The effects of several ions on the specific activity and isozyme patterns of cellular and secretory isoperoxidases were studied in suspension-cultured cells of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Peroxidase release into the culture medium occurred in the absence of added calcium. The addition of calcium ion greatly stimulated the secretion of cationic isoperoxidases such as C2 and C3 into the medium: a maximum 11 fold increase of secretions occurred in the presence of 5 mM $CaCl_2$, and the secretion was accomplished within 1 hour after the addition of $CaCl_2$. About a 10 fold increase of the peroxidase secretion into the medium did occur with 0. 5% NaCl, whereas cellular isoperoxidase levels were reduced notably. About a 6 fold increase of the specific activity of cellular isoperoxidase was found in 5 mM $NiCl_2$-treated cell, while $NiCl_2$ had no effect on the secretion of peroxidase into the medium. Various concentrations of KCl did not change peroxidase secretion, but 5 mM $ZnCl_2$ reduced peroxidase secretion greatly. The major secretory isoperoxidases stimulated by $CaCl_2$, NaCl and cellulase were composed of cationic isoperoxidases C2 and C3, which were found to be localized in the cell wall of rice by examination of the enzyme in the protoplast. Furthermore, the secretion rates of secretory isoperoxidases were increased rapidly when cellulase was treated in the absence of the osmotic stabilizer of 0.4 M mannitol. These results suggest that the stimulations of secretory isoperoxidase levels seem to be due to the stimulation of secretion into the culture medium of rice.

Many cell types are known to stimulate $CD8^+$ T cells in allogeneic recognition such as mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR). Whereas dendritic cells are most potent among them. T cells are usually considered very poor in stimulating $CD8^+$ T cells although there are some tumor cells that are weakly stimulatory. T cells, as a stimulator, cultured in the presence of concanavalin A that were otherwise nonstimulatory to $CD8^+$ T cells appeared to stimulate $CD8^+$ T cells strongly when they were pretreated with neuraminidase. The enhancement of MLR by neuraminidase could be achieved by treating either the stimulators or responders with neuraminidase. Removal of negatively-charged sialic acid moieties from the cell surface, which reduced electrostatic repulsion between responders and stimulators to give better cell-cell contact might be responsible for the enhanced MLR. In addition, neuraminidase treatment also appeared to deliver activation signal to responding T cells since it could activate $CD8^+$ T cells in synergy with phorbol myristate acetate. The maximal responses were observed when both responders and stimulators were treated with neuraminidase.

A sandwich-type enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the quantification of human apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) was developed using monoclonal antibodies. For this assay, we used three monoclonal antibodies to trap and detect apo A-I. HDAI16 and HDA15 monoclonal antibodies were used for trapping apoA-I and HDAI8 monoclonal antibody was for detecting apoA-I. These three monoclonal antibodies were produced by immunizing mice with high density lipoprotein (HDL) isolated from human plasma. By immunoblot analysis, these three monoclonal antibodies were specific to apoA-I and showed no cross-reactivities with other plasma proteins. The results of competition assays for epitope cross-reactivity test also verified that these monoclonal antibodies identified separate and distinct epitopes on HDL and apoA-I. Affinity constants of monoclonal antibodies were measured by ELISA. Their association constants ranged from $10^7$ to $10^8$ $M^{-1}$. For this assay, pure apoA-I was isolated by affinity chromatography using monoclonal antibodies. In this sandwich assay, the amount of HRP-labeled HDAI8 bound to apoA-I trapped by HDAI16 and HDAI5 was proportional to apoA-I concentration in the range of 0 to 500ng/ml. ApoA-I concentration in plasma was calculated from the linear regression equation of standard curve. The precision and reliability of the assays are reflected in the low intra-and interassay coefficients of variation that averaged 3.25% and 4.30%, respectively. This assay is sensitive, simple, reproducible, convenient in incubation interval, and does not use radioisotope: thus it can be widely applied in clinical laboratories.

A thiol-specific spin label was attached to cysteine-102 of yeast cytochrome c and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra were measured as a function of added cytochrome c oxidase concentration. The intensity decreased due to line broadening as cytochrome c formed a complex with cytochrome c oxidase and reached a minimum when the ratio of cytochrome c to cytochrome c oxidase became one. Replacement of either Lys-72 or Lys-87 of cytochrome c by Glu did not result in a significant change in binding affinity. Interestingly the K72E mutant, unlike K87E, had a much lower rate of electron transfer than the wild type. These results indicate that many positively charged residues as a group participate in complex formation but Lys-72 might be important for cytochrome c to be locked in an orientation for an efficient electron transfer. A stoichiometry of 1 was also confirmed by optical absorption of the cytochrome c-cytochrome c oxidase complex which had been run through a gel chromatography cloumn to remove unbound cytochrome c. The EPR spectrum of this 1:1 complex, however, was a mixture of two components. This explains a biphasic kinetics for a single binding site on cytochrome c oxidase without invoking conformational transition.

Studies were undertaken to develop a competitive radioimmunoassay (RIA) and indirect antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the determination of 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine (MTA), which is formed from decarboxylated S-adenosylmethionine by spermidine and spermine synthase. Specific antiserum against MTA was raised in rabbits by immunization with MTA-BSA which was prepared by coupling BSA to oxidized MTA with periodate. Since MTA is oxidized easily to the sulfoxide, the sulfhydryl reagent, DTT. was added to the immunogen. For RIA, immunocomplexes were separated from free MTA by using ammonium sulfate precipitation. The antiserum showed almost no cross-reactivity with a variety of other nucleotides and riboses. But, the level of cross-reactivity of 5'-isobutylthioadenosine (SIBA) was high. These results showed the importance of hydrophobicity adjacent to the 5'-OH for determining antigenicity. The lower limit of detection by this assay was 100 fmol of MTA per tube. Using this assay. MTA levels were more easily and precisely determined in biological samples when compared with HPLC analysis. The RIA procedure is less time consuming. More than 24 analyses can be carried out in 2 h and required only a very small amount of sample ($20{\mu}l$ serum). In ELISA, biotin conjugated MTA-BSA was used as the labelled MTA. The sensitivity limit of this assay was lower than 100 pmol.

We purified a protein carboxyl O-methyltransferase (protein methylase II) from porcine spleen to homogeneity. The molecular weight of the porcine spleen protein methylase II (ps-PM II) was estimated to be 27,500 daltons on SDS-PAGE. Amino acid sequence of N-terminal 28 residues for ps-PM II was identified. Amino-terminal three amino acid residues of ps-PM II were deleted when compared to those of other protein carboxyl methytransferase. S-Adenosyl-L-homocysteine competitively inhibits ps-PM II with a K, value of $1.63{\times}10^{-7}M$. Myelin basic protein exhibited the highest methyl-accepting capacity among the proteins tested.

Although $CD4^+$ T cell responses to protein-derived antigen have well been understood, the epitopes recognized by hapten-specific $CD4^+$ T cells have not been fully defined. In this study, we characterized the response of a T cell hybridoma (5Di0.1B8) which is specific for a hapten. N-hydroxysuccinimidyl-4-azidobenzoate (HSAB) restricted by MHC class II $I-A^d$. Using three different antigen presenting cells (APCs) expressing $I-A^d$, the role of class II MHC proteins in haptenic antigen presentation and subsequent activation of 5D10.1B8 has been examined. Activation of 5D10.1B8 T cells by HSAB analogs was also performed. Our results show that each APC activated T cells differentially and that interleukin-2 (IL-2) augmented antigen-presenting ability of all the APCs, suggesting that increased expression of class II MHC protein by IL-2 played an important role in HSAB presentation and T cell activation. Finally, early T cell receptor-dependent signals induced by HSAB or its analogs were examined by phosphotyrosine immunoblot analysis, and showed that tyrosine phosphorylation level of a 18-20 kD protein increased upon stimulation.

The 4'-aminomethyl-4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen (AMT) has been used as intercalating DNA binding drugs in the photo-chemotherapy of skin diseases. The conformation and stability of DNA octamer duplex, $d(GGGTACCC)_2$, cross-linked with AMT has been studied by NMR spectroscopy. All the proton resonances of the psoralen cross-linked octamer were assigned and meting temperature studies were carried out based on the assignment of the proton resonances. The aromatic proton chemical shift data suggest that the conformation of the helix cross-linked with psoralen is destabilized more to furanside of the psoralen. possibly due to the protrusion of the aminomethyl side chain of the psoralen.

The helical periodicity of the triple-stranded $(dT)_n{\cdot}(dA)_n{\cdot}(dT)_n$ sequence was determined by measuring gel-mobilities of bent DNA fragments containing the sequence. In the bent DNA fragments, a $GA_{22}G$ $CT_{22}C$ sequence was located between two bent DNA loci composed of six $A_{6}{\cdot}T_{6}$ repeats. and the DNA length between the bent DNA loci was varied by 1 base pair over a full helical turn. The gel mobility of each bent DNA fragment reflected the overall extent of DNA bending and varied with the DNA length between the two bent loci. Mobilities of the bent DNA fragments in 5% polyacrylamide gel were measured after preincubating the DNA fragments both in the presence and absence of $CT_{22}C$ oligonucleotide. By comparing the bent DNA fragments containing an intermolecular triplex structure with those of a genuine duplex structure in the gel mobilities, the helical periodicity of the $T_n{\cdot}A_n{\cdot}T_n$ triplex DNA was determined to be $11.5({\pm}0.3)bp/turn$.

Since the role of CD40 on the interleukin-4(IL-4) -induced B cell activation has been strongly implicated in the agumentation of IgE production and response, we have investigated the intracelluar signaling pathways utilized by IL-4 and CD40 for type II IgE receptor (CD23) expression. IL-4 and anti-CD40 antibody treatment of human B cells, independently caused a rapid induction of CD23 gene activation within 2 h. There was a noticeable synergism between the action of the two agents inducing CD23 expression: the addition of anti-CD40 to the IL-4-treated culture significantly agumented the IL-4-induced CD23 on both mRNA and surface protein levels, and the inclusion of IL-4 in the anti-CD40-treated cells caused a further increase of CD23 expression far above the maximal level induced by anti-CD40. Protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) inhibitors effectively suppressed the both IL-4- and anti -CD40-induced CD23 expression. whereas protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors had no effects. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) have shown that IL-4 and anti-CD40 induce the activation of NF-IL-4 and $NF-_{K}B$, respectively, binding to the CD23 promoter, both in a PKC-independent and PTK-dependent manner. These data suggest that the synergistic activation of CD23 gene expression by IL-4 and anti-CD40 is mediated by co-operative action of distinct nuclear factors. each of which is rapidly activated via PKC-independent and PTK-dependent process.

${\gamma}-Glutamylamine$ cyclotransferase was purified to homogeneity from soybean (Glycine max) seeds. To our knowledge, it is the first purification of the enzyme from plant origins. The molecular weight of the enzyme estimated by Sephacryl S-300 gel filtration and SDS-PAGE was 27,000, indicating that the enzyme is a monomer. The optimal pH for activity was 8.6. The Km value for ${\gamma}-glutamyldansylcadaverine$ was 11 ${\mu}M$. The enzymatic activity was substantially inhibited by the addition of p-chloromercuribenzoate and partially inhibited by the $Cu^{2+}$ ion. However, neither other modification reagents nor other divalent metal ions affected the enzymatic activity. The comparison between the enzymatic activities of seed extracts treated with cycloheximide and control extracts, and the detection of the same single protein band by western blot analysis at the dormant stage without inhibition with distilled water indicate that ${\gamma}-Glutamylamine$ cyclotransferase is already present at the dormant stage and gradually activated during germination in soybean seeds.

We have developed a novel method for assays of spermidine and spermine synthase (aminopropyltransferase) activities using antibody against 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine (MTA). A new assay is reported here which is based on the observation that MTA is formed as a stoichiometric by-product of the spermidine and spermine synthases reactions. In order to determine MTA, a radioimmunoassay method with sensitivity and rapidity was used. (Lee and Cho, 1997). In this assay, adenine must be added in the reaction mixture, since it effectively inhibits the action of MTA phosphorylase by which MTA is metabolized. This assay is a improvement in term of sensitivity and time saving, compared to the currently used methods. It has a level of sensitivity (100 fmol) sufficient to monitor aminopropyltransferase activities in incubations containing as little as $10{\mu}g$ protein prepared from rat tissue homogenate. The results obtained showed that this method is particularly useful for cultured cells with low enzyme concentration. Moreover, this assay has the advantage which allows studies using alternative substrates (other amines). Spermidine synthase activity was high in rat liver, but low in rat kidney. The activity of spermine synthase was in most rat tissues very low as compared to that of spermidine synthase, but was high in brain.

Polyclonal antibody of the boar sperminogen was used to characterize the boar sperm proteinase sperminogen. Boar sperminogen was purified from the acid extracts of the washed epididymal spermatozoa by gel filtration through a Sephadex G-100 column. followed by preparative SDS-PAGE. The sperminogen band was sliced out and was eluted from the gel matrix. The purified sperminogen was used to produce the polyclonal antibody of the boar sperminogen. When characterized on a Western blot, the final preparation of sperminogen appeared as a homogenous protein with a molecular weight of 32 kDa. The relative migration of sperminogen was distinctly different from the major components of the proacrosin-acrosin system as well as all the observable proacrosin activation by-products detected on the Western blot. The sperminogen antibody, however. cross-reacted with the proacrosin-acrosin system.