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F Strauss

Publications and source records attributed to F Strauss.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Nucleosome spacing in rat liver chromatin. A study with exonuclease III.

Exonuclease III was used to uniformly trim DNA ends of micrococcal nuclease-prepared chromatin fragments down to the first major impediment encountered by the enzyme, which arises from the interaction of H1 with the nucleosome. This trimming, when performed on nucleosome dimers, allowed one to quantitatively determine the center-to-center distance of nucleosomes. This distance, of mean 198 base pairs, was found to essentially vary between about 180 and 215 base pairs, with extremes of 165 and 230 base pairs. Trimming of trimers further revealed that the overall arrangement of nucleosome center-to-center distances along the chromatin fiber is that expected on a statistical basis.

Animals↗

Use of lymphoplasmapheresis or plasmapheresis in the management of acute renal allograft rejection.

Several recent reports have documented the value of intensive plasmapheresis as an adjunct to standard immunosuppressive therapy for patients suffering acute renal allograft rejection. We have treated four rejection episodes in three patients with intensive plasmapheresis and two rejection episodes in two additional patients with intensive lymphoplasmapheresis. Five of six rejection episodes were reversed, and four of the five patients treated have retained functioning grafts for follow-up periods ranging from 4 months to 3 years. Previous investigators have reported encouraging results using plasmapheresis, and we believe our experience supports the requirement for further controlled studies with this procedure. Moreover, we note that no previous work has been described with lymphoplasmapheresis and suggest that removal of lymphocytes, in addition to plasma, may further augment immunosuppression in the treatment of renal allograft rejection.

Acute Disease↗

Sequence organization and genomic distribution of the major family of interspersed repeats of mouse DNA.

We have investigated that organization and the distribution of a family of interspersed DNA repeats in the mouse genome. The repeats are at least 5600 base pairs (bp) in size and contain two contiguous BamHI endonuclease fragments, 4000 and 540 bp in size, the larger of which includes a 1350-bp EcoRI fragment studied by previous authors. The repeats are polymorphic in their restriction maps, and represent the major family of interspersed repeats in the mouse genome. The repeats are present almost exclusively in the two light major components of mouse DNA, and the base composition of their large BamHI fragments matches that of those components. The genomic distribution of the repeats is different from that of structural genes, which are present not only in the two light components but also in the two heavy components of mouse DNA. This distribution indicates that the repeats are not involved, at least in any simple way, in the regulation of gene expression.

Animals↗

Helical periodicity of DNA, Poly(dA) . poly(dT) and poly(dA-dT). poly(dA-dT) in solution.

Helical periodicity of DNA, poly(dA) . poly(dT) and poly(dA-dT) . poly(dA-dT) has been measured in solution by using the band shift method fo Wang [Wang, J. (1979) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 76, 200-203]. The method makes use of the effect, on the superhelicity of closed circular DNA molecules, of the insertion of specific nucleotide sequences of known length. The method was applied to a variety of recombinant plasmid DNAs which were constructed by inserting DNA, poly(dA) . poly(dT) or poly(dA-dT) . poly(dA-dT) into pBR322 DNA. When compared to DNA, poly(dA) . poly (dT) was found to have a smaller pitch (by about 0.5 base pair/turn), whereas poly(dA-dT) . poly(dA-dT) has a slightly larger pitch (by 0.1 base pair/turn). These features correlate well with the known ability of the alternating copolymer to reconstitute nucleosomes upon incubation with histones, in contrast to the non-alternating one which fails to do so. Finally, a detailed analysis of the principles underlying the methods developed by Wang [reference quoted above and Wang, J. (1978) Cold Spring Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. 42, 29-33] leads to an increase in the estimate of the helical periodicity of DNA of 0.15 base pair/turn, over the reported value of 10.4 base pairs/turn (references quoted above). This essentially accounts for the discrepancy observed with the value of 10.6 base pairs/turn obtained by nuclease digestion of DNA immobilized on a surface [Rhodes, D & Klug, A. (1980) Nature (Lond.) 286, 573-578].

Base Sequence↗

Excision sequences in the mitochondrial genome of yeast.

It is well established that spontaneous cytoplasmic 'petite' mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have mitochondrial genome units in which an excised segment of the parental wild-type genome has been tandemly amplified (Fig. 1), so that the excised segment becomes the repeat unit of the petite genome; the latter may in turn undergo further deletions leading to secondary petite genomes having shorter repeat units (see ref. 1 for a brief review). Recent investigations on the mitochondrial genomes of several spontaneous petite mutants have shown that frequently the ends of the excised segment correspond to short sequences of the wild-type genome which are extremely rich in GC, the GC clusters; alternatively, they seem to be located in the long AT-rich stretches, the AT spacers, which form at least half of the genome. As sequence repetitions have been demonstrated in both GC clusters and AT spacers, it is very likely that excision takes place by a mechanism involving illegitimate site-specific recombination events between homologous sequences, as previously postulated. We show here that the sequences involved in the excision of a particular spontaneous petite genome are direct nucleotide repeats located in the AT spacers.

Base Sequence↗

The ovoimplantation of Microcebus murinus Miller. (Primates, Lemoruoidea, Strepsirhini).

The process of nidation of Microcebus murinus may be subdivided into several stages (preadhesion, apposition, attachment and invasion), as is indicated for protracted phases of preimplantation. Not until the apposition stage does the inner cell mass orient itself orthomesometrially, while concurrently a nidation plaque develops in the abembryonal trophoblast that overlies and resorbs the coalescent glands. During the subsequent adhesion stage, the paraembryonal, bilaminar omphalochorion becomes attached to the uterine epithelium, with focal resorption of the latter. In addition, chorionic vesicles begin to develop. In the meantime, the embryonic disc has lost its trophoblastic cover as a preliminary to the formation of the pleuramnion. The formation of a nidation plaque, together with the subsequent central implantation of Microcebus, suggests a close relationship to Loris tardigradus, characterizing the mode of implantation of Strepsirhini. The nidation plaque and its invasive capacity, giving rise to a syndesmochorial placental nucleus, provide a placentological link to Galago demidovii.

Animals↗