c-Myc regulates mammalian body size by controlling cell number but not cell size.

Overexpression of the proto-oncogene c-myc has been implicated in the genesis of diverse human tumours. c-Myc seems to regulate diverse biological processes, but its role in tumorigenesis and normal physiology remains enigmatic. Here we report the generation of an allelic series of mice in which c-myc expression is incrementally reduced to zero. Fibroblasts from these mice show reduced proliferation and after complete loss of c-Myc function they exit the cell cycle. We show that Myc activity is not needed for cellular growth but does determine the percentage of activated T cells that re-enter the cell cycle. In vivo, reduction of c-Myc levels results in reduced body mass owing to multiorgan hypoplasia, in contrast to Drosophila c-myc mutants, which are smaller as a result of hypotrophy. We find that c-myc substitutes for c-myc in fibroblasts, indicating they have similar biological activities. This suggests there may be fundamental differences in the mechanisms by which mammals and insects control body size. We propose that in mammals c-Myc controls the decision to divide or not to divide and thereby functions as a crucial mediator of signals that determine organ and body size.     

Millennial-scale paleoceanography in Okinawa Trough during Late Quaternary period

Based on the analyses of foraminifer and accelerator mass spectrometer radiocarbon dating in DGKS9603 core from mid-Okinawa Trough close to bottom, oscillation curve, which expressed the relation between the surface water temperature and the depth, has been obtained by using foraminifer analysis and calculation of FP-12E transfer function. The whole core indicated seven cold phases and eight warm phases. Obvious expression of low temperature event during Middle and Late Holocene, YD,H1,H2,H3 and H4 events, as well as the short cold phase during the middle last glacial period, implied that short shifts since 50 kaBP would have been global significance. Sedimentation rate during cold phases is usually faster than that in warm stages, with the lowest rate in Holocene, which may be connected with rising sea level and principal axial of Kuroshio Current moving to west. Volcanic activities highly developed in Okinawa Trough during the Quaternary period, thus abundant volcanic glass and pumice were well preserved.     

Early effects of growth hormone on blood and urinary inorganic phosphorus in the rat (author's transl)]

From the kinetic study of the effects of one single growth hormone (GH) injection on the phosphate metabolism, it appears that the influence of GH on the serum phosphate level is biphasic: a decrease is followed by an increase. Conversely GH leads to an early decrease of the urinary phosphate excretion.     

The tyrosine kinase c-Abl regulates p73 in apoptotic response to cisplatin-induced DNA damage.

Cancer chemotherapeutic agents such as cisplatin exert their cytotoxic effect by inducing DNA damage and activating programmed cell death (apoptosis). The tumour-suppressor protein p53 is an important activator of apoptosis. Although p53-deficient cancer cells are less responsive to chemotherapy, their resistance is not complete, which suggests that other apoptotic pathways may exist. A p53-related gene, p73, which encodes several proteins as a result of alternative splicing, can also induce apoptosis. Here we show that the amount of p73 protein in the cell is increased by cisplatin. This induction of p73 is not seen in cells unable to carry out mismatch repair and in which the nuclear enzyme c-Abl tyrosine kinase is not activated by cisplatin. The half-life of p73 is prolonged by cisplatin and by co-expression with c-Abl tyrosine kinase; the apoptosis-inducing function of p73 is also enhanced by the c-Abl kinase. Mouse embryo fibroblasts deficient in mismatch repair or in c-Abl do not upregulate p73 and are more resistant to killing by cisplatin. Our results indicate that c-Abl and p73 are components of a mismatch-repair-dependent apoptosis pathway which contributes to cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity.     

Isolation and characterization of biologically active lectin from Korean mistletoe, Viscum album var. Coloratum

A mistletoe lectin was isolated from water extracts of Korean mistletoe, a subspecies of Viscum album, grown on Quercus mongolica using CM-Sepharose chromatography followed by an affinity chromatography on a concanavalin A-Sepharose column. The compound proved to be a mistletoe lectin II with D-galactose and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine specificity. Matrix-assisted laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectroscopy showed it to have an average molecular mass of 62.7 kDa and to consist of two subunits of 30.6 kDa and 32.5 kDa. It was a basic protein with isoelectric points of 9.4 and 9.6 by capillary isoelectric focusing and was cytotoxic to Molt4 cell. Received 17 November 1998; received after revision 3 March 1999; accepted 3 March 1999     

金属丰度和对流超射对恒星演化影响的初步探讨

文章采用了pd90程序模拟了5 M⊙的恒星,在主序和主序后的演化情况。并且根据其程序给出的计算结果,绘出了5 M⊙恒星的赫罗图。选择金属丰度和对流超射的不问参数,形成六条赫罗图线。在赫罗图中,对5 M⊙的恒星其金属丰度和对流超射对恒星演化的影响进行讨论。从赫罗图中的lgL/L⊙和lgTeff,与演化时间序列图,可以直观的得出金属丰度和对流超射变化对恒星演化的影响。     

Polymorphic Indian ricegrass populations result from overlapping waves of migration

Indian ricegrass ( Achnatherum hymenoides [Roem. & Schult.] Barkworth) is a rangeland species native to western North America with populations that may exhibit distinct seed-size morphs borne on separate plants. These morphs are often associated with very different levels of seed dormancy. We compared RAPD profiles of the relatively infrequent and highly dormant jumbo seed morph to its more germinable small or large (non-jumbo) companion seed morphs collected from 9 sites where they were sympatric. Jumbo seed accessions from 9 additional sites that did not exhibit seed polymorphism were included to better sample this seed morph across the species' range. Sympatric seed morphs were consistently distinguishable by their RAPD profiles, and sympatric seed morphs were no more likely to cluster together than nonsympatric seed morphs. The ability of sympatric seed morphs to maintain their genetic identity is compatible with the hypothesis of a predominately autogamous breeding system. Furthermore, these data support the hypothesis that local polymorphic populations result from overlapping waves of migration with distinct geographical origins. The jumbo seed morphs exhibited moderate correlation between genetic distance and geographic distance, but the non-jumbo seed morphs exhibited no such correlation. Jumbo seed morphs that were collected at or east of the Continental Divide in New Mexico and Colorado are more genetically homogeneous than those west of the Continental Divide, and non-jumbo seed morphs from the east are more genetically variable than jumbo seed morphs from the same locations. This suggests that gene flow eastward across the Rocky Mountains has been more frequent for the non-jumbo seed morphs than for the jumbo seed morphs.