Histidine-15 and lytic activity of lysozyme

The literature data on the activity of histidine-15 modified hen egg white lysozyme are conflicting: the modified enzyme is reported to have more activity, similar activity or less activity by different authors. Amino acid analysis had shown modification of the single His-15. Detailed activity studies on His-15-modified (by iodoacetic acid or diethyl pyrocarbonate) lysozyme have shown that the contradicting reports are due to the specific choices of ionic strengths and cell wall substrate concentrations and can be attributed to the substrate being negatively charged. Our analysis suggests that even though histidine-15 is far removed from the active site of lysozyme, its chemical modification or binding of the negatively-charged substrate near it, changes the conformation around the active site. However, the change in the optimum activity on chemically modifying His-15 is small.     

Synthesis of Thioquinazolone Derivatives as Antimalarials and Ataractic Agents

The syntheses and the properties are reported for a series of 6-iodo-2-alkylthio-3-aryl (or alkyl)-4-(3H) quinazolones of interest as potential ataractic agents and antimalarials.     

Effect of thymoquinone on cytosolic pH and Na+/H+ exchanger activity in mouse dendritic cells

The anti-inflammatory Nigella sativa component thymoquinone compromises the function of dendritic cells (DCs), key players in the regulation of innate and adaptive immunity. DC function is regulated by the Na(+)/H(+) exchanger (NHE), which is stimulated by lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and required for LPS-induced cell swelling, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, TNF-α release and migration. Here we explored, whether thymoquinone influences NHE activity in DCs. To this end, bone marrow derived mouse DCs were treated with LPS in the absence and presence of thymoquinone (10 μM). Cytosolic pH (pH(i)) was determined from 2',7'-bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5-(and-6)-carboxyfluorescein (BCECF) fluorescence, NHE activity from the Na(+)-dependent realkalinization following an ammonium pulse, cell volume from forward scatter in FACS analysis, ROS production from 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFDA) fluorescence, TNF-α production utilizing ELISA and DC migration with transwell migration assays. As a result, exposure of DCs to LPS (1 μg/ml) led within 4 hours to transient increase of NHE activity. Thymoquinone did not significantly modify cytosolic pH or cellular NHE activity in the absence of LPS, but abrogated the effect of LPS on NHE activity. Accordingly, in the presence of thymoquinone LPS-treatment resulted in cytosolic acidification. LPS further increased forward scatter and ROS formation, effects similarly abrogated by thymoquinone. Again, in the absence of LPS, thymoquinone did not significantly modify ROS formation and cell volume. LPS further triggered TNF-α release and migration, effects again blunted in the presence of thymoquinone. NHE1 inhibitor cariporide (10 μM) blunted LPS induced TNF-α release and migration. The effects of thymoquinone on NHE activity and migration were reversed upon treatment of the cells with t-butyl hydroperoxide (TBOOH, 5 μM). In conclusion, thymoquinone blunts LPS induced NHE activity, cell swelling, oxidative burst, cytokine release and migration of bone marrow derived murine dendritic cells. NHE inhibition may thus contribute to the antiinflammatory action of thymoquinone.     

Methoxylated isoflavones,cajanin and isoformononetin,have non‐estrogenic bone forming effect via differential mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling

Following a lead obtained from stem‐bark extract of Butea monosperma, two structurally related methoxyisoflavones; cajanin and isoformononetin were studied for their effects in osteoblasts. Cajanin had strong mitogenic as well as differentiation‐promoting effects on osteoblasts that involved subsequent activation of MEK‐Erk and Akt pathways. On the other hand, isoformononetin exhibited potent anti‐apoptotic effect in addition to promoting osteoblast differentiation that involved parallel activation of MEK‐Erk and Akt pathways. Unlike genistein or daidzein, none of these two compounds appear to act via estrogen receptors in osteoblast. Once daily oral (by gavage) treatment for 30 consecutive days was given to recently weaned female Sprague–Dawley rats with each of these compounds at 10.0 mg kg^?1 day^?1 dose. Cajanin increased bone mineral density (BMD) at all skeletal sites studied, bone biomechanical strength, mineral apposition rate (MAR) and bone formation rate (BFR), compared with control. BMD levels at various anatomic positions were also increased with isoformononetin compared with control however, its effect was less potent than cajanin. Isoformononetin had no effect on the parameters of bone biomechanical strength although it enhanced MAR and BFR compared with control. Isoformononetin had very mild uterotrophic effect, whereas cajanin was devoid of any such effect. Our data suggest that cajanin is more potent than isoformononetin in accelerating peak bone mass achievement. To the best of our knowledge, this work represents the first attempt to elucidate structure‐activity relationship between the two methoxylated isoflavones regarding their effects in osteoblasts and bone formation. J. Cell. Biochem. 108: 388–399, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Overexpression of the groESL Operon Enhances the Heat and Salinity Stress Tolerance of the Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. Strain PCC7120

The bicistronic groESL operon, encoding the Hsp60 and Hsp10 chaperonins, was cloned into an integrative expression vector, pFPN, and incorporated at an innocuous site in the Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120 genome. In the recombinant Anabaena strain, the additional groESL operon was expressed from a strong cyanobacterial P_psbA1 promoter without hampering the stress-responsive expression of the native groESL operon. The net expression of the two groESL operons promoted better growth, supported the vital activities of nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis at ambient conditions, and enhanced the tolerance of the recombinant Anabaena strain to heat and salinity stresses.Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, especially strains of Nostoc and Anabaena, are native to tropical agroclimatic conditions, such as those of Indian paddy fields, and contribute to the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) economy of these soils (22, 30). However, their biofertilizer potential decreases during exposure to high temperature, salinity, and other such stressful environments (1). A common target for these stresses is cellular proteins, which are denatured and inactivated during stress, resulting in metabolic arrest, cessation of growth, and eventually loss of viability. Molecular chaperones play a major role in the conformational homeostasis of cellular proteins (13, 16, 24, 26) by (i) proper folding of nascent polypeptide chains; (ii) facilitating protein translocation and maturation to functional conformation, including multiprotein complex assembly; (iii) refolding of misfolded proteins; (iv) sequestering damaged proteins to aggregates; and (v) solubilizing protein aggregates for refolding or degradation. Present at basal levels under optimum growth conditions in bacteria, the expression of chaperonins is significantly enhanced during heat shock and other stresses (2, 25, 32).The most common and abundant cyanobacterial chaperones are Hsp60 proteins, and nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria possess two or more copies of the hsp60 or groEL gene (http://genome.kazusa.or.jp/cyanobase). One occurs as a solitary gene, cpn60 (17, 21), while the other is juxtaposed to its cochaperonin encoding genes groES and constitutes a bicistronic operon groESL (7, 19, 31). The two hsp60 genes encode a 59-kDa GroEL and a 61-kDa Cpn60 protein in Anabaena (2, 20). Both the Hsp60 chaperonins are strongly expressed during heat stress, resulting in the superior thermotolerance of Anabaena, compared to the transient expression of the Hsp60 chaperonins in Escherichia coli (20). GroEL and Cpn60 stably associate with thylakoid membranes in Anabaena strain PCC7120 (14) and in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803 (15). In Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803, photosynthetic inhibitors downregulate, while light and redox perturbation induce cpn60 expression (10, 25, 31), and a cpn60 mutant exhibits a light-sensitive phenotype (http://genome.kazusa.or.jp/cyanobase), indicating a possible role for Cpn60 in photosynthesis. GroEL, a lipochaperonin (12, 28), requires a cochaperonin, GroES, for its folding activity and has wider substrate selectivity. In heterotrophic nitrogen-fixing bacteria, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and Bradyrhizobium japonicum, the GroEL protein has been implicated in nif gene expression and the assembly, stability, and activity of the nitrogenase proteins (8, 9, 11).Earlier work from our laboratory demonstrated that the Hsp60 family chaperonins are commonly induced general-stress proteins in response to heat, salinity, and osmotic stresses in Anabaena strains (2, 4). Our recent work elucidated a major role of the cpn60 gene in the protection from photosynthesis and the nitrate reductase activity of N-supplemented Anabaena cultures (21). In this study, we integrated and constitutively overexpressed an extra copy of the groESL operon in Anabaena to evaluate the importance and contribution of GroEL chaperonin to the physiology of Anabaena during optimal and stressful conditions.Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120 was photoautotrophically grown in combined nitrogen-free (BG11⁻) or 17 mM NaNO₃-supplemented (BG11⁺) BG11 medium (5) at pH 7.2 under continuous illumination (30 μE m⁻² s⁻¹) and aeration (2 liters min⁻¹) at 25°C ± 2°C. Escherichia coli DH5α cultures were grown in Luria-Bertani medium at 37°C at 150 rpm. For E. coli DH5α, kanamycin and carbenicillin were used at final concentrations of 50 μg ml⁻¹ and 100 μg ml⁻¹, respectively. Recombinant Anabaena clones were selected on BG11⁺ agar plates supplemented with 25 μg ml⁻¹ neomycin or in BG11⁻ liquid medium containing 12.5 μg ml⁻¹ neomycin. The growth of cyanobacterial cultures was estimated either by measuring the chlorophyll a content as described previously (18) or the turbidity (optical density at 750 nm). Photosynthesis was measured as light-dependent oxygen evolution at 25 ± 2°C by a Clark electrode (Oxy-lab 2/2; Hansatech Instruments, England) as described previously (21). Nitrogenase activity was estimated by acetylene reduction assays, as described previously (3). Protein denaturation and aggregation were measured in clarified cell extracts containing ∼500 μg cytosolic proteins treated with 100 μM 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS). The pellet (protein aggregate) was solubilized in 20 mM Tris-6 M urea-2% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-40 mM dithiothreitol for 10 min at 50°C. The noncovalently trapped ANS was estimated using a fluorescence spectrometer (model FP-6500; Jasco, Japan) at a λ_excitation of 380 nm and a λ_emission of 485 nm, as described previously (29).The complete bicistronic groESL operon (2.040 kb) (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"FJ608815","term_id":"222354886","term_text":"FJ608815"}}FJ608815) was PCR amplified from PCC7120 genomic DNA using specific primers (Table ​(Table1)1) and the amplicon cloned into the NdeI-BamHI restriction sites of plasmid vector pFPN, which allows integration at a defined innocuous site in the PCC7120 genome and expression from a strong cyanobacterial P_psbA1 promoter (6). The resulting construct, designated pFPNgro (Table ​(Table1),1), was electroporated into PCC7120 using an exponential-decay wave form electroporator (200 J capacitive energy at a full charging voltage of 2 kV; Pune Polytronics, Pune, India), as described previously (6). The electroporation was carried out at 6 kV cm⁻¹ for 5 ms, employing an external autoclavable electrode with a 2-mm gap. The electroporation buffer contained high concentrations of salt (10 mM HEPES, 100 mM LiCl, 50 mM CaCl₂), as have been recommended for plant cells (23) and other cell types (27). The electrotransformants, selected on BG11⁺ agar plates supplemented with 25 μg ml⁻¹ neomycin by repeated subculturing for at least 25 weeks to achieve complete segregation, were designated AnFPNgro.

TABLE 1.

Plasmids, strains, and primers used in this study

Computer Aided Identification of Small Molecules Disrupting uPAR/α5β1- Integrin Interaction: A New Paradigm for Metastasis Prevention

Background

Disseminated dormant cancer cells can resume growth and eventually form overt metastases, but the underlying molecular mechanism responsible for this change remains obscure. We previously established that cell surface interaction between urokinase receptor (uPAR) and α5β1-integrin initiates a sequel of events, involving MAPK-ERK activation that culminates in progressive cancer growth. We also identified the site on uPAR that binds α5β1-integrin. Disruption of uPAR/integrin interaction blocks ERK activation and forces cancer cells into dormancy.

Methods and Principle Findings

Using a target structure guided computation docking we identified 68 compounds from a diversity library of 13,000 small molecules that were predicted to interact with a previously identified integrin-binding site on uPAR. Of these 68 chemical hits, ten inhibited ERK activation in a cellular assay and of those, 2 compounds, 2-(Pyridin-2-ylamino)-quinolin-8-ol and, 2,2′-(methylimino)di (8-quinolinol) inhibited ERK activation by disrupting the uPAR/integrins interaction. These two compounds, when applied in vivo, inhibited ERK activity and tumor growth and blocked metastases of a model head and neck carcinoma.

Conclusions/Significance

We showed that interaction between two large proteins (uPAR and α5β1-integrin) can be disrupted by a small molecule leading to profound downstream effects. Because this interaction occurs in cells with high uPAR expression, a property almost exclusive to cancer cells, we expect a new therapy based on these lead compounds to be cancer cell specific and minimally toxic. This treatment, rather than killing disseminated metastatic cells, should induce a protracted state of dormancy and prevent overt metastases.