Heterogeneity of lactate dehydrogenase in the developing and adultXenopus laevis daud

Zusammenfassung Das Isoenzymmuster der Laktatdehydrogenase (LDH) wurde mittels Agar-Gel- und Stärke-Gel-Elektrophorese untersucht. Unbefruchtete Eier und Entwicklungsstadien vom 2-Zell-Stadium bis zum 15. Tag wurden als Totalextrakte analysiert; vom 15. Tag an wurden einzelne Organe geprüft und bis ins Adultstadium verfolgt. Die Entwicklung der LDH-Muster ist gekennzeichnet durch Zu- und vorübergehende Abnahme der Anzahl Isoenzyme und durch Verlagerungen der Aktivitäts-Intensitäten. Adultorgane weisen 7 Isoenzyme auf mit Stärke-Gel-Elektrophorese und deren 9 mit der Agar-Gel-Methode; dies steht im Gegensatz zu Untersuchungen an den übrigen Vertebraten-Gruppen, die in der Regel ein LDH-Muster von 5 Komponenten aufweisen.

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This paper is dedicated to Prof. Dr.A. Portmann on the occasion of his 70th birthday.     

HIV infection of primate lymphocytes and conservation of the CD4 receptor

The CD4 T-lymphocyte differentiation antigen is an essential component of the cell surface receptor for human immunodeficiency viruses (HIVs) causing AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) (refs 1-3). Peripheral blood lymphocytes of apes, New World and Old World monkeys express cell surface antigens homologous to CD4 of human T-helper lymphocytes. The cells of several of these species can be infected in short term culture with diverse strains of the type-1 or type-2 human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV-1 and HIV-2). HIV-1 is the prototype AIDS virus, and HIV-2 is the second type of AIDS virus, prevalent in West Africa. Infection of the primate cells correlates with evolutionary conservation on CD4 of one particular epitope cluster, and is inhibited by treatment of the cells with monoclonal antibodies to this epitope. The capacity of HIV to replicate in simian cells may provide a means for evaluating antiviral drugs and vaccines.     

Detection of theH-RAS oncogene in human thyroid anaplastic carcinomas

Summary We have transfected high-molecular-weight DNA from human thyroid carcinomas into murine 3T3 cells. As a result we identified several foci of morphologically distinct transformed cells in each of the tumour DNA transfected cultures. After a total of three rounds of transfection, the transformed cells were shown to form tumours in nude mice. Southern blot analysis of DNA prepared from third-round transfectants demonstrated the presence of human Alu repetitive sequences and, after hybridization with probes for known oncogenes, indicated the presence of the humanH-RAS oncogene in 3T3 cells transfected with three out of four anaplastic carcinoma DNA samples. It appears therefore that activation ofRAS genes may be an important event in the development of the anaplastic thyroid tumours.