Developmental changes in rat liver alcohol dehydrogenase

Hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase activity and mass content change coordinately during development in male rats. Enzyme activity and mass content increase continuously after birth to 100 and 80% of maximal values within 6 weeks (2.6 ± 0.4 μmole/min/g liver and 92 ± 20 μg/g liver), respectively. When expressed per milligram of soluble proteins, both parameters peak at 3 weeks (0.052 ± 0.002 μmole/min/mg protein and 2.0 ± 0.4 μg/mg protein) and then decrease gradually to plateau levels. These decreases probably arise from a “surge” in soluble liver protein levels that occurs after weaning. Similar developmental patterns also occur in female rats. These findings are the first quantitative measurements of this enzyme in developing animals.     

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Ligand requirements for the relaxation of adenylate cyclase from activated and inhibited states

The turkey erythrocyte adenylate cyclase system binds tightly the inhibitory nucleotide GDP, and a pretreatment step with isoproterenol and GMP is required to restore activation. Under identical pretreatment conditions, the release of labeled nucleotide is complete within 1 min whereas the restoration of activation by Gpp(NH)p requires 15 min. A study of the ligand requirements of the slow step shows the following: (a) The role of GMP is that of an obligatory allosteric regulator. (b) Cholera toxin modification of the system abolishes the requirement for GMP with a considerable enhancement in the reaction rate. (c) GMP is without effect on the relaxation process with the activator Gpp(NH)p as the resident nucleotide. In sharp contrast, ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid (without effect in a GDP-occupied complex) markedly potentiates alterations from the Gpp(NH)p-occupied state. (d) Formation of a GDP/guanosine 5'-O-(2-thiodiphosphate) (GDP beta S) hybrid leads to the suppression of both F- and Gpp(NH)p activation. F- activation is restored by isoproterenol alone, while GMP is still required to restore Gpp(NH)p activation. The results suggest that covalent modification or nucleotide analogue occupancy of the regulatory complex can modify the allosteric role for GMP, with consequences for the rate of the slow step.     

Sampling properties of DNA sequence data in phylogenetic analysis

We inferred phylogenetic trees from individual genes and random samples of nucleotides from the mitochondrial genomes of 10 vertebrates and compared the results to those obtained by analyzing the whole genomes. Individual genes are poor samples in that they infrequently lead to the whole-genome tree. A large number of nucleotide sites is needed to exactly determine the whole-genome tree. A relatively small number of sites, however, often results in a tree close to the whole-genome tree. We found that blocks of contiguous sites were less likely to lead to the whole-genome tree than samples composed of sites drawn individually from throughout the genome. Samples of contiguous sites are not representative of the entire genome, a condition that violates a basic assumption of the bootstrap method as it is applied in phylogenetic studies.      

Effects of GTP on binding of (3H) glucagon to receptors in rat hepatic plasma membranes.

In this study, we report the preparation of [3H]glucagon and its characteristics of binding to receptors in the rat liver plasma membrane. Binding of the labeled hormone is optimal at pH 7.0. In the absence of GTP, [3H]glucagon binding to receptors is slow and the time of equilibration is inversely proportional to the hormone concentration. In the presence of GTP, equilibrium is reached within 30 s regardless of hormone levels, and the kinetics of binding are in accord with the kinetics of activation of adenylate cyclase by native glucagon in the presence of the nucleotide. Equilibrium binding measurements indicate that, in the absence of GTP, the binding isotherm is sigmoidal with an apparent Kd of 2 nM. The addition of GTP results in a complex binding isotherm with about 90% of the binding sites having a considerably lower apparent dissociation constant (greater than 10 nM) and a small population of sites having high affinity for the hormone. The binding properties of [3H]glucagon are compared with those of 125I-glucagon, and the implications of the actions of GTP on glucagon binding are discussed in relation to the overall regulation of adenylate cyclase by hormone and the nucleotide.     

Effect of alamethicin, gramicidin S and melittin upon the particulate guanylate cyclase from rat lung.

The channel-forming antibiotic alamethicin activated rat lung particulate guanylate cyclase (GTP pyrophosphate-lyase (cyclizing) EC 4.6.1.2), and the activated enzyme was further stimulated by sodium nitroprusside when a thiol such as 2-mercaptoethanol was present. Similar effects were seen with the antibiotic gramicidin S and with melittin, a polypeptide purified from bee venom. All of these agents are amphiphilic polypeptides. Nitroprusside was not able to stimulate both particulate and soluble enzyme treated with the nonionic amphiphile, Lubrol PX, suggesting that the membrane-active polypeptides had a different mechanism of action. These polypeptides are known to alter the membrane matrix by binding to phospholipid, and we suggest that this alteration allowed greater access of substrate and of nitroprusside to the enzyme. Lubrol PX, however, may interact preferentially with the enzyme, and thus block nitroprusside activation. The most potent of these agents was melittin, which stimulated nitroprusside activation at a concentration which had little effect by itself (7 microns), and at which others have demonstrated lytic effects on cells.