ISOLATION OF FUNCTIONAL RIBOSOMES AND POLYSOMES FROM LYOPHILIZED FUNGI

Functional monosomes and polysomes were readily isolated from lyophilized mycelia and spores of the tetrapolar basidiomycetes Schizophyllum commune and Coprinus lagopus. 1. 1. Monosomes having sedimentation properties similar to rabbit reticulocyte monosomes predominate in these ribosomal preparations. 2. 2. Polysomes of dimer, trimer, and tetramer size are consistently present. The polysomes are stable at low Mg2+ concentrations and are sensitive to ribonuclease treatment. 3. 3. The ribosomes are functional in a cell-free protein synthesizing system containing no exogenous mRNA. The isolation of intact polysomes from the material lyophilized prior to grinding is considered significant because of the advantages of this technique to molecular studies on organisms with resistant cell walls and because of the indication that lyophilization has little effect on the functional integrity of the polysome-mRNA complex. © 1969.