A tight linkage cluster, with two new RFLPs (D8S96 and D8S108), in the interval 8cen-q13.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L A Sadler.
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The complete sequence of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene was determined for the symbiotic dinoflagellate Symbiodinium pilosum. This sequence was compared with sequences from two other dinoflagellates (Prorocentrum micans and Crypthecodinium cohnii), five Apicomplexa, five Ciliata, five other eukaryotes and one archaebacterium. The corresponding structurally conserved regions of the molecule were used to determine which portions of the sequences could be unambiguously aligned. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred from an analysis of distance matrices, where pair-wise distances were determined using a maximum likelihood model for transition and transversion ratios, and from maximum parsimony analysis, with bootstrap resampling. By either analytical approach, the dinoflagellates appear distantly related to prokaryotes, and are most closely related to two of the Apicomplexa, Sarcocystis muris and Theileria annulata. Among the dinoflagellates, C. cohnii was found to be more closely affiliated with the Apicomplexa than either P. micans or S. pilosum.
A linkage map consisting of 21 dinucleotide repeat polymorphisms, 1 tetranucleotide repeat polymorphism, and 3 RFLPs was constructed for human chromosome 8. The map spanned most of the chromosome length from near pter to q23-q24 on the distal portion of the long arm. The total 186 cM length of the female map was over two times the 84 cM length of the male map. Cytogenetic mapping of the polymorphisms using a panel of hybrids containing rearranged chromosomes was completely consistent with the linkage map. Special effort was made to remove as many genotyping errors, including parental phase errors, as possible. Removal of errors, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions, led to reduction of the total length of the sex-equal map by 10% from 145 to 130 cM.
The 29 species of the Tetrahymena pyriformis complex are morphologically identical while being quite diverse at the molecular level. These species are also diverse relative to other eukaryotes. Phylogenetic relationships within the complex have been difficult to determine, because there are groups of closely related species, as well as individual species, that are highly divergent. We have sequenced portions of two highly conserved histone genes and the more rapidly evolving intergenic region between them. These sequences have been used to construct a phylogeny for the complex. A comparison of the amino-terminal portion of the histone H4 proteins from the species of the complex reveals a high degree of sequence diversity relative to that of other organisms. In contrast, the amino-terminal portions of the histone H3 proteins of the species in the complex are identical to each other. We also find that the pattern of nucleotide substitution in the intergenic region differs from that described for higher eukaryotes.
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Linkage mapping in a large, seven-generation family with type 2 autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (ADRP) demonstrates linkage between the disease locus (RP1) and DNA markers on the short arm of human chromosome 8. Five markers were most informative for mapping ADRP in this family using two-point linkage analysis. The markers, their maximum lod scores, and recombination distances were ANK1 (ankyrin)--2.0 at 16%; D8S5 (TL11)--5.3 at 17%; D8S87 [a(CA)n repeat]--7.2 at 14%; LPL (lipoprotein lipase)--1.5 at 26%; and PLAT (plasminigen activator, tissue)--10.6 at 7%. Multipoint linkage analysis, using a simplified pedigree structure for the family (which contains 192 individuals and two inbreeding loops), gave a maximum lod score of 12.2 for RP1 at a distance 8.1 cM proximal to PLAT in the pericentric region of the chromosome. Based on linkage data from the CEPH (Paris) reference families and physical mapping information from a somatic cell hybrid panel of chromosome 8 fragments, the most likely order for four of these five loci and the diseases locus is 8pter-LPL-D8S5-D8S87-PLAT-RP1. (The precise location of ANK1 relative to PLAT in this map is not established). The most likely location for RP1 is in the pericentric region of the chromosome. Recently, several families with ADRP with tight linkage to the rhodopsin locus at 3q21-q24 were reported and a number of specific rhodopsin mutations in families with ADRP have since been reported. In other ADRP families, including the one in this study, linkage to rhodopsin has been excluded. Thus mutations at two different loci, at least, have been shown to cause ADRP. There is no remarkable clinical disparity in the expression of disease caused by these different loci.
The nucleotide diversity (pi) in humans is studied by using published cDNA and genomic sequences that have been carefully checked for sequencing accuracy. This measure of genetic variability is defined as the number of nucleotide differences per site between two randomly chosen sequences from a population. A total of more than 75,000 base pairs from 49 loci are compared. The DNA regions studied are the 5' and 3' untranslated regions and the amino acid coding regions. The coding regions are divided into nondegenerate sites (i.e., sites at which all possible changes are nonsynonymous), twofold degenerate sites (i.e., sites at each of which one of the three possible changes is synonymous) and fourfold degenerate sites (i.e., sites at which all three possible changes are synonymous). The pi values estimated are, respectively, 0.03 and 0.04% for the 5' and 3' UT regions, and 0.03, 0.06 and 0.11% for nondegenerate, twofold degenerate and fourfold degenerate sites. Since the highest pi value is only 0.11%, which is about one order of magnitude lower than those in Drosophila populations, the nucleotide diversity in humans is very low. The low diversity is probably due to a relatively small long-term effective population size rather than any severe bottleneck during human evolution.
The regions between adjacent histone H3 and H4 genes, as well as portions of the genes, from 22 species of Tetrahymena have been amplified using the polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. Both histone genes are transcribed divergently with initiation occurring within the intergenic region, thus 2 sets of 22 homologous Tetrahymena promoters can be compared. A sequence comparison of these regions reveals a single putative promoter element, with a consensus sequence TATCCAATTCARA, present in front of each gene. This sequence contains a 'CCAAT' box, which also occurs at 8 locations preceding other ciliate genes. No other putative promoter sequences are found in front of these sets of histone genes. Sequences searched for include 'TATA' boxes, 'GC' boxes and other sequences suggested as putative promoter elements for ciliate genes. The coding strand immediately preceding ciliate genes is very high in A content and the consensus sequence at the site of protein synthesis is AAAATGG.
The species of the Tetrahymena pyriformis complex present a conundrum with regard to their highly conservative morphology and widely divergent molecular characteristics. We have investigated the phylogenetic relationships among these species using the nucleotide sequences from the histone H3II/H4II region of the genome. This region includes portions of the two histone coding sequences, as well as the intergenic region. The DNA sequences of these regions were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the sequence of each was determined. Nucleotide substitutions and insertions/deletions within this set of sequences were compared to determine the phylogenetic relationships among the species of the complex. These data yield phylogenetic trees with identical topologies when different tree-building routines are used, indicating that the data are very robust. Glaucoma chattoni was used as an outgroup to root the trees for this analysis. The genome organization of G. chattoni and the divergence of its histone H3II/H4II region sequence relative to those of the complex clearly indicate that this species has diverged considerably from the complex. These results show that PCR amplification analysis is feasible over considerable evolutionary distances. However, DNA-DNA hybridization may be more useful than sequence analysis in resolving the relationships among the closely related species in the complex.
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Prior studies of vascular rejection in transplanted human hearts have stressed the importance of accelerated coronary arteriosclerosis (chronic vascular rejection). We, however, have had four patients with sudden onset of acute heart failure within 90 days of transplantation who have died without significant myocardial interstitial rejection or the concentric intimal thickening with dense collagen that is typical of chronic vascular rejection. In contrast, the coronary arteries in our patients had a prominent lymphocytic infiltrate, a loosely organized intimal thickening composed of smooth muscle cells, and extensive endothelial injury. We believe that these changes define acute vascular rejection of the coronary artery. In 14 transplanted hearts obtained consecutively, at autopsy or at a second transplant procedure, graft failure was caused by acute coronary vascular rejection in six cases and by chronic coronary vascular rejection in one case. The remaining seven patients showed no evidence of vascular rejection and died primarily of sepsis. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease was present in 6 of 7 patients with vascular rejection, of which 43% were CMV-negative recipients of hearts from CMV-positive donors. The adoption of a triple-drug protocol, in which azathioprine was added to cyclosporine and prednisone, reduced the incidence of acute vascular rejection from 27% to 8%. We conclude that acute coronary vascular rejection may be initially seen as global cardiac ischemia in the absence of significant interstitial myocardial rejection. Further, acute vascular rejection should be pathologically distinguished from chronic vascular rejection, although both are probably stages in the natural history of immune-mediated vascular injury.