Evening star., 1941-05-03
Of Sturs, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.


Isolation of long sought body chem
ical essential to life-a partner OF nico-
tinic acid-was announced today by Uni
versity of Chicago Psychologists.
1t is-to give it the full chemical NOM
enclature- -alloxazine- -proteidcytochrom
triphosphopyridine nucleotide (cx).
There is about pound of it in 500 tons
of yeast. 1t appears to be intimately
tied up with vitamins of the B complex
in keeping up the slow-burning fire of
life and acts, as described by its discov-
erers, as bucket carrier"
The discovery opens the way to more
complete understanding of the vitamin
deficiency diseases. pellagra and beri-
beri, as we'll as the subclinical forms of
them believed to be widespread in the
American population, it is believed by
its discoverer, DR.. Thorfin r. Hogness of
the University of Chicago faculty.
One of its elements is the relatively
newly found vitamin, ribof1avin, which
it now is proposed to put into American
bread. Hitherto it has escaped detec-
Ii ton, although its presence was Sus-
pected, because it disappeared with
slight changes of heat or minute chem
ical disturbances.
The new chemical, DR.. Hogness says,
is an "enzyme"-one of those substances
essential for the reactions of life, but
which does not actually enter into any
combination
Man lives by the burning" of starcheS
and sugars, the So-called carbohydrates.
Until quite recently it was assumed that
this was simple process in which the
molecules of oxygen breathed from the
air combined directly with the carbon
in the sugar, setting free the hydrogen
and forming carbon dioxide, which is ex-
| PEELED in the breath. This would pro-
duce too fast fire, Dr.. HogneSs points
out, and would result only in a lot Of
waste heat. A series of chemical reac-
| tions is required to yield heat in the
! form of energy.
The whole process, DR.. Hogness ex-
! plains, begins with the sugar molecule
| Hydrogen atoms are removed from it
two at time by another engine which
! contains NICOTINE acid. This leaves the
molecule free to take on oxygen equiva-
lent to very slow burning Then the
NICOTINE acid engine takes up the
! hydrogen atoms, like the first of chain
: OF bucket carriers, and passes them on
to the newly discovered engine. 1t then
returns to the sugar molecule to get
another bucket" of hydrogen.
The new engine, in turn, passes on
the bucket to a substance known as cy-
tochrome C, molecule containing iron
and similar to the red cell molecules of
the blood, but existing inside the fixed
body cells.
This cytochrome then hands over
the hydrogen load to oxygen freshly
breathed, producing water and energy.
Then, the three-man bucket brigade
starts its work all over again and the
process continues ceaselessly as long as
life lasts.
For the first time the discovery reveals
the actual function of ribofavin in the
body. Without it the new engine could
not be formed and the result would be
clogging of the bucket brigade process
which might soon prove fatal
4
A new bluegrass, which promises
! green pastures over much of the North
eastern United States and Southern
Canada we'll into the autumn, has been
developed at the United States Pasture
Laboratory.
1t is successful cross between Ken
lucky and Canada bluegrass. which to-
| gether constitute the chief forage grass
of North America east of the Mississippi
and north of South Carolina. Most of
the milk and home slaughtered beef
consumed in Eastern cities was orig
inally bluegrass.
This grass was imported from Europe
by some of the first settlers. Together
with timothy, another importation, it
killed out the poorer native grasses in
the East, but never has invaded the area
west of the Mississippi. In the course
of its spread it split into two distinct
varieties-one with short, wide leaves
and dull blush green in color which
was especially dominant in Southern
Canada, and one with long, narrow
leaves and bright, light green color
which is characteristic of the famous
bluegrass region of Kentucky.
The Kentucky grass comes into flower
about June 8 and the Canadian about
June 20. Both go into dormancy and
begin to turn brown a few weeks later
The new grass, hybrid between them
| just announced by DR.. William H. Brit
tingham of the Pasture Laboratory, re-
mains in good condition we'll into Sep
| tember.
1t is. DR.. Birmingham. says, a very
deep green in color. 1t promises to give
a new color to American pastures in late
July and August and even to tint the
green hue.
Both the Kentucky and Canada grass,
he says, are very "stemmy." The new
grass has little stem and runs mostly to
leaves, which are the chief constituent
of forage. 1t seeds better than Canada
bluegrass, but not as well as the Ken
lucky variety, he points out. Tests thus
far have been chiefly in the greenhouse,
but the new grass promises to be hardy
and to grow we'll in most of the territory
covered by its two progenitors.
Efforts to cross the two in the past
have usually met with failure although
there have been one or two apparent
crosses, none of very much value
Perhaps the most valuable character
of the new grass, as described by DR..
n,,s1A