BACTERIAL POLYRIBOSOMES AND THEIR PARTICIPATION IN PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN VIVO

The development of polysomes in the seed of Pisum arvense

1. Ribosomal preparations from dormant seed, cotyledon and growing tissue from Pisum arvense were examined. 2. Polysomes were obtained from growing tissues under all conditions used. 3. Such particles were obtained from seed immediately after imbibition only when 5mm-zinc sulphate was included in the medium used for extraction. 4. No polysomes were obtained from dry seed. 5. Extracts of dry seed showed limited incorporation of phenylalanine into protein. 6. Extracts of seed after imbibition showed enhanced activity in incorporation of phenylalanine amounting to 72% of the activity found in extracts of growing tissue. 7. A nuclear fraction from dry seed was able to incorporate ATP into acid-precipitable material. 8. It is concluded that the protein-synthesizing system of the dry seed is limited by the low concentration of functional polysomes.

Linking mRNA turnover and translation: assessing the polyribosomal association of mRNA decay factors and degradative intermediates

mRNA decay is a multistep process, often dependent on the active translation of an mRNA and on components of the translation apparatus. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, several trans-acting factors required for mRNA decay associate with polyribosomes. We have explored the specificity of the interactions of these factors with polyribosomes, using sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis of the yeast UPF1 protein to test whether such interactions are altered when polyribosomes are disrupted by treatment with EDTA, digestion with micrococcal nuclease, or shifting of cells containing a temperature-sensitive eIF3 mutation to the nonpermissive temperature. These experiments, as well as others assaying the strength of factor association in high-salt sucrose gradients, lead us to conclude that Upf1p is tightly bound to the smallest polyribosomes, but not to the 40S or 60S ribosomal subunits. Similar experimental approaches were used to determine whether mRNA decay initiates prior to mRNA release from polyribosomes. Using sucrose gradient fractionation and Northern blotting, we can detect the polysomal association of a PGK1 mRNA decay intermediate and conclude that mRNA decay commences while an mRNA is still being translated.

DETERMINATION OF BASE RATIOS OF SIX RIBONUCLEIC ACID BACTERIOPHAGES SPECIFIC TO ESCHERICHIA COLI

1. A method is described for the isolation of single-stranded-RNA coliphages. Two of the six RNA coliphages investigated were new strains. 2. The base ratios of six RNA coliphages were determined by labelling the host bacterium with [(32)P]-phosphate, purification of the radioactive coliphages and separation of 2',3'-ribonucleotides liberated by alkaline hydrolysis of the coliphage RNA. 3. All six of the coliphages were morphologically similar, contained single-stranded RNA, and had sedimentation coefficient 80+/-5s. 4. The six RNA coliphages fell into two distinct groups, both serologically and in terms of their RNA base ratios.

ELECTRON MICROSCOPY OF POLYRIBOSOMES WITHIN BACILLUS CEREUS

Pfister, R. M. (Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.), and D. G. Lundgren. Electron microscopy of polyribosomes within Bacillus cereus. J. Bacteriol. 88:1119-1129. 1964.-Clusters of ribosomes (polyribosomes) were identified in thin sections of Bacillus cereus. Cells were treated by freezing and thawing to induce partial lysis to permit a closer examination of structural detail. The polyribosomes were (at times) attached to the cytoplasmic membrane, and ribosome clusters contained about 10 to 55 individual ribosomes. Individual ribosomes ranged from 70 to 100 A, whereas polyribosomes were about 150 to 850 A wide. A membrane served as the fabric holding the ribosomes, which were about 50 to 100 A apart.

Inhibitor-induced shift-downs in Escherichia coli

A shift-down response in Escherichia coli cells has been brought about by moderate concentrations of azide or cyanide. Early events of the response included a preferential inhibition of ribonucleic acid relative to deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis, a degradation of polyribosomes, and an inhibition of protein synthesis followed by a transient relief. These changes were entirely comparable to those observed with nutrient-induced shift-downs. The influences of various nutrient supplements on an azide shift-down were examined, and methionine was found to relieve effectively the inhibition of ribonucleic acid synthesis in some strains of cells.

Effect of potassium ions on the attachment of polyribosomes to the membranes in lysates of exponential-phase cells of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

1. The distribution of ribosomal components between the soluble and membrane fractions of a preparation of exponential-phase cells of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens lysed with lysozyme in 0.05m-tris buffer, pH7.6, containing 0.01m-Mg(2+), was strongly influenced by the addition of K(+) to the buffer, in the range 0-0.1m. 2. In the absence of K(+), 37% of the ribosomal material was bound to the membrane and was not removed by repeated washing with the lysing buffer. The amount of bound material was progressively decreased on increasing the K(+) concentration to 0.1m, when only 5% of ribosomal components remained attached to the membrane. 3. About 87% of the material that remained bound to the washed membranes prepared in the absence of added K(+) was removed on suspension of the membranes in a buffer containing 0.1m-potassium chloride. 4. In the absence of K(+), washed membranes, containing no detectable ribosomal material, were able to re-attach no more than half as much material as was found associated with membranes in the same buffer immediately after lysis. 5. There was no evidence of binding of specific components to the membrane. 6. In the presence of 0.05m-tris buffer, pH7.6, maximum incorporation of amino acids into protein by B. amyloliquefaciens polyribosomes is effected in the presence of 0.01m-Mg(2+) and 0.07-0.1m-K(+), under which conditions less than 10% of the ribosomal material of a cell lysate would be membrane-bound.

Polysomes extracted from Escherichia coli by freeze-thaw-lysozyme lysis

Polysomes can be extracted from Escherichia coli by freezing and thawing in the presence of lysozyme, followed by treatment with sodium deoxycholate. The method is simple and convenient; the yields consistently high.

Rapidly labelled ribonucleic acid from rat liver. Studies in the attachment to ribosomes and stimulation of the incorporation of amino acids into polypeptides in cell-free systems

1. Rapidly labelled RNA from rat liver, either as a complex with DNA (m-RNA-DNA) or with ribosomal RNA (m-RNA-RNA) binds to ribosomes in the polysome region. No binding could be demonstrated with ribosomal RNA or native DNA from Bacillus subtilis. 2. With ribosomes from rat liver, Escherichia coli or hepatoma the m-RNA-DNA stimulated incorporation of amino acids with rat-liver ribosomes only, whereas the m-RNA-RNA complex was effective with ribosomes from E. coli or the hepatoma. 3. Polyuridylic acid was effective as messenger RNA with all three ribosomes but much greater stimulation was obtained with ribosomes from E. coli and the hepatoma. 4. The degree of incorporation of phenylalanine with polyuridylic acid and ribosomes from a hepatoma was decreased by about 50% when ribosomal RNA was present.

Symposium on the fine structure and replication of bacteria and their parts. II. Bacterial cytoplasm

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POLYRIBOSOMES FROM ESCHERICHIA COLI: ENZYMATIC METHOD FOR ISOLATION

Polyribosomes can be rapidly extracted from Escherichia coli by sequential passage of the cells through solutions of a chelating agent and lysozyme in a centrifugal field. Biosynthesis of protein in whole cells and in a cell-free system occurs almost exclusively in the polyribosomes.

Polysomes from Yeast: Distribution of Messenger RNA and Capacity to Support Protein Synthesis in vitro

Individual fractions of polysomes were isolated from yeast. Pulse labeling experiments in vivo show constant specific activity of messenger RNA in each polysome peak; this suggests a uniform density of ribosomes per unit length of messenger RNA. In the cell-free incorporating system, the amount of peptide per ribosome unit increased with the size of polysome.