Continuous-flow size selection of Tetrahymena pyriformis ST: changes in volume, DNA, RNA and protein during synchronous growth

The cell cycle of Tetrahymena pyriformis ST was studied using synchronous cultures prepared by continuous-flow size selection. These organisms had cell cycle times (mean values 151 and 186 min in the first and second cycles respectively) similar to but not identical with the mean generation times of exponential cultures from which they were selected (mean value 165 min). The median volume of cells averaged over the duration of the cell cycle in synchronous cultures was similar to that found in exponential cultures. Total cell DNA, RNA and protein doubled during the cell cycle: there was one discrete S phase which occupied 40 to 50% of the cell cycle time during the period between the end of the selection procedure and the first synchronous division. Total cell protein and RNA increased continuously.

The cytochromes of Acanthamoeba castellanii

1. Low-temperature difference spectra of gradient-purified mitochondria of Acanthamoeba castellanii reveal the presence of cytochromes b-555, b-562 and c-549, with a-type cytochromes having a broad asymmetrical maximum at 602 nm; these components were also observed in specta of whole cells. 2. The a-type cytochromes are unusual in that they have split Soret absorption maxima (at 442 and 449 nm) and an uncharacteristic CO difference spectrum. 3. CO difference spectra of whole cells and 'microsomal' membranes show large amounts of cytochrome P-420 compared with cytochrome P-450. 4. Difference spectra in the presence of cyanide indicate the presence of an a-type cytochrome and two cyanide-reacting components, one of which may be cytochrome a3. 5. Whole-cell respiration in a N2/O2 (19:1) atmosphere was decreased by 50%, suggesting the presence of a low-affinity oxidase. This lowered respiration is inhibited by 50% by CO, and the inhibition is partially light-reversible; photochemical action spectra suggest that cytochrome a3 contributes to this release of inhibition. Other CO-reacting oxidases are also present. 6. The results are discussed with the view that cytochrome a3 is present in A. castellanii, but its identification in CO difference spectra is obscured by other component(s).

Subcellular fractionation by differential and zonal centrifugation of the trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata

Homogenates of Crithidia fasciculata were fractionated by differential centrifugation. Mitochondria were sedimented quantitatively at 10(4) g-min and accounted for approximately 10% of the total recovered protein. Catalase was found exclusively in the supernatant fraction whilst NADH:cytochrome c oxidoreductase and p-nitrophenylphosphatase were found in all the fractions. Zonal centrifugation confirmed that catalase was non-sedimentable. Clean separation of mitochondria was obtained in both high-speed and rate zonal experiments, but no NADH:cytochrome c oxidoreductase activity could be detected in these organelles. Separation of large lysosomal vacuoles which contained p-nitrophenylphosphatase activity was obtained and these were clearly resolved from mitochondria by both high-speed and rate zonal centrifugation.

Mitochondrial adenosine triphosphatase of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe 972h-. Changes in inhibitor sensitivities during the cell cycle indicate similarities and differences in binding sites

1. We used 11 different inhibitors of energy conservation as inhibitors of ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) in extracts of Schizosaccharomyces pombe obtained from cells at different stages of the cell cycle. 2. All the inhibitors showed cell-cycle-dependent variations in their I50 values (microng of inhibitor/mg of protein giving 50% inhibition of inhibitor-sensitive ATPase at pH 8.6). 3. From the sensitivity profiles through the cell cycle it was concluded that: (a) oligomycin, venturicidin, triethyltin sulphate and dibutylchloromethyltin chloride all act at closely associated site(s); (b) NN'-dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide and leucinostatin both act at a similar site, which is, however, distinct from that at which other inhibitors of the membrane factor (Fo) act. 4. The variations in I50 values for efrapeptin closely followed changes in specific activity of ATPase, as would be expected for an inhibitor acting at catalytic sites; these fluctuations were different from those for aurovertin, Dio-9, 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan, quercetin and spegazzinine, all of which show different sensitivity profiles from one another. 5. Anomalous stepwise inhibitor-titration curves were obtained for spegazzinine, NN'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, dibutylchloromethyltin chloride and leucinostatin. 6. Possible explanations are proposed for the discontinuous expression of inhibitor-binding sites during the cell cycle.

Mitochondrial adenosine triphosphatase of the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe 972h-. Changes in activity and oligomycin-sensitivity during the cell cycle of catabolite-repressed and -de-repressed cells

1. Changes in activity of ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) during the cell cycle of Schizosaccharomyces pombe were analysed in cell-free extracts of cells harvested from different stages of growth of synchronous cultures and also after cell-cycle fractionation. 2. Oligomycin-sensitive ATPase oscillates in both glucose-repressed synchronous cultures and shows four maxima of activity approximately equally spaced through the cell cycle. The amplitude of the oscillations accounts for between 13 and 80% of the total activity at different times in the cell cycle. 3. Oligomycin sensitivity varies over a fourfold range at different stages of the cell cycle. 4. The periodicity of maximum oligomycin sensitivity is one-quarter of a cell cycle. 5. These results were confirmed for the first three-quarters of the cell cycle by cell-cycle fractionation. 6. In cells growing synchronously with glycerol, ATPase activity increases in a stepwise pattern, with two steps per cell cycle; the first of these occurs at 0.54 of the cell cycle and the second at 0.95. 7. These results are discussed in relation to previously obtained data on the development of mitochondrial activities during the cell cycle.

Diazepines. XXI. The mass spectra of 2,3-Dihydro-1,4-diazepinium salts

The mass spectra of a series of 2,3-dihydro-1,4-diazepinium salts have been recorded. The commonest breakdown pattern involves initial loss of an N1-C2 fragment.

Mitochondrial adenosine triphosphatase of the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe 972h-. Changes in activity and inhibitor-sensitivity in response to catabolite repression

1. The specific activity of mitochondrial ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) in extracts of Schizosaccharomyces pombe decreased 2.5-fold as the glucose concentration in the growth medium decreased from 50mM to 15mM. 2. During the late exponential phase of growth, ATPase activity doubled. 3. Sensitivity to oligomycin and Dio-9 as measured by values for I50(mug of inhibitor/mg of protein giving 50% inhibition) at pH 6.8 increased sixfold and ninefold respectively during the initial decrease in ATPase activity, and this degree of sensitivity was maintained for the remainder of the growth cycle. 4. Increased sensitivity to NN'-dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide, triethyltin and venturicidin was also observed during the early stage of glucose de-repression. 5. Smaller increases in sensitivity to efrapeptin, aurovertin, 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diaz-le, quercetin and spegazzinine also occurred. 6. The ATPase of glycerol-grown cells was less sensitive to inhibitors than that of glucose-repressed cells; change in values for I50 were not so marked during the growth cycle of cells growing with glycerol. 7. When submitochondrial particles from glycerol-grown cells were tested by passage through Sephadex G-50, a fourfold increase in activity was accompanied by increased inhibitor resistance. 8. Gel filtration of submitochondrial particles from glucose-de-repressed cells gave similar results, whereas loss of ATPase occurred in submitochondrial particles from glucose-repressed cells. 9. It is proposed that alterations in sensitivity to inhibitors at different stages of glucose derepression may be partly controlled by a naturally occuring inhibitor of ATPase. 10. The inhibitors tested may be classififed into two groups on the basis of alterations of sensitivity of the ATPase during physiological modification: (a) oligomycin, Dio-9, NN'-dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide, venturicidin and triethyltin, and (b) efrapeptin, aurovertin, 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole, quercetin and spegazzinine.

Fractionation by differential and zonal centrifugation of spheroplasts prepared from a glucose-repressed fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe 972h-

A method is described for the preparation of spheroplasts in high yield from Schizosaccharomyces pombe, by treating cells grown in the presence of glucose and deoxyglucose with snail digestive enzymes. Gentle disruption of such spheroplasts yielded homogenates, from which marker enzymes for nuclei (NAD pyrophosphorylase) and mitochondria (cytochrome c oxidase activity and spectroscopically-detectable cytochromes a + a3) could be quantitatively sedimented by low-speed centrifugation. In contrast to previous findings with Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, cytochrome c oxidase and another mitochondrial enzyme, succinate dehydrogenase, were completely sedimentable by zonal centrifugation in sucrose gradients in the presence of either 2 mM-MgCl2 or 0-4 mM-EDTA. Mitochondria were apparently smaller and of lower buoyant density in gradients containing EDTA. The bulk of the total units of malate dehydrogenase and NADH; cytochrome c oxidoreductase sedimented with mitochondria, whereas NADPH: cytochrome c oxidoreductase was located in fractions containing no mitochondria. The distributions of mitochondrial enzymes were heterogeneous in populations of mitochondria separated on the basis of size or density. The possible origins of mitochondrial heterogeneity in extracts of S. pombe are discussed with special reference to changes in the enzyme activities of cells during the cell cycle.

Changes in respiratory activities during the cell-cycle of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pompe 972h--growing in the presence of glycerol

1. The specific activities of cytochrome c oxidase, catalase, succinate dehydrogenase, succinate-cytochrome c oxidoreductase, NADH-cytochrome c oxidoreductase, and NADPH-cytochrome c oxidoreductase in mid-exponential-phase batch cultures of glycerol-grown Schizosaccharomyces pombe indicated that the organisms were catabolite-de-repressed. 2. In cultures growing synchronously in the presence of glycerol as sole carbon source, the respiration rate showed two abrupt increases at about 0.45 and 0.95 of the cell-cycle and remained constant in the periods between successive rises. 3. Catalase, succinate dehydrogenase, NADH-cytochrome c oxidoreductase and acid p-nitrophenyl-phosphatase all showed peak patterns of expression in synchronous cultures. 4. Cytochrome c oxidase and cytochromes a+a(3) both showed step patterns of expression with two rises per cell-cycle. 5. Cytochromes c(548), b(554) and b(560) all followed similar time-courses in step patterns of expression, but these were distinct from, and more complex than, that of cytochromes a+a(3). 6. These results are compared with those previously obtained with glucose-grown cultures, and the part played by catabolite repression in the expression of respiratory activities in the cell-cycle is assessed.

The Properties and Subcellular Localization of Acid Phosphatases in the Colourless Alga, Polytomella Caeca

The acid p-nitrophenyl phosphatase of homogenates of Polytomella caeca is a latent acid hydrolase, which is partially inhibited by NaF. Its distribution profile in density gradients (which is similar to that of naphthyl AS-TR phosphatase) suggests that this enzyme is partially lysosomal in location. Cytochemical evidence for the localization of acid phosphatases in fine subcellular structures is presented. Naphthyl AS-TR phosphatase is localized in vacuoles, points of focal degradation, Golgi bodies and dispersed throughout the cytosol. β-Glycerophosphatase is confined to large vacuoles and the cytosol. The nature of acid phosphatase-containing organelles in P. caeca is discussed in view of the inability to detect eleven other latent acid hydrolases in cell-free homogenates.

The development of cytochromes during the cell cycle of a glucose-repressed fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe 972h-

1. Spectrophotometric analysis of intact cells of Schizosaccharomyces pombe, harvested from exponentially growing cultures during the phase of glucose repression, revealed the presence of cytochromes a+a(3), c and at least two species of cytochrome b. 2. An absorption maximum at 554nm at 77 degrees K, previously attributed to cytochrome c(1), has been identified as a b-type cytochrome. 3. CO-difference spectra reveal the presence of cytochromes P-420 and P-450 in addition to cytochrome a(3). 4. The cell cycle was analysed by separation of cells into classes representing successive stages in the cell cycle by isopycnic zonal centrifugation. 5. Cytochromes c(548), b(554) and b(560) each exhibited a single broad maximum of synthesis during the cell cycle. 6. Amounts of cytochromes a+a(3) and b(563) (tentatively identified as cytochrome b(T) by its reaction on pulsing anaerobic cell suspensions with O(2)) oscillated in phase, and showed two maxima during the cycle; the second maximum of cytochromes a+a(3) was coincident with a maximum of activity of enzymically active cytochrome c oxidase. 7. The amount of cytochrome P-420 decreased during the first three-quarters of the cell-cycle, whereas that of cytochrome P-450 increased during this period. 8. The discrepancy between spectrophotometric and enzymic assay of cytochrome c oxidase, the changing ratio of cytochrome a(3)/cytochrome a and the relationship between changes in cellular content of cytochromes and previous observations on respiratory oscillations during the cell cycle are discussed.

Oscillations of enzyme activities during the cell-cycle of a glucose-repressed fission-yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe 972h-

1. Increased specific activities of cytochrome c oxidase, catalase, succinate dehydrogenase, succinate-cytochrome c oxidoreductase, NADH-cytochrome c oxidoreductase and malate dehydrogenase were observed during glucose de-repression of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. 2. The cell-cycle of this organism was analysed by three different methods: (a) harvesting of cells at intervals from a synchronous culture, (b) separation of cells by rate-zonal centrifugation into different size classes and (c) separation of cells by isopycnic-zonal centrifugation into different density classes. 3. Measurement of enzyme activities during the cell-cycle showed that all the enzymes assayed [cytochrome c oxidase, catalase, acid p-nitrophenylphosphatase, NADH-dehydrogenase, NADH-cytochrome c oxidoreductase, NADPH-cytochrome c oxidoreductase, succinate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP) and fumarate hydratase] show periodic expression as ;peaks'. 4. Cytochrome c oxidase shows a single maximum at 0.67 of a cycle, whereas succinate dehydrogenase exhibits two maxima separated by 0.5 of a cell-cycle. 5. All other enzymes assayed showed two distinct maxima per cell-cycle; for catalase, malate dehydrogenase and NADPH-cytochrome c oxidoreductase there is the possibility of multiple fluctuations. 6. The single maximum of cytochrome c oxidase appears at a similar time in the cycle to one maximum of each of the other enzymes studied, except for NADH dehydrogenase. 7. These results are discussed with reference to previous observations on the expression of enzyme activities during the cell-cycle of yeasts.

Changes in enzyme activities and distributions during glucose de-repression and respiratory adaptation of anaerobically grown Saccharomyces carlsbergensis

1. During anaerobic glucose de-repression the respiration rate of whole cells of Saccharomyces carlsbergensis remained constant and was insensitive to antimycin A but was inhibited by 30% by KCN. Aeration of cells for 1 h led to increased respiration rate which was inhibited by 80% by antimycin A or KCN. 2. Homogenates were prepared from sphaeroplasts of anaerobically grown, glucose de-repressed cells and the distribution of marker enzymes was investigated after zonal centrifugation on sucrose gradients containing MgCl(2). These homogenates contained no detectable cytochrome c oxidase or catalase activity. The complex density distributions of NADH- and NADPH-cytochrome c oxidoreductases and adenosine triphosphatase(s) [ATPase(s)] were very different from those of anaerobically grown, glucose-repressed cells. 3. The specific activity of total ATPase was lowered and sensitivity to oligomycin decreased from 58 to 7% during de-repression. 4. Cytochrome c oxidase and catalase activities were detectable in homogenates of cells after 10min aeration. Zonal centrifugation indicated complex, broad sedimentable distributions of all enzyme activities assayed; the peaks of activity were at 1.27g/ml. 5. Centrifugation of homogenates of cells adapted for 30min and 3 h indicated a shift of density of the major sedimentable peak from 1.25g/ml (30min) to 1.235g/ml (3 h). After 30min adaptation a minor zone of oligomycin-sensitive ATPase and 15% of the total cytochrome c oxidase activities were detected at rho=1.12g/l; these particles together with those of higher density containing cytochrome c oxidase, ATPase and NADH-cytochrome c oxidoreductase activities were all sedimented at 10(5)g-min. 6. Electron microscopy indicated that the mitochondria-like structures of anaerobically grown, glucose-de-repressed cells were similar to those of repressed cells. After 10min of respiratory adaptation highly organized mitochondria were evident which resembled the condensed forms of mitochondria of aerobically grown, glucose-de-repressed cells. High-density zonal fractions of homogenates of cells after adaptation also contained numerous electron-dense vesicles 0.05-0.2mum in diameter. 7. The possibility that the ;promitochondria' of anaerobically grown cells may not be the direct structural precursors of fully functional mitochondria is discussed.

The development of the respiratory chain of Saccharomyces carlsbergensis during respiratory adaptation

1. Subcellular fractionation of sphaeroplasts produced at different stages during the first 4h of respiratory adaptation of anaerobically grown glucose-de-repressed Saccharomyces carlsbergensis gave mitochondrial fractions that contained all the detectable c- and a-type cytochromes. 2. The rates of cytochrome formation were studied; individual cytochromes were produced at different rates so as to give respiratory chains having widely differing cytochrome ratios. A CO-reacting haemoprotein other than cytochrome a(3) also increased throughout 8h of respiratory adaptation. 3. Even after short periods of aeration, organisms contained mitochondria in which cytochrome-cytochrome interactions and the reaction of cytochrome a(3) with O(2) proceeded at rates almost as fast as in organelles from aerobically grown cells. 4. The technique of flow-flash photolysis enabled kinetic resolution of the reoxidation of cytochromes a(3) and a to be achieved and their individual contributions to extinction changes in the Soret region were assessed. The ratio cytochrome a(3)/cytochrome a increased over the early stages of adaptation.

The cytochromes of mitochondria from Tetrahymena pyriformis strain ST

1. Mitochondria of the obligately aerobic ciliate protozoon, Tetrahymena pyriformis strain ST, are unusual in that they possess a cytochrome oxidase system that does not react with reduced mammalian cytochrome c; the presence of cytochromes a(603)+a(3) is masked in the alpha-band region of spectra by the broad absorption band of cytochrome a(620). 2. Other haemoproteins present include cytochromes b(560), b(556), c(553) and c(549). 3. The reaction of reduced cytochrome a(3) with CO is reversed by flash photolysis, and in the presence of O(2) the subsequent oxidation of this cytochrome is followed by that of cytochrome a(603). 4. Cytochromes a(620) and b(560) also react with CO and with KCN; the latter cytochrome corresponds with that designated cytochrome o by other workers. 5. The contribution of cytochrome a(603) to difference spectra is revealed by making use of the fact that it does not react with KCN. 6. Cytochrome a(620) is unstable, and its alpha-absorption band is lost from spectra of mitochondria which have been aged or treated with ultrasound, detergents or organic solvents. 7. Possible pathways of electron transport via the several different terminal oxidases in Tetrahymena mitochondria are proposed.