Replication factories and nuclear bodies: the ultrastructural characterization of replication sites during the cell cycle

1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (8) ◽  
pp. 2191-2202 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Hozak ◽  
D.A. Jackson ◽  
P.R. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Light And Electron Microscopy ◽  
S Phase ◽  
Nuclear Bodies ◽  
Nuclear Antigen ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Permeabilized Cells ◽  
Ultrastructural Characterization ◽  
Replication Sites ◽  
Proliferating Cell

Sites of replication in synchronized HeLa cells were visualized by light and electron microscopy; cells were permeabilized and incubated with biotin-16-dUTP, and incorporation sites were immunolabelled. Electron microscopy of thick resinless sections from which approximately 90% chromatin had been removed showed that most DNA synthesis occurs in specific dense structures (replication factories) attached to a diffuse nucleoskeleton. These factories appear at the end of G1-phase and quickly become active; as S-phase progresses, they increase in size and decrease in number like sites of incorporation seen by light microscopy. Electron microscopy of conventional thin sections proved that these factories are a subset of nuclear bodies; they changed in the same characteristic way and contained DNA polymerase alpha and proliferating cell nuclear antigen. As replication factories can be observed and labelled in non-permeabilized cells, they cannot be aggregation artifacts. Some replication occurs outside factories at discrete sites on the diffuse skeleton; it becomes significant by mid S-phase and later becomes concentrated beneath the lamina.

scholarly journals Existence of two populations of cyclin/proliferating cell nuclear antigen during the cell cycle: association with DNA replication sites.

1987 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 1549-1554 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Bravo ◽  
H Macdonald-Bravo
Keyword(s):  
Dna Replication ◽  
Dna Synthesis ◽  
S Phase ◽  
Nuclear Antigen ◽  
Dna Polymerase Delta ◽  
Quiescent Cells ◽  
Replication Sites ◽  
Nuclear Structures ◽  
Proliferating Cell ◽  
Two Populations

Pulse-chase experiments have revealed that cyclin, the auxiliary protein of DNA polymerase-delta, is stable during the transition from growth to quiescence in 3T3 cells. Immunoblotting together with immunofluorescence analysis has shown that the amount of cyclin after 24 h of quiescence is 30-40% of that of growing cells and that it presents a nucleoplasmic staining. Immunofluorescence studies show the existence of two populations of cyclin during the S phase, one that is nucleoplasmic as in quiescent cells and is easily extracted by detergent, and another that is associated to specific nuclear structures. By using antibromodeoxyuridine immunofluorescence to detect the sites of DNA synthesis, it was shown that the staining patterns of the replicon clusters and their order of appearance throughout the S phase are identical to those observed for cyclin. Two-dimensional gel analysis of Triton-extracted cells show that 20-30% of cyclin remains associated with the replicon clusters. This population of cyclin could not be released from the nucleus using high-salt extractions. This demonstrates that cyclin is tightly associated to the sites of DNA replication and that it must have a fundamental role in DNA synthesis in eukaryotic cells.

scholarly journals Effect of Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen Ubiquitination and Chromatin Structure on the Dynamic Properties of the Y-family DNA Polymerases

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 5193-5202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Sabbioneda ◽  
Audrey M. Gourdin ◽  
Catherine M. Green ◽  
Angelika Zotter ◽  
Giuseppina Giglia-Mari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chromatin Structure ◽  
Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ◽  
Dynamic Properties ◽  
Human Fibroblasts ◽  
Dna Polymerases ◽  
S Phase ◽  
Nuclear Antigen ◽  
Replication Foci ◽  
Y Family ◽  
Proliferating Cell

Y-family DNA polymerases carry out translesion synthesis past damaged DNA. DNA polymerases (pol) η and ι are usually uniformly distributed through the nucleus but accumulate in replication foci during S phase. DNA-damaging treatments result in an increase in S phase cells containing polymerase foci. Using photobleaching techniques, we show that polη is highly mobile in human fibroblasts. Even when localized in replication foci, it is only transiently immobilized. Although ubiquitination of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is not required for the localization of polη in foci, it results in an increased residence time in foci. polι is even more mobile than polη, both when uniformly distributed and when localized in foci. Kinetic modeling suggests that both polη and polι diffuse through the cell but that they are transiently immobilized for ∼150 ms, with a larger proportion of polη than polι immobilized at any time. Treatment of cells with DRAQ5, which results in temporary opening of the chromatin structure, causes a dramatic immobilization of polη but not polι. Our data are consistent with a model in which the polymerases are transiently probing the DNA/chromatin. When DNA is exposed at replication forks, the polymerase residence times increase, and this is further facilitated by the ubiquitination of PCNA.

scholarly journals Immunocytochemical localization of actin in epithelial cells of rat small intestine by light and electron microscopy.

1988 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 717-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
S J Hagen ◽  
J S Trier
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Small Intestine ◽  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Light And Electron Microscopy ◽  
Basal Membrane ◽  
Ground Substance ◽  
Structural Protein ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Filament Bundles ◽  
Lowicryl K4m

We used post-embedding immunocytochemical techniques and affinity-purified anti-actin antibody to evaluate localization of actin in epithelial cells of small intestine by fluorescence and electron microscopy. Small intestine was fixed with 2% formaldehyde-0.1% glutaraldehyde and embedded in Lowicryl K4M. One-micron or thin sections were stained with antibody followed by rhodamine- or colloidal gold-labeled goat anti-rabbit IgG, respectively. Label was present overlying microvilli, the apical terminal web, and the cytoplasm directly adjacent to occluding and intermediate junctions. Label was associated with outer mitochondrial membranes of all cells and the supranuclear Golgi region of goblet cells. Lateral cytoplasmic interdigitations between mature cells and subplasmalemmal filaments next to intrusive cells were densely labeled. The cytoplasm adjacent to unplicated domains of lateral membrane was focally labeled. Label was prominent over organized filament bundles within the subplasmalemmal web at the base of mature cells, whereas there was focal labeling of the cytoplasm adjacent to the basal membrane of undifferentiated cells. Basolateral epithelial cell processes were labeled. Label was focally present overlying the cellular ground substance. Our results demonstrate that actin is distributed in a distinctive fashion within intestinal epithelial cells. This distribution suggests that in addition to its function as a structural protein, actin may participate in regulation of epithelial tight junction permeability, in motile processes including migration of cells from the crypt to the villus tip, in accommodation of intrusive intraepithelial cells and in adhesion of cells to one another and to their substratum.

Demonstration of pulmonary vascular perfusion by electron and light microscopy

1993 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 1877-1883 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. Konig ◽  
J. M. Lucocq ◽  
E. R. Weibel
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Light Microscopy ◽  
Light And Electron Microscopy ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
Capillary Perfusion ◽  
Vascular Perfusion ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Gold Particles ◽  
Capillary Recruitment

To estimate the fraction of dense pulmonary capillary network that is perfused under physiological conditions, we developed a new method for the demonstration of in vivo capillary perfusion by light and electron microscopy. Blood plasma was labeled by 8-nm colloidal gold particles coated with rabbit serum albumin. In anesthetized rabbits, 4#x2013;5 ml of this tracer were injected into the right atrium. Two and 15 min later, the circulation was interrupted by a snare around the heart, and the lung was fixed by instillation with glutaraldehyde. Gold particles were found in the plasma space of alveolar capillaries as well as in other organs. A random sample of thin sections studied by electron microscopy revealed that the entire capillary bed of the lung was perfused at least with plasma within 2 min after tracer infusion. Light microscopy of silver-enhanced sections showed areas with different staining intensities but no obviously unperfused capillaries. The concept of capillary recruitment, which would require a significant fraction of capillaries unperfused at rest, may have to be reassessed to consider time factors as well as the two-phase nature of blood; red blood cells and plasma may take different paths.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document