Table Of ContentSubcellular
Biochemistry
8
Volume
ADVISORY EDITORIAL BOARD
J. ANDRE Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire, 4 Faculte des Sciences, 91 Orsay, France
D. L. ARNON Department of Cell Physiology, Hilgard Hall, University of California,
Berkeley, California 94720, USA
J. BRACHET Laboratoire de Morphologic Animale, Faculte des Sciences, Universite
Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
J. CHAUVEAU Institut de Recherches Scientifiques sur Ie Cancer, 16 Avenue Vaillant
Couturier, 94 Ville Juif, Boite Postale 8, France
C. de DUVE Universite de Louvain, Louvain, Belgium and The Rockefeller University,
New York, NY 10021, USA
M. KLINGENBERG Institut fUr Physiologische Chemie und Physikalische Biochemie,
Universitiit Miinchen, Goethestrasse 33, Miinchen 15, Germany
A. LIMA-de-FARIA Institute of Molecular Cytogenetics, Tornavagen 13, University of
Lund, Lund, Sweden
O. LINDBERG The Wenner-Gren Institute, Norrtullsgatan 16, Stockholm, V A, Sweden
V. N. LUZIKOV A. N. Belozersky Laboratory for Molecular Biology and Bioorganic
Chemistry, Lomonosov State University, Building A, Moscow 117234, USSR
H. R. MAHLER Chemical Laboratories, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401,
USA
M. M. K. NASS Department of Therapeutic Research, University of Pennsylvania School
of Medicine, Biology Service Building, 3800 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19104, USA
A. B. NOVIKOFF Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva
University, Eastchester Road and Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA
R. N. ROBERTSON Mac1eay Building, A12, School of Biological Sciences, The University
of Sydney, Sydney, N.S.W. 2006, Australia
P. SIEKEVITZ The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA
F. S. SJOSTRAND Department of Zoology, University of California, Los Angeles, Califor
nia 90024, USA
A. S. SPIRIN A. N. Bakh Institute of Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the USSR,
Leninsky Prospekt 33, Moscow V- 71, USSR
D. von WETTSTEIN Department of Physiology, Carlsberg Laboratory, GI. Carlsbergvcj
10, DK-2500, Copenhagen, Denmark
V. P. WHITTAKER AbteiJung fUr Neurochemie, Max-Plantk Institut fUr Biophysikalische
Chemic, D-3400 Gottingen-Nikolausberg, Postfach 968, Germany
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring
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actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher.
Subcellular
Biochemistry
8
Volume
Edited by
Donald B. Roodyn
University College London
London, England
PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Library of Congress cataloged the first volume of this title as follows:
Sub-cellular biochemistry.
London, New York, Plenum Press.
v. iIIus. 23 cm. quarterly.
Began with Sept. 1971 issue. Cf. New serial titles.
1. Cytochemistry - Periodicals. 2. Cell organelles - Periodicals.
QH61l.S84 574.8'76 73-{)43479
Library of Congress Catalog Card Num ber 73-{)434 79
ISBN-13: 978-1-4615-7953-3 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4615-7951-9
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4615-7951-9
This series is a continuation of the journal Sub-Cellular Biochemistry,
Volumes 1 to 4 of which were published quarterly from 1972 to 1975
© 1981 Plenum Press, New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1981
A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation
233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted.
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher
Contributors
Antony C. Bakke Department of Immunopathology, Research Institute of
Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, California 92037, U.S.A. Present address: LAC
USC Medical Center, Department of Medicine, Los Angeles, California
90033, U.S.A.
Ambica C. Banerjee Department of Biochemistry, Bose Institute, Calcutta
700 009, India. Present address: Department of Biochemistry, Calcutta
University, Calcutta 700 019, India
B. Bhattacharyya Department of Biochemistry, Bose Institute, Calcutta 700
009, India
B. B. Biswas Department of Biochemistry, Bose Institute, Calcutta 700 009,
India
Hector F. DeLuca Department of Biochemistry, College of Agricultural and
Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706,
U.S.A.
Sidney W. Fox Institute for Molecular and Cellular Evolution, University of
Miami, Coral Gables, Florida 33124, U.S.A.
Kaoru Harada Institute for Molecular and Cellular Evolution, University of
Miami, Coral Gables, Florida 33124. Present address: Department of
Chemistry, University of Tsukuba, Nihari-Gun, Ibaraki-Ken, Japan
P. E. Hare Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C.
20008, U.S.A.
Richard A. Lerner Department of Immunopathology, Research Institute of
Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, California 92037, U.S.A.
Anatoly V. Lichtenstein Department of Biochemistry, Oncological Scientific
Center of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow 115478, U.S.S.R.
S. K. Malhotra Biological Sciences Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Uni
versity of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2E9, Canada
Valery L. Mojseev Department of Biochemistry, Oncological Scientific Cen
ter of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow 115478, U.S.S.R.
JUrgen Oelze Institute for Biology II (Microbiology), University of Freiburg,
D78 Freiburg, Federal Republic of Germany
vi Contributors
A. R. Poole Joint Diseases Laboratory, Shriners Hospital for Crippled Chil
dren, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Vladimir S. Shapot Department of Biochemistry, Oncological Scientific
Center of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow 115478, U.S.S.R.
Mikhail M. Zaboykin Department of Biochemistry, Oncological Scientific
Center of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow 115478, U.S.S.R.
Aims and Scope
SUBCELLULAR BIOCHEMISTRY aims to bring together work on a wide
range of topics in subcellular biology in the hope of stimulating progress
towards an integrated view of the cell. In addition to dealing with conventional
biochemical studies on isolated organelles, articles published so far and planned
for the future consider such matters as the genetics, evolution, and biogenesis
of cell structures, bioenergetics, membrane structure and functions, and inter
actions between cell compartments particularly between mitochondria and
cytoplasm and between nucleus and cytoplasm.
Articles for submission should be sent to Dr. D. B. Roodyn, Department
of Biochemistry, University College London, Gower Street, London WCI E
6BT, U.K. There are no rigid constraints as to the size of the articles and in
general they should be between 9,000 and 36,000 words, with an optimum size
of about 20,000 words. Although articles may deal with highly specialized top
ics, authors should try as far as possible to avoid specialist jargon and to make
the article as comprehensible as possible to the widest range of biochemists and
cell biologists. Full details of the preparation of manuscripts are given in a
comprehensive Guide for Contributors which is available from the Editor or
Publishers on request.
vii
Preface
In this volume of SUBCELLULAR BIOCHEMISTRY we cover a wide range
of topics of considerable biological importance and have continued in our policy
of letting authors, rather than editors, decide the "natural" length of their
articles. Thus, we have some short but nevertheless significant contributions,
as well as more massive chapters. We start with a detailed account by 1. Oelze
of the composition and development of the bacterial photosynthetic apparatus.
A number of photosynthetic bacteria are discussed, with particular emphasis
on the well-studied Rhodospirillum rubrum and Rhodopseudomonas sphae
roides. The reader will no doubt be struck by the great wealth of information
now available on the molecular organization of the photosynthetic and respi
ratory systems in these organisms. Equally important is our improved under
standing of the biosynthesis and assembly of these systems. It is now generally
accepted that photosynthetic bacteria are excellent model systems for the study
of bioenergetic processes. It may well be that they will become equally popular
as models for the study of membrane biogenesis, and it is to be hoped that
Oelze's erudite and comprehensive treatment of the subject will help in this
regard.
The next chapter, by A. C. Bakke and R. A. Lerner, deals with another
fascinating organism that is attracting a good deal of interest, namely Dic
tyostelium discoideum. This slime mold can exist in a vegetative form as a
conventional "amoeba." However, under appropriate conditions it is trans
formed into a multicellular organism that shows definite morphological devel
opment and can also move as a multicellular mass. This extraordinary leap
from unicellular to multicellular organism is fortunately amenable to conven
tional biochemical analysis. In particular, the plasma membrane can be studied
at every stage by the great battery of techniques now available for the study
of membranes. The results of such studies are clearly set out in Bakke and
Lerner's article and show strikingly how much has been revealed so far, and
also give an indication of the complex molecular mechanisms that remain to
be unraveled.
ix
x Preface
The next chapter, by B. B. Biswas, A. C. Banerjee, and B. Bhattacharyya,
is entitled "Tubulin and the Microtubule System in Cellular Growth and
Development." This is a subject of intense current interest as the universal
distribution and immense significance of microtubules have been demonstrated
in the last few years. It is also now generally recognized that tubulin is an
ancient protein of profound evolutionary interest. The article systematically
surveys our current knowledge of the biochemistry of microtubule proteins, the
mechanism of microtubule assembly, the mode of action of antimicrotubular
agents, and the role of microtubules in growth and development. Significantly,
one section deals with recent experiments on the cloning of the tubulin gene,
and no doubt such work will lead to even greater revelations about tubulin
biochemistry and biology. The chapter after this deals with a question that has
intrigued biologists for at least a century, namely the relationship between
nucleus and cytoplasm. A. V. Lichtenstein, M. M. Zaboykin, V. L. Mojseev,
and V. S. Shapot concern themselves in particular with how the flow of genetic
information from nucleus to cytoplasm is controlled. Is the information simply
"pushed" out into the cytoplasm, or does the cytoplasm "pull" out from the
nucleus specific information as it is required? The authors make some fasci
nating suggestions about the possible role of the ubiquitous nuclear pores in
the process, and also discuss in a most stimulating way the many current the
ories on nucleocytoplasmic interaction.
We then turn to the interesting question of the subcellular basis for the
mode of action of vitamin D. In a short treatment of the topic, H. F. DeLuca
surveys the main metabolic transformations of vitamin D and discusses the
subcellular localization of various hydroxylase systems involved in these trans
formations. He also emphasizes the central role of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3
and presents current theories on its molecular mechanism of action. The article
provides a good example of the unifying trends in current research, in that
investigation into the mode of action of vitamin D is becoming increasingly
concerned with membrane phenomena and the role of possible receptors for its
metabolites.
The next chapter, by S. K. Malhotra, deals specifically with receptors of
fundamental importance, namely those for acetylcholine. Again one cannot
help but be struck by the magnitude of the advances that have been made.
Thus, the fact that it is now possible to present models of the molecular orga
nization of the acetylcholine receptor complex in terms of known polypeptides
arranged around a central ionophoretic channel shows that the subject is now
firmly established at the molecular level. An important consequence of these
advances is that the borders between biophysics and biochemistry, always
unnatural, have become increasingly blurred. The chapter surveys the distri
bution of acetylcholine receptors, their composition, structure, and morphol
ogy, and the differences between junctional and extrajunctional receptors.
Again we are given the distinct impression that we are on the verge of great
Preface xi
developments in a topic of central importance. The next article, by A. R. Poole,
describes the application of modern immunological techniques to the study of
tissue proteinases. The author discusses the intra- and extracellular localization
of cathepsin D in particular but also deals with a range of lytic enzymes
(including various other cathepsins, collagenase, elastase, serine proteinases,
and acrosin). He includes a most useful section entitled "Immunological Meth
ods for the Study of Proteinases" with helpful advice on the preparation of
antibodies, immunoprecipitation, immunoinhibition, immunolocalization, etc.
The article shows strikingly how current advances in immunology may be use
fully applied to the study of the tissue and intracellular distribution of specific
enzyme molecules, and it is hoped that some readers will be stimulated by the
information supplied to apply such methods.
The final chapter stands in a class of its own. It is a brief, critical, and
stimulating account by S. W. Fox, K. Harada, and P. E. Hare of studies that
have been made to establish the significance of the trace amounts of amino
acids that have been detected in samples of lunar rock and in the core of var
ious meteorites. The total quantity of amino acids found in various lunar rocks
ranges from 5 to 45 ng/ g. The most abundant amino acids are glycine, alanine,
and glutamic acid, with smaller amounts of aspartic acid, serine, and threonine.
Are these amounts significant? Do they represent material of biological impor
tance? What are the effects of rocket exhaust? Are the analytic procedures
adequate at these levels? All these matters are discussed critically, and a
scheme is put forward in which "core" sets of amino acids are first formed and
this gives rise to proteinoids and then protocells. The significance of this con
tribution to the ever-increasing debate on possible molecular mechanisms for
the origin of primitive life forms is that it is concerned with the interpretation
of measurements on actual samples and not with hypothetical events that could
have occurred so many gigayears ago.
As usual we include an extensive book review section. In this volume var
ious texts on recognition systems, methodology, cell biology, and evolution are
discussed in detail, and many of the topics discussed (e.g., tubulin, immuno
logical techniques, and the origin of life) are related to chapters in Volume 8.
To conclude, both the material in the book proper and the material surveyed
in the book review section attest to the dramatic and exciting advances that
are currently taking place in cell biology. It is clear that we are currently
observing a great increase in the unification of the subject in which techniques
and approaches in one area of study are increasingly being applied to other
areas. It is to be hoped that SUBCELLULAR BIOCHEMISTRY will continue
to contribute to this unification process.
D. B. Roodyn
London
