Protein synthesis and deoxyribonucleic acid-membrane attachment during thymineless death in Escherichia coli.

The proteins synthesized during thymineless death in Escherichia coli B and B/r were analyzed by polyacrylamide gel elctrophoresis. It was found that the amount of a protein of molecular weight 80,000 to 88,000 is greatly increased during thymineless death compared to the amounts of other cell proteins. A technique for the isolation of cell membrane-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-nascent ribonucleic acid (RNA) complex on detergent crystals was used to determine whether DNA might be detached from the cell membrane as a result of thymineless death. It was found that under no conditions of thymineless death or immunity to thymineless death was there any change in the attachment of DNA or pulse-labeled RNA to cell membrane.