W. Braun

Roland F. Jr. Beers

In recent years our horizons regarding the role of nucleic acids in biological systems have been expanded vastly by the finding that these molecules not only carry and transmit specific infOImation but also can act as less specific triggers of antiviral factors and of immunological responses. The latter properties are of particular interest in terms of possible utilization in human and veterinary medicine and consequently led, in the last few years, to the development of a new research area that combines both fundamental and applied problems in a uniquely attractive way. Furthermore, the importance and the complexity of the problems has attracted investigators from many fields, including molecular biologists, virologists, immunologists, chemists, biophysicists, oncologists, pharmacologists, and clinicians. A discussion of new developments in this area of biological effects of polynucleotides, with particular emphasis on interferon induction and modification of immune responses, therefore, seemed a logical topic for one of the annual symposia that Miles Laboratories, Inc. , has sponsored in recent years. The manage ment of Miles accepted the suggestion with enthusiasm and thus once again earned the gratitude of the scientific community for sponsoring a catalytic meeting that was principally concerned with basic research problems and only tangentially with immediate applications. Springer-Verlag agreed to publish the proceedings of the meeting which was held at the Americana Hotel in New York City, June 4-5, 1970 and attracted an unusually large audience.

Proceedings of the Symposium on Molecular Biology, Held in New York, June 4–5, 1970 Sponsored by Miles Laboratories, Inc.

Biological Effects of Polynucleotides

P. H. Hofschneider

W. Arber

W. Henle

N. K. Jerne

P. Koldovský

H. Koprowski

O. Maaløe

R. Rott

H. G. Schweiger

M. Sela

P. K. Vogt

R. Haas

E. Wecker

L. Svru?ek

The expression of many bacterial genes adapts itself in an almost in stantaneous and reversible way to specific environmental changes. More specifically, the concentration of a number of metabolites, a function of the amounts of enzymes involved in their synthesis or degradation, in turn retroacts on the rate of synthesis of these enzymes. The genetic bases for this regulation were established by JACOB and MONOD (1961). These authors also showed how the known elements of these regulatory mechanisms could be connected into a wide variety of circuits endowed with any desired degree of stability, in order to account for essentially irreversible processes like differentiation (MONOD and JACOB, 1961). The general principles used by JACOB and MONOD in their study of negative regulation were extended to positive regulation by ENGLESBERG et al. (1965). An independent approach permitted the discovery of positive controls in temperate bacteriophages (see below, III). Each control operation is mediated by a pair of complementary genetic elements (hereafter called "control cell"): a control gene which produces a l control (or regulator) protein and a control site which is the target for the regulator protein. Negative control means that the control protein (repressor) prevents gene expression. One deals with positive control when the control protein (activator) is necessary for this expression. It has become apparent that, as initially postulated by JACOB and MONOD, control of gene expression operates, at least to a large extent, at the transcriptional level.

Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology / Ergebnisse der Mikrobiologie und Immunitätsforschung

L. Syru?ek

F. Cramer

P. Koldovsky

H.-G. Schweiger

Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology

L.M. Lichtenstein

C.W. Parker

The brilliant research of Dr. Earl Sutherland and his colleagues has had a broad impact on many areas of biology. Among the fields in fluenced rather late by the insights arising from this work were im munology and oncology. Although research relating cyclic AMP metabol ism to the development and manifestations of the immune response and the control of mammalian cell growth is relatively recent, the growth of knowledge in these areas has been rapid and there is already a considera ble amount of empirical information. This conference provided an oppor tunity to collate and begin to interpret that information. A deliberate at tempt was made to bring together investigators nominally involved in im munology, biochemistry, pharmacology, or cellular biology for in many instances parallel observations are being obtained in these fields. For ex ample, the immunologist studying the transformation of lymphocytes by antigens or mitogens is carrying out experiments that are very close to those of the biologist studying the growth of cells in culture; in both cases, the phenomena they observe are modulated by changes in the in tracellular level of cyclic nucleotides. Many other examples of closely analogous experiments in different fields could be cited, but perhaps the point is clear.

Proceedings of the Symposium Held at Marco Island, Florida January 8–10, 1973

Cyclic AMP, Cell Growth, and the Immune Response

W. Braun

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