scholarly journals Differences in the patterns of methylation in rat liver ribosomal ribonucleic acid after reaction in vivo with methyl methanesulphonate and NN-dimethylnitrosamine

1972 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. O'Connor ◽  
M. J. Capps ◽  
A. W. Craig ◽  
P. D. Lawley ◽  
S. A. Shah

1. rRNA was isolated from rat liver at short intervals after the intraperitoneal injection of [14C]methyl methanesulphonate (50mg/kg) or NN-di[14C]methylnitrosamine (2mg/kg). These doses were chosen to minimize the effects of toxicity. 2. The following methods of hydrolysis of [14C]methylated rRNA were employed: enzymic digestion to nucleosides at pH8; alkaline hydrolysis and conversion into nucleosides; acid hydrolysis to bases. 3. The methylation products were analysed by chromatography on columns of Dowex-50 (H+ form) and Dowex-50 (NH4+ form). 4. With both methylating agents the principal product of methylation was 7-methylguanine. Differences were obtained, however, in the molar proportions of the minor bases 3-methylcytosine, 1-methyladenine and 7-methyladenine. Methylation at the O-6 position of guanine was a significant feature of rRNA obtained from the NN-di[14C]methylnitrosamine-treated animals but was not detected in rRNA after treatment with [14C]methyl methanesulphonate.

1968 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. M. Wilkie ◽  
R. M. S. Smellie

1. The 105000g supernatant fraction of rat liver catalyses the incorporation of ribonucleotides from ribonucleoside triphosphates into polyribonucleotide material. The reaction requires Mg2+ ions and is enhanced by the addition of an ATP-generating system and RNA, ATP, UTP and CTP but not GTP are utilized in this reaction. In the case of UTP, the product is predominantly a homopolymer containing 2–3 uridine residues, and there is evidence that these may be added to the 3′-hydroxyl ends of RNA or oligoribonucleotide primers. 2. The microsome fraction of rat liver incorporates ribonucleotides from ATP, GTP, CTP and UTP into polyribonucleotide material. This reaction requires Mg2+ ions and is enhanced slightly by the addition of an ATP-generating system, and by RNA but not DNA. Supplementation of the reaction mixture with the three complementary ribonucleoside 5′-triphosphates greatly increases the utilization of a single labelled ribonucleoside 5′-triphosphate. The optimum pH is in the range 7·0–8·5, and the reaction is strongly inhibited by inorganic pyrophosphate and to a much smaller degree by inorganic orthophosphate. It is not inhibited by actinomycin D or by deoxyribonuclease. In experiments with [32P]UTP in the absence of ATP, GTP and CTP, 80–90% of 32P was recovered in UMP-2′ or −3′ after alkaline hydrolysis of the reaction product. When the reaction mixture was supplemented with ATP, GTP and CTP, however, about 40% of the 32P was recovered in nucleotides other than UMP-2′ or −3′. Although the reactions seem to lead predominantly to the synthesis of homopolymers, the possibility of some formation of some heteropolymer is not completely excluded.


1975 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
B M Mullock ◽  
R H Hinton

To assess the contribution made by mRNA-containing particles to the heterogeneity previously observed among rat liver 40S ribonucleoprotein particles, the amount of poly(A)-containing RNA in subribosomal particles was determined. RNA was labelled with orotate in vivo for 24h and then for 50min. Poly(A)-containing RNA was trapped on filters impregnated with poly(U). Very little poly(A)-containing RNA was found in conventionally prepared ribonucleoprotein particles after fractionation in sucrose. However, after preparation of ribonucleoprotein particles by sedimentation through 1 M-sucrose in the presence of 0.15M-KCl or by precipitation with Mg2+ as described by Leitin & Lerman [(1969) Biokhimiya 34, 839-849], amounts of poly(A)-containing RNA were similar to amounts of mRNA found by other workers in total ribonucleoprotein particles. Even in such preparations, less than 5% of the total rapidly labelled RNA in native subribosomal-particle fractions was mRNA. It seems that mRNA-containing particles make up only a very small part of the population of subribosomal particles in liver.


1969 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Stevens

1. The total intracellular concentrations of Na+, K+, Mg2+, spermine, spermidine and RNA were measured in Bacillus stearothermophilus. 2. The binding of spermine to ribosomes and to ribosomal RNA from B. stearothermophilus was studied under various conditions by using a gel-filtration technique. 3. The affinity of spermine for ribosomes and for ribosomal RNA decreased with increasing ionic strength of the medium in which they were suspended. 4. The extent of spermine binding did not change appreciably in the temperature range 4–60°. 5. Optimum binding occurred at about pH7·0. 6. The number of binding sites for spermine on either ribosomes or ribosomal RNA was 0·10–0·13/RNA phosphate group. 7. A high proportion of the intracellular spermine is likely to be bound to the ribosomes in vivo; spermine competes with Mg2+ on equal terms for sites on the ribosomes.


1979 ◽  
Vol 177 (3) ◽  
pp. 833-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
M C Scrutton ◽  
I Beis

1. N10-Formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase was purified to homogeneity from rat liver with a specific activity of 0.7–0.8 unit/mg at 25 degrees C. The enzyme is a tetramer (Mw = 413,000) composed of four similar, if not identical, substrate addition and give the Km values as 4.5 micron [(-)-N10-formyltetrahydrofolate] and 0.92 micron (NADP+) at pH 7.0. Tetrahydrofolate acts as a potent product inhibitor [Ki = 7 micron for the (-)-isomer] which is competitive with respect to N10-formyltetrahydrofolate and non-competitive with respect to NADP+. 3. Product inhibition by NADPH could not be demonstrated. This coenzyme activates N10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase when added at concentrations, and in a ratio with NADP+, consistent with those present in rat liver in vivo. No effect of methionine, ethionine or their S-adenosyl derivatives could be demonstrated on the activity of the enzyme. 4. Hydrolysis of N10-formyltetrahydrofolate is catalysed by rat liver N10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase at 21% of the rate of CO2 formation based on comparison of apparent Vmax. values. The Km for (-)-N10-folate is a non-competitive inhibitor of this reaction with respect to N10-formyltetrahydrofolate, with a mean Ki of 21.5 micron for the (-)-isomer. NAD+ increases the maximal rate of N10-formyltetrahydrofolate hydrolysis without affecting the Km for this substrate and decreases inhibition by tetrahydrofolate. The activator constant for NAD+ is obtained as 0.35 mM. 5. Formiminoglutamate, a product of liver histidine metabolism which accumulates in conditions of excess histidine load, is a potent inhibitor of rat liver pyruvate carboxylase, with 50% inhibition being observed at a concentration of 2.8 mM, but has no detectable effect on the activity of rat liver cytosol phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase measured in the direction of oxaloacetate synthesis. We propose that the observed inhibition of pyruvate carboxylase by formiminoglutamate may account in part for the toxic effect of excess histidine.


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