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Synthesis and Some Properties of an Actin-Like Nuclear Protein in the Slime Mold Physarum polycephalum

Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie, Abteilung Melchers, D 74 Tübingen, West Germany, and McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, Medical Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison Wisconsin 53706

ABSTRACT

A protein was extracted from isolated nuclei of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum which could be labeled with radioactive precursors only during G₂ phase. The native protein was purified by extraction in low-ionic-strength buffer [10 mM tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane-hydrochloride] of isolated nuclei and by preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It was extracted from isolated nucleoli. Its electrophoretic properties in three different polyacrylamide gel systems, its molecular weight (44,000 ± 3,000), its precipitability by vincaleucoblastine, a vinca alkaloid, and its aggregation properties suggested that it might be actin. In a direct comparison with slime mold actin purified from the cytoplasm, no difference could be found between the two proteins in all these characteristics. The synthesis of cytoplasmic actin was not found to occur exclusively during G₂ phase. This suggested that nuclear actin was either synthesized independently from cytoplasmic actin or transported into the nuclei exclusively during G₂ phase. The possible role of nuclear actin during intranuclear mitosis is discussed.