No abstract

A starch gel electrophoretic survey of testis-specific histones in frogs, snakes and lizards reveals a multiple banded pattern in most of these vertebrates whether the proteins are extracted from the testis cell suspension of a single animal or from chromatin pooled from the testes of several animals. Hence, the multiple banded pattern is probably typical for each individual in a particular species. When such testis-specific histones of Anura are compared with those of Squamata, a notable difference emerges. Thus, the principal Xenopus, Bufo and Rana testicular proteins show entirely different patterns from each other upon starch gel electrophoresis while in Squamata, each of the species examined shows a similar 2-banded pattern in the protamine region of the electrophoretogram. In the anurans Xenopus and Scaphiopus, the testis-specific histone patterns are different even amongst several congeneric species. Although the present survey examines only a limited number of species, the electrophoretic data do point to the order Squamata as one place in vertebrate phylogeny where the diversity of testis-specific histones in fish and amphibians appears to give way to a relative constancy of such proteins in reptiles. Such an evolutionary trend may be consistent with a modified version of Bloch's ('69) hypothesis that relates sperm histone determination. What is the origin and biological significance of such diversity in the sperm histones of fish and amphibians? When does the relative conservation of sperm histone type first occur in vertebrate phylogeny? These questions are especially pertinent in light of recent evidence that many of the somatic histones, especially the arginine-rich ones, are highly conserved in evolution and complex with each

No abstract

The book of the Twelve Prophets is the fourth of the major prophetic books of the Tanakh (the canonical Jewish version of the Hebrew Bible [b. Baba Batra 14b]). It is a hybrid composition insofar as it consists of twelve individual prophetic compositions that are identified as discrete prophetic books within the book of the Twelve. The Talmud identifies the book of the Twelve as a single prophetic book called Tĕrê ‛āśār, Aramaic for “the Twelve,” although the Talmud calls for scribes to leave three blank lines between each of the individual twelve prophetic books (instead of the four lines normally prescribed for separating biblical books) to signal their distinctive characters (b. Baba Batra 13b). Christianity counts the Twelve Prophets as twelve individual prophetic books, and refers to them as the Dodekapropheton (Greek for “twelve prophets”) or simply as “the Minor Prophets,” indicating their relative length when compared to the Major Prophets. Most contemporary Bibles follow the order of the Jewish Masoretic traditions: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Current printed editions of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Bible from the 3rd and 2nd centuries bce, present a different order that follows the Codex Vaticanus: Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Ancient Greek manuscripts and canon lists, however, display a variety of orders for the Twelve Prophets.

No abstract