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Biomedical subjects

J Y Sheen

Publications and source records attributed to J Y Sheen.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

A simple phase-extraction assay for chloramphenicol acyltransferase activity.

A simple and convenient phase extraction assay for chloramphenicol (Cm) acetyltransferase (CAT) activity has been developed, based on the enzymatic butyrylation of radiolabelled Cm. The assay is linear over two to three orders of magnitude of enzyme concentration, is highly sensitive, and substantially less expensive than all presently available alternatives. Methods for convenient CAT assay, adapted for mammalian cells, plant protoplasts, and mammalian cell culture supernatants, are described. These methods should also simplify measurement of CAT activity in other organisms, such as yeast and bacteria. In addition, a simple pre-extraction procedure is presented for purifying radiolabelled Cm which allows a 25-fold increase in sensitivity using tritiated substrates.

Animals

Differential expression of C4 pathway genes in mesophyll and bundle sheath cells of greening maize leaves.

Pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, and NADP-malate dehydrogenase function in a series of reactions for fixing CO2 in mesophyll cells and NADP-malic enzyme (ME) catalyzes the production of CO2 and NADPH in bundle sheath cells of maize which is a NADP-ME type C4 plant. Northern blot analyses with cDNA clones for pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and in vitro translation-immunoprecipitation experiments with antiserum to NADP-malate dehydrogenase showed that pools of transcripts of these three genes grow and shrink coordinately in mesophyll cells but not in bundle sheath cells upon illumination of dark-grown maize seedlings. Western blot analyses indicated that the protein levels of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase are low in dark-grown maize seedlings and increase progressively following light-induced transient accumulation of their mRNAs in mesophyll cells. These proteins continue to accumulate and plateau in late-greening and green leaves in spite of a rapid drop in the sizes of their mRNA pools. Surprisingly, relatively large amounts of NADP-malate dehydrogenase are present in mesophyll cells of etiolated leaves despite the low level of the corresponding mRNA. No phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase or NADP-malate dehydrogenase were detected in bundle sheath cells. On the other hand, the ME gene responds to light induction at both the transcriptional and translational levels only in bundle sheath cells. Moreover, the steady-state level of ME mRNA stays high in late-greening and green leaves in contrast to the rapid decline of mRNA levels of three other C4 pathway genes in mesophyll cells. In addition, low levels of both the mRNA and protein encoded by the PPDK gene were detected in bundle sheath cells. These levels were not influenced by light as distinguished from the patterns observed in mesophyll cells.

Centrifugation, Density Gradient

Differential expression of six light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein genes in maize leaf cell types.

Bundle sheath chloroplasts of maize leaves contain about one-fourth as much light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein of photosystem II (LHCP-II) as do mesophyll chloroplasts. We have determined that this difference is, in part, the result of differential expression of different LHCP-II genes. We have prepared and partially characterized cDNA clones specific for six LHCP-II genes of maize. Transcripts of these six LHCP-II genes are present at vastly different levels and account for about 95% of total LHCP-II mRNAs in bundle sheath and mesophyll cells of illuminated dark-grown maize leaves. Three genes are preferentially expressed in mesophyll cells, and their mRNAs constitute about 54% of the total LHCP-II transcripts in greening (24 hr) maize leaves. Two genes are expressed equally in bundle sheath and mesophyll cells. Most interestingly, the RNA of one gene that contributes about 8% of the total LHCP-II transcripts in leaves greening for 24 hr is present at a much higher level in bundle sheath than in mesophyll cells. Moreover, immunoblot analysis of maize thylakoids reveals at least five sizes of LHCP-II; these also differ from one another in their relative abundance in bundle sheath and mesophyll cells of developing maize leaves.

Chlorophyll