Labeling of proteins with [35S]methionine and/or [35S]cysteine in the absence of cells

Incubation of [35S]methionine and [35S]cysteine with bovine albumin, globulin, catalase, hemoglobin, or human globulin resulted in incorporation of the 35S label into each of these proteins. Trichloroacetic acid (TCA) precipitation revealed that the percentage of label incorporated ranged from 1 to 15%. The 35S labeling was resistant to dissociation by reducing SDS-PAGE, prolonged dialysis against 4 M urea, heating, TCA precipitation, and dilution by gel filtration. The labeling effect was more efficient with [35S]cysteine than [35S]methionine. Incubation of 35S label with proteins differing in methionine and cysteine content revealed no requirement for sulfur-containing amino acids in the target protein. Protein carboxymethylation reduced but did not prevent 35S label incorporation. Amino acid analysis of labeled proteins revealed that the radioactive label was not consistently associated with an individual amino acid. Differences in the ability of various proteins to spontaneously label with these amino acids suggest caution in the interpretation of metabolic labeling experiments and the necessity for inclusion of additional controls. Alternatively, our experience indicates a potentially useful method for labeling proteins in the absence of cells.     

Polypeptide-chain stoicheiometry and lipoic acid content of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli.

The pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex was isolated from Escherichia coli grown in the presence of [35S]sulphate. The three component enzymes were separated by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and the molar ratios of the three polypeptide chains were determined by measurement of the radioactivity in each band. The chain ratio of lipoamide dehydrogenase to lipoate acetyltransferase approached unity, but there was a molar excess of chains of the pyruvate decarboxylase component. The 35S-labelled complex was also used in a new determination of the total lipoic acid content. It was found that each polypeptide chain of the lipoate acetyltransferase component appears to bear at least three lipoyl groups.     

Equilibrium concentrations for pyruvate dehydrogenase and the citric acid cycle at specified concentrations of certain coenzymes

It is of interest to calculate equilibrium compositions of systems of biochemical reactions at specified concentrations of coenzymes because these reactants tend to be in steady states. Thermodynamic calculations under these conditions require the definition of a further transformed Gibbs energy G" by use of a Legendre transform. These calculations are applied to the pyruvate dehydrogenase reaction plus the citric acid cycle, but steady-state concentrations of CoA, acetyl-CoA and succinyl-CoA cannot be specified because they are involved in the conservation of carbon atoms. These calculations require the use of linear algebra to obtain further transformed Gibbs energies of formation of reactants and computer programs to calculate equilibrium compositions. At specified temperature, pH, ionic strength and specified concentrations of several coenzymes, the equilibrium composition depends on the specified concentrations of the coenzymes and the initial amounts of reactants.     

Preparative labeling of proteins with [35S]methionine.

The most common technique for preparative labeling of proteins with radioisotopes for experimental purposes utilizes 125I. This isotope has certain limitations, including the emission of gamma- and X-irradiation, the release of gaseous 125I2 from solutions of Na 125I, and the potential for concentration of 125I in thyroid glands. We have discovered a means for labeling proteins rapidly and simply with [35S]methionine. The technique is applicable to a wide variety of proteins. Antibodies labeled by our technique remain functional.     

Acetylatable lipoic acid residues interact directly with lipoamide dehydrogenase in the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli

The proposal that the lipoate acetyltransferase component (E2) of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme (PD) complex from Escherichia coli contains three covalently bound lipoyl residues, one of which acts to pass reducing equivalents to lipoamide dehydrogenase (E3), has been tested. The PD complex was incubated with pyruvate and N-ethylmaleimide, to yield an inactive PD complex containing lipoyl groups on E2 with the S6 acetylated and the S8H irreversibly alkylated with N-ethylmaleimide. This chemically modified form would be expected to exist only on two of the three proposed lipoyl groups. The third nonacetylatable lipoyl group, which is proposed to interact with E3, would remain in its oxidized form. Reaction of the N-ethylmaleimide-modified PD complex with excess NADH should generate the reduced form of the proposed third nonacetylatable lipoyl group and thereby make it susceptible to cyclic dithioarsinite formation with bifunctional arsenicals (BrCH2CONHPhAsCl2; BrCH2[14C]CONHPhAsO). Once "anchored" to the reduced third lipoyl group via the--AsO moiety, these reagents would be delivered into the active site of E3 by the normal catalytic process of the PD complex where the BrCH2CONH--group inactivates E3. Whereas the E3 component of native PD complex is inactivated by the bifunctional reagents in the presence of excess NADH (owing to the above delivery process), the E3 component of the PD complex modified with N-ethylmaleimide in the presence of pyruvate is not inhibited. The results indicate that acetylatable lipoyl residues interact directly with E3 and do not support a functional role for a proposed third lipoyl residue.     

Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex,pyruvate: Ferredoxin oxidoreductase and lipoic acid content in microorganisms

Several microorganisms were examined for the content of lipoic acid by using a strain of Streptococcus faecalis deficient in this coenzyme. In comparison to this, the specific activity levels were determined for the pyruvate: ferredoxin oxidoreductase and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, which both catalyse the cleavage of pyruvate and coenzyme A to acetyl coenzyme A, CO₂ and two reducing equivalents. Anabaena cylindrica, Chlorobium, Clostridium pasteurianum and kluyveri, where only the pyruvate: ferredoxin oxidoreductase can be demonstrated, were found to contain minute levels of lipoic acid. Thus lipoic acid does not appear to be a cofactor of the decarboxylation catalysed by the pyruvate: ferredoxin oxidoreductase. On the other hand, the amount of lipoic acid is at least ten times higher in Ankistrodesmus, Chlamydomonas, Anacystis, Micrococcus, Azotobacter and Escherichia coli which have the dehydrogenase complex.     

Amino acid sequence around lipoic acid residues in the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli.

Amino-acid sequences around two lipoic acid residues in the lipoate acetyltransferase component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli were investigated. A single amino acid sequence of 13 residues was found. A repeated amino acid sequence in the lipoate acetyltransferase chain might explain this result.     

Nonenzymatic labeling of proteins by preparations of [35S]methionine

A rapid, simple, and sensitive radiochemical assay for the measurement of purine or pyrimidine nucleoside kinases (EC 2.7.1.-) is described. The substrate (thymidine, deoxyuridine, deoxycytidine, deoxyguanosine, deoxyadenosine, uridine, cytidine, and adenosine) is separated from the product (the respective 5′-nucleotide) on neutral alumina columns which retain the nucleotides but not the nucleosides. The nucleotides are recovered by elution with 0.4 m sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.6.     

The role of lipoic acid residues in the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli.

Two lipoic acid residues on each dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2) chain of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli were found to undergo oxidoreduction reactions with NAD+ catalysed by the lipoamide dehydrogenase component. It was observed that: (a) 2 mol of reagent/mol of E2 chain was incorporated when the complex was incubated with N-ethylmaleimide in the presence of acetyl-SCoA and NADH; (b) 4 mol of reagent/mol of E2 chain was incorporated when the complex was incubated with N-ethylmaleimide in the presence of NADH; (c) between 1 and 2 mol of acetyl groups/mol of E2 chain was incorporated when the complex was incubated with acetyl-SCoA plus NADH; (d) 2 mol of acetyl groups/mol of E2 chain was incorporated when the complex was incubated with pyruvate either before or after many catalytic turnovers through the overall reaction. There was no evidence to support the view that only half of the dihydrolipoic acid residues can be reoxidized by NAD+. However, chemical modification of lipoic acid residues with N-ethylmaleimide was shown to proceed faster than the accompanying loss of enzymic activity under all conditions tested, which indicates that not all the lipoyl groups are essential for activity. The most likely explanation for this result is an enzymic mechanism in which one lipoic acid residue can take over the function of another.     

Kinetic analysis of the role of lipoic acid residues in the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli

The catalytic roles of the two reductively acetylatable lipoic acid residues on each lipoate acetyltransferase chain of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli were investigated. Both lipoyl groups are reductively acetylated from pyruvate at the same apparent rate and both can transfer their acetyl groups to CoASH, part-reactions of the overall complex reaction. The complex was treated with N-ethylmaleimide in the presence of pyruvate and the absence of CoASH, conditions that lead to the modification and inactivation of the S-acetyldihydrolipoic acid residues. Modification was found to proceed appreciably faster than the accompanying loss of enzymic activity. The kinetics of the modification were fitted best by supposing that the two lipoyl groups react with the maleimide at different rates, one being modified at approximately 3.5 times the rate of the other. The loss of complex activity took place at a rate approximately equal to that calculated for the modification of the more slowly reacting lipoic acid residue. The simplest interpretation of this result is that only this residue is essential in the overall catalytic mechanism, but an alternative explanation in which one lipoic acid residue can take over the function of another was not ruled out. The kinetics of inactivation could not be reconciled with an obligatory serial interaction between the two lipoic acid residues. Similar experiments with the fluorescent N-[p-(benzimidazol-2-yl)phenyl]maleimide supported these conclusions, although the modification was found to be less specific than with N-ethylmaleimide. The more rapidly modified lipoic acid residue may be involved in the system of intramolecular transacetylation reactions that couple active sites in the lipoate acetyltransferase component.     

Solution structure and dynamics of the lipoic acid-bearing domain of human mitochondrial branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase complex

The lipoyl-bearing domain (LBD) of the transacylase (E2) subunit of the branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase complex plays a central role in substrate channeling in this mitochondrial multienzyme complex. We have employed multidimensional heteronuclear NMR techniques to determine the structure and dynamics of the LBD of the human branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase complex (hbLBD). Similar to LBD from other members of the alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase family, the solution structure of hbLBD is a flattened beta-barrel formed by two four-stranded antiparallel beta-sheets. The lipoyl Lys(44) residue resides at the tip of a beta-hairpin comprising a sharp type I beta-turn and the two connecting beta-strands 4 and 5. A prominent V-shaped groove formed by a surface loop, L1, connecting beta 1- and beta 2-strands and the lipoyl lysine beta-hairpin constitutes the functional pocket. We further applied reduced spectral density functions formalism to extract dynamic information of hbLBD from (15)N-T(1), (15)N-T(2), and ((1)H-(15)N) nuclear Overhauser effect data obtained at 600 MHz. The results showed that residues surrounding the lipoyl lysine region comprising the L1 loop and the Lys(44) beta-turn are highly flexible, whereas beta-sheet S1 appears to display a slow conformational exchange process.     

Spin-label study of the mobility of enzyme-bound lipoic acid in the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli.

The lipoic acid residues covalently bound to the transacetylase component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex of Escherichia coli were selectively modified by reaction with 4-maleimido-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidino-oxyl. The electron-spin-resonance spectrum of the spin-labelled enzyme indicates that the bound nitroxide groups have high mobilities relative to the protein molecule. This physicochemical evidence is consistent with the view that the dithiolane ring of a lipoyl residue is capable of rapid migration between the active sites of the component enzymes in the catalytic mechanism.     

[35S]GTPγS binding studies of amphiphilic drugs-activated Gi proteins: A caveat

This paper documents a serious problem met during the testing of Gi protein-activating properties of a new series of synthetic compounds by measuring the induced binding of [³⁵S]GTPγS to different subtypes of Gi protein. The problem arose from the strong affinity between [³⁵S]GTPγS and the tested compounds, that are characterized by several (2–4) positive charges and high lipophilicity. Apparently, such affinity yields insoluble, labelled complexes that, also in the absence of Gi protein, are retained on the filters and give rise to false positive results.     

The inhibitory effects of lipoic compounds on mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and its catalytic components

To examine the stereospecific effects of lipoic compounds on pyruvate metabolism, the effects of R-lipoic acid (R-LA), S-lipoic acid (S-LA) and 1,2-diselenolane-3-pentanoic acid (Se-LA) on the activities of the mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) and its catalytic components were investigated. Both S-LA and R-LA markedly inhibited PDC activity; whereas Se-LA displayed inhibition only at higher concentrations. Examination of the effects on the individual catalytic components indicated that Se-LA inhibited the pyruvate dehydrogenase component; whereas R-LA and S-LA inhibited the dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase component. The three lipoic compounds lowered dihydrolipoamide dehydrogrenase (E3) activity in the forward reaction by about 30 to 45%. The kinetic data of E3 showed that both R-LA and Se-LA are used as substrates by E3 for the reverse reaction. Decarboxylation of [1-14C]pyruvate via PDC by cultured HepG2 cells was not affected by R-LA, but moderately decreased with S-LA and Se-LA. These findings indicate that (i) purified PDC and its catalytic components are affected by lipoic compounds based on their stereoselectivity; and (ii) the oxidation of pyruvate by intact HepG2 cells is not inhibited by R-LA. The later finding with the intact cells is in support of therapeutic role of R-LA as an antioxidant.