Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Journal of Cell Biology logoLink to The Journal of Cell Biology
. 1967 May 1;33(2):273–279. doi: 10.1083/jcb.33.2.273

NUCLEOLAR AND NUCLEAR RNA SYNTHESIS DURING THE CELL LIFE CYCLE IN MONKEY AND PIG KIDNEY CELLS IN VITRO

Jane L Showacre 1, W G Cooper 1, D M Prescott 1
PMCID: PMC2108353  PMID: 6039371

Abstract

The incorporation of 5-3H-uridine and 5-3H-cytidine into nucleolar and nonnucleolar RNA in the nucleus of monkey and pig kidney cells was measured in vitro during the cell life cycle. Time-lapse cinematographic records were made of cells during asynchronous exponential proliferation, in order to identify the temporal position of individual cells in relation to the preceding mitosis. Immediately following cinematography, cells were labeled with uridine-3H and cytidine-3H for a short period, fixed, and analyzed by radioautography. Since the data permit correlation of the rate of RNA labeling with the position of a cell within the cycle, curves could be constructed describing the rate of RNA synthesis over the average cell cycle. RNA synthesis was absent in early telophase, and rose very abruptly in rate in late telophase and in very early G1 in both the nucleus and the reconstituting nucleolus. Thereafter, through the G1 and S periods the rate of nuclear RNA synthesis rose gradually. When we used a 10-min pulse, there was no detectable change in the rate for nucleolar RNA labeling in monkey kidney cells during G1 or S. When we used a 30-min labeling time, the rate of nucleolar RNA labeling rose gradually in pig kidney cells. With increasing time after mitosis, the data became more variable, which may, in part, be related to the variation in generation times for individual cells.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (479.5 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BROWN D. D., GURDON J. B. ABSENCE OF RIBOSOMAL RNA SYNTHESIS IN THE ANUCLEOLATE MUTANT OF XENOPUS LAEVIS. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1964 Jan;51:139–146. doi: 10.1073/pnas.51.1.139. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. COOPER W. G. A modified plastic Petri dish for cell and tissue cultures. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1961 Apr;106:801–803. doi: 10.3181/00379727-106-26480. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Crippa M. The rate of ribonucleic acid synthesis during the cell cycle. Exp Cell Res. 1966 May;42(2):371–375. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(66)90301-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. FEINENDEGEN L. E., BOND V. P. Observations on nuclear RNA during mitosis in human cancer cells in culture (HeLa-S3), studied with tritiated cytidine. Exp Cell Res. 1963 Apr;30:393–404. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(63)90311-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. FROESE G. THE DISTRIBUTION AND INTERDEPENDENCE OF GENERATION TIMES OF HELA CELLS. Exp Cell Res. 1964 Jul;35:415–419. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(64)90108-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. GRANBOULAN N., GRANBOULAN P. CYTOCHIMIE ULTRASTRUCTURALE DU NUCL'EOLE. II. ETUDE DES SITES DE SYNTH'ESE DU RNA DANS LE NUCL'EOLE ET LE NOYAU. Exp Cell Res. 1965 Jun;38:604–619. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(65)90384-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. HAYFLICK L., MOORHEAD P. S. The serial cultivation of human diploid cell strains. Exp Cell Res. 1961 Dec;25:585–621. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(61)90192-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. HSU T. C. Generation time of HeLa cells determined from cine records. Tex Rep Biol Med. 1960;18:31–33. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Houssais J. F., Attardi G. High molecular weight nonribosomal-type nuclear RNA and cytoplasmic messenger RNA in HeLa cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1966 Aug;56(2):616–623. doi: 10.1073/pnas.56.2.616. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Jones K. W. The role of the nucleolus in the formation of ribosomes. J Ultrastruct Res. 1965 Oct;13(3):257–262. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5320(65)80074-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. KILLANDER D., ZETTERBERG A. QUANTITATIVE CYTOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON INTERPHASE GROWTH. I. DETERMINATION OF DNA, RNA AND MASS CONTENT OF AGE DETERMINED MOUSE FIBROBLASTS IN VITRO AND OF INTERCELLULAR VARIATION IN GENERATION TIME. Exp Cell Res. 1965 May;38:272–284. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(65)90403-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kasten F. H., Strasser F. F. Nucleic acid synthetic patterns in synchronized mammalian cells. Nature. 1966 Jul 9;211(5045):135–140. doi: 10.1038/211135a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kim J. H., Perez A. G. Ribonucleic acid synthesis in synchronously dividing populations of HeLa cells. Nature. 1965 Aug 28;207(5000):974–975. doi: 10.1038/207974a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. LaBella F. S., Sanwal M. Isolation of nerve endings from the posterior pituitary gland. Electron microscopy of fractions obtained by centrifugation. J Cell Biol. 1965 Jun;25(3 Suppl):179–193. doi: 10.1083/jcb.25.3.179. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. MAURER W., PRIMBSCH E. GROESSE DER BETA-SELBSTABSORPTION BEI DER 3H-AUTORADIOGRAPHIE. Exp Cell Res. 1964 Jan;33:8–18. doi: 10.1016/s0014-4827(64)81005-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. PAUL J., HAGIWARA A. A kinetic study of the action of 5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine on synthetic processes in mammalian cells. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1962 Aug 20;61:243–249. doi: 10.1016/0926-6550(62)90086-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. PERRY R. P. ROLE OF THE NUCLEOLUS IN RIBONUCLEIC ACID METABOLISM AND OTHER CELLULAR PROCESSES. Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 1964 May;14:73–89. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. PRESCOTT D. M., BENDER M. A. Synthesis of RNA and protein during mitosis in mammalian tissue culture cells. Exp Cell Res. 1962 Mar;26:260–268. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(62)90176-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. REITER J. M., LITTLEFIELD J. W. NUCLEAR RNA SYNTHESIS IN PARTIALLY SYNCHRONIZED MOUSE FIBROBLASTS. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1964 Apr 27;80:562–566. doi: 10.1016/0926-6550(64)90300-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. RITOSSA F. M., SPIEGELMAN S. LOCALIZATION OF DNA COMPLEMENTARY TO RIBOSOMAL RNA IN THE NUCLEOLUS ORGANIZER REGION OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1965 Apr;53:737–745. doi: 10.1073/pnas.53.4.737. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. SEED J. Synthesis of ribonucleic acid, deoxyribonucleic acid and nuclear protein in normal and tumour strain cells. Nature. 1963 Apr 13;198:147–153. doi: 10.1038/198147a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Scharff M. D., Robbins E. Synthesis of ribosomal RNA in synchronized HeLa cells. Nature. 1965 Oct 30;208(5009):464–466. doi: 10.1038/208464a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. TERASIMA T., TOLMACH L. J. Growth and nucleic acid synthesis in synchronously dividing populations of HeLa cells. Exp Cell Res. 1963 Apr;30:344–362. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(63)90306-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Wallace H., Birnstiel M. L. Ribosomal cistrons and the nucleolar organizer. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1966 Feb 21;114(2):296–310. doi: 10.1016/0005-2787(66)90311-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Cell Biology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES