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R B Flavell

Publications and source records attributed to R B Flavell.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

Hyperpolymer formation during renaturation of DNA from genomes with different sequence organisation.

Hyperpolymer formation during the renaturation of DNAs from wheat, calf and E. coli was studied using hydroxyapatite chromatography, electron microscopy and S1 nuclease. Large hyperpolymers could not be eluted from hydroxyapatite with 0.5 M phosphate buffer at 60 degrees C. Large proportions of wheat and E. coli DNAs were incorporated into hyperpolymers when fragments 650 nucleotides long were renatured. A much smaller proportion of calf DNA was incorporated under equivalent conditions. Greater proportions of calf DNA accumulated in hyperpolymers only when longer fragments were incubated. Electron microscopy indicated no obvious differences in the basic structures of hyperpolymers formed by the three DNAs and confirmed the quantitative differences in hyperpolymer formation found by hydroxyapatite chromatography. It is concluded that the proportions and arrangement of the repeated sequences in the chromosomes of higher organisms determine the extent of rapid hyperpolymer formation during DNA renaturation in vitro.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Interspersion of different repeated sequences in the wheat genome revealed by interspecies DNA/DNA hybridisation.

The repeated sequences in oats DNA have been used to study chromosomal repeated sequence organisation in wheat. Approximately 75% of the wheat genome consists of repeated sequences but only approximately 20% will form heteroduplexes with repeated sequences from oats DNA at 60 degrees C in 0.18 M Na+. The proportion of wheat DNA that forms heteroduplexes with oats DNA is shown to be independent of the wheat DNA fragment length. However, the proportion of wheat DNA that is retained with the heteroduplexes when fractionated on hydroxyapatite is very dependent upon the wheat fragment length up to 3500 nucleotides. This is because more non-renatured wheat DNA is attached to the heteroduplexes with longer fragments. The results indicate that the repeated sequences in the wheat genome homologous to repeated sequences in oats are not clustered in the chromosomes but distributed amongst other repeated and possible non-repeated sequences.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1974

Ribosomal RNA cistron multiplicity and nucleolar organizers in hexaploid wheat.

The ribosomal DNA (DNA complementary to ribosomal RNA) content of twelve different wheat genotypes has been studied. Some of these genotypes are aneuploids with deletions or additions of chromosomes bearing nucleolar organisers. The rDNA contents of these genotypes provide several examples of a clear departure from a correlation between the number of rRNA cistrons and the number of nucleolar organisers. Thus the number of rRNA cistrons per nucleolar organiser is not constant in wheat. Wheat DNA was found to have a mean buoyant density of approximately 1.702 g/cc for all genotypes studied and rRNA hybridized selectively to DNA of buoyant density approximately 1.710 g/cc. The thermal stabilities of all the rRNA/DNA hybrids were essentially identical.

Cell Nucleolus↗
PubMed1971

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.

Acetates↗
PubMed1971

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.

Acetates↗
PubMed1968

Acetate-onutilizing mutants of Neurospora crassa. I. Mutant isolation, complementation studies, and linkage relationships.

Sixty mutants of Neurospora crassa unable to grow on acetate as sole source of carbon, but able to utilize sucrose, were isolated. On the basis of complementation tests, they were divided into seven groups, each group representing a different gene. Six of the genes have been mapped; no two are closely linked. These loci have been designated acu-1 to acu-7. Mutations at four of these loci result in poor germination of ascospores.

Acetates↗
PubMed1968

Acetate-nonutilizing mutants of Neurospora rassa. II. Biochemical deficiencies and the roles of certain enzymes.

The levels of Krebs cycle, glyoxylate cycle, and certain other enzymes were measured in a wild-type strain and in seven groups of acetate-nonutilizing (acu) mutants of Neurospora crassa, both after growth on a medium containing sucrose and after a subsequent 6-hr incubation in a similar medium, containing acetate as the sole source of carbon. In the wild strain, incubation in acetate medium caused a rise in the levels of isocitrate lyase, malate synthase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, acetyl-coenzyme A synthetase, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-linked isocitrate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, and fumarate hydratase. Isocitrate lyase activity was absent in acu-3 mutants; acu-5 mutants lacked acetyl-coenzyme A synthetase activity; and no oxoglutarate dehydrogenase activity (or only low levels) could be detected in acu-2 and acu-7 mutants. In acu-6 mutants, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity was either very low or absent. No specific biochemical deficiencies could be attributed to the acu-1 and acu-4 mutations. The role of several of these enzymes during growth on acetate is discussed.

Acetates↗