Timing of single daily meal influences relations among human circadian rhythms in urinary cyclic AMP and hemic glucagon, insulin and iron.

Relations among circadian rhythms in serum iron, glucagon and insulin and urinary cyclic AMP excretion differ drastically when diurnally active, nocturnally resting human adults consume all daily food for one week as breakfast only and for another week as dinner only - a finding of interest to diverse fields, e.g., for optimizing certain kinds of therapy or for a better utilization of calories.     

A novel ubiquitin ligase is deficient in Fanconi anemia

Fanconi anemia is a recessively inherited disease characterized by congenital defects, bone marrow failure and cancer susceptibility. Cells from individuals with Fanconi anemia are highly sensitive to DNA-crosslinking drugs, such as mitomycin C (MMC). Fanconi anemia proteins function in a DNA damage response pathway involving breast cancer susceptibility gene products, BRCA1 and BRCA2 (refs. 1,2). A key step in this pathway is monoubiquitination of FANCD2, resulting in the redistribution of FANCD2 to nuclear foci containing BRCA1 (ref. 3). The underlying mechanism is unclear because the five Fanconi anemia proteins known to be required for this ubiquitination have no recognizable ubiquitin ligase motifs. Here we report a new component of a Fanconi anemia protein complex, called PHF9, which possesses E3 ubiquitin ligase activity in vitro and is essential for FANCD2 monoubiquitination in vivo. Because PHF9 is defective in a cell line derived from an individual with Fanconi anemia, we conclude that PHF9 (also called FANCL) represents a novel Fanconi anemia complementation group (FA-L). Our data suggest that PHF9 has a crucial role in the Fanconi anemia pathway as the likely catalytic subunit required for monoubiquitination of FANCD2.     

Censored distribution techniques in analysis of toxicological data

Zusammenfassung Es werden Methoden der Dosis-Effekt-Analyse verglichen, die es erlauben, nicht mehr gemessene Werte in höheren Dosisbereichen zu schätzen. Obwohl die Daten eng beieinander liegen, ergab die vonGupta ⁵ 1952 entwickelte Methode zur Bestimmung von Mittelwerten befriedigende Schätzungen, verifiziert durch die Übereinstimmung innerhalb der Gruppen.

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Supported by N.I.H. Grants No. FR-05526 and No. C-6516, and National Air Pollution Control Administration Contract, CPA 70-17.     

A deletion in the gene encoding sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3 (Smpd3) results in osteogenesis and dentinogenesis imperfecta in the mouse

The mouse mutation fragilitas ossium (fro) leads to a syndrome of severe osteogenesis and dentinogenesis imperfecta with no detectable collagen defect. Positional cloning of the locus identified a deletion in the gene encoding neutral sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3 (Smpd3) that led to complete loss of enzymatic activity. Our knowledge of SMPD3 function is consistent with the pathology observed in mutant mice and provides new insight into human pathologies.     

Ethidium bromide inhibits appearance of closed circular viral DNA and integration of virus-specific DNA in duck cells infected by avian sarcoma virus.

The DNA of avian sarcoma virus assumes a closed circular configuration before integration into the host cell chromosomal DNA. Ethidium bromide reduces the formation of superhelical viral DNA and concurrently blocks integration of the viral genome. Inhibition of integration of viral DNA results in the inhibition of virus replication.