Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Different chromatin structures in Physarum polycephalum

A special form of transcriptionally active chromatin devoid of nucleosomal particles

  • Published:
Chromosoma Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Nonnucleolar chromatin from interphase nuclei of Physarum polycephalum plasmodia occurs in two different structural configurations as seen in electron microscopic spread preparations. While the majority of the chromatin is devoid of nascent ribonucleoprotein (RNP) fibrils and compacted into nucleosomal particles, a minor proportion (10–20%) is organized differently and reveals a smooth contour. It is this form of smooth chromatin which is rich in transcription units (mean length: 1.36±0.21 μm). Only occasionally are solitary nascent RNP fibrils observed which are associated with beaded strands of chromatin. In transcribed smooth chromatin nucleosomal particles are not only absent from the transcription units but also from their nontranscribed flanking regions, indicating that this special structural aspect is not merely a direct consequence of the transcriptional process. The existence of ca. 10–20% of Physarum chromatin in the smoothly contoured form is discussed in relation to reports of a preferential digestibility of a similar proportion of Physarum chromatin by DNAse I (Jalouzot et al., 1980) and to the altered configuration of “peak A” chromatin subunits after micrococcal nuclease digestion (Johnson et al., 1978a, b).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allfrey, V.G., Johnson, E.M., Sun, I.Y.C., Littau, V.C., Matthews, H.R., Bradbury, E.M.: Structural organization and control of the ribosomal genes in Physarum. Cold Spr. Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 42, 505–514 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Baeckmann, A.: Bestimmung der Sequenz-Komplexität der poly(A)-RNA von Physarum polycephalum. Ph. D. thesis, University of Würzburg (1980)

  • Bellard, M., Gannon, F., Chambon, P.: Nucleosome structure III: The structure and transcriptional activity of the chromatin containing the ovalbumin and globin genes in chick oviduct nuclei. Cold Spr. Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 42, 779–791 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellard, M., Kuo, M.T., Dretzen, G., Chambon, P.: Differential nuclease sensitivity of the ovalbumin and β-globin chromatin regions in erythrocytes and oviduct cells of laying hen. Nucleic Acids Res. 8, 2737–2750 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, K.S., Anderson, J.N.: Conformation of ovalbumin and globin genes in chromatin during differential gene expression. J. biol. Chem. 254, 10532–10539 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Busby, S., Bakken, A.: A quantitative electron microscopic analysis of transcription in sea urchin embryos. Chromosoma (Berl.) 71, 249–262 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, G.R., Littau, V.C., Melera, P.W., Allfrey, V.G., Johnson, E.M.: Unique sequence arrangement of ribosomal genes in the palindromic rDNA molecule of Physarum polycephalum. Nucleic Acids Res. 6, 1433–1447 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Daniel, J.W., Baldwin, H.H.: Methods of culture for plasmodial myxomycetes. In: Methods in cell physiology (D.M. Prescott, ed.), Vol. 1, pp. 9–41. New York: Academic Press 1964

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, K.E., Walker, I.O.: Studies on pulse-labelled RNA during the mitotic cycle of Physarum polycephalum by subnuclear fractionation. J. Cell Sci. 29, 93–102 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Foe, V.E.: Modulation of ribosomal RNA synthesis in Oncopeltus fasciatus: an electron microscopic study of the relationship between changes in chromatin structure and transcriptional activity. Cold Spr. Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 42, 723–740 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Foe, V.E., Wilkinson, L.E., Laird, C.D.: Comparative organization of active transcription units in Oncopeltus fasciatus. Cell 9, 131–146 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fouquet, H., Braun, R.: Differential RNA synthesis in the mitotic cycle of Physarum polycephalum. FEBS Letters 38, 184–186 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Franke, W.W., Scheer, U., Trendelenburg, M.F., Spring, H., Zentgraf, H.: Absence of nucleosomes in transcriptionally active chromatin. Cytobiol. 13, 401–434 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Franke, W.W., Scheer, U., Trendelenburg, M.F., Zentgraf, H., Spring, H.: Morphology of transcriptionally active chromatin. Cold Spr. Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 42, 755–772 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Franke, W.W., Scheer, U., Spring, H., Trendelenburg, M.F., Zentgraf, H.: Organization of nucleolar chromatin. In: The cell nucleus (H. Busch, ed.), Vol. 7, pp. 49–95. New York: Academic Press 1979

    Google Scholar 

  • Garel, A., Axel, R.: Selective digestion of transcriptionally active ovalbumin genes from oviduct nuclei. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 73, 3966–3970 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Garel, A., Axel, R.: The structure of the transcriptionally active ovalbumin genes in chromatin. Cold Spr. Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 42, 701–708 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Garel, A., Zolan, M., Axel, R.: Genes transcribed at diverse rates have a similar conformation in chromatin. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 74, 4867–4871 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  • Grainger, R.M., Ogle, R.C.: Chromatin structure of the ribosomal RNA genes in Physarum polycephalum. Chromosoma (Berl.) 65, 115–126 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gubler, U., Wyler, T., Seebeck, T., Braun, R.: Processing of ribosomal precursor RNAs in Physarum polycephalum. Nucleic Acids Res. 8, 2647–2664 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ilyin, Y.V., Varshavsky, A.Y., Mickelsaar, U.N., Georgiev, G.P.: Studies on deoxyribonucleoprotein structure. Redistribution of proteins in mixtures of deoxyribonucleoproteins, DNA and RNA. Eur. J. Biochem. 22, 235–245 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jalouzot, R., Briane, D., Ohlenbusch, H.H., Wilhelm, M.L., Wilhelm, F.X.: Kinetics of nuclease digestion of Physarum polycephalum nuclei at different stages of the cell cycle. Europ. J. Biochem. 104, 423–431 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E.M., Littau, V.C., Allfrey, V.G., Bradbury, E.M., Matthews, H.R.: The subunit structure of chromatin from Physarum polycephalum. Nucleic Acids Res. 3, 3313–3329 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E.M., Allfrey, V.G., Bradbury, E.M., Matthews, H.R.: Altered nucleosome structure containing DNA sequences complementary to 19 S and 26 S ribosomal RNA in Physarum polycephalum. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 75, 1116–1120 (1978a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E.M., Matthews, H.R., Littau, V.C., Lothstein, L., Bradbury, E.M., Allfrey, V.G.: The structure of chromatin containing DNA complementary to 19 S and 26 S ribosomal RNA in active and inactive stages of Physarum polycephalum. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 191, 537–550 (1978b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E.M., Campbell, G.R., Allfrey, V.G.: Different nucleosome structures on transcribing and nontranscribing ribosomal gene sequences. Science 206, 1192–1194 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Laird, C.D., Wilkinson, L.E., Foe, V.E., Chooi, W.Y.: Analysis of chromatin-associated fiber arrays. Chromosoma (Berl.) 58, 169–192 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, M.M., Daneholt, B.: Characterization of active transcription units in Balbiani rings of Chironomus tentans. Cell 17, 835–848 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, G.M., Tsai, M.-J., O'Malley, B.W.: Deoxyribonuclease I sensitivity of the nontranscribed sequences flanking the 5 and 3 ends of the ovomucoid gene and the ovalbumin and its related X and Y genes in hen oviduct nuclei. Biochemistry 19, 4403–4411 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • McKnight, S.L., Bustin, M., Miller, O.L.: Electron microscopic analysis of chromosome metabolism in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 42, 741–754 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Melera, P.W., Rusch, H.P.: A characterization of ribonucleic acid in the myxomycete Physarum polycephalum. Exp. Cell. Res. 82, 197–209 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D.M., Turner, P., Nienhuis, A.W., Axelrod, D.E., Gopalakrishnan, T.V.: Active conformation of the globin genes in uninduced and induced mouse erythroleukemia cells. Cell 14, 511–521 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, O.L., Bakken, A.H.: Morphological studies of transcription. Acta endocrinol. Suppl. 168, 155–177 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittermayer, C., Braun, R., Rusch, H.P.: The effect of actinomycin D on the timing of mitosis in Physarum polycephalum. Exp. Cell Res. 38, 33–41 (1965)

    Google Scholar 

  • Molgaard, H.V., Matthews, H.R., Bradbury, E.M.: Organisation of genes for ribosomal RNA in Physarum polycephalum. Eur. J. Biochem. 68, 541–549 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Reeder, H., McKnight, S.L., Miller, O.: Contraction ratio of the nontranscribed spacer of Xenopus rDNA chromatin. Cold Spr. Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 42, 1174–1177 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheer, U.: Changes of nucleosome frequency in nucleolar and non-nucleolar chromatin as a function of transcription: an electron microscopic study. Cell 13, 535–549 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheer, U.: Structural organization of spacer chromatin between transcribed ribosomal RNA genes in amphibian oocytes. Eur. J. Cell Biol. 23, 189–196 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheer, U., Trendelenburg, M.F., Krohne, G., Franke, W.W.: Lengths and patterns of transcriptional units in the amplified nucleoli of Xenopus laevis. Chromosoma (Berl.) 60, 147–167 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stalder, J., Groudine, M., Dodgson, J.B., Engel, J.D., Weintraub, H.: Hb switching in chickens. Cell 19, 973–980 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tata, J.R., Baker, B.: Enzymatic fractionation of nuclei: polynucleosomes and RNA polymerase II as endogenous transcriptional complexes. J. molec. Biol. 118, 249–272 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Trendelenburg, M.F., Mathis, D., Oudet, P.: Transcription units of chicken ovalbumin genes observed after injection of cloned complete genes into Xenopus oocyte nuclei. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 77, 5984–5988 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • Weintraub, H.: Assembly of an active chromatin structure during replication. Nucleic Acids Res. 7, 781–792 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Weintraub, H., Groudine, M.: Chromosomal subunits in active genes have an altered conformation. Science 193, 848–856 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Membrane Biology and Biochemistry, Institute of Cell and Tumor Biology, Federal Republic of Germany

    Ulrich Scheer, Hanswalter Zentgraf & Helmut W. Sauer

  2. Institute of Virology, German Cancer Research Center, D-6900, Heidelberg

    Hanswalter Zentgraf

  3. Department of Zoology, University of Würzburg, D-8700, Würzburg, Federal Republic of Germany

    Helmut W. Sauer

Authors
  1. Ulrich Scheer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hanswalter Zentgraf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Helmut W. Sauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Scheer, U., Zentgraf, H. & Sauer, H.W. Different chromatin structures in Physarum polycephalum . Chromosoma 84, 279–290 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00399138

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00399138

Keywords

Search

Navigation