Studies Of The Effect Of Temperature Shocks On Preparation For Cell Division In Mouse Fibroblast Cells (L Cells)

As L cells go through their growth-division cycle they acquire the capacity to respond progressively more strongly to certain standard changes in the temperature of the environment. Using techniques described earlier, we found that chilling to 1, 6 or 10 °C for 1 h had little effect on the timing of the forthcoming division. Conversely, heating for 1 h to temperatures between 41 and 42 °C had a strong effect. Generally, the older the cell when heated, the more extended is its generation time; in other words, the longer is the forthcoming division postponed. We found evidence that late in the cycle the cells undergo transition from a state in which they are maximally delayed with respect to the performance of a division to one in which they are less delayed.

We attempted to synchronize cell divisions with single and with series of heat shocks (41.6 °C for 1 h). Like our predecessors in the field, we obtained only partial synchrony. However, because L cells appear to prepare for division between shocks, and because heat shocks tend to reverse such preparations for division, we find reason to continue these experiments, using previous experience with Tetrahymena and Schizosaccharomyces as a guide. Both the latter cells respond to proper temperature treatment with synchronous cell division.

Use of genomic exclusion to isolate heat-sensitive mutants in Tetrahymena

We have used the abnormal form of conjugation known as "genomic exclusion" to isolate a collection of heat-sensitive mutants of Tetrahymena pyriformis, syngen 1. Growth at room temperature in bacterized medium and no growth at 40 degrees C in the same medium was the criterion used for the isolation. The mutant strains were tested for growth in pure (axenic) culture in proteose peptone medium; of the 31 strains which grew normally at room temperature and not at 40 degrees C in that medium, 21 also failed to grow at 37 degrees C. Preliminary results of complementation tests suggest that most, if not all, the mutations are recessive and that a variety of genes was affected. A detailed genetic analysis was performed on one mutant (H9). The results are all consistent with the idea that the heat-sensitive phenotype of this mutant is determined by a single recessive mutation, designated ts-2. Heterozygotes ts-2/+ yield heat-sensitive segregants during vegetative growth; we interpret this finding as another example of allelic exclusion, a phenomenon universally encountered among heterozygotes in syngen 1 of T. pyriformis. Our results are discussed in the context of some questions of current interest in Tetrahymena genetics.

Reformation of nucleolus-like bodies in the absence of postmitotic RNA synthesis

The dependence of nucleolar reformation on RNA synthesis that resumes in late anaphase or early telophase has been investigated in synchronously dividing Amoeba proteus. RNA synthesis was completely inhibited throughout all stages of mitosis and the early hours of interphase with high concentrations of actinomycin D. In such cells, nucleolus-like bodies that bind azure B and pyronin were apparent in the reformed nuclei. The bodies appear as dense, fibrous masses with loosely associated, finely fibrillar material. There are no characteristic granular regions in the reformed structures. It is suggested that the bodies probably represent mainly nucleolar protein and residual RNA which can bring about the reorganization of nucleoli in the absence of postmitotic RNA synthesis.

Regulation of Cellular Osmolarity and Volume in Tetrahymena

1. Tetrahymena pyriformis are hyperosmotic to external media of osmolarities from 2 to 171 m-osmole/l. The intracellular osmolarity, determined by freezing-point depression, is 111 m-osmole/kg cells in dilute media, and increases linearly with increasing external osmolarities.

2. Over 80% of the intracellular osmolarity can be attributed to the concentration of sodium, potassium, chloride and the free amino acids.

3. In response to an increase in the external osmolarity, Tetrahymena regulates its intracellular osmolarity by increasing the concentrations of free amino acids.

4. The regulation of cellular volume under conditions of osmotic stress is achieved by an increase in the amount of osmotically active solutes and the regulation of the rate of elimination of fluid by the contractile vacuole.

Biological phosphonates: determination by phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance

Advanced methods of phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy provided a method whereby biological phosphonates and phosphates can be determined on simple lipid fractions of biological origin. The spectra consist of two easily distinguished resonance bands; one corresponds to families of phosphonates, and the other corresponds to families of orthophosphates.

Ribosomal RNA homologies among distantly related organisms

The similarity in base sequences of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) in widely divergent organisms was compared. Hybrids were prepared between Escherichia coli and pea rRNA on the one hand and the DNA of several organisms on the other. The varying thermal stabilities of these hybrids were taken as evidence for a hierarchy of rRNA relatedness among some higher plants, and for phylogenetic relationships among some species of bacteria, protozoa, fungi, plants, and animals. The large rRNA molecule appears to have evolved faster than the small rRNA molecule.