UPTAKE AND INCORPORATION OF THYMINE, THYMIDINE, URACIL, URIDINE, AND 5-FLUOROURACIL INTO THE NUCLEIC ACIDS OF BACILLUS SUBTILIS

Bodmer, Walter F. (Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, Calif.), and Susan Grether. Uptake and incorporation of thymine, thymidine, uracil, uridine, and 5-fluorouracil into the nucleic acids of Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 89:1011-1014. 1965.-From 55 to 95% of uracil, uridine, or 5-fluorouracil (FU) added to the culture medium is incorporated into the acid-insoluble fraction of cells of Bacillus subtilis strains SB 19 (prototroph) and SB 503 (FU-resistant). Thymine is poorly incorporated (less than 1%); thus, the incorporation of thymidine is limited (less than 12%) by the rapid degradation of the nucleoside to thymine, probably by the enzyme thymidine phosphorylase. Uracil, uridine, and FU were not incorporated into the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of either strain, whereas all the incorporated thymidine was found in the DNA.

SYNTHETIC ACTIVITIES DURING SPERMATOGENESIS IN THE LOCUST

Isolated testes of the locust Schistocerca gregaria were immersed in solutions of tritiated thymidine, cytidine, uridine, or arginine for short periods to study nucleic acid and protein synthesis during spermatogenesis. DNA synthesis in this tissue is completed prior to initiation of meiosis. Protein synthesis continues throughout the whole meiotic cycle as well as during spermatid development. Meiotic cells, except those in metaphase through early telophase, and early spermatids are also actively synthesizing RNA. The heteropycnotic X-chromosome does not produce RNA at any stage of spermatogenesis. The rates of protein and particularly RNA synthesis decrease as chromosome condensation progresses. Depression of RNA synthesis, however, is not always accompanied by cytologically detectable condensation of chromatin, since very little or no RNA is synthesized in spermatids in which chromatin condensation has barely begun.

EFFECTS OF ANTICELLULAR SERUM ON PHAGOCYTOSIS AND THE UPTAKE OF TRITIATED THYMIDINE AND URIDINE BY HELA CELLS

Anticellular serum inhibited phagocytosis of colloidal gold and staphylococci by HeLa cells. This inhibition of phagocytosis was reversed by conditions which allowed the antibody to elute from the cell. Concentrations of antiserum that inhibited phagocytosis did not interfere with the transport of tritiated thymidine and uridine across the cell membrane, and their incorporation into cell nucleic acids was unaltered as evaluated by autoradiography. These results indicate that thymidine and uridine were taken into cells independently of phagocytosis. Morphologic changes induced in the cells by antibody suggest that the antibody agglutinates adjacent portions of the cell membrane. This agglutination of the cell membrane by antibody would be expected to interfere with the continuous evagination and invagination of the cell membrane associated with phagocytosis. The inhibition of virus infection by anticellular antibody may be a result of the effect of the antiserum upon phagocytosis.

NUCLEOTIDE SYNTHESIS UNDER POSSIBLE PRIMITIVE EARTH CONDITIONS

The nucleosides adenosine, guanosine, cytidine, uridine, and thymidine were each heated with inorganic phosphate. Nucleoside monophosphates were formed in appreciable yield. This result has a bearing on the hypothesis of chemical evolution.