Patterns of protein synthesis during the cell cycle of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

1982 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 263-285
Author(s):  
J. Creanor ◽  
J.M. Mitchison

The rate of protein synthesis through the cell cycle of Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been determined from the incorporation of pulses of [3H]tryptophan in synchronous cultures prepared by selection in an elutriating rotor. This selection procedure caused minimal perturbations as judged by asynchronous control cultures, which had also been put through the rotor. The rate of synthesis showed a periodic pattern rather than a smooth exponential increase. There was a sharp increase in the rate at an ‘acceleration point’ at about 0.9 of the cycle. Model-fitting by a novel procedure suggests that the average single cell has an increasing rate of protein synthesis for the first 60% of the cycle and a constant rate for the remaining 40%. The same pattern was shown in less extensive experiments with [3H]leucine and [3H]phenylalanine. It was also shown in a series of size mutants, which indicates that the pattern is not size-related, in contrast to earlier work on the rates of synthesis of messenger RNA. However, one large mutant (cdc 2.M35r20) had a significantly earlier acceleration point. Care was taken to justify the assumption that the rate of incorporation of tryptophan was a valid measure of the rate of protein synthesis. A tryptophan auxotroph was used to eliminate the problem of endogenous supply and the size of the metabolic pool was measured through the cycle. This pool did not show cell-cycle related fluctuations. An operational model of the pools is presented.

1976 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-521
Author(s):  
R.S. Fraser ◽  
F. Moreno

The rates of polyadenylated messenger RNA and ribosomal RNA synthesis were measured in synchronously dividing cultures of fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). Control asynchronous cultures, which had been exposed to the conditions used for preparing synchronous cultures, were investigated to check for effects of the synchronization procedure itself on RNA synthesis. After each period of DNA synthesis in synchronous culture, the rates of messenger and ribosomal RNA synthesis doubled, suggesting that gene number controls the rate of messenger and ribosomal RNA synthesis. This was confirmed by experiments with asynchronous, exponential-phase cultures in which DNA synthesis was inhibited by hydroxyurea. Both synchronous culture and hydroxyurea experiments suggested that there is a delay of 15 min (0-1 of the cell generation time) between replication of the DNA and transcription of both gene copies. A pattern of protein accumulation was calculated from changes in the rate of polyadenylated messenger RNA synthesis during synchronous culture. The simulated pattern indicates that protein is accumulated linearly, with a doubling in the rate of accumulation once per cell cycle. The simulated pattern of protein accumulation is very similar to measurements previously reported by other workers of changes in activities of 3 enzymes in synchronous cultures. It is suggested that the doubling of the rate of messenger RNA synthesis, as a consequence of the replication of the DNA once per cycle, provides the basis of a mechanism for control of the doubling of other cellular constituents during the cell cycle.


1984 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-210
Author(s):  
J. Creanor ◽  
J.M. Mitchison

The rate of protein synthesis has been measured with pulse labels of [3H]tryptophan in synchronous and asynchronous cultures of cdc mutants of Schizosaccharomyces pombe shifted up to the restrictive temperature. The cell cycle related fluctuations in rate that occur in normal synchronous cultures vanish when nuclear division is blocked in synchronous cultures of cdc2 and cdc10. But they persist in cdc11 where nuclear division continues and cleavage is stopped. We conclude that nuclear division affects the rate of synthesis and that this effect is inhibitory and probably persists for the last 40% of the cycle. When nuclear division has been blocked, the rate of synthesis continues to increase until a plateau is reached where the rate remains constant. Three size mutants of cdc2 reach the plateau at the same average protein content per cell although their initial protein contents vary over a threefold range. Comparison of these results with those from cdc10 leads to the tentative conclusion that the plateau starts when the cells reach a critical protein/DNA ratio.


1983 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 355-365
Author(s):  
J.R. Dickinson

Centrifugal elutriation was used to prepare synchronous cultures of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Nucleoside diphosphokinase activity was measured throughout the cell cycle. In the wild-type strain (972) nucleoside diphosphokinase activity doubled in a stepwise fashion. The midpoint of the rise in enzyme activity was at 0.65 of a cycle, 0.29 of a cycle before the next S phase. Synchronous cultures of the mutant wee 1–6 were also prepared. In this strain S phase is delayed, occurring about 0.3 cycle later than in the wild-type. In wee 1–6 the midpoint of the stepwise doubling in nucleoside diphosphokinase activity occurred at 0.084; showing that the rise in enzyme activity is also delayed. Addition of cycloheximide to an exponentially growing culture caused an immediate inhibition of protein synthesis, yet nucleoside diphosphokinase activity continued to increase exponentially for a further 300 min. This indicates that the stepwise doubling of nucleoside diphosphokinase activity during the cell cycle is not achieved by a simple control on protein synthesis. Two temperature-sensitive cdc- mutants were also used: cdc2-33, a mutant whose single genetic lesion results in the twin defects of a loss of mitotic control and a loss of commitment to the cell cycle; and cdc 10–129, which has a defect in DNA replication. In both mutants a temperature shift-up of an asynchronously growing culture from the permissive (25 degrees C) to the restrictive temperature (36.5 degrees C) results in a rapid inhibition of DNA replication. In both mutants nucleoside diphosphokinase continues to increase exponentially. Therefore, although nucleoside diphosphokinase is required for DNA replication, apparently DNA replication is not required for an increase in nucleoside diphosphokinase activity.


1978 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 399-411
Author(s):  
J. Creanor

Oxygen uptake was measured in synchronous cultures of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The rate of oxygen uptake was found to increase in a step-wise manner at the beginning of the cycle and again in the middle of the cycle. The increases in rate were such that overall, oxygen uptake doubled in rate once per cell cycle. Addition of inhibitors of DNA synthesis or nuclear division to a synchronous culture did not affect the uptake of oxygen. In an induced synchronous culture, in which DNA synthesis, cell division, and nuclear division, but not ‘growth’ were synchronized, oxygen uptake increased continuously in rate and did not show the step-wise rises which were shown in the selection-synchronized culture. These results were compared with previous measurements of oxygen uptake in yeast and an explanation is suggested for the many different patterns which have been reported.


1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-530
Author(s):  
C. J. BOSTOCK

The effect of different concentrations of 2-phenyl ethanol (PE) on growth and DNA synthesis of Schizosaccharomyces pombe is described. o.3% PE inhibits the entry of cells into S phase, but allows a doubling in the number of cells in the culture. The effect of o.2% PE on random and synchronous cultures of S. pombe shows that, in the continued presence of the inhibitor, the S phase is moved to a different point in the cell cycle. Cells continue to grow in the presence of o.2% PE with a G1 phase occupying a significant portion of the cell cycle. This differs from normal growth when the G1 phase is absent.


1987 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-325
Author(s):  
B. Novak ◽  
J.M. Mitchison

CO2 production has been followed by manometry in synchronous and asynchronous control cultures of Schizosaccharomyces pombe prepared by elutriation from the same initial culture. Earlier results showed a periodic change in the rate of production, which took place once per cell cycle. These changes were most clearly shown as oscillations in the difference between values of the second differential (acceleration) for the synchronous and asynchronous cultures. This paper shows that the oscillations continue for at least three cycles in the presence of cycloheximide (with and without chloramphenicol). Protein synthesis is virtually absent and there is no cell division. The control of this metabolic oscillation is therefore not directly dependent on translation. The period of the oscillation under these conditions is about 60% of the normal cycle time.


1969 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-391
Author(s):  
J. M. MITCHISON ◽  
J. CREANOR ◽  
D. A. WILLAMS

The synthesis of sucrase, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase has been followed in synchronous cultures of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe prepared by gradient sedimentation. These three enzymes follow a linear pattern of synthesis through the cell cycle, with a doubling in rate at a ‘critical point’ about one-fifth of the way through the cycle. Sucrase can be rapidly derepressed by lowering the glucose concentration in the medium. This has been used to measure the sucrase ‘potential’ or capacity to synthesize sucrase on derepression. The potential exists at all times in the cycle, and follows a stepwise pattern with a sharp rise at the critical point. These results suggest that the functional genome doubles at the critical point. Since, however, the period of DNA synthesis is nearly one-third of a cycle before this point, there must be an appreciable delay between chemical replication and functional replication of the genome. In this respect S. pombe, a eukaryotic cell, differs markedly from bacteria. Other physiological events take place near the critical point, and a tentative model is suggested of what may be happening at the chromosomal level. Experiments with cycloheximide indicate that there is a delay between the synthesis and the appearance of the active enzyme in the case of sucrase and alkaline phosphatase.


1971 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-717
Author(s):  
NOWELL STEBBING

Amino acids, nucleotide and carbohydrate material were found to account for 46% of the total dry weight of pool material in Schizosaccharomyces pombe growing in minimal medium. The composition of the amino acid pool was also determined by autoanalysis and was found to be unaltered during growth in 2 M sorbitol, indicating that pool amino acids are not important in the osmoregulation of the cell. Kinetic analysis of the amino acid pool using 14C-labelled amino acids showed that amino acids accumulated from the medium enter an ‘expandable’ pool distinct from the ‘internal’ pool which is maintained during growth on minimal medium. Total RNA, protein, pool amino acid and pool ‘nucleotide’ material were estimated in synchronous cultures grown in minimal medium. All these components appeared to accumulate in an exponential manner during the cell cycle. Direct estimation of total cellular dry weight and the total pool in synchronous cultures showed that total cell dry weight increased exponentially and the pool did not fluctuate during growth in minimal medium. This contrasts with previous work on single cells of S. pombe grown in complex medium which showed that the dry weight of the pool fluctuates during the cell cycle and total cell dry weight increased linearly. Linear growth of S. pombe in malt extract broth can be accounted for by the presence of the second (‘expandable’) pool of amino acids formed during growth in complex medium. The phenomenon of linear growth during the cell cycle is shown to occur generally only in cells growing in complex medium. The phenomenon is considered in relation to mechanisms for controlling the size of the pool during growth in complex media.


1977 ◽  
Vol 162 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
S W Edwards ◽  
D Lloyd

1. Changes in activity of ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) during the cell cycle of Schizosaccharomyces pombe were analysed in cell-free extracts of cells harvested from different stages of growth of synchronous cultures and also after cell-cycle fractionation. 2. Oligomycin-sensitive ATPase oscillates in both glucose-repressed synchronous cultures and shows four maxima of activity approximately equally spaced through the cell cycle. The amplitude of the oscillations accounts for between 13 and 80% of the total activity at different times in the cell cycle. 3. Oligomycin sensitivity varies over a fourfold range at different stages of the cell cycle. 4. The periodicity of maximum oligomycin sensitivity is one-quarter of a cell cycle. 5. These results were confirmed for the first three-quarters of the cell cycle by cell-cycle fractionation. 6. In cells growing synchronously with glycerol, ATPase activity increases in a stepwise pattern, with two steps per cell cycle; the first of these occurs at 0.54 of the cell cycle and the second at 0.95. 7. These results are discussed in relation to previously obtained data on the development of mitochondrial activities during the cell cycle.


1990 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-433
Author(s):  
B. Novak ◽  
J.M. Mitchison

Oxygen consumption was measured with an oxygen electrode in synchronous cultures of S. pombe. There were changes during the cell cycle in the rate of oxygen uptake, which are most clearly shown as oscillations in acceleration curves (rate of the rate of uptake). Under various conditions of selection and induction synchrony the acceleration curves are similar to those found earlier for CO2 production. As with CO2 production, the oscillations continued after a block to the DNA-division cycle. There were, however, two differences between oxygen uptake and CO2 production. The oxygen oscillations were more marked and also were out of phase by half a cycle. The respiratory coefficient therefore changes through the cycle.


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