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S T Degnen

Publications and source records attributed to S T Degnen.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Deoxyribonucleic acid methylation and development in Caulobacter bacteroides.

The stalked bacterium Caulobacter bacteroides, which displays a series of developmental changes during its life cycle, was shown to contain the methylated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) nucleotide bases N(6)-methyladenine and 5-methylcytosine as well as the enzymes required for the synthesis of these bases. A difference in the specific activity of these enzymes was observed between swarmer cells, which are low in activity, and stalked cells, which are high in activity. This difference was not reflected in the methylation patterns in the DNA of the two cell types since C. bacteroides DNA is essentially completely methylated with respect to C. bacteroides methylases.

Adenine↗

Dependence of cell division on the completion of chromosome replication in Caulobacter.

The relationship between chromosome replication and cell division in the stalked bacterium Caulobacter crescentus has been investigated. Two compounds, hydroxyurea and mitomycin C, were found to inhibit completely deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis while allowing continued cell growth and elongation. When these inhibitors were added to exponentially growing cultures, cell division stopped after 38 min when hydroxyurea was used and after 33 min when mitomycin C was used. The period of continued cell division corresponds closely to the period previously determined for the postsynthetic gap (G2) in the DNA cycle of this organism. These results indicate that cell division is coupled to the completion of chromosome replication in C. crescentus.

Adenine↗