Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Rich

Publications and source records attributed to A Rich.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources

Atomic resolution analysis of a 2:1 complex of CpG and acridine orange.

Cytidylyl-3', 5'-guanosine and acridine orange crystallize in a highly-ordered triclinic lattice which diffracts X-rays to 0.85 angstrom resolution. The crystal structure has been solved and refined to a residual factor of 9.5%. The two dinucleoside phosphate molecules form an antiparallel double helix with the acridine orange intercalated between them. The two base pairs of the double helical fragment have a twist angle of 10 degrees and it is found to have a C3' endo-(3', 5')-C2' endo mixed sugar puckering along the nucleotide backbone as has been observed for other simple intercalator complexes. Twenty-five water molecules have been located in the lattice together with a sodium ion. The intercalator double helical fragments form sheets which are held together by van der Waals interactions in one direction and hydrogen bonding interactions in the other. The crystal lattice contains aqueous channels in which sixteen water molecules are hydrogen bonded to the nucleotide, none to the intercalator, five water molecules are coordinated about the sodium ion and four water molecules bind solely to other water molecules. The bases in the base pairs have a dihedral angle of 7 to 8 degrees between them.

Acridine Orange↗

Cell-free protein synthesis in lysates of Drosophila melanogaster cells.

A procedure is described for preparing cell-free protein synthesizing lysates from Drosophila melanogaster tissue culture cells and embryos. Preparation of translationally active lysates from tissue culture cells is dependent on the presence of rat liver supernatant during cell lysis to inhibit ribonuclease activity. After micrococcal nuclease treatment of the lysate, protein synthesis is dependent on the addition of exogenous messenger RNA. The fidelity of translation is very high. The conditions for optimal translation have been determined. In addition, the effects on translation of a variety of supplements, including rat liver supernatant, have been analyzed. The products of translation by the Drosophila lysate have been compared with those of wheat germ extracts and of micrococcal nuclease treated rabbit reticulocyte lysates. Translation in vitro of bovine parathyroid hormone messenger RNA yielded two products tentatively identified as preproparathyroid hormone and proparathyroid hormone, as well as an unidentified third product. This result suggests that insect enzymes can accurately process mammalian precursor proteins.

Animals↗

Location of the single gene for the large subunit of ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase on the maize chloroplast chromosome.

The structural gene for the large subunit of ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase (E.C. 4.1.1.39) in Zea mays is shown to be contained within a 2500 base pair sequence of chloroplast DNA. One copy of this DNA sequence is present in each circular maize chloroplast DNA molecule. It maps approximately 30,000 base pairs from the 5' end of the closest of two sets of rRNA genes and approximately 71,000 base pairs from the other set of rRNA genes.

Carboxy-Lyases↗

Structure of the DNA binding cleft of the gene 5 protein from bacteriophage fd.

The structure of the gene 5 DNA unwinding protein from bacteriophage fd has been solved to 2.3-A resolution by X-ray diffraction techniques. The molecule contains an extensive cleft region that we have identified as the DNA binding site on the basis of the residues that comprise its surface. The interior of the groove has a rather large number of basic amino acid residues that serve to draw the polynucleotide backbone into the cleft. Arrayed along the external edges of the groove are a number of aromatic amino acid side groups that are in position to stack upon the bases of the DNA and fix it in place. The structure and binding mechanism as we visualize it appear to be fully consistent with evidence provided by physical-chemical studies of the protein in solution.

Binding Sites↗

Preliminary molecular replacement results for a crystalline gene 4 protein-deoxyoligonucleotide complex.

Complexes of the gene 5 protein from bacteriophage fd with a variety of oligodeoxynucleotides, ranging in length from two to eight and comprised of several different sequences, have been formed and crystallized for X-ray diffraction analysis. The crystallographic parameters of four different unit cells, all of which are based on hexagonal packing arrangements, indicate that the fundamental unit of the complex is composed of six gene 5 protein dimers. We believe this aggregate has 622 point group symmetry and is a ring formed by end-to-end closure of a linear array of six dimers. From our results we have proposed a double-helix model for the gene 5 protein-DNA complex in which the protein forms a spindle or core around which the DNA is spooled. Currently 5.0-A X-ray diffraction data from one of the crystalline complexes is being analyzed by molecular replacement techniques to obtain a direct image of the protein-nucleic acid complex.

Base Sequence↗

Cloning and nucleotide sequence of DNA coding for bovine preproparathyroid hormone.

We have cloned in Escherichia coli a DNA copy of mRNA coding for bovine preproparathyroid hormone. Double-stranded DNA was inserted into the Pst I site in plasmid pBR322 by using the poly(dG)-poly(dC) homopolymer extension technique to join the DNA molecules. Recombinant plasmids coding for preproparathyroid hormone were identified by the plasmid's ability to arrest specifically the translation of preproparathyroid hormone mRNA. The nucleotide sequence of the largest recombinant was determined by using both chemical and enzymatic techniques. The parathyroid insert contains 470 nucleotides--102 nucleotides from the 5' noncoding region of the mRNA, 345 nucleotides representing the entire coding region, and 23 nucleotides from the 3' noncoding region. The coding sequence clarifies the hormone's amino acid sequence, which has been disputed. Codon usage is discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Asymmetric lateral distribution of unshielded phosphate groups in nucleosomal DNA and its role in DNA bending.

We suggest that an asymmetric charge neutralization of DNA phosphate groups produces part of the driving force for nucleosome folding. In nucleosome core particle DNA, many of the phosphate groups are neutralized by histones, and a lateral alignment of these histones along the core DNA has been demonstrated [Mirzabekov A. D., Shick, V. V., Belyavsky, A. V. & Bavykin, S. G. (1978) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 75, 4184--4189]. Histones appear to shield DNA phosphatases asymmetrically at one side of the surface of the DNA double helix along all its length inside the core. The external side of the DNA helix remains unneutralized. The electrostatic repulsion between negatively charged unneutralized phosphates may fold the nucleosomal DNA towards the side occupied by histones.

Cell Nucleus↗

Initiator tRNAs have a unique anticodon loop conformation.

Transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules have been labeled with 32P at the 5' end and subjected to S1 nuclease digestion. The products were analyzed by high-resolution gel electrophoresis. Three initiator tRNAs and six chain-elongating tRNAs were examined. S1 nuclease cleaved Escherichia coli tRNAfMet, yeast tRNAfMet, and mammalian tRNAfMet at the same two positions in the anticodon loop. In contrast, S1 nuclease cleaved the anticodon loop of E. coli tRNAmMet, yeast tRNAmMet, yeast tRNAPhe, Schizosaccharomyces pombe tRNAPhe, E. coli tRNA2Glu, and E. coli tRNATrp (su+) at four positions generally, except where a modified nucleotide in the wobble position inhibited the enzyme. The marked contrast between these cleavage patterns suggests a different conformation for the anticodon loops of these two classes of tRNA molecules. It is suggested that the specialized conformation in the anticodon loop of initiator tRNAs may be due to a special sequence of GC base pairs in the adjoining anticodon stem.

Anticodon↗

Multiple actins in Drosophila melanogaster.

The tissue and developmental specificities of the three Drosophila isoactins, originally identified in primary myogenic cultures and in the permanent Schneider L-2 cell line, have been investigated. Of these three isoactins (I, II, and III), actins I and II are stable and actin III is unstable. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analyses of total cellular extracts after 1-h [(35)S]methionine pulses were performed on a large variety of embryonic, larval, and adult muscle and nonmuscle tissues. The results suggest that isoactins II and III are generalized cellular actins found in all drosophila cell types. Actin I, on the other hand, is muscle-associated and is found exclusively in supercontractile muscle (such as larval body wall and larval and adult viscera) including primary myogenic cell cultures. Although actin I synthesis is not detectable during very early embryogenesis, it is detectable by 25 h and actin I is a major stable actin in all larval muscle tissues. Actin I is synthesized in reduced amounts relative to the other actins in late third instar larvae but is again a major product of actin synthesis in the adult abdomen. A stable actin species with the same pI as actin III has been identified in the adult thorax and appears to be unique to flight muscle tissue. This new stable form of thoracic actin may be the result of a stabilization of the actin III found in other tissues or may be an entirely separate gene product.

Actins↗

Raman spectra of ten aqueous transfer RNAs and 5S RNA. Conformational comparison with yeast phenylalanine transfer RNA.

Eleven native transfer RNAs have been prepared so as to maintain their Mg2+ content. Their aqueous Raman spectra show a high, relatively constant amount of order in the ribophosphate backbone, as indicated by the ratio 1.73 +/- 0.05 for I814/I1100 in all samples. Variation in the effectiveness of stacking of guanine and adenine bases is seen, though most of the transfer RNAs studied have a comparable degree of stacking to that found in phenylalanine transfer RNA from yeast, whose tertiary structure has been determined by X-ray crystallography. The spectrum of Escherichia coli 5S RNA indicates that the stacking efficiency of the guanine bases is much higher in 5S RNA than in yeast in phenylalanine transfer RNA, while that of the adenine bases is lower.

Escherichia coli↗