TY - JOUR A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Kleinschmidt, Jürgen A. A1 - Spring, Herbert A1 - Krohne, Georg A1 - Grund, Christine A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Stöhr, Michael A1 - Scheer, Ulrich T1 - A nucleolar skeleton of protein filaments demonstrated in amplified nucleoli of Xenopus laevis N2 - The amplified, extrachromosomal nucleoli of Xenopus oocytes contain a meshwork of -4-nm-thick filaments, which are densely coiled into higher-order fibrils of diameter 30-40 nm and are resistant to treatment with high- and low-salt concentrations, nucleases (DNase I, pancreatic RNase, micrococcal nuclease), sulfhydryl agents, and various nonionic detergents. This filamentous "skeleton" has been prepared from manually isolated nuclear contents and nucleoli as weil as from nucleoli isolated by fluorescence-activated particle sorting. The nucleolar skeletons are observed in light and electron microscopy and are characterized by ravels of filaments that are especially densely packed in the nucleolar cortex. DNA as weil as RNA are not constituents of this structure, and precursors to ribosomal RNAs are completely removed from the extraction-resistant filaments by treatment with high-salt buffer or RN ase. Fractions of isolated nucleolar skeletons show specific enrichment of an acidic major protein of 145,000 mol wt and an apparent pi value of -6.15, accompanied in some preparations by various amounts of minor proteins. The demonstration of this skeletal structure in "free" extrachromosomal nucleoli excludes the problem of contaminations by nonnucleolar material such as perinucleolar heterochromatin normally encountered in studies of nucleoli from somatic cells. It is suggested that this insoluble protein filament complex forms a skeleton specific to the nucleolus proper that is different from other extraction-resistant components of the nucleus such as matrix and lamina and is involved in the spatial organization of the nucleolar chromatin and its transcriptional products. In studies of the organization of the interphase nucleus, considerable progress has been made in the elucidation of the arrangement of chromatin components and transcriptional products. However, relatively little is known about the composition and function of another category of nuclear structures, the nonnucleoproteinaceous architectural components that are insoluble in solutions of low and high ionic strength, despite numerous studies dedicated to this problem. Such structures include (a) the nuclear envelope and its pore complexes (I, 15, 18, 23, 37, 41), (b) a peripheral layer of insoluble protein ("lamina"; I, 15, 22, 23, 59), (e) certain skeletal proteins related to the chromosome "scaffold" described by Laemmli and coworkers (see references 2 and 3), and (d) ill-defined tangles of fibrillar structures of the nuclear interior that are collectively described as residual "matrix" (6, 21 ; for reviews, see references THE JOURNAL OF CEll BrOlOGY . VOlUME 90 AUGUST 1981 289-299 © The RockefeIler University Press · 0021 -9525/ 81 / 08/ 0289/ 11 $1 .00 4 and 12). The latter, preparatively Y1 - 1981 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-33130 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Spring, Herbert A1 - Zentgraf, Hanswalter T1 - Absence of nucleosomes in transcriptionally active chromatin N2 - The ultrastructure of twO kinds of transcription ally active chromatin, the lampbrush chromosome loops and the nucleoli from amphibian oocytes and primary nuclei of the green alga Acetabularia, has been examined after manual isolation and dispersion in low salt media of slightly alkaline pH using various electron microscopic staining techniques (positive staining, metal shadowing, negative staining, preparation on positively charged films, etc.) and compared with the appearance of chromatin from various somatic cells (hen erythrocytes, rat hepatocytes, ClIltured murine sarcoma cells) prepared in parallel. While typical nucleosomes were revealed with all the techniques for chromatin from the latter three cell system, no nucleosomes were identified in either the lampbrush chromosome structures or the nucleolar chromatin. Nucleosomal arrays were absent not only in maximally fibril-covered matrix units but also in fibril-free regions between transcriptional complexes, including the apparent spacer intercepts between different transcriptional units. Moreover, comparisons of the length of the repeating units of rDNA in the transcribed state with those determined in the isolated rDNA and with the lengths of the first stable product of rDNA transcription, the pre-rRNA, demonstrated that the transcribed rDNA was not significantly shortened and/or condensed but rather extended in the transcriptional units. Distinct granules of about nucleosomal size which were sometimes found in apparent spacer regions as well as within matrix units of reduced fibril density were shown not to represent nucleosomes since their number per spacer unit was not inversely correlated with the length of the specific unit and also on the basis of their resistance to treatment with the detergent Sarkosyl NL-30. It is possible to structurally distinguish between transcriptionally active chromatin in which the DNA is extended in a non-nucleosomal form of chromatin and condensed, inactive chromatin within the typical nucleosomal package. The characteristic extended structure of transcriptionally active chromatin is found not only in the transcribed genes but also in non-transcribed regions within or between ("spacer") transcriptional units as well as in transcriptional units that are untranscribed amidst transcribed ones and/or have been inactivated for relatively short time. It is hypothesized that activation of transcription involves a transition from a nucleosomal to an extended chromatin organisation and that this structural transition is not specific for single "activated" genes but may involve larger chromatin regions, including adjacent untranscribed intercepts. KW - Cytologie KW - Chromatin structure KW - nucleosomes KW - transcription KW - electron microscopy Y1 - 1976 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-40646 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eckert, W. A. A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Scheer, Ulrich T1 - Actinomycin D and the central granules in the nuclear pore complex: thin sectioning versus negative staining N2 - Thin section electron microscopy of Actinomycin D treated Tetrahymena cells and amphibian oocytes (Xenopus laevis, Triturus aZpestris) reveal no reduction in the central granules in the nuclear pore complexes. Possible reasons for the diversity between these results and earlier observations using negatively stained isolated nuclear envelopes from the same objects are discussed. The results clearly show that the presence of central granules within the nuclear pores does neither depend on nuclear RNA synthesis nor does indicate nucleocytoplasmic RNA transport. This conclusion leads to a reconsideration of the nature of the central granule. The functioning of the central granule of the nuclear pore complexes is further discussed in connection with recent studies on the ultrastructure of various types of cisternal pores. KW - Nuclear pores KW - Nucleocytoplasmic exchange KW - Actinomycin D KW - Tetrahymena KW - Amphibian oocytes Y1 - 1972 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-40636 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Franke, Werner W. T1 - Annulate lamellae in plant cells: formation during microsporogenesis and pollen development in Canna generalis Bailey N2 - The occurrence of stacked annulate tamellae is documented for a plant cell system, namely for pollen mother cells and developing pollen grains of Canna generalis. Their structural subarchiteeture and relationship to endoplasmie reticulum (ER) and nuclear envelope cisternae is described in detail. The results demonstrate structural homology between plant and animal annulate lamellae and are compatible with, though do not prove, the view that annulate lamcllar cisternae may originate as a degenerative form of endoplasmic retieulum. Y1 - 1972 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-32160 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zentgraf, Hanswalter A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Franke, Werner W. T1 - Characterization and localization of the RNA synthesized in mature avian erythrocytes N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1975 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-32410 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Spring, Herbert T1 - Classification of loops of lampbrush chromosomes according to the arrangement of transcriptional complexes N2 - The arrangement of transcriptional units in the loops of lampbrush chromosomes from oocyte nuclei of urodele amphibia and from primary nuclei of the green alga Acetabularia have been studied in the electron microscope using spread preparations. Loops with different patterns of arrangement of matrix units (i.e. to a first approximation, transcriptional units) can be distinguished: (i) loops consisting of one active transcriptional unit; (ii) loops containing one active transcriptional unit plus additional fibril-free, i.e. apparently untranscribed, intercepts that may include 'spacer' regions; (iii) loops containing two or more transcriptional units arranged in identical or changing polarities, with or without interspersed apparent spacer regions. Morphological details of the transcriptional complexes are described. The observations are not compatible with the concept that one loop reflects one and only one transcriptional unit but, rather, lead to a classification of loop types according to the arrangement of their transcriptional units. We propose that the lampbrush chromosome loop can represent a unit for the coordinate transcription of either one gene or a set of several (different) genes. Y1 - 1976 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-32822 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Herth, Werner T1 - Cytologie, allgemeine und molekulare Cytologie N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1973 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-40547 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Jarasch, Ernst-Dieter A1 - Herth, Werner A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Zerban, Heide T1 - Cytology : general and molecular cytology N2 - The present review discusses some general aspects of membrane structure and problems of membrane isolation and membrane biochemistry, with particular focus on the endoplasmic reticulum. KW - Botanik Y1 - 1975 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-41458 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Herth, Werner T1 - Cytology, general and molecular cytology N2 - The present article had originally been conceived as a review on endomembranes, the plasma membrane, and the major product of membrane-bound activities, the cell wall material. However, limitations of space and the cascading number of pertinent literature articles made it necessary to confine this to one group of membranes and one type of cell wall components. Therefore, we shall begin our survey on the biochemical and cytological aspects of membranes by a review of the class of the pore complex bearing endomembranes, i.e. the nuclear envelope and the annulate lamellae (AL). Next year the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum and the dictyosomes will be dealt with in conjunction with a discussion of the various intracellular vesicles, the tonoplast and the plasmalemma. KW - Botanik Y1 - 1974 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-39499 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. T1 - Effects of actinomycin D on the association of newly formed ribonucleoproteins with the cistrons of ribosomal RNA in Triturus oocytes N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1975 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-32383 ER -