Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M Gross

Publications and source records attributed to M Gross.

At least 595 records · Page 33Linked to original sources

Regulation of protein synthesis by hemin: effect of dithiothreitol on the formation and activity of the hemin-controlled translational repressor.

Previous studies have demonstrated that the hemin-controlled translational repressor (HCR), a high molecular weight protein inhibitor of polypeptide chain initiation in rabbit reticulocyte lysate, is formed from a presynthesized prorepressor over a period of 12--18 h in three stages denoted reversible, intermediate, and irreversible. The prorepressor can, however, be completely converted to irreversible HCR within 2 min by incubation with such sulfhydryl reagents as N-ethylmaleimide. The results in this report demonstrate that dithiothreitol, which stabilizes thiol groups, will, like hemin, prevent the conversion of the prorepressor to HCR and will inactivate reversible HCR. Unlike hemin, dithiothreitol also inactives the intermediate form of HCR. Neither dithiothreitol nor hemin has any effect on the activity of irreversible HCR. Since the prorepressor used in these experiments had been separated from the supernatant factor (a soluble protein that reverses the inhibition of protein synthesis due to HCR), the effect of dithiothreitol and of hemin is independent of this factor and may be mediated by direct interaction with the prorepressor and HCR. Dithioerythritol, the erythro isomer of dithiothreitol, is as effective as dithiothreitol in preventing the formation of HCR, whereas glutathione and beta-mercaptoethanol have little or no effect.

Animals↗

Control of protein synthesis by hemin. An association between the formation of the hemin-controlled translational repressor and the phosphorylation of a 100 000 molecular weight protein.

The control of protein synthesis by hemin in rabbit reticulocytes is mediated by the formation of a high molecular weight protein inhibitor of polypeptide chain initiation, termed the hemin-controlled translational repressor, from a presynthesized prorepressor. The prorepressor, purified approx. 600-fold, was used to study the mechanism of hemin-controlled translational repressor formation. When the prorepressor is converted to the hemin-controlled translational repressor, either by prolonged warming in the absence of hemin or by incubation with N-ethylmaleimide for 5 min, and then incubated briefly with [gamma-32P]-ATP and Mg2+, a protein that migrates as a 100 000 molecular weight component on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels becomes phosphorylated. The extent of phosphorylation of this component is directly proportional to the amount of prorepressor converted to the hemin-controlled translational repressor. In addition, the 100 000 molecular weight protein is not labeled when phosphorylation is attempted with the prorepressor or prorepressor warmed in the presence of hemin, indicating that the protein kinase responsible is probably the hemin-controlled translational repressor. Since the 100 000 molecular protein copurifies with the prorepressor and since the phosphorylation reaction is very rapid (50% complete within 30 s at 34 degrees C), relatively insensitive to dilution, and behaves like an intramolecular reaction, the data suggest that the hemin-controlled translational repressor, once activated, may autophosphorylate a 100 000 molecular weight subunit of itself. Approx. 5 mol phosphate are incorporated per mol of 100 000 molecular weight protein, when the prorepressor is completely converted to the hemin-controlled translational repressor by N-ethylmaleimide. Neither the rate of conversion of prorepressor to the hemin-controlled translational repressor nor the subsequent phosphorylation of the 100 000 molecular weight protein is enhanced by cyclic AMP or reduced by incubation with 3':5'-cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, indicating that cyclic AMP plays no role in hemin-controlled translational repressor formation.

Animals↗

Fracture of the penis with associated laceration of the urethra.

Two patients with rupture of the urethra secondary to sexual trauma are described. Our results with the surgical treatment of such injuries are reported and the potential etiologies are postulated. One patient had an excellent result, while the other had a residual urethral stricture.

Adult↗

Control of protein synthesis by hemin. Isolation and characterization of a supernatant factor from rabbit reticulocyte lysate.

The regulation of protein synthesis by hemin in rabbit reticulocyte lysates is mediated by a hemin-controlled translational repressor protein (HCR) that inhibits polypeptide chain initiation. The effect of this translational inhibitor can be reversed by a high molecular weight protein in the post-ribosomal supernatant fraction. This supernatant factor has been purified approx. 700-fold. It is as effective in reversing the inhibition of protein synthesis due to an early form of HCR (intermediate HCR) as it is in stimulating protein synthesis in the absence of hemin. It is progressively less effective at reversing the inhibition of protein synthesis due to a late from of HCR (irreversible HCR), double-stranded RNA, and oxidized glutathione. The supernatant factor is chromatographically different from the initiation factor IF-MP, isolated from reticulocyte ribosomes, that can also overcome the inhibitory effect of HCR. The supernatant factor does not require hemin for activity, and its action is somewhat suppressed by a level of hemin that is optimal for protein synthesis.

Animals↗

A comparison of membrane fracture faces of fixed and unfixed glycerinated tissue.

Fixed (glutaraldehyde, 3%) and unfixed specimens of rat buccal epithelium, striated muscle, and liver, were cryoprotected with glycerol, freeze-fractured, and replicated without sublimation. A comparison of fracture faces of general plasma membranes, nuclear membranes, mitochondrial membranes, and membranes of rough endoplasmic reticulum revealed no significant differences as between fixed and unfixed material. Apart from some membranes of liver endoplasmic reticulum, there was no evidence of aggregation or redistribution of intramembranous particles in the unfixed material. The results demonstrate that chemical prefixation of tissues for freeze-fracture is not always necessary, or even desirable, and that glycerol may not be as deeply or directly implicated in particle aggregation as previously thought. Fixation with glutaraldehyde alters the cleaving behaviour of plasma membrane at desmosomes and tight junctions, but not at gap junctions.

Animals↗

Freeze-fracture replication of cultured Pityrosporum orbiculare.

Skin scrapings from a patient with Pityriasis versicolor were plated on a bile salt medium containing 10% glycerol (for cryoprotection) and Pityrosporum orbiculare was harvested for freeze-fracture replication. Resting and budding cells were senn. The overall pattern of indentation of the plasma membrane towards the cytoplasm was well revealed as a spiral arrangement of major indentations with minor ones disposed more or less at right angles. Hexagonally-arranged particles were not observed. Mitochondria were elongated with constrictions at intervals, and the fracture face of the limiting membrane directed towards the exterior exhibited linear arrays of particles. An unusual type of organelle was also present, viz: a membrane-limited vesicle with regularly-spaced depressions or "dimples".

Cell Membrane↗

On the mechanism of erythropoietin-induced differentiation. XIV. The apparent effect of etiocholanolone on initiation of erythropoiesis.

Etiocholanolone, when tested in normal mice or in mice that have been out of an hypoxic atmosphere for only a few days, stimulates erythropoiesis, but appears to have no effect on erythropoiesis when tested in plethoric mice that have very low residual red cell formation. The steroid, similarly, stimulates hemoglobin synthesis by marrow cells in culture if they are from normal mice, but has no effect on cells from transfused mice. Out data suggest that 5 beta-H androstane and pregnane derivatives do not have a primary action on the induction of erythropoiesis, but act on cells that are already differentiated.

Animals↗