Participation of mitochondrial proliferation in morphological differentiation of murine mastocytoma cells

Proliferation of a cold-sensitive cell-cycle mutant isolated from an undifferentiated murine mastocytoma line is reversibly arrested at the nonpermissive temperature of 33 degrees C, and the arrested cells undergo morphological differentiation as expressed by the formation of metachromatic granules. Following transfer of these mutant cells from the permissive temperature of 39.5 to 33 degrees C, a transient increase in both cytochrome c oxidase and DNA polymerase gamma was observed, the ratio of total mitochondrial volume to cell volume nearly doubled within 6 days, and numbers of mitochondrial cross-sections per cellular cross-section as determined in electron micrographs underwent a threefold increase. Addition of chloramphenicol (100 micrograms/ml) to the mutant cell cultures 6 days prior to transfer from 39.5 to 33 degrees C prevented the increase in the ratio of total mitochondrial to cell volume. Furthermore, chloramphenicol markedly inhibited the increase in granule number per cell that normally is observed after transfer of cultures to 33 degrees C or during treatment with 1 mM butyrate, suggesting that mitochondrial proliferation may be an obligatory step in the process of morphological differentiation of these mastocytoma cells.     

Transfer and Expression of Lithoautotrophy and Denitrification in a Host Lacking These Metabolic Activities

The conjugative 450-kilobase-pair megaplasmid pHG1 from Alcaligenes eutrophus H16 was transferred to the herbicide-degrading soil bacterium A. eutrophus JMP134. This transfer was achieved by means of RP4 mobilization and a Tn5-Mob insertion provided in trans on the megaplasmid replicon. Although kanamycin-resistant transconjugants also occurred with other gram-negative species such as Rhizobium, Agrobacterium, and thiobacteria, A. eutrophus JMP134 was the only recipient which stably maintained the megaplasmid. pHG1-containing transconjugants derived from JMP134 expressed all metabolic functions associated with the plasmid: the ability to oxidize hydrogen through catalysis of two hydrogenases, to assimilate carbon dioxide via the Calvin cycle pathway, and to grow with nitrate anaerobically. All of these metabolic activities were absent in the original strain JMP134.     

Heme pocket interactions in cytochrome c peroxidase studied by site-directed mutagenesis and resonance Raman spectroscopy

Resonance Raman spectra are reported for FeII and FeIII forms of cytochrome c peroxidase (CCP) mutants prepared by site-directed mutagenesis and cloning in Escherichia coli. These include the bacterial "wild type", CCP(MI), and mutations involving groups on the proximal (Asp-235----Asn, Trp-191----Phe) and distal (Trp-51----Phe, Arg-48----Leu and Lys) side of the heme. These spectra are used to assess the spin and ligation states of the heme, via the porphyrin marker band frequencies, especially v3, near 1500 cm-1, and, for the FeII forms, the status of the Fe-proximal histidine bond via its stretching frequency. The FeII-His frequency is elevated to approximately 240 cm-1 in CCP(MI) and in all of the distal mutants, due to hydrogen-bonding interactions between the proximal His-175 N delta and the carboxylate acceptor group on Asp-235. The FeII-His RR band has two components, at 233 and 246 cm-1, which are suggested to arise from populations having H-bonded and deprotonated imidazole; these can be viewed in terms of a double-well potential involving proton transfer coupled to protein conformation. The populations shift with changing pH, possibly reflecting structure changes associated with protonation of key histidine residues, and are influenced by the Leu-48 and Phe-191 mutations. A low-spin FeII form is seen at high pH for the Lys-48, Leu-48, Phe-191, and Phe-51 mutants; for the last three species, coordination of the distal His-52 is suggested by a approximately 200-cm-1 RR band assignable to Fe(imidazole)2 stretching.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Relationship between sensitivity to 4'-(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon-m-anisidide and DNA topoisomerase II in a cold-sensitive cell-cycle mutant of a murine mastocytoma cell line

The cold-sensitive (proliferating at 39.5 degrees C, reversibly arrested in GI-phase at 33 degrees C) cell-cycle mutant 21-Fb of the murine mastocytoma cell line P815 was used to study the effect of amsacrine on non-cycling cells. The sensitivity of arrested 21-Fb cells decreased less than 2-fold in cell survival experiments when compared to proliferating cells. In contrast, DNA breakage and stimulation of protein-DNA complex formation in intact or lysed cells was reduced approx. 10-fold in arrested cells and DNA topoisomerase II activity in arrested cells was only 5% of the activity in proliferating cells. Thus, there was no correlation between cell survival and DNA damage or DNA topoisomerase II activity in drug-treated cells.     

beta-Hydroxyaspartic acid or beta-hydroxyasparagine in bovine low density lipoprotein receptor and in bovine thrombomodulin

All of the vitamin K-dependent plasma proteins with domains that are homologous to the epidermal growth factor (EGF) precursor have 1 hydroxylated aspartic acid residue in the NH2-terminal EGF-homology region. In addition, protein S has 1 hydroxylated asparagine residue in each of the three COOH-terminal EGF-homology regions. All of these proteins have been found to have the amino acid sequence, CX(D or N)XXXX(F or Y)XCXC (corresponding to residues 20 to 33 in EGF), where the Asp or Asn residue is hydroxylated. This sequence also appears in two of the three EGF-homology regions of the human low density lipoprotein receptor and in two of the six EGF-homology regions of bovine thrombomodulin so far identified, suggesting that they may have the modified amino acid. We have now identified beta-hydroxyaspartic acid in acid hydrolysates of both these proteins.     

Rapid transient analysis of myosin cross-bridge kinetics in hypertrophied hearts

Essential hypertension, with pressure overload leading to left ventricular hypertrophy, often results in coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is an attractive model for studying the effects of long-term antihypertensive therapy on the contractile properties of the myocardium. In this study we investigated differences in mechanical and biochemical characteristics of papillary muscles from SHR and normal (Wistar-Kyoto [WKY]) rats as a function of age and treatment. We found that the rate of delayed force redevelopment after rapid stretch was less in SHR than in WKY in every age group studied, even at 2 wk of age, before hypertension was evident in the SHR. In the treated SHR, blood pressure was lower, hypertrophy was reduced and the rate of delayed force redevelopment was increased compared with the untreated SHR. Finally, the pattern of myosin isoenzymes was different in treated than in untreated SHR, being shifted to more of the fast V1 and less of the slow V3 isomyosin. We conclude that long-term antihypertensive therapy not only prevents the development of left ventricular hypertrophy, but may do so by preventing the shift in myosin isoenzyme pattern normally found in hearts subjected to a long-term pressure overload.     

Biosynthesis and vectorial transport of opsin on vesicles in retinal rod photoreceptors

Retinal rod photoreceptor cells absorb light at one end and establish synaptic contacts on the other. Light sensitivity is conferred by a set of membrane and cytosol proteins that are gathered at one end of the cell to form a specialized organelle, the rod outer segment (ROS). The ROS is composed of rhodopsin-laden, flattened disk-shaped membranes enveloped by the cell's plasma membrane. Rhodopsin is synthesized on elements of the rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus near the nucleus in the inner segment. From this synthetic site, the membrane-bound apoprotein, opsin, is released from the Golgi in the membranes of small vesicles. These vesicles are transported through the cytoplasm of the inner segment until they reach its apical plasma membrane. At that site, opsin-laden vesicles appear to fuse near the base of the connecting cilium that joins the inner and outer segments. This fusion inserts opsin into the plasma membrane of the photoreceptor. Opsin becomes incorporated into the disk membrane by a process of membrane expansion and fusion to form the flattened disks of the outer segment. Within the disks, opsin is highly mobile, and rapidly rotates and traverses the disk surface. Despite its mobility in the outer segment, quantitative electron microscopic, immunocytochemical, and autoradiographic studies of opsin distribution demonstrate that little opsin is detectable in the inner segment plasma membrane, although its bilayer is in continuity with the plasma membrane of the outer segment. The photoreceptor successfully establishes the polarized distribution of its membrane proteins by restricting the redistribution of opsin after vectorially transporting it to one end of the cell on post-Golgi vesicles.     

Information content of binding sites on nucleotide sequences

Repressors, polymerases, ribosomes and other macromolecules bind to specific nucleic acid sequences. They can find a binding site only if the sequence has a recognizable pattern. We define a measure of the information (R sequence) in the sequence patterns at binding sites. It allows one to investigate how information is distributed across the sites and to compare one site to another. One can also calculate the amount of information (R frequency) that would be required to locate the sites, given that they occur with some frequency in the genome. Several Escherichia coli binding sites were analyzed using these two independent empirical measurements. The two amounts of information are similar for most of the sites we analyzed. In contrast, bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase binding sites contain about twice as much information as is necessary for recognition by the T7 polymerase, suggesting that a second protein may bind at T7 promoters. The extra information can be accounted for by a strong symmetry element found at the T7 promoters. This element may be an operator. If this model is correct, these promoters and operators do not share much information. The comparisons between R sequence and R frequency suggest that the information at binding sites is just sufficient for the sites to be distinguished from the rest of the genome.