Brain dolichyl pyrophosphate phosphatase. Solubilization, characterization, and differentiation from dolichyl monophosphate phosphatase activity

Dolichyl [beta-32P]pyrophosphate ([beta-32P]Dol-P-P) has been prepared chemically to study Dol-P-P phosphatase in calf brain. Calf brain microsomes catalyze the enzymatic release of 32Pi from exogenous [beta-32P]Dol-P-P by a bacitracin-sensitive reaction. [32P]Pyrophosphate was not detected with the water-soluble product even when 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate was added to impede pyrophosphatase activity. A substantial fraction of the Dol-P-P phosphatase activity can be solubilized by treating brain microsomes with 3% Triton X-100. The detergent extracts catalyze the enzymatic release of 32Pi from [beta-32P]Dol-P-P and the conversion of [14C]undecaprenyl pyrophosphate to [14C]undecaprenyl monophosphate. The solubilized Dol-P-P phosphatase activity: 1) is optimal at neutral pH; 2) is inhibited by Mn2+ and stimulated by EDTA; 3) exhibits an apparent Km = 20 microM for Dol-P-P; 4) is competitively inhibited by undecaprenyl pyrophosphate, and 5) is blocked by bacitracin. Solubilized Dol-P-P phosphatase activity differs from Dol-P phosphatase activity present in the same detergent extracts with respect to: 1) thermolability at 50 degrees C, 2) effect of 20 mM EDTA, and 3) sensitivity to phosphate and fluoride ions. These studies describe the chemical synthesis of [beta-32P]Dol-P-P for use in a convenient assay of Dol-P-P phosphatase activity. A procedure for the solubilization of Dol-P-P phosphatase activity from microsomes is presented, and an enzymological comparison indicates that Dol-P-P and Dol-P phosphatase are separate enzymes in calf brain.     

Effect of exogenous dolichyl monophosphate on a developmental change in mannosylphosphoryldolichol biosynthesis

The initial rate of mannosylphosphoryldolichol formation by pig brain white matter is 2.9 to 3.3-fold higher in membranes from actively myelinating animals as compared to similar preparations from adults. Exogenous dolichyl monophosphate stimulated mannolipid synthesis in both preparations indicating that the level of the acceptor lipid was rate-limiting. The relative enhancement, however, was higher in membranes from adult animals reducing the ratio of initial rates for young/adult. Exogenous dolichyl monophosphate also stimulated the labeling of a mannosylated oligosaccharide lipid and mannoproteins, including a polypeptide (apparent molecular weight of 100,000) not labeled by gray matter membranes.     

Artificial N-functionalized UDP-glucosamine analogues as modified substrates for N-acetylglucosaminyl transferases

Analogues of UDP-GlcNAc modified at the 2-acetamido group of the GlcNAc moiety were prepared in order to study their role in the mechanism of N-acetylglucosaminyl transferase mediated glycosylation reactions. The structural analogues with N-formyl-, N-propionyl-, N-butyryl- and N-isobutyryl-groups were synthesized, utilizing the morpholidate coupling method starting from d-glucosaminyl-1-phosphate after selective N-acylation of its amino group with the appropriate N-acyloxysuccinimide esters as well as a chlorinated formylformiate.     

A synthesis of dolichyl fluorophosphate

An improved method for the synthesis of dolichyl H-phosphonate was developed using 2-chloro-4H-1,3,2-benzodioxaphosphorin-4-one (salicyl chlorophosphite) as a reagent. Dolichyl phosphorofluoridate was for the first time synthesized from dolichyl H-phosphonate by its treatment with chlorotrimethylsilane, oxidation with iodine, and subsequent interaction with fluoride ion in pyridine.     

Cytidine monophosphate as substrate for the electron microscopic visualization of alkaline phosphatase activity

Summary Since in histochemical reactions the liver alkaline phosphatase discloses only low activity with respect to beta-glycerophosphate, the authors have replaced the latter by cytidine monophosphate. With this substrate they obtained much better results: greater sensibility permitting to reduce the incubation time, and much more precise localization of the enzyme activity, at the ultrastructural level. Details of the method are given with a discussion of its specifity. The method was applied on liver tissue of normal albino rats and animals of the same strain with ligated common bile duct.This study was supported by a grant from the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Geneeskundig Onderzoek.     

Holocellular retinol binding protein as a substrate for microsomal retinal synthesis

Holocellular retinol binding protein (holo-CRBP) was substrate for retinal synthesis at physiological pH with microsomes prepared from rat liver, kidney, lung, and testes. Four observations indicated that retinal synthesis was supported by holo-CRBP directly, rather than by the unbound retinol in equilibrium with CRBP. First, the rate of retinal synthesis with holo-CRBP exceeded the rate that was observed from the concentration of unbound retinol in equilibrium with CRBP. Second, NADP was the preferred cofactor only with holo-CRBP, supporting a rate about 3-fold greater than that of NAD. In contrast, with unbound retinol as substrate, similar rates of retinal formation were supported by either NAD or NADP. Third, the rate of retinal synthesis was not related to the decrease in the concentration of unbound retinol in equilibrium with holo-CRBP caused by increasing the concentration of apo-CRBP. Fourth, the rate of retinal synthesis increased with increases in the concentration of holo-CRBP as a fixed concentration of unbound retinol was maintained. This was achieved by increasing both apo-CRBP and holo-CRBP, but keeping constant the ratio apo-CRBP/holo-CRBP. Retinal formation from holo-CRBP displayed typical Michaelis-Menten kinetics with a Km about 1.6 microM, less than the physiological retinal concentration of 4-10 microM in the livers of rats fed diets with recommended vitamin A levels. The Vmax for retinal formation from holo-CRBP was 14-17 pmol min-1 (mg of protein)-1, a rate sufficiently high to generate adequate retinal to contribute significantly to retinoic acid synthesis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Factors affecting glucosyl and mannosyl transfer to dolichyl monophosphate by liver cell-free preparations

GDP-mannose and UDP-mannose (each at less than 1 micrometer) markedly inhibit glucosyl transfer from UDP-glucose (1.6 micrometer( to dolichyl phosphate in liver microsomal preparations. The biphasic response suggests the presence of two glucosyl transferases only one of which is inhibited. The inhibition appears to be a property of the intact nucleotide phosphate sugars and not due to competition for a limited pool of dolichyl phosphate. UDP-galactose and UDP-xylose cause a less marked inhibition of the same enzyme. The failure of UDP-glucose to inhibit mannosyl transfer suggests that the pool of dolichol monophosphate used by mannosyl transferase is not available to the glucosyl transferase. The relationship between the degree to which an exogenous prenol phosphate acts as an acceptor of mannose and the degree to which it inhibits mannosylation of endogenous dolichyl monophosphate varies among different prenyl phosphates. Mannosyl transferase exhibits two pH optima.     

m-Octopamine as a substrate for monoamine oxidase.

$\text{m}$-Octopamine was characterized as substrate for monoamine oxidase (MAO) in rat brain and liver mitochondria. The $\text{K}$m and $\text{V}$max values of the brain enzyme were 735 μM and 32.5 nmoles/mg protein/30 min, and those of the liver enzyme 351 μM and 125 nmoles/mg protein/30 min, respectively. The inhibition experiments with clorgyline and deprenyl showed that $\text{m}$-octopamine was a common substrate for type A and type B MAO, though a major part of the activity was due to type A enzyme.     

Enzymatic synthesis of p-nitrophenyl 4(5)-O-beta-D-galactosyl-alpha-maltopentaoside as a substrate for human alpha-amylases.

Enzymatic modification at the nonreducing end D-glucosyl residue of p-nitrophenyl alpha-maltopentaoside was developed by using the transglycosylation of beta-D-galactosidase from Bacillus circulans. The enzyme regioselectively synthesized p-nitrophenyl 4(5)-O-beta-D-galactosyl-alpha-maltopentaoside (a yield of 12.0% based on the amount of p-nitrophenyl alpha-maltopentaoside added) on a preparative scale from lactose as a donor and p-nitrophenyl alpha-maltopentaoside as an acceptor. It revealed that the nonreducing end galactosyl group of p-nitrophenyl 4(5)-O-beta-D-galactosyl-alpha-maltopentaoside did not prohibit the action of human salivary and pancreatic alpha-amylases. This derivative was shown to be very suitable as a novel substrate for analytical use of human alpha-amylase assay in serum through a conjugated reaction involving glucoamylase and alpha-D-glucosidase.     

D-Lyxose as a substrate for Streptomyces D-xylose isomerase.

Results are presented which show that the D-xylose isomerases present in Streptomyces olivaceus and Streptomyces phaeochromogenes NRRL B-3559 are incapable of utilizing D-lyxose as a substrate. The implications of these findings as related to the use of D-lyxose in the selection of constitutive mutants are discussed.     

The importance of N-linked glycoproteins and dolichyl phosphate synthesis for fusion of L6 myoblasts.

Myoblasts fuse to form multinucleated myotubes, one of the early steps in the formation of multinucleated muscle fiber. The fusion reaction is accompanied by biochemical differentiation resulting in the expression of a variety of enzyme activities and macromolecules, particularly creatine phosphokinase. The fusing myoblast is thus an excellent system for use in studies on the molecular basis of cellular recognition. This report focuses on the role played by glycoproteins in this process. It was found that alteration of cell-surface glycoproteins, using oligosaccharide-processing inhibitors that interfered with the synthesis of the high-mannose type of N-linked oligosaccharide, resulted in the inhibition of both the fusion reaction and biochemical differentiation as determined by measurement of creatine phosphokinase. Ketoconazole, compactin, and lovastatin, which affect dolichol and cholesterol biosynthesis, were also potent fusion inhibitors. These observations, coupled with earlier studies on the characterization of fusion-defective myoblast cell lines defective in glycoprotein biosynthesis, point to the importance of surface glycoproteins in cellular recognition in L6 myoblasts.     

Pepsin as a catalyst for peptide synthesis: formation of peptide bonds not typical for pepsin substrate specificity.

Porcine pepsin in water solutions containing 15-28% of dimethylformamide at pH 5 and 20-37 degrees C catalysed the formation of peptide bonds between Z-Ala-Ala-Phe-OH and various amino acid or peptide derivatives. Substrate binding subsite S1' of pepsin demonstrated broad specificity in these reactions but revealed a certain preference for hydrophobic amino acid residues, including non-proteinous homophenylalanine, p-nitrophenylalanine, S-methylcysteine, as well as for those that contained, in addition to the hydrophobic elements, a group capable of donating a hydrogen bond, e.g. o-nitrotyrosine. This observation increases the range of peptides that might be prepared by pepsin-catalysed synthesis.     

Mannose, glucosamine and inositol monophosphate inhibit the effects of insulin on lipogenesis. Further evidence for a role for inositol phosphate-oligosaccharides in insulin action.

The mechanism of insulin signalling is not yet understood in detail. Recently, a role for inositol phosphate (IP)-oligosaccharides as second messengers transmitting the insulin signal at the post-kinase level was proposed. To evaluate this hypothesis further, we studied whether IP-oligosaccharides isolated from 'haemodialysate' have insulin-like activity. We found that these compounds mimic, in a dose-dependent fashion, the following effects of insulin in adipocytes. (1) Lipogenesis. Incorporation of [3H]glucose into lipids (expressed in nmol/min per 10(6) cells): basal, 0.74 +/- 0.05; insulin (1 mu unit/ml), 4.43 +/- 0.21; IP-oligosaccharide (2 micrograms/ml), 4.07 +/- 0.19. (2) Inhibition of isoprenaline (isoproterenol) (1 microM)-stimulated cyclic AMP levels and lipolysis. Cyclic AMP (pmol/10(5) cells): basal 0.84 +/- 0.05; isoprenaline, 4.03 +/- 0.19; isoprenaline + insulin (200 mu units/ml), 2.06 +/- 0.7; isoprenaline + IP-oligosaccharides (2 micrograms/ml), 2.4 +/- 0.29. Inhibition of lipolysis (mumol of glycerol/mg of protein): isoprenaline (1 microM), 166 +/- 11; isoprenaline+insulin (150 mu units/ml), 53 +/- 3.5; isoprenaline+IP-oligosaccharides (2 micrograms/ml), 58 +/- 5. (3) Stimulation of 3-O-methylglucose transport; basal, 9 +/- 3%; insulin (1 mu unit/ml), 67 +/- 4%, IP-oligosaccharides (2 micrograms/ml), 54 +/- 2%. To identify the active molecules of the IP-oligosaccharide fraction, competition experiments were performed. IP-oligosaccharide effects on lipogenesis were blocked by inositol monophosphate, glucosamine and mannose. In contrast, these compounds did not inhibit IP-oligosaccharide effects on membrane-mediated functions (3-O-methylglucose transport, cyclic AMP levels, lipolysis). We also found that the effect of insulin on lipogenesis was blocked by mannose, glucosamine and inositol monophosphate, whereas the insulin effects on 3-O-methylglucose, cyclic AMP and lipolysis were unaffected. The following conclusions were reached. (1) IP-oligosaccharides mimic the major metabolic effects of insulin in adipocytes. This is consistent with the proposed role of IP-oligosaccharides as second messengers of certain insulin effects. (2) Mannose and glucosamine are functionally important sugar residues for the effect of IP-oligosaccharide on lipogenesis. (3) The observation that mannose, inositol monophosphate and glucosamine block the action of insulin of on lipogenesis supports a role of mannose- and glucosamine-containing IP-oligosaccharides as second messengers for this insulin effect.     

Identification and characterization of a cDNA encoding a long-chain cis-isoprenyltranferase involved in dolichyl monophosphate biosynthesis in the ER of brain cells

A long-chain cis-isoprenyltransferase (cis-IPTase) located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) catalyzes the chain elongation stage in the pathway for the de novo biosynthesis of dolichyl monophosphate (Dol-P) in eukaryotic cells. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the ER-associated cis-IPTase is encoded by the RER2 gene. Mutations in the RER2 gene result in defects in growth and protein N-glycosylation. In this study a cDNA isolated from human brain (Accession No. AK023164.1), which has substantial homology to cis-IPTases from bacteria, Arabidopsis, and S. cerevisiae, has been shown to: (1) complement the growth defect; (2) restore cis-IPTase activity; dolichol and Dol-P synthesis; and (3) restore normal N-glycosylation of carboxypeptidase Y (CPY) in the yeast rer2Delta mutant. Consistent with a role in Dol-P biosynthesis, overexpression of the human cis-isoprenyltransferase (hCIT) cDNA also suppresses the temperature-sensitive growth and CPY hypoglycosylation phenotypes in sec59-1 cells which are defective in Dol-P biosynthesis due to a temperature-sensitive mutation in dolichol kinase. Overexpression of hCIT in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells results in a modest increase in cis-IPTase activity associated with microsomal fractions and the appearance of a new 38kDa polypeptide that co-localizes with calnexin in the ER, the site of Dol-P biosynthesis, even though no transmembrane domains are predicted by a hydropathy plot.     

2-Mercaptoethanol as a substrate for liver alcohol dehydrogenase.

An activity was identified in a phosphate buffer extract of calf liver acetone powder which utilized 2-mercaptoethanol and NAD⁺ as substrates and formed NADH as one product. The activity responsible for catalyzing this reaction is associated with calf liver alcohol dehydrogenase based on copurification, similarity in pH optima, and similarity in response to chelating agents and other inactivating agents. Crystalline horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase also catalyzes the formation of NADH from NAD⁺ using 2-mercaptoethanol as the substrate. Although the K_m for mercaptoethanol is much lower than that for ethanol, 30 μm as compared to 0.625 mm, the maximum velocity with mercaptoethanol as the substrate is only 7% of that when ethanol is the substrate. Because of this difference in maximum velocity, 2-mercaptoethanol is an apparent competitive inhibitor with respect to ethanol with crystalline horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase, consistent with ethanol and 2-mercaptoethanol binding at the same site. The apparent K_i for 2-mercaptoethanol is 14 μm. 2-Butanethiol is a competitive inhibitor with respect to both 2-mercaptoethanol and ethanol with horse and beef liver alcohol dehydrogenases.     

A microassay for proteases using succinylcasein as a substrate.

A photometric assay for proteases has been developed. A chemically modified casein whose amino groups were succinylated was used as a substrate. After incubation with trypsin, chymotrypsin, thermolysin, and subtilisin, the extent of hydrolysis of the substrate was determined with trinitrobenzene sulfonate (TNBS). The whole procedure of the assay was performed in the microtiter plate wells and the increase in the absorbance resulting from the reaction between TNBS and newly formed amino groups in the substrate was able to be determined with a high sensitivity by a microtiter plate reader, enabling the simultaneous measurement of a number of samples. Application of this method to the measurement of proteolytic activity contained in the protein extract of Tapes philippinarum is demonstrated.