Regulation of enzyme synthesis in the arginine biosynthetic pathway of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

In Pseudomonas aeruginosa the synthesis of only two out of eight arginine biosynthetic enzymes tested was regulated. Comparisons were made between the specific activities of these enzymes in bacteria grown on arginine or on its precursor, glutamate. N2-Acetylornithine 5-aminotransferase (ACOAT), an enzyme involved in both the biosynthesis and catabolism of arginine, was induced about 14-fold during growth of the organism on arginine as the only carbon and nitrogen source, and the anabolic ornithine carbamoyltransferase (aOTC), a strictly biosynthetic enzyme, was repressed 18-fold. Addition of various carbon sources to the arginine medium led to repression of ACOAT and to derepression of aOTC. Fructose, which supported only slow growth of P. aeruginosa, had a weak regulatory effect on the synthesis of the two arginine enzymes while citrate, a good carbon source for this organism, had a strong effect. The repression of ACOAT by citrate was not relieved by adding cyclic AMP to the medium. Under a variety of growth conditions leading to different enzyme activities, a linear relationship between the reciprocal of the specific activity of ACOAT and the specific activity of aOTC was observed. This inverse regulation of the formation of the two enzymes suggested that a single regulatory system governs their synthesis. Such a view was supported by the isolation of citrate-resistant regulatory mutants which constitutively formed ACOAT at the induced level and aOTC at the repressed level.     

Repression and derepression of the enzymes of the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway in Salmonella typhimurium

Activities of five enzymes of the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway and one enzyme involved in arginine synthesis were measured during batch culture of Salmonella typhimurium. Aspartate carbamoyltransferase, dihydroorotase, and the arginine pathway enzyme, ornithine carbamoyltransferase, remained constant during the growth cycle but showed a sharp decrease in activity after entering the stationary phase. Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, orotate phosphoribosyltransferase and orotidine-5'-monophosphate (OMP) decarboxylase showed peaks of activity corresponding to the mid-point of the exponential phase of growth while remaining comparatively stable in the stationary phase. Derepression studies carried out by starving individual pyrimidine (Pyr-) deletion mutants for uracil showed that the extent of derepression obtained for aspartate carbamoyltransferase, dihydroorotase and dihydroorotate dehydrogenase depended on the location of the pyr gene mutation. Orotate phosphoribosyltransferase and OMP decarboxylase derepression levels were independent of the location of the pyr mutation. Aspartate carbamoyltransferase showed the greatest degree of derepression of the six enzymes studied, with pyrA strains (blocked in the first step of the pathway) showing about twice as much derepression as pyrF strains (blocked in the sixth step of the pathway). A study of the kinetics of repression on derepressed levels of the pyrimidine enzymes produced data that were compatible with dilution of specific activity by cell division when repressive amounts of uracil were added to the derepression medium.     

Suppression of Proline Requirement of proA and proAB Deletion Mutants in Salmonella typhimurium by Mutation to Arginine Requirement

Eleven variants able to grow without proline (provided arginine was absent) were obtained by spontaneous mutation from Salmonella typhimurium LT7 proA and proAB deletion mutants. Suppression resulted from mutation at argG, which specifies N(alpha)-acetylornithine delta-transaminase. In the absence of exogenous arginine, deficiency of this enzyme would cause derepression of the arginine pathway and accumulation of N-acetylglutamic gamma-semialdehyde. N-acetylglutamic gamma-semialdehyde, if deacetylated, would produce glutamic gamma-semialdehyde, the proline precursor whose synthesis from glutamate is blocked in proA and proAB mutants. All of the mutants grew only slowly (some very slowly) if not supplied with arginine. Sonic-treated preparations of eight mutants had no measurable acetylornithine delta-transaminase activity, but those of the three mutants least dependent on arginine had 0.11, 0.28, and 1.48 of wild-type activity; presumably, their enzymes have low specific activity, at least in vivo. Phage P22 cotransduced argG and strA. Genetic analysis showed that the minor degree of arginine dependence of the mutant with greater than wild-type in vitro enzyme activity was a characteristic of its argG allele, not the result of modification of the argG phenotype by mutation elsewhere.     

Control and virus-transformed baby hamster kidney cells resistant to ethidium bromide. I. Characterization and the respiratory enzymes

Cell lines resistant to ethidium bromide have been developed from cultured mammalian BHK21/C13 cells and these same cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus (C13/B4). Cells resistant to 2 micrograms ethidium bromide per milliliter have been cloned. One clone of the control and one of the virus-transformed cell lines has been employed for characterization. The resistant cells, in the presence of 2 micrograms ethidium bromide/ml, grow at approximately the same rate as the untreated parental cells. The control cells possess a "normal" karyotype (44 chromosomes), while the corresponding ethidium bromide mutant has a reduced chromosome number of 41 and a number of translocations. The mitochondria displayed morphological alterations compared to the parental lines during the transition phase prior to the isolation of the ethidium bromide-resistant cells. The mitochondria of the ethidium bromide-resistant mutants appear somewhat enlarged with a normal morphology. The effect of ethidium bromide on selected respiratory enzymes in normal and virus-transformed ethidium bromide-resistant baby hamster kidney cells was determined. Ethidium bromide-resistant cells exhibited a depressed level of cytochrome aa3. This depression could not be reversed by growth in ethidium bromide-free media. Ethidium bromide-resistant cells possessed the same cytochrome b, c, and c1 levels per cell as their corresponding parental lines. Purified mitochondria isolated from virus-transformed ethidium bromide-resistant cells exhibited a depression in cytochrome oxidase-specific activity, while the ethidium bromide-resistant control cells did not. All cell lines studied showed a depression in NADH-ferricyanide and NADH-cytochrome c reductase-specific activities relative to their parental BHK21/C13 cells. No increase was observed in virus-transformed ethidium bromide-resistant cells. Ethidium bromide-resistant control cells exhibited a two-fold increase in oligomycin-insensitive adenosine triphosphatase activity relative to their parental cells. All of the cell lines studied possessed equivalent oligomycin-sensitive adenosine triphosphatase-specific activity except for the virus-transformed, dye-resistant mutant, whose activity was increased.     

Control of Arginine Biosynthesis in Escherichia coli: Inhibition of Arginyl-Transfer Ribonucleic Acid Synthetase Activity

In this study, we have extended our earlier observations indicating in vitro inhibition of arginyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase (EC 6.1.13, arginine: soluble ribonucleic acid ligase, adenosine monophosphate) activity by the arginine biosynthetic precursors ornithine, citrulline, and argininosuccinate. Furthermore, we report evidence which suggest that this enzyme activity is inhibited by these arginine precursors in vivo and that this inhibition of activity results in a derepression of arginine biosynthesis.     

Roles of arginine and canavanine in the synthesis and repression of ornithine transcarbamylase by Escherichia coli

Conditions were found under which the processes of repression and derepression of ornithine transcarbamylase were separated from the process of enzyme synthesis. After 10 min of arginine deprivation followed by the addition of 2 to 200 mug of l-arginine per ml, a number of strains of Escherichia coli exhibited a significant burst of ornithine transcarbamylase synthesis which lasted 3 to 4 min before the onset of repression. The rapid increase of enzyme activity was shown to require protein synthesis, and was not due to a slow uptake of arginine or induction of an arginine-inducible ornithine transcarbamylase. The capacity of E. coli to synthesize the burst of ornithine transcarbamylase reached a maximum after 10 min of arginine deprivation and then remained constant. The observed increase in enzyme synthesis may reflect the level of unstable messenger ribonucleic acid (RNA) for ornithine transcarbamylase present in the cell at the time protein synthesis was reinitiated. After the addition of arginine in the absence of protein synthesis, the burst of ornithine transcarbamylase decayed with a half-life of about 3 min. The data implied that arginine prevents synthesis of new messenger RNA that can translate this enzyme. Repression of ornithine transcarbamylase by l-canavanine (100 to 200 mug/ml) was observed, and no active enzyme was formed in the presence of this analogue. The action of canavanine as a repressor was distinguished from the inhibitory effect of this compound on protein synthesis.     

Study of 2.5S RNA of 1,4-alpha-glucan branching enzyme by fluorescent methods using ethidium bromide

The fluorescence yield and lifetime of ethidium bromide complexes with 1,4-alpha-glucan branching enzyme and its free nucleic acid component 2.5S RNA were measured. Both fluorescence parameters showed a 10-fold increase in comparison with those characteristics for the free dye. This increase allows to suggest the existence of double-stranded regions in 2.5S RNA both in the free as well as in the protein bound state. The coefficients of fluorescence polarization were also determined for ethidium bromide complexed with free and protein bound 2.5S RNA. They proved to be 13 and 18% respectively. No concentration depolarization was observed in both types of ethidium bromide and ethidium bromide--enzyme--RNA complexes. This proves that the double-stranded regions are rather short and that two ethidium bromide molecules can't be bound to each of them. The binding isotherms were measured for ethidium bromide absorbed on 2.5S RNA and on the holoenzyme. Their parameters napp and rmax are identical in the cases of free and protein bound 2,5S RNA (rmax = 0.046 +/- 0.001). However the binding constants of ethidium bromide complexes with free and protein bound 2.5S RNA differ significantly (Kapp = 2.2 X 10(6) M-1 for free 2.5S RNA and Kapp = 1.6 X 10(6) M-1 for the holoenzyme). The quantity of nucleotides involved in the two double-stranded regions accessible for ethidium binding is estimated to be about 28%. Increasing of Mg2+ ion concentration up to 10(-3) results in a decrease of ethidium bromide binding with double stranded regions. It may be due to a more compact tertiary structure of 2.5S RNA in the presence of Mg2+ in the free as well as in protein bound state.     

Fluorometric methods employing low concentrations of ethidium bromide for DNA topoisomerase and endonuclease assays

DNA topoisomerase activity can be rapidly assayed by measuring the change in ethidium bromide fluorescence intensity after treatment of closed duplex DNA with enzyme. The sensitivity of the fluorometric assay has been enhanced 3-fold by a 10-fold reduction in ethidium bromide concentration to 0.1 microgram/ml. The results of the fluorometric assays are in close agreement with agarose gel electrophoretic analyses of reacted DNA. A sensitive fluorometric method using 0.1 microgram/ml ethidium bromide has also been developed to determine the fraction of nicked and linear DNAs in a mixture containing closed duplex DNA by measuring the fluorescence intensities of ethidium-DNA complexes at pH 7.0 and pH 12.0. These methods make possible very rapid and sensitive measurements of DNA topoisomerase and endonuclease activities.     

Mitochondria contain a distinct DNA topoisomerase.

A topoisomerase (nicking-closing enzyme) has been isolated from rat liver mitochondria. It has purified by double-stranded DNA-cellulose chromatography approximately 50,000-fold, based on the crude mitochondrial extract. It possesses a minimum specific activity of 1.9 x 10(5) units/mg. The enzyme has been shown to be distinctly mitochondrial, differentiated from the nuclear topoisomerase by its sensitivity to the intercalating drug, ethidium bromide, and to the non-intercalating trypanocidal drug, Berenil.     

Ethidium binding sites on plasmid DNA determined by photoaffinity labeling

Photoaffinity labeling of pBR322 with ethidium monoazide (8-azido-3-amino-5-ethyl-6-phenylphenanthridinium chloride) was used to provide evidence for the sequence specificity of ethidium binding to native DNA. DNA-drug interactions were examined at concentrations of eight covalently bound ethidium drugs per molecule of pBR322 (4363 base pairs). Restriction enzyme cutting was blocked by the covalent binding of a drug molecule at (or near) the enzyme recognition sequence. This phenomenon was observed with all restriction enzymes tested and was not limited to specific regions of the pBR322 molecule. Double-digestion experiments indicated that a drug molecule may bind 2 to 3 base pairs outside the recognition sequence and still block restriction enzyme digestion. Intact plasmid was treated with [3H]ethidium monoazide and digested with restriction enzymes. The amount of covalently-linked ethidium analog was quantitated for different restriction fragments and the G-C content of each fragment was determined from the DNA sequence. In approximately half of the fragments the drug appeared to preferentially bind at a G-C base pair. However, no preference for specific sequences such as 5'-C-G-3' was detected, as had been suggested by previous modeling studies with ethidium bromide. The other fragments were located in specific map regions of the plasmid and did not bind drug with a strict dependence on GC content suggesting that binding specificity may depend on more than one structural feature of the DNA.     

Chemical modification studies of Rhizomucor miehei protease: evidence for the role of basic amino acids in enzyme catalysis.

The effect of chemical modification on milk clotting and proteolytic activities of aspartyl protease obtained from Rhizomucor miehei NRRL 3500 was examined in the absence and the presence of its specific inhibitor pepstatin A. The effect on the ratio of milk clotting activity (MC) to proteolytic activity (PA), an index of the quality of milk clotting proteases was also determined. Modification of the enzyme with trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid, diethylpyrocarbonate and phenylglyoxal produced an increase in the ratio of MC/PA, while modification with 2- hydroxy-5-nitrobenzyl bromide did not affect the ratio. Modification with N-acetylimidazole resulted in a marginal increase in MC/PA ratio. Protection using pepstatin A during modification with phenylglyoxal, N-acetylimidazole and 2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzyl bromide, protected both MC and PA. In the case of modification by diethylpyrocarbonate, pepstatin A protected only MC. Pepstatin A did not protect both the activities on the modification of the enzyme by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid. These observations indicate the presence of arginine, tyrosine and tryptophan at the catalytic site of the enzyme, for eliciting MC and PA of the enzyme. In general, modification of the positively charged residues increases the MC/PA ratio of the enzyme. In addition the modified lysine residues responsible for the inactivation of the enzyme were not involved in the active site of the enzyme. Thus the lysine residues might have a secondary role in enzyme catalysis. Further, histidine at the catalytic site was found to be exclusively involved in milk clotting activity. The enzyme with modified histidine residues were more susceptible to autocatalysis, indicating that histidine residues protect the enzyme against autolysis.     

Role of methionyl-transfer ribonucleic acid in the regulation of methionyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase of Escherichia coli K-12.

A decrease in the in vivo acylation level of methionine transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNAmet) induced by methioninyl adenylate led to a specific derepression of methionyl-transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase formation. This derepression required de novo protein synthesis and was reflected by overproduction of unaltered enzyme. Two different strains of Escherichia coli K-12 that have normal levels of methionyl-tRNA synthetase were examined and the derepression of methionyl-tRNA synthetase was observed in both. Moreover, for one of these strains, the relation between the level of methionyl-tRNA synthetase and deacylation level of tRNAmet was established; under the growth conditions used, when more than 25% of tRNAmet was deacylated, methionyl-tRNA synthetase formation was derepressed and the level of derepression became proportional to the amount of tRNAmet deacylated. Concomitantly, the enzyme was subject to specific inactivation as a consequence of which the true de novo rate of derepression of the formation of this enzyme was higher than that determined by measurements of enzyme activity. These studies were extended to strains AB311 and ed2, which had a constitutive enhanced level of methionyl-tRNA synthetase. In these strains no derepression of enzyme formation was observed on reducing the acylation level of tRNAmet by use of methioninyl adenylate.     

Cross-pathway control of ornithine carbamoyltransferase synthesis in Neurospora crassa

The pattern of cross-pathway regulation of the arginine synthetic enzyme ornithine carbamoyltransferase was investigated in Neurospora crassa, using single and double mutant auxotrophic strains starved for their required amino acids. These experiments show that starvation for histidine, tryptophan, isoleucine, valine or arginine can result in derepression of ornithine carbamoyltransferase. Methionine starvation also gave slight derepression, but starvation for lysine or leucine gave little or no effect.     

Effect of the relA gene on derepression of amino acid biosynthetic enzymes in growing Escherichia coli depends on the pathway being derepressed.

Derepression of an enzyme in the arginine biosynthetic pathway, but not of an enzyme in the tryptophan biosynthetic pathway, is inhibited during the stringent response produced by a partial deprivation of valyl transfer ribonucleic acid in a rel+ strain. In contrast, derepression of the tryptophan biosynthetic enzyme, but not of the arginine biosynthetic enzyme, was inhibited during the relaxed response produced in an isogenic relA strain by the partial deprivation of valyl transfer ribonucleic acid.     

An assay for proteinases and their inhibitors based on DNA/ethidium bromide fluorescence

Proteinases and their inhibitors have become the subject of intense research interest recently, since they control a multitude of very important biological processes, from the development of lambda phage to hypertension in humans. We have developed a simple and sensitive assay for detecting the activity of proteinases and of their proteinase inhibitors. The assay is based on ethidium bromide fluorescence, according to the following principles: (i) Ethidium bromide increases its fluorescence by 25-fold when it intercalates between base pairs of double-stranded DNA. (ii) Histones prevent this large increase in fluorescence by binding with high affinity to DNA thus blocking ethidium bromide intercalation. (iii) A proteinase that digests histones will make more DNA available for ethidium bromide intercalation, thereby producing an increase of fluorescence. Proteinase activity can easily be determined, in the presence of a DNA/histone complex, from the rate of ethidium fluorescence increase. In contrast, activity of a proteinase inhibitor is quantitated by the inhibition of fluorescence gain in the presence of a known amount of proteinase. This assay is rapid, simple, inexpensive, and, at the same time, accurate and sensitive enough to allow quantitation of nanogram amounts of various broad-specificity proteinases and their inhibitors. We show some possible applications of the assay (i) in testing column fractions during protein purifications, (ii) quantitation of alpha 1-antitrypsin in human serum, and (iii) detection of proteinase activity in cell extracts.     

Isolation of DNA polymerase alpha from germinated wheat embryos

DNA polymerase alpha from germinated wheat embryos was purified by ammonium sulphate fractionation, chromatography on DEAE-Toyopearl, followed by phosphocellulose and heparin Sepharose columns. The specific activity of the purified enzyme was more than 60 000 units/mg. It belongs to the alpha-type according to the large molecular mass, high sensitivity to NEM, aphidicoline, 200 mM KCl, low sensitivity to ethidium bromide and the absence of inhibition by ddTTP. DNA polymerase alpha consists of four subunits as shown by SDS-PAGE and seems to be homogeneous under non-denaturating conditions.Abbreviations ddTTP dideoxythymidine triphosphate - NEM N-ethylmaleimide - PMSF phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride     

Depression of enzyme synthesis in response to arginine limitation in Neurospora crassa

Ornithine carbamoyltransferase and argininosuccinase, two enzymes involved in arginine synthesis, are regulated by cross-pathway amino acid control in Neurospora and show derepression in response to limitation of any one of a number of amino acids. The effects of varying the severity of arginine limitation upon the synthesis of these enzymes, in mycelial cultures of an arginine auxotrophic strain, are reported here. Depression occurred at arginine concentrations sufficient to allow normal rates of protein accumulation, leading to increases of not more than fourfold in the absolute rate of enzyme synthesis. On the other hand, differential rates of enzyme synthesis increased progressively up to 20-fold or more under extreme conditions of arginine limitation that also limit net protein synthesis. The major part of the derepression response thus occurred at arginine concentrations that allowed low net rates of protein synthesis. The physiological significance of this is not yet understood. Our evidence suggests that these responses were mediated entirely through the cross-pathway control system, and may not be untypical (allowing for variations in magnitude) of depression resulting through this mechanism in Neurospora.     

Derepression Kinetics of Ornithine Transcarbamylase in Escherichia coli

A mathematical model for the derepression of ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) in Escherichia coli strain W was derived from a set of 14 assumptions concerning the arginine regulon. The model assumes that active repressor for the arginine regulon is unstable and is only formed when the level of arginyl-tRNA is in excess of the level necessary to maintain protein synthesis for a given cell doubling time. The presence of active repressor was assumed to inhibit the synthesis of messenger RNA coding for the synthesis of the enzymes of the arginine biosynthetic pathway. Numerical estimates of the model's parameters were made and, by simulation on a digital computer, the model was shown to fit kinetic data for derepression of OTC in E. coli W cells in minimal medium growing in flask culture with a doubling time of 60 min and growing in a chemostat with a generation time of 460 min for an assumed OTC-specific mRNA half-life (t_1/2) of 9 min. The model was also shown to predict the increase in the size of bursts of OTC synthesis elicited by addition of arginine to cultures of derepressing E. coli cells with the increase in the delay time before arginine addition. Approximate analytical solutions to the model were obtained for the early phase of derepression and for repression of OTC. These were used to derive graphical methods for determining t_1/2 from repression and derepression transient changes in the OTC level.