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On the mechanism of action of tetracycline antibiotics

Oxytetracycline-sensitive and resistant strains of Staphylococci and ofListeria monocytogenes andPasteurella multocida were tested for differences in the reduction of triphenyltetrazolium (TTC) in the presence of glucose, acetate, lactate, pyruvate, glycerol, succinate, formate, malate, citrate, serine, glycine and asparagine. The sensitive staphylococci reduced TTC more actively than the resistant ones in the presence of glucose, acetate and serine. The resistant strains reduced TTC more actively in the presence of succinate, formate, glycine, pyruvate and malate. Oxytetracycline itself only inhibited the reducing activity greatly in the sensitive staphylococci. In the resistant ones, oxytetracycline only slightly decreased the TTC reduction. The insensitivity of the reducing activity of resistant staphylococci toward the effect of oxytetracycline indicates that this activity may be one of the sites of attack by this antibiotic. Ascorbic acid contained in the injection preparation of oxytetracycline interfered with the inhibitory effect of this antibiotic on the TTC reduction by staphylococci and actually increased the activity of reduction.     

The inhibitory effect of albomycin (Grisein) on growth ofBacillus cereus andEscherichia coli

It was confirmed that albomycin inhibits the growth ofBacillus cereus andEscherichaa coli depending on a concentration of the antibiotic and physiological state of the culture. Salts of trivalen iron in a test medium reduce the time of the effect of albomycin, however, they also increase the growth of the control culture ofBacillus cereus and increase a value of maximal out-growth. An exponential growth of the culture is restored following a short lag when albomcycin is removed from a test medium. The antibiotic effect of albomycin A₁ onBacillus cereus andEscherichia coli is removed by adding a 10-fold concentration of albomycin A₃. The effect of Neilands ferrichrome is similar. On comparison withEscherichia coli, albomycin does no inhibit the growth ofBacillus cereus when cultivated at 28°C. The addition of CrCl₃ solution partially restored the antibiotic activity of albomycin deprived of iron. It was found by microbiological tests that a retored growth of the whole culture was a result of albomycin inactivation. However, we did not find what change in the albomycin molecule is responsible for this inactivation.     

Phosphorylation of the Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 2.

A major in vivo phosphorylation site of the Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 2 (EBNA-2) was found to be localized at the C-terminus of the protein. In vitro phosphorylation studies using casein kinase 1 (CK-1) and casein kinase 2 (CK-2) revealed that EBNA-2 is a substrate for CK-2, but not for CK-1. The CK-2 specific phosphorylation site was localized in the 140 C-terminal amino acids using a recombinant trpE-C-terminal fusion protein. In a similar experiment, the 58 N-terminal amino acids expressed as a recombinant trpE-fusion protein were not phosphorylated. Phosphorylation of a synthetic peptide corresponding to amino acids 464-476 of EBNA-2 as a substrate led to the incorporation of 0.69 mol phosphate/mol peptide indicating that only one of three potential phosphorylation sites within the peptide was modified. The most likely amino acid residues for phosphorylation by CK-2 are Ser469 and Ser470.     

Changing the inhibitory specificity and function of the proteinase inhibitor eglin c by site-directed mutagenesis: functional and structural investigation.

Amino acids in the serine proteinase inhibitor eglin c important for its inhibitory specificity and activity have been investigated by site-directed mutagenesis. The specificity of eglin c could be changed from elastase to trypsin inhibition by the point mutation Leu45----Arg (L45R) in position P1 [nomenclature according to Schechter and Berger (1967) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 27, 157-162]. Model building studies based on the crystal structure of mutant L45R [Heinz et al. (1991) J. Mol. Biol. 217, 353-371] were used to rationalize this specificity change. Surprisingly, the double mutant L45R/D46S was found to be a substrate of trypsin and various other serine proteinases. Multidimensional NMR studies show that wild-type eglin c and the double mutant have virtually identical conformations. In the double mutant L45R/D46S, however, the N-H bond vector of the scissile peptide bond shows a much higher mobility, indicating that the internal rigidity of the binding loop is significantly weakened due to the loss or destabilization of the internal hydrogen bond of the P1' residue. Mutant T44P was constructed to examine the role of a proline in position P2, which is frequently found in serine proteinase inhibitors [Laskowski and Kato (1980) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 49, 593-626]. The mutant remains a potent elastase inhibitor but no longer inhibits subtilisin, which could be explained by model building. Both Arg51 and Arg53, located in the core of the molecule and participating in the hydrogen bonding network with residues in the binding loop to maintain rigidity around the scissile bond, were individually replaced with the shorter but equally charged amino acid lysine. Both mutants showed a decrease in their inhibitory potential. The crystal structure of mutant R53K revealed the loss of two hydrogen bonds between the core and the binding loop of the inhibitor, which are partially restored by a solvent molecule, leading to a decrease in inhibition of elastase by 2 orders of magnitude.     

Primary structure of V-ATPase subunit B from Manduca sexta midgut.

The amino acid sequence of a vacuolar-type ATPase (V-ATPase) subunit B has been deduced from a cDNA clone isolated from a Manduca sexta larval midgut library. The library was screened by hybridization with a labeled cDNA encoding subunit B of Arabidopsis thaliana tonoplast V-ATPase. The M. sexta V-ATPase subunit B consists of 494 amino acids with a calculated M(r) of 54,902. The amino acid sequence deduced for V-ATPase subunit B of M. sexta is between 98% and 76% identical with that of seven other V-ATPase subunits B and greater than 52% identical with three archaebacterial ATPase subunits B.     

Deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance study of the dynamic organization of phospholipid/cholesterol bilayer membranes: molecular properties and viscoelastic behavior.

The influence of cholesterol on the dynamic organization of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) bilayers was studied by deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance (2H NMR) using unoriented and macroscopically aligned samples. Analysis of the various temperature- and orientation-dependent experiments were performed using a comprehensive NMR model based on the stochastic Liouville equation. Computer simulations of the relaxation data obtained from phospholipids deuterated at the 6-, 13- and 14-position of the sn-2 chain and cholesterol labeled at the 3 alpha-position of the rigid steroid ring system allowed the unambiguous assignment of the various motional modes and types of molecular order present in the system. Above the phospholipid gel-to-liquid-crystalline phase transition, TM, 40 mol % cholesterol was found to significantly increase the orientational and conformational order of the phospholipid with substantially increased trans populations even at the terminal sn-2 acyl chain segments. Lowering the temperature continuously increases both inter- and intramolecular ordering, yet indicates less ordered chains than found for the pure phospholipid in its paracrystalline gel phase. Trans-gauche isomerization rates on all phospholipid alkyl chain segments are slowed down by incorporated cholesterol to values characteristic of gel-state lipid. However, intermolecular dynamics remain fast on the NMR time scale up to 30 K below TM, with rotational correlation times tau R parallel for DMPC ranging from 10 to 100 ns and an activation energy of ER = 35 kJ/mol. Below 273 K a continuous noncooperative condensation of both phospholipid and cholesterol is observed in the mixed membranes, and at about 253 K only a motionally restricted component is left, exhibiting slow fluctuations with correlation times of tau R perpendicular greater than 1 microsecond. In the high-temperature region (T greater than TM), order director fluctuations are found to constitute the dominant transverse relaxation process. Analysis of these collective lipid motions provides the viscoelastic parameters of the membranes. The results (T = 318 K) show that cholesterol significantly reduces the density of the cooperative motions by increasing the average elastic constant of the membrane from K = 1 x 10(-11) N for the pure phospholipid bilayers to K = 3.5 x 10(-11) N for the mixed system.     

A new U6 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein-specific protein conserved between cis- and trans-splicing systems.

Spliceosomal U6 small nuclear RNA (snRNA) plays a central role in the pre-mRNA splicing mechanism and is highly conserved throughout evolution. Previously, a sequence element essential for both capping and cytoplasmic-nuclear transport of U6 snRNA was mapped in the 5'-terminal domain of U6 snRNA. We have identified a protein in cytoplasmic extracts of mammalian and Trypanosoma brucei cells that binds specifically to this U6 snRNA element. Competition studies with mutant and heterologous RNAs demonstrated the conserved binding specificity of the mammalian and trypanosomal proteins. The in vitro capping analysis of mutant U6 snRNAs indicated that protein binding is required but not sufficient for capping of U6 snRNA by a gamma-monomethyl phosphate. Through RNA affinity purification of mammalian small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), we detected this protein also in nuclear extract as a new specific component of the U6 snRNP but surprisingly not of the U4/U6 or the U4/U5/U6 multi-snRNP. These results suggest that the U6-specific protein is involved in U6 snRNA maturation and transport and may therefore be functionally related to the Sm proteins of the other spliceosomal snRNPs.     

The structure of murine interleukin-1 beta at 2.8 A resolution.

The three-dimensional structure of recombinant murine interleukin-1 beta has been solved by X-ray crystallographic techniques to 2.8 A resolution and refined to a crystallographic R factor of 0.192. Although murine interleukin-1 beta crystallizes in the same space group as human interleukin-1 beta with almost identical unit cell dimensions, the packing of the molecules is quite different. The murine interleukin-1 beta structure was solved by molecular replacement using the refined structure of human interleukin-1 beta as trial structure, and found to be related to the human structure by a nearly perfect twofold rotation about the crystallographic y-axis and a 14 degrees rotation about the z-axis, with no translation. The folding of murine interleukin-1 beta is similar to that found for the human variant, consisting of 12 beta strands wrapped around a core of hydrophobic side chains in a tetrahedron-like fashion. Significant differences with respect to the human structure are seen at the N terminus and in 4 of the 11 loops connecting the 12 beta strands.     

Development of a GC-MS method for quantitation of 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF1 alpha and determination of the urinary excretion rates in healthy humans under normal conditions and following drugs

Tetradeuterated 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF1 alpha was used as internal standard in the development of a method for quantitation of 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF1 alpha in human urine based on gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. The urinary excretion rates of 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF1 alpha in twenty normal healthy males and females were 9.7 +/- 4.6 and 8.8 +/- 8.5 (mean +/- SD) ng/h respectively. A considerable inter- and intra-individual variation was found under normal conditions. It was also found that the urinary excretion of 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF1 alpha was increased about fivefold during and shortly after 30 min of strenuous jogging. Any data about the effect of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs on the excretion rate of 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF1 alpha are difficult to interpret when considering the above findings. However, oral administration of 500 mg of aspirin did not seem to reduce the excretion rate of 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF1 alpha.