Die biologische Bedeutung der Vitamine

Summary The vital importance of the vitamins resides in theircoferment function, which enables them to catalyse enzymatic processes in living tissues. The term coferment is used in this connection to designate organic compounds of relatively low molecular weight, which in conjunction with the specific proteinous apoferments bring about the transformation of definite substrates. The vitamins are, however, catabolized like ordinary substrates when they come into contact with enzymatic systems in which they have no coferment function. This explains why normal life cannot be sustained, if the living organisms do not receive asnutritional factors the vitamins which they cannot synthesize. From a biochemical point of view not only exogenous hypo- or avitaminoses but all pathological changes may be regarded as the sequelae of disturbances in one or several enzymatic systems. The vitamins may exert a regulating influence also in these enzymatic disturbances which are not directly caused by vitamin deficiency. In such cases they will act asrèmedies.     

Maize HapMap2 identifies extant variation from a genome in flux

Whereas breeders have exploited diversity in maize for yield improvements, there has been limited progress in using beneficial alleles in undomesticated varieties. Characterizing standing variation in this complex genome has been challenging, with only a small fraction of it described to date. Using a population genetics scoring model, we identified 55 million SNPs in 103 lines across pre-domestication and domesticated Zea mays varieties, including a representative from the sister genus Tripsacum. We find that structural variations are pervasive in the Z. mays genome and are enriched at loci associated with important traits. By investigating the drivers of genome size variation, we find that the larger Tripsacum genome can be explained by transposable element abundance rather than an allopolyploid origin. In contrast, intraspecies genome size variation seems to be controlled by chromosomal knob content. There is tremendous overlap in key gene content in maize and Tripsacum, suggesting that adaptations from Tripsacum (for example, perennialism and frost and drought tolerance) can likely be integrated into maize.     

Large-scale purification of hepatitis B surface antigen using affinity chromatography

Summary Large-scale purification of hepatitis B surface antigen, applicable to the preparation of potential vaccines for prevention of hepatitis B, is described. The method involves the following steps: precipitation of serum with polyethylene glycol 6000, affinity chromatography on concanavalin A-Sepharose and on -aminononyl-Sepharose, and isopycnic centrifugation.This study was supported by grant 09011 from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. We thank Dr. B. Hollinger for testing HB_sAg samples by a complement fixation test.