Structural Similarities between Spinach Chloroplast and Cytosolic Class I Fructose 1,6-Bisphosphate Aldolases : Immunochemical and Amino-Terminal Amino Acid Sequence Analysis

Immunochemical studies using polyclonal antisera prepared individually against highly purified cytosolic and chloroplast spinach leaf (Spinacia oleracea) fructose bisphosphate aldolases showed significant cross reaction between both forms of spinach aldolase and their heterologous antisera. The individual cross reactions were estimated to be approximately 50% in both cases under conditions of antibody saturation using a highly sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In contrast, the class I procaryotic aldolase from Mycobacterium smegmatis and the class II aldolase from yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) did not cross-react with either type of antiserum. The 29 residue long amino-terminal amino acid sequences of the procaryotic M. smegmatis and the spinach chloroplast aldolases were determined. Comparisons of these sequences with those of other aldolases showed that the amino-terminal primary structure of the chloroplast aldolase is much more similar to the amino-terminal structures of class I cytosolic eucaryotic aldolases than it is to the corresponding region of the M. smegmatis enzyme, especially in that region which forms the first “beta sheet” in the secondary structure of the eucaryotic aldolases. Moreover, results of a systematic comparison of the amino acid compositions of a number of diverse eucaryotic and procaryotic fructose bisphosphate aldolases further suggest that the chloroplast aldolase belongs to the eucaryotic rather than the procaryotic “family” of class I aldolases.     

ESR spin-label studies of lipid-protein interactions in membranes

Lipid spin labels have been used to study lipid-protein interactions in bovine and frog rod outer segment disc membranes, in (Na+, K+)-ATPase membranes from shark rectal gland, and in yeast cytochrome oxidase-dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine complexes. These systems all display a two component ESR spectrum from 14-doxyl lipid spin-labels. One component corresponds to the normal fluid bilayer lipids. The second component has a greater degree of motional restriction and arises from lipids interacting with the protein. For the phosphatidylcholine spin label there are effectively 55 +/- 5 lipids/200,000-dalton cytochrome oxidase, 58 +/- 4 mol lipid/265,000 dalton (Na+, K+)-ATPase, and 24 +/- 3 and 22 +/- 2 mol lipid/37,000 dalton rhodopsin for the bovine and frog preparations, respectively. These values correlate roughly with the intramembrane protein perimeter and scale with the square root of the molecular weight of the protein. For cytochrome oxidase the motionally restricted component bears a fixed stoichiometry to the protein at high lipid:protein ratios, and is reduced at low lipid:protein ratios to an extent which can be quantitatively accounted for by random protein-protein contacts. Experiments with spin labels of different headgroups indicate a marked selectivity of cytochrome oxidase and the (Na+, K+)-ATPase for stearic acid and for cardiolipin, relative to phosphatidylcholine. The motionally restricted component from the cardiolipin spin label is 80% greater than from the phosphatidylcholine spin label for cytochrome oxidase (at lipid:protein = 90.1), and 160% greater for the (Na+, K+)-ATPase. The corresponding increases for the stearic acid label are 20% for cytochrome oxidase and 40% for (Na+, K+)-ATPase. The effective association constant for cardiolipin is approximately 4.5 times greater than for phosphatidylcholine, and that for stearic acid is 1.5 times greater, in both systems. Almost no specificity is found in the interaction of spin-labeled lipids (including cardiolipin) with rhodopsin in the rod outer segment disc membrane. The linewidths of the fluid spin-label component in bovine rod outer segment membranes are consistently higher than those in bilayers of the extracted membrane lipids and provide valuable information on the rate of exchange between the two lipid components, which is suggested to be in the range of 10(6)-10(7) s-1.     

Incorporation of lipids into cellular membranes—A spin-label assay

A spin-label method is described for the quantitative assay of lipid incorporation into biological membranes, using computer difference spectroscopy. The incorporation of spin-labeled sphingomyelin into synaptic plasma membranes from calf brain has been studied as a function of sonication time. The spin-label ESR spectra are able to distinguish labeled sphingomyelin which is integrated into the membrane, from the unincorporated label, even if the latter cosediments with the membranes. Spectral subtraction has been used to quantitate the degree of incorporation. The percentage of incorporation increases with increasing sonication time and also with incubation after sonication. The extent of degradation of tritium-labeled sphingomyelin by the neutral sphingomyelinase present in the membrane closely correlates with the dependence of the incorporation of the spin-labeled sphingomyelin on sonication time. This illustrates the utility of the method in the study of membrane-bound, lipid-metabolizing enzymes.     

Melittin Stimulates Incorporation and Degradation of Sphingomyelin in Synaptosomal Plasma Membranes

Abstract: Melittin enhanced sphingomyelin (SPM) degradation by the neutral membrane-bound sphingomyelinase from calf brain synaptosomal plasma membranes (SYM) up to 20-fold. Melittin in concentrations as high as 100 μM did not significantly alter membrane fluidity of SYM as measured by fluorescence depolarization and electron spin resonance (ESR) using diphenylhexatriene and a doxy1 derivative of SPM, respectively. In the concentration range 100-1000 μM. melittin was observed to rigidify SYM. The incorporation of SPM.erivatives into the lipid bilayer of SYM.as demonstrated by ESR measurements. Melittin enhanced the uptake of SPM-derivatives into SYM.     

Spin label studies on osmotically-induced changes in the aqueous cytoplasm of Phaeodactylum tricornutum

The effects of hyperosmotic stress and adaption on the aqueous cytoplasm of Phaeodactylum tricornutum have been studied with spin labels using 0.2 M external Ni²⁺ to obtain spectra solely from labels within the cells. From partitioning of the TEMPO spin label between the internal aqueous phase and the membrane it is found that the internal volume of the cells decreased by approx. 50–60% in media of high osmotic strength (1.9 osmol/l). During the accumulation of proline in the cells (8.8 mg/ml packed cells) on incubation in the medium of high osmolarity for 3 days, the recovery of the volume was 80%. Further addition of proline to the medium resulted in an increase in the proline concentration in the cells (12.2 mg/ml packed cells) and a recovery in volume of 90%. Cells incubated in the absence of any nitrogen source showed very little recovery and were in a stressed state even in the absence of an osmotic gradient. From the rotational correlation times of the TEMPONE spin label it was found that the effective microviscosity in the cytoplasm of normal cells (approx. 3–8 cP) was considerably higher than that of the external medium (1 cP) and increased 1.5–2-fold under high osmotic stress (1.9 osmol/l). Adaption during the accumulation of proline only decreased the effective microviscosity by approx. 50% of the stressed-induced increase, a considerably smaller recovery than that of the cell volume.     

Phospholipid chain immobilization and steroid rotational immobilization in acetylcholine receptor-rich membranes from Torpedo marmorata

1. The ESR spectra of both phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine spin labels reveal an immobilized lipid component (tau R greater than or equal to 50 ns), in addition to a fluid component (tau R approximately 1 ns), in acetylcholine receptor-rich membranes prepared from Torpedo marmorata electroplax according to the method of Cohen et al. (Cohen, J.B., Weber, M., Huchet, M. and Changeux, J.-P. (1972) FEBS Lett. 26, 43--27). 2. The ESR spectra of the androstanol spin label display a component corresponding to molecules which are immobilized with respect to rotation about the long molecular axis (tau R greater than or equal to 50 ns), in addition to the fluid lipid bilayer component in which the molecules are rotating rapidly about their long axes (tau R approximately 1 ns). This immobilized component is observed throughout the temperature range 2--22 degrees C, at an approximately constant relative intensity of approx. 45% of the total, which is quantitatively the same as previously observed with fatty acid spin labels.     

Inititation and termination of chromosome replication in Escherichia coli subjected to amino acid starvation.

Initiation and termination of chromosome replication in an Escherichia coli auxotroph subjected to amino acid starvation were examined by following the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into the EcoRI restriction fragments of the chromosome. The pattern of incorporation observed upon restoration of the amino acid showed that starvation blocks the process of initiation prior to deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis within any significant portion of the EcoRI fragment which contains the origin of replication, oriC. In this experiment, no incorporation of [3H]thymidine into EcoRI fragments from the terminus of replication was observed, nor was it found when a dnaC initiation mutant was used to prevent incorporation at the origin which might have obscured labeling of terminus fragments. Thus amino acid starvation does not appear to block replication forks shortly before termination of replication. Attempted synchronization of replication initiation by including a period of thymine starvation subsequent to the amino acid starvation led to simultaneous incorporation of [3H]-thymidine into all EcoRI fragments within the 240-kilobase region that surrounds oriC. It is shown that the thymine starvation step allowed initiation and a variable, but limited, amount of replication to occur.     

Nonaxiality in infrared dichroic ratios of polytopic transmembrane proteins.

In polytopic alpha-helical transmembrane proteins, the distribution of amide vibrational transition moments can be nonaxial, if the helix axes are tilted relative to the symmetry axis of the helix bundle. The infrared dichroic ratios from oriented samples then contain nonaxial terms and, in the most general case, require a second-order parameter for the axis of the helix bundle. The extent of nonaxiality depends on the summation over the individual amide transition moments along the helix. Because this is strongly oscillatory, with a 3.6-residue periodicity, complete axial symmetry is not achieved rapidly on progressive summation. Expressions for the contributions of residual nonaxiality to the dichroic ratios are derived. A similar situation arises for oligomers of transmembrane beta-barrel proteins, e.g., the porin trimer. In this case, the extent of nonaxiality depends not only on the number of residues in the beta-barrel, but also on the tilt of the beta-strands relative to the barrel axis and the characteristic dimensions of a beta-sheet, which together determine the axial periodicity. The nonaxial contributions to the dichroic ratios of beta-barrel oligomers are also derived. Estimates are given of the likely size of the nonaxial contributions for the different alpha-helical and beta-sheet systems.     

Parallel and Divergent Genotypic Evolution in Experimental Populations of Ralstonia sp.

Genetic rearrangements within a population of bacteria were analyzed to understand the degree of divergence occurring after experimental evolution. We used 18 replicate populations founded from Ralstonia sp. strain TFD41 that had been propagated for 1,000 generations with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) as the carbon source. Genetic divergence was examined by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the incumbent plasmid that carries the 2,4-D catabolic genes and by amplification of random regions of the genome via PCR. In 18 evolved clones examined, we observed duplication within the plasmid, including the tfdA gene, which encodes a 2,4-D dioxygenase that catalyzes the first step in the 2,4-D catabolic pathway. In 71 of 72 evolved clones, a common 2.4-kb PCR product was lost when genomic fingerprints produced by PCR amplification using degenerate primers based on repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP) sequences (REP-PCR) were compared. The nucleotide sequence of the 2.4-kb PCR product has homology to the TRAP (tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic) solute transporter gene family. Hybridization of the 2.4-kb REP-PCR product from the ancestor to genomic DNA from the evolved populations showed that the loss of the PCR product resulted from deletions in the genome. Deletions in the plasmid and presence and/or absence of other REP-PCR products were also found in these clones but at much lower frequencies. The common and uncommon genetic changes observed show that both parallel and divergent genotypic evolution occurred in replicate populations of this bacterium.