Incorporation of radioisotope, in vivo, into ribonucleic acid and histone of a fraction of nuclei preparing for mitosis

The syntheses of deoxyribonucleic acid and histone in the onion root meristem

A comparison of the times necessary to incorporate tritium-labeled lysine and arginine into histones and tritium-labeled thymidine into DNA indicates that the periods of DNA and histone synthesis prior to division closely coincide. (The comparison was made by determining the times necessary, after pulse labeling, for cells with marked chromosomes to enter and then leave the division stages.) An additional period of chromosomal protein synthesis, of short duration, occurs late in interphase. Most of the chromosomal proteins appear either to be synthesized in the nucleus or to migrate there shortly after synthesis. Much of this protein is conserved from one division to the next. Studies of the effects of puromycin and fluorodeoxyuridine on the syntheses of DNA and histone suggest that continuation of DNA synthesis is dependent on a concurrent protein synthesis. Histone synthesis, on the other hand, can proceed at a normal rate under conditions in which DNA synthesis is inhibited.

Simultaneous synthesis of histone and DNA in synchronously dividing Tetrahymena pyriformis

Histone and DNA syntheses have been studied in synchronously dividing Tetrahymena pyriformis GL. During the heat treatment necessary to synchronize cultures of this amicronucleate protozoan, the DNA content of the already polyploid macronucleus increases. When the cells begin synchronous division, their DNA content is reduced in a stepwise process which is closely paralleled by reduction of macronuclear histone content. During cell division, the contents of DNA and histone decrease by slightly more than twofold, and in the subsequent S phase, DNA and histone increase simultaneously to 85% of the values expected if all chromosomes were to double. The first step in the process of reduction of DNA and histone contents is their decrease in excess of twofold, and this is accomplished by removal of extrusion bodies from the nuclei of dividing cells. The second step is a mechanism which allows, in effect, only 70% of the chromatin in the average nucleus to duplicate. Such partial duplication suggests that both histone and DNA syntheses in synchronous Tetrahymena depend upon a regulatory mechanism, the mediating elements of which are localized in only certain chromosomes.

The syntheses of total macronuclear protein, histone, and DNA during the cell cycle in Euplotes eurystomus

The syntheses of histone, total protein, and DNA during the cell cycle were measured in the macronucleus of Euplotes eurystomus by assaying the incorporation of tritiated amino acids and tritiated thymidine in groups of 800 to 1000 synchronized cells. The synthesis of DNA begins at 30% completion of the cell cycle, proceeds at a constant rate, and ends very shortly before the beginning of macronuclear division. Histone labeling is absent during G(1), begins in phase with DNA synthesis, continues at an unchanging rate during the S phase, and ends with the completion of DNA synthesis. The results support the view that the syntheses of histone and DNA are closely coupled events. Label in total protein accumulates at a constant rate during G(1) and appears to shift to a slightly higher rate when histone synthesis begins. At division, radioactive DNA, histone, and total protein are distributed equally between the daughter macronuclei without loss of radioactivity. Radioautographic analysis showed that protein labeling occurs throughout the macronucleus during the entire life cycle. There was no clear difference in the degree of protein labeling between replicated and unreplicated regions of the macronucleus. The distribution of label suggests that most of macronuclear protein labeling during the cell cycle is concerned with the events of transcription rather than replication.