The Form of Bivalent Chromosomes in Newt Oocytes at First Metaphase of Meiosis

1963 ◽  
Vol s3-104 (66) ◽  
pp. 281-295
Author(s):  
I. D. WATSON ◽  
H. G. CALLAN
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Recombination ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Meiotic Metaphase ◽  
Gene Products ◽  
Lampbrush Chromosomes ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Chiasma Localization

Lampbrush chromosomes in the ovarian oocytes of newts are associated as bivalents. Some connexions between lampbrush chromosomes are chiasmata; others are known to be fusions of gene products; yet others, namely reflected, centromere, and telomere fusions, do not appear to be due simply to the fusion of gene products. Whether chiasmata are involved in reflected, centromere, and telomere fusions cannot be decided from examination of the chromosomes at the lampbrush stage. Bivalents from oocytes at first meiotic metaphase were therefore studied. The oocytes of newts reach first meiotic metaphase after ovulation, whilst they are free in the coelome. Reflected, centromere, and the great majority of telomere fusions do not persist to first meiotic metaphase: thus chiasmata are not involved in them. In oocyte bivalents of Triturus helveticus chiasmata are not restricted in their distribution, whereas in spermatocyte bivalents of this species chiasmata are proterminally localized. In oocyte bivalents of 3 subspecies of T. cristatus chiasmata are procentrically localized, whereas in spermatocyte bivalents of these subspecies chiasmata are not restricted in their distribution. Thus in T. helveticus meiosis in the female sex is mainly responsible for genetic recombination, whereas in T. cristatus the situation is reversed. We conclude that to base genetical and evolutionary inferences on information drawn from the meiosis of one sex only is unjustified, and we doubt the validity of the claim that chiasma localization has arisen so as to restrict genetic recombination.

scholarly journals Separation-of-Function Mutations inSaccharomyces cerevisiae MSH2 That Confer Mismatch Repair Defects but Do Not Affect Nonhomologous-Tail Removal during Recombination

1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 7558-7567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Studamire ◽  
Gavrielle Price ◽  
Neal Sugawara ◽  
James E. Haber ◽  
Eric Alani
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Repair ◽  
Genetic Recombination ◽  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Dominant Negative ◽  
Effector Protein ◽  
Mismatch Repair Genes ◽  
Gene Products ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Repair Genes ◽  
Negative Phenotype

ABSTRACT Yeast Msh2p forms complexes with Msh3p and Msh6p to repair DNA mispairs that arise during DNA replication. In addition to their role in mismatch repair (MMR), the MSH2 and MSH3gene products are required to remove 3′ nonhomologous DNA tails during genetic recombination. The mismatch repair genes MSH6,MLH1, and PMS1, whose products interact with Msh2p, are not required in this process. We have identified mutations in MSH2 that do not disrupt genetic recombination but confer a strong defect in mismatch repair. Twenty-four msh2mutations that conferred a dominant negative phenotype for mismatch repair were isolated. A subset of these mutations mapped to residues in Msh2p that were analogous to mutations identified in human nonpolyposis colorectal cancer msh2 kindreds. Approximately half of the these MMR-defective mutations retained wild-type or nearly wild-type activity for the removal of nonhomologous DNA tails during genetic recombination. The identification of mutations in MSH2 that disrupt mismatch repair without affecting recombination provides a first step in dissecting the Msh-effector protein complexes that are thought to play different roles during DNA repair and genetic recombination.

scholarly journals Chromosomes and Nucleoli of the Axolotl, Ambystoma Mexicanum

1966 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-108
Author(s):  
H. G. CALLAN
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Nuclear Periphery ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Lampbrush Chromosome ◽  
Ambystoma Mexicanum ◽  
Oocyte Nucleus ◽  
Lampbrush Chromosomes ◽  
Mitotic Chromosomes ◽  
Nucleolar Material ◽  
Secondary Constrictions

Amongst the axolotl's haploid complement of fourteen mitotic chromosomes, one of the four largest, with a greater arm asymmetry than the other three, shows a nucleolar constriction subterminally in its shorter arm. Low-temperature treatment causes further secondary constrictions to appear; these constrictions enable most of the mitotic chromosomes to be identified; the constrictions occur at similar sites in the chromosomes of tail-fin epithelial cells, hepatocytes, and brain cells. Homology between the mitotic and oocyte (lampbrush) nucleolar organizers has been established, and thus the several hundred free nucleoli in oocytes are genetically related to the two nucleoli of diploid somatic interphases. During oocyte development the free nucleoli transform from solid structures to rings and back to solid structures again without detectable increase in number. During the contraction and aggregation of the lampbrush chromosomes within the oocyte nucleus as maturity approaches, in most axolotls the free ring-shaped nucleoli become stretched between the nuclear periphery and central chromosome group, and take on a characteristic beaded appearance. These transformations of the free nucleoli are largely paralleled by forms which nucleoli attached subterminally to the shorter arm of lampbrush chromosome III concurrently assume. The question as to whether fully developed nucleoli detach from the organizer loci and add to the population of free nucleoli in oocytes remains undecided. It may well be that virtually all the DNA-generators of free nucleoli detach from the organizer loci before starting to carry out nucleolar functions, and before there is any significant accumulation of protein and RNA around them. If so, the variability in quantity of attached nucleolar material may not reflect different states in a nucleolar synthesis and detachment cycle, but rather variation in the number of nucleolar DNA Anlagen which happen to remain attached to the organizer loci after the synthesis and detachment of the great majority of the Anlagen has ceased. In occasional oocytes the only chromosomal continuity maintained across the organizer locus consists of a nucleolar ‘double bridge’; this indicates that the genetically persistent (i.e. chromosomal) organizer DNA bears the same structural relationship to neighbouring parts of a lampbrush chromosome as any other chromomere with its attendant pair of lateral loops. The lampbrush chromosomes of the axolotl have been provisionally mapped. The centromeres are represented by short portions of chromosome axis without lateral loops, and there are two spheres close to the centromeres of both chromosome VI and chromosome XIII. Other recognition characters are inconspicuous or not very reliable, and features of the lampbrush chromosomes related to the low-temperature induced secondary constrictions of mitotic chromosomes have not been identified.

scholarly journals Molecular Analysis of Sequence Heterogeneity among Genes Encoding Decorin Binding Proteins A and B of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato

1998 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 5275-5285 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. Roberts ◽  
Brian A. Mullikin ◽  
Raju Lathigra ◽  
Mark S. Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Borrelia Burgdorferi ◽  
Genetic Recombination ◽  
Protein A ◽  
Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Lato ◽  
Gene Products ◽  
Protective Epitope ◽  
Chromosomal Markers ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
Sequence Elements ◽  
Conserved Epitope

ABSTRACT Immunization of mice with Borrelia burgdorferi decorin binding protein A (DbpA), one of two gene products of thedbpBA locus, has been shown recently to confer protection against challenge. Hyperimmune DbpA antiserum killed a large number of B. burgdorferi sensu lato isolates of diverse phylogeny and origin, suggesting conservation of the protective epitope(s). In order to evaluate the heterogeneity of DbpA and DbpB and to facilitate defining the conserved epitope(s) of these antigens, the sequences of the dbpA genes from 29 B. burgdorferi sensu lato isolates and of the dbpBgenes from 15 B. burgdorferi sensu lato isolates were determined. The predicted DbpA sequences were fairly heterogeneous among the isolates (58.3 to 100% similarity), but DbpA sequences with the highest similarity tended to group into species previously defined by well-characterized chromosomal markers. In contrast, the predicted DbpB sequences were highly conserved (96.3 to 100% similarity). Substantial diversity in DbpA sequence was seen among isolates previously shown to be killed by antiserum against a single DbpA, suggesting that one or more conserved protective epitopes are composed of noncontiguous amino acids. The observation of individual dbpA alleles with sequence elements characteristic of more than one B. burgdorferi sensu lato species was consistent with a role for genetic recombination in the generation of dbpAdiversity.

Electron Microscopy and image analysis of nucleo-protein complexes

1994 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 88-89
Author(s):  
E. H. Egelman ◽  
X. Yu
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Image Analysis ◽  
Normal Cell ◽  
Genetic Recombination ◽  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Chromosomal Rearrangements ◽  
Reca Protein ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Helical Polymer ◽  
Specific Protease

The RecA protein of E. coli has been shown to mediate genetic recombination, regulate its own synthesis, control the expression of other genes, act as a specific protease, form a helical polymer and have an ATPase activity, among other observed properties. The unusual filament formed by the RecA protein on DNA has not previously been shown to exist outside of bacteria. Within this filament, the 36 Å pitch of B-form DNA is extended to about 95 Å, the pitch of the RecA helix. We have now establishedthat similar nucleo-protein complexes are formed by bacteriophage and yeast proteins, and availableevidence suggests that this structure is universal across all of biology, including humans. Thus, understanding the function of the RecA protein will reveal basic mechanisms, in existence inall organisms, that are at the foundation of general genetic recombination and repair.Recombination at this moment is assuming an importance far greater than just pure biology. The association between chromosomal rearrangements and neoplasms has become stronger and stronger, and these rearrangements are most likely products of the recombinatory apparatus of the normal cell. Further, damage to DNA appears to be a major cause of cancer.

Identification of a baculovirus polyhedron formation mutant with a novel phenotype

1996 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 796-797
Author(s):  
James M. Slavicek ◽  
Melissa J. Mercer ◽  
Mary Ellen Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Viral Gene ◽  
Gene Products ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Infection Cycle ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Protein Matrix ◽  
Insect Midgut ◽  
Viral Particles ◽  
Budded Virus ◽  
Viral Form

Nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPV, family Baculoviridae) produce two morphological forms, a budded virus form and a viral form that is occluded into a paracrystalline protein matrix. This structure is termed a polyhedron and is composed primarily of the protein polyhedrin. Insects are infected by NPVs after ingestion of the polyhedron and release of the occluded virions through dissolution of the polyhedron in the alkaline environment of the insect midgut. Early after infection the budded virus form is produced. It buds through the plasma membrane and then infects other cells. Later in the infection cycle the occluded form of the virus is generated (reviewed by Blissard and Rohrmann, 1990).The processes of polyhedron formation and virion occlusion are likely to involve a number of viral gene products. However, only two genes, the polyhedrin gene and 25K FP gene, have been identified to date that are necessary for the wild type number of polyhedra to be formed and viral particles occluded.

Female sex steroid induced gallbladder epithelium changes and gallstone deposits in female hamsters: TEM and SEM aspects

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 354-355
Author(s):  
S. Karkare ◽  
J. Gilloteaux ◽  
T. R. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Hormone Receptors ◽  
Corn Oil ◽  
Estrogen Therapy ◽  
Gallstone Formation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sex Steroid ◽  
Estradiol Valerate ◽  
Surface Epithelium ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Purina Chow

Approximately 1 million people in the United States alone develop gallstones each year. The incidence is higher in women than in men and the ratio being 4 ≥ 1. A correlation has also been suggested between oral contraceptives and cholelithiasis. In addition, postmenopausal or cancer estrogen therapy has been reported to be a factor responsible for gallstone formation. Female sex hormone receptors have been detected not only in the gallbladder musculature, but also in its epithelium. As a follow up to experiments effectuated in the male and the ovariectomized Syrian hamster, this report shows that, a combination of a low cholesterol diet with female sex steroid treatment contributes to the formation of gallstone-like deposits, while modifying the surface epithelium morphology. Syrian hamsters (F1B strain, BioBreeders, Watertown MA) were housed under 12h light: 12 h dark cycle, at 20 °C, fed Purina chow and water ad libitum. Several duration/treatment groups were studied, but this report will focus on data obtained with the group injected weekly with estradiol valerate (E weekly, s.c. 8-10 μg/100 g.b.w., in corn oil) and with i.m. medroxyprogesterone acetate (DepoProvera Upjohn Co., Kalamazoo, MI; 8-10 mg/100 g.b.w.) for a 3-month period. Other parameters (blood and bile) were also studied but not reported here.

New insights into heparan sulphate biosynthesis from the study of mutant mice

2002 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 47-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine L. R. Merry ◽  
John T. Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Growth Factors ◽  
Biosynthetic Pathway ◽  
Heparan Sulphate ◽  
Mutant Mice ◽  
Gene Products ◽  
Multiple Gene ◽  
Adhesion Proteins ◽  
Ligand Interactions

Heparan sulphate (HS) is an essential co-receptor for a number of growth factors, morphogens and adhesion proteins. The biosynthetic modifications involved in the generation of a mature HS chain may determine the strength and outcome of HS–ligand interactions. These modifications are catalysed by a complex family of enzymes, some of which occur as multiple gene products. Various mutant mice have now been generated, which lack the function of isolated components of the HS biosynthetic pathway. In this discussion, we outline the key findings of these studies, and use them to put into context our own work concerning the structure of the HS generated by the Hs2st-/- mice.

Clinical factors correlated with vitamin D deficiency in patients with obesity scheduled for bariatric surgery: A single center experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 346-352
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Pilone ◽  
Salvatore Tramontano ◽  
Carmen Cutolo ◽  
Federica Marchese ◽  
Antonio Maria Pagano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bariatric Surgery ◽  
Vitamin D ◽  
Vitamin D Deficiency ◽  
Serum Vitamin ◽  
Inverse Correlation ◽  
Model Assessment ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Serum Vitamin D ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Vitamin D Levels

Abstract. We aim to assess the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) in patients scheduled for bariatric surgery (BS), and to identify factors that might be associated with VDD. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study involving all consecutive patients scheduled for BS from 2017 to 2019. The exclusion criteria were missing data for vitamin D levels, intake of vitamin D supplements in the 3 months prior to serum vitamin D determination, and renal insufficiency. A total of 206 patients (mean age and body mass index [BMI] of 34.9 ± 10.7 years, and 44.3 ± 6.99 kg/m2, respectively) met the inclusion criteria and were enrolled for data analysis. VDD (<19.9 ng/mL), severe VDD (<10 ng/mL), and vitamin D insufficiency (20–29.9 ng/mL) were present in 68.8 %, 12.5 %, and 31.2 % of patients, respectively. A significant inverse correlation was found between vitamin D levels and initial BMI, parathyroid hormone, and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (r = −0.280, p < 0.05; r = −0.407, p = 0.038; r = −0.445, p = 0.005), respectively. VDD was significantly more prevalent in patients with higher BMI [−0.413 ± 0.12, CI95 % (−0.659; −0.167), p = 0.006], whereas no significant association between hypertension [−1.005 ± 1.65, CI95 % (−4.338; 2.326), p = 0.001], and diabetes type 2 (T2D) [−0.44 ± 2.20, CI95 % (−4.876; 3.986), p = 0.841] was found. We observed significant association between female sex and levels of vitamin D [6.69 ± 2.31, CI95 % (2.06; 11.33), p = 0.006]. The present study shows that in patients scheduled for BS, VDD deficiency is common and was associated with higher BMI, and female sex.

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