The sequence complexity of nuclear RNA from mouse liver, mouse spleen and highly malignant P815 mastocytoma was measured by nRNA driven hybridization to unique DNA sequences of P815 cells. The unique DNA sequences represent 63% of the total nuclear DNA of P815 cells and their availibility in hybridization experiments was found to be 76%. Of these sequences 7.8% formed hybrids with nuclear RNA of this cell, about 11.5% with mouse spleen and about 14.5% with mouse liver nuclear RNA. Assuming an asymmetrical transcription, the complexities of these transcripts are 2.8 X 10(8) nucleotides for mouse P815 mastocytomas, 4.3 X 10(8) for mouse spleen and about 5.3 X 10(8) nucleotides for mouse liver. Cellular specifity of the transcribed information was analyzed in additivity experiments, in which unique DNA sequences, not complementary to the nuclear RNA of one cell were annealed to the nuclear RNAs of the two other tissues/cells. In these experiments most of the nuclear RNA sequences of P815 cells were found to be also present in the nucleus of mouse liver and spleen. Only a small portion of the unique DNA sequences of P815 mastocytoma (about 1.2% corresponding to 4.4 X 10(7) nucleotides) was found to be complementary only to P815 mastocytoma nuclear RNA.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Chromosomal structures of Pseudomonas testosteroni. I. Isolation and characterization of the chromosomal complexes. (author's transl)].

After lysis of Pseydomonas testosteroni with lysozyme and non-ionic detergents different DNA-protein complexes can be separated in 5-25% (w/v) neutral sucrose gradient. The protein to DNA ratio of these complexes varies between 0.5-4.5 to 1, whereby the faster sedimenting forms contain more protein than the slower sedimenting ones. Different initial rates of DNase digestion may indicate various degrees of DNA packing in these complexes. The chromosomal complexes of Pseudomonas testosteroni are relatively stable towards pronase. Treatment with RNase or sodium dodecylsulphate is accompanied by a dramatic increase in viscosity and decrease in relative density. It suggests that DNA in these complexes is maintained in its supercoiled form by RNA molecule(s) in a similar way as in isolated chromosome of E. coli.

Chromosomes, Bacterial↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Chromosomal structure of Pseudomonas testosteroni. II. Activity of the endogenous RNA-polymerase (author's transl)].

After careful lysis the nucleoid of Pseudomonas testosteroni can be isolated in three different forms with compact and unfolded DNA structures. The released nucleoids contain endogenous DNA-dependent RNA-polymerase activity using the chromosomal DNA as a template. RNA synthesis is proportional to duration of RNA-polymerase reaction and amount of DNA-protein-complexes. The sensitivity towards ionic strength and rifampicin indicates that a part of RNA-polymerase activity is tightly bound to the chromosomal DNA.

Chromosomes↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Chromosomal structures of Pseudomonas testosteroni. IV. Effect of testosterone on RNA-synthesis (author's transl)].

Testosterone degrading enzymes are synthesized de novo by bacterium P. testosteroni to utilize testosterone-like steroids as the only source of carbon. RNA-synthesis of the whole lysate of testosterone-induced bacteria was found to be 15% reduced compared to the control, suggesting a cytoplasmatic factor which modulates chromatin associated RNA-polymerase activity.

Chromosomes, Bacterial↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The relation of enzymatic methylation of inverted DNA repeats to transcription in mouse P815 mastocytoma cells (author's transl)].

The isolation of transcribed DNA sequences of P815 cells and the partial characterization with respect to their sequence composition and relative rates of enzymatic DNA methylation are reported in this paper. Transcribed regions were purified by affinity chromatography using immobilized heterogenous nuclear RNA of P815 cells. About 10% of total genome was found in this fraction. Reassociation analyses showed differences in sequence composition of transcribed versus non-transcribed DNA fractions. The relative proportion of inverted repeats was doubled in the transcribed fraction whereas ordinary highly repetitive sequences comprising mainly of satellite DNA were found almost exclusively in the non-transcribed regions of the P815 genome. About 70% of transcribed portions corresponds to unique and intermediary DNA sequences. After labelling of cells with L-[Methyl-3H]methionine and [14C]deoxycytidine relative rates of enzymatic DNA methylation were computed for different kinetic components of transcribed and non-transcribed portions of P815 genome. No difference was found except in inverted repeats. In transcribed DNA the relative rate of enzymatic DNA methylation was only about 40% of that of the non-transcribed ones. We have quantitated this hypomethyltion and found that there is, in average, about one 5-methylcytosine residue in 100 nucleotides of transcribed inverted repeats, compared to about 2.5 5-methylcytosines in non-transcribed fractions. In view of these data we propose that the enzymatic methylation of inverted DNA repeats negatively controls the transcriptional process in a given genomic region.

Animals↗