Modification of tadpole liver chromatin by thyroxine treatment

XV.—The metabolism of DNA in the liver during precocious induction of metamorphosis in Rana catesbeiana

Studies have been made on the incorporation of [8H]-deoxythymidine into the DNA of the livers of Rana catesbeiana tadpoles. When metamorphosis was induced with tri-iodothyronine, the specific activity of the nuclear DNA rose 5 days after administration of the hormone. In contrast, the specific activity of the DNA from the mitochondrial fraction rose grave–2 days after hormone administration.

In order to determine whether the in vivo change was due to alterations in the pool sizes of the DNA precursors, in vitro studies on DNA polymerase were carried out. It was found that under conditions where the enzyme activity was not limited by availability of template or substrates, there was a rise in the DNA polymerase activity in crude cell extracts from the tadpole liver. Fractionation of the cell components showed that little of this increment in activity appeared to be located in the nucleus, but that a large percentage alteration in activity occurred in the mitochondrial and cell sap fractions.

A possible interpretation of these results is that an increase in the mitochondrial DNA polymerase is one of the early effects of thyroid hormone. This possibility is discussed in relation to the other known effects of thyroid hormones in tadpoles, with particular reference to nucleic acid metabolism and also to mitochondrial hyperplasia.

Cell-free translation and thyroxine induction of carbamyl phosphate synthetase I messenger RNA in tadpole liver

Total RNA of tadpole and frog (Rana catesbeiana) liver was isolated by either 7 or 8 M guanidine . HCl extraction and translated in a cell-free protein-synthesizing system derived from rabbit reticulocytes. The identity of carbamyl phosphate synthetase I[carbamoyl-phosphate synthase (ammonia); ATP:carbamate phosphotransferase (dephosphorylating), EC 2.7.2.5] synthesized in vitro with the purified enzyme was established as follows: (i) immunoprecipitation by a specific antibody; (i) comigration with purified carrier enzyme on sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; (iii) copurification with carrier enzyme by affinity chromatography on Cibacron Blue F3GA-coupled agarose; and (iv) formation of identical proteolytic cleavage products. Inclusion of protease inhibitors in the system resulted in no apparent change in the polypeptide molecular weight. These results indicate that carbamyl phosphate synthetase I is synthesized as a polypeptide that is indistinguishable from the mature enzyme by the analytical methods used and that it is not grossly modified during its transport into mitochondria. The level of translatable mRNA for carbamyl phosphate synthetase-I in tadpole liver was increased about 2-fold 1 day after thyroxine treatment and did not change significantly through 4 subsequent days of treatment. Thus the thyroxine-induced synthesis of carbamyl phosphate synthetase I in tadpole liver is at least partly due to an increase of translatable mRNA for this enzyme.

Triiodothyronine stimulates specifically growth hormone mRNA in rat pituitary tumor cells

In a cell-free protein-synthesizing system from a rabbit reticulocyte lysate, total RNA extracted from cultured rat pituitary tumor (GH3) cells directed, in a dose-related manner, the synthesis of proteins that were precipitated by antisera specific to rat growth hormone (somatotropin) and rat prolactin. A marked decrease in growth hormone secretion and growth hormone mRNA activity was observed when cells were grown in a medium deficient in thyroid hormone. Addition of triiodothyronine in physiologic amounts both prevented and completely reversed this effect within 48 hr. Thyroid hormone had no effect on prolactin secretion or prolactin mRNA activity. These data suggest that thyroid hormone may stimulate synthesis of growth hormone through induction of transcriptional activity. The possibility of an additional effect at the posttranscriptional level has not been excluded. Although thyroid hormone is believed to have a general effect on a variety of metabolic processes, some effects, at the molecular level, may be quite selective, as indicated by the observed changes in growth hormone but not prolactin mRNA activity. The GH3 cell model is useful in the study of triiodothyronine action because of independence from secondary hormonal effects caused by hypothyroidism and because simultaneous measurement of prolactin mRNA activity serves as a unique internal control.

The formation, distribution and function of ribosomes and microsomal membranes during induced amphibian metamorphosis

1. A lag period of about 4 days preceded the onset of metamorphosis precociously induced by tri-iodothyronine in tadpoles of the giant American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana). It was established by the accelerated synthesis or induction of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase and cytochrome oxidase in the liver, serum albumin and adult haemoglobin in the blood, acid phosphatase in the tail, and the increase in the hindleg/tail length ratio. 2. A 4- to 6-fold stimulation, 2 days after the induction of metamorphosis, of the rate of synthesis of rapidly labelled nuclear RNA in liver cells was followed by an increasing amount of RNA appearing in the cytoplasm. Most of the newly formed RNA on induction of metamorphosis was of the ribosomal type. An accelerated turnover at early stages of development preceded a net accumulation of RNA in the cytoplasm, with no change in the amount of DNA per liver. 3. Most hepatic ribosomes of the pre-metamorphic tadpoles were present as 78s monomers and 100s dimers; metamorphosis caused a shift towards larger polysomal aggregates with newly formed ribosomes that were relatively more tightly bound to membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum. 4. The appearance of new polyribosomes in the cytoplasm on induction of metamorphosis was co-ordinated in time with a stimulation of synthesis of phospholipids of the smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum, followed by a gradual shift in preponderance from the smooth to the rough type of microsomal membranes. 5. Electron- and optical-microscopic examination of intact hepatocytes revealed a striking change in the distribution and nature of ribosomes and microsomal membranes during metamorphosis. 6. Ribosomes prepared from non-metamorphosing and metamorphosing animals were identical in their sedimentation coefficients and in the structural ribosomal proteins. The base composition and sedimentation coefficients of ribosomal RNA were also identical. Induction of metamorphosis also did not alter the incorporation of (32)P into the different phospholipid constituents of microsomal membranes. 7. Nascent (14)C-labelled protein with the highest specific activity was recovered in the ;heavy' rough membrane fraction of microsomes, whereas little (14)C was associated with ;free' polysomes. Protein synthesis in vivo was most markedly stimulated during metamorphosis in the tightly membrane-bound ribosomal fraction after the appearance of new ribosomes. 8. The rate of synthesis of macromolecules in vivo could not be followed beyond 7-8 days after induction because of variable shifts in precursor pools due to regression of larval tissues. 9. The stimulation of RNA and ribosome formation was specifically associated with the process of metamorphosis since no similar response to thyroid hormones occurred in those species (Axolotl and Necturus) in which the hormones failed to induce metamorphosis.