Intact ribonucleic acid (RNA) has been prepared from tissues rich in ribonuclease such as the rat pancreas by efficient homogenization in a 4 M solution of the potent protein denaturant guanidinium thiocyanate plus 0.1 M 2-mercaptoethanol to break protein disulfide bonds. The RNA was isolated free of protein by ethanol precipitation or by sedimentation through cesium chloride. Rat pancreas RNA obtained by these means has been used as a source for the purification of alpha-amylase messenger ribonucleic acid.

Isolation of biologically active ribonucleic acid from sources enriched in ribonuclease.

“Western Blotting”: Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels to unmodified nitrocellulose and radiographic detection with antibody and radioiodinated protein A

A simple method is described for converting a standard rabbit reticulocyte cell-free extract (lysate) into an mRNA-dependent protein synthesis system. The lysate is preincubated with CaCl2 and micrococcal nuclease, and then excess ethyleneglycol-bis(2-aminoethylether)-N,N′-tetraacetic acid is added to chelate the Ca2+ and inactivate the nuclease. Lysates treated in this way have negligible endogenous amino acid incorporation activity, but 75% of the activity of the original lysate can be recovered by the addition of globin mRNA. The efficiency utilisation of added mRNA and the sensitivity of the system are both very high. No residual nuclease activity could be detected, and the tRNA is functionally unimpaired. Several different species of mRNA have been shown to be translated efficiently into full-sized products of the expected molecular weight up to about 200 000, and there is no detectable accumulation of incomplete protein products. The efficient translation of RNA from two plant viruses (tobacco mosaic virus and cowpea mosaic virus) required heterologous tRNA.

https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1432-1033.1976.tb10656.x

An efficient mRNA-dependent translation system from reticulocyte lysates.

Recently, we found that ZO-1, a tight junction-associated protein, was concentrated in the so called isolated adherens junction fraction from the liver (Itoh, M., A. Nagafuchi, S. Yonemura, T. Kitani-Yasuda, Sa. Tsukita, and Sh. Tsukita. 1993. J. Cell Biol. 121:491-502). Using this fraction derived from chick liver as an antigen, we obtained three monoclonal antibodies specific for a approximately 65-kD protein in rats. This antigen was not extractable from plasma membranes without detergent, suggesting that it is an integral membrane protein. Immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy with these mAbs showed that this approximately 65-kD membrane protein was exclusively localized at tight junctions of both epithelial and endothelial cells: at the electron microscopic level, the labels were detected directly over the points of membrane contact in tight junctions. To further clarify the nature and structure of this membrane protein, we cloned and sequenced its cDNA. We found that the cDNA encoded a 504-amino acid polypeptide with 55.9 kDa. A search of the data base identified no proteins with significant homology to this membrane protein. A most striking feature of its primary structure was revealed by a hydrophilicity plot: four putative membrane-spanning segments were included in the NH2-terminal half. This hydrophilicity plot was very similar to that of connexin, an integral membrane protein in gap junctions. These findings revealed that an integral membrane protein localizing at tight junctions is now identified, which we designated as "occludin."

/pdf/occludin-a-novel-integral-membrane-protein-localizing-at-4df1f75q25.pdf

Occludin: a novel integral membrane protein localizing at tight junctions.

A procedure is described for the large-scale purification of light (L) and heavy (H) chain mRNAs from plasmacytomas produced in mice. Intact RNA is selectively precipitated in high yield from frozen tumors homogenized in 3 M LiCl and 6 M urea. L and H-chain mRNAs were purified by oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography and either sucrose gradient centrifugation in conditions preventing aggregation or by means of high-resolution preparative gel electrophoresis under non-denaturing conditions. γ2a and α H-chain mRNAs sedimented as major components at 15.5 S and 16.5 S respectively, when L-chain mRNAs sedimented as 12-S species. H-chain mRNAs isolated by continuous elution during preparative gel electrophoresis were completely separated from both L-chain mRNA and residual 18-S rRNA, and migrated as single components of 1900 ± 50 nucleotides on analytical denaturing gels. The partially purified H-chain mRNAs were translated into major components of molecular weights of 56000 (γ2a) and 60000 (α) in an mRNA-dependent rabbit reticulocyte lysate, whereas L-chain mRNAs yielded polypeptides of molecular weights of 25000 (λ) and 27000 (к). Up to 95% of the translation products directed by the purified mRNAs were immunoprecipitated using specific antisera. The purity of L and H-chain mRNAs was assessed by hybridization of corresponding cDNAs with excess recombinant plasmid DNA. The results indicated a minimum purity of 47% (γ2a), 62% (α), for H-chain mRNAs and 60% (к), for L-chain mRNAs.

https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1432-1033.1980.tb06030.x

Purification of mouse immunoglobulin heavy-chain messenger RNAs from total myeloma tumor RNA.

Phosphorylation of initiation factor eIF-2 and the control of reticulocyte protein synthesis

Publisher Summary The nuclease-treated rabbit reticulocyte lysate supplemented with heterologous tRNA is the most widely used translation system for eukaryotic mRNAs. This chapter describes the procedures to make the lysate, how to make it dependent on added mRNA, and provide some suggestions for methods of preparing gel-filtered nuclease-treated lysates. The ideal translation system is a reticulocyte lysate from which the endogenous mRNA is removed by fractionation or selective destruction without impairing the intrinsic high activity of the translation machinery. The resulting nuclease-treated lysate has a very low activity, unless eukaryotic mRNAs are added. The reticulocytes are highly specialized cells, and the translation machinery shows little specialization or preference with regard to initiation of protein synthesis on different eukaryotic mRNAs. It is only with respect to the complement of tRNA species that the reticulocyte lysate shows special properties, which may impair its ability to translate heterologous mRNA.

Preparation and use of nuclease-treated rabbit reticulocyte lysates for the translation of eukaryotic messenger RNA.

The effect of cyclic AMP and related compounds on the control of protein synthesis in reticulocyte lysates.

A system is described in which transcription of cDNA clones by bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase is coupled to translation in the micrococcal nuclease treated rabbit reticulocyte lysate in a single reaction of coupled transcription-translation. The monovalent and divalent cation requirements for translation are dominant for optimum expression in this coupled system, so that transcription is relatively inefficient. Nevertheless, the use of appropriate DNA concentrations leads to the synthesis of sufficient RNA to saturate the protein synthesis capacity of the system. The fidelity and efficiency of expression in this coupled system are high, and the degree of purification of the plasmid DNA is relatively uncritical. The system therefore offers very considerable advantages for rapid screening of 'mini-preparations' of cDNA plasmid constructs for retention of the correct reading frame and expression of the desired protein product.

/pdf/plasmid-cdna-directed-protein-synthesis-in-a-coupled-378g2vfrdg.pdf

Richard J. Jackson

Papers

An efficient mRNA-dependent translation system from reticulocyte lysates.

Phosphorylation of initiation factor eIF-2 and the control of reticulocyte protein synthesis

Preparation and use of nuclease-treated rabbit reticulocyte lysates for the translation of eukaryotic messenger RNA.

The effect of cyclic AMP and related compounds on the control of protein synthesis in reticulocyte lysates.

Plasmid cDNA-directed protein synthesis in a coupled eukaryotic in vitro transcription-translation system