Deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis in isolated DNA-membrane complexes

The DNA synthesized by isolated Escherichia coli DNA-membrane complexes has been analysed by centrifugation techniques. The in vitro synthesized DNA sediments after deproteinization, in part with the parental bulk DNA and in part as a spectrum of fragments with sedimentation coefficients between 10 and 25 s. The fragments are, at least partially, precursors to the fast sedimenting DNA. The DNA fragments are mostly double stranded and contain (i) parental DNA pieces non-covalently bound to newly synthesized DNA strands of similar length, as well as (ii) one well-defined fraction in which parental DNA and newly synthesized DNA are covalently joined. The results are discussed in terms of the “prefork synthesis” model of Haskell & Davern (1969).     

Effect of synthetic tripeptides on hemopoietic stem cells in norm and after gamma-irradiation

Our work was aimed at researching into the influence of dipeptide (gamma-dGlu-dTrp) "Timodepressin" and this dipeptide-based tripeptides on the colony-forming ability of the irradiated in vitro bone marrow and hemopoietic stem cells of the normal organism. Also studied was the effect of various doses (1-1000 microg/kg) of one oftripeptides (dAla-gammadGlu-dTrp) on the output of exogenous splenic colonies in the case of its introduction 48 hours before irradiation. It is shown that the mode of influence of the preparations produced on the basis ofdipeptides dGlu-dTrp and gamma-dGlu-dTrp on the initial stages ofa hemopoiesis in the normal and irradiated organism depends on the nature of the additional amino-acid residue and its optical orientation.     

Induction and subsequent repair of DNA damage by fast neutrons in cultured mammalian cells

The induction and repair of DNA damage were studied by a DNA unwinding method in mouse L5178Y cells exposed to fast neutrons. DNA lesions induced by fast neutrons were classified into three types from their repair profiles: fast-reparable breaks (T1/2 = 3-5 min), slow-reparable breaks (T1/2 = 70 min), and nonreparable breaks. The repair rates of both fast-reparable and slow-reparable breaks were almost the same as those of corresponding damage induced by low-LET radiation. Neutrons induced a smaller amount of fast-reparable damage, an almost equal amount of slow-reparable damage, and a larger amount of nonreparable damage than those induced by equal doses of gamma rays or X rays. RBEs for fast- and slow-reparable damage were 0.3 and 0.9, respectively. The RBE for nonreparable damage was dose dependent and was 1.4 at the level of 100 breaks/10(12) Da DNA. Among the three types of lesions, only the nonreparable damage levels correlated with the linear-quadratic shape of the survival curves and with the enhanced killing effectiveness of neutrons (RBE = 1.7 at D0).     

Mutation induction and relative biological effectiveness of neutrons in mammalian cells. Experimental observations

The induction of mutation by graded doses of monoenergetic neutrons was examined using the human-hamster hybrid cell system. The AL cells, formed by fusion of human fibroblasts with the gly- A mutant of the Chinese hamster ovary cells, contain the standard set of hamster chromosomes plus a single human chromosome, number 11. These cells contain specific human cell surface antigens that render them sensitive to killing by specific antisera in the presence of complement. Mutant AL cells that have lost the surface markers, however, would survive and give rise to scorable colonies. The cells were irradiated with neutrons produced at the Radiological Research Accelerator Facility of Columbia University. Doses corresponding to low, moderate, and high cytotoxicities and in energies ranging from 0.33 to 14 MeV were used. Neutrons induced a dose-dependent cytotoxicity and mutation frequency in the AL cells. Over the range of doses examined, it was found that the mutagenesis induced by neutrons was energy-dependent and the frequencies were a curvilinear function of dose for both the a1 and a2 antigenic loci examined. In comparison to gamma rays, the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for cell lethality at the 10% survival level ranged from 5.2 for 0.33 MeV to 1.8 for 14 MeV neutrons. The RBE for mutation induction at the a1 locus, however, ranged from 30 for 0.33 MeV to 4.2 for 14 MeV neutrons at or around the lowest levels of effect examined. Results of the present study demonstrated that neutrons, when measured under conditions which permit detection of a spectrum of gene and chromosomal mutations, in fact, are more efficient mutagens than previously thought.     

Effect of gamma-irradiation on lipid content and survival of human amnion cells in culture.

The neutral lipid content of Human Amnion cells in tissue culture, studied by cytophotometry, increases after irradiation with 60Co gamma-rays. Cells having an already elevated lipid content, induced by lipid pretreatments, become sensitized to irradiation as determined by cell survival and electrophoretic mobility studies.     

Characterization of mRNA-protein complexes from mammalian cells.

In a previous report we described the use of oligo(dT)-cellulose for the isolation of mRNA-protein complexes from EDTA-dissociated polysomes extracted from normally growing or adenovirus infected KB-cells (I). Experiments presented here provide evidence that proteins involved in these complexes bind specifically to mRNA since: a) the proteins and mRNA cosediment through sucrose gradients, b) they adsorb and elute from oligo(dT)-cellulose together, and c) analysis of the products from ribonuclease digestion experiments show that the poly (A) end and a separate small fraction of the mRNA are resistant to the enzymes and attached to protein.     

Rapid purification of protein complexes from mammalian cells

The evaluation of the protein binding partner(s) of biologically important proteins is currently an area of intense research, especially since the development of the yeast two-hybrid assay. However, not all protein–protein interactions uncovered by this assay are biologically relevant and another confirmatory assay must be performed. Ideally, this assay should be rapid, versatile and performed under conditions which mimic the ‘normal’ physiological state as closely as possible. Towards this goal, we have constructed two eukaryotic expression vectors that facilitate the purification of a protein of interest, along with any associated proteins, from mammalian cells. These vectors incorporate the following features: (i) a tetracycline-responsive promoter so that the level of protein production can be regulated; (ii) an N-terminal glutathione S-transferase tag or a triple repeat of the HA1 epitope, to facilitate purification of the protein either by glutathione affinity chromatography or immunoprecipitation, respectively, followed by a multiple cloning site; (iii) the gene for the enhanced green fluorescent protein (for detection of the presence of the fusion protein and subcellular localization); (iv) a puromycin marker for the selection of stable transformants; (v) a truncated EBNA protein and oriP sequence for episomal replication of the vector. These latter two features permit expansion of small cultures of transfected cells under puromycin selection, thereby increasing the amount of tagged protein that can be purified. We show that these vectors can be used to direct the doxycycline-inducible expresssion of tagged proteins and to recover tagged CIP1–p21 protein complexes from HeLa cells. Furthermore, we show that these tagged p21-purified complexes contain both cyclin A and Cdk2, which are known to interact with p21, but not β-actin.     

Effect of gamma-irradiation on malonic dialdehyde formation in the interaction of liposomes with cells

A study was made of the effect of relatively low gamma-radiation doses (up to 10 Gy) on the ability of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells to induce peroxidation in lipids of liposomes from egg lecithin. The mechanism of this peroxidation is probably associated with the release from cells of catalyzers which perform free-radical oxidation of higher unsaturated fatty acids. Two processes occur upon irradiation of cells: disintegration of the released catalyzers, and stimulation of their release from cells. Correspondingly, the formation of malonic dialdehyde was inhibited or stimulated depending on the radiation dose and time of the combined incubation of liposomes and cells. On the basis of the data obtained a conclusion is made that the modification of the effect of malonic dialdehyde formation upon oxidation of liposomes by the exposed cells is conditioned by the effect of radiation on cell membranes.     

Effect of gamma-irradiation on microtubule assembly in vitro

Microtubular protein was exposed to gamma-radiation from 500 to 1000 Gy, Within that dose range its polymerization ability was decreased by 20-60 per cent when samples were irradiated in assembled state, and by 40-75 per cent when irradiated in unassembled state. Microtubules assembled from irradiated subunits were shorter and of more uniform lengths than control microtubules. For the dose of 1000 Gy the mean length and its standard deviation were reduced to about one-half of the values of the control.     

Effect of gamma-irradiation on dye-DNA binding.

The effect of gamma-rays on the binding of proflavine and acridine orange to DNA was investigated by spectrophotometry. The effect of irradiation was observed on the buffered solutions of the free dye and free DNA. A dose of about 35 krad caused a hyperchromicity of 30-40 per cent to the DNA peak at 258 nm, while the same dose introduced a hypochromic effect to the monomer peaks of the dyes by 30 per cent. This implied that gamma-rays have an effect of decreasing the monomer concentration of free-day molecules in solution. From the results, we conclude that more dye is bound to the changed conformation of dye-bound DNA on irradiation. Scratchard-binding isotherms drawn for the unirradiated and irradiated complexes of Pf-DNA showed interesting differences. Similar isotherms could not be obtained for the acridine orange-DNA system.     

Effect of UV radiation on the DNA-membrane complex of Bacillus subtilis]

The influence of UV-light on DNA-membrane complex (DMC) of Bacillus subtilis was studied. An increased DNA content in DMC for strains 168 and rec A-, and a degradation of DMC for strain polA- have been registrated. The increase in DNA in DMC of the two former strains is inhibited by caffeine to be correlated with changes in protein content in DMC, determined by a radioactive label, but not with lipid content. Thus, the association of DNA with the membrane is mediated by proteins. DNA increasing capacity seen in DMC after UV-irradiation and after the following incubation of bacteria in the complete medium is correlated with a relative sensitivity of strains. To explain these data, it is supposed that the reparative synthesis is accomplished in cell on their membranes and that for the normal completion of DNA repair the association between DNA and the membrane is necessary.