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J M Cherry

Publications and source records attributed to J M Cherry.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Detection of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase and latency-associated transcript gene sequences in human herpetic corneas by polymerase chain reaction amplification.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) latency in sensory ganglion neurons is well documented, but the existence of extraneuronal corneal latency is less well defined. To investigate the possibility of extraneuronal latency during ocular HSV infection, corneal specimens from 18 patients with quiescent herpes simplex keratitis (HSK) were obtained at the time of keratoplasty. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification followed by southern blot hybridization with a radiolabeled oligonucleotide probe was done to detect the presence of HSV-1 genome in these human corneal samples. Two pairs of oligonucleotides from the region of the HSV thymidine kinase (TK) gene and the latency-associated transcript (LAT) gene were used as primers in the PCR amplification. The DNA sequences from either the TK or the LAT gene were identified in 15 of 18 HSK corneas (83%). These results demonstrate that the HSV genome was retained, at least in part, in human corneas during quiescent HSV infection, giving further support to the concept of corneal extraneuronal latency.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Mutational analysis of conserved nucleotides in a self-splicing group I intron.

We have constructed all single base substitutions in almost all of the highly conserved residues of the Tetrahymena self-splicing intron. Mutation of highly conserved residues almost invariably leads to loss of enzymatic activity. In many cases, activity could be regained by making additional mutations that restored predicted base-pairings; these second site suppressors in general confirm the secondary structure derived from phylogenetic data. At several positions, our suppression data can be most readily explained by assuming non-Watson-Crick base-pairings. In addition to the requirements imposed by the secondary structure, the sequence of the intron is constrained by "negative interactions", the exclusion of particular nucleotide sequences that would form undesirable secondary structures. A comparison of genetic and phylogenetic data suggests sites that may be involved in tertiary structural interactions.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

The internally located telomeric sequences in the germ-line chromosomes of Tetrahymena are at the ends of transposon-like elements.

The germ-line micronuclear genome of the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila contains approximately 10(2) chromosome-internal blocks of tandemly repeated C4A2 sequences (mic C4A2). This repeated sequence is the telomeric sequence in the somatic macronucleus. Each of six cloned micC4A2 was found to be adjacent to a conserved 30 bp sequence, which we propose is the terminal inverted repeat of a family of DNA elements (the Tel-1 family). This 30 bp sequence contains a site for the infrequently cutting restriction enzyme Bst XI, which allows full-length Tel-1 elements to be cut out of the micronuclear genome. BAL 31 exonuclease digestion of Bst XI-cut micronuclear DNA showed the majority of micC4A2 blocks to be associated with the ends of the Tel-1 family. We propose that Tel-1 elements are transposable and suggest a novel mechanism to account for the origin of micC4A2, in which telomeric repeats are added to the ends of free linear forms of the transposable elements prior to reintegration.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Transmural myocardial deformation in the canine left ventricular wall.

A biplane cineradiographic technique was used to measure deformation of the myocardium as indicated by small lead spheres implanted into the anterior left ventricular wall of anesthetized dogs. Deformation was resolved into nine separate components for each of the epicardial, middle, and endocardial layers. The data illustrate the mechanical effect of myocardial fiber orientation and the ability of muscle layers to deform differentially. In order to present an overview of all the results, the implications of the deformation components are discussed first separately and then in a coordinated fashion.

Animals↗