Selective inhibition of the anchorage-independent growth of myc-transfected fibroblasts by retinoic acid

Fischer rat 3T3 (FR3T3) fibroblasts transfected with a cellular myc gene can be induced to grow and form colonies in soft agar by treatment either with epidermal growth factor (EGF) alone or with the combination of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and type-beta transforming growth factor (TGF-beta). We now show that induction of anchorage-independent growth by each of these sets of growth factors involves different cellular pathways which can be distinguished by their sensitivity to retinoic acid. Colony formation induced by the combined action of PDGF and TGF-beta is 100-fold more sensitive to inhibition by retinoic acid than is colony formation induced by treatment of the myc-transfected cells with EGF. Moreover, retinoic acid (10(-8) M) is inhibitory for colony growth whenever TGF-beta is present, regardless of whether the effects of TGF-beta are stimulatory, as occurs in the presence of PDGF, or inhibitory, as found in the presence of EGF.     

Amino-acid sequence of a Ca2+ + Mg2+-dependent ATPase from rabbit muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum, deduced from its complementary DNA sequence

We have cloned and sequenced complementary DNA encoding a Ca2+-ATPase of rabbit muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum. We propose a model of the protein which has 3 cytoplasmic domains joined to a set of 10 transmembrane helices by a narrow, penta-helical stalk. In this model, ATP bound to one cytoplasmic domain would phosphorylate an aspartate in an adjoining cytoplasmic domain, inducing translocation of Ca2+ from binding sites on the stalk.     

Sequence homology of the LFA-1 and Mac-1 leukocyte adhesion glycoproteins and unexpected relation to leukocyte interferon

Cell-surface adherence reactions are fundamental to the biology of lymphocytes, monocytes and granulocytes. The lymphocyte function-associated 1 (LFA-1) and macrophage 1 (Mac-1) glycoproteins mediate differing types of adhesion reactions on these cells. LFA-1 participates in T-lymphocyte and natural killer-cell adhesion to target cells, whereas the Mac-1 antigen is identical to the complement receptor type 3, which mediates adhesion of monocytes and granulocytes to C3bi-sensitized particles. Deficiency of these proteins, in a heritable disease, results in multiple adhesion-related leukocyte defects. LFA-1 and Mac-1 resemble one another in overall structure, having alpha-subunits of relative molecular mass (Mr) 180,000 and 170,000, respectively, which are non-covalently associated with beta-subunits of Mr 95,000 in alpha 1 beta 1 complexes. Peptide mapping and immunological cross-reactivity have shown that the beta-subunits are highly related if not identical, but have revealed no similarities between the alpha-subunits. Nonetheless, the shared beta-subunit suggested that LFA-1 and Mac-1 might be members of a protein family containing diversified but evolutionarily related alpha-subunits. Therefore, we examine here the structure of the alpha-subunits by N-terminal amino-acid sequencing. Sequence homology shows that the alpha-subunits are members of a novel leukocyte adhesion protein family, and suggests that their evolution occurred by gene duplication. A search for similarities to previously sequenced proteins reveals a further unexpected homology between LFA-1 and leukocyte (alpha) interferons.     

Non-function of a Moloney murine leukaemia virus regulatory sequence in F9 embryonal carcinoma cells

Moloney murine leukaemia virus (M-MuLV) infection of embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells results in the integration of proviral DNA into the host cell genome, but not in virus production. One suggested explanation for the lack of viral gene expression in EC cells has been methylation of the integrated viral DNA. However, subsequent reports indicated that integration of the M-MuLV DNA occurs soon after infection, but that viral DNA methylation occurs considerably later. Nevertheless, viral gene expression is not observed even at early times. One possible explanation is that certain M-MuLV regulatory sequences do not function in EC cells. We now present evidence which supports this hypothesis.