Hepatocellular localisation of biosynthesis of vitronectin. Characterisation of the primary structure of rat vitronectin

To characterize the primary structure of rat Vn, a cDNA library constructed from freshly isolated rat hepatocytes, was screened with a human Vn cDNA probe. Comparison of the sequence of the obtained rat cDNA clone with the sequences of human, mouse and rabbit Vn cDNA's showed predominantly consensus in the somatomedin B domain, the RGD-sequence...

Evolution of the major histocompatibility complex DPA1 locus in primates

The evolutionary relationships among Mhc-DPA1 alleles of various nonhuman primate species was studied by sequence analysis of exon 2. Here we report the nucleotide sequences of 15 Mhc-DPA1 alleles obtained from several great ape and Old and New World monkey species. Comparison with their human homologues reveals that alleles can be grouped into...

The effect of multiple copies of the upstream region of the Aspergillus niger glucoamylase-encoding gene on expression

The regulation of transcription of the glucoamylase-encoding gene (glaA) of Aspergillus niger was studied. To facilitate this study a reporter strain containing a fusion of the glaA promoter (P(glaA)) of A. niger to the β- glucuronidase-encoding gene (uidA) of Escherichia coli was constructed. To analyze whether regulatory proteins are involved...

Major histocompatibility complex class I-associated vaccine protection from simian immunodeficiency virus-infected peripheral blood cells

To evaluate the effectiveness of vaccine protection from infected cells from another individual of the same species, vaccinated rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) were challenged with peripheral blood mononuclear cells from another animal diagnosed with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Half of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)...

Destabilisation of pea lectin by substitution of a single amino acid in a surface loop

Legume lectins are considered to be antinutritional factors (ANF) in the animal feeding industry. Inactivation of ANF is an important element in processing of food. In our study on the stability of Pisum sativum L. lectin (PSL), a conserved hydrophobic amino acid (Val103) in a surface loop was replaced with alanine. The mutant lectin, PSL V103A,...

The promoter of the rice gene GOS2 is active in various different monocot tissues and binds rice nuclear factor ASF-1

A single copy gene has been isolated, termed GOS2, from rice. Sequence comparison revealed highly similar genes in mammals and yeast, indicating that GOS2 encodes an evolutionary conserved protein. GOS2 mRNA was detected in all tissues examined. When the upstream region was translationally fused to the reporter gene gusA it was found to drive...

Immunological discrimination between the human apolipoprotein E2(Arg158→Cys) and E3 isoforms

A specific anti-apoE2(Arg158→Cys) monoclonal antibody was raised by means of immunization of mice with a variant specific synthetic peptide. The peptide sequences used were homologous to apolipoprotein E of human and mouse. Consequently, the mouse immune system was tolerant to most of the selected sequences. Immunization with only one of...

Organization and characterization of three genes involved in D-xylose catabolism in Lactobacillus pentosus

A cluster of three genes involved in D-xylose catabolism (viz. xylose genes) in Lactobacillus pentosus has been cloned in Escherichia coli and characterized by nucleotide sequence analysis. The deduced gene products show considerable sequence similarity to a repressor protein involved in the regulation of expression of xylose genes in Bacillus...

Species specificity of human interleukin-3 demonstrated by cloning and expression of the homologous rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) gene

To enable preclinical studies on homologous interleukin-3 (IL-3) in primate species, we isolated the gene encoding Rhesus monkey IL-3 (RhIL-3). The nucleotide sequence of the RhIL-3 gene displayed 92.9% homology with that of the human IL-3 (hIL-3) gene. The isolated RhIL-3 gene encodes a 143-amino acid (aa) precursor polypeptide, nine C-terminal...

Isolation and molecular characterisation of the benzoate-para-hydroxylase gene (bphA) of Aspergillus niger: A member of a new gene family of the cytochrome P450 superfamily

The gene coding for benzoate-para-hydroxylase (bphA) of Aspergillus niger was cloned using differential hybridisation techniques and complementation of mutants deficient in this enzyme activity. The nucleotide sequence of the gene was determined, the presence of two introns was shown and the transcription start and termination sites were...

The selectivity of cathepsin D suggests an involvement of the enzyme in the generation of T-cell epitopes

The selectivity of cathepsin D, a mammalian intracellular aspartyl proteinase involved in the degradation of endocytosed proteins, was studied. For this purpose, several proteins of known primary structure were subjected to mild proteolysis by the enzyme, and the preferentially cleaved peptide bonds were identified. Comparison of the primary...

Nucleotide sequence of the Aspergillus niger trpC gene: Structural relationship with analogous genes of other organisms

Molecular Sequence Numbers: GENBANK: X07071; Chemicals/CAS: tryptophan, 6912-86-3, 73-22-3; DNA Restriction Enzymes, EC 3.1.21; Tryptophan, 73-22-3