TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Zentgraf, Hanswalter A1 - Sauer, Helmut W. T1 - Different chromatin structures in Physarum polycephalum: a special form of transcriptionally active chromatin devoid of nucleosomal particles N2 - Nonnucleolar chromatin from interphase nuclei of Physarum polycephalum plasmodia occurs in two different structural configurations as seen in electron microscopic spread preparations. While the majority of the chromatin is devoid of nascent ribonucleoprotein (RNP) fibrils and compacted into nucleosomal particles, a minor proportion (10- 20%) is organized differently and reveals a smooth contour. It is this form of smooth chromatin which is rich in transcription units (mean length: 1.36±0.21 11m). Only occasionally are solitary nascent RNP fibrils observed which are associated with beaded strands of chromatin. In transcribed smooth chromatin nucleosomal particles are not only absent from the transcription units but also from their nontranscribed flan king regions, indicating that this special structural aspect is not merely a direct consequence of the transcriptional process. The existence of ca. 10- 20% of Physarum chromatin in the smoothly contoured form is discussed in relation to reports of a preferential digestibility of a similar proportion of Physarum chromatin by DNAse I (Jalouzot et al. , 1980) and to the altered configuration of "peak A" chromatin subunits after micrococcal nuclease digestion (Johnson et al., 1978a, b). Y1 - 1981 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-33148 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Zentgraf, Hanswalter T1 - Morphology of nucleolar chromatin in electron microscopic spread preparations N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1982 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-41155 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Zentgraf, Hanswalter T1 - Nucleosomal and supranucleosomal organization of transcriptionally inactive rDNA circles in Dytiscus oocytes N2 - Oocytes of the water beetle, Dytiscus marginalis, contain large amounts of rDNA most of which is present in the form of rings containing one or several pre-rRNA genes. Electron microscopy of spread preparations of vitellogenic oocytes has shown that the rDNA is extended in chromatin rings with transcribed pre- rRNA genes and is not packed into nucleosomes (Trendelenburg eta!. , 1976). When similar preparations are made from previtellogenic ooytes in which a large proportion of the nuc1eolar chromatin is transcriptionally inactive, a different morphological form of this chromatin is recognized. In contrast to the transcribed chromatin rings the inactive nucleolar chromatin circles show the characteristic beaded configuration, indicative of nucleosomal packing. Nuc1eosomal packing is also indicated by the comparison of the lengths of these chromatin rings with both iso lated rDNA circ1es and transcribed chromatin rings. In addition, these inactive nuc1eofilaments often appear to be compacted into globular higher order structures of diameters from 21 to 34nm, each composed of an aggregate of 6-9 nuc1eosomes. While the estimated reduction of the overall length of rDNA, as seen in our preparations, is, on the average, only 2.2 - 2.4 fold in the nuc1eosomal state it is 10- 13 fold when supranuc1eosomal globules are present. These data show that the extrachromosomal rDNA of these oocytes goes through a cycle of condensation and extensio n, as a function of the specific transcriptional activity, and that the beaded state described here is exc1usively found in the non-transcribed state. Y1 - 1978 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-33188 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Weisenberger, Dieter T1 - The nucleolus N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1994 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-32037 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Krohne, Georg A1 - Franke, Werner W. T1 - Lengths and patterns of transcriptional units in the amplified nucleoli of oocytes of Xenopus laevis N2 - Transcriptionally active chromatin from peripheral amplified nuc1eoli of lampbrush-chromosome stage oocytes of Xenopus laevis was dispersed and spread in various solutions of low salt concentrations (incIuding some with additions of detergents) and examined by electron microscopy. Nucleolar material from oocytes of animals with normal (2-nu) and mutant (I-nu) genetical constitution of nucleolus organizers was compared. Histograms showing the distributions of the lengths of matrix units, apparent spacer intercepts, and the total repeating units of the rDNA containing chromatin axes revealed a significant degree of heterogeneity, with indications of subclasses and predominant repeat unit size c1asses of 3.3 and 3.8 11m length. The correspondence of matrix unit length to the molecular weight of the first stable product of rDNA transcription was studied using gel electrophoresis of labelIed pre-rRNA under non-denaturing and denaturing conditions. Evaluations of individual strands of nucleolar chromatin furt her demonstrated the existence of both (i) strands with obviously homogeneous repeating units and (ii) strands with intra-axial heterogeneity of rDNA subunits. " Preludecomplexes ", i.e. groups of transcriptional complexes in apparent spacer intercepts, were not infrequently noted. The data are compared with the measurements of lengths of repeating units in fragments of rDNA obtained by digestion with EcoRI endonuclease as described by Morrow et al. (1974) and Wellauer et al. (1974, 1976a, b). The results are discussed in relation to problems of variations in the modes of arrangement of the pre-rRNA genes, the state of packing of rDNA during transcription, and possible mechanisms of the amplification process. Y1 - 1977 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-33069 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Franke, Werner W. T1 - Regulation of transcription of genes of ribosomal RNA during amphibian oogenesis: a biochemical and morphological study N2 - Natural changes in the transcription of rRNA genes were studied in nucleoli from three oogenic stages of the newt Triturus alpestris with electron microscope, autoradiographic, and biochemical techniques. From determinations of the uridine triphosphate pool sizes and [3H]uridine uptake, phosphorylation, and incorporation into 28S and 18S rRNAs in vivo it was estimated that the rate of rRNA synthesis was about 0.01% in previtellogenic oocytes and 13% in mature oocytes when compared to midvitellogenesis. Spread preparations of nucleoli showed significant morphological changes in the transcriptional complexes. The total number of lateral fibrils, i.e., ribonucleoproteins containing the nascent rRNA precursor, were drastically decreased in stages of reduced synthetic activity. This indicates that rRNA synthesis is regulated primarily at the level of transcription. The resulting patterns of fibril coverage of the nucleolar chromatin axes revealed a marked heterogeneity. On the same nucleolar axis occurred matrix units that were completely devoid of lateral fibrils, matrix units that were almost fully covered with lateral fibrils, and various forms of matrix units with a range of lateral fibril densities intermediate between the two extremes. Granular particles that were tentatively identified as RNA polymerase molecules were not restricted to the transcription l complexes. They were observed, although less regularly and separated by greater distances, in untranscribed spacer regions as well as in untranscribed gene intercepts. The results show that the pattern of transcriptional control of rRNA genes differs widely in different genes, even in the same genetic unit. Y1 - 1976 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-32814 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Franke, Werner W. T1 - Transcription of ribosomal RNA cistrons: Correlation of morphological and biochemical data N2 - Electron microscopic spread preparations of oocyte nucleoli (lampbrush stage) of various amphibians are quantitatively evaluated and the length distributions of repeat-, matrix-, and spacer-units along the rRNA cistron containing axes are given. The correlation of the matrix unit data with the gel electrophoretic pattern of labelled nuclear RNA from the same oocytes is examined. The mean value of the matrix unit corresponds fairly well to a 2.6 million D peak of pre-rRNA but the distribution of both matrix units and labelled pre-rRNAs shows an asymmetrical heterogeneity indicating the existence of some larger primary transcription products of rDNA. Novel structural aspects are described in the spacer regions which suggest that transcription does also take place in DNP regions between the matrix units. A special "prelude piece" coding for approx. 0.5 million D of RNA is frequently visualized in the spacer segments at the beginning of a matrix unit. Possible artifacts resulting from the preparation, the relative congruence between the data obtained using both methods, and the functional meaning of the findings are discussed against the background of current concepts of structural organization and transcription products of nucleolar DNA. Y1 - 1973 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-32195 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Trendelenburg, M. F. A1 - Franke, Werner W. T1 - Regulation of transcription of ribosomal RNA genes during amphibian oogenesis N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1976 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-33700 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Thiry, Marc A1 - Goessens, Guy T1 - Structure, function and assembly of the nucleolus N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1993 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-32057 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Spring, Herbert A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. T1 - Organization of transcriptionally active chromatin in lampbrush chromosome loops N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1979 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-39293 ER -