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J J McCormick

Publications and source records attributed to J J McCormick.

154 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1970

Isolation and Characterization of an Extracellular Polysaccharide from Physarum polycephalum.

The myxomycetes are called slime molds because of the synthesis of copious amounts of extracellular material (slime) during parts of the life cycle. In Physarum polycephalum, small amounts of slime are produced during exponential growth of microplasmodia in shake flasks, but the amount of this slime increased 10- to 20-fold at 16 to 34 hr after microplasmodia were induced to form spherules by transferring them to salt solution. The slime obtained during both periods is the same; an acidic polysaccharide consisting of galactose, sulfate, and trace amounts of rhamnose. Analysis of the galactose-to-sulfate ratio gave a value of about 4 to 1. Infrared spectroscopy showed increased absorbance at 820 cm(-1) characteristic of C-O-S vibrations. Electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel revealed that the material moved as a single band which stained with Alcian Blue and periodic acid Shiff reagent. However, fractionation of identical material on Dowex columns and electrophoresis on cellulose acetate showed the slime to be made up of three major fractions. The polysaccharide appeared as an extracellular capsule closely adhering to the walls of the spherules. It could be separated from the wall by vigorous shaking. The increased synthesis of slime during spherulation was not blocked by cycloheximide, suggesting that new enzyme synthesis was not necessary for its formation.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1970

Isolation and Characterization of a Galactosamine Wall from Spores and Spherules of Physarum polycephalum.

The myxomycete, Physarum polycephalum, can be induced under laboratory conditions to form two different hard-walled forms, spores and spherules. Characterization of both types of walls revealed only a single sugar, galactosamine. It was identified after acid hydrolysis of the isolated walls by chromatography in three solvent systems, by its positive reaction with ammoniacal silver nitrate, ninhydrin, Galactostat, and the Elson-Morgan test, and by ninhydrin degradation to lyxose. Galactosamine was present as a polymer with solubility characteristics the same as the beta1-4-linked glucosamine polymer (chitosan). The walls were also found to contain about 2% protein. Spherule walls revealed a single glycoprotein on gel electrophoresis. Spore walls contained a similar protein component. The phosphate content of isolated spherule walls was 9.8%, and that of spore walls was 1.4%. Spore walls also contained about 15% melanin which was shown to be similar to fungal melanin. A novel method was used to measure the rate of mature spherule formation based on the loss of extractability of P. polycephalum natural pigment. The presence of a rare galactosamine polymer in P. polycephalum spore and spherule walls as the only carbohydrate suggests that the myxomycetes are not closely related to the fungi or the protozoa.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Alkylation damage, DNA repair and mutagenesis in human cells.

17 human cell lines that differ significantly in level of O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT) activity were identified by comparing their sensitivity to the cytotoxic effect of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and determining the level of AGT activity in cell extracts from the various lines by measuring the decrease in radiolabeled O6-methylguanine from DNA, using high-performance liquid chromatography. 9 lines exhibited high levels of AGT activity, 2 showed an intermediate level (25-50% of the mean of those with the higher levels), and 6 exhibited very low or virtually undetectable levels of AGT. Included were several lines that are very deficient in capacity for nucleotide excision repair. When representatives from the 3 categories of cell lines defined by the level of AGT activity were compared for sensitivity to the cytotoxic and mutagenic effect of MNNG, they showed an inverse correlation between the degree of cell killing and frequency of mutants induced and the level of AGT activity. The cells' capacity for nucleotide excision repair did not affect these results. Exposure of cells with a high level of AGT activity to O6-methylguanine in the medium reduced the AGT activity 60-80%. These pre-treated cells exhibited a significantly higher frequency of MNNG-induced mutants than did cells that were not pre-treated, suggesting that the O6-methylguanine lesion in DNA is responsible for a significant proportion of the mutations induced. Cell strains containing substrates for assaying intrachromosomal homologous recombination were constructed using parental cell lines from each of the 3 categories of AGT activity. These strains showed an inverse correlation between the level of AGT activity and the frequency of MNNG-induced recombination. When various cell lines representing the 3 categories of AGT activity were compared for sensitivity to ethylnitrosourea, the results were consistent with AGT and nucleotide excision repair playing a role in preventing cell killing and mutation induction by this agent.

Alkylation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase on the frequency and spectrum of mutations induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine in the HPRT gene of diploid human fibroblasts.

N-Methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) reacts with 12 nucleophilic sites in DNA to induce a variety of lesions, but O6-methylguanine (O6-MeG) and O4-methylthymine are the most effective premutagenic lesions produced, mispairing with thymine and guanine, respectively. O6-MeG is repaired by O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT), which removes the methyl group from the O6 position and transfers it to itself, rendering the transferase inactive. When diploid human fibroblasts were exposed to 25 microM, O6-benzylguanine (O6-BzG) in the medium for 3 h, their level of AGT activity was dramatically reduced, to a level of at most 1.6% of the control. Populations of cells pretreated with this level of O6-BzG for 2 h or not pretreated, were exposed to MNNG at a concentration of 2, 4 or 6 microM in the presence or absence of O6-BzG and assayed for survival of colony-forming ability and the frequency of 6-thioguanine-resistant cells (mutations induced in the HPRT gene). O6-BzG (25 microM) was also present in the appropriate half of the cells during the 24 h immediately following exposure to MNNG. This 27-h exposure to O6-BzG alone had no cytotoxic or mutagenic effect on the cells but significantly increased the cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of MNNG, increasing the mutant frequency to that found previously in human cells constitutively devoid of AGT activity. At doses of 2 microM and 4 microM MNNG, the mutant frequency observed with the AGT-depleted cells was 120 x 10(-6) and 240 x 10(-6), respectively; in the cells with abundant AGT activity, these values were 10 x 10(-6) and 20 x 10(-6), respectively. DNA-sequence analysis of the coding region of the HPRT gene in 36 independent mutants obtained from MNNG-treated AGT-depleted populations and 36 from the control populations showed that even though AGT repair lowered the frequency of mutants by more than 90%, it did not affect the kinds of mutations induced by MNNG nor the strand distribution of the premutagenic guanine lesions. In mutants from the AGT-depleted cells, there were 26 base substitutions and 13 putative splice site mutations; in the control, there were 25 base substitutions and 11 splice site mutations. All but two substitutions involved G.C with 92% being G.C----A.T. In both sets, approximately 73% of the premutagenic lesions were located in the nontranscribed strand.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Base Sequence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparing the frequency and spectra of mutations induced when an SV-40 based shuttle vector containing covalently bound residues of structurally-related carcinogens replicates in human cells.

An SV40-based shuttle vector, pZ189, carrying a bacterial suppressor tRNA target gene (supF) was treated with radiolabeled polycyclic aromatic carcinogens and the number of covalently bound residues (adducts) per plasmid was determined. The plasmids were transfected into the human embryonic kidney cell line 293 and allowed to replicate. The progeny plasmids were rescued and assayed for the frequency of supF mutants by being used to transform indicator bacteria carrying an amber mutation in the beta-galactosidase gene. The agents tested were the 7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide of benzo[a]pyrene (BPDE); 1-nitrosopyrene (1-NOP); N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (N-AcO-AAF); and its trifluoro-derivative (N-AcO-F3-AAF) which yields deacetylated adducts. With each agent there was a linear increase in the frequency of supF mutants as a function of the number of DNA adducts formed, reaching frequencies as high as 20 x 10(-4) to 40 x 10(-4), with a background frequency of 1.4 x 10(-4). When compared on the basis of adducts formed per plasmid, BPDE, which forms its principal DNA adduct at the N2 position of guanine, was approximately 4 times more mutagenic than 1-NOP, N-AcO-AAF and N-AcO-F3-AAF, which bind principally or exclusively to the C8 position of guanine. This difference in mutagenic effectiveness may reflect intrinsic differences in the nature of the adducts and their location in the DNA molecule. It could also reflect a difference in the rate of removal of particular adducts by nucleotide excision repair since the 293 host cell line excised BPDE-induced adducts from genomic DNA at least 3 times slower than 1-NOP-induced adducts. Agarose gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing analysis of 35 mutants derived from untreated plasmids showed that the majority (70%) involved deletions, insertions, or altered gel mobility (gross rearrangements). In contrast, the majority of those derived from carcinogen-treated plasmids were base-substitutions. DNA-sequencing of 86 unequivocally independent mutants derived from BPDE-treated plasmids and 60 from 1-NOP-treated plasmids indicated that 60% and 80%, respectively, contained a single base-substitution, 5-10% had two base-substitutions, and 4-10% had small insertions or deletions (one or two base pairs).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

7,8-Dihydro-7,8-dihydroxybenzo(a)pyrene 9,10-oxide↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Immunologic profiles of adults with congenital bleeding disorders.

An immunologic profile may be useful to predict the development of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in both high risk patient groups including homosexuals, hemophiliacs, Haitians, and users of illicit intravenous narcotics as well as the general population. We evaluated 76 consecutive, apparently healthy, adults with congenital bleeding disorders for serum beta-2 microglobulin concentration by competitive enzyme immunoassay, T-lymphocyte subpopulations with monoclonal antibodies and serum interferon by inhibition of vesicular stomatitis virus plaque forming units. Findings on physical examination were remarkable with 24% of the group having longstanding splenomegaly and 24% lymphadenopathy. beta-2 microglobulin levels were 3232 +/- 220 micrograms/l (mean +/- SEM) with normal controls 2134 +/- 119 micrograms/l. The ratio of Leu3a (helper/inducer) positive to Leu2a (suppressor/cytotoxic) positive T-lymphocytes was 1.33 +/- 0.1 (mean +/- SEM, median = 1.18). Normal control ratios were all greater than 1.35 with a mean +/- s.d. = 1.96 +/- 0.28. Abnormal ratios of T-lymphocyte subpopulations appeared to persist over time. Increases in beta-2 microglobulin correlated with an inverted helper/suppressor T-lymphocyte ratio, the presence of lymphadenopathy, and elevations in aspartate aminotransferase. Interferon was detected in 18% of patient sera. More frequently transfused and more severely affected patients had a higher frequency of immunologic abnormalities although abnormalities also occurred in some rarely and never transfused less severely affected patients. These studies document a high incidence of immunologic abnormalities in patients with inherited coagulation defects.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗