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While conducting a gene discovery effort targeted to transcripts of the prevalent and intermediate frequency classes in placenta throughout gestation, we identified a novel member of the TGF-beta superfamily that is expressed at high levels in human placenta. Hence, we named this factor 'Placental Transforming Growth Factor Beta' (PTGFB). The full-length sequence of the 1.2-kb PTGFB mRNA has the potential of encoding a putative pre-pro-PTGFB protein of 295 amino acids and a putative mature PTGFB protein of 112 amino acids. Multiple sequence alignments of PTGFB and representative members of all TGF-beta subfamilies evidenced a number of conserved residues, including the seven cysteines that are almost invariant in all members of the TGF-beta superfamily. The single-copy PTGFB gene was shown to be composed of only two exons of 309 bp and 891 bp, separated by a 2.9-kb intron. The gene was localized to chromosome 19p12-13.1 by fluorescence in-situ hybridization. Northern analyses revealed a complex tissue-specific pattern of expression and a second transcript of 1.9 kb that is predominant in adult skeletal muscle. Most importantly, the 1.2-kb PTGFB transcript was shown to be expressed in placenta at much higher levels than in any other human fetal or adult tissue surveyed.

Ribosomes purified from Escherichia coli were preincubated with AcPhe-tRNA and poly(U). Then purified components necessary for polypeptide synthesis were added. Incubation of the complete system led to a burst of elongation which lasted for nearly 10 s. During the initial burst approximately 10% of the ribosomes participated in the elongation of poly(Phe) at an average rate per ribosome close to eight peptide bonds/s. The missense error rate with leucine was 4 x 10(-4) during the burst. Accordingly, the preincubated elongation system functions at a rate, as well as an accuracy, close to those of protein synthesis in vivo.

4-Nitrophenyl ethers are proposed as new high-yield photoreagents for protein crosslinking and affinity labeling. These are totally unreactive in the dark under biological conditions, but react quantitatively with amines at pH 8 upon irradiation with 366-nm light. The reaction of monoalkoxy-p-nitrobenzenes with an amine yields the corresponding free alcohol and substituted nitrophenylamine. In essence, the nitrophenyl group is transferred from the alcohol to the amine. Bifunctional affinity reagents of this type could be especially useful for placing the p-nitrophenyl chromophore adjacent to a binding site without blocking it. The corresponding 2-methoxy-4-nitrophenyl ethers react with amines by displacement of the methoxyl group. Thus, bifunctional reagents of this class could be photocrosslinkers. A maleimide-containing 2-methoxy-4-nitrophenyl ether was attached to human fetal hemoglobin at gamma-cysteine F9 stoichiometrically. Subsequent ultraviolet irradiation yielded a gamma-gamma crosslinked hemoglobin in 80% yield. The oxygenation properties of the derivative indicate that it is locked in a high affinity conformation and that all cooperativity is lost.

The addition of naturally occurring polyamines and inorganic ions to an in vitro protein-synthesizing system improved the extent and fidelity of translation. In such an optimized system, regeneration of the nucleoside triphosphates with phosphoenolpyruvate and pyruvate kinase (ATP:pyruvate 2-O-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.40) reduced further the missense error frequency to the in vivo level as well as enhanced the extent of translation. The effect of nucleoside triphosphate regeneration was shown to be due primarily to the increase in the ratio of adenosine and guanosine triphosphates to their hydrolysis products and only marginally due to the increase in the absolute concentrations of the nucleoside triphosphates.

Comparisons in vivo and in vitro of wild-type and otherwise isogenic bacteria with five different mutant alleles of the gene (rpsL) specifying ribosomal protein S12, all resistant to high levels of streptomycin, show that the streptomycin-resistant (Smr) phenotype can be subdivided into major groups: restrictive and non-restrictive. The restrictive bacteria have a characteristically lower frequency of nonsense suppression in vivo, and are also slower than the wild type in their rate of protein synthesis. Non-restrictive Smr bacteria on the other hand do not differ significantly from the wild type either in nonsense suppression frequencies or in the rate of translation. A complementary pattern is seen in vitro, where ribosomes from the restrictive Smr bacteria translate poly(U) with a significantly lower missense error frequency than wild-type ribosomes, and also show an increased Michaelis constant (KM) with respect to their substrate, i.e. ternary complexes. Both effects are correlated with the more aggressive proofreading function that is characteristic of these restrictive ribosomes. In contrast, ribosomes isolated from the non-restrictive Smr bacteria do not show any major difference in either proofreading or missense error in vitro when compared to the wild type.

We have studied the effects of kanamycin on the accuracy of translation in vitro by wild-type and mutant ribosomes from Escherichia coli. Kanamycin stimulates the leucine missense error of poly(U) translation by wild-type, Ram, and streptomycin-resistant ribosomes in characteristic ways; in particular, the streptomycin-resistant ribosomes are significantly less error-prone than wild-type or Ram ribosomes at all concentrations of the antibiotic. Kinetic analysis of the effects of kanamycin on the translational accuracy of wild-type ribosomes reveals a different concentration dependence for the perturbation of the initial selectivity of streptomycin-resistant ribosomes is not affected by kanamycin; the drug enhances only the error of proofreading by this mutant ribosome. We suggest that the multiple effects of kanamycin on the errors of translation are due to separate effects at different ribosomal sites.