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The progress that has been made in our understanding of the enzymatic mechanisms by which modified nucleotides in DNA are recognized and repaired is due, in part, to the developments that have been made in photobiology and photochemistry. It was these areas of activity that led to the identification of the primary ultraviolet irradiation photoproducts formed in nucleic acids. The initial discovery of pyrimidine cyclobutane dimers (1,2) led to an understanding of their chemical properties which allowed identification of such products in DNA irradiated either in vivo or in vitro. As a consequence of this acquired technology, the fate of these photochemical products during repair could be studied in vivo and in vitro.

At least two endonucleolytic activities that preferentially incise ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated DNA exist in extracts of E. coli . These two activities can be separated by phosphocellulose chromatographic fractionation. The subject of this paper is one of these activities, which elutes from phosphocellulose with 0.25 M potassium phosphate, pH 7.5. This endonucleolytic activity specific for UV-irradiated DNA is absent from partially purified extracts of uvrA and uvrB mutants, which are defective in excision of pyrimidine dimers, but is present in normal amounts in the uvrC excision-defective mutant. The enzyme binds very tightly and specifically to UV-irradiated DNA. Binding can be prevented by prior treatment of the irradiated DNA with photoreactivating enzyme. This binding activity is absent in uvrA and uvrB mutants, but present in uvrC and uvrD mutants.

The incorporation of U-C14-L-phenylalanine prepared from poiy-L- phenylaianine from Escherichia coli into acidinsoluble material and poly-L- phenylaianine following ultraviolet irradiation of poiyuridylic acid was examined. Irradiation of the polyuridylic acid with doses of ultraviolet light from 24 to 72 x 104 ergs/mm2 resulted in a marked depression in C14- phenyiaianine incorporation and was accompanied by an increase in C14- serine uptake into both acid-soluble material as well as polyphenylaianine.

Using electron probe and ion probe techniques, experimental crystal-liquid partition coefficients (D) have been measured in meteoritic Ca,Al-rich inclusion (CAI) compositions for Mg, Zr, Y, and REEs in anorthite and perovskite. Partitioning data for Ti in anorthite and Al in perovskite are also reported. Where cross-comparisons are possible between electron and ion probe data, agreement is good. Concentration variations in anorthite for many elements are beyond what can be explained by fractional crystallization, but show well-defined interelement correlations which could reflect the temperature dependence of the D values or could result from liquid boundary layers. For anorthite our D values for REEs are lower, and they decrease more rapidly with decreasing ionic radius than most in the literature. Most of the older REE D patterns for plagioclase in the literature are too flat because of insufficient purity of mineral separates or because of analytical problems. New ion probe data for minor and trace elements in anorthite from type B CAIs permit detailed comparisons with fractional crystallization models based on the measured D values. For most comparisons, models and observations do not agree for amounts of crystallization less than 90%. It is possible that anorthite does not appear until after 95% crystallization, compared to about 40% which would be expected from isothermal equilibrium crystallization experiments. The LREEs are highly compatible elements in perovskite, but D values drop sharply for the HREEs, Y, and Zr. D values for REEs increase strongly from air to highly reducing conditions as coupled REE-Ti^(+3) substitutions become possible. Model calculations show that REE patterns in igneous perovskites from CAIs will reflect the D pattern, and the models can explain some REE patterns from compact type A CAIs. However, there are other sets of trace element data for perovskite in CAIs that cannot easily be explained by igneous processes.

Thirty-seven major, minor and trace elements were determined by INAA and RNAA in samples of hibonite, black rim and portions of friable rim from an unusual Allende inclusion, HAL. The peculiar isotopic, mineralogical and textural properties of HAL are accompanied by very unusual trace element abundances. The most striking feature of the chemistry is the virtual absence of Ce from an inclusion otherwise highly enriched in REE compared to Cl chondrites. HAL is also depleted in Sr, Ba, U, V, Ru, Os and Ir, relative to other refractory elements. Of the lithophile elements determined which are normally considered to be refractory in a gas of solar composition, Sr, Ba, Ce, U and V are the most volatile in oxidizing gases. The distribution of REE between hibonite and rims seems to have been established when hibonite and other refractory minerals were removed at slightly different temperatures from a hot, oxidizing gas in which they previously coexisted as separate grains. On the basis of HAL's chemical and isotopic composition, possible locations for the chemical and mass dependent isotopic fractionation are in ejecta from the low temperature helium-burning zone of a supernova and in the locally oxidizing environment generated by evaporation of interstellar grains of near-chondritic chemical composition.

Neutron activation has been used to analyze samples from ten refractory inclusions in Murchison for 36 elements. Two inclusions, BB-5 and MUCH-1, have large negative Yb anomalies unaccompanied by correspondingly large and negative Eu anomalies; six inclusions have group II or III patterns, or variants of such patterns. The frequency of highly fractionated REE patterns, and the absence of group I patterns, suggest that refractory inclusions in Murchison stopped equilibrating with the nebular gas at higher temperatures than most Allende coarse grained inclusions. Murchison inclusions tend to be lower in nonrefractory elements than Allende coarse grained inclusions, further suggesting that, on average, the former underwent less severe secondary alteration than the latter.

Electron microprobe analyses of an extraordinarily large metal grain from the Murchison type 2 carbonaceous chondrite gave 0.24 mole percent silicon. Thermodynamic calculations show that this is a natural consequence of condensation of alloys from the solar nebular gas at a total pressure l0(-5) less, similar P(tot)l0(-3) atmosphere, provided they failed to equilibrate with it after cooling to1200 kelvins.

Among the samples returned from comet 81P/Wild 2 by the Stardust spacecraft is a suite of particles from one impact track (Track 25) that are Ca-, Al-rich and FeO-free. We studied three particles from this track that range in size from 5.3 x 3.2 m to 15 x 10 μm. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy show that they consist of very fine-grained (typically from ~0.5 to ~2 μm) Al-rich, Ti-bearing and Ti-free clinopyroxene, Mg-Al spinel and anorthite, with trace amounts of fine perovskite, FeNi metal and osbornite (TiN) grains. In addition to these phases, the terminal particle, named Inti, also contains melilite. All of these phases, with the exception of osbornite, are common in refractory inclusions and are predicted to condense at high temperature from a gas of solar composition. Osbornite, though very rare, has also been found in meteoritic refractory inclusions, and could have formed in a region of the nebula where carbon became enriched relative to oxygen compared to solar composition. Compositions of Ti-pyroxene in Inti are similar, but not identical, to those of fassaite from Allende inclusions. Electron energy loss spectroscopy shows that Ti-rich pyroxene in Inti has Ti3+/Ti4+ within the range of typical meteoritic fassaite, consistent with formation under reducing conditions comparable to those of a system of solar composition. Inti is 16O-rich, with δ18O≈δ17O≈–40‰, like unaltered phases in refractory inclusions and refractory IDPs. With grain sizes, mineralogy, mineral chemistry, and an oxygen isotopic composition like those of refractory inclusions, we conclude that Inti is a refractory inclusion that formed in the inner solar nebula. Identification of a particle that formed in the inner solar system among the comet samples demonstrates that there was transport of materials from the inner to the outer nebula, probably either in a bipolar outflow or by turbulence.

By using equilibrium thermodynamics, the sequence of condensation of mineral phases from a cooling nebula of solar composition has been calculated. The theoretical models suggest that the chemistry and mineralogy of Ca-Al-rich inclusions in C2 and C3 chondrites were established during condensation at temperatures above 1300 K. Fractionation of such inclusions is necessary to account for the refractory element depletions of ordinary and enstatite chondrites relative to the carbonaceous chondrites. The metal-silicate fractionation in ordinary chondrites took place in the nebula at a temperature below 1000 K and at .00001 atm total pressure. The volatile element depletion of C2 and C3 chondrites relative to C1 chondrites took place during chondrule formation: the most volatile elements are depleted in ordinary chondrites because they accreted before these elements were totally condensed.

I read with interest the summary of actions of the Council of the Union in the August 1978 EOS. Item 5 is particularly noteworthy because it means that no future Union-related meetings of any kind will be held in premises which discriminate on the basis of race, political philosophy, or sex. I fail to see, however, why this resolution put forward by the Subcommittee on Women in Geophysics was so ‘overwhelmingly adopted by the Council,’ as it leaves wide open the possibility that such meetings can be held in places which discriminate on the basis of religion. I trust this omission was unintentional, presumably caused by the Council's haste to satiate the Subcommittee on Women. I urge the Council to rectify this unfortunate oversight by amending the resolution at the earliest possible opportunity.

Textural and mineral-chemical data on freeze-thaw disaggregated refractory inclusions from the Murchison meteorite are reported. The data were obtained with neutron activation analysis, SEM, and spectroscopy, the study revealed corundum-bearing inclusions, spinel-hibonite aggregates and spherules, and spinel-pyroxene and elivine-pyroxene inclusions. One of the three spinel-, pyroxene-, forsterite-rich inclusions had an amoeba-shaped spinel-pyroxene core, implying vapor-to-solid condensation and therefore crystallization from a melt. It is concluded that the meteorite formation encompassed diverse nebular materials, and that further studies of the meteorite will enhance the data base on the planetary nebular processes.

An investigation is conducted of the physical and chemical conditions in an expanding supernova envelope, taking into account the likelihood of grain formation and the chemical composition of the grains. An 'onionskin' presupernova model is used to estimate the chemical and isotopic abundance in the various shells of ejected supernova material. Condensation calculations are performed over a range of pressures and chemical compositions for each of these shells in order to determine the type of grains which could be produced in supernova ejecta. Only grains that are stable under the physical conditions encountered in the presolar nebula can survive and retain their anomalous composition. Two regions in the presolar nebula are considered, and the possible surviving grains are deduced from the appropriate condensation sequences.