The amino acid sequence of the agglutinin isolated from the red marine alga Bryothamnion triquetrum defines a novel lectin structure

The primary structure of a lectin isolated from the red alga Bryothamnion triquetrum was established by combination of Edman degradation of sets of overlapping peptides and mass spectrometry. It contains 91 amino acids and two disulphide bonds. The primary structure of the B. triquetrum lectin does not show amino acid sequence similarity with known plant and animal lectin structures. Hence, this protein may be the paradigm of a novel lectin family.     

Trehalase in Tuberkelbazillen

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Nouveaux livres

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Die Nobelpreise für Medizin-Physiologie,Chemie und Physik

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Zur Chemotherapie der Tuberkulose

Summary The paper deals with recent advances in chemotherapy of tuberculosis. In view of the fact that chemical analysis has shown the lipoid nature of tubercle bacilli and in view of the favorable therapeutic results obtained by treating leprosy with chaulmoogra-acids, the leading idea of many authors was to synthetize lipoidsoluble substances in order to affect the growth of tubercle bacilli. However, the finding that water-soluble substances as Promin inhibit the growth of the microorganisms showed that the idea to use exclusively fatsoluble substances was not necessarily right. Although the therapeutic effects of Promin are not yet particularly encouraging, the experiments made with this substances are useful as they indicate a new direction for research in chemotherapy of tuberculosis. Some of our own experiments with diaminodiphenylsulphone-derivatives are described.     

Das beim Gefrieren von Gelen entstehende Eis

Summary Highly swollen gels which contain, in addition to a large amount of solvent, a spatial network formed by chains of a high polymer, show an abnormal lowering of the freezing point. This is caused by the fact that the network prevents the formation of macroscopically undisturbed crystals.If, in the course of freezing at this lower temperature, a conglomerate of microcrystals were created corresponding in size to the width of the network, one should be able to observe a broadening of the X-ray interference lines. Experiments have shown that no measurable broadening takes place.This is explained by the assumption that a crystal which is prevented from growing in the normal way by the surrounding filaments of the gel, when cooled to a suitably low temperature grows crystallites with a small cross-section corresponding to the mesh size. The crystallites thus formed are orientated in a crystallographically exact manner toward their supporting crystal and parallel to each other. Therefore, when reaching the necessary height, they unite to larger, ordered crystalline regions which incorporate the polymeric filaments. This explains the observed sharpness of the X-ray interferences as well as the observation that, upon heating of a frozen gel, the melting does not occur at the same low temperature as the freezing, but closer to the melting point of macroscopic ice.