Repressible extracellular phosphodiesterases showing cyclic 2'',3''- and cyclic 3'',5''-nucleotide phosphodiesterase activities in Neurospora crassa.

Two molecular species of repressible extracellular phosphodiesterases showing cyclic 2',3'- and cyclic 3',5'-nucleotide phosphodiesterase activities were detected in mycelial culture media of wild-type Neurospora crassa and purified. The two molecular species were found to be monomeric and polymeric forms of an enzyme constituted of identical subunits having molecular weights of 50,000. This enzyme had the same electrophoretic mobility as repressible acid phosphatase. The enzyme designated repressible cyclic phosphodiesterase showed pH optima of 3.2 to 4.0 with a cyclic 3',5'-AMP substrate and 5.0 to 5.6 with a cyclic 2',3'-AMP substrate. Repressible cyclic phosphodiesterase was activated by MnCl2 and CoCl2 with cyclic 2',3'-AMP as substrate and was slightly activated by MnCl2 with cyclic 3',5'-AMP. The enzyme hydrolyzed cyclic 3',5'- and cyclic 2',3'-nucleotides, in addition to bis-rho-nitrophenyl phosphate, but not certain 5' -and 3'-nucleotides. 3'-GMP and 3'-CMP were hydrolyzed less efficiently. Mutant strains A1 (nuc-1) and B1 (nuc-2), which cannot utilize RNA or DNA as a sole source of phosphorus, were unable to produce repressible cyclic phosphodiesterase. The wild type (74A) and a heterocaryon between strains A1 and B1 produced the enzyme and showed growth on orthophosphate-free media containing cyclic 2',3'-AMP or cyclic 3',5'-AMP, whereas both mutants showed little or no growth on these media.     

Synthesis of p-nitrophenyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-beta-D-glucopyranosides.

Reaction of p-nitrophenyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-4,6-O-(p-methoxybenzylidene)-beta-D-glucopyranoside (2) with 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl bromide (3) under the usual conditions, followed by removal of the p-methoxybenzylidene group and O-deacylation, produced crystalline p-nitrophenyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-3-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (6). Starting from p-nitrophenyl 2-acetamido 3,4-di-O-acetyl-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside, the synthesis of p-nitrophenyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-6-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside was also accomplished.     

2'',3''=Carbonates in the synthesis of uridine 5''-deoxy and 2'',5''-dideoxy derivatives.

Detritylation of 2',3'-O-carbonyl-5'-O-trityluridine (Ia) with ethereal hydrogen chloride affords 2',3'-O-carbonyluridine (Ib; 83%) which is converted by mesylation to the 5'-mesylcarbonate Ic (75%). Reaction of compound, Ic with tetrabutylammonium bromide in DMF affords the 5'-bromo carbonate Id (77%) which is reduced with tributyltin hydride to the 5'-deoxyuridine 2',3'-cyclic carbonate Ie (70%). When heated with imidazole, compound Ie affords the 2,2'-anhydro derivative IIa (76%) which is converted to the 2'-chloro derivative IIIa (88%) on heating with HC1/DMF. The tributyltin hydride reduction of compound IIIa gives 2',5'-dideoxyuridine (IIIb; 68%). When heated with NaHCO3 in DMF, the 5'-bromo carbonate Id affords the anhydro bromo derivative IIb (50%) which is converted to the 2',5'-dichloro derivative IIIc (86%) on heating with HC1/DMF. The tributyltin hydride reduction of compound IIIc affords the 2',5'-dideoxy derivative IIIb (59%). Alkaline hydrolysis of the 2,2'-anhydro derivative IIa affords the arabinosyl derivative IVa which is converted to the diacetyl derivative IVb (34%) by acetylation. When refluxed in water, the 2',3'-cyclic carbonates Ib, Id, and Ie are hydrolysed to the parent nucleosides, namely, uridine (Va; 81%), 5'-bromo-5'-deoxyuridine (Vb; 78%), and 5'-deoxyuridine (Vc; 83%). Hydrolysis of carbonates Ib and Ie is accompanied by the formation of the 2,2'-anhydro derivatives IIc (10%) and IIa (5%) as by-products.     

Structural studies on the two forms of 8-bromo-2'',3''-O-isopropylideneadenosine.

The crystal and molecular structures of two forms of 8-bromo-2',3'-O-isopropylideneadenosine have been determined by X-ray methods. In one form, the molecular structure has planar conformation in the sugar moiety and no intramolecular hydrogen bond. On the other hand, the molecular structure of the second form has C(2')-endo conformation and an intramolecular hydrogen bond. No stacking interaction between adjacent bases is found in either form, but two modes of the base-pairing hydrogen bond exist in the second form.     

Removal of RNase activity from DNase by affinity chromatography on agarose coupled aminophenylphosphoryl-uridine-2'' (3'')-phosphate.

Severe degradation of high molecular weight RNA was shown to occur during incubation with commercially purified DNase. Most of the RNase activity could be removed by passage of the DNase through a column of agarose-coupled amino phenylphosphoryl-uridine-2' (3')-phosphate. Incubation with the treated DNase caused only minimal alteration of the sedimentation pattern of high molecular weight nuclear RNA, determined under partially denturing conditions. No impairment of DNase activity was detected.     

2''5'' oligoadenylate synthetase, an interferon induced enzyme: direct assay methods for the products, 2''5'' oligoadenylates and 2''5'' co-oligonucleotides.

The interferon induced enzyme 2'5' oligoadenylate synthetase produces 2'5' pppA(pA)n the first discovered natural nucleotide with a 2'5' linkage. We describe a direct assay of this enzyme based on separation by thin layer chromatography (TLC) of the substrate ATP and the products 2'5' pppA(pA)n (n larger than or equal to 1). This technique presents obvious advantages compared to the currently used methods. Moreover the enzyme uses other nucleotides as substrates forming co-oligonucleotides 2'5 pppA(pA)n pN (N = U,G,C,dA,dG,dT and dC). Additional procedures are described using different developing solvent systems for the separation of the core-2'5' oligonucleotides (2'5' A(pA)npN) containing AMP-residues entirely and those with another nucleotide at the 2' end.     

Synthesis of various phosphodiesters and phosphomonoesters with ribonuclease N.

1. 3'-Guanylyl-ethanol, 3'-guanylyl-propanol, and 3'-guanylyl-alpha-glycerol were synthesized by ribonuclease N1 [EC 3.1.4.8] using guanosine 2',3'-cyclic phosphate as a phosphate donor and various alcohols as phosphate acceptors. The yields of these phosphodiesters were 15%, 13.5%, 38.2%, respectively, with respect to phosphate donor under the optimum conditions. No phosphodiester was synthesized when 2-propanol was used as a phosphate acceptor. Thus, primary alcoholic hydroxyl groups may be regarded as the preferred phosphate acceptor. 2. 3'-Guanylyl-glucose and 3'-guanylyl-ribose were synthesized using glucose and ribose as phosphate acceptors. Under the optimum conditions, the yields of guanylyl-glucose amounted to 52.0%, while that of guanylyl-ribose was much lower. The guanylyl-glucose can be regarded as 3'-guanylyl-6-glucopyranose, based on the results of periodate oxidation. 3. Neither hydroxyamino acids (serine and threonine) nor N-acetylserinamide could be phosphorylated under the conditions used for the above phosphorylations. 4. 3'-Guanylyl-glycerol obtained as above was hydrolyzed by snake venon phosphodiesterase to produce glycerol 3-phosphate. The latter consisted of L-glycerol 3-phosphate (ca 17%) and the D-isomer (ca. 83%). Ribonuclease N1 thus catalyzes an asymmetric synthesis.     

Synthesis of p-nitrobenzyl and p-nitrophenyl 1-thioglycopyranosides.

Reaction of 2,3,4-trio-O-acetyl-alpha-L-fucopyranosyl bromide (1) with thiourea (2), followed by reductive cleavage of the product, gave 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-1-thio-beta-L-fucopyranose (4). Reaction of 4 with p-nitrobenzyl bromide followed by O-deacylation yielded p-nitrobenzyl 1-thio-beta-L-fucopyranoside (6). Similar reaction conditions were used for the synthesis of p-nitrobenzyl 1-thio-beta-D-fucopyranoside (11) and 1-thio-alpha-D-mannopyranoside (16). A facile preparation of O-acylated p-nitrophenyl 1-thioglycopyranosides was achieved by condensing the appropriate glycosyl halide with sodium p-nitrobenzenethioxide in N,N-dimethylformamide.     

Synthesis of new pyridazinone derivatives and their affinity towards alpha1-alpha2-adrenoceptors.

A series of 3(2H)-pyridazinone derivatives was evaluated for their affinity in vitro towards alpha1-alpha2-adrenoceptors by radioligand receptor binding assays. All target compounds showed good affinities for the alpha1-adrenoceptor (with Ki values in the subnanomolar range), and a gradual increase in affinity was observed by increasing the polymethylene chain length of this series up to a maximum of six and seven carbon atoms, when the fragment 4-[2-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-ethyl]-1-piperazinyl is linked in 5 position of the 3(2H)-pyridazinone ring, while a slight decrease was found for the higher homologues. Increasing the chain length when the 4-[2-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-ethyl]-1-piperazinyl group is linked in 6 position of the 3(2H)-pyridazinone ring, had a different effect: there is the highest affinity when the polymethylene chain is of four carbon atoms. The alkylic chain, a spacer between the two major constituents of the molecule, can influence the affinity and the selectivity.     

Comparison of the reactivity of B-DNA and Z-DNA with two isosteric chemical carcinogens: 2-N,N-acetoxyacetylaminofluorene and 3-N,N-acetoxyacetylamino-4,6-dimethyldipyrido-[1,2-a:3'',2'' -d] imidazole.

The reactivity of nucleic acids in various conformations and two isosteric chemical carcinogens 2-N,N-acetoxyacetylaminofluorene (N-AcO-AAF) and 3-N,N-acetoxyacetylamino-4,6-dimethyldipyrido [1,2-a:3',2'-d] imidazole (N-AcO-AGlu-P-3) have been studied. Both carcinogens bind covalently to poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC) (B form) and to poly(dG-br5C).poly(dG-br5dC) (Z form). They also bind covalently to (dC-dG)16 and to (dG-dT)15 sequences inserted in plasmids when the inserts are in the B form but they do not bind to the inserts in the Z form. The reactivity of guanine residues at the B-Z junctions depends upon the superhelical density of the plasmids and upon the base sequences at the junction. The distribution of AGlu-P-3 modified guanines in a restriction fragment of pBR322 is not uniform and is different from that of AAF-modified guanines. The conclusion is that N-AcO-Glu-P-3 as N-AcO-AAF can probe at the nucleotide level the polymorphism of DNA. On the other hand, the non-reactivity of both chemical carcinogens and Z-DNA and the hyperreactivity of some junctions might have some importance in the understanding of chemical carcinogenesis.     

Synthesis of a mutagenic nucleoside, 2'-deoxy-2-(p-nitrophenyl)-adenosine

The reaction of 2-amino-6-chloropurine riboside with i-amyl nitrite in benzene in the presence of Cu2O, followed by treatment with NH3/MeOH gave 2-phenyladenosine (1). The crude sample of 1 was found to be mutagenic to bacteria (Salmonella typhimurium TA 98 and TA 100, without metabolic activation). When this material was subjected to high pressure liquid chromatography, the mutagenic activity was found only in contaminating minor components, whose structures were assigned as 2-(m- and p-nitrophenyl)-adenosines (2m,p). In order to study structure-activity relationships, several nucleoside and base analogues were synthesized. Among them, 2'-deoxy-2-(p-nitrophenyl)-adenosine (8) was the most potent mutagen as tested either with TA 98 or TA 100.     

Synthesis of 3'-ureidoadenosine analogues and their binding affinity to the A3 adenosine receptor

Novel 3'-ureidoadenosine analogues were synthesized from 1,2:5, 6-di-O-isopropylidene-D-glucose in order to lead to stronger hydrogen bonding at the A3 adenosine receptor than the corresponding 3'-aminoadenosine derivatives. However, all synthesized 3'-ureidoadenosine analogues have lost their binding affinities to the all subtypes of adenosine receptors, indicating that bulky 3'-urea moiety led to conformational distortion.     

Monoalkyl phosphodiesters: Synthesis and dielectric relaxation of solutions

Chromatographically pure hexadecylphosphocholine, -(N,N-dimethyl)-ethanolamine, -(N-N-methyl)-ethanolamine and -ethanolamine have been synthesized. Aqueous solutions of these phospholipids have been prepared for the purpose of measuring their dielectric spectra. Micellar solutions appropriate for the dielectric studies were obtained with the choline and the (N,N-dimethyl)-ethanolamine head groups.The dielectric spectra of these phospholipid/water systems are evaluated in terms of phenomenologically introduced sum of Cole-Cole relaxation functions and also on the basis of a model relaxation function which has regard to internal depolarizing fields of the colloidal solutions. Parameters reflecting the motions of the dipolar head groups and of the hydration water molecules of the synthetic monoalkyl phosphodiesters are discussed and are compared with those for egg lysolecithin.The mobility of the dipolar phospholipid head groups and the number of influenced water molecules per zwitterion decreases when changing from lysolecithin to hexadecylphosphocholine and further to hexadecylphospho-(N,N-dimethyl)-ethanolamine, while the relaxation time of the hydration water increases. These results indicate the micellar surface to get less porous within the above series of lipids.     

Spectroscopic properties of various 2''(3'')-O-aminoacyldinucleoside phosphates analogous to the 3'' terminus of AA-tRNA.

Hypochromicity and circular dichroism data are reported for the 2' and 3'-0-aminiacyldinucleoside phosphates cytidylyl-(3'-5')-2'(3')-0-L-phenylalanyl-adenosine, cytidylyl-(3'-5')-2'-deoxy-3'-0-L-phenylalanyladenosine, cytidylyl-(3'-5')-2'-deoxy-3'-0-glycyladenosine, and cytidylyl-(3'-5')-3'-deoxy-2'-0-L-phenylalanyladenosine, all of which can act as analogs of the 3' terminus of AA-tRNA in various partial reactions of protein biosynthesis. Although all these systems have a 2'-OH group in the furanose of the 3'-residue, differences exist in the extent and/or mode of base-base overlap for most of them, except for cytidylyl-(3'-5')-2'(3')-0-L-phenylalanyladenosine and cytidylyl-(3'-5')-3'-deoxy-2'-0-L-phenylalanyladenosine. It is concluded that the biological activity of the above analogs is affected both by the position of the aminoacyl group and the stacking properties of the bases.     

1-[2-Hydroxy-3-octadecan-1'-oate]propyl-2'',2'',5'',5''-tetramethyl pyrolidine-N-oxyl-3''-carboxylate as a potential spin probe for membrane structure studies

The synthesis of a new minimum steric perturbing proxyl nitroxide, which is a derivative of glycerol and contains a stearic acid moiety, has been carried out. Its localization in model membrane L-alpha-dipalmitoyl phosphatidyl choline (DPPC) was ascertained with the help of ESR, DSC, 1H and 31P NMR techniques. The nitroxide was used for detecting the changes in the phase transition temperature of the model membranes in the presence and absence of drugs. The permeation of the vasodilating drug epinephrine has also been studied using this spin label. The results prove the potential applicability of the new spin probe in the spin labeling of biomembranes.     

2'',3''-Dideoxy-3'' aminonucleoside 5''-triphosphates are the terminators of DNA synthesis catalyzed by DNA polymerases.

It is shown that 2',3'-dideoxy-3'-aminonucleoside 5'-triphosphates with adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine bases are effective inhibitors of DNA polymerase I, calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha and rat liver DNA polymerase beta. The effect of the above-mentioned compounds is markedly higher than corresponding action of the well-known DNA synthesis inhibitors arabinonucleoside 5'-triphosphates and 2',3'-dideoxynucleoside 5'-triphosphates. 2',3'-dideoxy-3'-aminonucleoside 5'-monophosphate residues incorporate into the 3'-terminus of the primer and terminate the DNA chain elongation. The possibility of using 2',3'-dideoxy-3'-aminonucleoside 5'-triphosphates as terminators for DNA sequencing by the polymerization method is demonstrated.     

Extraction, purification, identification and metabolism of 3'',5''-cyclic UMP, 3'',5''-cyclic IMP and 3'',5''-cyclic dTMP from rat tissues.

The large-scale extraction and partial purification of endogenous 3',5'-cyclic UMP, 3',5'-cyclic IMP and 3',5'-cyclic dTMP are described. Rat liver, kidney, heart, spleen and lung tissues were subjected to a sequential purification procedure involving freeze-clamping, perchlorate extraction, alumina and Sephadex ion-exchange chromatography and preparative electrophoresis. The samples thus obtained co-chromatographed with authentic cyclic UMP, cyclic IMP and cyclic dTMP on t.l.c. and h.p.l.c. and the u.v. spectra of the extracted samples were identical with those of the standards. Fast atom bombardment of the three cyclic nucleotide standards yielded mass spectra containing a molecular protonated ion in each case; mass-analysed ion kinetic-energy spectrometry ('m.i.k.e.s') of these ions produced a spectrum unique to the parent cyclic nucleotide. The extracted putative cyclic UMP, cyclic IMP and cyclic dTMP each produced a m.i.k.e.s. identical with that obtained with the corresponding cyclic nucleotide standard. Rat liver, heart, kidney, brain, intestine, spleen, testis and lung protein preparations were each found capable of the synthesis of cyclic UMP, cyclic IMP and cyclic dTMP from the corresponding nucleoside triphosphate, of the hydrolysis of these cyclic nucleotides and of their binding, with the exception that cyclic dTMP was not synthesized by the kidney preparation.