Delbert M. Shankel Departments of }1icrobiology and Biochemistry The University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 66045 Welcome to the "International Conference on Mecha. nisms of Antimutagen- esis and Anticarcinogenesis. " We are delighted that so many of you have chosen to attend this first meeting on this important topic. The significance of genetic changes in cells has been recognized for many years. The seminal observations of Henri in 1914 (UV), Muller in 1927 (X-rays), and Auerbach in 1946 (chemical agents) established the fact that physical and chemical agents which may be present in our...

Reed B. Wic1mer Section on Genetics of Simple Eukaryotes Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Bethesda, Maryland 20892 While most genes are chromosomal, the nonchromosomal genes have played a disproportionate role in molecular biology, in part because of their easy accessibility and in part because they represent the most mobile portion of a cell's genome. This is particularly evident in prokaryotes, where plas- mids and phages have been the central objects of study. The lower eukaryotes, including fungi and...

In August. 1982. a conference was held at the University of Califor- nia. Davis. to discuss both molecular and traditional approaches to plant genetic analysis and plant breeding. Papers presented at the meeting were published in Genetic Engineering of Plants: An Agricultural Perspective. A second conference. entitled "Tailoring Genes for Crop Improvement." spon- sored by the UC-Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the College's Biotechnology Program. was held at Davis in August. 1986. to discuss the notable advances that had been made during the intervening years in...

Transposon tagging can work. Even though most of our understand- ing about the factors that contribute to a successful tagging experiment has been accumulated from a limited number of experiments using different transposable elements in different genetic backgrounds, it is still possible to draw some conclusions regarding the best experimental strategies for gene tagging. In our experience, Spm has proved to be a good element for transposon tagging. The frequency of recovering mutable alleles in- duced by Spm is not significantly different from that for Ac-Ds or for Mu 6 (summarized in Ref....

This book is based on the papers presented at the "Fourth International Congress on Oxygen Radicals (4-ICOR)," held June 27 - July 3, 1987, at the University of California, La Jolla. The chapters deal with the phenomena associated with highly reactive oxygen species (hydroxy, peroxy, alkoxy, aroxy, and superoxide radicals, as well as singlet oxygen) and their peroxidation products (hydrogen peroxide, hydroperoxides, peroxides, and epoxides) as they relate to the fields of chemistry, food technology, nutrition, biology, pharmacology, and medicine. The kinetics, energetics, and mechanistic...

Since Locher first suggested Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) in 1936, this theoretically ideal system has intrigued investigators. Unfortunately, the first clinical trials between 1951-1961 were not successful. However, they served to implant firmly the seed of BNCT, the growth of which has been carefully nurtured at a number of locations world-wide. This fact is attested to by the ongoing clinical trials in Japan as well as by the presence of researchers from active groups in the ten countries represented at this Workshop. In 1983 and 1985, the first and second international biannual...

The fundamental understanding of the production of biological effects by ionizing radiation may well be one of the most important scientific objectives of mankind; such understanding could lead to the effective and safe utilization of the nuclear energy option. In addition, this knowledge will be of immense value in such diverse fields as radiation therapy and diagnosis and in the space program. To achieve the above stated objective, the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors embarked upon a fundamental interdisciplinary research program some 35 years ago. A critical component...

The study of bacterial plasmids has not always been as popular as it is today. For many years, the molecular biology of pro cary- otes was focused heavily on bacteriophage and plasmid investigations which were carried out in only a few laboratories. Whatever inter- est existed in plasmids concerned the role of these extrachromosomal elements in bacterial conjugation, genetic exchanges, and antibiotic resistance, as well as in the structure of plasmids themselves. Gradually, however, it became increasingly evident that many of the special characteristics displayed by bacteria of medical,...

Lifestyle, in any part of the world, is associated with the occurrence of major chronic diseases, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, and stroke; many distinct types of cancer; and adult onset diabetes (11,22,70,75). One important element of lifestyle is tobacco use, which appreciably increases the risk of a number of chronic diseases (21). Other lifestyle factors relate to nutritional traditions, alcohol use, and exercise (11,30,58,60,70,71). The underlying evidence is, in part, based on the evidence of specific diseases in relation to dietary habits in a given geographic region,...

This book contains the majority of the presentations of the Second International Symposium on the Biology of Root Formation and Development that was hcld in Jerusa- lem, Israel, June 23---28, 1996. Following the First Symposium on the Biology of Adventi- tious Root Formation, held in Dallas. USA, 1993, we perceived the need to include all kinds of roots, not only the shoot-borne ones. The endogenous signals that control root formation. and the subsequent growth and development processes, are very much alike, re- gardless of the sites and sources of origin of the roots. Therefore, we included...