scholarly journals The formation, distribution and function of ribosomes and microsomal membranes during induced amphibian metamorphosis

1967 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 783-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Tata

1. A lag period of about 4 days preceded the onset of metamorphosis precociously induced by tri-iodothyronine in tadpoles of the giant American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana). It was established by the accelerated synthesis or induction of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase and cytochrome oxidase in the liver, serum albumin and adult haemoglobin in the blood, acid phosphatase in the tail, and the increase in the hindleg/tail length ratio. 2. A 4- to 6-fold stimulation, 2 days after the induction of metamorphosis, of the rate of synthesis of rapidly labelled nuclear RNA in liver cells was followed by an increasing amount of RNA appearing in the cytoplasm. Most of the newly formed RNA on induction of metamorphosis was of the ribosomal type. An accelerated turnover at early stages of development preceded a net accumulation of RNA in the cytoplasm, with no change in the amount of DNA per liver. 3. Most hepatic ribosomes of the pre-metamorphic tadpoles were present as 78s monomers and 100s dimers; metamorphosis caused a shift towards larger polysomal aggregates with newly formed ribosomes that were relatively more tightly bound to membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum. 4. The appearance of new polyribosomes in the cytoplasm on induction of metamorphosis was co-ordinated in time with a stimulation of synthesis of phospholipids of the smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum, followed by a gradual shift in preponderance from the smooth to the rough type of microsomal membranes. 5. Electron- and optical-microscopic examination of intact hepatocytes revealed a striking change in the distribution and nature of ribosomes and microsomal membranes during metamorphosis. 6. Ribosomes prepared from non-metamorphosing and metamorphosing animals were identical in their sedimentation coefficients and in the structural ribosomal proteins. The base composition and sedimentation coefficients of ribosomal RNA were also identical. Induction of metamorphosis also did not alter the incorporation of 32P into the different phospholipid constituents of microsomal membranes. 7. Nascent 14C-labelled protein with the highest specific activity was recovered in the ‘heavy’ rough membrane fraction of microsomes, whereas little 14C was associated with ‘free’ polysomes. Protein synthesis in vivo was most markedly stimulated during metamorphosis in the tightly membrane-bound ribosomal fraction after the appearance of new ribosomes. 8. The rate of synthesis of macromolecules in vivo could not be followed beyond 7–8 days after induction because of variable shifts in precursor pools due to regression of larval tissues. 9. The stimulation of RNA and ribosome formation was specifically associated with the process of metamorphosis since no similar response to thyroid hormones occurred in those species (Axolotl and Necturus) in which the hormones failed to induce metamorphosis.

1977 ◽  
Vol 162 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-679 ◽  
Author(s):  
P S Agutter ◽  
J R Harris ◽  
I Stevenson

1. The specific activity of rat and pig liver nuclear-envelope nucleoside triphosphatase (EC 3.6.1.3) decreases when the system is depleted of RNA. The activity can be restored by adding high concentrations of yeast RNA to the assay medium. 2. Exogenous RNA also increases the activity of the enzyme in control envelopes (not RNA-depleted). The effect appears to be largely specific for poly(A) and poly(G); it is not stimulated by rRNA or tRNA preparations, ribonuclease-hydrolysed RNA, AMP, or double- or single-stranded DNA. 3. Inhibitors of the enzyme, in concentrations at which half-maximal inhibition of the enzyme is achieved, do not affect the percentage stimulation of the enzyme by yeast RNA. 4. The simulation is abolished by the inclusion of 150 mM-KCl or -NaCl in the assay medium, but not by increasing the assay pH to 8.5. 5. The results are discussed in the light of the possible role of the nucleoside triphosphatase in vivo in nucleo-cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein translocation. 6. It is proposed that poly(G)-stimulated Mg2+-activated adenosine triphosphatase activity should be adopted as an enzymic marker for the nuclear envelope.


1982 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-142
Author(s):  
Nila Oza ◽  
Sarah J. Meanock ◽  
A. G. Davies

Abstract. Groups of immature mice were injected sc with radiocarbon-labelled alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) after being given a single sc injection of hFSH or of 0.9% saline. As an index of the transport of AIB, the specific activity of isotope was measured in homogenates of testis and of liver. FSH treatment caused statistically significant increases in the specific activity of isotope in the testes and in the ratio of testicular to liver specific activity. The effect was greatest in 9-day-old mice injected with FSH 16 h before removal of the testes. Uptake of labelled AIB was not stimulated after administration of hCG or testosterone. Doses of cycloheximide sufficient to reduce the rate of protein synthesis by over 99% did not impair testicular uptake of labelled AIB or the influence of FSH on AIB uptake. These results suggest that FSH stimulates amino acid transport into cells of the immature testis and that this action is independent of the stimulatory effect of FSH on testicular protein synthesis.


1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 2267-2274 ◽  
Author(s):  
E J Carrazana ◽  
K B Pasieka ◽  
J A Majzoub

We developed a method, termed an H-blot, by which the poly(A) tract of any specific mRNA may be detected by RNA filter hybridization after its removal from the body of the mRNA by a RNase H-catalyzed endonucleolytic cleavage in the 3' untranslated region. Using this method, we studied the modulation of the length of the poly(A) tract of rat vasopressin mRNA in vivo during changes in the levels of this mRNA resulting from a physiologic stimulus, osmotic stress. The poly(A) tract of hypothalamic vasopressin mRNA in hydrated rats was, quite remarkably, approximately 250 nucleotides in length, in contrast to that of somatostatin mRNA, which was approximately 30 nucleotides long. Vasopressin mRNA poly(A) tail length increased progressively from approximately 250 to approximately 400 nucleotides with the application of the hyperosmotic stimulus and declined to base line after its removal; somatostatin mRNA poly(A) tail length did not change during osmotic stress. The poly(A) tract length of total hypothalamic mRNA was between 35 and 140 nucleotides and also did not change with osmotic stress. Modulation of poly(A) tract length of specific mRNAs during stimulation of gene expression may provide an additional level of genetic regulation.


1969 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Stein ◽  
Yechezkiel Stein

Injection of choline-3H into choline-deficient rats resulted in an enhanced incorporation of the label into liver lecithin, as compared to the incorporation of label into liver lecithin of normal rats. The results obtained with the use of different lecithin precursors indicate that in the intact liver cell, both in vivo and in vitro, exchange of choline with phosphatidyl-choline is not significant. The synthesis and secretion of lecithins by the choline-deficient liver compare favorably with the liver of choline-supplemented rats, when both are presented with labeled choline or lysolecithin as lecithin precursors. Radioautography of the choline-deficient liver shows that 5 min after injection of choline-3H the newly synthesized lecithin is found in the endoplasmic reticulum (62%), mitochondria (13%), and at the "cell boundary" (20%). The ratio of the specific activity of microsomal and mitochondrial lecithin, labeled with choline, glycerol, or linoleate, was 1.53 at 5 min after injection, but the ratio of the specific activity of phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE), labeled with ethanolamine, was 5.3. These results indicate that lecithin and PE are synthesized mainly in the endoplasmic reticulum, and are transferred into mitochondria at different rates. The site of a precursor pool of bile lecithin was studied in the intact rat and in the perfused liver. Following labeling with choline-3H, microsomal lecithin isolated from perfused liver had a specific activity lower than that of bile lecithin, but the specific activity of microsomal linoleyl lecithin was comparable to that of bile lecithin between 30 and 90 min of perfusion. It is proposed that the site of the bile lecithin pool is located in the endoplasmic reticulum and that the pool consists mostly of linoleyl lecithin.


1975 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 698-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Parkes ◽  
W. Thompson

Phosphatidylethanolamine from mitochondria and microsomes of guinea pig liver was separated by thin-layer chromatography into eight different classes differing in degree of unsaturation. The fatty acid compositions and molar proportions of each class isolated from microsomes were very similar to the corresponding class in mitochondria. In both organelles about half of the total was dienoic species while tetraenes comprised approximately 20%. Stearic acid was the major saturated fatty acid and in each membrane a greater selectivity for stearate over palmitate was found in each sub-class of phosphatidylethanolamine, when compared with the corresponding class of phosphatidylcholine.Following the intraperitoneal injection of [2-3H]glycerol, the labelling of each molecular class of phosphatidylethanolamine showed very similar progressions in microsomes and mitochondria over a 3 h interval. In both organelles the highest relative specific activity was attained by penta-plus hexaenoic classes, while the large dienoic class had the lowest relative activity, which, however, increased with time. Analysis of the dienoic class of phosphatidylethanolamine from whole liver showed it to be constituted by a rapidly turning over palmitoyl–linoleoyl fraction and a slowly labelled stearoyl–linoleoyl fraction, a pattern also exhibited by dienoic phosphatidylcholines.The similarities in profile of molecular classes of phosphatidylethanolamine and in the kinetics of labelling in vivo point to a close metabolic relation between the lipids of both organelles, suggestive of a transfer of different molecular classes at comparable rates from the endoplasmic reticulum, the site of synthesis, to the mitochondria. This is consistent with numerous other studies in vitro that have demonstrated inter-organelle exchange of lipids.


1977 ◽  
Vol 55 (8) ◽  
pp. 876-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia L. Chang ◽  
John R. Riordan ◽  
Mario A. Moscarello ◽  
Jennifer M. Sturgess

To study membrane biogenesis and to test the validity of the endomembrane flow hypothesis, incorporation of 32P and [Me-3H]choline in vivo into membranes of the rat liver was followed. Rough microsomal, Golgi-rich, and plasma membrane fractions were monitored with marker enzyme assays and shown with morphometric analysis to contain 82% rough microsomes, at least 70% Golgi complexes, and 88% plasma membranes, respectively. Membrane subfractions from the rough microsomal and Golgi-rich fractions were prepared by sonic disruption.At 5 to 30 min after 32P injection, the specific radioactivity of phosphatidylcholine was higher in the rough microsomal membranes than in the Golgi membranes. From 1 to 3 h, the specific activity of phosphatidylcholine in Golgi membranes became higher and reached the maximum at about 3 h. Although the plasma membrane had the lowest specific radioactivity throughout 0.25–3 h, it increased rapidly thereafter to attain the highest specific activity at 5 h. Both rough microsomal and plasma membranes reached their maxima at 5 h.The specific radioactivity of [32P]phosphatidylethanolamine in the three membrane fractions was similar to that of [32P]phosphatidylcholine except from 5 to 30 min, when the specific radioactivity of phosphatidylethanolamine in the Golgi membranes was similar to the rough microsomal membranes.At 15 min to 5 h after [Me-3H]choline injection, more than 90% of the radioactivity in all the membranes was acid-precipitable. The specific radioactivities of the acid-precipitated membranes, expressed as dpm per milligram protein, reached the maximum at 3 h. After [Me-3H]choline injection, the specific radioactivity of phosphatidylcholine separated from the lipid extract of the acid-precipitated membranes (dpm per micromole phosphorus) did not differ significantly in the three membrane fractions. The results indicated rapid incorporation of choline into membrane phosphatidylcholine by the rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi, and plasma membranes simultaneously.The data with both 32P and [Me-3H]choline precursors did not support the endomembrane flow hypothesis. The Golgi complexes apparently synthesized phosphatidylethanolamine and incorporated choline into phosphatidylcholine as well as the endoplasmic reticulum. The results are discussed with relevance to current hypotheses on the biogenesis and transfer of membrane phospholipids.


1974 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
pp. 567-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Graham ◽  
B. G. Woodcock ◽  
G. C. Wood

After force-feeding a protein-free diet to male rats for 5–7 days a substantial (2.4-fold) increase in the specific activity of the liver microsomal enzyme UDP-glucuronyltransferase (EC 2.4.1.17) was observed. A similar activation of the enzyme occurred when rats were fed on a low-protein (5%, w/w, casein) diet for 60 days. Although both the short- and long-term protein-deficient diets decreased the contents of microsomal protein and phospholipid in liver tissue they did not significantly alter the ratio of these major membrane components. Protein deficiency profoundly altered the phospholipid composition of microsomal membranes. The most striking difference in microsomal phospholipid composition between control and protein-deficient rats was their content of lysophosphatides. Whereas microsomal membranes from protein-deficient rats contained significant proportions of lysophosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylethanolamine very little or no lysophosphatides were detected in control preparations. Pretreatment of microsomal fractions from normal rats with phospholipase A markedly increased their UDP-glucuronyltransferase activity as did their pretreatment with lysophosphatidylcholine. It is concluded that the quantities of lysophosphatides present in microsomal membranes from protein-deficient rats were sufficient to have caused the increased UDP-glucuronyltransferase activities of these preparations. Evidence is presented suggesting that these changes in microsomal phospholipid composition and UDP-glucuronyltransferase activity caused by protein deficiency reflect changes that occur in vivo. The possible physiological significance of these findings is discussed.


1966 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustav Dallner ◽  
Philip Siekevitz ◽  
George E. Palade

The development of the endoplasmic reticulum of rat hepatocytes was studied during a period of rapid cell differentiation, i.e., from 3 days before to 8 days after birth. Before birth, the ER increases in volume, remaining predominantly rough surfaced; after birth, the increase continues but affects mainly the smooth-surfaced part of the system. These changes are reflected in variations of the RNA/protein and PLP/protein ratios of microsomal fractions: the first decreases, while the second increases, with age. The analysis of microsomal membranes and of microsomal lipids indicates that the PLP/protein ratio, the distribution of phospholipids, and the rate of P32 incorporation into these phospholipids show little variation over the period examined and are comparable to values found in adult liver. Fatty acid composition of total phosphatides undergoes, however, drastic changes after birth. During the period of rapid ER development in vivo incorporation of leucine-C14 and glycerol-C14 into the proteins and lipids of microsomal membranes is higher in the rough-than in the smooth-surfaced microsomes, for the first hours after the injection of the label; later on (∼10 hr) the situation is reversed. These results strongly suggest that new membrane is synthesized in the rough ER and subsequently transferred to the smooth ER.


1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. STEINBERG ◽  
G. NICHOLS

SUMMARY The effects of parathyroid extract (PTE) on the synthesis in vivo of free nucleotide and RNA were compared in rat metaphysial bone and kidney. The incorporation of 32P into chromatographically pure acid-soluble 5′-AMP and purified bulk RNA was examined at various times after PTE administration. Pulse-labelled RNA was further characterized by sedimentation in sucrose density gradients and by ribomononucleotide analysis. In both organs the labelling of 5′-AMP and its turnover were accelerated after administration of the hormone. The pool size of free AMP of kidney was approximately 3 times that of bone; neither was affected by PTE. The specific activity of pulse-labelled kidney AMP was always greater, and hormonal stimulation of its labelling was more rapid than in bone. Despite more extensive precursor labelling, the stimulation of renal RNA synthesis was negligible, and was delayed for several hours, the overall hormonal effect being inseparable from its effect on phosphate entry into the nucleotide precursor pool. In bone, the hormonal stimulation of RNA labelling was immediate, and continued to increase at a linear rate for up to 12 h. Initially, stimulation of RNA polymerization accounted for the total hormonal effect, while after 4 h an increasing proportion of the total increase in RNA labelling was attributable to enhanced precursor labelling. Newly synthesized bone RNA differed qualitatively from kidney RNA in its sedimentation properties and composition. Although the labelling of all RNA species and RNA-nucleotides in bone was stimulated by PTE, there was a proportionately greater effect on the labelling of ribosomal RNA, and an apparent shift towards GMP-rich molecules, neither change being manifest in kidney. It is concluded that while bone and kidney share certain mechanisms, they show changes in RNA biosynthesis in response to parathyroid hormone which are both quantitatively and qualitatively different and which are in accord with the RNA requirements for the respective physiological response of each.


1973 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 736-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy Gerber ◽  
Margaret Davies ◽  
Lowell E. Hokin

Stimulation of enzyme secretion in the pancreas on injection of a single dose of the cholinergic drug, pilocarpine, was associated with an increased incorporation of [2-3H]myoinositol into a lipid, which was previously characterized as phosphatidylinositol. Stimulation of enzyme secretion by hourly injection of the pancreozymin congener, caerulein, led to more increased phosphatidylinositol synthesis than with a single injection of pilocarpine. The amylase level of the pancreas remained at a low level as long as caerulein was injected, indicating continued stimulation of enzyme secretion even though increased phosphatidylinositol synthesis ceased after 6 h. Feeding gave the same stimulation of phosphatidylinositol synthesis as caerulein. The major synthesis of phosphatidylinositol in controls and the stimulation of phosphatidylinositol synthesis by pilocarpine was entirely confined to the microsome fraction throughout the experiments (up to 18 h). This shows that there is no flow of microsomal membrane (smooth- or rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum) to other membranous structures throughout the secretory cycle and beyond. It is concluded that the stimulation of phosphatidylinositol synthesis by pancreatic secretagogues is confined to microsomal elements and does not play any role in membrane flow.


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