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S J Singer

Publications and source records attributed to S J Singer.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Anomalous interaction of the acetylcholine receptor protein with the nonionic detergent Triton X-114.

Integral membrane proteins that form water-filled channels through membranes often exist as aggregates of similar or identical subunits spanning the membrane. It has been suggested that the insertion into the membrane of the channel-forming domains of the subunits may impart unusual structural features to the membrane-intercalated portions of the protein. To test this proposal, we have investigated the interaction of a multisubunit channel-forming integral membrane protein, the acetylcholine receptor protein, with the nonionic detergent Triton X-114. Whereas non-channel-forming integral membrane proteins that have heretofore been studied form mixed micelles with the detergent, the acetylcholine receptor was excluded from the Triton X-114 micelles. The structural implications of this result are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Distributions of vimentin and desmin in developing chick myotubes in vivo. II. Immunoelectron microscopic study.

The distribution of the intermediate filament proteins vimentin and desmin in developing and mature myotubes in vivo was studied by single and double immunoelectron microscopic labeling of ultrathin frozen sections of iliotibialis muscle in 7-21-d-old chick embryos, and neonatal and 1-d-old postnatal chicks. This work is an extension of our previous immunofluorescence studies of the same system (Tokuyasu, K. T., P. A. Maher and S. J. Singer, 1984, J. Cell Biol., 98:1961-1972). In immature myotubes of 7-11-d embryos, significant labeling for desmin and vimentin was found only in intermediate filaments, and these proteins coexisted in the same individual filaments. Each of the two proteins was present in irregular clusters along the entire length of a filament. No exclusively vimentin- or desmin-containing filaments were observed at this stage. In the early myotubes, the intermediate filaments were essentially all longitudinally oriented, even when they contained three times as much desmin as vimentin. No special relationship was recognized between the dispositions of the filaments and the organization of the myofibrils. Occasionally, several myofibrils were already aligned in lateral registry at this early stage, but labeling for desmin and vimentin was largely absent at the level of the Z bands. Instead, the Z bands appeared to be covered by elements of the sarcoplasmic reticulum. The confinement of intermediate filaments to the level of the Z bands occurred in the myotubes of later embryos after the extensive lateral registry of the Z bands. Thus, intermediate filaments are unlikely to play a primary role in producing the lateral registration of myofibrils during myogenesis, but may be important in determining the polarization of the early myotube and the alignment of its organelles. Throughout the development of myotubes, desmin and vimentin remained in the form of intermediate filaments, although the number of filaments per unit volume of myotube appeared to be reduced as myofibrils increased in number in maturing myotubes. This observation indicated that the transverse orientation of intermediate filaments in mature myotubes does not result from the de novo polymerization of subunits from Z band to Z band, but a continuous shifting of the positions and directions of intact filaments.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

An integral glycoprotein associated with the membrane attachment sites of actin microfilaments.

An integral membrane protein associated with sites of microfilament-membrane attachment has been identified by a newly developed IgG1 monoclonal antibody. This antibody, MAb 30B6, was derived from hybridoma fusion experiments using intact mitotic cells of chick embryo fibroblasts as the immunization vehicle as well as the screening probe for cell surface antigens. In immunofluorescent experiments with fixed cells, MAb 30B6 surface labeling is uniquely correlated with microfilament distributions in the cleavage furrow region of dividing chick embryo fibroblasts and cardiac myocytes in culture. The MAb 30B6 antigen in addition is associated with microfilament-membrane attachment sites in interphase fibroblasts at the dorsal surface, the adhesion plaque region at the ventral surface, and at junction-like regions of cell-cell contact. It is also found co-localized with the membrane-dense plaques of smooth muscle. The MAb 30B6 antigen is expressed in a wide number of chicken cell types (particularly smooth muscle cells, platelets, and endothelial cells), but not in erythrocytes. Some of the molecular characteristics of the MAb 30B6 antigen have been determined from immunoblotting, immunoaffinity chromatography, immunoprecipitation, cell extraction, and charge shift electrophoresis experiments. It is an integral sialoglycoprotein with an apparent molecular mass of 130 kD (reduced form)/107 kD (nonreduced form) in SDS PAGE. Another prominent glycoprotein species with an apparent molecular mass of 175 kD (reduced form)/165 kD (nonreduced form) in SDS PAGE is co-isolated on MAb 30B6 affinity columns, but appears to be antigenically distinct since it is not recognized by MAb 30B6 in immunoblotting or immunoprecipitation experiments. By virtue of its surface distributions relative to actin microfilaments and its integral protein character, we propose that the MAb 30B6 antigen is an excellent candidate for the function of directly or indirectly anchoring microfilaments to the membrane.

Actins↗
PubMed1985

Zeugmatin: a new high molecular weight protein associated with Z lines in adult and early embryonic striated muscle.

Monoclonal antibodies were generated to a purified preparation of the fascia adherens domains of the intercalated discs of chicken cardiac cell membranes. One of these antibodies, McAb 20, immunofluorescently labeled the Z lines of adult skeletal muscle, the Z lines and intercalated discs of adult cardiac muscle, and the dense bodies and dense plaques of adult gizzard smooth muscle. In addition, McAb 20 was found to label regenerating muscle cells in a cross-striated pattern much like that of Z lines in 24-h muscle cell cultures before the appearance of Z lines was detectable by phase or Nomarski optics and before the concentration of alpha-actinin occurred at the Z lines. Thus, McAb 20 appears to be directed against an antigen involved in early myofibrillar organization. Preliminary biochemical characterization of the antigen recognized by McAb 20 indicates that it is a high molecular weight doublet of over 5 X 10(5) kD that is highly susceptible to proteolysis. By virtue of its presence in Z lines, and its possible role in the end-on attachment of microfilaments to Z lines and membranes, we have named this protein zeugmatin (xi epsilon nu gamma mu alpha identical to yoking).

Aging↗
PubMed1985

Immunocytochemical localization of 140 kD cell adhesion molecules in cultured chicken fibroblasts, and in chicken smooth muscle and intestinal epithelial tissues.

A monoclonal antibody (JG22 MAb) that was previously raised to a chick embryo myogenic cell preparation had been shown to produce rounding and other morphological changes in myogenic cells in culture, and, in some cases, their detachment from the substratum. In other studies it was shown that the epitope recognized by JG22 was associated with a set of 140 kD cell surface glycoproteins. It is shown that this antigen occurs in a wide variety of cell types; in cultured fibroblasts, it is distributed equally between the dorsal and ventral cell surfaces shortly after plating, but appears to become concentrated on the ventral surface as cell spreading proceeds; by immunoelectron microscopic labeling experiments, it is absent from the focal adhesion contact sites formed by fibroblasts with their substrata and with one another, but is present in clusters at the edge of focal adhesions, and within the close contact sites and extracellular matrix contact sites; in smooth muscle cells, it is absent from the membrane-associated dense plaques, but is located in clusters at adjacent membrane sites; in intestinal epithelium, it is present in clusters at the basolateral membranes, but not at the microvilli or within junctional complexes of the brush border of the cell layers. These and other results are consistent with the suggestion that the antigen recognized by JG22 MAb is important cell adhesion molecules, and performs a characteristic function in a variety of cell-cell contacts and cell adhesions.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

The reorientation of the Golgi apparatus and the microtubule-organizing center in the cytotoxic effector cell is a prerequisite in the lysis of bound target cells.

This investigation is concerned with the detailed mechanisms of cytotoxicity, and in particular, with early cell surface and intracellular events that occur upon the binding of a cytotoxic effector cell to its susceptible target. In earlier studies, we have shown by immunofluorescence microscopy that when cloned natural killer (NK) and cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) cells bind to susceptible target cells, a rapid and coordinate reorientation of the perinuclear Golgi apparatus and the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) occurs inside the effector cell so that the two organelles face the bound target. It was proposed that the purpose served by this reorientation is to direct Golgi-derived secretory vesicles, containing one or more cytotoxic components, to the area of target cell binding. In order to establish more firmly that this reorientation of the two organelles is an essential early event in cytotoxicity, we have performed three different types of experiments. 1) Upon binding cloned effector cells to susceptible targets in the presence of Mg+2 but absence of Ca+2, conditions in which no killing occurs, we found that no reorientation of the MTOC in the effector cell is induced; however, the addition of CA+2 to these cell couples results in a rapid MTOC reorientation. 2) With a lysis-defective subclone derived from a cytolytic NK clone, binding to target cells did not induce an MTOC reorientation in the defective killer cell. 3) In multitarget conjugates formed with single CTL, the MTOC in the CTL was oriented to face that one target cell which was in the process of lysis at the time. These results, together with our earlier findings, strongly indicate that a Golgi/MTOC reorientation inside the target-bound effector cell is a pre-requisite for the effective lysis of the target. They also reveal the existence, previously unrecognized, of a specific signaling mechanism from the viable target cell to the effector cell, which must be involved in the triggering of this Golgi/MTOC reorientation. These conclusions are consistent with the proposal that a polar cytotoxic secretory mechanism is responsible for target cell lysis.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Structural changes in membranes produced by the binding of small amphipathic molecules.

In their interactions with membranes, amphipathic small molecules exhibit detergent-like properties. At sufficiently high concentrations (above their critical micelle concentrations, if they form micelles), they substantially dissolve membranes. At lower concentrations, between maximally antihemolytic and lytic, we show here that the amphipaths significantly perturb membrane structure. Each of six small-molecule amphipaths was shown by hygroscopic desorption filtration to induce the extraction of small but significant amounts of membrane components, partly in the form of vesicular fragments, from red blood cell membranes. These extracts were enriched in the lipid to protein ratio as compared to the intact membrane, and the protein composition was highly unrepresentative. A similar set of extractions from sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes was induced by the six amphipaths. We conclude that small-molecule amphipaths, at concentrations lower than lytic, promote gross redistributions of components in the plane of a membrane that result in the observed extractions.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

An improved procedure for immunoelectron microscopy: ultrathin plastic embedding of immunolabeled ultrathin frozen sections.

Ultrathin frozen sections are ideal substrates with which to carry out immunolabeling experiments in electron microscopy. However, the ultrastructural delineation in positively stained frozen sections has not been as detailed as in conventionally osmium-stained and plastic-embedded sections. We now describe a simple technique in which immunolabeled ultrathin frozen sections are subsequently treated with osmium tetroxide, dehydrated, and then embedded in plastic by impregnation with a monomer to the thickness of the section, followed by polymerization of the monomer. By this technique ultrastructural definition as good as that of conventional plastic sections is achieved, while the high density and specificity of immunolabeling characteristic of ultrathin frozen sections are retained.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Lysosomes are associated with microtubules and not with intermediate filaments in cultured fibroblasts.

Double immunofluorescent labeling experiments for lysosomes and either microtubules or vimentin intermediate filaments in cultured well-spread fibroblasts show a remarkable degree of superposition of the lysosomes and the microtubules. Under two different sets of conditions where the microtubules and intermediate filaments are well segregated from one another, the lysosomes remain codistributed with the microtubules. It is suggested that this specific association of lysosomes with microtubules reflects some type(s) of linkage(s) between them and that such linkages may play an important role in the location and intracellular transport of lysosomes inside cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Distributions of vimentin and desmin in developing chick myotubes in vivo. I. Immunofluorescence study.

Antibodies against chicken erythrocyte vimentin and gizzard desmin were affinity purified and then cross-absorbed with the heterologous antigen. They were used to study the in vivo distributions of these proteins in developing and mature myotubes by immunofluorescence microscopy of 0.5-2-micron frozen sections of iliotibialis muscle in 7-21-day chick embryos, neonatal and 1-d postnatal chicks, and adult chickens. The distributions of vimentin and desmin were coincidental throughout the development of myotubes, but the concentration of vimentin was gradually reduced as the myotubes matured and became largely undetectable at the time of hatching. The process of confining these proteins to the level of Z line from the initial uniform distribution occurred subsequent to the process of bringing myofibrils into lateral registry: in-register lateral association of several myofibrils was occasionally seen as early as in 7-11-d embryos, whereas the cross-striated immunofluorescence pattern of desmin and vimentin was only vaguely discerned in myotubes of 17-d embryos, just 4 d before hatching. In some myotubes of 21-d embryos, myofibrils were in lateral registry as precisely as in adult myofibers but desmin was still widely distributed around Z line in an irregular manner. Nevertheless, in many other myotubes of prenatal or neonatal chicks, desmin became confined to the level of Z line in a manner similar to that seen in adult myofibers, thus essentially completing its redistribution to the confined state of adult myofibers in coincidence with the time of hatching. In extracts from iliotibialis and posterior latissimus dorsi muscles of adult chickens, we detected a hitherto unidentified protein that was very similar to vimentin in molecular weight but did not react with our antivimentin antibody. We discuss the possibility that this protein was confused with vimentin in the past.

Aging↗
PubMed1984

Associations of elements of the Golgi apparatus with microtubules.

The intracellular spatial relationships between elements of the Golgi apparatus (GA) and microtubules in interphase cells have been explored by double immunofluorescence microscopy. By using cultured cells infected with the temperature-sensitive Orsay-45 mutant of vesicular stomatitis virus and a temperature shift-down protocol, we visualized functional elements of the GA by immunolabeling of the G protein of the virus that was arrested in the GA during its intracellular passage to the plasma membrane 13 min after the temperature shift-down. Complete disassembly of the cytoplasmic microtubules by nocodazole at the nonpermissive temperature before the temperature shift led to the dispersal of the GA elements, from their normal compact perinuclear configuration close to the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) into the cell periphery. Washout of the nocodazole that led to the reassembly of the microtubules from the MTOC also led to the recompaction of the GA elements to their normal configuration. During this recompaction process, GA elements were seen in close lateral apposition to microtubules. In cells treated with nocodazole followed by taxol, an MTOC developed, but most of the microtubules were free of the MTOC and were assembled into bundles in the cell periphery. Under these circumstances, the GA elements that had been dispersed into the cell periphery by the nocodazole treatment remained dispersed despite the presence of an MTOC. In cells treated directly with taxol, free microtubules were seen in the cytoplasm in widely different, bundled configurations from one cell to another, but, in each case, elements of the GA appeared to be associated with one of the two end regions of the microtubule bundles, and to be uncorrelated with the locations of the vimentin intermediate filaments in these cells. These results are interpreted to suggest two types of associations of elements of the GA with microtubules: one lateral, and the other (more stable) end-on. The end-on association is suggested to involve the minus-end regions of microtubules, and it is proposed that this accounts for the GA-MTOC association in normal cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Effect of microtubule assembly status on the intracellular processing and surface expression of an integral protein of the plasma membrane.

We studied the effects of changes in microtubule assembly status upon the intracellular transport of an integral membrane protein from the rough endoplasmic reticulum to the plasma membrane. The protein was the G glycoprotein of vesicular stomatitis virus in cells infected with the Orsay-45 temperature-sensitive mutant of the virus; the synchronous intracellular transport of the G protein could be initiated by a temperature shift-down protocol. The intracellular and surface-expressed G protein were separately detected and localized in the same cells at different times after the temperature shift, by double-immunofluorescence microscopic measurements, and the extent of sialylation of the G protein at different times was quantitated by immunoprecipitation and SDS PAGE of [35S]methionine-labeled cell extracts. Neither complete disassembly of the cytoplasmic microtubules by nocodazole treatment, nor the radical reorganization of microtubules upon taxol treatment, led to any perceptible changes in the rate or extent of G protein sialylation, nor to any marked changes in the rate or extent of surface appearance of the G protein. However, whereas in control cells the surface expression of G was polarized, at membrane regions in juxtaposition to the perinuclear compact Golgi apparatus, in cells with disassembled microtubules the surface expression of the G protein was uniform, corresponding to the intracellular dispersal of the elements of the Golgi apparatus. The mechanisms of transfer of integral proteins from the rough endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus, and from the Golgi apparatus to the plasma membrane, are discussed in the light of these observations, and compared with earlier studies of the intracellular transport of secretory proteins.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

A 200-kd protein isolated from the fascia adherens membrane domains of chicken cardiac muscle cells is detected immunologically in fibroblast focal adhesions.

On the premise that the fascia adherens of cardiac muscle cell intercalated disk membranes is a structure that is closely homologous to the focal adhesions formed by fibroblasts, a fascia adherens preparation was isolated from chicken cardiac muscle, and was analyzed for its protein composition. A prominent 200-kilodalton (kd) protein was purified from the fascia preparation and shown to be antigenically unrelated to several previously characterized cytoskeletal proteins, including cardiac myosin and vinculin. With monospecific antibodies to the 200-kd protein, an identical or closely similar intracellular protein was shown to be associated with the focal adhesion plaques of fibroblasts.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Polarization of the Golgi apparatus and the microtubule-organizing center within cloned natural killer cells bound to their targets.

In cell couples formed between a cloned murine natural killer (NK) cell and either of two target cells, we have obtained evidence by immunofluorescence observations for a rapid coordinate repositioning of two organelles, the microtubule organizing center and the perinuclear Golgi apparatus, inside the NK cell to face the region of contact with the target cell. With microtubule-disrupting drugs, which also cause a dispersion of the Golgi apparatus throughout the periphery of the NK cell, it was found that target cell lysis is reversibly inhibited. It is proposed that the coordinate repositioning of the two organelles serves the function of directing secretory vesicles derived from the Golgi apparatus to the bound target cells, the secretory vesicles containing components that induce target cell lysis.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Membrane insertion at the leading edge of motile fibroblasts.

We are concerned with the mechanisms involved in the directed migration of eukaryotic cells. Previously we found that, inside cells at the edge of an experimental wound, the Golgi apparatus and the microtubule-organizing center were rapidly repositioned forward of the nucleus in the direction of subsequent cell migration into the wound. This repositioning was proposed to serve the purpose of introducing new membrane mass at the leading edge of the cell, by directing Golgi apparatus-derived vesicles bound for the plasma membrane to that edge. We now provide evidence to support this proposal. Cultured fibroblastic cells at the edge of a wound were infected with a temperature-sensitive mutant (0-45) of vesicular stomatitis virus. It is known that the G-protein, an integral membrane protein of the virus, is synthesized and remains in the rough endoplasmic reticulum at the nonpermissive temperature, but when the infected cells are shifted to the permissive temperature, the G-protein moves through the Golgi apparatus to the plasma membrane. By immunofluorescence microscopy, we here show that the first appearance of the G-protein at the cell surface corresponds to the leading edge of the motile cell. These observations are incorporated into a coherent scheme for the mechanisms involved in cell migration.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Immunoelectron microscopic studies of desmin (skeletin) localization and intermediate filament organization in chicken skeletal muscle.

We studied the localization of desmin (skeletin), the major subunit of muscle-type intermediate filaments, by high resolution immunoelectron microscopy in adult chicken skeletal muscle. Immunoferritin labeling of ultrathin frozen sections of intact fixed sartorius muscle showed the presence of desmin between adjacent Z-bands and as strands peripheral to Z-bands, forming apparent connections between the Z-bands with adjacent sarcolemma, mitochondria, and nuclei. We observed no desmin labeling, however, in the vicinity of the T-tubules. In addition, intermediate filaments were morphologically discernible at the level of the Z-bands in plastic sections of glycerol-extracted muscle that had been infused with unlabeled antidesmin antibodies. Our results indicate that the desmin present in adult skeletal muscle, that had previously been detected by immunofluorescence light microscopy, is largely if not entirely in the form of intermediate filaments. The results provide evidence that these filaments serve to interconnect myofibrils at the level of their Z-bands, and to connect Z-bands with other specific structures and organelles in the myotube, but not with the T-tubule system.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Immunoelectron microscopic studies of desmin (skeletin) localization and intermediate filament organization in chicken cardiac muscle.

We studied the localization of desmin (skeletin), the major protein subunit of muscle-type intermediate filaments, in adult chicken cardiac muscle by high resolution immunoelectron microscopic labeling of ultrathin frozen sections of the intact fixed tissues. We carried out single labeling for desmin and double labeling for both desmin and either vinculin or alpha-actinin. In areas removed from the intercalated disk membranes, we observed desmin labeling between adjacent Z-bands in every interfibrillar space. Where these spaces were wide and contained mitochondria, convoluted strands of desmin labeling bridged between the periphery of neighboring Z-bands and the mitochondria. The intermediate filaments appeared to be organized in a more three-dimensional manner within the interfibrillar spaces of cardiac as compared to skeletal muscle. Near the intercalated disks, desmin labeling was intense within the interfibrillar spaces, but was completely segregated from the microfilament attachment sites (fascia adherens) where vinculin and alpha-actinin were localized. Desmin therefore appears to play no role in the attachment of microfilaments to the intercalated disk membrane. We discuss the role of intermediate filaments in the organization of cardiac and skeletal striated muscle in the light of these and other results.

Actinin↗