Acentric, autonomously replicating extrachromosomal structures called double-minute chromosomes (DMs) frequently mediate oncogene amplification in human tumors. We show that DMs can be removed from the nucleus by a novel micronucleation mechanism that is initiated by budding of the nuclear membrane during S phase. DMs containing c-myc oncogenes in a colon cancer cell line localized to and replicated at the nuclear periphery. Replication inhibitors increased micronucleation; cell synchronization and bromodeoxyuridine–pulse labeling demonstrated de novo formation of buds and micronuclei during S phase. The frequencies of S-phase nuclear budding and micronucleation were increased dramatically in normal human cells by inactivating p53, suggesting that an S-phase function of p53 minimizes the probability of producing the broken chromosome fragments that induce budding and micronucleation. These data have implications for understanding the behavior of acentric DNA in interphase nuclei and for developing chemotherapeutic strategies based on this new mechanism for DM elimination.

For investigation of the conformation of the unfolded species and its role in the refolding kinetics, refolding kinetic measurements were made on hen egg-white lysozyme by using the stopped-flow method at 25 degrees C in the four sets of initial and final folding condition: (1) 4 M guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) and 0.5 M GdmCl; (2) 40% acetic acid (HOAc) and 5% HOAc; (3) 4 M GdmCl and 0.5 M GdmCl-5% HOAc; (4) 40% HOAc and 0.5 M GdmCl-5% HOAc. The kinetic results as measured by absorbance at three wavelengths, 301, 292, 250 nm, agreed with each other and indicated strict biphasic behavior without exception. The kinetic parameters were determined only by the final refolding conditions. The spectral properties of the unfolded species at the end of stopped-flow mixing were investigated by comparing the total kinetic amplitude with the difference between the static absorbance of the native molecule in the final refolding conditions and that of the unfolded molecule in the initial unfolding conditions. The solvent effect was considered in the comparison. It was concluded that the unfolded species assumed a new transient conformation in the mixing process and that the transformation was completed within the mixing time.

Refolding kinetics of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) have been studied by means of the stopped-flow method with guanidinium chloride as the denaturant. We show here that the three-species model U1 in equilibrium or formed from U2 in equilibrium or formed from N (U1 and U2 = unfolded; N = native) now established for pancreatic ribonuclease A is also valid for HEWL on the basis of the following lines of evidence: (1) refolding kinetics outside the transition region are biphasic; (2) dependence of the fractional amplitude for the fast phase on the ratio of the time constants of the two phases agrees with theory; (3) unfolding kinetics outside the transition region are of single phase; (4) direct evidence for the U2 leads to U1 transformation is obtained by double-jump experiments; (5) the time constant of the binding reaction of a substrate analogue, 4-methylumbelliferyl N,-N'-diacetyl-beta-chitobioside, to HEWL molecules during refolding reaction agrees with the time constant of the direct refolding phase U2 leads to N. The characteristic properties of the nucleation-controlled reaction of refolding of small globular proteins are discussed in general. The results of the discussion are used to suggest that the direct folding process is nucleation controlled from the experimental results of the temperature dependence of the refolding rate.

Precise light-scattering measurements were made on poly-a-methylstyrene samples with sharp molecular weight distribution, the molecular weight ranging from about 400 thousand to 7 million. The specific reduced scattered intensity at infinite dilution was determined for 18 scattering angles in the range of 9°-150°, in trans-decal in at 9.6° (theta temperature), 15.2, 29.4, 91.3°C, and in benzene at 30.0°C. In trans-decalin, the particle scattering factor P obtained is in good agreement with the well-known Debye equation irrespective of the temperature and the molecular weight. Experimental results in good solvent, benzene, are also well represented by the Debye equation for 1~P~O.15, but significant deviation is observed for PN(R)=CNRI exp[-(R/u)tJ, is used for polymer chains of N segments with excluded volume effects. CN is the normalizing constantj u is related to the standard deviation of Rj and 1=2/(1-.), where. is defined by (R2)=AN1+·. A is a numerical constant. The parameter I obtained by fitting the experimental data to the theory was found to increase with. and to be slightly greater than I.