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Subcellular 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 delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon 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