Are elicitins cryptograms in plant-Oomycete communications?

Stimulation of plant natural defenses is an important challenge in phytoprotection prospects. In that context, elicitins, which are small proteins secreted by Phytophthora and Pythium species, have been shown to induce a hypersensitive-like reaction in tobacco plants. Moreover, these plants become resistant to their pathogens, and thus this interaction constitutes an excellent model to investigate the signaling pathways leading to plant resistance. However, most plants are not reactive to elicitins, although they possess the functional signaling pathways involved in tobacco responses to elicitin. The understanding of factors involved in this reactivity is needed to develop agronomic applications. In this review, it is proposed that elicitins could interact with regulating cell wall proteins before they reach the plasma membrane. Consequently, the plant reactivity or nonreactivity status could result from the equilibrium reached during this interaction. The possibility of overexpressing the elicitins directly from genomic DNA in Pichia pastoris allows site-directed mutagenesis experiments and structure/function studies. The recent discovery of the sterol carrier activity of elicitins brings a new insight on their molecular activity. This constitutes a crucial property, since the formation of a sterol-elicitin complex is required to trigger the biological responses of tobacco cells and plants. Only the elicitins loaded with a sterol are able to bind to their plasmalemma receptor, which is assumed to be an allosteric calcium channel. Moreover, Phytophthora and Pythium do not synthesize the sterols required for their growth and their fructification, and elicitins may act as shuttles trapping the sterols from the host plants. Sequence analysis of elicitin genes from several Phytophthora species sheds unexpected light on the phylogenetic relationships among the genus, and suggests that the expression of elicitins is under tight regulatory control. Finally, general involvement of these lipid transfer proteins in the biology of Pythiaceae, and in plant defense responses, is discussed. A possible scheme for the coevolution between Phytophthora and tobacco plants is approached.     

Molecular aspects of 2 human urinary glycoproteins with histocompatibility antigen (HLA) serological activity]

Two serologically active urinary glycoproteins (HLA-A 9 and HLA-B 12) were isolated from urine provided by a patient suffering from tubular proteinuria. Their N-terminal sequences were automatically determined. The latter were identical with the sequence of another urinary glycoprotein (protein HC). The relationship between protein HC and the serological activity is discussed.     

Variations au cours de la journée de l'incorporation in vivo de la leucine tritiée dans les protéines du cervelet et du cerveau du jeune rat normal et hypothyroïdien

Summary In the normal and hypothyroid 6-day-old rat, the specific radioactivity (RSA) and the relative RSA (ratio of the RSA to the [³H] leucine concentration of the acido soluble phase) of the cerebral and cerebellar proteins, change during the day synchronally. They show a maximum at 15.00 h and a minimum at 03.00 h. At all stages studied, these values are significantly lower in the hypothyroid animals than in normal ones.     

Biological properties of synthetic Ser4-Arg8-oxytocin (Ile3-Ser4-Arginine vasopressin): Role of the residue No. 4 in the hormone-pressor receptor interaction

Résumé Les propriétés pharmacologiques de la Ser⁴-Arg⁸-ocytocine (Ser⁴-vasotocine) synthétique ont été étudiées. La substitution en position 4 de la glutamine par la sérine diminue considérablement l'activité pressique de la vasotocine, ce qui montre l'importance de cette position dans les interactions entre les hormones neurohypophysaires et le récepteur vasopressique.

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The authors are indebted to Dr.Albert Jöhl (Ciba-Geigy Laboratories) for a sample of synthetic Ser⁴-Arg⁸-oxytocin. They thank Mrs.Christine Gaullier for ther skilled technical assistance.     

Repopulation of thymus,spleen and bone-marrow of irradiated AKR mice injected with normal or irradiated bone-marrow cells

Résumé L'utilisation d'une race de souris (AKR/T1Ald) ne possédant que 38 chromosomes a permis de montrer que les cellules de moelle que l'on injecte à un individu irradié repeuplent directement la moelle, le thymus et la rate du receveur. Si le donneur est irradié, la pénétration des cellules n'est importante que dans la rate du receveur.

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Acknowledgements. This work was supported by grants from the Fonds de la Recherche scientifique fondamentale collective. The helpful assistance of Mr.G. Linden andG. Mattelin is gratefully acknowledged.     

Ultra-remote stereocontrol by conformational communication of information along a carbon chain

Many receptors and allosteric proteins function through binding of a molecule to induce a conformational change, which then influences a remote active site. In synthetic systems, comparable intramolecular information transfer can be effected by using the shape of one part of a molecule to control the stereoselectivity of reactions occurring some distance away. However, the need for direct communication with the reaction site usually limits such remote stereocontrol to distances of not more than about five bond lengths. Cyclic structures overcome this problem by allowing the controlling centre and the reaction site to approach each other, but the information transfer spans only short absolute distances. Truly remote stereocontrol can, however, be achieved with rigid compounds containing amide groups: the conformation of the amides can be controlled by stereogenic centres and responds to that of neighbouring amide groups and in turn influences stereoselective reactions. This strategy has allowed remote stereocontrol spanning 8 (ref. 11) or 9 (ref. 12) bonds. Here we demonstrate stereocontrol over a reaction taking place more than 20 bond lengths from the controlling centre, corresponding to a linear distance of over 2.5 nm. This transmission of information, achieved by conformational changes relayed through the molecule, provides a chemical model of allostery and might serve as a molecular mechanism for communicating and processing information.