scholarly journals Nucleotide dependence and cytoplasmic localization of a 49-kDa microtubule cross-linking protein from the brine shrimp, Artemia.

1994 ◽  
Vol 269 (4) ◽  
pp. 3053-3062
Author(s):  
J. Zhang ◽  
T.H. MacRae
1989 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39
Author(s):  
E.J. Campbell ◽  
S.A. MacKinlay ◽  
T.H. MacRae

Microtubules induced with taxol to assemble in cell-free extracts of the brine shrimp, Artemia, are cross-linked by microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs). When the MAPs, extracted from taxol-stabilized microtubules with 1 M-NaCl are co-assembled with purified Artemia or mammalian neural tubulin, reconstitution of cross-linking between microtubules occurs. The most prominent non-tubulin protein associated with reconstituted cross-linked microtubules has a molecular weight of 49,000 but we cannot yet exclude the possibility that other proteins may be responsible for the cross-linking. Cross-linkers are separated by varying distances while cross-linked microtubules, prepared under different conditions, are 6.9-7.7 nm apart. Cross-linking of microtubules by MAPs occurs whether MAPs are added to assembling tubulin or to microtubules, and it is not disrupted by ATP. The MAPs are heat-sensitive and do not stabilize microtubules to cold. Immunological characterization of Artemia MAPs on Western blots indicates that Artemia lack MAP 1, MAP 2 and tau. Our results clearly demonstrate that Artemia contain novel MAPs with the ability to cross-link microtubules from phylogenetically disparate organisms in an ATP-independent manner.


Author(s):  
D. James Morré ◽  
Charles E. Bracker ◽  
William J. VanDerWoude

Calcium ions in the concentration range 5-100 mM inhibit auxin-induced cell elongation and wall extensibility of plant stems. Inhibition of wall extensibility requires that the tissue be living; growth inhibition cannot be explained on the basis of cross-linking of carboxyl groups of cell wall uronides by calcium ions. In this study, ultrastructural evidence was sought for an interaction of calcium ions with some component other than the wall at the cell surface of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) hypocotyls.


Author(s):  
Ann M. Thomas ◽  
Virginia Shemeley

Those samples which swell rapidly when exposed to water are, at best, difficult to section for transmission electron microscopy. Some materials literally burst out of the embedding block with the first pass by the knife, and even the most rapid cutting cycle produces sections of limited value. Many ion exchange resins swell in water; some undergo irreversible structural changes when dried. We developed our embedding procedure to handle this type of sample, but it should be applicable to many materials that present similar sectioning difficulties.The purpose of our embedding procedure is to build up a cross-linking network throughout the sample, while it is in a water swollen state. Our procedure was suggested to us by the work of Rosenberg, where he mentioned the formation of a tridimensional structure by the polymerization of the GMA biproduct, triglycol dimethacrylate.


Author(s):  
G. E. Tyson ◽  
M. J. Song

Natural populations of the brine shrimp, Artemia, may possess spirochete- infected animals in low numbers. The ultrastructure of Artemia's spirochete has been described by conventional transmission electron microscopy. In infected shrimp, spirochetal cells were abundant in the blood and also occurred intra- and extracellularly in the three organs examined, i.e. the maxillary gland (segmental excretory organ), the integument, and certain muscles The efferent-tubule region of the maxillary gland possessed a distinctive lesion comprised of a group of spirochetes, together with numerous small vesicles, situated in a cave-like indentation of the base of the tubule epithelium. in some instances the basal lamina at a lesion site was clearly discontinuous. High-voltage electron microscopy has now been used to study lesions of the efferent tubule, with the aim of understanding better their three-dimensional structure.Tissue from one maxillary gland of an infected, adult, female brine shrimp was used for HVEM study.


Author(s):  
John H. Luft

With information processing devices such as radio telescopes, microscopes or hi-fi systems, the quality of the output often is limited by distortion or noise introduced at the input stage of the device. This analogy can be extended usefully to specimen preparation for the electron microscope; fixation, which initiates the processing sequence, is the single most important step and, unfortunately, is the least well understood. Although there is an abundance of fixation mixtures recommended in the light microscopy literature, osmium tetroxide and glutaraldehyde are favored for electron microscopy. These fixatives react vigorously with proteins at the molecular level. There is clear evidence for the cross-linking of proteins both by osmium tetroxide and glutaraldehyde and cross-linking may be a necessary if not sufficient condition to define fixatives as a class.


Author(s):  
S.K. Aggarwal ◽  
J.M. Fadool

Cisplatin (CDDP) a potent antitumor agent suffers from severe toxic side effects with nephrotoxicity being the major dose-limiting factor, The primary mechanism of its action has been proposed to be through its cross-linking DNA strands. It has also been shown to inactivate various transport enzymes and induce hypocalcemia and hypomagnesemia that may be the underlying cause for some of its toxicities. The present is an effort to study its influence on the parathyroid gland for any hormonal changes that control calcium levels in the body.Male Swiss Wistar rats (Crl: (WI) BR) weighing 200-300 g and of 60 days in age were injected (ip) with cisplatin (7mg/kg in normal saline). The controls received saline injections only. The animals were injected (iv) with calcium (0.5 ml of 10% calcium gluconate/day) and were killed by decapitation on day 1 through 5. Trunk blood was collected in heparinized tubes.


Author(s):  
Richard D. Powell ◽  
James F. Hainfeld ◽  
Carol M. R. Halsey ◽  
David L. Spector ◽  
Shelley Kaurin ◽  
...  

Two new types of covalently linked, site-specific immunoprobes have been prepared using metal cluster labels, and used to stain components of cells. Combined fluorescein and 1.4 nm “Nanogold” labels were prepared by using the fluorescein-conjugated tris (aryl) phosphine ligand and the amino-substituted ligand in the synthesis of the Nanogold cluster. This cluster label was activated by reaction with a 60-fold excess of (sulfo-Succinimidyl-4-N-maleiniido-cyclohexane-l-carboxylate (sulfo-SMCC) at pH 7.5, separated from excess cross-linking reagent by gel filtration, and mixed in ten-fold excess with Goat Fab’ fragments against mouse IgG (obtained by reduction of F(ab’)2 fragments with 50 mM mercaptoethylamine hydrochloride). Labeled Fab’ fragments were isolated by gel filtration HPLC (Superose-12, Pharmacia). A combined Nanogold and Texas Red label was also prepared, using a Nanogold cluster derivatized with both and its protected analog: the cluster was reacted with an eight-fold excess of Texas Red sulfonyl chloride at pH 9.0, separated from excess Texas Red by gel filtration, then deprotected with HC1 in methanol to yield the amino-substituted label.


Author(s):  
John Trinickt ◽  
Howard White

The primary force of muscle contraction is thought to involve a change in the myosin head whilst attached to actin, the energy coming from ATP hydrolysis. This change in attached state could either be a conformational change in the head or an alteration in the binding angle made with actin. A considerable amount is known about one bound state, the so-called strongly attached state, which occurs in the presence of ADP or in the absence of nucleotide. In this state, which probably corresponds to the last attached state of the force-producing cycle, the angle between the long axis myosin head and the actin filament is roughly 45°. Details of other attached states before and during power production have been difficult to obtain because, even at very high protein concentration, the complex is almost completely dissociated by ATP. Electron micrographs of the complex in the presence of ATP have therefore been obtained only after chemically cross-linking myosin subfragment-1 (S1) to actin filaments to prevent dissociation. But it is unclear then whether the variability in attachment angle observed is due merely to the cross-link acting as a hinge.We have recently found low ionic-strength conditions under which, without resorting to cross-linking, a high fraction of S1 is bound to actin during steady state ATP hydrolysis. The structure of this complex is being studied by cryo-electron microscopy of hydrated specimens. Most advantages of frozen specimens over ambient temperature methods such as negative staining have already been documented. These include improved preservation and fixation rates and the ability to observe protein directly rather than a surrounding stain envelope. In the present experiments, hydrated specimens have the additional benefit that it is feasible to use protein concentrations roughly two orders of magnitude higher than in conventional specimens, thereby reducing dissociation of weakly bound complexes.


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