Thin sections of the cell wall of Sporosarcina ureae revealed two structurally distinct layers: a continuous amorphous zone, approximately 15 nm thick, which was adjacent to the plasma membrane, and an overlying periodic zone, approximately 16 nm thick. Sequential Triton X-100 and lysozyme treatment of isolated walls produced small fragments of the outer regular structure which allowed high-res...

Synaptotagmins are Ca2+-and phospholipid-binding proteins of synaptic vesicles that might function as Ca2+ receptors for neurotransmitter release via their first C2 (C2A) domain. Here we describe the effect of Mg2+ on phospholipid binding to the C2A domains of multiple synaptotagmins (II-VI), and demonstrate that only synaptotagmin III can bind negatively charged phospholipids [phosphatidylseri...

The coupling between divalent cations and exocytosis of large dense-cored vesicles (LDCV) was studied with capacitance-detection techniques in nerve terminals of the rat neurohypophysis (NHP) and bovine chromaffin cells. Ba2+ substitution for Ca2+ produced kinetically distinct responses in the two preparations. In NHP terminals, Ba2+ ions behave as weak substitutes for Ca2+. Exocytotic events o...

HutP is an RNA-binding protein that regulates the expression of the histidine utilization (hut) operon in Bacillus subtilis, by binding to cis-acting regulatory sequences on hut mRNA. It requires L-histidine and an Mg2+ ion for binding to the specific sequence within the hut mRNA. In the present study, we show that several divalent cations can mediate the HutP-RNA interactions. The best divalen...

The maximum acid phosphatasic activity was detected in peanut seed at the 5th day of germination. At least, two acid phosphatases were purified by successive chromatography separations on DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B, CM-Sepharose CL-6B, Sephacryl S-100 HR, and Phenyl-Sepharose HP to apparent homogeneity from five days old cotyledon of peanut after germination. These isoenzymes, designated peanut cotyl...

Sustained depolarization of the Xenopus oocyte membrane elicits a slowly activating Na+ current, thought to be due to the opening of sodium selective channels. These channels are induced to become voltage gated by the depolarization. They show unconventional gating properties and are insensitive to tetrodotoxin (TTX). The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of extracellular mult...

Ba2+ currents through L-type Ca2+ channels were recorded from cell-attached patches on mouse pancreatic beta cells. In 10 mM Ba2+, single-channel currents were recorded at -70 mV, the beta cell resting membrane potential. This suggests that Ca2+ influx at negative membrane potentials may contribute to the resting intracellular Ca2+ concentration and thus to basal insulin release. Increasing ext...