human and murine lens cells, and that mice deficient in the DLAD gene are incapable of degrading DNA during lens cell differentiation--the undigested DNA accumulates in the fibre cells. The DLAD-/- mice develop cataracts of the nucleus lentis, and their response to light on electroretinograms is severely reduced. These results indicate that DLAD is responsible for the degradation of nuclear DNA during lens cell differentiation, and that if DNA is left undigested in the lens, it causes cataracts of the nucleus lentis, blocking the light path.     

新型复合插层有机膨润土的制备及脱色性能

用阳离子有机改性剂十六烷基三甲基溴化铵(CTMAB)和阳离子聚丙烯酰胺(CPAM)复合插层改性钠基膨润土,分析了改性膨润土的结构,研究了改性剂质量浓度及二次改性时间对复合插层膨润土脱色效果的影响.结果表明,CTMAB用量为0.6离子交换容量CEC和CPAM质量浓度为0.5 g.L-1,二次插层反应时间为12.0 h时,有机膨润土对模拟染料废水和实际印染废水的脱色效果最佳.     

Aberrant DNA methylation patterns in cultured mouse embryos

Mouse early embryos undergo genome-wide demethylation and remethylation events during pre-implantation development. Abnormal methylation reprogramming is thought to be associated with development arrest. Using immunofluorescence staining with an antibody against 5-methylcytosine (MeC), we examined the genome methylation patterns of mouse embryos cultured in vitro. The results did not show the difference in staining patterns between development-blocked two-cell embryos that cultured in vitro and the two-cell embryos that were freshly collected from the donor mice. But in vitro-arrested morulae displayed a strong positive staining when compared to the morulae freshly collected from the donor mice. At the blastocyst stage, although most embryos showed the expected methylation patterns, with highly stained inner cell mass (ICM) and weekly stained trophectoderm (TE), a proportion of embryos were dimly stained in both ICM and TE. These results indicated that the methylation profile of the embryos could be changed by culturing in vitro when the embryos were in the transition from morulae to blastocyst.     

Cell lineage-specific undermethylation of mouse repetitive DNA

Several distinct cell lineages are established during mouse embryogenesis. The trophectoderm and primitive endoderm give rise to extraembryonic structures alone, while the primitive ectoderm becomes the fetus proper. Recent studies suggest that the levels of DNA modification are lower in inactive X chromosomes from extraembryonic tissues than in embryonic and adult somatic tissues. Using HpaII/MspI isoschizomers, Southern blots and cloned probes, we show here that repetitive DNA sequences from all derivatives of the two extraembryonic lineages, trophectoderm and primitive endoderm, are substantially undermethylated compared with primitive ectoderm derivatives. This contrasts with the highly methylated state of these repetitive elements observed in adult somatic tissues. Specific demethylation or inhibition of de novo methylation, or a combination of both mechanisms, may be involved. These findings suggest that elements of gene regulation dependent on DNA modification may be different in extraembryonic cell lineages.