In the course of an attempt to identify genes that encode Escherichia coli dihydropteridine reductase (DHPR) activities, a chromosomal DNA fragment that directs synthesis of two soluble polypeptides of Mr 44000 and 46000 was isolated. These proteins were partially purified and were identified by determination of their N-terminal amino acid sequences. The larger was serine hydroxymethyltransferase, encoded by the glyA gene, while the smaller was the previously described product of an unnamed gene closely linked to glyA, and transcribed in the opposite direction. Soluble extracts of E. coli cells that overproduced the 44 kDa protein had elevated DHPR activity, and were yellow in colour. Their visible absorption spectra were indicative of a CO-binding b-type haemoprotein that is high-spin in the reduced state. The sequence of the N-terminal 139 residues of the protein, deduced from the complete nucleotide sequence of the gene, had extensive homology to almost all of Vitreoscilla haemoglobin. We conclude that E. coli produces a soluble haemoglobin-like protein, the product of the hmp gene (for haemoprotein). Although the protein has DHPR activity, it is distinct from the previously purified E. coli DHPR.

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An electrophoretic examination is made of samples of milk from eight Bali (banteng) cattle, Bos (Bibos) javanicus, in the Northern Territory of Australia. There are two new electrophoretically distinct bovine ft-Iactoglobulins, designated E and F, present in these samples. It is shown by amino acid analysis and tryptic peptide mapping of isolated samples that: (I) both E and F differ from the B variant of domestic cattle (Bos taurus) by + 1 G1y, -1 Glu at residue 157 or 158; and (2) the F variant has the additional charge differences from E and B due to + I Tyr, -1 Asp at residue 129 or 130. It is also shown by studies of peptides produced by the action of Staphylococcus aureus strain V8 protease and by more recent amino acid analyses that (1) the GlyjGlu substitution is at residue 158; (2) there is an additional Bali variant, designated ft-lactoglobulin G, differing from E by + 1 Met, -1 lie at residue 78, but having the same mobility as E; and (3) there is an hitherto undetected neutral residue substitution of + 1 Ser, -1 Pro at position 50 in the F variant. The relation of these variants to other known ft-lactoglobulin variants of the Bos genus is discussed.

Lucilin, the main storage protein of larval fat body and hemolymph in the sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina, has been isolated as a series of trimers composed of subunits of 83,000 +/- 5%, daltons. Extensive electrophoretically detectable polymorphism of lucilin subunit patterns occurs in wild and laboratory populations of Lucilia; from four to nine bands are seen in any one individual. Evidence from genetic, electrophoretic, immunological, and structural studies suggests the existence of a series of 12 or more closely related structural loci (designated Luc-1 to Luc-12) which may have arisen through gene duplication. Codominant allelic variation has been found at several of these loci. Luc-1 and Luc-3, and probably the other structural loci of the series, are located on chromosome 2.

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