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J M Mitchison

Publications and source records attributed to J M Mitchison.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Periodic cell cycle changes in the rate of CO2 production in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe persist after a block to protein synthesis.

CO2 production has been followed by manometry in synchronous and asynchronous control cultures of Schizosaccharomyces pombe prepared by elutriation from the same initial culture. Earlier results showed a periodic change in the rate of production, which took place once per cell cycle. These changes were most clearly shown as oscillations in the difference between values of the second differential (acceleration) for the synchronous and asynchronous cultures. This paper shows that the oscillations continue for at least three cycles in the presence of cycloheximide (with and without chloramphenicol). Protein synthesis is virtually absent and there is no cell division. The control of this metabolic oscillation is therefore not directly dependent on translation. The period of the oscillation under these conditions is about 60% of the normal cycle time.

Carbon Dioxide↗
PubMed1986

Change in the rate of CO2 production in synchronous cultures of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe: a periodic cell cycle event that persists after the DNA-division cycle has been blocked.

CO2 production has been followed by manometry in synchronous and asynchronous cultures of Schizosaccharomyces pombe prepared by elutriation from the same initial culture. The rate of production follows a linear pattern in synchronous cultures with a rate change once per cycle at the time of cell division. This pattern is most clearly shown in oscillations of the difference between values of the second differential (acceleration) for the synchronous and asynchronous cultures. The association between the rate change and the time of division is maintained during growth speeded up in rich medium and slowed down in poor medium and at lower temperature. It is also maintained after a shift-up in temperature. Results with wee mutants suggest that the association is with the S period rather than division itself. The rate and acceleration of CO2 production are approximately proportional to cell size (protein content) in asynchronous cultures. When synchronous cultures of the temperature-sensitive mutants cdc2.33 and cdc2.33 wee1.6 are shifted up to the restrictive temperature, the DNA-division cycle is blocked. The oscillatory pattern of CO2 production, however, continues for one to two cycles until the acceleration reaches a constant value, after which the oscillations are undetectable. This point is reached later in the double mutant and there is a phase difference in the oscillations compared to those in the single mutant. With both blocked mutants the 'free-running' oscillations are about 15% shorter than the normal cycle time. There are well-known examples of such oscillations in eggs but they are rare in growing systems.

Carbon Dioxide↗
PubMed1986

Nucleoside diphosphokinase, an enzyme with step changes in activity during the cell cycle of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. I. Persistence of steps after a block to the DNA-division cycle.

In confirmation of earlier results, nucleoside diphosphokinase is shown to be a 'step' enzyme in Schizosaccharomyces pombe with a sharp doubling in activity at the beginning of the cell cycle. These doubling steps occur at the same time in the cycle in the smaller cells of the mutant wee1.6. An important result is that the activity steps persist with normal cell cycle timing after a block to the DNA-division cycle imposed by the cycle mutants cdc2.33 and cdc2.33wee1.6. This is clear proof that oscillatory controls of some cell cycle events can persist after the main periodic events of the DNA-division cycle have been abolished.

Cell Cycle↗
PubMed1985

Growth in cell length in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

The cylindrical cells of Schizosaccharomyces pombe grow in length by extension at the ends and not the middle. At the beginning of the cell cycle, growth is restricted to the 'old end', which existed in the previous cycle. Later on, the 'new end', formed from the septum, starts to grow at a point in the cycle that we have called NETO ('new end take-off'). Fluorescence microscopy on cells stained with Calcofluor has been used to study NETO in size mutants, in blocked cdc mutants and with different growth temperatures and media. In wild-type cells (strain 972) NETO happens at 0.34 of the cycle with a cell length of 9.5 microns. With size mutants that are smaller at division, NETO takes place at the same size (9.0-9.5 microns) but this is not achieved until later in the cycle. Another control operates in larger size mutants since NETO occurs at the same stage of the cycle (about 0.32) as in wild type but at a larger cell size. This control is probably a requirement to have completed an event in early G2, since most cdc mutant cells blocked before this point in the cycle do not show NETO whereas most of those blocked in late G2 do show it. We conclude that NETO only happens if: (1) the cell length is greater than a critical value of 9.0-9.5 microns; and (2) the cell has traversed the first 0.3-0.35 of the cycle and passed early G2. NETO is delayed in poor media, in which cell size is also reduced. Temperature has little effect on NETO under steady-state conditions, but there is a transient delay for some hours after a temperature shift. NETO is later in another wild-type strain, 132. Time-lapse photomicrography was used to follow the rates of length growth in single cells. Wild-type cells showed two linear segments during the first 75% of the cycle. There was a rate-change point (RCP), coincident with NETO, where the rate of total length extension increased by 35%. This increase was not due simply to the start of new-end growth, since old-end growth slowed down in some cells at the RCP. cdc 11.123 is a mutant in which septation and division is blocked at 35 degrees C but nuclear division continues.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Cell Cycle↗
PubMed1984

Protein synthesis and its relation to the DNA-division cycle in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

The rate of protein synthesis has been measured with pulse labels of [3H]tryptophan in synchronous and asynchronous cultures of cdc mutants of Schizosaccharomyces pombe shifted up to the restrictive temperature. The cell cycle related fluctuations in rate that occur in normal synchronous cultures vanish when nuclear division is blocked in synchronous cultures of cdc2 and cdc10. But they persist in cdc11 where nuclear division continues and cleavage is stopped. We conclude that nuclear division affects the rate of synthesis and that this effect is inhibitory and probably persists for the last 40% of the cycle. When nuclear division has been blocked, the rate of synthesis continues to increase until a plateau is reached where the rate remains constant. Three size mutants of cdc2 reach the plateau at the same average protein content per cell although their initial protein contents vary over a threefold range. Comparison of these results with those from cdc10 leads to the tentative conclusion that the plateau starts when the cells reach a critical protein/DNA ratio.

Ascomycota↗
PubMed1983

Absence of step changes in activity of certain enzymes during the cell cycle of budding and fission yeasts in synchronous cultures.

Synchronous cultures prepared by selection from an elutriating rotor were used to measure activity changes during the cell cycle of the following enzymes: acid phosphatase in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, alpha-glucosidase in S. cerevisiae and beta-galactosidase in Kluyveromyces lactis. There was no sign of step rises in activity in acid phosphatase but there were indications in S. cerevisiae of the linear pattern with rate doublings once per cycle that had been found previously in S. pombe. There was also no sign of step rises in the other two enzymes, in contrast to earlier results using different techniques. Asynchronous control cultures showed little or no perturbations after the first hour.

Acid Phosphatase↗
PubMed1982

Patterns of protein synthesis during the cell cycle of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

The rate of protein synthesis through the cell cycle of Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been determined from the incorporation of pulses of [3H]tryptophan in synchronous cultures prepared by selection in an elutriating rotor. This selection procedure caused minimal perturbations as judged by asynchronous control cultures, which had also been put through the rotor. The rate of synthesis showed a periodic pattern rather than a smooth exponential increase. There was a sharp increase in the rate at an 'acceleration point' at about 0.9 of the cycle. Model-fitting by a novel procedure suggests that the average single cell has an increasing rate of protein synthesis for the first 60% of the cycle and a constant rate for the remaining 40%. The same pattern was shown in less extensive experiments with [3H]leucine and [3H]phenylalanine. It was also shown in a series of size mutants, which indicates that the pattern is not size-related, in contrast to earlier work on the rates of synthesis of messenger RNA. However, one large mutant (cdc 2.M35r20) had a significantly earlier acceleration point. Care was taken to justify the assumption that the rate of incorporation of tryptophan was a valid measure of the rate of protein synthesis. A tryptophan auxotroph was used to eliminate the problem of endogenous supply and the size of the metabolic pool was measured through the cycle. This pool did not show cell-cycle related fluctuations. An operational model of the pools is presented.

Ascomycota↗
PubMed1980

Arginase and sucrase potential in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

The induction potentials of 2 enzymes, sucrase and arginase, have been measured in asynchronous and synchronous cultures of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The effect on potential of inhibiting DNA synthesis is asynchronous cultures has been studied using 2 temperature-sensitive dcd mutants, one blocked in DNA replication and the other blocked in mitosis. The results show that despite inhibition of DNA synthesis, sucrase and arginase potential both continue to increase exponentially for at least a generation of growth after shifting the cdc mutants from the permissive to the restrictive temperature. A second method of inhibiting DNA synthesis, using deoxyadenosine, has also been tested. Cells treated with deoxyadenosine stop the increase in potential for a short period. However, experiments carried out using a cdc mutant together with deoxyadenosine show that the block to the increase in potential is due to a side effect of the inhibitor. It appears that increase in potential is not dependent upon continued DNA replication, and that gene dosage does not control potential in the normal cell cycle. This conclusion is supported by measurements on mutants of different cell sizes. potential is proportional to size (protein content per cell is asynchronous culture) and not to DNA content. Although potential is not gene limited in normal cells, it does appear to be so in the abnormally large cells produced by a cdc block. If cdc mutants of different sizes are grown asynchronously, and DNA synthesis is inhibited by a shift to the restrictive temperature, there is no increase in potential. This critical ratio is different for the 2 enzymes, but for each enzyme it is similar in all the mutants tested. When large cells (produced by a mutant block for 4.5 h) are shifted down in temperature, there are synchronous rounds of DNA synthesis and division and also step doublings in potential. In synchronous cultures of wild type cells, both enzymes show a stepwise doubling of potential at 0.2 of a cycle after DNA replication. In synchronous cultures of cdc mutants blocked either in replication or in mitosis, the potential steps continue with the normal timing observed in wild type cells. This shows that the steps are not dependent on the events of the DNA-division cycle but are controlled by another mechanism. Attainment of a critical size might be part of this mechanism, but tests with size mutants argue against this.

Arginase↗
PubMed1979

Uncontrolled septation in a cell division cycle mutant of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

A temperature-sensitive Schizosaccharomyces pombe mutant, cdc16-116, has been isolated which undergoes uncontrolled septation during its cell division cycle. The mutant accumulates two types of cells after 3 h of growth at the restrictive temperature: (i) type I cells (85% of the population), which complete nuclear division and then form up to five septa between the divided nuclei; and (ii) type II cells (15% of the population), which form an asymmetrically situated septum in the absence of any nuclear division. cdc16-116 is a monogenic recessive mutation unlinked to any previously known cdc gene of S. pombe. It is not affected in a previously reported control by which septation is dependent upon completion of nuclear division. We propose the cdc16-116 is unable to complete septum formation and proceed to cell separation and is also defective in a control which prevents the manufacture of more than one septum in each cell cycle.

Ascomycota↗
PubMed1975

The effect of 8-hydroxyquinoline on enzyme synthesis in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

The effect of 8-hydroxyquinoline, a rapid inhibitor of RNA synthesis, was followed on the activity of a number of enzymes in cultures of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Two types of effect were found. In the first the activity continued to rise for a period and then remained constant. This occurred with alkaline phosphatase, basal and derepressed acid phosphatase, hexokinase, and derepressed sucrase and maltase at low cell density. It is consistent with control being exercised by an unstable mRNA or by an unstable stimulator of translocation. In the second the activity increased above the control values for several hours. This occurred with basal sucrase and maltase, and suggests a stable mRNA and an unstable inhibitor of translation. The extent of 'superproduction' of sucrase varied with cell density and with growth medium and this may be due to differences in the degree of translational inhibition. The possiblilty of a stable mRNA has interesting implications for the control of enzyme synthesis through the cell cycle.

Acid Phosphatase↗