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Biomedical subjects

J Sperling

Publications and source records attributed to J Sperling.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Characterization of Escherichia coli mutant strains deficient in AP DNA-repair synthesis.

Deficiency of apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) DNA-repair enzymes in crude extracts of E. coli mutants was determined by following general and specific AP DNA-repair synthesis via nick translation in the presence of either all four dNTPs, or only one dNTP. We have shown that mutations either in DNA polymerase I or in AP endonucleases or in both, inhibit to different degrees the ability to repair AP DNA. The polA mutation totally abolishes the ability to perform both general and specific AP DNA repair, while the polAex mutation affects only general AP DNA repair. The xthA tight mutants, including the deletion mutant BW9101, can cope with small amounts of AP sites but hardly with high amounts of these lesions. In addition we have found that crude extracts of the xthA mutants degrade AP DNA by two modes: a nonspecific, and an AP-specific mode. These phenomena are common to all xth mutants and enabled us to discover this mutation. In contrast to the xth mutants so far isolated, BW2001 exhibits marked sensitivity to MMS and to X-ray irradiation. We found that this strain has a proficient DNA polymerase I but is absolutely deficient in AP endonucleases. We attribute its sensitivities to a secondary mutation at the structural gene of endonuclease IV.

Apurinic Acid↗
PubMed1986

U1, U2, and U6 small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) are associated with large nuclear RNP particles containing transcripts of an amplified gene in vivo.

Nuclear ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes that contain intact transcripts of the amplified gene for CAD, the multifunctional protein that initiates UMP synthesis in Syrian hamster cells, have been released from nuclei of Syrian hamster cells as large particulate structures that sediment at the 200S region in a sucrose gradient. By the technique of RNA hybridization, we have shown that U1, U2, and U6 small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) cosediment with the large RNP particles in the sucrose gradients. Autoimmune sera from systemic lupus erythematosus and mixed connective tissue disease patients, characterized as anti-(U1)RNP, have further been shown to immunoprecipitate CAD RNA along with U1 and U2 snRNAs from the fractionated nuclear 200S RNP particles. We conclude that U1, U2, and U6 snRNPs are integral constituents of the 200S RNP particles. The requirement of snRNPs for RNA processing that evidently occurs on RNP particles has been recently demonstrated. Our results thus suggest that the 200S RNPs are structurally and functionally close to the native particles on which RNA processing occurs.

Aspartate Carbamoyltransferase↗
PubMed1985

Abundant nuclear ribonucleoprotein form of CAD RNA.

Transcripts of the CAD gene in Syrian hamster cells are as abundant in the nucleus as in the cytoplasm. This was shown by in situ hybridization of whole cells and by solution and blot hybridization of subcellular fractions. Similar results were obtained both for wild-type cells and for a mutant containing amplified CAD genes in which the level of CAD RNA is 150-fold greater. CAD nuclear RNA is indistinguishable from mature mRNA by gel electrophoresis and blot hybridization. Discrete higher-molecular-weight precursors are undetectable, although the persistence of a short length of intervening sequence in the otherwise fully processed RNA is not excluded. CAD RNA is released from nuclei by sonication in physiological conditions in a ribonucleoprotein form that sediments as a broad peak at about 200S in a sucrose gradient. CAD sequences extracted from nuclei by treatment with EDTA and RNase are found in the 30S particles previously described.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Gastroduodenal metastases--an unusual initial manifestation of bronchogenic carcinoma.

A 75-year-old woman with multiple polypoid lesions in the gastroduodenum , and one large gastric ulceration all representing large-cell type carcinoma is described. Radiologic and fiberbronchoscopic , together with other clinical findings suggested bronchogenic carcinoma as the primary tumor. Metastatic gastric involvement is an uncommon feature of primary bronchogenic carcinoma, rarely attaining clinical significance. In our patient, gastric symptoms represented the initial clinical manifestation of hitherto undetected bronchogenic cancer disease.

Aged↗
PubMed1979

Endonucleolytic activity directed towards 8-(2-hydroxy-2-propyl) purines in double-stranded DNA.

Photoalkylation of circular covalently closed DNA from phage PM2 with isopropyl alcohol by using a free radical photoinitiator and UV light of lambda greater than 305 nm led to the specific 8-substitution of purine moieties in the DNA, yielding 8-(2-hydroxy-2-propyl)adenine and 8-(2-hydroxy-2-propyl)guanine as the only detectable damage in the DNA. Using this specifically photoalkylated DNA as a substrate, we discovered in extracts of Micrococcus luteus an endonucleolytic activity that is directed towards 8-(2-hydroxy-2-propyl) purines in DNA. The activity is not a combination of a DNA-glycosylase and an apurinic site endonuclease. It is not inhibited by single-stranded DNA, by UV- or gamma-irradiated single-stranded DNA, or by normal or depurinated double-stranded DNA. however, gamma- or UV-(254 nm) irradiated double-stranded DNAs to inhibit the activity, hinting at the possibility of a common type of lesion in these damaged DNAs. Divalent cations are not required for the incising activity, and it is fully active in 1 mM EDTA, whereas caffeine and ATP cause inhibition. Extracts of mutant M. luteus lacking pyrimidine-dimer-directed endonucleases were found to contain the endonucleolytic activity in levels comparable to those present in the wild type. After the incision, we could demonstrate the specific excision of the 8-alkylated purines from the damaged DNA. The special conformational consequences of the 8-alkylation of purines, at the nucleotide level, namely their nonregular syn conformation, suggest that it is the distortion in the DNA that is recognized by the endonuclease.

Alkylation↗
PubMed1979

Enzymatic insertion of purine bases into depurinated DNA in vitro.

An enzymatic activity that inserts purines into depurinated DNA was found in a soluble enzyme extract of Escherichia coli. This activity brings about the insertion of adenine and guanine into the appropriate apurinic sites in double-stranded DNA by using the corresponding deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates as the purine donors. Magnesium ions are required for this activity, it is inhibited by caffeine, and it does not act on depurinated single-stranded DNA. The insertion activity described here may represent a step in a repair mechanism, "base-insertion repair," whereby apurinic sites (which may occur in double-stranded DNA either due to the removal of damaged purines with specific glycosylases or by spontaneous depurination) are directly filled with the correct missing purine base.

Caffeine↗
PubMed1978

Light-induced free-radical reactions of nucleic acid constituents. Effect of sequence and base--base interactions on the reactivity of purines and pyrimidines in ribonucleotides.

The reaction with 2-propanol of purines and pyrimidines, induced photochemically with light of lambda greater than 300 nm and di-tert-butyl peroxide as an initiator, was applied to a variety of adenosine-, guanosine-, and uridine-containing ribonucleotides in order to determine the rules which govern the reactivity of the heterocyclic bases of nucleotides. The reactivity of the purine moieties was found to depend on the conformation of the appropriate nucleotide (anti or syn) and on the site of binding of the phosphate group to the ribose moiety. Adenosine moieties (assuming an anti conformation) blocked at their 3'-hydroxyl reacted faster than those blocked at their 5'-hydroxyl. The reactivity of the guanosine moieties (tending to assume a syn conformation) was independent of the site of binding of the phosphate. The uridine moieties of the various nucleotides exhibited a wide range of reactivity. A correlation between the reactivity of the uridines and their involvement in stacking interactions with next- and second-neighboring purines could be made. Thus, the uridine moieties of U-U-U, G-U, U-G, A-U-A, and A-U-G were reactive, while those of A-U and A-U-U were unreactive. The relative reactivity of uridine moieties of nucleotides can, therefore, be used as a measure of the extent of pyrimidine-purine stacking and vice versa.

Alkylation↗
PubMed1978

Photochemical cross-linking of histones to DNA nucleosomes.

Ultraviolet (UV)-induced cross-linking was utilized in order to identify histone-DNA interacting regions in the chromatin repeating unit. Fractionated mononucleosomes which contained 185 base pairs of DNA and a full complement of the histones, including histone H1, were irradiated with light of lambda greater than 290nm in the presence of a photosensitizer. Equimolar amounts of histones H2A and H2B were found, by two independent labeling experiments, to be cross-linked to the DNA. Based on previous finding that the UV irradiation specifically cross-links residues which are in close proximity, irrespective of the nature of the amino acid side chain or the nucleotide involved, our results indicate that the four core histones are not positioned equivalently with respect to the DNA. This arrangement allows histones H2A and H2B to preferentially cross-link to the DNA. A water soluble covalent complex of DNA and histones was isolated. This complex was partially resistant to mild nuclease digestion, it exhibited a CD spectrum similar to that of chromatin, and was found to contain histone H1. These results are compatible with a model which suggests that histone H1, though anchored to the linker, is bound to the DNA at additional sites. By doing so it spans the whole length of the nucleosome and clamps together the DNA fold around the histone core.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Photochemical cross-linking of neighboring residues in protein-nucleic acid complexes: rnase and pyrimidine nucleotide inhibitors.

Iradiation of the stable complexes formed between RNase and its competitive inhibitors cytidine 2'(3'),5'-diphosphate (pCp), and uridine 2'(3'),5'-diphosphate (pUp), resulted in covalent bond formation between the pyrimidine nucleotides and the enzyme. The photochemical reactions were initiated by ultraviolet light of lambda greater than 300 mn, employing acetone as a photosensitizer. This method was found to yield less undesired by-products, particularly photolyzed amino acids and aggregates resulting from protein-to-protein cross-linking, than the direct method of irradiation with light of lambda 260 nm. Tryptic digrestion of the modified protein, and chromatographic analysis of the peptides thus obtained, revealed a single and specific peptide which bacame covalently linked to both nucleotide inhibitors. The amino acid composition of this peptide is consistent with the sequence Asn-67-Arg-85 of RNase. Part of this peptide (residues 78 through 83) is close to the enzyme's binding site for the pyrimidine moiety of the nucleotides. Denatured RNase failed to cross-link to the inhibitors, and the extent of pUp cross-linking could be reduced by the addition of another competitive inhibitor (3'-UMP). Finally, the presence of excess inhibitor in the irradiation mixture did not lead to nonspecific cross-linking. This indicates that specificity is also achieved due to the fact that unbound excited inhibitor molecules do not react with the protein but prefer to follow different and faster reaction paths.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1976

Reactivity and selectivity in light-induced free radical reactions of 2-propanol with purine and pyrimidine mononucleotides and dinucleoside monophosphates.

Photoalkylation reactions with 2-propanol, initiated with di-tert-butyl peroxide, of a variety of purine and pyrimidine mononucleotides and dinucleoside monophosphates lead to the substitution of an alpha-hydroxyisopropyl group for the H-8 atom of adenosine and the addition of the alcohol across the 5,6-double bond of the pyrimidines. Adenosine moieties blocked at their 3'-hydroxyl group are alkylated faster than those blocked at their 5'-hydroxyl. The reactivity of the uridine moieties of 3'-UMP, 5'-UMP, and uridylyl-(3',5')-uridine is not affected by the location of the phosphate group. However, the uridine moiety of uridylyl-(3',5')-adenosine is modified faster than that of adenylyl-(3',5')-uridine. It is suggested that steric hindrance imposed by the phosphate group determines the reactivity of adenosine moieties, while base stacking involving adenosine determines the reactivity of uridine moieties. These two effects play a major role in controlling the nature and degree of the selectivity of these photoalkylation reactions for either adenosine or uridine. Cytidine has been found to be inert in these reactions.

1-Propanol↗