Communal nesting patterns in mice implicate MHC genes in kin recognition.

House mice (Mus musculus domesticus) form communal nests and appear to nurse each other's pups indiscriminately. Communal nesting probably functions to reduce infanticide, but it also makes females vulnerable to exploitation if nursing partners fail to provide their fair share of care. Kinship theory predicts that females will preferentially form communal nests with relatives to minimize exploitation and further increase inclusive fitness. Here we provide evidence from seminatural populations that females prefer communal nesting partners that share allelic forms of major histocompatibility complex genes. Such behaviour would lead to the selection of close relatives as communal nesting partners. Although criteria for the demonstration of kin recognition are currently embroiled in controversy, this is the first vertebrate study to meet Grafen's restrictive requirements: discrimination is based on genetic similarity at highly polymorphic loci, incidental correlations due to relatedness are experimentally controlled, and strong reasons exist for expecting the assayed behaviour to be kin-selected.     

Mutation of the beta-amyloid precursor protein in familial Alzheimer's disease increases beta-protein production.

Progressive cerebral deposition of the 39-43-amino-acid amyloid beta-protein (A beta) is an invariant feature of Alzheimer's disease which precedes symptoms of dementia by years or decades. The only specific molecular defects that cause Alzheimer's disease which have been identified so far are missense mutations in the gene encoding the beta-amyloid precursor protein (beta-APP) in certain families with an autosomal dominant form of the disease (familial Alzheimer's disease, or FAD). These mutations are located within or immediately flanking the A beta region of beta-APP, but the mechanism by which they cause the pathological phenotype of early and accelerated A beta deposition is unknown. Here we report that cultured cells which express a beta-APP complementary DNA bearing a double mutation (Lys to Asn at residue 595 plus Met to Leu at position 596) found in a Swedish FAD family produce approximately 6-8-fold more A beta than cells expressing normal beta-APP. The Met 596 to Leu mutation is principally responsible for the increase. These data establish a direct link between a FAD genotype and the clinicopathological phenotype. Further, they confirm the relevance of the continuous A beta production by cultured cells for elucidating the fundamental mechanism of Alzheimer's disease.     

A cell line that can induce thymocyte positive selection.

The thymus positively selects thymocytes that bear T-cell receptors which recognize antigen presented by self major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins. Positive selection is usually driven by MHC products on radiation-resistant cortical epithelial cells. It is unknown whether positive selection is mediated by all thymic epithelial cells or by some specialized subsets. Here we introduce an H-2b-expressing thymic epithelial cell line into the thymuses of lethally irradiated H-2k animals reconstituted with H-2b/k F1 BM or fetal liver cells. I-Ab-restricted T cells are found in these animals, demonstrating that selection occurs on the introduced epithelial cells.     

Escherichia coli cell-division gene ftsZ encodes a novel GTP-binding protein.

Escherichia coli divides by forming a septum across the middle of the cell. The biochemical mechanism underlying this process is unknown. Genetic evidence suggests that of all the fts (filamentation temperature sensitive) genes involved in E. coli cell division, ftsZ plays a central role at the earliest known step of septation. Here we show that FtsZ protein binds GTP in vitro using unusual sequence elements. In contrast, such binding to the product of the conditional-lethal ftsZ84 allele is impaired. Purified FtsZ displays a Mg(2+)-dependent GTPase activity which is markedly reduced in the FtsZ84 protein. FtsZ copurifies with near stoichiometric amounts of noncovalently-bound GDP, implying the presence of a GTPase cycle in vivo, similar to that known for signal-transducing GTP-binding proteins. We also show that a small fraction of FtsZ exists as a distinct membrane-associated species that binds GTP. The membrane association of FtsZ and the known ability of GTPases to act as molecular switches implicate FtsZ in a GTP-activated signal transduction pathway that may regulate the start of septation in E. coli.     

Mapping of the protein import machinery in the mitochondrial outer membrane by crosslinking of translocation intermediates.

Mitochondria contain a complex machinery for the import of nuclear-encoded proteins. Receptor proteins exposed on the outer membrane surface are required for the specific binding of precursor proteins to mitochondria, either by binding of cytosolic signal recognition factors or by direct recognition of the precursor polypeptides. Subsequently, the precursors are inserted into the outer membrane at the general insertion site GIP (general insertion protein). Here we report the analysis of receptors and GIP by crosslinking of translocation intermediates and by coimmunoprecipitation. Surface-accumulated precursors were crosslinked to the receptors MOM19 and MOM72, suggesting a direct interaction of preproteins with surface receptors. We identified three novel mitochondrial outer membrane proteins, MOM7, MOM8, and MOM30 that, together with the previously identified MOM38, seem to form the GIP site and are present in the mitochondrial receptor complex.     

Close linkage of glucokinase locus on chromosome 7p to early-onset non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) is a major health problem, affecting 5% of the world population. Genetic factors are important in NIDDM, but the mechanisms leading to glucose intolerance are unknown. Genetic linkage has been investigated in multigeneration families to localize, and ultimately identify, the gene(s) predisposing to NIDDM. Here we report linkage between the glucokinase locus on chromosome 7p and diabetes in 16 French families with maturity-onset diabetes of the young, a form of NIDDM characterized by monogenic autosomal dominant transmission and early age of onset. Statistical evidence of genetic heterogeneity was significant, with an estimated 45-95% of the 16 families showing linkage to glucokinase. Because glucokinase is a key enzyme of blood glucose homeostasis, these results are evidence that a gene involved in glucose metabolism could be implicated in the pathogenesis of NIDDM.     

Novel major archaebacterial group from marine plankton.

Marine bacteria often dominate the plankton biomass and are responsible for much of the cycling of organic matter, but bacterial diversity is poorly understood because conventional identification methods (requiring culturing) miss about 99% of the organisms. Recent advances permit characterization of microbial communities by analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences directly from biomass without the need to culture the organisms; such studies from surface ocean samples have found only eubacteria, not archaebacteria (or Archaea), which are profoundly different. Here we report 16S rRNA sequences obtained from Pacific Ocean bacterioplankton samples collected from depths of 100 m and 500 m. Among these we found sequences only distantly related to those of any organisms previously characterized by 16S rRNA sequences, with similarities to the nearest such relatives (extreme thermophiles) approximately the same as those between animals and plants. We suggest that these sequences are from a previously undescribed archaebacterial group that may have diverged from the ancestors of characterized organisms very early in evolution.     

Otavipithecus namibiensis, first Miocene hominoid from southern Africa.

We report here the discovery of a Miocene hominoid from Berg Aukas, Namibia, the first known from the African continent south of equatorial East Africa. This represents a major range extension of Miocene Hominoidea in Africa to latitude 20 degrees S. The holotype, a right mandibular corpus preserving the crowns of the P4-M3, partial crown and root of the P3, partial root of the canine, alveoli for all four incisors, and partial alveolus for the left canine, was found during paleontological explorations of karst-fill breccias in the Otavi region of northern Namibia. The mandible has unique characteristics that differentiate it from other middle Miocene hominoids of Africa and Eurasia and represents the only fossil evidence documenting a pre-australopithecine stage of hominoid evolution in southern Africa. Faunal analyses indicate that the breccia block containing the specimen accumulated during the latter part of the middle Miocene, about 13 +/- 1 Myr. Fauna from other breccia blocks at Berg Aukas are of diverse ages, including the earlier part of the middle Miocene, the upper Miocene, Plio-Pleistocene and Holocene.     

A human recombinant haemoglobin designed for use as a blood substitute.

The need to develop a blood substitute is now urgent because of the increasing concern over blood-transmitted viral and bacterial pathogens. Cell-free haemoglobin solutions and human haemoglobin synthesized in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been investigated as potential oxygen-carrying substitutes for red blood cells. But these haemoglobins cannot be used as a blood substitute because (1) the oxygen affinity in the absence of 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate is too high to allow unloading of enough oxygen in the tissues, and (2) they dissociate into alpha beta dimers that are cleared rapidly by renal filtration, which can result in long-term kidney damage. We have produced a human haemoglobin using an expression vector containing one gene encoding a mutant beta-globin with decreased oxygen affinity and one duplicated, tandemly fused alpha-globin gene. Fusion of the two alpha-globin subunits increases the half-life of this haemoglobin molecule in vivo by preventing its dissociation into alpha beta dimers and therefore also eliminates renal toxicity.