Vitamin B12 and the macromolecular composition of Euglena. I. Kinetic analysis of the cell cycle and chloroplast replication

Ribonucleotide reductase activity in vitamin B12-deficient Euglena gracilis

The ribonucleotide reductase activities in vitamin B12-sufficient and -deficient cells of Euglena gracilis were measured. We found that the cells progress into vitamin B12 deficiency the enzyme activity increases, reaching a maximum value of 20-fold in advanced deficiency. No signigicant differences in the activities were found to result as a consequence of different growth conditions. We propose that the increased activity in vitamin B12-deficient cells is due to an increase in enzyme protein.

Synchronization of division in vitamin B12-starved Euglena gracilis

Vitamin B12 deficiency arrests cell division in Euglena gracilis. B12 starvation for short periods made it possible to induce synchronous growth by addition of the vitamin. Culture conditions were established to optimize replenishment synchrony. The DNA content of E. gracilis in steady state culture and vitamin B12 deficiency culture was measured by flow cytofluorometry and was consistent with colorimetric determinations. The cell volume and DNA distributions of E. gracilis in synchronous culture were analyzed and the sequential changes during the division cycle were computed. Synchronous culture permits more definitive studies of shifts in cell volume and DNA distributions, in which the biochemical events required for cell division are presumably synchronized.

Deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate pools in vitamin B-12-deficient Euglenagracilis

The size of the deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate pools of vitamin B-12-deficient cells of Euglena gracilis, and of vitamin B-12-deficient cells repleted with the vitamin, were measured. We found that the pools were very small, if they exist at all, in deficient cells but expand rapidly with the addition of the vitamin. The sizes of the pools decrease when DNA synthesis is completed, and are very small when the cells begin to divide.