Constancy of Adenine Methylation in Tetrahymena Macronuclear DNA
- 1 September 1990
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in The Journal of Protozoology
- Vol. 37 (5), 409-414
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1550-7408.1990.tb01165.x
Abstract
Macronuclear DNA from Tetrahymena was examined in order to determine whether the pattern of adenine methylation changed with the transcriptional activity of nearby genes. The DNA from growing, starved and conjugating cells was digested with six restriction enzymes which are sensitive to methylation of adenine within their recognition site. Southern blots of the restricted DNAs were probed with seven cDNA clones and one genomic clone which are homologous to polyA+ RNAs, whose transcriptional activity varies with the physiological state of the cell. One of the cDNA clones, BC11, had not been described previously. It hybridized to a 1.3kb transcript which was present in population of starved and conjugating, but not in growing cells. On Southern blots of genomic DNA it hybridized to a complex pattern of bands which was highly polymorphic between the DNAs of closely related strains. It was estimated that between 137 and 272 sites were assayed for changes in methylation, including at least 27 sites which were known to be methylated. No differences were seen in the size of restriction fragments from cells in different physiological states. The data suggest that the methylation pattern, which is determined during macronuclear development, does not vary with the physiological state of the cell.Keywords
This publication has 30 references indexed in Scilit:
- Cloning of tetrahymena genomic sequences whose message abundance is increased during conjugationDevelopmental Biology, 1989
- DNA methylation and gene activityCell, 1988
- A germ line specific DNA sequence is transcribed in TetrahymenaDevelopmental Biology, 1987
- Alternative Processing of Sequences During Macronuclear Development inTetrahymena thermophila1The Journal of Protozoology, 1986
- Tetrahymenaconjugation-induced genes: structure and organization in macro- and micronucleiNucleic Acids Research, 1986
- Specific DNA rearrangements in synchronously developing nuclei of Tetrahymena.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1984
- A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activityAnalytical Biochemistry, 1983
- Chapter 16 Isolation of Micro- and Macronuclei of Tetrahymena pyriformisMethods in Cell Biology, 1975
- Pair formation in Tetrahymena pyriformis, an inducible developmental systemJournal of Experimental Zoology, 1974
- [6N]METHYL ADENINE IN THE NUCLEAR DNA OF A EUCARYOTE, TETRAHYMENA PYRIFORMIS The Journal of cell biology, 1973