Regulation of polypeptide synthesis during Caulobacter development: two-dimensional gel analysis.

The gram-negative bacterium Caulobacter crescentus progresses through three distinct morphological transitions, including both motile and nonmotile cell types, during its cell cycle. Assessment of the extent of regulation of polypeptide synthesis during these transitions was carried out with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of whole-cell extracts. Synchronous cells were pulse-labeled with 14C-amino acids for 10-min intervals throughout the entire 2-h cell cycle. The radioactively labeled polypeptides were analyzed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Autoradiograms resulting from fluorography of the second dimension provided the detection of approximately 1,000 unique spots. The 600 predominant polypeptide spots, representing approximately 40% of the coding capacity of Caulobacter deoxyribonucleic acid, were analyzed for major changes in their synthetic rates. Quantitation by densitometric scanning of individual polypeptide spots represented on the sequential fluorograms demonstrated significant changes in the temporal synthesis of 6% of the polypeptides. Extracts from asynchronous cells were fractionated to obtain total-membrane and deoxyribonucleic acid-binding polypeptide fractions. Subsequent electrophoresis of these cellular fractions revealed approximately 100 membrane polypeptides and 25 deoxyribonucleic acid-binding polypeptides. Eight of the regulated polypeptides were identified as membrane or deoxyribonucleic acid-binding proteins. The regulated polypeptides can be grouped into three main categories based on their interval of synthesis. The three categories are in direct correlation with the three distinct cell cycle stages. This analysis has also revealed a unique transition period in the cell cycle in which a significant proportion of gene expression is regulated.