ASPECTS OF CONTROL OF PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN NORMAL AND REGENERATING RAT LIVER, II. A MICROSOMAL INHIBITOR OF AMINO ACID INCORPORATION WHOSE ACTION IS ANTAGONIZED BY GUANOSINE TRIPHOSPHATE

Studies of a factor from dystrophic mouse muscle inhibitory towards protein synthesis

A substance inhibitory to protein synthesis was purified from mouse skeletal muscle by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography, as well as by centrifugation on sucrose gradients. The molecular weight of the inhibitor, determined by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, was 71000. The inhibitory activity was insensitive to ribonuclease A, deoxyribonuclease I and phospholipase C. It was sensitive to Pronase treatment but insensitive to heat-treatment and trypsin degradation. The present results, taken together with previous studies, indicate that the site of action of the inhibitor is not on the initiation phase of protein synthesis but rather at a step after the binding of aminoacyl-tRNA to ribosomes. The increased inhibitor activity found in dystrophic muscle is discussed.

Age-dependent change in the ability of protein synthesis by rat liver microsomes-significance of 2 associated factors

An activator and an inhibitor of polypeptide synthesis were isolated from microsomes of rat liver. The young rat contained a higher level of the activator but a lower level of the inhibitor than the aged rat. The significantly higher ratio of the specific activity of the activator to inhibitor in the young microsomes helps explain the higher capacity for protein synthesis of these microsomes as compared to the microsomes of the aged animal.

The site of the inhibitory action of salicylate on protein biosynthesis in vitro

Salicylate (10 mm) affects neither the transfer of the amino-acid from leucyl-tRNA into protein by rat liver polysomes nor the formation of the leucyl-tRNA. However, lower concentrations of salicylate inhibit the activities of other aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. The most sensitive enzymes are those which incorporate glutamate, aspartate and histidine. It is suggested that salicylate interferes with the in vitro biosynthesis of protein by preferentially inhibiting the production of certain aminoacyl-tRNA species. The drug, in concentrations of 0·6 mm and above, inhibits the ATP-pyrophosphate exchange reaction promoted by individual amino-acids, including leucine.

The effect of age on protein synthesis in mouse liver

1. A system of microsomes and 105000g supernatant from livers of old mice is less able to promote the incorporation of [(14)C]phenylalanine into protein than a similar system from livers of young animals. 2. The decrease in [(14)C]phenylalanine incorporation is attributable to changes in microsomes from old animals rather than in the cell-sap fraction. 3. Decreased synthetic ability is found in various classes of microsomes from older animals, namely unfractionated, light and heavy microsomes, but not in detergent-washed ribonucleoprotein particles. 4. Deletions of certain detergent-soluble microsomal proteins accompany the decreased synthetic ability of microsomes from older animals. 5. Microsomes from old mice are less responsive to a synthetic messenger RNA, polyuridylic acid, and this is partly due to a higher rate of hydrolysis in the presence of cell sap from animals of extreme age. 6. Other more direct evidence, from the priming of a cell-free protein-synthesizing system from bacteria and the examination of ribonucleoprotein particles on sucrose density gradients, suggests that senescence is accompanied by a decrease in messenger RNA content.

Alteration in microsomal protein synthesis during early development of mouse brain

The loss of protein synthesis during early mouse-brain development was shown to be the result, at least in part, of the inability of microsomes obtained from more mature neural tissue to participate in rapid polypeptide synthesis. The loss of brain microsomal activity was observed shortly after birth and continued until the animals were approximately ten days old. Despite the difference in synthetic activity, sucrose gradient profiles of microsomes and polyribosomes from young and more mature brain tissue were quite similar. The loss in protein synthesis was shown to be independent of available mRNA and not attributable to aminoacyl-RNA synthetases and tRNA binding activity.

Evidence for regulation of protein synthesis at the translation level in response to dietary alterations

Rats were maintained for several days on a protein-free diet which, approximately 14 hr before decapitation, was changed to a protein-rich diet. Microsomal subfractions of liver were obtained by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The sedimentation patterns of the microsomal subfractions and of the polysomes were found to be unchanged after the alteration of the diet whereas the ability to incorporate amino acid was markedly enhanced. No significant differences in the RNA/protein ratio of the microsomal subfractions were observed. The changes in amino acid incorporation which were unrelated to concurrent changes in the amount of polysomes are discussed.

Physiology of rat-liver polysomes. The stability of messenger ribonucleic acid and ribosomes

Starvation of rats for several days led to marked decrease in cytoplasmic polysomes and accumulation of breakdown products having S values less than 200s. Re-feeding of the starved animals induced a rapid reassembly of polysomes. These newly formed polysomes, in the presence of actinomycin D, decayed in a biphasic fashion: about two-thirds decayed with an apparent half-life of 3-3(1/2)hr. but the other one-third were much more stable. Evidence that polysome decay is an accurate reflexion of messenger RNA stability is presented, and it is concluded that in the presence of large doses of actinomycin D, rat-liver cytoplasm contains messenger RNA classes of widely varying stability, the more stable class having a half-life of at least 80hr. The half-life of liver ribosomes was also determined and was found to be 110-127hr.

Protein synthesis by microsomal particles from regenerating rat liver

1. Washed microsome particles from regenerating liver were shown to incorporate [(14)C]leucine into protein more actively than similar preparations from normal liver. 2. The total incorporation in the preparations from regenerating liver increased linearly with the amount of protein incubated, whereas this was not so with preparations from normal liver. 3. The greater activity of regenerating-liver microsomes appeared to be associated with the bound polysomes. 4. The size distribution of polysomes obtained after removal of membrane with deoxycholate was the same in normal and regenerating liver. 5. In general the activity of polysome preparations from normal and regenerating liver was similar. 6. It is concluded that the greater activity of the particles in the microsome fraction from regenerating liver is to be attributed to the ribosomes bound to membrane and that their activity is controlled by factors present in the membrane.

Ribosomes: effect of interferon on their interaction with rapidly labeled cellular and viral RNA's

Rapidly labeled RNA of mouse L cells and labeled RNA of Mengo virus, unlike cellular RNA labeled under steady-state conditions, form detectable complexes with L-cell ribosomes. These ribosome-RNA complexes formed in vitro appear analogous to those assembled during polysome formation in vivo. When ribosomes are prepared from L cells exposed to homologous interferon, their capacity to associate with cell messenger is preserved, while their ability to interact with viral RNA is markedly reduced. The ribosomes from cells exposed to interferon are thus altered selectively to permit only certain messages to be bound and translated.

Arrested protein synthesis in polysomes of cultured chick embryo cells

Cells deprived of serum synthesize proteins at a reduced rate; when serum is restored the rate returns to normal. The polysomes do not dissociate, but show reduced incorporation of amino acid in vitro, and are less responsive to polyuridylic acid than are those from normal cells.

The effect of 4-dimethylamino-3'-methylazobenzene on 14-C-labelled amino acid incorporation by rat-liver polysome preparations

1. The incorporation of (14)C-labelled amino acids into polysomal protein was studied in a system consisting of polysomes and pH5 enzyme obtained 4 and 40hr. after a single intraperitoneal injection of 4-dimethylamino-3'-methylazobenzene. Labelling of the polysome fraction of preparations of both the 4hr.-treated and 40hr.-treated rats was considerably higher than in the normal control. 2. In further experiments on protein synthesis by polysomes from azo-dye-treated rats, the effect of replacing pH5 enzyme with cell sap was studied. Incorporation of (14)C-labelled amino acids into polysomal protein was similar to that of the control. 3. Aggregate size of polysomes obtained from rats injected previously with 4-dimethylamino-3'-methylazobenzene was studied by sucrose-gradient centrifugation. Polysomes prepared at 4hr. after azo-dye administration contained a considerable amount of large aggregates (approx. 700s), whereas at 40hr. after administration of the azo-dye the amount of large aggregates was less than in the control. 4. Determination of the ultraviolet spectra of polysome preparations from both normal and azo-dye-treated rats revealed no difference between the preparations. On the other hand, the ultraviolet spectra of cell-sap fractions from the different preparations showed that there is a definite shift in the absorption maximum from 272mmu (normal) to 267mmu, 40hr. after treatment, with an intermediate value of 270mmu for the preparation from 4hr.-treated rats. The absorption minimum changes from 250mmu (normal) to 245mmu for the preparation from 40hr.-treated rats.