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Biomedical subjects

C Cocito

Publications and source records attributed to C Cocito.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Immunological relatedness of ribosomes from mycobacteria, nocardiae and corynebacteria, and microorganisms in leprosy lesions.

Serological relatedness of ribosomes from microorganisms of the Mycobacterium, Nocardia, and Corynebacterium genera has been analyzed by the microplate immunodiffusion technique. Mycobacterium and Nocardia proved homogeneous and closely related taxa, whereas Corynebacterium was found to be a heterogeneous phylum connected by remote links to the others. The taxonomic position of "diphtheroid microorganisms" (non-acid-fast, gram-positive bacteria morphologically similar to corynebactria), which were found together with Mycobacterium leprae in human leprosy lesions, was also investigated. Ribosomes of diphtheroid bacteria strongly cross-reacted with antisera against several mycobacteria and nocardiae but not against corynebacteria. Moreover, ribosomes from independently isolated diphtheroid strains proved serologically related and yielded strong cross-reactions with antisera against M. leprae as well as with sera from leprosy patients. Hence, diphtheroid microorganisms represent a homogeneous group immunologically related to mycobacteria in general and more specifically to M. leprae.

Corynebacterium↗
PubMed1977

Inhibition of lytic induction in lysogenic cyanophyces.

When the lysogenic strain SPIcts1 of the blue-green alga Plectonema boryanum carrying a temperature-sensitive mutation in the LPP2 prophage was heated at a nonpermissive temperature in the light, a lytic cycle occurred, with production of infectious viral particles. Inhibitors of transcription, translation, and photosynthetic functions interfered with this process and produced different effects when administered at different phases of the viral cycle. The presence of the inhibitors during the temperature shift did not allow a successful induction to take place; lysogens submitted to such a process produced a normal virus yield, however, when the drugs were removed and the temperature was shifted again. Incubation with the inhibitors during the early postinduction period reduced the virus yield; at later times, however, the inhibitory action rapidly declined. When cells were induced in the presence of chloramphenicol, incubated with actinomycin, and then grown in the dark, at either permissive or nonpermissive temperatures, virus multiplication was equally inhibited. These data indicate that: (i) provirus induction in lysogenic cyanophyces relies on the synthesis of early viral proteins; (ii) induction of mRNA is unstable and becomes rapidly inactivated when its translation is prevented; and (iii) inhibition of photosynthesis prevents the induction message from being expressed. It is suggested that the SPIcts1 prophage codes for a mutated repressor, which is reversibly inactivated at a nonpermissive temperature, and that the repressor must be inactivated at the same time that the message coded for by very early genes is translated, for a successful induction of the lytic cycle.

Carbonyl Cyanide m-Chlorophenyl Hydrazone↗
PubMed1976

Effect of virginiamycin on the growth cycle of Bdellovibrio.

The two components of virginiamycin, virginiamycin M (VM) and virginiamycin S (VS), were used to explore the life cycle of symbiosis-dependent and -independent strains of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus during multiplication in a two-membered system with either living or heat-inactivated Escherichia coli or in axenic cultures. Relatively high concentrations of these inhibitors separately were required to stop growth under all the conditions, but the minimum inhibitory concentration of the single components was reduced 1,000-fold by the association of VM and VS. No dissociation between mass growth and cell division was observed with VM; VS specifically halted cell division without affecting the kinetics of macromolecules formation and overall growth. This effect on cell division was only obtained when the antibiotic was added during the first half of the multiplication cycle and was reversible at any time.

Bacteria↗
PubMed1976

Recombinational-type transfer of viral DNA during bacteriophage 2C replication in Bacillus subtilis.

The Bacillus subtilis phage 2C contains one molecule of double-stranded DNA of about 100 x 10(6) daltons in which thymine is replaced by hydroxymethyluracil; the two strands have different buoyant densities. Parental DNA, labeled with either [3H]uracil of [32P]phosphate, was quite effectively transferred to offspring phage, and the efficiency of transfer was the same for the two strands. Labeled nucleotide compositions of the H and L strands from parental and progeny virions were very close. These data exclude a degradation of the infecting DNA and reutilization of nucleotides. Upon infection of light unlabeled cells with heavy radioactive viruses, no DNA with either heavy or hybrid density was extracted from offspring phage. Instead, an heterogeneous population of DNA molecules of densities ranging from that of almost hybrid to that of fully light species was obtained. Shear degradation of such progeny DNA to fragments of decreasing molecular weight produced a progressive shift to the density of hybrid molecules. Denaturation of sheared DNA segments caused the appearance of labeled and heavy single-stranded segments. These findings indicate that 2C DNA replicates semiconservatively and then undergoes extensive genetic recombination with newly formed viral DNA molecules within the vegatative pool, thus mimicking a dispersive transfer of the infecting viral genome. The pieces of transferred parental DNA have an average size of 10 x 10(6) daltons.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed1974

Macromolecule metabolism and photosynthetic functions in blue-green algae treated with virginiamycin, an inhibitor of protein synthesis.

The M component of virginiamycin inhibited growth of Plectonema boryanum under both photoautotrophic and heterotrophic conditions. Though the S component of this antibiotic had no apparent activity per se, it enhanced the inhibitory action of its partner. Cells incubated with suitable concentrations of either M or M + S stopped growing and lysed. Loss of the colony-forming capacity occurred quickly in the presence of M + S and slowly in the presence of M alone. Virginiamycin M inhibited protein synthesis in autotrophically and heterotrophically growing Plectonema. This effect was very rapid and could be reversed by removing the antibiotic. The S component did not block the incorporation of amino acids into proteins, but prevented the reversibility of the inhibitory effect of M. Virginiamycin M or S did not affect the photosynthetic oxygen development (Hill's reaction) in Plectonema. Moreover, carbon dioxide photoassimilation and formation of chlorophyll were inhibited only after an appreciable lag. Deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis was blocked virtually without delay by virginiamycin M. Since virginiamycin inhibited protein synthesis in a similar fashion in the unicellular Anacystis nidulans, as well as in the filamentous P. boryanum, the mechanism of action of this antibiotic is probably the same in all blue-green algae.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1974

Origin and metabolic properties of the RNA species formed during the replication cycle of virus 2C.

When short pulses of [(3)H]uracil were administered to Bacillus subtilis infected with phage 2C, the main species of labeled RNA was a 10S component that hybridized chiefly, but not exclusively, with the heavy strand of 2C DNA. After long pulses, most of the radioactivity was found in the 23S, 16S, and 5S rRNA's, which are coded for by the cell genome. Formation of such RNA species was reduced but not suppressed upon infection, the extent of inhibition being proportional to the virus-to-cell ratio. When bacteria were incubated with virginiamycin, an inhibitor of protein synthesis, and then infected with phage 2C, formation of virus-specific RNA decreased. This antibiotic also reduced the preferential transcription of the heavy strand of 2C DNA. The methylation pattern of rRNA remained unchanged upon infection with phage 2C. Virginiamycin reduced both the methylation and stability of rRNA in uninfected cells; this effect, however, was clearly reduced during the viral cycle. It can be concluded that in 2C-infected B. subtilis, cellular and viral RNA species are simultaneously synthesized and a preferential transcription of viral message depends not only on the number of available copies of viral template, but also on their translation. Moreover, virus-dictated proteins are responsible for the inhibition of cellular RNA formation as well as for the asymmetrical transcription of phage genome. Finally, virginiamycin and phage 2C have antagonistic, nonoverlapping effects on the metabolism and function of the RNA of the host cell.

Bacillus subtilis↗