Effect of low ambient temperature on protein turnover and heat production in chicks

1. Effect of low ambient temperature on protein turnover in the liver and whole body was investigated in chicks together with the contribution of protein synthesis to the total heat production. 2. Both protein synthesis and degradation in the whole body were increased, the latter to a larger extent, at low ambient temperature (LT, 22 degrees C) compared with adequate temperature (AT, 30 degrees C). Liver protein synthesis was not significantly altered by the temperature treatment. 3. The total heat production of LT group was as high as 160% of the AT group. 4. The increased heat production due to enhanced whole-body protein synthesis accounted for only 1.4% of the heat increment in thermogenesis at low ambient temperature, suggesting that protein synthesis would contribute little, if any, to cold-induced thermogenesis in chicks.     

Influence of the gut microflora on protein synthesis in tissues and in the whole body of chicks.

1. The influence of the gut microflora on protein synthesis in individual tissues and in the whole body of young chicks was investigated by the large-dose injection of [3H]phenylalanine. 2. Growth of germ-free chicks was significantly better than that of conventional controls. Wet weights of liver, spleen, duodenum, jejunum + ileum and caeca were heavier in conventional birds than in germ-free counterparts. 3. Fractional rates of protein synthesis were higher in jejunum + ileum and whole body of conventional birds than in those of germ-free birds. Amounts of protein synthesized were larger in liver, jejunum + ileum and caeca in the presence of the gut microflora. 4. When tissues were classified into gut + liver and the remainder of the carcass, in the presence of the gut microflora an enhanced protein synthesis in fractional and absolute rate was found in the gut + liver, which is in direct contact or in close association with micro-organisms, whereas virtually no effect of the gut micro-organisms was detected in the remainder of the carcass. 5. The contribution of protein synthesis of gut + liver to that of the whole body was larger in conventional chicks than in germ-free birds, whereas the reverse was true for the remainder of the carcass.     

Transcription termination and RNA processing in the 3''-end spacer of mouse ribosomal RNA genes.

The 3' termini of ribosomal RNA precursors from mouse FM3A cultured cells are mapped to eight sites within 625 bp downstream from the 3' terminus of 28 S rRNA. Three additional sites are mapped in liver RNA from C3H/He strain mice. Two of them, the sites at 570 bp and 625 bp are assumed to be termination sites in vivo, because they correspond to in vitro termination sites of RNA polymerase I, and 45 S RNAs having these 3' termini decay with kinetics distinct from others. The amount of 45 S RNA having the 3' terminus at other sites is variable among several mouse strains, despite their having the same DNA sequence in these regions. The ability to produce 3' termini in these sites seems to follow Mendel's law of inheritance. Therefore, we postulate that these nine sites are RNA processing sites which are controlled genetically.     

A protein kinase C cDNA without the regulatory domain is active after transfection in vivo in the absence of phorbol ester.

We constructed mutant protein kinase C (PKC) cDNAs which expressed PKC activity in vivo in the absence of phorbol ester activation. A hybrid PKC gene, PKAC, was constructed by substituting the coding region for the N-terminal 253 amino acids of PKC alpha with the N-terminal 17 amino acids of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (PKA). A truncated PKC gene, delta PKC beta, lacking the coding region for amino acid positions 6 to 159 of PKC beta was also constructed. These mutant kinase genes expressed under the control of the SR alpha promoter activated the c-fos gene enhancer in Jurkat cells and initiated maturation of Xenopus laevis oocytes. Phorbol ester binding activity was absent in both constructs but was preserved in another hybrid gene, PKCA, which was composed of the coding region for 1 to 253 amino acids of PKC alpha at the N-terminal side and the coding region for 18 to 350 amino acids of PKA at the C-terminal side. These results indicate that elimination of the regulatory domain of PKC produces constitutively active PKC that can bypass activation by the phorbol ester. delta PKC beta, in synergy with a calcium ionophore, was capable of activating the interleukin 2 promoter, indicating that cooperation of PKC-dependent and calcium-dependent pathways is necessary for activation of the interleukin 2 gene.