Structure and sequence of the calmodulin gene from Neurospora crassa.

cDNA and genomic clones of Neurospora calmodulin were obtained by PCR. Characterization revealed an open reading frame encoding a predicted protein of 149 amino acids, showing 85% identity to the human calmodulin protein sequence. Comparison of the cDNA and genomic sequence reveals the position of five introns, organized differently than is found in calmodulin genes from higher eukaryotes.

New class of ribonucleic acid in Neurospora associated with the outer cell envelope.

Extrinsic ribonucleic acid (RNA) can be isolated from a KCl extract of Neurospora crassa conidial cell surface products. It is heterogeneous in size. The bulk of this RNA travels as a broad band, trailing the 5.8S ribosomal marker RNA on electrophoretic gels. The extrinsic RNA, when denatured, exhibites several discrete lengths between 50,000 and 130,000 daltons. Melting profiles confirm the heterogeneity of the RNA and indicate that 58% of the bases are involved in hydrogen bonding. Analyses of alkaline hydrolysis products reveal no extensive methylation and few or none of the unusual bases present in transfer RNA. The bases are present in approximately equivalent amounts. Extrinsic RNA represents 2 to 3% of the total cellular RNA. Since this membrane-associated class of RNA does not resemble ribosomal RNA, messenger RNA, or transfer RNA and since it is extracted from the cell exterior by methods used to remove extrinsic membrane molecules, we have designated it extrinsic RNA.

Effects of Chloramphenicol on the Circadian Rhythm of Neurospora crassa.

Chloramphenicol, an inhibitor of mitochondrial protein synthesis, shortened the period length of the circadian rhythm in the Timex strain of Neurospora crassa by 2 hours. Both the l(+) threo and d(-) threo optical isomers had the same effect on the period of the rhythm, whereas only the d(-) threo isomer significantly inhibited mitochondrial protein synthesis. Tetracycline, another inhibitor of mitochondrial protein synthesis, did not change the period of the circadian rhythm. The effect of chloramphenicol on the circadian rhythm is, therefore, presumably not directly related to inhibition of mitochondrial protein synthesis, suggesting that chloramphenicol has other effects.

Effects of ribonuclease A on amino acid transport in Neurospora crassa.

Incubation of Neurospora crassa conidia with ribonuclease (RNase) A reduces transport of L-phenylalanine by those cells. Under similar conditions, oxidized RNase A, RNase T1, and RNase T2 do not have this effect. Incubation of conidia with active RNase covalently attached to polyacrylamide beads reduces L-phenylalanine transport. This indicates that the site of enzymatic action is at the cell surface. At the lower concentration of enzyme used in this study, incubation with RNase A reduces transport of L-phenylalanine by the general (G) amino acid permease. Increasing the enzyme concentration results in reduction of transport by the neutral aromatic (N)-specific permease. The increased transport activity that accompanies onset of conidial germination is also sensitive to incubation with RNase A. Application of the enzyme to actively transporting cells does not release amino acid transported prior to enzyme addition. Cells cultured on media supplemented with [2-14C] uridine release isotopic activity after RNase A incubation. Analogous treatments with Pronase, RNase T1, RNase T2, or deoxyribonuclease I do not release isotope activity. Pronase treatment does reduce L-phenylalanine transport. Incubation of conidia with RNase A also inhibits germination of those conidia.

Enzymes of deoxythymidine triphosphate biosynthesis in Neurospora crassa mitochondria.

Intact mitochondria of Neurospora crassa incorporate deoxythymidine 5'-monophosphate (dTMP) into deoxyribonucleic acid but not the label from (methyl-3H) deoxythymidine. Mitochondrial homogenates contain deoxythymidylate kinase (EC 2.7.4.9), deoxycytidylate aminohydrolase (dCMP deaminase) (EC 3.5.4.12), and thymidylate synthetase (EC 2.1.1b), but not thymidine kinase (EC 2.7.1.21) activity. dTMP kinase is loosely bound to the mitochondrial membrane and is solubilized by 0.4 M KCl in mitochondrial homogenates, the dCMP aminohydrolase deaminase) is bound to the inner membrane and is not solubilized by 0.4 M KCl. dTMP synthetase activity is found in the 2,000 times g particulate fractions by homogenization of mitochondria in 0.4 M KCl. The dCMP deaminase activity found in the particulate fraction of the inner membrane is efficiently regulated by the products of the pathway: deoxycytidine 5'-triphosphate activates whereas deoxythymidine 5'-triphosphate inhibits, as found for the soluble enzyme from other sources. These data indicate that mitochondria of N. crassa contain specific enzymes for the biosynthesis of deoxythymidine triphosphate.

Isolation and partial characterization of alpha and beta-tubulin from outer doublets of sea-urchin sperm and microtubules of chick-embryo brain.

Two kinds of tubulin (alpha and beta) have been described in microtubules from many different systems. In this study a discontinuous acrylamide-gel system containing sodium dodecyl sulfate was used to separate milligram quantities of alpha- and beta-tubulin from microtubules of chick-embryo brain and from outer doublets of sea-urchin sperm. The isolated tubulins were characterized by peptide mapping and automated sequencing of the first 25 NH(2)-terminal amino acids. Our results show that alpha- and beta-tubulin are related but distinctly different proteins and that each one has been highly conserved in the course of evolution.

Succinate oxidase in Neurospora.

Two kinetically distinct states of succinate oxidase have been detected in the mitochondria of Neruospora crassa. One state has a K(m) for succinate of 4.1 x 10(-3)m, and the other has a K(m) for succinate of 3.5 x 10(-4)m. The high K(m) state was found in freshly extracted mitochondria from either 20- or 72-hr mycelium. However, the succinate oxidase activity in mitochondria from 20-hr mycelium rapidly deteriorated in vitro, leaving a stable residual activity with the lower K(m) for succinate. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) plus Mg(2+) stabilized the high K(m) state in these preparations. The high K(m) state of succinate oxidase was further characterized by a two- to threefold increase in activity over the pH range 6.6 to 8.0 and by classical competitive inhibition by fumarate and malonate. By contrast, the low K(m) state of succinate oxidase showed a relatively flat response to pH over the range 6.6 to 8.0 and a nonclassical pattern of inhibition by fumarate and malonate, as shown by nonlinear plots of reciprocal velocity versus reciprocal substrate concentration in the presence of inhibitor or reciprocal velocity versus inhibitor concentration at fixed substrate concentrations. The relationship of mycelial age to the in vitro stability of succinate oxidase is considered with reference to probable changes in the relative pool sizes of extra- and intramitochondrial ATP in response to changes in the rate of glycolysis.

Comparison of cysteine and tryptophan content of insoluble proteins derived from wild-type and mi-1 strains of Neurospora crassa.

The possibility of an amino acid substitution (cysteine for tryptophan) in a membrane protein of the [mi-1] strain of Neurospora crassa has been investigated in detail by using a double radioactive labeling procedure. Auxotrophic strains of Neurospora having wild-type [+] or [mi-1] cytoplasm have been grown under conditions which result in the specific labeling of protein tryptophan with (3)H and protein cysteine with (35)S. Although the least soluble 1 to 20% of the [mi-1] mitochondrial membrane protein was usually found to have a higher Cys/Trp ratio (ratio of cysteine plus half-cystine to tryptophan) than the corresponding [+] fraction, it has been shown that these differences were due mainly to the presence of differential amounts of a very insoluble, cysteine-rich (Cys-rich) material. The same Cys-rich material was found in variable amounts in both [+] and [mi-1] cultures, but the concentration was usually higher in the [mi-1] cultures. The Cys-rich material is clearly distinct from "structural protein" on the basis of amino acid composition and appears to have no direct relationship to the [mi-1] phenotype. In the absence of the Cys-rich material, no difference between the Cys/Trp ratios of corresponding [+] and [mi-1] membrane proteins could be detected. We conclude, therefore, that the previously postulated amino acid substitution of cysteine for tryptophan in [mi-1] membrane protein is incorrect.

Selective inhibition of enzyme synthesis under conditions of respiratory inhibition.

When Neurospora mycelium is transferred from a medium containing sucrose to one containing acetate as sole source of carbon, a preferential synthesis of many Krebs cycle, glyoxylate cycle, and associated enzymes occurs. Respiration was inhibited during preferential enzyme synthesis in the following ways. (i) The amount of aeration (shaking) was reduced, (ii) cyanide was added to the culture, (iii) the carbon source, acetate, was removed, (iv) a mutant strain was starved of its Krebs cycle intermediates, and (v) respiration was inhibited by mutation. The effect of this respiratory inhibition on the synthesis of a number of enzymes was measured. It was found that the synthesis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-linked glutamate dehydrogenase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase was significantly less inhibited under conditions of respiratory inhibition than was the synthesis of Krebs cycle, glyoxylate cycle, and most other cell proteins synthesized during the adaptation period. This differential inhibition of enzyme synthesis was almost certainly not due to differential repression by regulatory metabolic end product effectors. Inhibition of mitochondrial respiration under these conditions most likely results in a limitation of the energy supply of the cell. Thus, it is suggested that the inhibition of synthesis of most proteins after inhibition of mitochondrial respiration results from a lack of energy in a utilizable form. Possible reasons to account for the relative insensitivity of NAD-linked glutamate dehydrogenase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase to inhibition under these conditions are discussed.

Metabolic role, regulation of synthesis, cellular localization, and genetic control of the glyoxylate cycle enzymes in Neurospora crassa.

The glyoxylate shunt enzymes, isocitrate lyase and malate synthase, were present at high levels in mycelium grown on acetate as sole source of carbon, compared with mycelium grown on sucrose medium. The glyoxylate shunt activities were also elevated in mycelium grown on glutamate or Casamino Acids as sole source of carbon, and in amino acid-requiring auxotrophic mutants grown in sucrose medium containing limiting amounts of their required amino acid. Under conditions of enhanced catabolite repression in mutants grown in sucrose medium but starved of Krebs cycle intermediates, isocitrate lyase and malate synthase levels were derepressed compared with the levels in wild type grown on sucrose medium. This derepression did not occur in related mutants in which Krebs cycle intermediates were limiting growth but catabolite repression was not enhanced. No Krebs cycle intermediate tested produced an efficient repression of isocitrate lyase activity in acetate medium. Of the two forms of isocitrate lyase in Neurospora, isocitrate lyase-1 constituted over 80% of the isocitrate lyase activity in acetate-grown wild type and also in each of the cases already outlined in which the glyoxylate shunt activities were elevated on sucrose medium. On the basis of these results, it is concluded that the synthesis of isocitrate lyase-1 and malate synthase in Neurospora is regulated by a glycolytic intermediate or derivative. Our data suggest that isocitrate lyase-1 and isocitrate lyase-2 are the products of different structural genes. The metabolic roles of the two forms of isocitrate lyase and of the glyoxylate cycle are discussed on the basis of their metabolic control and intracellular localization.