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Biomedical subjects

P E Cole

Publications and source records attributed to P E Cole.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The activity of discrete fragments of ribosomal protein S1 in Q beta replicase function.

As a subunit of bacteriophage Q beta replicase, ribosomal protein S1 is required for tight binding of the enzyme to Q beta RNA and for the initiation of Q beta RNA transcription. To compare these properties of S1 with its functions in protein synthesis, we have reconstituted altered replicase enzymes by adding discrete fragments of S1 to Q beta replicase lacking S1 (R(-S1]. We show that the NH2-terminal region of S1 is required for S1 subunit interactions in replicase since a trypsin-resistant fragment (denoted S1-F1) lacking the NH2-terminal 31% of S1 is functionally inactive and does not seem to bind to R(-S1). Previous studies with S1-F1 indicated that this NH2-terminal region is required for S1 to bind to the ribosome. Our results also show that the COOH-terminal region of S1 is dispensable for S1's function in replicase because a mutant of S1 (m1-S1) lacking 21% of the COOH-terminal portion of the chain is as active as wild type S1 in replicase and binds to R(-S1) with comparable affinity. In protein synthesis, the mutant m1-S1 is known to substitute for S1 but is only about 75% as efficient as wild type S1.

Escherichia coli

pH dependence of the reduction-oxidation reaction of azurin with cytochrome c-551: role of histidine-35 of azurin in electron transfer.

A fluorescence quenching experiment confirms that in the redox reaction between cytochrome c-551 and azurin, protein complexing is negligible. Azurin-pH indicator T-jump experiments show that Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Ps.) azurin exhibits a slow time constant, tau, in its return to pH equilibrium but Alcaligenes faecalis (Alc.) azurin does not. The decrease of l/tau with increasing pH shows that the rate-determining process is a slow transformation of the imidazolium form of histidine-35 from a conformation where it cannot ionize to one in which it can. The fast relaxation time constant of the redox reaction varies little with pH, but the slow time constant increased by a factor of approximately 2.5 increasing pH between pH 5 and pH 8. The corresponding amplitudes, especially the slow one, vary with pH. On the basis of all the present evidence it is concluded that, while some differences of redox reactivity do occur on protonation, these differences are not major. In general, the two proteins cyt c-551 and azurin react with each other with rates only weakly dependent upon pH. A classical pH titration was carried out on the reduced and oxidized form of Ps. and Alc. azurin with the result that two protons were released between pH 6 and pH 8, in the former from His-35 and -83 and in the latter from His-83 and Ala-1.

Azurin

Melting order of successively longer yeast phenylalanine-accepting transfer ribonucleic acid fragments with a common 5' end.

Temperature-jump methods were used to study the kinetics of the helix to coil transition in three fragments of yeast tRNAPhe that share a common 5' terminus (the 5' end of the mature tRNA). Correlation of the extrapolated helix dissociation time constants with NMR exchange broadening results allows assignment of the structural basis of the optical melting transition in the fragments. The results confirm nuclear magnetic resonance findings on these fragments: the 5' 1/4 fragment has no helical structure; the 5' 1/2 fragment contains the D stem; and the 5' 3/5 fragment contains the D stem and the anticodon stem. These are the structures expected if sequential folding of the tRNA during biosynthesis were to occur. The D stem is the last helix to melt in the 5' 3/5 fragment. We suggest that structural elements in addition to the four Watson-Crick base pairs of the D-stem helix are responsible for the anomalously high Tm of that hairpin.

Kinetics

Size fractionation of DNA fragments by liquid-liquid chromatography.

A method for the fractionation of double-stranded DNA fragments from 150 to 22000 b.p. in size by liquid-liquid chromatography is described. The procedure makes use of the fact that the partitioning of DNA in a polyethylene glycol-dextran system is size dependent and can be altered by alkali metal cations. Cellulose or celite are used as supports for the stationary, dextran-rich phase. Examples show the fractionation of digests of T7 DNA produced by Dpn II and Hind II restriction endonulceases as well as lambda DNA digests produced by Hind III and Eco RI restriction endonucleases.

Bacteriophage lambda

Sex discriminatory effectiveness using combinations of root lengths and crown diameters.

Using optical-scanner (OPTOCOM) and radiogrammetric measurements on mandibular permanent teeth, root length alone affords sex-discriminatory effectiveness equal to or exceeding conventional crown diameters. Combinations of root length and crown dimensions yield up to 80% accuracy in sexing with as few as two teeth, and discriminatory effectiveness of 87% with mandibular teeth alone.

Adolescent

Level of education, level of income, and level of fatness in adults.

Socioeconomic status is systematically related to the level of fatness, and therefore the incidence of obesity, in a total community survey of nearly 5,000 adults. Among males with more than 12 years of schooling, the average thickness of 4 fatfolds is 10% greater, amounting to about 2 kg of total fat, than those with 8 years or less of education. In females, however, the opposite trend is observed, those in the higher educational group averaging 20% thinner fatfolds, or about 5.5 kg total fat, than females in the lower educational group. These findings confirm the need for standards of obesity that take socioeconomic status into account.

Adipose Tissue