Carbon dioxide reduction and nitrogenase activity in organo-molybdenum microstructures

Summary Organo-molybdenum microstructures were prepared by visible light irradiation of ammonium molybdate, formaldehyde, ammonium phosphate and a mineral solution. These microstructures are shown to be capable of carbon dioxide photoreduction, nitrogenase activity, and water decomposition, and may represent a metabolic stage between the nonliving and the living.We acknowledge the many discussions and aid of Drs Sherwood Chang, Hyman Hartman, and Messrs Glen Pollock and Andrew Brittain. This work was supported in part by NASA research grant NGR 12-001-109, by the University of Hawaii, and by the NASA Ames Research Center.     

Polymorphisms in mitochondrial DNA of european and Africanized honeybees (Apis mellifera)

Summary This study demonstrates polymorphisms in both the length and in the restriction enzyme cleavage sites of honeybee mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The levels of variation are typical of those found in other metazoan species. These polymorphisms are potentially useful for the identification of Africanized bees in the western hemisphere and for study of honeybee phylogenetics.     

Lithium and rubidium: Effects on the rhythmic swimming movement of jellyfish (Aurelia aurita)

Summary The effects of adding LiCl, RbCl, KCl or NaCl to sea water at concentrations up to 30 mmoles/1 on the frequency of contraction of jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) suggest that studies on phylogenetically low animals with relatively simple nervous systems may be of use to determine mechanisms of action of lithium and rubidium on movements.Acknowledgments. We thank P. Carl Petersens Fund and the Danish Medical Research Council for financial support and Henning Petersen for permission to carry out our experiments at Mols Laboratory.     

Structural alteration of viral homologue of receptor proto-oncogene fms at carboxyl terminus

A role for proto-oncogenes in the regulation and modulation of cell proliferation has been suggested by the findings that the B-chain of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) is encoded by the proto-oncogene sis and that the erb-B oncogene product is a truncated form of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor. Furthermore, the product of the proto-oncogene fms (c-fms) may be related or identical to the receptor for macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1). v-fms is the transforming gene of the McDonough strain of feline sarcoma virus (SM-FeSV) and belongs to the family of src-related oncogenes which have tyrosine-specific kinase activity. Furthermore, nucleotide sequence analysis of the v-fms gene product revealed topological properties of a cell-surface receptor protein. To elucidate the features involved in the conversion of a normal cell-surface receptor gene into an oncogenic one, we have now determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a human c-fms complementary DNA. The 972-amino-acid c-fms protein has an extracellular domain, a membrane-spanning region, and a cytoplasmic tyrosine protein kinase domain. Comparison of the feline v-fms and human c-fms sequences reveals that the proteins share extensive homology but have different carboxyl termini.