Regional distribution of DNA and RNA in rat brain: A sensitive determination using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

DNA and RNA contents in 20 brain regions or nuclei of the rat were determined by a highly sensitive method using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. The high DNA and RNA contents were found in the hypothalamic nuclei, especially the median eminence-arcuate nucleus. These results may be available for the preparation of nucleic acids as the regional control.     

Axoplasmic RNA species synthesized in the isolated squid giant axon

Isolated squid stellate nerves and giant fiber lobes were incubated for 8 hr in Millipore filtered sea water containing [³H]uridine. The electrophoretic patterns of radioactive RNA purified from the axoplasm of the giant axon and from the giant fiber lobe (cell bodies of the giant axon) demonstrated the presence of RNA species with mobilities corresponding to tRNA and rRNA. The presence of labeled rRNAs was confirmed by the behavior of the large rRNA component (31S) which, in the squid, readily dissociates into its two constituent moyeties (17S and 20S). Comparable results were obtained with the axonal sheath and the stellate nerve. In all the electrophoretic patterns, additional species of radioactive RNA migrated between the 4S and the 20S markers, i.e. with mobilities corresponding to presumptive mRNAs. Chromatographic analysis of the purified RNAs on oligo(dT)cellulose indicated the presence of labeled poly(A)⁺ RNA in all tissue samples. Radioactive poly(A)⁺ RNA represented approximately 1% of the total labeled RNA in the axoplasm, axonal sheath and stellate nerve, but more than 2% in the giant fiber lobe. The labeled poly(A)⁺ RNAs of the giant fibre lobe showed a prevalence of larger species in comparison to the axonal sheath and stellate nerve. In conclusion, the axoplasmic RNAs synthesized by the isolated squid giant axon appear to include all the major classes of axoplasmic RNAs, that is rRNA, tRNA and mRNA.Special Issue dedicated to Prof. Holger Hydén.     

Genes for tRNAAsp,tRNAPro, tRNATyr and two tRNAsSer in wheat mitochondrial DNA

We have begun a systematic search for potential tRNA genes in wheat mtDNA, and present here the sequences of regions of the wheat mitochondrial genome that encode genes for tRNA^Asp (anticodon GUC), tRNA^Pro (UGG), tRNA^Tyr (GUA), and two tRNAs^Ser (UGA and GCU). These genes are all solitary, not immediately adjacent to other tRNA or known protein coding genes. Each of the encoded tRNAs can assume a secondary structure that conforms to the standard cloverleaf model, and that displays none of the structural aberrations peculiar to some of the corresponding mitochondrial tRNAs from other eukaryotes. The wheat mitochondrial tRNA sequences are, on average, substantially more similar to their eubacterial and chloroplast counterparts than to their homologues in fungal and animal mitochondria. However, an analysis of regions 150 nucleotides upstream and 100 nucleotides downstream of the tRNA coding regions has revealed no obvious conserved sequences that resemble the promoter and terminator motifs that regulate the expression of eubacterial and some chloroplast tRNA genes. When restriction digests of wheat mtDNA are probed with ³²P-labelled wheat mitochondrial tRNAs, <20 hybridizing bands are detected, whether enzymes with 4 bp or 6 bp recognition sites are used. This suggests that the wheat mitochondrial genome, despite its large size, may carry a relatively small number of tRNA genes.     

Effects on growth and sporulation of inactivation of a Bacillus subtilis gene (ctc) transcribed in vitro by minor vegetative cell RNA polymerases (E-sigma 37, E-sigma 32)

Summary The E-³⁷ gene ctc was inactivated by a site-specific insertion into the Bacillus subtilis chromosome. The resulting mutation inhibited sporulation by 95% at elevated temperatures (48° C). If the ctc ^- mutation is placed in a strain that carries a mutation in the closely linked but distinct spoVC gene, ctc now affects both growth and sporulation at elevated temperatures. Growth of the ctc ^- spoVC285 strain was transiently inhibited when exponentially growing cultures were shifted from 37° C to 48° C. A similar, but less pronounced growth lag, was also seen in a B. subtilis strain carrying only the spoVC-285 mutation. This finding suggests that both the ctc and spoVC products function in vegetatively growing B. subtilis.     

Alteration of the synthesis of lipoxygenase in the early stages of soybean cotyledon culture

A detailed study of lipoxygenase (EC 1.13.11.12) synthesis in cotyledons of soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv. Century] cultured in vitro for up to 40 h showed that synthesis of this protein, measured by in vivo [35S]-methionine labelling in connection with immunological methods and cell-free translation of mRNA, underwent a large transient reduction in the first 4 h of culturing and gradually increased in the following 36 h. Northern blot hybridizations with lipoxygenase cDNA clones showed that the decrease in translational activity was the consequence of a considerable reduction in lipoxygenase mRNA in the cotyledons. From these results we conclude that the transient decline in lipoxygenase synthesis in excised soybean cotyledons is regulated at the RNA level. Similarly judged from the analysis of patterns of uni-dimensional gel electrophoresis, the synthesis of a few other polypeptides decreased during the first 4 h of culture as well, while several others increased; in cotyledons cultured for 20 to 40 h the protein-synthesis pattern had returned to that in freshly excised cotyledons. An acclimation period of ca 1 day seems to be needed for isolated soybean cotyledons to stabilize and to resume regular RNA and protein synthesis.     

樗蚕丝腺5SrRNA的核苷酸顺序

本文用凝胶直读法、末端鉴定法等相配合,测定了樗蚕(Philosamia cynthia)絲腺5SrRNA的核苷酸顺序:AGACAACGUCCAUACCACGUUGAAAACACCGGUUCUCGUCCGAUCACCGAAGUCAAGCAACGUCGGGCGCGGUCAGUACUUGGAUGGGUGACCGCCUGGGAACACCGCGUGCUGUUGGCUU比较了樗蚕、蓖麻蚕、柞蚕、家蚕、果蝇等5SrRNA结构差异,在分子水平上探讨了昆虫的分化。     

Mini-exon derived RNA gene ofLeishmania donovani: structure,organization and expression

Mini-exon derived RNA is a small nuclear RNA of trypanosomatid protozoa such asLeishmania which donates its 5′-terminal 39 nucleotides to the 5’-ends of cellular messenger RNAs by trans-splicing. We have cloned a mini-exon derived RNA gene fromLeishmania donovani and studied its organization and expression. About 200 copies of the gene per haploid genome are organized as a tandem repeat on a single chromosome. The gene is transcribed as a 95-nucleotide RNA. The first 39 nucleotides of mini-exon derived RNA is also found at the 5′-terminus of a cellular mRNA (Β-tubulin), thus confirming its identity. Sequence analysis of the gene and its flanking regions showed that while classical RNA polymerase II promoter elements such as TATA and CAAT are absent from the 5′-upstream region, intragenic sequence motifs resembling RNA polymerase III promoter elements are present. The implications of this finding for mini-exon derived RNA expression are discussed.