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Biomedical subjects

A Kitzis

Publications and source records attributed to A Kitzis.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Recovery of functional DNA inserts by electroendosmotic elution during gel electrophoresis.

In contrast to all previous preparative electrophoresis apparatus which used a pump, electroendosmotic elution uses bound electrical charges at the end of the separating gel to generate a buffer flow. The electroendosmotic flow increased with increasing currents and decreasing buffer concentrations: its exact characteristics for the built apparatus were determined. The electroendosmotic device was able to separate two DNA fragments differing in size by only 5% with a recovery over 95%. As demonstrated in practical examples of recovery and uses of DNA inserts, up to 10 micrograms of DNA per band can be loaded at a time. The recovered DNA can be used directly for nick-translation, ligation... without further treatment. The performances of the method are expected to improve still further if the charge density and pores of the electroendosmotic medium can be "made-to-order" to provide a better flow profile of the eluting buffer.

Buffers↗

c-myc oncogene expression inhibits the initiation of myogenic differentiation.

The role of c-myc oncogene expression in myogenic differentiation has been established by transfecting rat myoblasts of the L6 cell line with plasmid pMT-myc, in which the c-myc coding sequences were under the control of the metallothionein I promoter. We observed that the constitutive expression of the exogenous c-myc gene inhibits muscular differentiation. A diminution of the endogenous c-myc gene expression occurs within the first 24 h after the transfer of the cells to a differentiating medium. This early decrease of c-myc expression is required for cell differentiation to occur. We have also observed that exogenous myc gene expression has no effect on endogenous myc expression.

Animals↗

[Oncogenes].

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Cell Transformation, Neoplastic↗

Expression of c-myc is under dietary control in rat liver.

Expression of c-myc has often been related to the control of growth and differentiation of a variety of cell types. However, in some cases, such a relation has not been found. The rate of cell division is very low in liver, but c-myc expression is yet easily detected. We show here that a short-time physiological fasting results in a dramatic decrease of c-myc expression in rat liver. This effect does not seem to be dependent on glucagon, since administration of glucagon leads to an increase in c-myc mRNA. This is to our knowledge, the first evidence of a physiological variation of proto-oncogene expression linked to food intake, and we suggest that this variation could play a role in liver cell growth control.

Animals↗

The small chromatin fragments released by micrococcal nuclease from hepatoma tissue cultured cell nuclei are strongly enriched in coding DNA sequences and are related to an actively transcribed single-stranded DNA fraction.

It was shown with the use of specific probes that mild micrococcal nuclease digestion released from chromatin actively-transcribed genes as small nucleosome oligomers. In the present work we demonstrate that most if not all of the active genes are accessible to the nuclease. It was found that the short released fragments are greatly enriched in transcribed DNA sequences, the most enriched being the dimers of nucleosomes since 35% of their DNA could be hybridized to cytoplasmic RNA. The results of cDNA-DNA hybridizations indicate that the monomers and dimers of nucleosomes contain most of the DNA sequences which encode poly(A+) RNAs, however larger released fragments include some transcribed sequences, while the nuclease resistant chromatin is considerably impoverished in coding sites. These evidences are the finding that about 25% of the DNA from the dimers of nucleosomes are exclusively located in this class of fragments, tend to prove that the active chromatin regions are attacked in a non-random way by micrococcal nuclease. We have previously isolated, without using exogenous nuclease, an actively transcribed genomic fraction amounting to 1.5-2% of the total nuclear DNA, formed of single-stranded DNA. In the present study we show that all or nearly all the single-stranded DNA sequences could be reassociated with the DNA fragments present in the released monomers and dimers of nucleosomes. Our observations confirmed our previous finding that the greatest part of single-stranded DNA selectively originates from the coding strand of genomic DNA.

Animals↗

[Glycosylation of hemoglobin and the minor hemoglobins : techniques and diagnostic study (author's transl)].

Hemoglobin Alc is the result of non-enzymatic binding of a glucose molecule at the NH2 terminal of the beta chain. Assay of glycosylated hemoglobin is of great utility for the control efficacity of antidiabetic treatments, since such levels provide the clinician with an excellent index of glucose metabolism over the weeks preceding the assay. Methods proposed for this assay include isoelectric focalization, colorimetric assays during thio-barbituric acid and especially, cation exchange chromatography. When automated, this last technique allows selective assay of Hb Alc and appears to provide the most accurate results. Certain causes of error must nevertheless be considered, in particular more rapid turnover of the erythrocytic population and the presence of Hb F which, in all chromatographic techniques, is eluted along with Hb Alc.

Chromatography, Ion Exchange↗

Localization of phosphoproteins and of protein kinases in chromatin from hepatoma tissue-cultured cells.

An important role in the control of gene expression has been attributed to phosphoproteins present among chromatin non-histone proteins. In a previous work we have shown that at least part of these phosphoproteins are associated with nucleosomes. In this work we wanted to establish whether this association occurs with all nucleosomes or with the nucleosomes present in fragments preferentially released by a mild micrococcal nuclease digestion, which originated essentially from active parts of chromatin. Phosphoproteins were labelled in vivo by incubating hepatoma tissue-cultured cells with [32P]phosphate and chromatin was submitted to a limited micrococcal nuclease digestion. The released fragments were fractionated by preparative gel electrophoresis. [32P]Phosphoproteins were essentialy found in the smallest released fragments: monomers and dimers of nucleosomes. The same result was obtained when the phosphoproteins were labelled in vitro by incubating each fragment obtained by the preparative electrophoresis in the presence of [gamma-32P]ATP. It indicates that part of the protein kinase activity was strongly bound to the particles. The bound phosphoproteins were analysed by sodium dodecylsulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Two main polypeptides were characterized: phosphopeptide a, Mr 41000, present in all small fragments; phosphopeptide b, Mr 31000, present in all small fragments, except in the fastest moving nucleosomes. Phosvitin kinase was found associated with the small released fragments, its specific activity was by far the highest in the fraction which includes the dimers of nucleosomes. It is concluded that phosphoproteins and protein kinases are associated with the nucleosomes of the active parts of chromatin, which suggests a role of these proteins in the control of gene expression.

Animals↗

[Chromatin proteins and genetic control].

Gene expression is in great part under the control of proteins associated with DNA: histones which can be phosphorylated and acetylated, non-histone proteins which include enzymes, hormone receptors and other regulatory proteins. Phosphorylation seems to play an important role in chromatin regulation.

Cell Cycle↗

Presence of non-histone proteins in nucleosomes.

It has been established that nucleosomes are made of histones and DNA fragments. The purpose of this work to establish whether some non-histone proteins are also present in these chromatin subunits. We have found that nucleosome preparations contain phosphorylated non-histone proteins and protein kinases by sucrose gradient analysis. In order to establish whether these proteins are actually bound to nucleosomes or if they represent unbound or aggregated proteins, the following experiments were performed. (a) Free non-histone proteins and proteins released from chromatin by DNase overdigestion were analyzed by sucrose gradient centrifugation. No phosphoproteins but some phosvitin kinase activity was found in the part of the gradient which contained the nucleosomes. It could be assumed that part of the phosphoproteins are bound to nucleosomes. (b) A digestion of nucleosomes with DNase I suppressed the phosvitin kinase activity in the 11-S region of the gradient. (c) High ionic strength, which extracted non-histone proteins, suppressed the phosvitin kinase activity in the nucleosome region. Part of phosvitin kinase and of nuclear phosphoproteins are therefore bound to nucleosomes and are released by nuclease digestion and by high ionic strength.

Animals↗

Effect of non-histone proteins on thermal transition of chromatin and of DNA.

The effect of chromatin non-histone protein on DNA and chromatin stability is investigated by differential thermal denaturation method. 1) Chromatin (rat liver) yields a multiphasic melting profile. The major part of the melting curve of this chromatin is situated at temperatures higher than pure DNA, with a distinct contribution due to nucleosomes melting. A minor part melts at temperatures lower than DNA which may be assigned to chromatin non-histone protein-DNA complex which destabilized DNA structure. 2) Heparin which extracts histones lowers the melting profile of chromatin and one observes also a contribution with a Tm lower that of pure DNA. In contrast, extraction on non-histone proteins by urea supresses the low Tm peak. 3) Reconstitution of chromatin non-histone protein-DNA complexes confirms the existence of a fraction of chromatin non-histone protein which lowers the melting temperature when compared to pure DNA. It is concluded that chromatin non-histone proteins contain different fractions of proteins which are causing stabilizing and destabilizing effect on DNA structure.

Animals↗