ALTERED PROTEIN-SYNTHESIS IN A CELL-FREE SYSTEM EXPOSED TO A SINUSOIDAL MAGNETIC-FIELD

This report describes a new approach for examining weak extremely low frequency (ELF) electric and magnetic field interactions with living s ystems that exploits a cell-free transcription/translation system deri ved from Escherichia coli. Using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel el ectrophoresis we previously had determined that the level of the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase in intact E. coli was elevated by exposure to weak ELF magnetic fields. In this paper, plasmids containing the al pha, or both the beta,beta' subunits of the RNA polymerase from E. col i were placed into a cell-free expression system. When this transcript ion/translation system was exposed to a 72-Hz sinusoidal magnetic fiel d in the range 0.07 to 1.1 mT (rms) for periods of 5 min to 1 h, expre ssion was enhanced. Weaker fields must be applied longer to produce an effect. For 10 min of field exposure, the threshold for an effect is 0.1 mT. These experiments demonstrate that an intact membrane is not a n absolute requirement for transducing magnetic bio-effects.