On the request of an occassional poster to these newsgroups, I recently did a database sea

On the request of an occassional poster to these newsgroups, I recently did a database search for papers by the creationist Dmitri A. Kouznetsov. Searches of the MELVYL MEDLINE, CURRENT CONTENTS, and MELVYL CATALOG databases resulted in zero citations under this spelling of his name. However, when the spelling of the last name is changed to "Kuznetsov," MELVYL MEDLINE reports nine citations. CURRENT CONTENTS reports six citations, five of which are identical to those reported by MEDLINE. The other citation is in a journal not indexed by MEDLINE. The MELVYL CATALOG still reports zero citations. Therefore, Dr. Kuznetsov has published at least ten articles in scholarly journals in the past five years (a list which is probably exhaustive). I am certainly NOT a creationist, in fact I have been very critical of creationists (in particular the ICR). However, strong evidence exists that he IS a legitimate scientist. Despite the small difference in spelling, I am quite confident that Dr. Kuznetsov is the creationist of which you speak. In fact, an article by Dr. Kouznetsov that was apparently published in the creationist journal CEN Technical Journal (cited below) references one of the scholarly journal articles he wrote, which was reported by MEDLINE (#4 which is listed later in this post): >_Modern Concepts of Species: Do We Come Back to Fixism?_ > Dr. Dmitri Kouznetsov > CEN Tech. J., vol. 5(2), 1991 So, it appears that Dr. Kouznetsov (or Kuznetsov) DOES exist and IS a legitimate scientist. On the other hand, I am skeptical of his evidence against molecular evolution. I have included the ten citations and the abstracts available on MEDLINE below. Citation #4 from MEDLINE is presumably the centerpiece of Dr. Kuznetsov's argument. (This is the same paper that he cited in the creationist article listed above.) In this paper, he describes "cytplasmic oligonucleotide factors" that inhibit translation of mRNAs from phylogenetically related (but different) species of wild timber voles. His apparent conclusion from these studies is that there is a strong pressure against the expression of mutated ("evolved") genes through inhibition/degradation of the transcribed mRNA. The rest of his papers appear to deal with chemical agents (such as environmental pollutants, food additives, perfumes & cosmetics, and drugs) that inhibit translation of mRNA into protein. In these cases, it would appear that ALL mRNAs are inhibited by the artificially high concentrations of these agents. Thus, the vole study is most important to his creationist thesis in that it shows SELECTIVE inhibition of translation of "mutated" proteins. Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to read the paper. The abstract provides useful information on the study, from which I can formulate potential criticisms, but is not enough for a critical analysis. The results ARE interesting, but it certainly appears that his conclusions are an over-reaching, over- interpretation of his data. It may be that there is some pressure against expression of mutated proteins. This would most often confer an advantage to the cell's viability. However, it has certainly been shown that mutated proteins ARE expressed. As someone already mentioned, genes are routinely transfected into living cells and are subsequently expressed. These genes may also be mutated and are still expressed. They may even be transfected into cells of other species and be expressed. This brings up one of the potential problems with Kuznetsov's conclusions. All of his experiments are carried out in cell-free (in vitro) systems. This would not appear to be a very good model to determine expression of mutant proteins. The fact that factors may exist which inhibit translation is interesting, but these factors are clearly overcome in living cells. Transfecting genes is also a somewhat artificial model, though. It is interesting to note, therefore, that mutated genes are expressed in otherwise normal cells that have not been manipulated in any way. In fact, my research on the tumor suppressor p53 gene in humans is a poignant example. When the p53 gene is naturally lost or mutated, the cell can transform and become cancerous. When the mutated form is expressed, it binds up the normally expressed forms and can contribute to an even higher incidence of transformation. Obviously, this is a case where the mutation is harmful to the organism, but it certainly indicates that mutated forms of mRNA are translated into proteins. There are innumerable other examples of the expression of mutated genes. The entire paper must be read to give a fair criticism. It would also be interesting to check on papers that have been published since this one which cite it as a reference. I have done neither. Maybe someone who is critical of Dr. Kouznetsov could check up on them. In any case, here are the citations and abstracts (long): CURRENT CONTENTS ================ 1. KUZNETSOV DA; LIM HA. VISICOOR - A SIMPLE PROGRAM FOR VISUALIZATION OF PROTEINS. JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR GRAPHICS, 1992 MAR, V10 N1:25+. MELVYL MEDLINE ============== 1. Kuznetsov DA. Laboratory of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Medinvest Joint Venture, Moscow, USSR. Minamata disease: what is a keystone of its molecular mechanism? A biochemical theory on the nature of methyl mercury neurotoxicity. International Journal of Neuroscience, 1990 Jul, 53(1):1-51. 2. Kuznetsov DA; Musajev NI. Laboratory of Toxicology, Moscow City Station for Sanitation and Epidemiology, USSR. The molecular mode of brain mRNA processing damage followed by the suppression of post-transcriptional poly(A) synthesis with cordycepin. International Journal of Neuroscience, 1990 Mar, 51(1-2):53- 67. Abstract: Complete suppression of polyadenylation of nuclear precursors of rat brain mRNA by cordycepin leads to degradation of some translatable sequences of both poly(A)(+)- and poly(A)- pre-mRNA localized in 80S hnRNP-particles. This fact has been established by comparative analysis of the data of two- dimensional gel-electrophoretic mapping of translation products synthesized in reticulocytic cell-free system using the exogenous purified templates of rapidly labelling translatable 9-17S hn RNA (pre-mRNA) isolated from brain 80S hn RNP particles of experimental (4 hrs after cordycepin injection) and control (injection of physiological solution) adult healthy male rats. Long contact of brain cells with cordycepin (4 or more hrs) creates conditions for formation of hnRNP-particles devoid of poly(A)+ RNA and poly(A)-binding proteins. These particles differ from "normal" ones by the value of the RNA/protein ratio, and by considerably lower resistance to the action of exogenous ribonucleases and endogenous RNase. Cordycepin does not have a direct effect on biosynthesis of nuclear poly(A)-binding proteins within the duration of the experiment (8 hrs). The phenomena described are discussed. 3. Kuznetsov DA. Moscow City Station for Sanitation and Epidemiology, Moscow, USSR. Neurospecific translation control and the problem of potent danger of drugs and chemicals: a caution. International Journal of Neuroscience, 1989 Nov, 49(1-2):1- 42. Abstract: At present, chemicals are an integral part of the surrounding biosphere. A great number of new xenobiotics for industrial, pharmaceutical, agricultural, or mode-of-life daily use (perfumes, cosmetics, food additives, etc.) may play a role of a danger health hazards. These chemicals may be environmental pollutants and due to this circumstance they promote different ecological disorders including the several epidemic-like processes such as, for instance, Minamata disease (chronic alimentary poisoning with methyl mercury), etc. Also, these chemicals may be industrial hazards promoting the origin and development of various occupational diseases. Finally, the numerous side effects of multiple new drugs may serve as causes of a number of different health disorders. Briefly, we must agree that modern man exists in the world with such inalienable elements as the steadfast increase of chemical soiling of Earths biosphere. Naturally, human health protection in our "chemically soiled" world is very difficult by urgent task. As for the solving of this task, it may be reached only in the case of successful fundamental studies of mechanisms of toxic action of different classes of chemicals performed at different biological levels (systemic, organ/tissue, cellular and molecular levels of research). A separate and special population of modern health- hazardous chemicals is a group of agents which selectively suppress protein synthesis in mammalian cells and tissues due to the direct effect on the translation machinery elements or on the messenger RNA processing steps. The agents of this group ("translation blockers" or, the same but more broadly, "protein synthesis inhibitors" (PSI) usually are quite dangerous for human health since these substances inhibit the central molecular process of life, i.e., the synthesis of protein molecules. The small but important subclass of the PSI is represented by the agents with marked neurotropic properties, i.e., by the agents which are able to promote the effective inhibition of protein synthesis in the brain, while the same agents do not essentially influence the translation processes in the liver and all other organs of the animal (human) organism. The main aim of the present monograph is to review and analyze the data obtained recently in the course of biochemical research of several neurotropic PSI (methyl mercury, lithium salts). However, this is not the single aim of the book. Thus, besides this the present monograph deals with analysis of the general peculiarities of action of some non-neurotrophic inhibitors which are able, nevertheless, to direct a number of specific neurotrophic effects (Cordycepin, tRNA).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS) 4. Kuznetsov DA. Comparative Biochemistry Group, DELFISON Division Laboratories, Inc., Moscow, USSR. In vitro studies of interactions between frequent and unique mRNAs and cytoplasmic factors from brain tissue of several species of wild timber voles of northern Eurasia, Clethrionomys glareolus, Clethrionomys frater and Clethrionomys gapperi: a new criticism to a modern molecular-genetic concept of biological evolution. International Journal of Neuroscience, 1989 Nov, 49(1-2):43- 59. Abstract: As a result of the complex comparative neurochemical study of the translation machinery functioning in the brain cells of three conventionally "phylogenetically related" species of wild timber voles (Clethrionomys glareolus, Clethrionomys frater and Clethrionomys gapperi), it has been found that the cytoplasm of brain cells of the latter contain an oligonucleotide (oligoribonucleotide) factor(s) with mol. weight below 1.0 KD which is able completely and highly selectively to inhibit the translation directed by mRNA which are species-specific templates and which were isolated from analogical tissue (brain) of "closely related" organisms. This phenomenon was found for the first time using special Cell-Free Translation Systems (CFTS) of very different variants of their composition consisting of the following main components: Post-Mitochondrial Supernatant (PMS), total cytoplasmic poly(A)+ mRNA or a species-specific poly(A)+ mRNA isolated from the PMS by affinity chromatography on the columns with the anti-mRNA1-FAB-(CNBr)-Sepharose, or purified 9S or 11S globin or histone specific mRNAs, respectively, and, finally a few samples of the CFTS used contain the additions of high or low molecular weight cytosolic compounds isolated from S150 fraction by ultrafiltration on Diaflo UM2 membrane with an exclusion limit of 1.0 KD. All CFTs components listed were isolated separately from the brain tissue of each organism studied. A new complex way for construction and using of the CFTS leads to an adequately documented conclusion which suggested the existence of special, so far uncharacterized in detail, cytoplasmic oligoribonucleotide factor(s) for efficient blocking for the cytoplasmic expression of "evolutionally renovated part" of genome; i.e., these factors seem to be sufficiently powerful suppressors of the translation of every mRNA template if the latter is not usual for the cell type containing the cytoplasmic suppressors mentioned in the case of a "so-called" newly found (perhaps, due to spontaneous but nonlethal mutagenesis) genes expression at the level of mRNA functioning in the cytoplasm. All findings and ideas of the paper are under discussion. 5. Savochkina LP; Sviriaeva TV; Beigel'man LN; Padiukova NSh; Kuznetsov DA; Lysov IuP; Mikhailov SN; Bibilashvili RSh. Substratnye svoistva C'-metilnukleozidtrifosfatov v reaktsii sinteza RNK, kataliziruemoi RNK-polimerazoi Escherichia coli. [Substrate properties of C'-methylnucleoside triphosphates in a reaction of RNA synthesis catalyzed by Escherichia coli RNA-polymerase]. Molekuliarnaia Biologiia, 1989 Nov-Dec, 23(6):1700-10. Abstract: 2 theta-C-methyl substituted and phosphonate analogs of UTP were prepared and together with the synthesized earlier 3'-C- methyl-UTP were investigated in the RNA synthesis reaction catalysed by Escherichia coli RNA-polymerase. Substrate properties of UTP analogs were studied in the presence of all natural triphosphates, in the absence of UTP and under conditions of soil substrate reaction. It was shown that UTP(3'CH3) is incorporated into the RNA chain and terminates further RNA elongation. Another analog UTP (2'CH3) may substitute natural UTP in RNA synthesis, but the effectivity of its incorporation is diminished. Phosphonate analog UTP(5'CH2) is a pseudoterminator of RNA synthesis. The conformational analysis of 2'- and 3'C- methylnucleosides by force-field method of calculation was carried out in order to find energetically forbidden conformations of these analogs due to the collision of bulky methyl group and a heterocyclic base. An attempt was made to fix the conformation of the substrate during its enzymatic transformation. 6. Kuznetsov DA. Laboratory of Toxicology, Moscow City Station for Sanitation & Epidemiology, Soviet Union. Lithium salts adopted for psychopharmacological use as the modulators of protein synthesis in the brain: analytical review. International Journal of Neuroscience, 1989 Mar, 45(1-2):1- 6. Abstract: The investigations of the effects of Lithium salts on protein synthesis activity with special reference to neurochemical aspects may provide a fruitful development of a system of safe and effective, psychopharmacological methods for treatment and prevention of the Lithium-curable mental disorders complicated by general neurological (neuropathological) symptoms. 7. Zav'ialov NV; Kuznetsov DA. Poliadenilatpolimeraza v diagnostike rannikh stadii khimicheskogo kantserogeneza. [Polyadenylate polymerase in the diagnosis of the early stages of chemical carcinogenesis]. Gigiena Truda i Professionalnye Zabolevaniia, 1988 Feb(2):25-8. 8. Kuznetsov DA; Musajev PI. Laboratory of Toxicology, Moscow City Station for Sanitation and Epidemiology, USSR. Chemical-induced modulation of ATP and protein synthesis processed inside rat brain mitochondria. International Journal of Neuroscience, 1988 Feb, 38(3- 4):331-43. Abstract: Rates of ATP production and protein synthesis rates were simultaneously studied using the isolated rat brain mitochondria and different types of brain polysomes (total, free, microsomal and mitochondrial membrane-bound). Protein synthesis was measured using a special reticulocyte lysate cell-free incubation medium. Prior to incubation, the intact ("unbroken") mitochondria were pretreated by several xenobiotics and natural metabolic effectors. The mitochondria incubated without these additions were used as controls. Chemically-promoted inhibition of ATP systhesis correlated with a significant activation of protein synthesis directed by the mitochondrial membrane-bound polysomes. The induction of ATP synthesis leads to a marked suppression of mitochondrial translation. Application of the selective translation blockers do not influence the ATP formation inside the isolated mitochondria. In general, mitochondrial membrane-found polysomes isolated from the intact normal organella are least active as compared with other tested polysomal fractions while the releasing of polysomes from mitochondrial membranes by Triton X-100 leads to the essential increase of the activity of these separated translation mechanisms. The separation of polysomes from the microsomal membranes do not change the activity of the former. A possible molecular mechanism, interdependence and biological significance of the established phenomena are discussed. 9. Musajev PI; Kuznetsov DA. Azerbajan State Narimanov School of Medicine, Semashko Hospital, AzSSR. Novel electrophoretic approach to study of poly(A)+RNA pool heterogeneity in different areas of human postmortem brain. International Journal of Neuroscience, 1988 Feb, 38(3- 4):401-5. Abstract: A simple method for fast fractionation of human postmortem brain total poly(A)+RNA has been developed. Guanidine thiocyanate extractable RNA was directly applied on the membranes of cellulose nitrate with immobilized oligo(dT) chains. After the electrophoresis in 35 mM tris-acetete buffer (pH 7.90) containing 10 mM EDTA and 35% formamide, the membranes were washed with the same buffer for removal of nonbinding poly(A)-lacking RNAs. Then, poly(A)+RNA fractions were selectively stained by 3,5- dimethylphenol in the presence of FeCl3 at pH 2.35. Finally, the resulting electrophorograms were scanned at 500 nm for quantitative evaluation of the data. ---------------------------------------------END OF CITATIONS-----