Presence of gene for beta globin in homozygous beta0 thalassaemia.

In one southern Italian and one Pakistani patient with homozygous beta0 thalassaemia in which no detectable beta-globin synthesis occurs and no beta-globin messenger RNA is found, the gene for beta globin has been shown to be present using complementary DNA. This demonstrates that for these patients the imbalance in chain synthesis is not attributable to a gene deletion.     

Can the product of the theta gene be a real globin?

A new member (theta 1, or psi alpha) of the alpha-globin gene family has recently been identified in a number of species. In higher primates the theta 1 gene has all the structural features apparently necessary for expression, and it appears to have long been under strong selective constraints which suggests that it could still be, or recently have been, a functional gene. No corresponding 'globin' has yet been identified, however. In some other species, galago and rabbit for example, the theta 1 and psi alpha genes have accumulated enough inactivating mutations for them to be considered genuine pseudogenes. Horses also have an alpha-like gene (psi alpha), in a 3' position identical to the other species in relation to the functional alpha genes, and this also appears to have the elements required for a functional gene. The predicted amino-acid sequence, however, suggests that any 'globin' product is likely to be non-viable because it has a number of seriously deleterious amino-acid replacements. Some of these amino-acid changes are shared with the rabbit and primate sequences, indicating that they predate the mammalian radiation, and that if indeed any of these genes are still functional, they are unlikely to be making haemoglobin.     

Nuclear numbers in encysted dormant embryos of differentArtemia salina populations

Summary The number of nuclei in dormant cysts from world-wide populations of the brine shrimp,Artemia salina (L.) was determined. These nuclear numbers proved to be quite constant considering the diversity of geographical localities, ploidies, and modes of reproduction represented by these populations. We believe this constancy indicates a tight coupling between the development and dormancy of these embryos. Chromosome counts onArtemia from Jamnagar, India indicated this population to be triploid.We wish to thank Dr.T. Iwasaki for supplying cysts of the Aio Machi population, Dr.C. Barigozzi for cysts from Sete and Comacchio, and Dr.G. Stephens for cysts from Jamnagar. This research was supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation No. GB-40199.