Ribosome degradation and the degradation products in starved Escherichia coli. V. Ribonucleoprotein particles from glucose-starved cells

Quantitative proteomic analysis of ribosome assembly and turnover in vivo

Although high-resolution structures of the ribosome have been solved in a series of functional states, relatively little is known about how the ribosome assembles, particularly in vivo. Here, a general method is presented for studying the dynamics of ribosome assembly and ribosomal assembly intermediates. Since significant quantities of assembly intermediates are not present under normal growth conditions, the antibiotic neomycin is used to perturb wild-type Escherichia coli. Treatment of E. coli with the antibiotic neomycin results in the accumulation of a continuum of assembly intermediates for both the 30S and 50S subunits. The protein composition and the protein stoichiometry of these intermediates were determined by quantitative mass spectrometry using purified unlabeled and (15)N-labeled wild-type ribosomes as external standards. The intermediates throughout the continuum are heterogeneous and are largely depleted of late-binding proteins. Pulse-labeling with (15)N-labeled medium time-stamps the ribosomal proteins based on their time of synthesis. The assembly intermediates contain both newly synthesized proteins and proteins that originated in previously synthesized intact subunits. This observation requires either a significant amount of ribosome degradation or the exchange or reuse of ribosomal proteins. These specific methods can be applied to any system where ribosomal assembly intermediates accumulate, including strains with deletions or mutations of assembly factors. This general approach can be applied to study the dynamics of assembly and turnover of other macromolecular complexes that can be isolated from cells.

Quantification of target molecules needed to detect microorganisms by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and catalyzed reporter deposition-FISH

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes is a method that is widely used to detect and quantify microorganisms in environmental samples and medical specimens by fluorescence microscopy. Difficulties with FISH arise if the rRNA content of the probe target organisms is low, causing dim fluorescence signals that are not detectable against the background fluorescence. This limitation is ameliorated by technical modifications such as catalyzed reporter deposition (CARD)-FISH, but the minimal numbers of rRNA copies needed to obtain a visible signal of a microbial cell after FISH or CARD-FISH have not been determined previously. In this study, a novel competitive FISH approach was developed and used to determine, based on a thermodynamic model of probe competition, the numbers of 16S rRNA copies per cell required to detect bacteria by FISH and CARD-FISH with oligonucleotide probes in mixed pure cultures and in activated sludge. The detection limits of conventional FISH with Cy3-labeled probe EUB338-I were found to be 370 +/- 45 16S rRNA molecules per cell for Escherichia coli hybridized on glass microscope slides and 1,400 +/- 170 16S rRNA copies per E. coli cell in activated sludge. For CARD-FISH the values ranged from 8.9 +/- 1.5 to 14 +/- 2 and from 36 +/- 6 to 54 +/- 7 16S rRNA molecules per cell, respectively, indicating that the sensitivity of CARD-FISH was 26- to 41-fold higher than that of conventional FISH. These results suggest that optimized FISH protocols using oligonucleotide probes could be suitable for more recent applications of FISH (for example, to detect mRNA in situ in microbial cells).

Changes in rRNA levels during stress invalidates results from mRNA blotting: fluorescence in situ rRNA hybridization permits renormalization for estimation of cellular mRNA levels

Regulation of gene expression can be analyzed by a number of different techniques. Some techniques monitor the level of specific mRNA directly, and others monitor indirectly by determining the level of enzymes encoded by the mRNA. Each method has its own inherent way of normalization. When results obtained by these techniques are compared between experiments in which differences in growth rates, strains, or stress treatments occur, the normalization procedure may have a significant impact on the results. In this report we present a solution to the normalization problem in RNA slot blotting experiments, in which mRNA levels routinely are normalized to a fixed amount of extracted total RNA. The cellular levels of specific mRNA species were estimated using a renormalization with the total RNA content per cell. By a combination of fluorescence in situ rRNA hybridization, which estimates the relative level of rRNA per cell, and slot blotting to rRNA probes, which estimates the level of rRNA per extracted total RNA, the amount of RNA per cell was calculated in a series of heat shock experiments with the gram-positive bacterium Lactococcus lactis. It was found that the level of rRNA per cell decreased to 30% in the course of the heat shock. This lowered ribosome level led to a decrease in the total RNA content, resulting in a gradually increasing overestimation of the mRNA levels throughout the experiment. Using renormalized cellular mRNA levels, the HrcA-mediated regulation of the genes in the hrcA-grpE-dnaK operon was analyzed. The hybridization data suggested a complex heat shock regulation indicating that the mRNA levels continued to rise after 30 min, but after renormalization the calculated average cellular levels exhibited a much simpler induction pattern, eventually attaining a moderately increased value.

Role of ribosome degradation in the death of heat-stressed Salmonella typhimurium

Heat treatment of Salmonella typhimurium results in cell death, which coincides with a significant reduction of the cellular content of 16S ribosomal RNA. It is suggested that the degradation of ribosomal RNA is a direct cause of cell death. This conclusion is based on the observation of carbon-starved and magnesium-supplemented cells, which survive heat treatment much better, and which also maintain stable levels of ribosomal RNA.

Plasmid genes increase membrane permeability in Escherichia coli

The membrane permeability to o-nitrophenyl beta-D-galactoside is increased in the presence of rifampicin in Escherichia coli cells carrying srnB+ or pnd+ plasmids, but not in the cells carrying srnB- or pnd- mutant plasmids. The same permeability alteration was also observed at 42 degrees C when a rpoC4- mutant strain was used as a host strain in the absence of rifampicin. These results and the blockage of the effects by action of chloramphenicol suggest that the increase of permeability to o-nitrophenyl galactoside was caused by the expression of srnB+ or pnd+ gene, respectively. srnB+ gene expression leads to massive RNA degradation, probably through the activation of the rna+ gene product. In an rna- strain carrying the srnB+ plasmid, the extent of RNA degradation was reduced, whereas the permeability to o-nitrophenyl galactoside was increased to the same level as in the rna+ strain. Also, the increase in permeability to o-nitrophenyl galactoside was observed at 30 degrees C, although high-temperature incubation (42 degrees C) was necessary for the induction of RNA degradation. These results suggest that the alteration in permeability is a more direct effect of the expression of srnB+ or pnd+ gene and that the RNA degradation is a secondary phenomenon caused by the alteration in the membrane.

Role of ribosome degradation in the death of starved Escherichia coli cells

In Escherichia coli cultures limited for phosphate, the number of ribosomal particles was reduced to a small percentage of its earlier peak value by the time the viable cell count began to drop; the 30S subunits decreased more than the 50S subunits. Moreover, the ribosomal activity was reduced even more: these cells no longer synthesized protein, and their extracts could not translate phage RNA unless ribosomes were added. The translation initiation factors also disappeared, suggesting that they become less stable when released from their normal attachment to 30S subunits. In contrast, elongation factors, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and tRNA persisted. During further incubation, until viability was reduced to 10(-5), the ribosomal particles disappeared altogether, while tRNA continued to be preserved. These results suggest that an excessive loss of ribosomes (and of initiation factors) may be a major cause of cell death during prolonged phosphate starvation.

The roles of RNA polymerase and RNAase I in stable RNA degradation in Escherichia coli carrying the srnB+ gene

In Escherichia coli cells carrying the srnB+ gene of the F plasmid, rifampin, added at 42 degrees C, induces the extensive rapid degradation of the usually stable cellular RNA (Ohnishi, Y., (1975) Science 187, 257-258; Ohnishi, Y., Iguma, H., Ono, T., Nagaishi, H. and Clark, A.J. (1977) J. Bacteriol. 132, 784-789). We have studied further the necessity for rifampin and for high temperature in this degradation. Streptolydigin, another inhibitor of RNA polymerase, did not induce the RNA degradation. Moreover, the stable RNA of some strains in which RNA polymerase is temperature-sensitive did not degrade at the restrictive temperature in the absence of rifampin. These data suggest that rifampin has an essential role in the RNA degradation, possibly by the modification of RNA polymerase function. A protein (Mr 12 000) newly synthesized at 42 degrees C in the presence of rifampin appeared to be the product of the srnB+ gene that promoted the RNA degradation. In a mutant deficient in RNAase I, the extent of the RNA degradation induced by rifampin was greatly reduced. RNAase activity of cell-free crude extract from the RNA-degraded cells was temperature-dependent. The RNAase was purified as RNAase I in DEAE-cellulose column chromatography and Sephadex G-100 gel filtration. Both in vivo and with purified RNAase I, a shift of the incubation mixture from 42 to 30 degrees C, or the addition of Mg2+ ions, stopped the RNA degradation. Thus, an effect on RNA polymerase seems to initiate the expression of the srnB+ gene and the activation of RNAase I, which is then responsible for the RNA degradation of E. coli cells carrying the srnB+ gene.

Agglutination of bacterial spheroplasts: agglutination-dependent degradation of Escherichia coli ribosomal ribonucleic acid

When Escherichia coli spheroplasts made by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and lysozyme were agglutinated by concanavalin A (con A), the degradation of ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) was found to occur proportionally to the degree of the agglutination, which was determined by microscopic examination or by a newly devised assay based on the slower settling of aggregates. Methyl-alpha-d-glucoside, low temperature or alkaline pH, all of which reverse the agglutination, also reduced the extent of rRNA degradation. This degradation was not due to the direct action of con A since a similar relationship was found in the case of spontaneous agglutination with concentrated spheroplasts in the absence of con A. The possible importance of a change in the cell membrane associated with the agglutination process is discussed in connection with the initiation of rRNA degradation.