Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Pedersen

Publications and source records attributed to S Pedersen.

269 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

Patterns of protein synthesis in E. coli: a catalog of the amount of 140 individual proteins at different growth rates.

The amount of 140 individual proteins of E. coli B/r was measured during balanced growth in five different media. The abundance of each protein was determined from its absolute amount in 14C-glucose-minimal medium and a measurement of its relative amount at each growth rate using a double labeling technique. Separation of the proteins was carried out by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. This catalog of proteins, combined with 50 additional ribosomal proteins already studied, comprises about 5% of the coding capacity of the genome, but accounts for two thirds of the cell's protein mass. The behavior of most of these proteins could be described by a relatively small number of patterns. 102 of the 140 proteins exhibited nearly linear variations with growth rate. The remaining 38 proteins exhibited levels which seemed to depend more on the chemical nature of the medium than on growth rate. Proteins, including the ribosomal proteins, that increase in amount with increasing growth rate account for 20% of total cell protein by weight during growth on acetate, 32% on glucose-minimal medium and 55% on glucose-rich medium. Proteins with invariant levels in the various media comprise about 4% of the cell's total protein.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Chemical measurement of steady-state levels of ten aminoacyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetases in Escherichia coli.

Polypeptide chains of 10 aminoacyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetases (those for arginine, glutamine, glutamic acid, glycine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, threonine, and valine) have been identified in lysates of Escherichia coli resolved by the O'Farrell two-dimensional gel system. By labeling cells uniformly with [14C]glucose and by measuring the total amounts of these polypeptides by their radioactivity, estimations of the steady-state, molecular amounts of these enzymes were made and compared to the number of ribosomes and elongation factors in these cells. Portions of a reference culture grown on glucose and labeled with [14C]leucine or [35S]sulfate were mixed with four cultures grown in widely different media containing [3H]leucine or [3H]leucine plus [3H]isoleucine. From the isotope ratios of the total protein and of the spots containing the synthetase chains, the chemical amount of each synthetase relative to that of the reference culture was determined. The results, where comparable, show reasonable agreement with enzyme activity measurements. In general, these synthetases each exhibit a positive correlation with growth rate in unrestricted media, indicating a strong tendency for the levels of transfer ribonucleic acid, synthetases, elongation factors, and ribosomes to remain approximately, though not exactly, in balance at different growth rates.

Alanine-tRNA Ligase↗

Transient rates of synthesis of five amionacyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetases during a shift-up of Escherichia coli.

The steady-state levels of a number of aminoacyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetases are known to be positively correlated with growth rate in Escherichia coli. To describe the regulation of these enzymes during a nutritional shift-up, use was made of the recent identification of polypeptide chains of several synthetases in whole cell lysates resolved by the O'Farrell two-dimensional gel system. A culture growing in acetate minimal medium was shifted to glucose-rich medium and pulse labeled with [3H]leucine and [3H]isoleucine for 30- or 6-s intervals during the 20 min after the shift. After mixing with a uniformly [35S]sulfate-labeled reference culture, the samples were subjected to two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The 3H/35S ratio in the resolved synthetase polypeptides provided an accurate estimation of their transient rates of synthesis. Five aminoacyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetases (those for argnine, glycine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, and valine) exhibited an increase in formation within 30 to 90 s after the shift-up. The magnitude of the increases corresponded to the final steady-state values and were reached within 2 to 3 min. The addition to rifampin revealed that the increase in the differential rate of valyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase formation was the result of increased messenger ribonucleic acid transcription and not of a relaxation of some translation restriction.

Acetates↗

Biosynthetic regulation of individual proteins in relA+ and relA strains of Escherichia coli during amino acid starvation.

An isogenic pair of Escherichia coli mutants (relA+ tufB valSts and relA1 tufB valSts) has been cultured at several temperatures to establish various degrees of limitation for valyl-tRNA synthetase. The biosynthetic rate of 16 identifiable proteins, most of which are components of the transcription and translation apparatus, was measured by pulse-labelling with [35S]-methionine, followed by protein separation using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (O'Farrell, 1975). No single pattern of response to amino acid starvation of biosynthetic rate was observed. EF-Ts, L12 and S6 were found to be under strong stringent and relaxed regulation; EF-G, EF-Tu-A and S1 are under strong stringent, but weak relaxed regulation; EF-Tu-B, alpha, VRS, IRS and ARS are under week stringent and weak relaxed regulation; beta is under weak stringent regulation and does not respond at all to relaxed conditions; the biosynthetic rate of a protein called stringent starvation protein is strongly stimulated, relative to other proteins, in the starved stringent strain.

Amino Acids↗

A transducing bacteriophage lambda carrying the structural gene for elongation factor Ts.

A specialized transducing bacteriophage lambdadpolCdap D-9 has been isolated that carries the structural gene for EF-Ts1 (tsf). The presence of EF-Ts among the proteins synthesized under the direction of this phage in UVL-inactivated cells has been detected by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and has been verified by antibody precipitation. In an induced lysogen of this phage the relative rate of synthesis of EF-Ts is increased 4-fold. Evidence is presented which suggest that the structural genes for ribosomal protein S2 (rpsB) and RNA polymerase sigma factor (sit) also lies on lambdadpolCdap D-9.

Coliphages↗

Analysis of the proteins synthesized in ultraviolet light-irradiated Escherichia coli following infection with the bacteriophages lambdadrifd 18 and lambdadfus-3.

The presence of EF-Tu, RNA polymerase subunit alpha, and EF-G on the lambdadfus-3 genome and EF-Tu, ribosomal proteins L7/L12, and RNA polymerase subunit beta on the lambdadrifd 18 genome has been confirmed using a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis technique sensitive to changes in isoelectric point and molecular weight. In this system two EF-Tu gene products could not be resolved. Following infection of ultraviolet light-irradiated Escherichia coli with either lambdadfus-3 or lambdadrifd18, the EF-Tu gene, tufA, near 65 minutes on the genetic map is expressed as 3-4 copies per EF-G molecule. The EF-Tu gene, tufB, near 79 minutes on the genetic map, is expressed at about one-third of this rate. alpha is expressed as 1 copy per EF-G molecule, beta as 0.14 per EF-G molecule and L7/L12 as 2.5 per EF-G. These figures compare well with the relative amounts found in exponentially-growing cells, in which the ratio of EF-Tu to EF-G is approximately 5. Almost 90% of the total number of proteins (calculated on a molecular weight basis) which theoretically can be encoded on the lambdadrifd18 have been identified on the two-dimensional gel.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Isolation of transducing phage carrying rps T, the structural gene for ribosomal protein S20.

Lambda transducing phages carrying segments of the Escherichia coli chromosome in the dapB region have been isolated in their in vivo gene products analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. One of these phages, lambdaddapB-2, carries the structural genes for ribosomal protein S20 (rps T) and isoleucyltransfer RNA synthetase (ileS.) The most likely gene order is thr-rpsT-ileS-dapB-pyrA.

Bacterial Proteins↗

A mutant of Escherichia coli with an altered elongation factor Tu.

A previously isolated mutant of E. coli K12 HAK 88 [Kuwano, M., Endo, h & yamamoto, M. (1972) J. Bacteriol, 112, 1150-1156], contains a new protein that in two-dimensional gel electropherorgrams has the same molecular weight as normal elongation factor Tu, but whose isoelectric point is altered approximately 0.1 pH unit in the acidic direction. Peptide mapping, purification properties and the ratio of leucyl plus isoleucyl to methionyl plus cysteinyl residues of the normal elongation factor Tu protein and the new protein show a close similarity between the two. The mutation causing the altered electrophoretic mobility is located between argH and rif (79 min on the E. coli genetic map). These biochemical and genetic data indicate that strain HAK 88 has a mutationally altered tufB gene.

Chromosome Mapping↗

Regulation of transcription factor rho and the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase in Escherichia coli B/r.

Transcriptional termination factor rho, the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase (RNA nucleotidyltransferase nucleosidetriphosphate: RNA nucleotidyltransferase, EC 2.7.7.6), and ribosomal protein S6 were resolved from whole-cell extracts of E. coli B/r by a high-resolution, two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic technique, and were identified through coelectrophoresis with the purified proteins. The regulation of rho, alpha, and S6 was studied, in steady-state cultures of E. coli B/r growing at rates ranging from 0.6 to 2.1 generations per hr, through the use of this gel technique and a double radioisotope labeling procedure. The regulatory patterns of rho and alpha are distinct from, but similar to, one another. Neither rho nor alpha shows the sharply increasing levels with increasing growth rate shown by the ribosomal proteins was exemplified by S6. The difference between the levels of rho and alpha, on the one hand, and S6, on the other, is most pronounced during rapid growth. The regulatory pattern of alpha is interesting, given the recent suggestion that the gene coding for alpha is contranscribed with genes coding for ribosomal proteins.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Isolation of a lambda transducing bacteriophage carrying the relA gene of Escherichia coli.

In Escherichia coli the relA and pyrG loci are 99% cotransducible. On the basis of this knowledge, we have isolated lambdacI857S7dpyrG transducing bacteriophages carrying both the pyrG and relA genes. Single lysogens of this bacteriophage show basal levels of ppGpp that are 10-fold higher than normal. Stringent factor is present among the gene products synthesized by lambdadpyrG relA after infection of ultraviolet-killed cells, as analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The intracellular content of stringent factor, as determined by enzymatic activity, rises 20-fold after induction of a single lysogen of lambdadpyrG relA. As measured by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, the amount of stringent factor in an exponentially growing strain carrying a pyrG relA plasmid is at least 10-fold greater than in a normal strain. These data constitute strong evidence that stringent factor is the relA gene product.

Amino Acids↗

Marginal vitamin A deficiency in pigs experimentally infected with Trichuris suis: a model for vitamin A inadequacy in children.

The development of an experimental model for marginal vitamin A deficiency in humans is of major interest, enabling the elucidation of possible interactions with helminth infections. We established a useful experimental model for human vitamin A deficiency in young pigs; deficiency was induced through a depletion method encompassing both sow and offspring. We report on a 2 x 2 study in which 18-week-old vitamin A deficient pigs and vitamin A sufficient littermates were infected with both of the intestinal nematodes Trichuris suis and Ascaris suum and followed for 14 weeks through 32 weeks of age. Forty-nine pigs were followed with respect to bodyweight, liver biopsies and blood samples for retinol concentration and faecal samples for parasite eggs and worms. Liver and serum concentrations of vitamin A were significantly diminished in the vitamin A deficient (VAD) group as compared to the vitamin A sufficient (VAS) group both before (P < 0.001) and after inoculation with T. suis and A. suum (P < 0.02). A significant correlation between retinol content in micro-biopsy needle samples and gross liver content was found (r = 0.457, n = 48, P = 0.001). The adult T. suis worms in the VAD group were marginally smaller (36.7 vs 40.2 mm; P = 0.08), more orally located (section 2.9 vs 3.9; P = 0.08) and had a higher proportion of males (0.58 vs 0.50; P = 0.08) whereas there were no effects of diet treatment on fecundity. The proportion of pigs with faecal T. suis egg excretion 12 weeks post inoculation (p.i.) was significantly lower in the VAD group compared with the VAS infected group (21 vs 78%; P = 0.036). In addition, faecal T. suis egg excretion was significantly lower in the VAD group at both week 11 (P = 0.040) and week 12 p.i. (P = 0.021). Vitamin A deficiency may have altered the functional integrity of the mucosal intestinal epithelium, disrupting the normally delicate attachment of T. suis and leading to the premature termination of infection. However, a possible antagonistic interaction, if verified, should not preclude interventions to improve vitamin A status, i.e., treatment should accompany anthelmintic treatment.

Animals↗