scholarly journals Deficient cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate control in mutants of two genes of Neurospora crassa.

1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
M L Pall ◽  
J M Trevillyan ◽  
N Hinman

Strains of Neurospora crassa mutant in either of two genes, Crisp-1 (cr1) and Frost (fr), showed no increase of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) levels when subjected to several treatments which produce large increases of cyclic AMP in wild-type Neurospora. Evidently, the previously reported deficiencies of adenylate cyclase in these mutants were sufficient to block the normal increases. This fact suggests that both mutants could be used to help determine which control phenomena involve cyclic AMP and to interrupt the control of established cyclic AMP-regulated functions. Earlier studies had suggested an interdependence of the cyclic AMP level and the electric potential difference across the plasma membrane of Neurospora. Present experiments, therefore, employed several strains with the cr1 mutation to test for possible roles of cyclic AMP in recovery and oscillatory behavior of the Neurospora membrane potential. The results showed all such phenomena to be normal in the adenylate cyclase-defective strains, which demonstrates that variations of cyclic AMP are not obligatorily involved in the apparent control processes. Evidence is also presented that the induction of both glucose transport system II and the alternative oxidase do not require elevated cyclic AMP levels.

1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
M L Pall ◽  
J M Trevillyan ◽  
N Hinman

Strains of Neurospora crassa mutant in either of two genes, Crisp-1 (cr1) and Frost (fr), showed no increase of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) levels when subjected to several treatments which produce large increases of cyclic AMP in wild-type Neurospora. Evidently, the previously reported deficiencies of adenylate cyclase in these mutants were sufficient to block the normal increases. This fact suggests that both mutants could be used to help determine which control phenomena involve cyclic AMP and to interrupt the control of established cyclic AMP-regulated functions. Earlier studies had suggested an interdependence of the cyclic AMP level and the electric potential difference across the plasma membrane of Neurospora. Present experiments, therefore, employed several strains with the cr1 mutation to test for possible roles of cyclic AMP in recovery and oscillatory behavior of the Neurospora membrane potential. The results showed all such phenomena to be normal in the adenylate cyclase-defective strains, which demonstrates that variations of cyclic AMP are not obligatorily involved in the apparent control processes. Evidence is also presented that the induction of both glucose transport system II and the alternative oxidase do not require elevated cyclic AMP levels.


1985 ◽  
Vol 232 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
M T Téllez-Iñón ◽  
R M Ulloa ◽  
G C Glikin ◽  
H N Torres

Activation of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase I by brain or Neurospora calmodulin was studied. The stimulation required micromolar concentrations of Ca2+, and it was observed at cyclic AMP concentrations between 0.1 and 500 microM. Activation was blocked by EDTA and some neuroleptic drugs such as chlorpromazine and fluphenazine. These drugs inhibit the elongation of N. crassa wild-type aerial hyphae. These results reinforce the evidence towards the recognition of Ca2+-calmodulin as one of the systems controlling cyclic nucleotide concentrations in Neurospora.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiuhong Li ◽  
R Gary Ritzel ◽  
Lesley L T McLean ◽  
Lee McIntosh ◽  
Tak Ko ◽  
...  

Mitochondria of Neurospora crassa contain a cyanide-resistant alternative respiratory pathway in addition to the cytochrome pathway. The alternative oxidase is present only when electron flow through the cytochrome chain is restricted. Both genomic and cDNA copies for the alternative oxidase gene have been isolated and analyzed. The sequence of the predicted protein is homologous to that of other species. The mRNA for the alternative oxidase is scarce in wild-type cultures grown under normal conditions, but it is abundant in cultures grown in the presence of chloramphenicol, an inhibitor of mitochondrial protein synthesis, or in mutants deficient in mitochondrial cytochromes. Thus, induction of alternative oxidase appears to be at the transcriptional level. Restriction fragment length polymorphism mapping of the isolated gene demonstrated that it is located in a position corresponding to the aod-1 locus. Sequence analysis of mutant aod-1 alleles reveals mutations affecting the coding sequence of the alternative oxidase. The level of aod-1 mRNA in an aod-2 mutant strain that had been grown in the presence of chloramphenicol was reduced several fold relative to wild-type, supporting the hypothesis that the product of aod-2 is required for optimal expression of aod-1.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1362-1364 ◽  
Author(s):  
A M Lambowitz ◽  
J R Sabourin ◽  
H Bertrand ◽  
R Nickels ◽  
L McIntosh

Neurospora crassa mitochondria use a branched electron transport system in which one branch is a conventional cytochrome system and the other is an alternative cyanide-resistant, hydroxamic acid-sensitive oxidase that is induced when the cytochrome system is impaired. We used a monoclonal antibody to the alternative oxidase of the higher plant Sauromatum guttatum to identify a similar set of related polypeptides (Mr, 36,500 and 37,000) that was associated with the alternative oxidase activity of N. crassa mitochondria. These polypeptides were not present constitutively in the mitochondria of a wild-type N. crassa strain, but were produced in high amounts under conditions that induced alternative oxidase activity. Under the same conditions, mutants in the aod-1 gene, with one exception, produced apparently inactive alternative oxidase polypeptides, whereas mutants in the aod-2 gene failed to produce these polypeptides. The latter findings support the hypothesis that aod-1 is a structural gene for the alternative oxidase and that the aod-2 gene encodes a component that is required for induction of alternative oxidase activity. Finally, our results indicate that the alternative oxidase is highly conserved, even between plant and fungal species.


1984 ◽  
Vol 222 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
A V Wallace ◽  
C M Heyworth ◽  
M D Houslay

Glucagon (10nM) prevented insulin (10nM) from activating the plasma-membrane cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase. This effect of glucagon was abolished by either PIA [N6-(phenylisopropyl)adenosine] (100nM) or adenosine (10 microM). Neither PIA nor adenosine exerted any effect on the plasma-membrane cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity either alone or in combination with glucagon. Furthermore, PIA and adenosine did not potentiate the action of insulin in activating this enzyme. 2-Deoxy-adenosine (10 microM) was ineffective in mimicking the action of adenosine. The effect of PIA in preventing the blockade by glucagon of insulin's action was inhibited by low concentrations of theophylline. Half-maximal effects of PIA were elicited at around 6nM-PIA. It is suggested that adenosine is exerting its effects on this system through an R-type receptor. This receptor does not appear to be directly coupled to adenylate cyclase, however, as PIA did not affect either the activity of adenylate cyclase or intracellular cyclic AMP concentrations. Insulin's activation of the plasma-membrane cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase, in the presence of both glucagon and PIA, was augmented by increasing intracellular cyclic AMP concentrations with either dibutyryl cyclic AMP or the cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor Ro-20-1724. PIA also inhibited the ability of glucagon to uncouple (desensitize) adenylate cyclase activity in intact hepatocytes. This occurred at a half-maximal concentration of around 3 microM-PIA. However, if insulin (10 nM) was also present in the incubation medium, PIA exerted its action at a much lower concentration, with a half-maximal effect occurring at around 4 nM.


1995 ◽  
Vol 145 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
S McNulty ◽  
I L Schurov ◽  
P J Morgan ◽  
M H Hastings

Abstract Treatment of ovine pars tuberalis (oPT) cultures with forskolin activates adenylyl cyclase, leading to increased levels of cyclic AMP, activation of protein kinase A, phosphorylation of the calcium/cyclic AMP response-element binding protein and the increased synthesis and secretion of several proteins. Simultaneous treatment with melatonin inhibits or reverses these effects of forskolin. In the neonatal rat pituitary, the inhibitory effects of melatonin are mediated by changes in membrane potential. This study therefore investigated whether the inhibitory action of melatonin in oPT cultures is also dependent on the modulation of plasma membrane potential. Treatment of cultures with the ionophore valinomycin selectively permeabilised the cell plasma membrane to potassium, thereby causing membrane hyperpolarisation. In cultures of oPT, valinomycin inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner (maximal effect 2 μm) the stimulatory action of forskolin (1 μm) on intracellular levels of cyclic AMP, indicating that the activity of adenylyl cyclase in this tissue is sensitive to hyperpolarisation of the plasma membrane. However, increasing the extracellular concentration of potassium from 5 mm to 100 mm, which would depolarise the plasma membrane, had no effect on the inhibitory action of melatonin (1 μm) in forskolin-stimulated cultures. This indicated that melatonin could be effective in cells with sustained depolarisation. To test directly whether integrity of the plasma membrane is essential for melatonin to inhibit adenylyl cyclase, cultures were treated with the cholesterol-chelating agent saponin (50 μg/ml). Saponin increased cellular permeability to trypan blue and enhanced the release of the cytoplasmic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase to the extracellular medium, demonstrating that cell plasma membranes had been permeabilised, thereby abolishing membrane polarity. In cultures pretreated with saponin there was a tendency for levels of cyclic AMP to be reduced. However, permeabilisation did not block the forskolin-stimulated increases in cyclic AMP levels nor did it alter the ability of melatonin to inhibit the production of cyclic AMP in forskolin-stimulated cultures. This study demonstrated that, while it is possible to inhibit the stimulatory actions of forskolin in the oPT by increasing the permeability of cells to potassium and thereby hyperpolarising them, melatonin is able to inhibit cyclic AMP in permeabilised cells and so can act independently of changes in membrane potential. Journal of Endocrinology (1995) 145, 471–478


1986 ◽  
Vol 235 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
C M Heyworth ◽  
A M Grey ◽  
S R Wilson ◽  
E Hanski ◽  
M D Houslay

Treatment of hepatocytes with islet activating protein (pertussis toxin) from Bordetella pertussis blocked the ability of insulin to inhibit adenylate cyclase activity both in broken plasma membranes and in intact hepatocytes. Such treatment of intact hepatocytes with pertussis toxin did not prevent insulin from activating the peripheral plasma membrane cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase although it did inhibit the ability of insulin to activate the ‘dense-vesicle’ cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase. The ability of glucagon pretreatment of hepatocytes to block insulin's activation of the plasma membrane cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase was abolished in pertussis toxin-treated hepatocytes. It is suggested that the ability of insulin to manipulate cyclic AMP concentrations by inhibiting adenylate cyclase and activating the plasma membrane and ‘dense-vesicle’ cyclic AMP phosphodiesterases involves interactions with the guanine nucleotide regulatory protein system occurring in liver plasma membranes.


1989 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 1705-1709 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Yamamoto ◽  
C V Gay

We investigated adenylate cyclase distribution in 6-day-and 3-week-old calvariae and in 6-day-old long bone metaphyses from chickens. Reaction product distribution was on the plasma membrane of osteoblasts, pre-osteoblasts, and forming osteocytes which contacted one another. Osteoclasts and mature osteocytes lacked reaction product. Six-day calvariae reacted less intensely than the other two tissues. In controls, reaction product was markedly diminished or eliminated by removal of forskolin or substrates, or by addition of the inhibitor 2',5'-dideoxyadenosine. The results indicate the importance of cyclic AMP in osteoblast regulation. Osteocytes and osteoclasts may involve alternate mechanisms as major regulatory systems.


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