Characterization to species level of Mycobacterium avium complex strains from human immunodeficiency virus-positive and -negative patients.

Forty human clinical Mycobacterium avium-M. intracellulare complex strains isolated in Greece were characterized to the species level by PCR with three sets of primers specific for one or both species. M. avium predominated in both human immunodeficiency virus-positive and -negative patients, but the frequency of M. intracellulare isolation appeared to be higher in the latter.

Expression of a histone H1 gene (H1.1) in human testis and Hassall's corpuscles of the thymus. Expression of a histone H1 gene (H1.1).

The expression of a H1 gene (H1.1) was studied in several human tissues. Northern blot analysis revealed that this gene is expressed in testis and thymus, but not in other human tissues like liver, spleen, lung, brain, thyroid gland and skin fibroblasts. Furthermore in situ hybridization on tissue sections revealed a cell type specific expression of histone H1.1 gene in the Hassall's corpuscles of the thymus.

Mouse preproacrosin: cDNA sequence, primary structure and postmeiotic expression in spermatogenesis.

The primary structure of mouse preproacrosin was deduced by nucleotide sequencing of cDNA clones isolated from a mouse testis cDNA library. The largest cDNA, with 1373 bp, consists of a 11-bp 5'untranslated sequence, a 1254-bp open reading frame terminated by a TGA triplet and a 105-bp 3' untranslated end, including one potential polyadenylation signal. The NH2-terminus of the polypeptide contains a hydrophobic 15-amino acid signal peptide. This cleavable signal sequence is followed by 403 amino acids, representing the acrosin light and the heavy chain of 23 and 380 amino acid residues, respectively. The proteolytic active site segments His, Asp and Ser are part of the heavy chain, as well as a proline-rich COOH-terminus, which is not present in any other serine proteinase studied so far. Furthermore the postmeiotic expression of the preproacrosin gene during mouse spermatogenesis was studied.

Molecular cloning of preproacrosin and analysis of its expression pattern in spermatogenesis.

Complementary DNA clones for the boar preproacrosin have been isolated from a randomly primed testis cDNA library in lambda gt10 and from an oligo(dT)-primed testis cDNA in lambda gt11. The nucleotide sequence of the 1418-bp cDNA insert includes a 46-bp 5'-untranslated region, an open reading frame of 1248 bp corresponding to 416 amino acids (45.59 kDa) and a 121-bp 3'-untranslated region. The deduced amino acid sequence includes the active-site residues histidine, asparagine and serine of the catalytic triad of the serine proteinase super-family and is colinear with that determined by amino acid sequencing of the boar acrosin light chain and of a small region of the NH2-terminal sequence of the heavy chain. The preproacrosin cDNA contains at the 3' end a 381-bp sequence which codes for an amino acid sequence not yet found in any other serine proteinase. This amino acid sequence is rich in proline (42 out of 127 amino acids) and is suggested to be involved in the recognition and binding of the spermatozoa to the zona pellucida of the ovum. The mRNA for preproacrosin is synthesized as an approximately 1.6-kb-long molecule only in the postmeiotic stages of boar and bull spermatogenesis.

Nucleotide sequences and expression of cDNA clones for boar and bull transition protein 1 and its evolutionary conservation in mammals.

During spermatogenesis, the nucleoproteins undergo several dramatic changes as the germinal cells differentiate to produce the mature sperm. With nuclear elongation and condensation, the histones are replaced by basic spermatidal transition proteins, which are themselves subsequently replaced by protamines. We have isolated cDNA clones for one of the transition proteins, namely for TP1, of bull and boar. It turned out that TP1 is a small, but very basic protein with 54 amino acids (21% arginine, 19% lysine) and is highly conserved during mammalian evolution at the nucleotide as well as at the amino-acid level. Gene expression is restricted to the mammalian testis, and the message first appears in round spermatids. Thus production of TP1 is an example of haploid gene expression in mammals. The size of the mRNA for TP1 was found to be identical in 11 different mammalian species at around 600 bp. Hybridization experiments were done with cDNAs from boar and bull, respectively. The positive results in all mammalian species give further evidence for the conservation of the TP1 gene during mammalian evolution and its functional importance in spermatid differentiation.