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The neurohormone serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5HT) triggers meiosis reinitiation in prophase-arrested oocytes of Spisula solidissima. The original pharmacological profile of this response prompted us to examine whether it involved a novel type of 5HT receptor. In order to characterize these putative receptors, we performed [3H]5HT binding assays. Given the complexity of oocyte surface architecture, [3H]5HT-specific binding was measured in both plasma membrane and vitelline envelope fractions. Our data reveal the existence of a single class of 5HT-specific binding sites in each fraction. These binding sites appear distinct by their kinetic properties: 1) plasma membrane binding sites are of lower affinity but are more numerous than vitelline envelope sites; 2) [3H]5HT binding is more rapid in membrane fraction. The pharmacological profiles of both binding sites were defined in competition experiments by using sixteen 5HT-related and unrelated compounds. Both membrane and vitelline envelope sites displayed novel profiles. However, only the pharmacological profile determined for the plasma membrane sites corresponds to that observed for 5HT-induced meiosis reinitiation. These new 5HT5 binding sites are therefore the physiological receptors that mediate the effects of 5HT in Spisula oocytes. The putative role of vitelline envelope sites is discussed.

Basement membrane procollagen biosynthesis was studied in organ cultures of embryonic rat parietal yolk sac endoderm by following [14C]proline incorporation into nondialyzable proteins. After reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol the 14C-proteins synthesized were characterized by agarose gel filtration and disc electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The labeled procollagen was identified by its content of hydroxy[14C]proline, its sensitivity to digestion with bacterial collagenase, and its resistance to digestion with pepsin. In cultures which were continuously labeled for periods from 6 hours to 4 days, the pro-alpha chains consistently eluted as a single peak with an apparent molecular weight of 160,000. After pepsin digestion the resultant alpha chains had an apparent molecular weight between 125,000 and 140,000. This suggests that basement membrane procollagen either contains non-triple helical pepsin-resistant regions or a triple helical region which is larger than the corresponding region of interstitial procollagen. Two experiments were performed to determine whether the chains of newly synthesized basement membrane procollagen were cleaved to a smaller molecular species. In the first, the hydroxylation and secretion of procollagen were blocked with alpha, alpha'-dipyridyl, and the resulting intracellular chains of basement membrane protocollagen were found to co-elute with fully hydroxylated and secreted pro-alpha chains. In the second, cultures were labeled for 1 day and chased for 3 days with unlabeled medium. Autoradiography had shown that most of the label was chased into new basement membrane. Agarose chromotography showed that after 3-day chase the pro-alpha chains still eluted with an apparent molecular weight of 160,000. Thus, the data indicated that basement membrane procollagen was deposited in new basement membrane without undergoing a time-dependent extracellular conversion.

The obligate intracellular parasitic bacterium, Rickettsia prowazeki, has a carrier-mediated transport system for ADP and ATP. The transport of nucleotides was measured by membrane filtration assays; the assay was shown not to harm the relatively labile rickettsiae. The nucleotide transport system was shown to reside in the rickettsiae, not in the contaminating yolk sac mitochondria of the preparation. The influx of nucleotide had an activation energy of 12 to 13 kcal above 22 deg-rees (an apparent transition temperature), and 30 kcal below this value. The uptake of nucleotide was independent of the Mg2+ concentration, but was markedly stimulated by the phosphate concentration. The pH optimum of the influx of nucleotide was pH 7. The specificity of the transport system was remarkable in that it required a specific moiety in each portion of the nucleotide, i.e. an adenine base, a ribose sugar, and two or three, but not one, phosphates. Of the wide variety of compounds tested, the system could transport only ADP, ATP, and (beta, gamma-methylene) adenosine 5'-triphosphate. The influx of nucleotide was a saturable process; half-maximum velocity was achieved at a nucleotide concentration of about 75 muM. ADP and ATP were competitive inhibitors of each other's transport. Although at least 95% of the labeled intracellular nucleotide was exchangeable, efflux of labeled nucleotide was observed only in the presence of unlabeled nucleotide in the medium. Half-maximum efflux was achieved at a concentration of about 75 muM. A large intracellular to extracellular concentration gradient of labeled nucleotide was maintained in the presence of metabolic inhibitors and uncouplers, which completely abolished rickettsial hemolysis. While having no effect on the steady state, KCN and DNP accelerated both influx and efflux. Measurements of the endogenous pool of adenine nucleotides in isolated rickettsiae show that is was large (5 mM), and that these unlabeled nucleotides exchanged, on approximately a 1/1 basis, with exogenously added nucleotide. These studies support the proposal that rickettsiae are not "leaky" to adenine nucleotides or to small molecules in general, and that they have a carrier-mediated transport system which allows an exchange of host and parasite ADP and ATP.