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M E Rodgers

Publications and source records attributed to M E Rodgers.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Fluorescence study of the multiple binding equilibria of the galactose repressor.

A fluorescence assay has been developed to study the multiple linked equilibria which function in regulation of the Escherichia coli galactose operon. Fluorescein 5-isothiocyanate was attached to Amino-Modifier C6dT at different positions in an oligonucleotide containing the sequence for the OE site of the galactose operon. These fluorescently labeled oligonucleotides were used to study OEDNA-GalR-d-galactose interactions. The data were analyzed and fit to various models including the classical competitive binding model as well as models involving the formation of a ternary DNA-repressor-inducer complex. Examination of the reduced chi-square of the various fits and comparison of fitted parameters with those obtained in independent experiments were used to distinguish different models. Since the ternary complex is likely to exist under physiological conditions, our results suggest that obligatory dissociation of GalR from DNA may not be required for induction of the gal operon. Rather, induction may involve the formation of a ternary complex of OEDNA with GalR and D-galactose with a different conformation than the GalR-OEDNA binary repressor complex.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1997

Neuraminidase hemadsorption activity, conserved in avian influenza A viruses, does not influence viral replication in ducks.

The N1 and N9 neuraminidase (NA) subtypes of influenza A viruses exhibit significant hemadsorption activity that localizes to a site distinct from that of the enzymatic active site. To determine the conservation of hemadsorption activity among different NAs, we have examined most of the NA subtypes from avian, swine, equine, and human virus isolates. All subtypes of avian virus NAs examined and one equine virus N8 NA possessed high levels of hemadsorption activity. A swine virus N1 NA exhibited only weak hemadsorption activity, while in human virus N1 and N2 NAs, the activity was detected at a much lower level than in avian virus NAs. NAs which possessed hemadsorption activity for chicken erythrocytes (RBCs) were similarly able to adsorb human RBCs. However, none of the hemadsorption-positive NAs could bind equine, swine, or bovine RBCs, suggesting that RBCs from these species lack molecules, recognized by the NA hemadsorption site, present on human and chicken RBCs. Mutagenesis of the putative hemadsorption site of A/duck/Hong Kong/7/75 N2 NA abolished the high level of hemadsorption activity exhibited by the wild-type protein but also resulted in a 50% reduction of the NA enzymatic activity. A transfectant virus, generated by reverse genetics, containing this mutated NA replicated 10-fold less efficiently in chicken embryo fibroblast cultures than did a transfectant virus expressing the wild-type NA. However, both viruses replicated equally well in Peking ducks. Although conservation of NA hemadsorption activity among avian virus NAs suggests the maintenance of a required function of NA, loss of the activity does not preclude the replication of the virus in an avian host.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Measurement of protein structure change in active muscle by hydrogen-tritium exchange.

A hydrogen-tritium exchange method was developed to study protein structure changes at the molecular level in active muscle. Skinned rabbit psoas fibers mounted on a specially designed holder were selectively tritium labeled at peptide group NH sites that change from a highly protected form in rigor to an easily exchangeable, essentially random coil condition when muscle is activated. The number of sites found to show this behavior varies linearly with thick filament-thin filament overlap, and would correspond to 83 amino acids per myosin molecule in the muscle, although the experiments do not yet place these sites in any given protein. Half of the sensitive sites respond to relaxing conditions as well to activation.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1995

Indirect coupling of phosphate release to de novo tension generation during muscle contraction.

A key question in muscle contraction is how tension generation is coupled to the chemistry of the actomyosin ATPase. Biochemical and mechanochemical experiments link tension generation to a change in structure associated with phosphate release. Length-jump and temperature-jump experiments, on the other hand, implicate phase 2slow, a significantly faster, markedly strain-sensitive kinetic process in tension generation. We use a laser temperature jump to probe the kinetics and mechanism of tension generation in skinned rabbit psoas fibers--an appropriate method since both phosphate release and phase 2slow are readily perturbed by temperature. Kinetics characteristic of the structural change associated with phosphate release are observed only when phosphate is added to fibers. When present, it causes a reduction in fiber tension; otherwise, no force is generated when it is perturbed. We therefore exclude this step from tension generation. The kinetics of de novo tension generation by the temperature-jump equivalent of phase 2slow appear unaffected by phosphate binding. We therefore propose that phosphate release is indirectly coupled to de novo tension generation via a steady-state flux through an irreversible step. We conclude that tension generation occurs in the absence of chemical change as the result of an entropy-driven transition between strongly bound crossbridges in the actomyosin-ADP state. The mechanism resembles the operation of a clock, with phosphate release providing the energy to tension the spring, and the irreversible step functions as the escapement mechanism, which is followed in turn by tension generation as the movement of the hands.

Actomyosin↗
PubMed1995

Force generation and temperature-jump and length-jump tension transients in muscle fibers.

Muscle tension rises with increasing temperature. The kinetics that govern the tension rise of maximally Ca(2+)-activated, skinned rabbit psoas fibers over a temperature range of 0-30 degrees C was characterized in laser temperature-jump experiments. The kinetic response is simple and can be readily interpreted in terms of a basic three-step mechanism of contraction, which includes a temperature-sensitive rapid preequilibrium(a) linked to a temperature-insensitive rate-limiting step and followed by a temperature-sensitive tension-generating step. These data and mechanism are compared and contrasted with the more complex length-jump Huxley-Simmons phases in which all states that generate tension or bear tension are perturbed. The rate of the Huxley-Simmons phase 4 is temperature sensitive at low temperatures but plateaus at high temperatures, indicating a change in rate-limiting step from a temperature-sensitive (phase 4a) to a temperature-insensitive reaction (phase 4b); the latter appears to correlate with the slow, temperature-insensitive temperature-jump relaxation. Phase 3 is absent in the temperature-jump, which excludes it from tension generation. We confirm that de novo tension generation occurs as an order-disorder transition during phase 2slow and the equivalent, temperature-sensitive temperature-jump relaxation.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Hinging of rabbit myosin rod.

The question of hinging in myosin rod from rabbit skeletal muscle has been reexamined. Elastic light scattering and optical rotation have been used to measure the radius of gyration and fraction helix, respectively, as a function of temperature for myosin rod, light meromyosin (LMM), and long subfragment 2 (long S-2). The radius of gyration vs temperature profile of myosin rod is shifted with respect to the optical rotation melting curve by about -5 degrees C. Similar studies on both LMM and long S-2 show virtually superimposable profiles. To correlate changes in the secondary structure with the overall conformation, plots of radius of gyration vs fraction helix are presented for each myosin subfragment. Myosin rod exhibits a marked decrease in the radius of gyration from 43 nm to approximately 35 nm, while the fraction helix remains at nearly 100%. LMM and long S-2 did not show this behavior. Rather, a decrease in the radius of gyration of these fragments occurred with comparable changes in fraction helix. These results are interpreted in terms of hinging of the myosin rod within the LMM/S-2 junction.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Thermal stability of myosin rod from various species.

The radius of gyration and fraction helix as a function of temperature have been determined for myosin rod from four different species: rabbit, frog, scallop, and antarctic fish. Measurements from sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis indicate that all particles have the same molecular weight (approximately 130K). All fragments are nearly 100% alpha-helical at low temperatures (0-5 degrees C). The melting profiles for each are qualitatively similar in shape, but their midpoints are shifted along the temperature axis in the following order: antarctic fish (Tm = 33 degrees C), scallop (Tm = 39 degrees C), frog (Tm = 45 degrees C), and rabbit (Tm = 49 degrees C). Corresponding radius of gyration vs temperature profiles for each species are shifted to lower temperatures (approximately 5-8 degrees C) with respect to the optical rotation melting curves. From plots of radius of gyration vs fraction helix, we find a marked drop in the radius of gyration (from 43 to approximately 34 nm) with less than a 5% decrease in fraction helix for rabbit, frog, and antarctic fish rods, whereas the radius of gyration of scallop rod never exceeds 34 nm. Results indicate hinging of the myosin rod of each species. The thermal stabilities of the myosin rods shift in parallel with the working temperature of their respective muscles.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Distribution of mass within native thick filaments of vertebrate skeletal muscle.

The distribution of mass within the vertebrate skeletal thick filament has been determined by scanning transmission electron microscopy. Thick and thin filaments from fresh rabbit muscle were mixed with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), fixed with formaldehyde, dried onto thin carbon films and viewed in a computer-linked microscope. Electron scattering data from both TMV and thick filaments were analysed with reference to the long axis of the particles so that the distribution of mass within the particles could be determined. While TMV appeared to be a uniform rod at the resolution employed (4.3 nm), the thick filament was clearly differentiated along its length. M-line remnants at the centre of the filament were flanked by regions of low mass per unit length, corresponding to the bare zone of the filament, and then by the more massive cross-bridge regions. The mass per unit length was approximately constant through most of the cross-bridge zone and declined at the filament tips, in a manner consistent with a constant number of myosin molecules per 14.3 nm interval (crown) throughout the cross-bridge zone. Fourier analysis of the data failed to detect the expected 43 nm periodicity of C-protein. The total mass of the thick filament was 184 Mdalton (s.e.m., 1.6 X 10(6); n = 70). The mass of adhering M-line proteins was highly variable but, on average, was about 4 Mdalton. The total mass of the filament and the mass distribution in the cross-bridge zone are consistent with three myosin molecules per crown.

Actin Cytoskeleton↗
PubMed1984

Myosin.

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Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1983

Self-association of a high molecular weight subfragment-2 of myosin induced by divalent metal ions.

The effect of divalent cations on the self-association of high molecular weight subfragment-2 (long S-2) and low molecular weight subfragment-2 (short S-2) of rabbit skeletal muscle myosin has been investigated. In the presence of millimolar concentrations of Ca2+ or Mg2+ long S-2 associates at neutral pH to form ordered, high molecular weight aggregates whereas short S-2 does not associate. The association process is co-operative and results from binding two to four divalent cations within the light meromyosin-heavy meromyosin (LMM-HMM) hinge region of long S-2. Optical diffraction of electron micrographs of the long S-2 aggregates revealed several periodicities including reflections near 143 A. High molecular weight HMM showed a similar divalent metal induced self-association. Chymotryptic digestion studies of rod filaments reveal that cleavage within the LMM-HMM hinge is also strongly dependent on the presence of divalent cations. At pH 8, in the absence of divalent cations, the S-2 region appears to be displaced away from the filament backbone resulting in rapid proteolysis in the hinge domain. At high cation concentrations (greater than 10 mM) proteolytic cleavage is suppressed. A similar depression of the (substantially lower) hinge cleavage rate was also observed at neutral pH following addition of these divalent metal ions. Results suggest that binding of Mg2+ within the hinge domain under physiological conditions may act to lock the cross-bridge onto the thick filament surface in its resting-state orientation.

Allosteric Regulation↗
PubMed1977

Patterns of protein synthesis in imaginal discs of Drosophila melanogaster.

Patterns of polypeptide synthesis in wing, leg and eye-antenna imaginal discs and in whole larvae of wild-type and and mutant Drosophila melanogaster have been examined using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. After 2 hr of labeling with 35S during the third larval instar, the synthesis of more than 318 polypeptides has been detected in imaginal discs. Of these, 268 are present in similar amounts in all three disc types. The remaining polypeptides detected in the three imaginal disc types fall into two categories: those unique to a particular disc type, and those specific for a particular pair of disc types. These results are discussed in relation to the spectrum of gene expression in imaginal discs.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Medical interventions during pregnancy and childbirth.

The right of the medical profession to intervene during childbirth, contrary to the wishes of the patient, has been the subject of considerable legal debate during the 1990s. However, recent judicial comment in R vs Louize Collins and others [1998] seems to have reached a clear conclusion on the rights of the pregnant woman, and also the steps that can be taken to treat when a pregnant woman has refused intervention.

Child Advocacy↗