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Biomedical subjects

D Kennell

Publications and source records attributed to D Kennell.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Translation and mRNA decay.

Degradation of messenger RNA from the lactose operon (lac mRNA) was measured during the inhibition of protein synthesis by chloramphenicol (CM) or of translation-initiation by kasugamycin (KAS). With increasing CM concentration mRNA decay becomes slower, but there is no direct proportionality between rates of chemical decay and polypeptide synthesis. During exponential growth lac mRNA is cleaved endonucleolytically (Blundell and Kennell, 1974). At a CM concentration which completely inhibits all polypeptide synthesis this cleavage is blocked. In contrast, if only the initiation of translation is blocked by addition of KAS, the cleavage rate as well as the rate of chemical decay are increased significantly without delay. These faster rates do not result from immediate degradation of the lengthening stretch of ribosome-free proximal message, since the full-length size is present and the same discrete message sizes are generated during inhibition. These results suggest that neither ribosomes nor translation play an active role in the degradative process. Rather, targets can be protected by the proximity of a ribosome, and without nearly ribosomes the probability of cleavage becomes very high. During normal growth there is a certain probability that any message is in such a vulnerable state, and the fraction of vulnerable molecules determines the inactivation rate of that species.

Aminoglycosides↗
PubMed1978

Altered mRNA metabolism in ribonuclease III-deficient strains of Escherichia coli.

The metabolism of mRNA from the lactose (lac) operon of Escherichia coli has been studied in ribonuclease (RNase) III-deficient strains (rnc-105). The induction lag for beta-galactosidase from the first gene was twice as long, and enzyme synthesis was reduced 10-fold in one such mutant compared with its isogenic rnc+ sister; in the original mutant strain AB301-105, synthesis of beta-galactosidase was not even detectable, although transduction analysis revealed the presence of a normal lac operon. This defect does not reflect a loss of all lac operon activity galactoside acetyltransferase from the last gene was synthesized even in strain AB301-105 but at a rate several times lower than normal. Hybridization analyses suggested that both the frequency of transcription initiation and the time to transcribe the entire operon are normal in rnc-105 strains. The long induction lag was caused by a longer translation time. This defect led to translational polarity with reduced amounts of distal mRNA to give a population of smaller-sized lac mRNA molecules. All these pleiotropic effects seem to result from RNase III deficiency, since it was possible to select revertants to rnc+ that grew and expressed the lac operon at normal rates. However, the rnc-105 isogenic strains (but not AB301-105) also changed very easily to give a more normal rate of beta-galactosidase synthesis without regaining RNase III activity or a faster growth rate. The basis for this reversion is not known; it may represent a "phenotypic suppression" rather than result from a stable genetic change. Such suppressor effects could account for earlier reports of a noninvolvement of RNase III in mRNA metabolism in deliberately selected lac+ rnc-105 strains. The ribosomes from rnc-105 strains were as competent as ribosomes from rnc+ strains to form translation initiation complexes in vitro. However, per mass, beta-galactosidase mRNA from AB301-105 was at least three times less competent to form initiation complexes than was A19 beta-galactosidase mRNA. RNase III may be important in the normal cell to prepare lac mRNA for translation initiation. A defect at this step could account for all the observed changes in lac expression. A potential target within a secondary structure at the start of the lac mRNA is considered. Expression of many operons may be affected by RNase III activity; gal and trp operon expressions were also abnormal in RNase III- strains.

Enzyme Induction↗
PubMed1974

Residual polarity and transcription-translation coupling during recovery from chloramphenicol or fusidic acid.

Fusidic acid or chloramphenicol was used to inhibit peptide synthesis to 1% of normal in Escherichia coli B, strain AS19. After 10 min of inhibition, peptide synthesis could be quickly restored to 80% of the normal rate after washing the bacteria on a filter. However, even in the presence of adenosine 3'-5'-cyclic-monophosphoric acid to block catabolite repression, beta-galactosidase, the first enzyme of the lactose operon (lac), could only be induced to 10% of normal, and the last enzyme of the operon, galactoside acetyltransferase, even less. The first and last enzymes of the operon for tryptophan synthesis could be derepressed to about 30% of normal. The lac ribonucleic acid (RNA) induced during recovery showed a smaller than normal size distribution on sucrose gradients. The operator-proximal or -distal parts of this RNA were specifically labeled. Hybridization to phi80dlac deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) suggested that although the distal parts of the lac RNA were barely detectable, initiation was occurring at normal rates in recovery. Either normal levels of distal messenger RNA (mRNA) are made but then rapidly degraded or the mRNA is not completed. The small amount that is made decayed abnormally slowly, probably as a result of slower transcription. Total mRNA decay was multiphasic with all components decaying slower than normal. We propose that there is a residual level of inhibition of peptide synthesis during recovery. The probability that a ribosome is blocked at any codon can be estimated from the data. The longer the message, the less likely its complete translation. We propose that the RNA polymerase can transcribe translatable mRNA for only a finite distance beyond the lead ribosome. Because ribosomes can load at the start of each message in a polycistronic mRNA, the probability that a distal message will be synthesized and translated is a function of the number of more proximal messages and the distances between their ribosome-loading sites.

Acetyltransferases↗