Marginal Homozygosity for Gene Arrangement in Drosophila robusta: H. L. Carson ..................................................... 630 Influence of White Blood Cells on Lysis of Red Cells by Cobra Venom: J. C. Turner . .................................................... 631 Nonspecificity of ATP-Contraction of Living Muscle: G. Falk .. 632 High Incidence Blood Group Found in Venezuelan India...

A human cDNA encoding a galactokinase (EC 2.7.1.6) was isolated by complementation of a galactokinase-deficient (gal1-) strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This cDNA encodes a predicted protein of 458 amino acids with 29% identity to galactokinase of Saccharomyces carlsbergensis. Previous studies have mapped a human galactokinase gene (GK1) to chromosome 17q23-25, closely linked to thymidine ki...

Iron is an essential nutrient. Its deficiency hinders the synthesis of ATP and DNA. We report that galactose metabolism is defective when iron availability is restricted. Our data support this connection because 1) galactose-mediated induction of GAL promoter-dependent gene expression was diminished by iron limitation, and 2) iron-deficient mutants grew slowly on galactose-containing medium. Th...

Inborn errors of metabolism are individually rare but are an important cause of mortality and morbidity in infants and children. Dietary therapy is the mainstay of treatment in phenylketonuria, maple syrup urine disease, homocystinuria, galactosemia and glycogen storage disease (Type I/III). Some disorders like urea cycle disorders and organic acidurias require dietary modification in addition ...