Metabolism of Benzyladenine is Impaired in a Mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana Lacking Adenine Phosphoribosyltransferase Activity

Formation of the riboside-5′-monophosphate is a general feature of the metabolism of cytokinins in plants. As part of a study of the biological significance of the nucleotide form of cytokinins, we analyzed a mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana deficient in adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) activity for its ability to metabolize N⁶-benzyladenine (BA). Formation of N⁶-benzyladenosine-5′-monophosphate (BAMP) was assayed in vivo, by feeding tritiated BA to wild-type and mutant plantlets, and in crude plantlet extracts. Metabolites were separated by high performance liquid chromatography and quantitated by on-line liquid scintillation spectrometry. BA was rapidly absorbed by A. thaliana plantlets and primarily converted to BAMP and to BA 7- and 9-glucosides. BA was also rapidly absorbed by APRT-deficient plantlets, but its conversion to BAMP was strongly reduced. Formation of BAMP from N⁶-benzyladenosine was not affected in the mutant plantlets. In vitro conversion of BA to its nucleoside-5′-monophosphate was detected in crude extracts of wild-type plantlets, but not in extracts of APRT-deficient plantlets. Therefore, results of both assays indicate that APRT-deficient tissue does not convert BA to BAMP to a significant extent. Further, nondenaturing isoelectric focusing analysis of APRT activity in leaf extracts indicated that the enzyme activities which metabolize adenine and BA into their corresponding riboside-5′-monophosphate in extracts of wild-type plantlets have the same apparent isoelectric point. These activities were not detected in extracts prepared from APRT-deficient plantlets. Thus, these results demonstrate that APRT is the main enzyme which converts BA to its nucleotide form in young A. thaliana plants and that the ribophosphorylation of BA is not a prerequisite of its absorption by the plantlets.     

Mycobacterium smegmatis laminin-binding glycoprotein shares epitopes with Mycobacterium tuberculosis heparin-binding haemagglutinin

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, produces a heparin-binding haemagglutinin adhesin (HBHA), which is involved in its epithelial adherence. To ascertain whether HBHA is also present in fast-growing mycobacteria, Mycobacterium smegmatis was studied using anti-HBHA monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). A cross-reactive protein was detected by immunoblotting of M. smegmatis whole-cell lysates. However, the M. tuberculosis HBHA-encoding gene failed to hybridize with M. smegmatis chromosomal DNA in Southern blot analyses. The M. smegmatis protein recognized by the anti-HBHA mAbs was purified by heparin-Sepharose chromatography, and its amino-terminal sequence was found to be identical to that of the previously described histone-like protein, indicating that M. smegmatis does not produce HBHA. Biochemical analysis of the M. smegmatis histone-like protein shows that it is glycosylated like HBHA. Immunoelectron microscopy demonstrated that the M. smegmatis protein is present on the mycobacterial surface, a cellular localization inconsistent with a histone-like function, but compatible with an adhesin activity. In vitro protein interaction assays showed that this glycoprotein binds to laminin, a major component of basement membranes. Therefore, the protein was called M. smegmatis laminin-binding protein (MS-LBP). MS-LBP does not appear to be involved in adherence in the absence of laminin but is responsible for the laminin-mediated mycobacterial adherence to human pneumocytes and macrophages. Homologous laminin-binding adhesins are also produced by virulent mycobacteria such as M. tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae, suggesting that this adherence mechanism may contribute to the pathogenesis of mycobacterial diseases.     

Enhanced bacterial virulence through exploitation of host glycosaminoglycans

Present in the extracellular matrix and membranes of virtually all animal cells, proteoglycans (PGs) are among the first host macromolecules encountered by infectious agents. Because of their wide distribution and direct accessibility, it is not surprising that pathogenic bacteria have evolved mechanisms to exploit PGs for their own purposes, including mediating attachment to target cells. This is achieved through the expression of adhesins that recognize glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) linked to the core protein of PGs. Some pathogens, such as Bordetella pertussis and Chlamydia trachomatis, may express more than one GAG-binding adhesin. Bacterial interactions with PGs may also facilitate cell invasion or systemic dissemination, as observed for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis respectively. More-over, pathogenic bacteria can use PGs to enhance their virulence via a shedding of PGs that leads to there lease of effectors that weaken the host defences.The exploitation of PGs by pathogenic bacteria is thus a multifaceted mechanistic process directly related to the potential virulence of a number of microorganisms.     

Flavocytochrome b2: reactivity of its flavin with molecular oxygen

Flavocytochrome b2, a flavohemoprotein, catalyzes the oxidation of lactate at the expense of the physiological acceptor cytochrome c in the yeast mitochondrial intermembrane space. The mechanism of electron transfer from the substrate to monoelectronic acceptors via FMN and heme b2 has been intensively studied over the years. Each prosthetic group is bound to a separate domain, N-terminal for the heme, C-terminal for the flavin. Each domain belongs to a distinct evolutionary family. In particular, the flavodehydrogenase domain is homologous to a number of well-characterized l-2-hydroxy acid-oxidizing enzymes. Among these, some are oxidases for which the oxidative half-reaction produces hydrogen peroxide at the expense of oxygen. For bacterial mandelate dehydrogenase and flavocytochrome b2, in contrast, the oxidative half-reaction requires monoelectronic acceptors. Several crystal structures indicate an identical fold and a highly conserved active site among family members. All these enzymes form anionic semiquinones and bind sulfite, properties generally associated with oxidases, whereas electron transferases are expected to form neutral semiquinones and to yield superoxide anion. Thus, flavocytochrome b2 is a highly unusual dehydrogenase-electron transferase, and one may wonder how its flavin reacts with oxygen. In this work, we show that the separately engineered flavodehydrogenase domain produces superoxide anion in its slow reaction with oxygen. This reaction apparently also takes place in the holoenzyme when oxygen is the sole electron acceptor, because the heme domain autoxidation is also slow; this is not unexpected, in view of the heme domain mobility relative to the tetrameric flavodehydrogenase core (Xia, Z. X., and Mathews, F. S. (1990) J. Mol. Biol. 212, 837-863). Nevertheless, this reaction is so slow that it cannot compete with the normal electron flow in the presence of monoelectronic acceptors, such as ferricyanide and cytochrome c. An inspection of the available structures of family members does not provide a rationale for the difference between the oxidases and the electron transferases.     

Electron and proton transport by NADPH oxidases

The NADPH oxidase is the main weapon of phagocytic white blood cells that are the first line of defence of our body against invading pathogens, and patients lacking a functional oxidase suffer from severe and recurrent infections. The oxidase is a multisubunit enzyme complex that transports electrons from cytoplasmic NADPH to molecular oxygen in order to generate superoxide free radicals. Electron transport across the plasma membrane is electrogenic and is associated with the flux of protons through voltage-activated proton channels. Both proton and electron currents can be recorded with the patch-clamp technique, but whether the oxidase is a proton channel or a proton channel modulator remains controversial. Recently, we have used the inside-out configuration of the patch-clamp technique to record proton and electron currents in excised patches. This approach allows us to measure the oxidase activity under very controlled conditions, and has provided new information about the enzymatic activity of the oxidase and its coupling to proton channels. In this chapter I will discuss how the unique characteristics of the electron and proton currents associated with the redox activity of the NADPH oxidase have extended our knowledge about the thermodynamics and the physiological regulation of this remarkable enzyme.     

Antimalarial acridines: Synthesis,in vitro activity against P. falciparum and interaction with hematin

A series of acridine derivatives were synthesised and their in vitro antimalarial activity was evaluated against one chloroquine-susceptible strain (3D7) and three chloroquine-resistant strains (W2, Bre1 and FCR3) of Plasmodium falciparum. Structure–activity relationship showed that two positives charges as well as 6-chloro and 2-methoxy substituents on the acridine ring were required to exert a good antimalarial activity. The best compounds possessing these features inhibited the growth of the chloroquine-susceptible strain with an IC₅₀ ? 0.07 μM, close to that of chloroquine itself, and that of the three chloroquine-resistant strains better than chloroquine with IC₅₀ ? 0.3 μM. These acridine derivatives inhibited the formation of β-hematin, suggesting that, like CQ, they act on the haem crystallization process. Finally, in vitro cytotoxicity was also evaluated upon human KB cells, which showed that one of them 9-(6-ammonioethylamino)-6-chloro-2-methoxyacridinium dichloride 1 displayed a promising antimalarial activity in vitro with a quite good selectivity index versus mammalian cell on the CQ-susceptible strain and promising selectivity on other strains.     

Spermine-NBD as fluorescent probe for studies of the polyamine transport system in Leishmania donovani

This study describes the synthesis of fluorescent probes as potential substrates for the polyamine transport system (PTS) of Leishmania donovani. A competitive radioassay was used to determine the most efficient probe. We observed that the conjugate spermine-nitrobenzofurazan (Spm-NBD) was able to compete with [³H]-spermidine in L. donovani at a potent IC₅₀ of 60 µM.     

Prediction of the three-dimensional structure of aflatoxin of Aspergillus flavus by homology modelling

Aflatoxins are polyketide-derived secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus spp. The toxic effects of aflatoxins have adverse consequences for human health and agricultural economics. The aflR gene, a regulatory gene for aflatoxin biosynthesis, encodes a protein containing a zinc-finger DNA-binding motif. AFLR-Protein three-dimensional model was generated using Robetta server. The modeled AFLR-Protein was further optimization and validation using Rampage. In the simulations, we monitored the backbone atoms and the C-α-helix of the modeled protein. The low RMSD and the simulation time indicate that, as expected, the 3D structural model of AFLR-protein represents a stable folding conformation. This study paves the way for generating computer molecular models for proteins whose crystal structures are not available and which would aid in detailed molecular mechanism of inhibition of aflatoxin.