In vitro synthesis of β-galactosidase by membrane fractions of Escherichia coli

Abstract

The induction of β-galactosidase by a membranous fraction P1, prepared by digitonin lysis of spheroplasts of Escherichia coli, was studied in vitro. Electron micrographs of P1 show it to be a heterogeneous mixture of smooth vesicles, rough vesicles, rough vesicles attached to DNA, and ribosomes attached to DNA. P1 was subfractionated by differential centrifugation into an active heavy fraction, P4, and a relatively inactive light fraction, Pm. The P4 fraction consisted mainly of rough vesicles while the Pm fraction consisted mainly of smooth vesicles, but also of some rough vesicles. These vesicles of the Pm fraction were further separated by discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation.The induction of β-galactosidase by P1, P4, and Pm fractions was not related to mild contamination by unbroken viable spheroplasts. It was only partially sensitive to DNase and RNase. High concentrations of actinomycin D were required for complete inhibition of activity. This suggests that the transcription and translation components were shielded by the membranes. The synthetic activity of Pm was enhanced by fortification with DNA and/or S30. Only lac-containing DNA was active. The induction of β-galactosidase by this reconstituted system showed an absolute requirement for Pm membranes and for the inducer but only a partial requirement for nucleoside triphosphates. It was completely inhibited by puromycin and chloramphenicol.