Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1983 Jun;3(6):974–981. doi: 10.1128/mcb.3.6.974

Individual regulation of the accumulation of H1 mRNA and core histone mRNAs in sea urchin embryos.

E J Baker, A A Infante
PMCID: PMC368626  PMID: 6877242

Abstract

The relative cytoplasmic accumulation of the individual histone mRNAs in sea urchins was determined by gel analysis of 3H-labeled cytoplasmic RNA isolated from embryos of the early cleavage through the mesenchyme blastula stages. A number of separate determinations showed that H1 mRNA accumulates at a molar ratio of 0.5 or less compared with each of the H2 or H3 core histone mRNAs through approximately the first 12 h of embryonic development. After this time, the accumulation of H1 mRNA increases relative to the core histone mRNAs, and approximately equimolar amounts of the histone mRNAs are produced by about the 14-h stage. The equimolar synthesis of H1 mRNA appears to be transient, returning to 0.5-molar levels several hours later. The increase in H1 mRNA accumulation, relative to the core histone RNAs, is coincident with the transition from expression of the early (alpha) sea urchin histone gene set to the late histone genes. Since all five of the early histone genes occur in a 1:1 ratio within repeating units, the data suggest that the genes within a single repeat, or their immediate products, are individually regulated. Gel analysis of the proteins synthesized in vivo by embryos demonstrates that the pattern of synthesis of the histone proteins reflects the changing ratios of the histone mRNAs.

Full text

PDF
974

Images in this article

976Image
on p.976
978Image
on p.978
978Image
on p.978

Selected References

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

  1. Arceci R. J., Gross P. R. Histone variants and chromatin structure during sea urchin development. Dev Biol. 1980 Nov;80(1):186–209. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(80)90508-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baker E. J., Infante A. A. Nonrandom distribution of histone mRNAs into polysomes and nonpolysomal ribonucleoprotein particles in sea urchin embryos. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Apr;79(8):2455–2459. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.8.2455. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bonner W. M., Laskey R. A. A film detection method for tritium-labelled proteins and nucleic acids in polyacrylamide gels. Eur J Biochem. 1974 Jul 1;46(1):83–88. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1974.tb03599.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Childs G., Maxson R., Kedes L. H. Histone gene expression during sea urchin embryogenesis: isolation and characterization of early and late messenger RNAs of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus by gene-specific hybridization and template activity. Dev Biol. 1979 Nov;73(1):153–173. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(79)90144-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dworkin M. B., Infante A. A. Relationship between the mRNA of polysomes and free ribonucleoprotein particles in the early sea urchin embryo. Dev Biol. 1976 Oct 1;53(1):73–90. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(76)90210-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Flynn J. M., Woodland H. R. The synthesis of histone H1 during early amphibian development. Dev Biol. 1980 Mar;75(1):222–230. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(80)90157-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Goustin A. S. Two temporal phases for the control of histone gene activity in cleaving sea urchin embryos (S. purpuratus). Dev Biol. 1981 Oct 15;87(1):163–175. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(81)90069-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Grunstein M. Hatching in the sea urchin Lytechinus pictus is accompanied by a shift in histone H4 gene activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978 Sep;75(9):4135–4139. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.9.4135. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hentschel C. C., Birnstiel M. L. The organization and expression of histone gene families. Cell. 1981 Aug;25(2):301–313. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90048-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hieter P. A., Hendricks M. B., Hemminki K., Weinberg E. S. Histone gene switch in the sea urchin embryo. Identification of late embryonic histone messenger ribonucleic acids and the control of their synthesis. Biochemistry. 1979 Jun 26;18(13):2707–2716. doi: 10.1021/bi00580a004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Imoh H. Changes in H1 histone during development of newt embryos. Exp Cell Res. 1977 Aug;108(1):57–62. doi: 10.1016/s0014-4827(77)80009-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Imoh H. Re-examination of histone changes during development of newt embryos. Exp Cell Res. 1978 Apr;113(1):23–29. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(78)90083-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Infante A. A., Nemer M. Heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein particles in the cytoplasm of sea urchin embryos. J Mol Biol. 1968 Mar 28;32(3):543–565. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(68)90342-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Keichline L. D., Wassarman P. M. Developmental study of the structure of sea urchin embryo and sperm chromatin using micrococcal nuclease. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1977 Mar 2;475(1):139–151. doi: 10.1016/0005-2787(77)90348-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kornberg R. D. Chromatin structure: a repeating unit of histones and DNA. Science. 1974 May 24;184(4139):868–871. doi: 10.1126/science.184.4139.868. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kornberg R. D. Structure of chromatin. Annu Rev Biochem. 1977;46:931–954. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.46.070177.004435. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kunkel N. S., Weinberg E. S. Histone gene transcripts in the cleavage and mesenchyme blastula embryo of the sea urchin, S. purpuratus. Cell. 1978 Jun;14(2):313–326. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(78)90117-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Laskey R. A., Mills A. D. Quantitative film detection of 3H and 14C in polyacrylamide gels by fluorography. Eur J Biochem. 1975 Aug 15;56(2):335–341. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1975.tb02238.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Mauron A., Levy S., Childs G., Kedes L. Monocistronic transcription is the physiological mechanism of sea urchin embryonic histone gene expression. Mol Cell Biol. 1981 Jul;1(7):661–671. doi: 10.1128/mcb.1.7.661. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Maxson R. E., Jr, Wilt F. H. The rate of synthesis of histone mRNA during the development of sea urchin embryos (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus). Dev Biol. 1981 Apr 30;83(2):380–386. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(81)90485-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Moav B., Nemer M. Histone synthesis. Assignment to a special class of polyribosomes in sea urchin embryos. Biochemistry. 1971 Mar 2;10(5):881–888. doi: 10.1021/bi00781a024. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Newrock K. M., Alfageme C. R., Nardi R. V., Cohen L. H. Histone changes during chromatin remodeling in embryogenesis. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1978;42(Pt 1):421–431. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1978.042.01.045. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Ruderman J. V., Woodland H. R., Sturgess E. A. Modulations of histone messenger RNA during the early development of Xenopus laevis. Dev Biol. 1979 Jul;71(1):71–82. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(79)90083-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Savić A., Richman P., Williamson P., Poccia D. Alterations in chromatin structure during early sea urchin embryogenesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Jun;78(6):3706–3710. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.6.3706. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Spinelli G., Melli M., Arnold E., Casano C., Gianguzza F., Ciaccio M. High molecular weight RNA containing histone messenger in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. J Mol Biol. 1980 May 15;139(2):111–122. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(80)90299-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Sures I., Lowry J., Kedes L. H. The DNA sequence of sea urchin (S. purpuratus) H2A, H2B and H3 histone coding and spacer regions. Cell. 1978 Nov;15(3):1033–1044. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(78)90287-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Woodland H. R. Histone synthesis during the development of Xenopus. FEBS Lett. 1980 Nov 17;121(1):1–10. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(80)81252-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES