Cytochrome function in the cyclic electron transport pathway of chloroplasts

Flash excitation of isolated intact chloroplasts promoted absorbance transients corresponding to the electrochromic effect (P-518) and the α-bands of cytochrome b₆ and cytochrome f. Under conditions supporting coupled cyclic electron flow, the oxidation of cytochrome b₆ and the reduction of cytochrome f had relaxation half-times of 15 and 17 ms, respectively. Optimal poising of cyclic electron flow, achieved by addition of 0.1 μM 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea, increased phosphorylation of endogenous ADP and prolonged these relaxation times. The presence of NH₄Cl, or monensin plus NaCl, decreased the half-times for cytochrome relaxation to approximately 2 ms. Uncouplers also revealed the presence of a slow rise component in the electrochromic absorption shift, with formation half-time of about 2 ms. The inhibitors of cyclic phosphorylation antimycin and 2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone abolished the slow rise in the electrochromic shift and prolonged the uncoupled relaxation times of cytochromes b₆ and f by factors of ten or more.These observations indicate that cytochrome b₆, plastoquinone and cytochrome f participate in a coupled electron transport process responsible for cyclic phosphorylation in intact chloroplasts. Estimations of cyclic phosphorylation rates from 40 to 120 μmol ATP/mg chlorophyll per h suggest that this process can provide a substantial fraction of the ATP needed for CO₂ fixation.     

Cryofixation without cryoprotectants. Freeze substitution and freeze etching of an insect olfactory receptor

Antennae of the silk moth, Bombyx mori, were frozen by immersion into propane at ? 180 °C, and further processed by (a) freeze substitution (FS) or (b) freeze etching (FE). Although no cryoprotectant was used, freezing damage was observed in deeper tissue regions only. Data from FS specimens closely resemble those from FE replicas. Therefore, FS usually does not induce noticeable secondary artefacts by the preparation steps subsequent to freezing. When compared with chemically fixed antennae, the superior quality of cryofixation in this tissue is evident, particularly where cell surfaces and processes border the receptor lymph cavity: membranes are smooth following a steady course; dendrites and axons are round in cross-section with evenly distributed microtubules. The value of cryofixation is discussed with special reference to structures of presumed functional significance (e.g. stimulus conducting pore tubules, intramembrane particles of the receptor membrane, the ciliary segment of the dendrites, intercellular dilations, membrane junctions).     

Structure analysis and molecular model of the selenoenzyme glutathione peroxidase at 2.8 Å resolution

The three-dimensional structure of bovine erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase, a tetrameric enzyme containing 4 gram atoms of selenium per mole (M_r = 84,000), has been determined at 2.8 Å resolution using the multiple isomorphous replacement method. By correlation calculations in Patterson space the tetramers were shown to exhibit molecular [222] symmetry, proving the monomers to be identical or at least very similar.The monomer consists of a single polypeptide chain of 178 amino acid residues. Its shape is nearly spherical with a radius of $\text{r ≈ 19}\text{A}\text{?}$. A tentative sequence corresponding to a partially refined model (R = 0.38) is given. Each subunit is built up from a central core of two parallel and two anti-parallel strands of pleated sheet surrounded by four α-helices. One of the helices runs antiparallel to the neighbouring β-strands giving rise to a βαβ substructure, an architecture that has been found in several other proteins e.g. flavodoxin, thioredoxin, rhodanese and dehydrogenases. A comparison of the glutathione peroxidase subunit structure with thioredoxin-S₂ revealed large regions of structural resemblance. The central four-stranded β structure together with two parallel α-helices resembles nearly 80% of the thioredoxin fold.The active sites of glutathione peroxidase are located in flat depressions on the molecular surface. Probably each active centre is built up by segments from two subunits. The catalytically active selenocysteines were found at the N-terminal ends of long α-helices and are surrounded by an accumulation of aromatic side-chains. A difference Fourier map between oxidized and substrate-reduced glutathione peroxidase as well as heavy-atom binding led to the conclusion that the two-electron redox-cycle involves a reversible transition of the active-site selenium from a selenenic acid (RSeOH) to a seleninic acid (RSeOOH).     

Intraspecies transfer via total cellular DNA of the gene for hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase into cultured mouse cells

Summary Under selective growth conditions a revertant of mouse cells, defective in hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase activity (HPRT, EC-No. 2.4.2.8), was isolated, which contained an electrophoretically abnormal form of HPRT activity. The specific HPRT activity in crude extracts of the revertant cells is about 30% of the level determined in normal wild type cells. The variant HPRT reacts with antiserum against normal mouse HPRT but the rate of heat inactivation of the variant activity is different from the wild type form. By isozyme and karyotype analyses of somatic cell hybrids between the revertant mouse cells and Chinese hamster cells we found that the abnormal HPRT activity is coded for by the mouse X-chromosome as expected for a mutation in the structural HPRT gene.DNA has been purified from the abnormal HPRT revertant cells and incubated with mouse A9 cells (HPRT^-). After growth in selective medium one clone was isolated which expressed the electrophoretically abnormal form of HPRT. Six clones showed the normal form of HPRT due to reversion of the defective HRRT locus in A9 cells. This result indicates DNA-mediated transfer of the mouse HPRT gene at a frequency of about 0.5×10^-7. A similar frequency has been found for transfer of the variant HPRT locus via isolated metaphase chromosomes to A9 recipient cells. When placed in non-selective media the DNA-mediated transferent cells gradually lost their ability to express the HPRT transgenome at a rate of about 6% per average cell generation.     

Bacterial mesosomes: Method dependent artifacts

The occurrence of mesosomes was investigated during septum formation of vegetative and sporulating cells of Bacillus cereus. It has been demonstrated that bacterial mesosomes which are considered by numerous microbiologists as an integrated constituent of Gram positive bacteria, are in reality artifacts arising during the preparation for electron microscopy. The conventional fixation methods allowed enough time for the cytoplasmic membrane to react to the changed conditions and to form the typical pocket-like membrane invaginations. With cryofixation followed by freeze-substitution it was shown in ultrathin sections that mesosomes do not occur. The extremely rapid freezing and the substitution of the ice by an organic solvent containing the fixative prevented the formation of membraneous artifacts.Non-standard abbreviations OsO₄ osmium tetroxide - UO₂Ac uranylacetate - PHB poly--hydroxy-butyric acid - M mesosome - CW cell wall - CM cytoplasmic membrane - PF plasmatic fracture of the cytoplasmic membrane     

In vivo observations of nucleolar extrusion in cultured callus cells of a non tumorousNicotiana glauca ×N. langsdorffii hybrid

Summary In vivo observations ofNicotiana glauca ×Nicotiana langsdorffii hybrid callus cells cultured on hanging-drop slides show a continuous pulsating movement of nucleoli containing vesicles from the nucleus into the cytoplasm and the occasional release of the nucleoli into the cytoplasmic stream. The phenomenon is discussed in relation to similar findings in other plant materials, particularly in critical phases of development.Contribution No. 151 from the Laboratorio di Mutagenesi e Differenziamento, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (C.N.R.), Pisa, Italy. Investigation supported by Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (C.N.R.) under the programme Biology of Reproduction.     

Questioning of reported evidence for guanosine tetraphosphate synthesis in a ribosome system from mouse embryos.

In 1974, Irr, Kaulenas and Unsworth reported that ppGpp is synthesized by cytosolic ribosomes from mouse embryos and proposed a role for ppGpp in the process of differentiation. This proposal is being challenged because ribosomes of mouse embryos from various stages of development and of mouse embryoid bodies were completely inactive in ppGpp formation.     

Quantitation of vitellogenin messenger RNA in the liver of male xenopus toads during primary and secondary stimulation by estrogen

From livers of estrogen-stimulated female Xenopus toads, large quantities of estrogen-induced, poly(A)-containing RNA could be isolated, showing the same characteristics as vitellogenin mRNA obtained from hormone-treated males.Using cDNA hybridization, vitellogenin mRNA was monitored in the cytoplasmic poly(A)-containing RNA of the liver of male toads during 13 days of primary and the initial phase of secondary stimulation with estrogen.During primary stimulation, low amounts of vitellogenin mRNA, not exceeding 0.18% of the cytoplasmic poly(A)-containing RNA, were first detected after 12 hr of hormone treatment, and vitellogenin mRNA was found to increase on the average to 34% of the cytoplasmic poly(A)-containing RNA on the seventh day of hormone treatment. After 3 days of primary stimulation, accumulation of vitellogenin mRNA leveled off, showing no significant increase in the cytoplasm up to 13 days of hormone treatment. As judged from incorporation of ³²PO₄ into blood plasma proteins of males during primary stimulation, vitellogenin was first detected after 1 day, and its synthesis was found to increase dramatically until the thirteenth day of hormone treatment. This implies that there is a coincidence between appearance and extent of synthesis of vitellogenin and the abundance of vitellogenin mRNA in the cytoplasm, but there is evidence that during later phase of primary stimulation (day 3–13), the increase in synthesis of vitellogenin cannot be attributed anymore to a significant accumulation of vitellogenin mRNA.In male Xenopus, estrogen-induced synthesis of vitellogenin is no more detectable 41 days after hormone injection, and the concentration of vitellogenin mRNA was found to be <0.03% of the cytoplasmic poly(A)-containing RNA. Secondary stimulation by estrogen of these animals results in an at least 30 fold faster accumulation of vitellogenin mRNA in the cytoplasm within the initial 12 hr of hormone treatment. This may explain the faster appearance of vitellogenin in the blood plasma.     

Intact chloroplast electron flow. Effects of ribose 5-phosphate

Additions of ribose 5-phosphate to intact spinach chloroplasts were used to probe the effects of ADP regeneration on pH-gradient formation and electron-transfer reactions. In weakly illuminated chloroplasts, the ATP/ADP ratio dropped by 64% and the transthylakoid pH gradient decreased by a minimum of 0.2 units in response to ribose 5-phosphate. Nitrite reduction increased 2-fold while, under conditions of cyclic electron flow, the half-time for cytochrome f reduction decreased by a factor of two from 4.1 to 1.9 ms. The results suggest that metabolic ATP consumption, during the conversion of ribulose 5-phosphate to ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate, enhances electron transfer between plastohydroquinone and cytochrome f through decreases in the transthylakoid pH gradient caused by phosphorylation of ADP.     

The Social Structure of Inachus phalangium,a Spider Crab Associated with the Sea Anemone

The behaviour of the spider crab Inachus phalangium (Fabricius, 1775), which lives in association with the sea anemone Anemonia sulcata (Pennant), was studied in the field. The crab was found in the littoral zone of the Mediterranean Sea near Banyuls sur Mer, France, in the whole depth range studied (0.5–25 m). The crabs had a long-lasting association with individual Anemonia sulcata, occasionally with Aiptasia mutabilis. Most crabs were found in association with the same anemone for several days, some crabs were found in association with the same anemone for longer than one month. In the areas studied, on average 65 Inachus phalangium were found on 100 anemones. Crabs released in the vicinity of anemones moved towards them and entered them. Inachus phalangium could walk between the tentacles of Anemonia sulcata and Aiptasia mutabilis without eliciting feeding reactions of the anemone. The crabs left the anemones for moulting. After moulting masking material was removed from the exuvia and used again. The animals returned into an anemone while still soft. Material used for masking, usually algae, could be picked off the body and eaten. Masking material may be a food reservoir in addition to providing camouflage. Anemones were left only during night-time. The crabs left their anemone to moult, to feed in the vicinity, fleeing from larger conspecifics, and to migrate to a different anemone. Outside the anemone's protection Inachus was eaten by several species of fish. Individuals appeared to avoid each other. 57% of all animals were found alone on an anemone. Large males and females were more frequently found alone than were small males and females. Fights were observed between members of the same and of the opposite sex. During fights, legs and claws could be torn off. Adult males migrated more often between anemones and moved over larger distances when migrating than did adult females. Adult males probably migrated in search of sexually mature females. Such a roving strategy is evolutionarily stable only when the higher costs (in terms of energy expenditure and mortality) are compensated for by a higher number of offspring than produced in the alternative, pair-bonding strategy.