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Coinciding with a period in evolution when monotremes, marsupials, and eutherians diverged from a common ancestor, a proto-beta-globin gene duplicated, producing the progenitors of mammalian embryonic and adult beta-like globin genes. To determine whether monotremes contain orthologues of these genes and to further investigate the evolutionary relationships of monotremes, marsupials, and eutherians, we have determined the complete DNA sequence of an echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) beta-like globin gene. Conceptual translation of the gene and sequence comparisons with eutherian and marsupial beta-like globin genes and echidna adult beta-globin indicate that the gene is adult expressed. Phylogenetic analyses do not clearly resolve the branching pattern of mammalian beta-like globin gene lineages and it is therefore uncertain whether monotremes have orthologues of the embryonic beta-like globin genes of marsupials and eutherians. Four models are proposed that provide a framework for interpreting further studies on the evolution of beta-like globin genes in the context of the evolution of monotremes, marsupials, and eutherians., (Copyright 1999 Academic Press.)

CreA is the major regulatory protein involved in carbon catabolite repression in Aspergillus nidulans. Previously we have reported the molecular characterization of a number of in vivo selected mutant alleles and showed that they were unlikely to represent total loss of function alleles (Shroff et al., 1996) and that a deletion of the creA gene and surrounding DNA has an extremely severe effect on morphology under both carbon catabolite repressing and carbon catabolite nonrepressing conditions (Dowzer and Kelly, 1991). Here we present an analysis of in vivo selected creA mutations with an extreme morphological phenotype and show that some of these alleles would be predicted to result in no functional CreA. The most extreme of these alleles resulted in a truncation of the protein within the first zinc finger. Precise gene disruptions, leaving the flanking sequences intact, show essentially the same phenotype as this truncated allele. Thus, a strain containing a null allele is viable, and the leaky-lethal phenotype of previous deletion alleles (Dowzer and Kelly, 1991) must be due to the deletion of additional 3' genomic sequence. A strain containing an allele that results in a deletion of the final 80 amino acids shows reduced sensitivity to carbon catabolite repression for a number of systems, thus localizing a region of the protein involved in repression. Surprisingly, the phenotypically most extreme allele studied is not a null allele, but results in an amino acid substitution that would disrupt the zinc finger region and abolish binding to DNA. This is the only allele that produces a full-length protein, predicted to be nuclear localized, but which completely abolishes DNA binding. The phenotype may be more extreme than the null alleles due to the nuclear located CreA protein titrating interacting proteins., (Copyright 1997 Academic Press.)

The molecular nature of a number of creA mutant alleles has been determined. Three alleles analysed are missense mutations in the DNA binding domain and predicted to reduce but not abolish binding. Of the other four alleles, two result from frameshifts: one has a nonsense mutilation and the other has an inversion. All four alleles result in truncations of the protein after the zinc finger domain, such that the protein no longer contains at least the carboxy terminal 145 amino acids, so identifying a region required for repression. Transcriptional analysis of creA indicates that the transcript is autoregulated and analysis using 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends indicates that transcriptional start points exist in clusters over a region of 200 bp located up to 595 bp 5' of the translational start point. The two major clusters have potential CREA-binding sites (SYGGRG) at appropriate positions to allow autoregulation. Autoregulation leads to the creA transcript being most abundant in carbon catabolite nonrepressing conditions, and this, together with the phenotypes of the mutant alleles, has led to the suggestion that CREA has effects under conditions generally not considered as carbon catabolite repressing, as well as in carbon catabolite repressing conditions.

A rare complication of superior mesenteric embolism following resection of a ventricular aneurysm is reported. A 45-year-old male patient underwent left ventricular aneurysm resection under cardiopulmonary bypass. Thirty-six hours after surgery the patient developed an acute superior mesenteric artery embolus with a gangrenous small bowel; this necessitated resection of more than 90% of the small intestine. To the best of our knowledge, the successful outcome of a superior mesenteric embolization following resection of the ventricular aneurysm under cardiopulmonary bypass is here recorded for the first time.