High macromolecular synthesis with low metabolic cost in Antarctic sea urchin embryos

Assessing the energy costs of development in extreme environments is important for understanding how organisms can exist at the margins of the biosphere. Macromolecular turnover rates of RNA and protein were measured at -1.5 degrees C during early development of an Antarctic sea urchin. Contrary to expectations of low synthesis with low metabolism at low temperatures, protein and RNA synthesis rates exhibited temperature compensation and were equivalent to rates in temperate sea urchin embryos. High protein metabolism with a low metabolic rate is energetically possible in this Antarctic sea urchin because the energy cost of protein turnover, 0.45 joules per milligram of protein, is 1/25th the values reported for other animals.     

Polypeptide synthesis in sea urchin embryogenesis: an examination with synthetic polyribonucleotides

After fertilization of the sea urchin egg the rate of protein synthesis by a cell-free ribosomal system increases markedly. This increase can be attributed to newly synthesized messenger RNA, since (i) the rate of polypeptide synthesis elicited by synthetic messenger polyribonucleotides changes only slightly after fertilization, and (ii) the enzymes for the formation of amino acyl transfer RNA's of phenylalanine and leucine and the polymerization of polypeptide are in excess in the unfertilized egg. Polypeptide synthesis has been characterized in development to the gastrula stage.     

Ribosomal RNA synthesis and the multiple, atypical nucleoli in cleaving embryos

The rate of ribosomal RNA synthesis per nucleus in cleaving sea urchin embryos is similar to the rate at later embryonic stages. The multiple, atypical nucleoli, present in early embryos and usually attributed to decreased ribosomal RNA synthesis, are beginning stages of nucleolar formation. Full nucleolar development requires more time than the brief interphase of the rapidly dividing cells.     

Sea urchin embryos are permeable to actinomycin

When eggs and cleaving embryos of the sea urchin are exposed to [(3)H]actinomycin D, they become radioactive, and autoradiograms show that the radioactivity is inside the cells. At midcleavage, nuclei are more radioactive than cytoplasm. Extraction and chromatography of the intracellular labeled compounds identify them as actinomycin D and a water-soluable derivative. Conversion does not take place outside the cells. Treatment of embryos for 90 minutes with actinomycin D inhibits synthesis of RNA by more than 90 percent, leaving unaffected turnover of the pCpCpA terminals in transfer RNA. These data justify earlier interpretations of actinomycin experiments with embryos and justify use of the drug as a tool in the analysis of gene expression.     

Cytoplasmic extraction: polyribosomes and heterogenous ribonucleoproteins without associated DNA

Two methods are described for preparing cytoplasmic extracts from sea urchin embryos. One method, involving homogenization, yields DNA structures that cosediment with polyribosomes and subribosomal ribonucleoproteins. In addition this method also yields extraneous structures containing RNA that cosediment with polyribosomes. The DNA is not associated with polyribosomes, as shown by buoyant density analysis. Furthermore, this DNA appears to be spurious, because its release into a cytoplasmic extract does not occur when a different method of cell disruption, involving passage of embryos through a hypodermic needle, is used. With this second method, polyribosomes are obtained without extraneous cosedimenting RNA structures and subribosomal ribonucleo-proteins are obtained in the virtual absence of DNA.     

Pertussis toxin-sensitive pathway in the stimulation of c-myc expression and DNA synthesis by bombesin

The bombesin-like peptides are potent mitogens for Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts, human bronchial epithelial cells, and cells isolated from small cell carcinoma of the lung. The mechanism of signal transduction in the proliferative response to bombesin was investigated by studying the effect of Bordetella pertussis toxin on bombesin-stimulated mitogenesis. At nanomolar concentrations, bombesin increased levels of c-myc messenger RNA and stimulated DNA synthesis in Swiss 3T3 cells. Treatment of the cells with pertussis toxin (5 nanograms per milliliter) completely blocked bombesin-enhanced c-myc expression and eliminated bombesin-stimulated DNA synthesis. This treatment had essentially no effect on the mitogenic responses to either platelet-derived growth factor or phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate. These results suggest that the mitogenic actions of bombesin-like growth factors are mediated through a pertussis toxin-sensitive guanine nucleotide-binding protein. Furthermore they indicate that bombesin-like growth factors act through pathways that are different from those activated by platelet-derived growth factor.     

Continuity of protein synthesis through cleavage metaphase

Protein synthesis continues without a decline in rate throughout the period of chromosome condensation and of cytokinesis in the first two cleavages of sea urchin embryos. The natural synchrony of the egg populations and the conditions of measurement allowed even a partial inhibition of synthesis to be observed. Our results do not explain the mechanism of inhibition of protein synthesis that occurs at metaphase in cultured mammalian cells, but it shows that such a change in rate is neither universal nor obligatory.     

Messenger RNA in early sea-urchin embryos: cytoplasmic particles

Three structures containing messenger RNA can be demonstrated in the cytoplasm of early sea-urchin embryos: (i) particles that sediment more slowly than ribosomes and contain newly synthesized DNA-like RNA, (ii) light polyribosomes, which also contain this newly synthesized RNA, and (iii) heavy polyribosomes, which seemingly contain only already existing or "maternal" messenger RNA and account for the bulk of the synthesis of protein.     

Messenger RNA in early sea-urchin embryos: size classes

Rapidly labeled RNA from four-cell embryos and blastulae of sea urchins was analyzed by sedimentation and for ability to form DNA-RNA hybrids. The RNA was derived from polyribosomes and from the "gel interphase," an extraction compartment resulting from treatment of whole embryos with phenol and known to be enriched with nuclei. The RNA from both sources displayed a high degree of structural complementarity to DNA. This DNA-like RNA of the polyribosomes sedimented in discrete classes, rather than in the sedimentation continuum demonstrable for the labeled RNA of the gel interphase. Thus messenger RNA appears to emerge in the cytoplasm in discrete size classes.     

Collagen synthesis in Xenopus oocytes after injection of nuclear RNA of frog embryos

A messenger RNA fraction from polysomes of frog larvae or RNA preparations from isolated nuclei of developing frog embryos were injected into growing Xenopus laevis oocytes that were incubated with labeled proline. Column chromatography of protein hydrolyzates revealed labeled hydroxyproline after injection of the messenger RNA fraction and neurula nuclear RNA, indicating that the injected material had promoted collagen synthesis.     

用改良的TRIZOL法快速提取仿刺参和中间球海胆的总RNA

用改良的TRIZOL法和普通TRIZOL法分别提取仿刺参Apostichopus japonica体壁、肠、体腔液和中间球海胆Strongylocentrotus intermedius的管足、性腺、齿间肌的总RNA。结果表明:用普通TRIZOL法提取时间长,电泳条带不很清晰,存在降解且各个组织提取的状况不稳定,杂质量多;而用改良TRIZOL法能够快速提取仿刺参、海胆组织的总RNA,电泳后得到的28S rRNA和18S rRNA条带清晰、完整性好、纯度高、得率高,其A/A为2.04~2.14,总RNA浓度为44.96~115.02 ng/μL。     

G1/S transition in normal human T-lymphocytes requires the nuclear protein encoded by c-myb

Exposure of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to an 18-base c-myb antisense oligomer before mitogen or antigen stimulation resulted in almost complete inhibition of c-myb messenger RNA and protein synthesis and blockade of T lymphocyte proliferation. Expression of early and late activation markers, interleukin-2 receptor and transferrin receptor, respectively, by PBMC was unaffected by antisense oligomer exposure as was the expression of c-myc messenger RNA. In contrast, histone H3 messenger RNA levels and DNA content were selectively decreased. These results suggest that c-myb protein deprivation does not perturb T lymphocyte activation or early molecular events that may prepare the cell for subsequent proliferation. Rather, it appears to specifically block cells in late G1 or early S phase of the cell cycle.     

Decoding in the absence of a codon by tmRNA and SmpB in the ribosome

In bacteria, ribosomes stalled at the end of truncated messages are rescued by transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA), a bifunctional molecule that acts as both a transfer RNA (tRNA) and a messenger RNA (mRNA), and SmpB, a small protein that works in concert with tmRNA. Here, we present the crystal structure of a tmRNA fragment, SmpB and elongation factor Tu bound to the ribosome at 3.2 angstroms resolution. The structure shows how SmpB plays the role of both the anticodon loop of tRNA and portions of mRNA to facilitate decoding in the absence of an mRNA codon in the A site of the ribosome and explains why the tmRNA-SmpB system does not interfere with normal translation.     

虾夷马粪海胆NLR家族基因片段的克隆及表达特征分析

采用同源克隆和半定量RT-PCR方法,对虾夷马粪海胆Strongylocentrotus intermedius NLR家族基因片段进行了克隆和组织表达特征分析。将紫球海胆S. purpuratus的9组NLR家族聚类的编码区序列进行比对后,根据保守区域设计引物扩增虾夷马粪海胆中相应的基因,通过测序获得了9组不同NLR聚类基因片段,每组各10个测序结果,通过基因序列及氨基酸序列比对分析,发现存在长度及序列结果上的差异,这说明每组NLR家族聚类都存在多个家族成员。同时选取虾夷马粪海胆的不同组织提取RNA,反转录后使用同样的引物进行半定量RT-PCR分析,结果表明, NLR基因在虾夷马粪海胆的管足、肠、围口膜、体腔细胞、性腺中存在高效表达,且在围口膜及性腺中表达量最高,表明NLR基因在虾夷马粪海胆中普遍表达,并存在表达差异。研究表明, NLR基因在海胆免疫过程中起着重要作用。