The Plasmodium falciparum bifunctional ornithine decarboxylase, S-adenosyl-L-methionine decarboxylase, enables a well balanced polyamine synthesis without domain-domain interaction

In the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), polyamines are synthesized by a bifunctional enzyme that possesses both ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and S-adenosyl-l-methionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) activities. The mature enzyme consists of the heterotetrameric N-terminal AdoMetDC and the C-terminal dimeric ODC, which results in the formation of a heterotetrameric complex. For the native bifunctional protein a half-life longer than 2 h was determined, which is in contrast to the extreme short half-life of its mammalian monofunctional counterparts. The biological advantage of the plasmodial bifunctional ODC/AdoMetDC might be that the control of polyamine synthesis is achieved by only having to regulate the abundance and activity of one protein. An interesting feature in the regulation of the bifunctional protein is that putrescine inhibits PfODC activity approximately 10-fold more efficiently than the mammalian ODC activity, and in contrast to the mammalian AdoMetDC the activity of the PfAdoMetDC domain is not stimulated by the diamine. To analyze post-translational processing, polymerization, and domain-domain interactions, several mutant proteins were generated that have single mutations in either the PfODC or PfAdoMetDC domains. The exchange of amino acids essential for the activity of one domain had no effect on the enzyme activity of the other domain. Even prevention of the post-translational cleavage of the AdoMetDC domain or ODC dimerization and thus the interference with the folding of the protein hardly affected the activity of the partner domain. In addition, inhibition of the activity of the PfODC domain had no effect on the activity of the PfAdoMetDC domain and vice versa. These results demonstrate that no domain-domain interactions occur between the two enzymes of the bifunctional PfODC/AdoMetDC and that both enzymatic activities are operating as independent catalytic sites that do not affect each other.     

Adenovirus-mediated expression of both antisense ornithine decarboxylase and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase inhibits lung cancer cell growth

Polyamine biosynthesis is controlled primarily by ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and Sadenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC). Antisense sequences of ODC and AdoMetDC genes were cloned into an adenoviral vector (named Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas). To evaluate the effects of recombinant adenovirus Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas that can simultaneously express both antisense ODC and AdoMetDC, the human lung cancer cell line A-549 was infected with Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas or the control vector. Viable cell counting, determination of polyamine concentrations, cell cycle analysis, and Matrigel invasion assays were carried out to assess the properties of tumor growth and invasiveness. Our study showed that adenovirus-mediated antisense ODC and AdoMetDC expression inhibits tumor cell growth through blocking the polyamine synthesis pathway. Tumor cells were arrested at the G_1 phase after gene transfer and the invasiveness was reduced. It suggested that the recombinant adenovirus Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas might be a new anticancer reagent in the treatment of lung cancers.     

Adenovirus-mediated expression of both antisense ornithine decarboxylase and s-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase induces G1 arrest in HT-29 cells

To evaluated the effect of recombinant adenovirus Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas which can simultaneously express both antisense ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and Sadenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) on cell cycle distribution in colorectal cancer cell and investigated underlying regulatory responses, human colorectal cancer cells HT-29 were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium and infected with Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas. Cell cycle progression was detected by flow cytometry analysis. The expression levels of cell cycle regulated proteins were measured by Western blot analysis. The mRNA level of cyclin D1 was measured by RT-PCR. And a luciferase reporter plasmid of cyclin D1 promoter was constructed to observe the effect of Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas on cyclin D1 promoter activity. The results showed that recombinant adenovirus Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas significantly induced G1 arrest, decreased levels of cyclin D1 protein and mRNA and suppressed the promoter activity. Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas also inhibited nuclear translocation of beta-catenin. In conclusion, downregulation of ODC and AdoMetDC mediated by Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas transfection induces G(1) arrest in HT-29 cells and the arrest was associated with suppression of cyclin D1 expression and inhibition of beta-catenin nuclear translocation. As a new anticancer reagent, the recombinant adenovirus Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas holds promising hope for the therapy of colorectal cancers.     

Translational regulation of ornithine decarboxylase and other enzymes of the polyamine pathway

It has long been known that polyamines play an essential role in the proliferation of mammalian cells, and the polyamine biosynthetic pathway may provide an important target for the development of agents that inhibit carcinogenesis and tumor growth. The rate-limiting enzymes of the polyamine pathway, ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC), are highly regulated in the cell, and much of this regulation occurs at the level of translation. Although the 5' leader sequences of ODC and AdoMetDC are both highly structured and contain small internal open reading frames (ORFs), the regulation of their translation appears to be quite different. The translational regulation of ODC is more dependent on secondary structure, and therefore responds to the intracellular availability of active eIF-4E, the cap-binding subunit of the eIF-4F complex, which mediates translation initiations. Cell-specific translation of AdoMetDC appears to be regulated exclusively through the internal ORF, which causes ribosome stalling that is independent of eIF-4E levels and decreases the efficiency with which the downstream ORF encoding AdoMetDC protein is translated. The translation of both ODC and AdoMetDC is negatively regulated by intracellular changes in the polyamines spermidine and spermine. Thus, when polyamine levels are low, the synthesis of both ODC and AdoMetDC is increased, and an increase in polyamine content causes a corresponding decrease in protein synthesis. However, an increase in active eIF-4E may allow for the synthesis of ODC even in the presence of polyamine levels that repress ODC translation in cells with lower levels of the initiation factor. In contrast, the amino acid sequence that is encoded by the upstream ORF is critical for polyamine regulation of AdoMetDC synthesis and polyamines may affect synthesis by interaction with the putative peptide, MAGDIS.     

Selective regulation of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activity by the spermine analogue 6-spermyne.

Polyamine-biosynthesis activity is known to be negatively regulated by intracellular polyamine pools. Accordingly, treatment of cultured L1210 cells with 10 microM-spermine rapidly and significantly lowered ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) activities in a sequential manner. By contrast, treatment for 48 h with 10 microM of the unsaturated spermine analogue 6-spermyne lowered AdoMetDC activity, but not ODC activity. An initial decrease in ODC activity at 2 h was attributed to a transient increase in free intracellular spermidine and spermine brought about through their displacement by the analogue. Thereafter, ODC activity recovered steadily to control values as 6-spermyne pools increased and spermidine and spermine pools decreased owing to analogue suppression of AdoMetDC activity. The apparent ability of 6-spermyne to regulate AdoMetDC, but not ODC, activity suggests an interesting structure-function correlation and demonstrates that the typical co-regulation of these enzyme activities can be dissociated. This, in turn, may reflect the existence of independent regulatory binding sites for the two enzymes.     

Orotate phosphoribosyltransferase and orotidine 5'-monophosphate decarboxylase exist as multienzyme complex in human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum

Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of the most lethal form of human malaria, totally depends on de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway. Orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRT) and orotidine 5'-monophosphate decarboxylase (OMPDC), the fifth and sixth enzymes in the pathway catalyzing formation of uridine 5'-monophosphate (UMP), remain largely uncharacterized in the protozoan parasite. In this study, we achieved purification of OPRT and OMPDC to near homogeneity from P. falciparum cultivated in vitro. The OPRT and OMPDC activities were co-eluted in all chromatographic columns during purification, suggesting the purified proteins exist as a multienzyme complex with a molecular mass of 140+/-8 kDa and contain two subunits each of OPRT and OMPDC. Monomeric forms of OPRT and OMPDC had molecular masses of 32+/-3 and 38+/-3 kDa, respectively, in agreement with those of proteins predicted from P. falciparum genome database. Interestingly, kinetic parameters and inhibitory constants of both OPRT and OMPDC activities were found to be different to those of the bifunctional human red cell UMP synthase. Our evidence provides the first example of OPRT and OMPDC existing as a multienzyme complex.     

Effect of inhibitors of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase on the contents of ornithine decarboxylase and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase in L1210 cells.

Treatment of L1210 cells with either of two inhibitors of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC), namely 5'-deoxy-5'-[N-methyl-N-[2-(amino-oxy)ethyl])aminoadenosine or 5'-deoxy-5'-[N-methyl-N-(3-hydrazinopropyl)]aminoadenosine, produced a large increase in the amount of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) protein. The increased enzyme content was due to a decreased rate of degradation of the protein and to an increased rate of synthesis, but there was no change in its mRNA content. The inhibitors led to a substantial decline in the amounts of intracellular spermidine and spermine, but to a big increase in the amount of putrescine. These results indicate that the content of ODC is negatively regulated by spermidine and spermine at the levels of protein translation and turnover, but that putrescine is much less effective in bringing about this repression. Addition of either spermidine or spermine to the cells treated with the AdoMetDC inhibitors led to a decrease in ODC activity, indicating that either polyamine can bring about this effect, but spermidine produced effects at concentrations similar to those found in the control cells and appears to be the physiologically important regulator. The content of AdoMetDC protein (measured by radioimmunoassay) was also increased by these inhibitors, and a small increase in its mRNA content was observed, but this was insufficient to account for the increase in protein. A substantial stabilization of AdoMetDC occurred in these cells, contributing to the increased enzyme content, but an increase in the rate of translation cannot be ruled out.     

Comparative properties of a three-dimensional model of Plasmodium falciparum ornithine decarboxylase

The ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) component of the bifunctional S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase/ornithine decarboxylase enzyme (PfAdoMetDC-ODC) of Plasmodium falciparum was modeled on the crystal structure of the Trypanosoma brucei enzyme. The homology model predicts a doughnut-shaped active homodimer that associates in a head-to-tail manner. The monomers contain two distinct domains, an N-terminal alpha/beta-barrel and a C-terminal modified Greek-key domain. These domains are structurally conserved between eukaryotic ODC enzymes and are preserved in distant analogs such as alanine racemase and triosephosphate isomerase-like proteins. Superimposition of the PfODC model on the crystal structure of the human enzyme indicates a significant degree of deviation in the carbon alpha-backbone of the solvent accessible loops. The surface locality of the ab initio modeled 38 amino acid parasite-specific insert suggests a role in the stabilization of the large bifunctional protein complex. The active site pockets of PfODC at the interface between the monomers appear to be conserved regarding the binding sites of the cofactor and substrate, but each contains five additional malaria-specific residues. The predicted PfODC homology model is consistent with mutagenesis results and biochemical studies concerning the active site residues and areas involved in stabilizing the dimeric form of the protein. Two competitive inhibitors of PfODC could be shown to interact with several parasite-specific residues in comparison with their interaction with the human ODC. The PfODC homology model contributes toward a structure-based approach for the design of novel malaria-specific inhibitors.     

ODC, AdoMetDC双反义腺病毒对肺癌增殖和侵袭抑制作用的体外和体内研究

鸟氨酸脱羧酶(ODC)和S-甲硫氨酸脱羧酶(AdoMetDC)是多胺体内合成的2个关键酶.研究腺病毒Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas介导的ODC和AdoMetDC反义RNA对肺癌多胺合成,细胞增殖以及侵袭的抑制作用.用活细胞计数和流式细胞术分别检测Ad-ODCas和Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas对肺癌A-549细胞增殖的影响,蛋白质印迹和HPLC方法分别检测腺病毒对肺癌A-549细胞中ODC和AdoMetDC蛋白表达以及胞内多胺含量的抑制作用,TUNEL标记检测法观察Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas对肺癌细胞凋亡的影响,Matrigel侵袭实验分析腺病毒对肺癌A-549细胞侵袭活性的改变,裸鼠皮下移植瘤模型研究Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas对体内肺癌生长的抑制作用.实验结果显示,Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas明显抑制肺癌A-549细胞的增殖,导致细胞凋亡,显著降低肺癌A-549细胞的体外侵袭能力,肺癌A-549细胞感染Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas后细胞内3种多胺含量都明显降低,Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas对已形成的裸鼠皮下移植瘤具有明显的抑制作用.实验表明,ODC和AdoMetDC双反义腺病毒具有显著抑制肺癌增殖和侵袭的作用,对于肺癌的防治研究具有一定的前景.     

ODC,AdoMetDC双反义腺病毒对肺癌增殖和侵袭制作用的体外和体内研究

鸟氨酸脱羧酶(ODC)和S-甲硫氨酸脱羧酶(AdoMetDC)是多胺体内合成的2个关键酶.研究腺病毒Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas介导的ODC和AdoMetDC反义RNA对肺癌多胺合成,细胞增殖以及侵袭的抑制作用.用活细胞计数和流式细胞术分别检测Ad-ODCas和Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas对肺癌A-549细胞增殖的影响,蛋白质印迹和HPLC方法分别检测腺病毒对肺癌A-549细胞中ODC和AdoMetDC蛋白表达以及胞内多胺含量的抑制作用,TUNEL标记检测法观察Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas对肺癌细胞凋亡的影响,Matrigel侵袭实验分析腺病毒对肺癌A-549细胞侵袭活性的改变,裸鼠皮下移植瘤模型研究Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas对体内肺癌生长的抑制作用.实验结果显示,Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas明显抑制肺癌A-549细胞的增殖,导致细胞凋亡,显著降低肺癌A-549细胞的体外侵袭能力,肺癌A-549细胞感染Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas后细胞内3种多胺含量都明显降低,Ad-ODC-AdoMetDCas对已形成的裸鼠皮下移植瘤具有明显的抑制作用.实验表明,ODC和AdoMetDC双反义腺病毒具有显著抑制肺癌增殖和侵袭的作用,对于肺癌的防治研究具有一定的前景.     

Decarboxylases involved in polyamine biosynthesis and their inactivation by nitric oxide

Polyamines are ubiquitous cellular components that are involved in normal and neoplastic growth. Polyamine biosynthesis is very highly regulated in mammalian cells by the activities of two key decarboxylases acting on ornithine and S-adenosylmethionine. Recent studies, which include crystallographic analysis of the recombinant human proteins, have provided a detailed knowledge of their structure and function. Ornithine decarboxylase is a PLP-requiring decarboxylase, whereas S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) contains a covalently bound pyruvate prosthetic group. Both enzymes have a key cysteine residue, which is involved in protonation of the Schiff base intermediate C(alpha) to form the product. These residues, Cys360 in ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and Cys82 in AdoMetDC, react readily with nitric oxide (NO), which is therefore a potent inactivator of polyamine synthesis. The inactivation of these enzymes may mediate some of the antiproliferative actions of NO.     

Crenarchaeal arginine decarboxylase evolved from an S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase enzyme

The crenarchaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus uses arginine to produce putrescine for polyamine biosynthesis. However, genome sequences from S. solfataricus and most crenarchaea have no known homologs of the previously characterized pyridoxal 5'-phosphate or pyruvoyl-dependent arginine decarboxylases that catalyze the first step in this pathway. Instead they have two paralogs of the S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC). The gene at locus SSO0585 produces an AdoMetDC enzyme, whereas the gene at locus SSO0536 produces a novel arginine decarboxylase (ArgDC). Both thermostable enzymes self-cleave at conserved serine residues to form amino-terminal beta-domains and carboxyl-terminal alpha-domains with reactive pyruvoyl cofactors. The ArgDC enzyme specifically catalyzed arginine decarboxylation more efficiently than previously studied pyruvoyl enzymes. alpha-Difluoromethylarginine significantly reduced the ArgDC activity of purified enzyme, and treating growing S. solfataricus cells with this inhibitor reduced the cells' ratio of spermidine to norspermine by decreasing the putrescine pool. The crenarchaeal ArgDC had no AdoMetDC activity, whereas its AdoMetDC paralog had no ArgDC activity. A chimeric protein containing the beta-subunit of SSO0536 and the alpha-subunit of SSO0585 had ArgDC activity, implicating residues responsible for substrate specificity in the amino-terminal domain. This crenarchaeal ArgDC is the first example of alternative substrate specificity in the AdoMetDC family. ArgDC activity has evolved through convergent evolution at least five times, demonstrating the utility of this enzyme and the plasticity of amino acid decarboxylases.     

Plasmodium falciparum: purification, properties, and immunochemical study of ornithine decarboxylase, the key enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis

Ornithine decarboxylase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the polyamine biosynthetic pathway has been purified 7,600 fold from Plasmodium falciparum by affinity chromatography on a pyridoxamine phosphate column. The partially purified enzyme was specifically tagged with radioactive DL-alpha-difluoromethylornithine and subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under denaturing conditions. A major protein band of 49 kilodalton was obtained while with the purified mouse enzyme, a typical 53 kilodalton band, was observed. The catalytic activity of parasite enzyme was dependent on pyridoxal 5'-phosphate and was optimal at pH 8.0. The apparent Michaelis constant for L-ornithine was 52 microM. DL-alpha-difluoromethylornithine efficiently and irreversibly inhibited ornithine decarboxylase activity from P. falciparum grown in vitro or Plasmodium berghei grown in vivo. The Ki of the human malarial enzyme for this inhibitor was 16 microM. Ornithine decarboxylase activity in P. falciparum cultures was rapidly lost upon exposure to the direct product, putrescine. Despite the profound inhibition of protein synthesis with cycloheximide in vitro, parasite enzyme activity was only slightly reduced by 75 min of treatment, suggesting a relatively long half-life for the malarial enzyme. Ornithine decarboxylase activity from P. falciparum and P. berghei was not eliminated by antiserum prepared against purified mouse enzyme. Furthermore, RNA or DNA extracted from P. falciparum failed to hybridize to a mouse ornithine decarboxylase cDNA probe. These results suggest that ODC from P. falciparum bears some structural differences as compared to the mammalian enzyme.     

Interconversion of Tetrahymena pyriformis ornithine decarboxylase from inactive to active form by phosphorylation

A protein kinase and an acidic phosphoprotein phosphatase were purified from Tetrahymena pyriformis which phosphorylate and dephosphorylate the purified ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) of this microorganism. The protein kinase and the phosphoprotein phosphatase are copurified with ODC and can be separated in three distinct peaks only by a hydrophobic column of phenyl-Sepharose. The purified kinase is not dependent on cAMP, requires Mg2+ for its catalytic activity and has a molecule mass of 45 kDa. Incubation of [32P]ODC with the purified phosphoprotein phosphatase results in a complete loss of 32P and its catalytic activity. Phosphorylation of the inactive phosphatase-treated ODC by endogenous kinase or rat liver casein kinase-2 results in 100 or 40% reactivation of the initial untreated ODC activity, respectively.     

Two segments in bacterial antizyme P22 are essential for binding and enhance degradation of lysine/ornithine decarboxylase in Selenomonas ruminantium

In Selenomonas ruminantium, a strictly anaerobic and gram-negative bacterium, the degradation of lysine/ornithine decarboxylase (LDC/ODC) by ATP-requiring protease(s) is accelerated by the binding of P22, which is a ribosomal protein of this strain. Amino acid sequence alignment of S. ruminantium P22 with the L10 ribosomal proteins of gram-positive and -negative bacteria showed that P22 has a 5-residue K¹⁰¹NKLD¹⁰⁵ segment and an 11-residue G¹⁶⁰VIRNAVYVLD¹⁷⁰ segment, both of which are lacking in L10 in any other gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria reported. To elucidate whether the two segments are involved in P22 function, a series of mutant genes of P22 were constructed and expressed in Escherichia coli. The proteins were isolated and assayed for their function with respect to S. ruminantium LDC/ODC and mouse ODC. The results indicated that the two segments of P22 are crucial for P22 binding to both enzymes and also accelerated degradation of both decarboxylases.     

Ornithine decarboxylase inThermus thermophilus: An RNA-associated enzyme

Summary Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) ofThermus thermophilus is associated with the nucleoid protein fraction. Analysis of this fraction by agarose gel electrophoresis and immunostaining revealed that ODC was bound to two groups of RNA-protein complexes. These two complexes of 1.5 and 0.6 kb in size disappeared from the gel by RNase A treatment or migrated to small molecular weight complexes by proteinase K treatment. Phenol extraction of either the nucleoid fraction or the eluted RNA-protein complexes from the agarose gel, shows that both contain the 0.56kb RNA. Both RNA-protein complexes contain the ODC protein (55 kDa) but their protein composition differs in at least six proteins. Extraction of the nucleoid fraction with H₂SO₄, indicates that ODC was present in the acid-soluble fraction, showing that it is a non-histone protein tightly bound to 0.56kb RNA. The purified ODC by various columns (140-fold), is close to homogeneity and still carries the 0.56kb RNA further explaining all the difficulties in the purification of this enzyme.     

Functional identification and expression of indole-3-pyruvate decarboxylase from Paenibacillus polymyxa E681

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is produced commonly by plants and many bacteria, however, little is known about the genetic basis involving the key enzymes of IAA biosynthetic pathways from Bacillus spp. IAA intermediates from the Gram-positive spore-forming bacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa E681 were investigated, which showed the existence of only an indole-3-pyruvic acid (IPA) pathway for IAA biosynthesis from the bacterium. Four open reading frames (ORFs) encoding indole-3-pyruvate decarboxylaselike proteins and putative indole-3-pyruvate decarboxylase (IPDC), a key enzyme in the IPA synthetic pathway, were found on the genome sequence database of P. polymyxa and cloned in Escherichia coli DH5alpha. One of the ORFs, PP2_01257, was assigned as probable indole-3-pyruvate decarboxylase. The ORF consisted of 1,743 nucleotides encoding 581 amino acids with a deduced molecular mass of 63,380 Da. Alignment studies of the deduced amino acid sequence of the ORF with known IPDC sequences revealed conservation of several amino acids in PP2_01257, essential for substrate and cofactor binding. Recombinant protein, gene product of the ORF PP2_01257 from P. polymyxa E681, was expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) as a glutathione S-transferase (GST)-fusion protein and purified to homogeneity using affinity chromatography. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme showed about 63 kDa, corresponding closely to the expected molecular mass of IPDC. The indole-3-pyruvate decarboxylase activity of the recombinant protein, detected by HPLC, using IPA substrate in the enzyme reaction confirmed the identity and functionality of the enzyme IPDC from the E681 strain.