Cleavage of the polyadenylate-rich region of polyadenylate-rich RNA

The effect of essential amino acid deprivation on poly(A) metabolism in Neurospora crassa

Poly(A) messenger RNa was isolated from a methionine auxotroph of Neurospora crassa grown to exponential and early stationary phases, and from mycelia deprived of the essential amino aid. The polyadenylate regions were isolated from the mRNA preparations by enzymatic digestion and affinity chromatography, and their lengths determined by electrophoresis on 10% acrylamide/90% formamide gels. There was no significant difference in the lengths of the poly(A) regions between exponential and early stationary phase cultures. However, the poly(A) regions of mRNA isolated from cells undergoing amino acid deprivation were larger and more heterogeneous than the poly(A) regions isolated from cells grown in amino acid-supplemented medium. Whole cell extracts prepared from both amino acid-supplemented and amino acid-deprived cultures were assayed for their ability to synthesize and degrade poly(A). No significant difference between the two extracts was detected in either poly(A) polymerase or poly(A)-degrading activities. It was concluded that continuing translational activity in required for the shortening of poly(A) tracts in N. crassa.

A cytoplasmic exoribonuclease from HeLa cells

An exoribonuclease has been purified from the cytoplasm of HeLa cells. The enzyme produces 5'-AMP as the only product from poly(A). The degradation proceeds in a 3' to 5' direction, and a 3'-OH terminus is required. In addition to poly(A), the enzyme degrades other synthetic homopolymers as well as natural messenger, and ribosomal RNAs. The enzyme can also degrade the poly(A) tract of messenger RNA. DNA and double-stranded RNA are resistant to the enzyme.

Experimental cardiac hypertrophy and the synthesis of poly (A) containing RNA and of myocardial proteins in the rat: the effect of digitoxin treatment

The synthesis of poly(A) containing RNA was increased in heart of non-digitalized and digitalized rats after aortic constriction, the increase being of the same degree as that of the RNA lacking this sequence. No differences were found, either in the absence or presence of polyuridylic acid, in the incorporation of radioactivity into protein by cardiac ribosomes isolated from animals treated differently. It may be concluded, that after the constriction of the aorta the synthesis of mRNA proceeds at a similar rate as that of the bulk RNA, and that the treatment of the animals with digitoxin does not abolish the stimulus for hypertrophy.

Presence of polyriboadenylate sequences in pulse-labeled RNA of Escherichia coli

Pulse-labeled RNA isolated from E. coli cells grown on limiting phosphate medium and phosphate-containing medium was analyzed by oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography and by Millipore binding assay for polyriboadenylate-containing RNA. Whereas poly(A)-containing RNA amounted to as much as 15% of the total pulse-labeled RNA from cells grown on limiting phosphate medium, pulse-labeled RNA from cells grown on phosphate medium gave values around 1.5%. Steady-state labeled RNA from cells grown on limiting phosphate medium contained 1.2% poly(A) RNA. The addition of poly(A) sequences appears to be post-transcriptional. These results strongly favor the view that bacterial mRNAs may contain poly(A) stretches.

Association of the polyadenylate segment of messenger RNA with other polynucleotide sequences in mouse sarcoma 180 polyribosomes

Limited digestion of polysomal RNA with pancreatic ribonuclease releases a structure consisting of poly(A) associated with other polyribonucleotide sequences. This complex can be purified by oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography. Heating for formamide treatment causes the dissociation of fragments free of poly(A) from the poly(A)-containing components. The two types of fragments tend to reassociate under annealing conditions, and this association is prevented by poly(U). Control experiments indicate that this structure is not an artifact generated during the manipulations. The same structure can be obtained by limited RNase digestion of polyribosomes, followed by deproteinization. The results suggest that the mRNA in polyribosomes may have a defined configuration caused by the interaction of the poly(A) sequence with another segment of the RNA.

Polyadenylylation and transcription following fertilization

Polyadenylylated RNA from sea urchin embryos concomitantly labeled with [(3)H]adenosine and [(14)C]uridine between fertilization and the four-cell stage was used to determine whether the RNA primers prerequisite to the massive polyadenylylation known to occur after fertilization are synthesized during oogenesis or subsequent to fertilization. Characterization of this RNA and unlabeled RNA via retention on nitrocellulose membranes and poly(U)-impregnated filters, molecular hybridization with [(3)H]poly(U), RNase resistance, oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography, and size-distribution studies indicates that the poly(A) tracts synthesized after fertilization are predominantly appended to preexisting cytoplasmic primers of oogenic origin. Hence, if polyadenylylation is involved in the selective editing of presumptive genetic messages, this process is not confined to the nucleus unless a given codogenic transcript can undergo more than one cycle of adenylylation.