scholarly journals Bacteriophage-like particles associated with the gene transfer agent of Methanococcus voltae PS

1999 ◽  
Vol 80 (12) ◽  
pp. 3305-3308 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Eiserling ◽  
A. Pushkin ◽  
M. Gingery ◽  
G. Bertani

The methanogenic archaeobacterium Methanococcus voltae (strain PS) is known to produce a filterable, DNase-resistant agent (called VTA, for voltae transfer agent), which carries very small fragments (4400 bp) of bacterial DNA and is able to transduce bacterial genes between derivatives of the strain. Examination by electron microscopy of two preparations of VTA that were concentrated and partially purified by different methods showed virus-like particles with isometric heads, about 40 nm in diameter, and with 61 nm long tails. These particles co-sedimented with the minute bacteriophage ϕX174 in a sucrose density gradient.

1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-NP ◽  
Author(s):  
I. D. HERRIMAN ◽  
G. D. BAIRD ◽  
JUDY M. BRUCE

SUMMARY Whole-ribosome and polysome-enriched fractions were prepared from the mammary glands of rabbits during late pregnancy and lactation. The composition of the fractions was determined by sucrose density gradient analysis and electron microscopy. The range of size of polysomal aggregates was similar in the late-pregnant and lactating gland, with aggregates containing five to nine ribosomal units predominating. However, the amount of polysomes relative to monosomes was invariably found to increase after parturition. The greater portion of this increase was accounted for by the increased abundance of aggregates containing five to nine units.


1974 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 629-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Matsuura ◽  
T. Morimoto ◽  
Y. Tashiro ◽  
T. Higashinakagawa ◽  
M. Muramatsu

Sucrose density gradient analyses of pH 5.5 and pH 7.4 extracts from rat liver nucleoli revealed the presence of two broad peaks of approximately 60S and 80S, and 60S and 80–100S, respectively. Ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles containing precursor ribosomal RNA in these peaks have been characterized by electron microscopy and RNA analyses. Spherical particles only were found in the 60S peak of the pH 5.5 extract, from which 28S RNA and smaller RNA (23S and 18S RNA) exclusively were extracted. In the broad 80S peak of the pH 5.5 extract, about 60% of the particles were spherical while 30% were rodlike. In the RNA species present there were 28S plus smaller RNA (80%) and 35S RNA (20%). The 60Speak of the pH 7.4 extract contained mainly spherical particles (84%), and the RNA species present was mostly 28S plus smaller RNA (89%). In addition to spherical particles (43%), a number of rodlike (31%) and filamentous molecules (26%) were observed in the heavier side of the 80–100S peak of the pH 7.4 extract, from which 45S (14%), 35S (26%), and 28S and smaller RNA (60%) were extracted. Thus the precursor ribosomal particles containing 45S RNA and 35S RNA appear to be filamentous and rodlike molecules, respectively. Folding of loose ribonucleoprotein filaments into compact, spherical, large subparticles may be part of the maturation process of ribosomal large subparticles, in addition to the so-called sequential cleavage of RNA.


Author(s):  
Lee F. Ellis ◽  
Richard M. Van Frank ◽  
Walter J. Kleinschmidt

The extract from Penicillum stoliniferum, known as statolon, has been purified by density gradient centrifugation. These centrifuge fractions contained virus particles that are an interferon inducer in mice or in tissue culture. Highly purified preparations of these particles are difficult to enumerate by electron microscopy because of aggregation. Therefore a study of staining methods was undertaken.


1983 ◽  
Vol 50 (04) ◽  
pp. 848-851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie B Zucker ◽  
David Varon ◽  
Nicholas C Masiello ◽  
Simon Karpatkin

SummaryPlatelets deprived of calcium and incubated at 37° C for 10 min lose their ability to bind fibrinogen or aggregate with ADP when adequate concentrations of calcium are restored. Since the calcium complex of glycoproteins (GP) IIb and IIIa is the presumed receptor for fibrinogen, it seemed appropriate to examine the behavior of these glycoproteins in incubated non-aggregable platelets. No differences were noted in the electrophoretic pattern of nonaggregable EDTA-treated and aggregable control CaEDTA-treated platelets when SDS gels of Triton X- 114 fractions were stained with silver. GP IIb and IIIa were extracted from either nonaggregable EDTA-treated platelets or aggregable control platelets with calcium-Tris-Triton buffer and subjected to sucrose density gradient centrifugation or crossed immunoelectrophoresis. With both types of platelets, these glycoproteins formed a complex in the presence of calcium. If the glycoproteins were extracted with EDTA-Tris-Triton buffer, or if Triton-solubilized platelet membranes were incubated with EGTA at 37° C for 30 min, GP IIb and IIIa were unable to form a complex in the presence of calcium. We conclude that inability of extracted GP IIb and IIIa to combine in the presence of calcium is not responsible for the irreversible loss of aggregability that occurs when whole platelets are incubated with EDTA at 37° C.


1972 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-94
Author(s):  
Ada Sacchi ◽  
Gianni Chinali ◽  
Susetta Pons ◽  
Michela Galdieri ◽  
Piero Cammarano

The size distribution of cytoplasmic messenger RNAs (m-RNA) has been studied in rat liver and in monodifferentiated cells (mouse reticulocytes and myelomas). It has been found that the RNA which exhibits a « rapid turnover » and a polydisperse profile of radioactivity is refractory to phenol extraction. This property has been exploited to selectively isolate m–RNA from the phenol residue by means of an extraction at an alkaline pH. The sucrose density gradient profiles of m–RNA isolated from monodifferentiated cells show monodisperse peaks having the sedimentation coefficients expected on the basis of the molecular weights of monocistronic messages for α and β chains of hemoglobin (reticulocytes) and L and H chains of immunoglobulin (myelomas). The sedimentation profile of cytoplasmic m–RNA associated with rat liver polysomes shows a much broader distribution, with sedimentation coefficients ranging from 8 S to 28 S.


Blood ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTIN J. CLINE

Abstract Phagocytosis has profound effects on several aspects of the RNA metabolism of human leukocytes. The major changes induced by particle ingestion appear to be (1) an increased uptake of pyrimidine precursors from the suspending medium, (2) a contraction in the size of the nucleotide pool, (3) an accelerated rate of destruction of preexisting RNA, and (4) an increased rate of RNA synthesis. Sucrose density gradient analysis of the newly synthesized RNA suggests that several classes of RNA are involved in this process. The increased turnover rate of the nucleotide pool and of the cellular RNA of the leukocyte is proportional, within limits, to the total load of ingested particles.


2008 ◽  
Vol 74 (10) ◽  
pp. 2933-2939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin J. Biers ◽  
Kui Wang ◽  
Catherine Pennington ◽  
Robert Belas ◽  
Feng Chen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Genes with homology to the transduction-like gene transfer agent (GTA) were observed in genome sequences of three cultured members of the marine Roseobacter clade. A broader search for homologs for this host-controlled virus-like gene transfer system identified likely GTA systems in cultured Alphaproteobacteria, and particularly in marine bacterioplankton representatives. Expression of GTA genes and extracellular release of GTA particles (∼50 to 70 nm) was demonstrated experimentally for the Roseobacter clade member Silicibacter pomeroyi DSS-3, and intraspecific gene transfer was documented. GTA homologs are surprisingly infrequent in marine metagenomic sequence data, however, and the role of this lateral gene transfer mechanism in ocean bacterioplankton communities remains unclear.


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