Dissociation and reassembly of Escherichia coli outer membrane and of lipopolysaccharide, and their reassembly onto flagellar basal bodies.
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Purified lipopolysaccharide vesicles dissociate when treated with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and then reassemble when dialyzed against Mg(2+). Purified outer, lipopolysaccharide membrane (L membrane) is partially dissociated by treatment with EDTA and fully dissociated upon further treatment with Triton X-100. Both the partially and fully dissociated L membrane can be reassembled by dialysis against Mg(2+). Reassembly of lipopolysaccharide or L membrane in the presence of intact flagella results in specific attachment of flagellar basal bodies to vesicles via the L and sometimes the M ring. Lipopolysaccharide and L membrane appear to be composed of substructures bound together by both Mg(2+) (divalent cation)-mediated and hydrophobic bonds. (+info)
Rapid method for the isolation of lipoproteins from human serum by precipitation with polyanions.
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Procedures are described for the isolation of lipoproteins from human serum by precipitation with polyanions and divalent cations. A mixture of low and very low density lipoproteins can be prepared without ultracentrifugation by precipitation with heparin and either MnCl(2) alone or MgCl(2) plus sucrose. In both cases the precipitation is reversible, selective, and complete. The highly concentrated isolated lipoproteins are free of other plasma proteins as judged by immunological and electrophoretic methods. The low density and very low density lipoproteins can then be separated from each other by ultracentrifugation. The advantage of the method is that large amounts of lipoproteins can be prepared with only a single preparative ultracentrifugation. Polyanions other than heparin may also be used; when the precipitation of the low and very low density lipoproteins is achieved with dextran sulfate and MnCl(2), or sodium phosphotungstate and MgCl(2), the high density lipoproteins can subsequently be precipitated by increasing the concentrations of the reagents. These lipoproteins, containing small amounts of protein contaminants, are further purified by ultracentrifugation at d 1.22. With a single preparative ultracentrifugation, immunologically pure high density lipoproteins can be isolated from large volumes of serum. (+info)
Defective virions of reovirus.
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When purified preparations of stock reovirus, type 3, were digested with chymotrypsin, the virions were converted into two different types of particle. These new particles could be separated from each other by isopycnic centrifugation in cesium chloride gradients. One particle banded at a buoyant density of 1.43 g/cm(3), the other at a density of 1.415 g/cm(3). The former particle is termed the heavy (H) particle, the latter is the light (L) particle. The ratio of H/L particles varied between 0.5 and 0.25 in various purified preparations of virus. In electron micrographs, both H and L particles had the appearance and dimensions of viral cores. H particles were infectious for L cells. When plaques formed by stock virus, or by H particles, were picked and propagated in L cells, the majority of the clones gave rise only to H particles on chymotrypsin digestion. On continued serial passage of the clones, virions containing L particles again appeared in the progeny. The simplest explanation of these results was that stock virus was comprised of two populations of virions. One type of virion which contained H particles was infectious, whereas the other, which contained L particles, was not itself infectious and could replicate only in cells coinfected with an H particle virion. Added weight was given to this hypothesis by two observations. First, a small but definite separation of H and L virions could be achieved by isopycnic centrifugation in a gradient of cesium chloride. Second, L particles and virions containing L particles were both shown to lack the largest of the ten segments of double-stranded ribonucleic acid genome. Thus, L particle virions have defective genomes. (+info)
Inactivation of influenza and other viruses by a mixture of virucidal compounds.
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A mixture of benzalkonium chloride, Triton X100, and citric acid (Resiguard F) had a marked virucidal effect on lipid-containing deoxyribonucleic and ribonucleic acid viruses, such as vaccinia virus, herpesvirus, and influenza virus. Adenoviruses and picornaviruses were more resistant to inactivation. Electron microscopy showed that influenza particles became aggregated in the presence of Resiguard F and that the outer fringe of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase spikes seen in control virus preparations became indistinct. The mixture had no detectable antiviral activity in mice infected with influenza AO/PR/8/34 virus, and this was attributed to the reduced virucidal effect of Resiguard F in the presence of serum proteins. (+info)
Comparative studies of light meromyosin paracrystals derived from red, white, and cardiac muscle myosins.
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Tryptic and chymotryptic light meromyosin paracrystals from red and cardiac muscles of rabbit show a negative and positive staining pattern with uranyl acetate and phosphotungstate that sharply differs from that of white muscle light meromyosin paracrystals. The main periodicity of about 430 A is the same regardless of the source of light meromyosin. The results are discussed in terms of the molecular structure and the functional properties of various myosins. (+info)
Transduction of R factors by a Proteus mirabilis bacteriophage.
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A transducing phage, designated phim, was isolated from a lysogenic strain of Proteus mirabilis and was characterized with respect to its physical and genetic properties. The phage contains double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) with an S(20,w) degrees of 29 which corresponds to a molecular weight of 24 x 10(6) daltons. The base composition of phim DNA was estimated to be 40% guanine plus cytosine on the basis of the buoyant density of the DNA. phim carries out generalized transduction of chromosomal genes in P. mirabilis at a frequency of 5 x 10(-8) to 2 x 10(-6) per adsorbed phage. To obtain R-factor transduction, it was necessary to have a resident R factor in the recipient cells. In these experiments, different combinations of genetically distinguishable R factors were used in the donor and recipient cells. The frequencies of R-factor transduction were 10(-9) to 2 x 10(-8). The transduction of R factors using an R(-) recipient could not be detected. Transductant R factors were usually recombinant between donor and resident R factors. All of the transduced R factors were transferable by conjugation. A plausible explanation for the requirement for a resident R factor in the recipient cells is that phim transduces only a portion of the R-factor genome and therefore requires a resident R factor for genetic recombination. The reason for the low frequencies of R-factor transduction is not known, but some possible interpretations have been discussed. (+info)
Dissociation by chelating agents and substructure of the thermophilic bacteriophage TP84.
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The thermophilic bacteriophage TP84 is dissociated into its head, tail, and released deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by chelating agents such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and phosphate. The phage is more sensitive to EDTA than to phosphate, and dialysis against either agent causes more effective dissociation than standing in their presence. The tail possesses a knobbed structure which is inserted into the head of the intact phage and to which the DNA appears to be attached. The method of dissociating TP84 described in this paper provides a source of undamaged structural components and intact strands of DNA for subsequent investigations. A possible mechanism of chelate inactivation is discussed. (+info)
Isolation of bacteriophages T2 and T4 attached to the outer membrane of Escherichia coli.
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Phage T2 or T4 was adsorbed to Escherichia coli, and the outer (L) membrane was then isolated with the phage still attached in their usual postinjection appearance. T2 was readily inactivated by isolated cell walls but very poorly by purified L membrane. T4 was inactivated by neither. (+info)