Studies of the Regan alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme in plasma from a lung-carcinoma patient.

We compared an alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) isoenzyme from a plasma sample of a patient with carcinoma of the lung, who was suspected of having the Regan-type isoenzyme, with placental serum alkaline phosphatase and with tissue preparations from placenta, liver, bone, and intestine. The placental and Regan phosphatases responded similarly to heat treatment and modification by various inhibitors, except that the Regan isoenzyme was more resistant to EDTA inactivation than was the placental serum alkaline phosphatase, but more sensitive than placental tissue alkaline phosphatase. Isoelectric focusing and Cellogel electrophoresis showed the Regan isoenzyme to have a mobility similar to that of the placental type. We conclude that the isoenzyme was of the Regan type and support the contention that the placental and Regan isoenzymes are products of the same structural gene, with small differences due to post-genetic modification.

The binding of human liver acid β-galactosidase to wheat-germ lectin is influenced by aggregation state of the enzyme

At low ionic strength and pH 6.0 human liver acid beta-galactosidase exists in two aggregation states, monomeric and multimeric. These species can be separated on wheat-germ lectin-Sepharose, Cellogel electrophoresis and gel filtration on Sephadex G-200, and are not normally interconvertible. On re-application of either form to wheat-germ lectin-Sepharose the equilibrium is re-established and the two forms are interconverted.

Molecular Evolution and the Phylogenetic Relationships of the African Toad, Bufo danielae PERRET, 1977 (Salientia : Bufonidae)

Phylogenetic relationships of the African toad Bufo danielae are investigated using a variety of biochemical approaches. Nuclear DNA content was assayed and compared to representatives of three species groups of African Bufo. Cellogel electrophoresis of plasma proteins was performed and patterns of B. danielae compared with those of representatives of the African B. regularis species complex. Finally microcomplement fixation analyses of albumin relationships of B. danielae and African Bufo were carried out. The strengths of the varied approaches for phylogenetic analysis are discussed. B. danielae appears most closely related to B. maculatus and B. pusillus, it being some 5-6 million years since these species last shared a common gene pool.