Critical electrolyte concentration and dispersion of birefringence in heterochromatin and euchromatin of copper sulfate-treated specimens of Triatoma infestans Klug.

Binding of toluidine blue molecules to DNA phosphates under Mg2+ competitive staining conditions and dispersion of birefringence were studied in heterochromatin and euchromatin of Malpighian tubule cells of the hemipteran, Triatoma infestans; 24 h after treatment with copper sulfate. The objective was to detect whether copper binds to chromatin DNA, affecting the critical electrolyte concentration (CEC) value and the chromatin anisotropy in these chromatin types. A decrease in CEC values as measured by metachromasy abolition, and in the concentration of Mg2+ leading to a change from anomalous dispersion of birefringence to normal dispersion of birefringence was found for the heterochromatin and euchromatin of two different nuclear types in the copper-treated material. Protein dissociation from DNA, leading to increased numbers of DNA phosphates available for dye binding, promoted by Mg2+ concentrations above that corresponding to the CEC point is suggested. Based on anisotropy findings, the binding of copper to DNA was assumed not to affect the usual molecular orientation of the DNA.

[Effect of mitomycin C (MMC) on the fusion points of reciprocal translocations]. / Acción de la mitomicina C (MMC) sobre los puntos de fusión de translocaciones recíprocas.

Lymphocytes from five patients having a reciprocal translocation were exposed to MMC to test the stability of the point of reunion which was localized in an euchromatic region. The results showed that the point of fusion in this type of translocations in not a preferential breakpoint. In a patient carrier of a (1;7) translocation, the derivate chromosome showed a significant increased number of breaks compared with the homologous chromosomes. No explanation is available for this finding. Our results support the hypothesis that the observed dissociation of Robertsonian translocation is related to the fact that the point of reunion is located in a heterochromatic region.

Critical electrolyte concentration of heterochromatin and euchromatin in cells of starved animals.

The critical electrolyte concentration (CEC) of chromatin, considered to be the salt concentration at which the phenomenon of metachromasy is completely abolished, when using toluidine blue as the cationic dye and Mg2+ ions as inorganic cations, was determined for the euchromatin and chromocentral heterochromatin of cells from starved animals. The objective was to determine variations in CEC induced by the starvation stress, which could be related to structural alterations and/or to the composition of these chromatin types. The cells investigated were from Triatoma infestans Malpighian tubules and mouse liver. It was found that the CEC values were affected both by fasting and by refeeding, the effect varying according to chromatin type and the cell system under consideration.