werner@aecom.YU.EDU (Craig Werner) (05/30/87)
What follows is an idiosyncratic table of contents for the 22 May 1987 issue of Science. It is not complete, but it is commented. 1. Antibodies have many specificities determined by the variable region. However, they can switch between classes of the constant region, and different constant regions have different biological effects. See Snapper and *Paul*, IFN-gamma and BSF-1 reciprocally regulate Ig isotype production, p. 944 2. There are known possible complications with certain anaesthetics that can cause complications in even simple surgery. Some of these have a genetic predisposition. For instance, halothane can cause a type of hepatitis. Sendensky and Meneely use a nematode model system to study the genetics, "Genetic Analysis of Halothane Sensitivity in C. elegans.", p. 952 3. For genetic engineering ever to be used in gene therapy, it must be neccessary to introduce the gene with high efficiency and get it expressed. One such attempt is described by Cone, Reilly, *Eisen* and Mulligan, "Tissue-Specific Expression of Functionally Rearranged lambda-1 Ig Gene Thorough a Retrovirus Vector", p. 954. 4. Each ml of human semen contains billions of sperm. The DNA content of each sperm is such that if stretched out, it would be over a meter long. The compression ratio boggles the mind. How this occurs is touched on by Gatewood, Cook, Balhorn, Bradbury, and Schmid, in "Sequence-specific packaging of DNA in Human Sperm Chromatin", p. 962. 5. Carbon Tetrachloride toxicity results in a fatty liver. The mechanism of how this happens has been unclear. In "Carbon Tetrachloride at Hepatotoxic Levels Blocks Reversibly Gap Junctions Between Rat Hepatocytes" by Saez, Bennett, and Spray, p. 967, some answers are proposed. I should also note that these researchers are at Einstein and in fact, my previous roommate worked in David Spray's lab. -- Craig Werner (MD/PhD '91) !philabs!aecom!werner (1935-14E Eastchester Rd., Bronx NY 10461, 212-931-2517) "It's hard to argue with someone who knows what he's talking about."