Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D J Silverman.
Rickettsia tsutsugamushi differs from other rickettsiae in its cell envelope organization. The differences were made evident through a comparative study of the outer envelope of R. tsutsugamushi, R. prowazekii, and R. rickettsii by electron microscopy.
Using a simple specific-antibody stabilization procedure on organisms gently liberated from their host cells, we have demonstrated by electron microscopy that Rickettsia prowazekii and Rickettsia rickettsii possess a coat of variable thickness, external to the outer leaflet of the cell wall and the structure designated by others as a "microcapsule," which corresponds most closely to the slime layer of certain other bacteria. Reactions in the methenamine silver and ruthenium red staining procedures and the failure to be visualized by standard procedures suggest that the slime layer is largely polysaccharide in nature. It is postulated that this slime layer accounts in large part for the large, electron-lucent, halo-like zone which is found by electron microscopy to surround organisms of the typhus and spotted fever groups in the cytoplasm of their host cells, that it may be the locus of some major group-specific antigens, and that it may function as an antiphagocytic mechanism, as an aid for attachment of rickettsiae to potential host cells, or both. Moreover, because the attenuated E strain of R. prowazekii has been shown to possess a substantial slime layer, the basis for attenuation is not likely to be a simple smooth-to-rough variation.
The mechanism of DNA packaging into bacteriophage T4 heads in vivo was investigated by glucosylation of hydroxymethylcytosine residues in a conditionally glucose-deficient host. Cytoplasmic DNA associated with partially packaged ts49 heads can be fully glucosylated, whereas DNA already packaged into these heads is shown to be resistant to glucosylation. After temperature shift and completion of arrested packaging into the reversible temperature-sensitive ts49 head, the structure of the DNA in the mature ts49 phage was investigated by restriction enzyme digestion, autoradiography, and other techniques. Such mature DNA appears to be fully glucosylated along part of its length and nonglucosylated on the remainder. Its structure suggests that the DNA is run into the head linearly and unidirectionally from one mature end and that there is little sequence specificity in that portion of the T4 DNA which first enters the capsid. This technique should be useful in investigation of the three-dimensional structure of first- and last-packaged DNA within the head; preliminary studies including autoradiography of osmotically shocked phage suggest that the DNA which first enters the head is deposited toward the center of the capsid and that the end of the DNA which first enters the head exits first upon injection. In conjunction with studies of the structure of condensed DNA, the positions and functions of T4 capsid proteins in DNA packaging, and the order of T4 packaging functions [Earnshaw and Harrison, Nature (London) 268:598-602, 1977; Hsiao and Black, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74:3652-3656, 1977; Müller-Salamin et al., J. Virol. 24:121-134, 1977; Richards et al., J. Mol. Biol. 78:255-259, 1973], the features described above suggest the following model: the first DNA end is fixed to the proximal apex of the head at p20 and the DNA is then pumped into the head enzymatically by proteins (p20 + p17) which induce torsion in the DNA molecule.
Two Rickettsia prowazeki seeds, an "early" seed in the logarithmic or exponential growth phase and a "late" seed in the stationary or possibly early decline phase, were prepared in chicken embryo (CE) cell cultures and compared with respect to morphology and infection cycle in CE cells in culture. Differences in size and ultrastructure of the organisms in the two seeds were similar to those seen in other gram-negative bacteria at comparable stages to growth. Vacuolar structures, rare in log-phase organisms, were common in stationary-phase organisms. Minute spherical forms reminiscent of minicells were seen in the stationary-phase preparations. In quantitative uptake experiments, organisms, typical in size and morphology of each preparation, had comparable capacity per plaque-forming unit to penetrate into CE cells in suspension when the seeds had been depleted of host cell membrane fragments and other debris. This suggests that host cell fragments, presumably of membrane origin, competitively inhibit rickettsial uptake by intact CE cells. Organisms of the log-phase organisms displayed a lag phase of about 7.5 h, during which they enlarged and increased in intensity of staining, before entering the log phase of growth.
Free ribosomes extracted from hamster cells and 28S RNA purified from these ribosomes are known to form dimers. We find that spleen phosphodiesterase inhibits ribosomal dimer formation, but only when a free 5'-hydroxyl end group, produced by the action of alkaline phosphatase, is present. Hence, formation of dimer ribosomes probably involves interaction at or near the phosphorylated 5'-ends of 28S RNA. Dimer RNA molecules show a modal length, when measured on electrom micrographs, of 2.1 mum, which is about double the length of 28S RNA. Electron micrographs of 115S dimer ribosomes often show profiles consistent with our interpretation that in dimers the 28S RNA chains are loosely linked by their 5'-ends.
Evidence is presented to indicate that proteolytic and perhaps other enzymes of the louse midgut, essential to the nutrition of the louse, perform molecular dissection on the antirickettsial antibodies present in the blood of a typhus-immune host that selectively destroys, along with other functions, the portion of the antibody that determines the only known function by which antirickettsial antibodies may operate in host defense mechanisms, namely, opsonization of rickettsiae for enhanced ingestion by professional phagocytes and subsequent destruction. The epidemiologic significance of these findings is discussed in relation to the progressive destruction of cells that produce digestive enzymes of the louse midgut that occurs with progressive rickettsial infection, and the possibility of a negative feedback mechanism in transmission is introduced. Speculations that involve evolutionary concepts of both convergent and divergent varieties with respect to rickettsiae, potentially operational in a system that consists of an obligate blood-sucking arthropod vector and a vertebrate host capable of adaptive responses to both vector and rickettsial agent, are presented.
Enzymatic markers and electron microscopy were utilized to determine the cellular origin of the membrane types isolated from type 2 dengue virus-infected BHK cells by discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation. The results showed an apparent separation of plasma membrane, smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum with increasing density. Virus-induced protein and RNA synthesis, as indicated by the incorporation of radiolabled precursors, was localized on the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Glycosylation, measured by the incorporation of radiolabeled glucosamine into membrane-associated proteins, was most active in the bands of intermediate and smooth endoplasmic reticulum. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of isolated membrane bands, radiolabeled in the presence of actinomycin D, after pulse inhibition by cycloheximide, revealed seven virus-specific proteins associated with all membrane fractions. Viral structural protein V-3, and nonstructural proteins NV-3 and NV-2, increased with decreasing density, whereas NV-5 and NV-4 remained constant. The viral capsid protein V-2 was depleted in the intermediate and smooth endoplasmic reticulum, suggesting that these membranes may serve as the sites for viral maturation. NV-3 was the most prominent virus-specified protein found in the plasma membrane.
An electron microscope study of infected human louse gut cells and feces was made to determine whether a valid correlation exists between the increased resistance of Rickettsia prowazeki (in the louse feces) to adverse environmental influences and changes in the organism which might be reflected in its ultrastructure. Upon fine structural examination of this intracellular parasite as it passed from the louse midgut cell to the feces, it was apparent that no such morphological changes had occurred.
After transfer into fresh medium, Escherichia coli cells containing ribosomal helices resume growth without a lag period. The helices disappear within 15 min after transfer, the number of 70S ribosomes decreases, and a steady-state ribosomal profile appears within one cell generation time. Subunits isolated from the helices support in vitro protein synthesis, but efficiency is optimal only when supplemented with an undetermined factor that is contained in the S-100 fraction of log-phase cells. The data suggest a possible role of helices as ribosomal reserve units.
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Ribosomal helices are formed in 100% of Escherichia coli cells during extended growth in a medium of low buffering capacity. During this time, the pH of the medium gradually decreases from 7.0 to about 5.0. Transfer of cells into preconditioned or acidified medium does not result in helix formation unless acidification is gradual and during active growth. Concomitant with helix formation is a decrease of all major biosynthetic activities and cessation of cell motility. The larger polyribosomes become converted into an inactive helical form and sediment in sucrose gradients with the wall-membrane complex.
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