Identification of lactaldehyde dehydrogenase and glycolaldehyde dehydrogenase as functions of the same protein in Escherichia coli

Lactaldehyde dehydrogenase is an enzyme involved in the aerobic metabolism of fucose in wild type Escherichia coli, and glycolaldehyde dehydrogenase is an enzyme involved in the metabolism of ethylene glycol in mutant cells able to utilize this glycol. Both enzyme sources display oxidative activity on either substrate with a constant ratio between these activities. We have found that both enzymatic activities present the same electrophoretic mobility when crude extracts were electrophoresed in polyacrylamide gels and the gels stained for enzyme activities. Furthermore, both enzymatic activities co-chromatograph in a DEAE-Sephadex column. If lactaldehyde dehydrogenase of wild type cells is purified near homogeneity and the purification procedure is screened for both aldehydes as substrates, only one enzyme is apparent, giving again a constant ratio between lactaldehyde and glycolaldehyde dehydrogenase activities. Genetic evidence of the fact that both activities are functions of the same protein is provided by the observation that mutation to thermosensitivity for the production of lactaldehyde dehydrogenase affected in the same way the production of glycolaldehyde dehydrogenase. Glycolaldehyde dehydrogenase from mutant cells is purified in a procedure coincident with the lactaldehyde dehydrogenase purification, yielding a single enzyme electrophoretically indistinguishable from the purified lactaldehyde dehydrogenase. Peptide mapping of the purified preparation after digestion with chymotrypsin or Staphylococcus aureus protease V8 gives an indistinguishable band pattern between both enzymes.     

Lymphocyte zinc metabolism in disease

Lymphocytes were obtained from two patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria as well as from apparently healthy controls and from patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Subsequently, several aspects of zinc metabolism were studied in vitro in short-term cultures of these lymphocytes in order to assess lymphocyte functional capacity. The results of mitogen stimulation and zinc uptake studies for lymphocytes from donors with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria were similar to those obtained for leukemic lymphocytes. The results of studies to determine the inducibility of the low molecular weight zinc-binding protein, metallothionein, by zinc were complicated by the decrease in overall protein synthesis in lymphocytes from donors in the paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. It is proposed that paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria is indeed a clonal disorder and the relationship between lymphocytes in this disorder and leukemic lymphocytes is discussed.     

The molecular organization of nerve membranes

Summary The lipid content and composition from an axolemma-rich preparation isolated from squid retinal axons was analyzed.The lipids, which accounted for 45.5% of the dry weight of this membrane, were composed of 22% cholesterol, 66.7% phospholipids and 5.2% free fatty acids. The negatively charged species phosphatidyl ethanolamine (37%), phosphatidyl serine (10%) and lysophosphatidyl ethanolamine (4%) made up 51% of the phospholipids. The amphoteric phosphatidyl choline and sphingomyelin accounted for 39% and 4%, respectively.The relative distribution of fatty acids in each of the isolated phospholipids was studied. The most remarkable feature of these phospholipids was the large proportion of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. The 226 acyl chain accounted for 37% in phosphatidyl ethanolamine, 21.7% in phosphatidyl choline, 17.5% on phosphatidyl serine and 20.3% in sphingomyelin (all expressed as area %).The molar fraction of unsaturated fatty acids reached 65% in phosphatidyl ethanolamine and 42.0 and 44.8% in phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl serine, respectively. The double bond index in these species varied between 1.0 and 2.6.The lipid composition of the axolemma-rich preparation isolated from squid retinal axons appears to be similar to other excitable plasma membranes in two important features: (a) a low cholesterol/phospholipid molar ratio of 0.61; and (b) the polyunsaturated nature of the fatty acid of their phospholipids.This particular chemical composition may contribute a great deal to the molecular unstability of excitable membranes.The preceding papers of this series were published inArchives of Biochemistry and Biophysics.     

Order-disorder phenomena in myelinated nerve sheaths. II. The structure of myelin in native and swollen rat sciatic nerves and in the course of myelinogenesis

The algorithm described in the accompanying paper was applied to X-ray scattering experiments performed with rat sciatic nerves, either as a function of the age of the animal (4 to 30 days), or with adult nerves swollen in non-isotonic media. The results were all consistent with the model of disorder used in the theoretical treatment. The algorithm leads, in one step, from the data to the numerical values of the parameters, avoiding all intermediate manipulation. For each experiment a variety of parameters was determined: the average D and the variance sigma 2D of the repeat distance, the average number [N] of motifs per crystallite, the set [idiff(h/D)], which defines the diffuse scattering, the fraction alphaloose of myelin that does not belong to the compact sheaths, and the set [imotif (k/2D)], which suffices to define the continuous intensity curve of the motif imotif(s). Note the remarkable wealth of information, especially by contrast with conventional analyses which, as a rule, only yield the values of D and of the set [imotif(h/D)] (insufficient to determine the function imotif(s]. The function imotif(s) and the parameters D and sigma D (and thus the local structure of the myelin sheaths) were shown to be almost invariant in the course of myelinogenesis; what varies is mainly the total amount of myelin in the nerve and the number of membranes per sheath. Swelling agents have a dramatic influence on the X-ray scattering spectra, but in spite of the conspicuous variation of D, sigma D and [N] the structure of the motif is invariant. The structure of the motif was shown to be quite different in the native and in the swollen samples; the stacking disorder appears to involve mainly the cytoplasmic space in native myelin, the external space in swollen nerves. The very notion of electron density profile, when disorder is present, is discussed. Two criteria were proposed to select the "best" signs of the reflections: two sets came out at almost the same rank, one corresponding to Caspar & Kirschner's the other to Worthington & McIntosh's proposals, neither of which can be ruled out according to the criteria used in this work.     

Cell-free transfer of sterols from dictyosome-like structures to plasma membrane vesicles of guinea pig testes

Summary Transfer of radiolabeled lipids from dictyosome-like structures (DLS) from testis tubules of the guinea pig as donor to unlabeled plasma membrane from testis tubules immobilized on nitrocellulose as acceptor was studied in a completely cell-free system. As a general label for lipids of the donor DLS, isolated testis tubules were incubated with [¹⁴C]acetate. Time- and temperature-dependent transfer of [¹⁴C]acetate labeled constituents was observed in the cellfree system. However, despite the fact that phospholipids and other constituents were highly labeled in the donor fraction, primarily radioactive sterols were transferred to the plasma membrane acceptor vesicles. Transfer at 37°C represented 0.4 to 0.7% of the total radiolabeled cholesterol at 37°C but little or no transfer occurred at 4°C. The sterols transferred exhibited Chromatographic mobilities corresponding to those of cholesterol and lanosterol. Similar results were obtained with [¹⁴C]mevalonic acid. In subsequent experiments, cholesterol transfer from DLS to plasma membrane was demonstrated by incubation of DLS with [³H]squalene which was converted into sterol or with [¹⁴C]cholesterol. Transfer of sterols required ATP, but not cytosol, and was both time- and temperature-dependent. DLS were more effective than either endoplasmic reticulum or plasma membrane as the donor fraction. The results from the cell-free analysis suggest a possible functional role of the DLS in sterol biogenesis and transfer to the plasma membrane during spermatid development.Abbreviations DLS dictyosome-like structure(s) - PBS phosphatebuffered saline - HEPES 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid - BSA bovine serum albumin     

Quantitation of molybdopterin oxidation product in wild-type and molybdenum cofactor deficient mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

A simple and reliable procedure of oxidation of molybdenum cofactor (MoCo) from molybdoenzymes by autoclaving samples at 120 degrees C for 20 min yielded a single predominant fluorescent species that could be quantitatively determined by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. This method allowed detection and quantitation of molybdopterin in cell-free extracts of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The MoCo oxidation product from C. reinhardtii has the same chromatographic and spectral properties as that of milk xanthine oxidase and chicken liver sulfite oxidase. The oxidized species was also detected in molybdenum cofactor mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii defective at the nit-3, nit-4, nit-5/nit-6 and nit-7 loci, which strongly suggests that active molybdenum cofactor itself is not directly involved in the control of its own biosynthetic pathway.     

Osmoprotectants in Halomonas elongata: high-affinity betaine transport system and choline-betaine pathway.

The osmoregulatory pathways of the moderately halophilic bacterium Halomonas elongata DSM 3043 have been investigated. This strain grew optimally at 1.5 to 2 M NaCl in M63 glucose-defined medium. It required at least 0.5 M NaCl for growth, which is a higher concentration than that exhibited by the H. elongata type strain ATCC 33173. Externally provided betaine, choline, or choline-O-sulfate (but not proline, ectoine, or proline betaine) enhanced the growth of H. elongata on 3 M NaCl-glucose-M63 plates, demonstrating the utilization of these compounds as osmoprotectants. Moreover, betaine and choline stimulated the growth of H. elongata DSM 3043 over the entire range of salinity, although betaine was more effective than choline at salinities below and above the optimum. We found that H. elongata DSM 3043 has at least one high-affinity transport system for betaine (K(m) = 3.06 microM and Vmax = 9.96 nmol of betaine min(-1) mg of protein(-1)). Competition assays demonstrated that proline betaine and ectoine, but not proline, choline, or choline-O-sulfate, are also transported by the betaine permease. Finally, thin-layer chromatography and 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance analysis showed that exogenous choline was taken up and transformed to betaine by H. elongata, demonstrating the existence of a choline-glycine betaine pathway in this moderately halophilic bacterium.     

Xp-duplications with and without sex reversal

Duplications in Xp including the DSS (dosage sensitive sex reversal) region cause male to female sex reversal. We investigated two patients from families with Xp duplications. The first case was one of two sisters with karyotype 46,XY, der(22), t(X;22)(p11.3;p11)mat and unambiguous female genitalia. The living sister was developmentally retarded, and showed multiple dysmorphic features and an acrocallosal syndrome. The second case was a boy with a maternally inherited direct duplication of Xp21.3-pter with the breakpoint close to the DSS locus. He had multiple abnormalities and micropenis, but otherwise unambiguous male genitalia. We performed quantitative Southern blot analysis with probes from Xp22.13 to p21.2 to define the duplicated region. Clinical, cytogenetic, and molecular data from both patients were compared with those of previously reported related cases. A comparison of the extragenital symptoms revealed no differences between patients with or without sex reversal. In both cases, the symptoms were non-specific. Among 22 patients with a duplication in Xp, nine had unambiguous female genitalia and a well-documented duplication of the DSS region. Two patients with duplication of DSS showed ambiguous external genitalia. From these data, we conclude that induction of testicular tissue may start in these patients, but that the type of genitalia depends on the degree of subsequent degeneration by a gene in DSS.