A potassium channel protein encoded by chlorella virus PBCV-1.

The large chlorella virus PBCV-1, which contains double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), encodes a 94-codon open reading frame (ORF) that contains a motif resembling the signature sequence of the pore domain of potassium channel proteins. Phylogenetic analyses of the encoded protein, Kcv, indicate a previously unidentified type of potassium channel. The messenger RNA encoded by the ORF leads to functional expression of a potassium-selective conductance in Xenopus laevis oocytes.

BK-virus nephropathy in renal transplants-tubular necrosis, MHC-class II expression and rejection in a puzzling game.

We review BK-virus nephropathy (BKN) as a new complication that increasingly affects renal allografts and causes dysfunction. Since starting in 1996, we have seen 11 cases. Currently, the prevalence of BKN is 3% in our graft biopsies.

Ca2+-sensitive and Ca2+-insensitive exocytosis in maize coleoptile protoplasts.

Ca2+ and osmotic driven extension of the surface area of maize coleoptile protoplasts was investigated using capacitance measurements and photolysis of the caged compound DM-nitrophen. Protoplasts responded to an elevation of cytoplasmic Ca2+ (Ca(i)) with a rapid burst in capacitance reaching a maximal increase of 1.3+/-1.

Renal hemodynamics and pharmacokinetics of bosentan with and without cyclosporine A.

Unlabelled: Renal hemodynamics and pharmacokinetics of bosentan with and without cyclosporine A.

Background: Endothelins may play an important role in cyclosporine A (CsA)-induced renal vasoconstriction. Therefore, the effects of a mixed endothelin A and B receptor antagonist, bosentan (BO), on CsA were studied.

Ca-sensitive and Ca-insensitive exocytosis in maize coleoptile protoplasts.

Ca and osmotic driven extension of the surface area of maize coleoptile protoplasts was investigated using capacitance measurements and photolysis of the caged compound DM-nitrophen. Protoplasts responded to an elevation of cytoplasmic Ca (Ca) with a rapid burst in capacitance reaching a maximal increase of 1.3±1.

Blood eosinophilia in tacrolimus-treated patients: an indicator of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.

Background: Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PcP) in immunocompromised patients is suggested if the following symptoms develop: dyspnea, fever, and interstitial infiltrates on chest x-ray. We observed a significant blood eosinophilia in kidney recipients with PcP under immunosuppressive treatment with tacrolimus.

Methods: Blood eosinophil counts of kidney recipients under immunosuppression with tacrolimus suffering from PcP were compared to eosinophil counts of patients without evidence of PcP and to patients showing PcP under immunosuppression with cyclosporine.

CD99 positivity and EWS-FLI1 gene rearrangement identify a breast tumor in a 60-year-old patient with attributes of the Ewing family of neoplasms.

Rearrangements of the EWS gene with ETS transcription factor genes as a result of chromosomal translocation and high expression levels of CD99MIC2 characterize the Ewing family of tumors (EFT). This group of rather undifferentiated neoplasms affects bone and soft tissue in children and young adults mostly between 5 and 30 years of age (median, 15 years). This study reports a case of a CD99MIC2 positive small round cell tumor in the breast of a 60-year-old woman in whom a t(11;22)(q24;q12) chromosomal aberration was identified by cytogenetic analysis.

Unitary exocytotic and endocytotic events in guard-cell protoplasts during osmotically driven volume changes.

Osmotically driven swelling and shrinking of guard-cell protoplasts (GCPs) requires adjustment of surface area which is achieved by addition and removal of plasma membrane material. To investigate the mechanism for adaptation of surface area we have used patch-clamp capacitance measurements. The recorded membrane capacitance (C(m)) trace of swelling and shrinking GCPs occasionally revealed discrete upward and downward deflecting capacitance steps, respectively, with a median value of about 2 fF.

Nuclear targeting of cAMP response element binding protein 2 (CREB2).

The transcription factor cAMP response element binding protein 2 (CREB2) belongs to a family of proteins containing a basic region as DNA-binding domain and a leucine zipper as a dimerization domain in its C-terminus. Using indirect immunofluorescence labeling of cells we show that CREB2 is a nuclear protein. To identify the signal(s) required for nuclear targeting of CREB2, various domains of the protein were expressed in COS cells as fusion proteins with glutathione S-transferase and their cellular location assayed by indirect immunofluorescence using antibodies directed against the glutathione S-transferase moiety of the fusion proteins.

Auxin-induced K+ channel expression represents an essential step in coleoptile growth and gravitropism.

Auxin-induced growth of coleoptiles depends on the presence of potassium and is suppressed by K+ channel blockers. To evaluate the role of K+ channels in auxin-mediated growth, we isolated and functionally expressed ZMK1 and ZMK2 (Zea mays K+ channel 1 and 2), two potassium channels from maize coleoptiles. In growth experiments, the time course of auxin-induced expression of ZMK1 coincided with the kinetics of coleoptile elongation.

Changes in methylation patterns identified by two-dimensional DNA fingerprinting.

Two-dimensional DNA fingerprinting (2-D fingerprinting) is a sensitive tool for genomic difference analysis between tumor DNA and constitutive DNA of glioma patients. Numerous differences were found even in low-grade gliomas. They can be interpreted as deletions, amplifications, rearrangements, HaeIII restriction site mutations, tandem repeat instabilities, or methylation differences.

Calcium release from InsP3-sensitive internal stores initiates action potential in Chara.

Neomycin and U73122 are known to suppress inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3) production by inhibition of phospholipase C. We studied the effects of these inhibitors on the excitatory currents, Iex, in Chara corallina under voltage-clamp conditions. Computer simulations of the experimental effects by a minimum model for the excitatory reaction pathway allow the assignment of the inhibitory effects to one specific reaction step, i.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific T cell immunity after renal transplantation mediates protection from CMV disease by limiting the systemic virus load.

The role of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and T helper cells (Th) in controlling CMV infection, as detected by antigenemia assay and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in blood leukocytes, and CMV disease was investigated in 20 renal transplant recipients. Within 3 months after transplant, CMV-specific CTL and Th responses were demonstrable in 11 (55%) and 15 (75%) patients, respectively; CMV infection was detected by antigenemia and PCR in 19 (95%) patients each. During the month of first CMV detection, there was an inverse correlation between CTL response and antigenemia at >/=20 positive cells/105 leukocytes (P=.

Corticotropin-releasing factor and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide activate gene transcription through the cAMP signaling pathway in a catecholaminergic immortalized neuron.

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) are neuropeptides displaying a variety of short-term effects in the nervous system. It is shown here in transfection experiments of an immortalized noradrenergic locus coeruleus-like cell line that both CRF and VIP also trigger a signaling cascade capable of activating gene transcription. To elucidate the signaling pathway leading to transcriptional induction, cells were transfected with an inhibitor for cAMP-dependent protein kinase, targeted to the nucleus via a nuclear-localization signal.

Transcriptional repression by the zinc finger protein REST is mediated by titratable nuclear factors.

The zinc finger protein REST (RE-1 silencing transcription factor) is a transcriptional repressor that inhibits neuronal gene transcription in non-neuronal tissues. REST may represent a master regulator of neuronal gene expression. REST contains two repressor domains located at the N- and C-termini of the molecule.

Polyomavirus infection of renal allograft recipients: from latent infection to manifest disease.

Polyomavirus (PV) exceptionally causes a morphologically manifest renal allograft infection. Five such cases were encountered in this study, and were followed between 40 and 330 d during persistent PV renal allograft infection. Transplant (Tx) control groups without PV graft infection were analyzed for comparison.

Polyomavirus disease under new immunosuppressive drugs: a cause of renal graft dysfunction and graft loss.

Background: Manifest polyomavirus (PV) renal graft infection is a rare complication. We diagnosed 5 cases among 70 kidney recipients undergoing transplants since December 1995; however, there were no cases at our institution before December 1995.

Method: To identify risk factors promoting manifest PV graft infection, we compared those 5 patients with kidney recipients who had signs of PV replication but no manifest graft infection (n=23, control group).

Regulation of neuronal gene expression.

Humans as multicellular organisms contain a variety of different cell types where each cell population must fulfill a distinct function in the interest of the whole organism. The molecular basis for the variations in morphology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and function of the various cell types is the cell-type specific expression of genes. These genes encode proteins necessary for executing the specialized functions of each cell type within an organism.

Inverse expression pattern of REST and synapsin I in human neuroblastoma cells.

The zinc finger protein REST is a repressor of neuronal genes in nonneuronal tissues. We have analyzed the expression of REST, together with the expression of a REST target gene, encoding synapsin I, in human neuroblastoma cells. It was found that REST and synapsin I are coexpressed in neuroblastoma cell lines, although the expression of REST was inversely proportional to the levels of synapsin I mRNA.

Isolation and characterization of the rat huntingtin promoter.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a (CAG)>37 repeat expansion in a novel gene of unknown function. Although the huntingtin gene is expressed in neuronal and non-neuronal tissues, the disease affects nerve cells of selected regional areas of the central nervous system. To gain insight into the regulation of the HD gene we analysed 1348 bp of the rat huntingtin promoter region.

Transmission of human herpesvirus 8 infection from renal-transplant donors to recipients.

Background: Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) has been detected in all forms of Kaposi's sarcoma, including transplantation-associated Kaposi's sarcoma. To investigate the possibility of transmission of HHV-8 through allografts, we measured the seroprevalence of HHV-8 before and after renal transplantation.

Methods: Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with the recombinant HHV-8 protein orf 65.