Reactive sulfhydryl groups of sarcoplasmic reticulum ATPase. I. Location of a group which is most reactive with N-ethylmaleimide

Ca2+-Transporting ATPase of rabbit skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum contains several SH groups which are reactive with N-ethylmaleimide (MalNEt) at pH 7.0. The location of the one which is most reactive with MalNEt (SHN, Kawakita et al. J. Biochem. 87, 609 (1980)) was identified on the amino acid sequence of the ATPase. SHN was labeled by reacting sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes with [14C] MalNEt to a labeling density of 1 mol/mol ATPase. [14C]MalNEt-labeled membranes were digested with thermolysin and 14C-labeled SHN peptides were fractionated by Sephadex LH-20 chromatography to give two major peaks of radioactivity. [14C]-MalNEt-labeled peptides were further purified to homogeneity by C18-reversed phase HPLC. Two radioactive peptides containing modified cysteine (Cys), Leu-Gly-Cys-Thr-Ser and Val-Cys-Lys-Met, were finally obtained in roughly equal amounts and in reasonable recovery. Both of these sequences were found in the amino acid sequence of Ca2+-transporting ATPase (Brandl et al. Cell 44, 597 (1986)), and Cys344 and Cys364 were identified as the targets of MalNEt-modification. Thus, 0.5 mol/mol ATPase of each Cys residue actually reacted rapidly with MalNEt under the conditions leading to SHN-modification. Modification of either one with MalNEt may negatively affect the reactivity of the other. Both of the highly reactive SH groups are located in the neighborhood of Asp351, the phosphorylation site of ATPase.     

Chemical modification of amino groups and guanidino groups of trypsin. Preparation of stable and soluble derivatives.

1. Isoionic chemical modification of amino groups of trypsin (EC 3.4.21.4) was studied for the purpose of obtaining a well-defined modified trypsin with minimum changes in physicochemical properties and with sufficient stability at neutral pH. Acetamidination with methyl acetimidate hydrochloride proceeded very rapidly at pH9.8 and 5degrees C and all 14 epsilon-amino groups were modified in 2h. The reaction was limited to epsilon-amino groups. The alpha-amino group of N-terminal isoleucine was modified only by repeated reactions in the presence of 5.5 M-guanidine or 8 M-urea. 2. The epsilon-acetamidinated derivative of beta-trypsin retained enzymic activity at values comparable with those of native enzyme tested with alpha-N-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester and alpha-N-benzoyl-L-arginine p-nitroanilide as substrates; it also showed substrate activation comparable with that of native enzyme. The acetamidination of alpha-trypsin resulted in approx. 50% decrease in its esterolytic activity. 3. The epsilon-acetamidinated beta-trypsin was very stable at pH8 and 25degrees C in the absence of Ca2+. The activity of 0.04% (W/V) enzyme solution remained practically unchanged for 10h, and after 24h 90% of the activity was still retained. Possible autolytic cleavage of peptide bonds of acetamidinated enzymes was followed by N-terminal analysis by using automated Edman degradation. Only the Arg(105)-Val(106) bond was found to be cleaved to an appreciable extent. Thus beta-trypsin can be stabilized simply by complete acetamidination of epsilon-amino groups without modifying guanidino groups of arginine residues. Acetamidinated alpha-trypsin was unstable, but its inactivation at a neutral pH could not be attributed to the cleavage of a single specific peptide bond. 4. The acetamidination of the alpha-amino group of the N-terminal isoleucine results in the inactivation of esterolytic activity. However, this enzyme retained the ability to react with p-nitrophenyl p'-guanidinobenzoate. 5. It was concluded that acetamidination of beta-trypsin is a convenient method for preparing a well-defined stable and soluble trypsin derivative without appreciable change in its physical properties.     

Studies on the biosynthesis of collagen. I. The growth of fowl osteoblasts and the formation of collagen in tissue culture

1. A tissue culture method was devised in which suspensions of osteoblasts, obtained directly from frontal bones of fowl embryos, were grown in a fluid, fibrin-free medium. 2. Maximum growth of the tissue, as measured by dry weight, with the formation of collagen protein, based on the estimation of hydroxyproline, was obtained in periods of up to 6 days. 3. Appreciable amounts of protein-bound hydroxyproline were formed during the first 24 hour growth period, but electron microscopy of portions of the same cultures failed to demonstrate the presence of any typical collagen fibrils. 4. The subsequent formation of many characteristic collagen fibrils was not associated with a significant rise in the mean hydroxyproline content of the tissue. 5. The cytoplasmic granules of the osteoblasts stained intensely with the P.A.S. technique when the collagen fibrils were being formed. 6. It is suggested that collagen-forming cells synthesise and secrete a hydroxyproline-rich precursor of protein or large peptide nature, which subsequently becomes directly transformed into typical collagen fibrils.     

Studies on the destruction of indole-3-acetic acid by a species of Arthrobacter I. On the induction of the enzyme responsible for the destruction

1. The induction of an IAA-destroying enzyme in Arthrobacter sp.that can utilize IAA as its sole source of carbon and nitrogenwas investigated.
2. 1. The enzyme was most effectively inducedby 10–³ to2x10–³ M IAA, at pH 6.5.
3. 2. All testedIAA analogs were unable to induce the enzyme.Analogs otherthan indole-3-lactic acid were rather inhibitoryon the inductionwith IAA.
4. 3. The induction period was shortened with the ageof culturein both polypeptone and acetate media.
5. 4. Pretreatmentof the bacterium with IAA caused a shorteningof the inductionperiod.
6. 5. The induction was inhibited by various antibiotics,aminoacid analogs and nucleobase analogs.
7. 6. The inductionwas less remarkable in actively proliferatingcells than itwas in slowly proliferating ones.

(Received July 1, 1967; )     

Studies on the amino groups of myosin ATPase. Trinitrophenylation of reactive lysyl residue in ventricular and atrial myosins

Myosin and heavy meromyosin from ventricular, atrial, and skeletal muscle were purified and trinitrophenylated by 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonate. The trinitrophenylation reaction followed a complex kinetics consisting of a fast and slow reaction in all preparations studied. Reactive lysine residues were trinitrophenylated during the fast reaction with a concomitant decrease in K⁺ (EDTA)-activated ATPase and an increase in Mg²⁺-stimulated ATPase activities of myosin. The extent of increase in Mg²⁺-mediated ATPase was the highest with skeletal and the lowest with atrial myosin. The trinitrophenylation of the less reactive lysyl residues continued during the slow reaction. The rate constants of the reactions and the number of reactive lysine residues were evaluated by computer analyses of the trinitrophenylation curves. Two reactive lysine residues were found in skeletal and ventricular myosins while their number in atrial myosin was somewhat lower. The rate of trinitrophenylation in skeletal muscle myosin or heavy meromyosin was always higher than in the two cardiac myosin isozymes. Addition of KCl increased the trinitrophenylation of both highly reactive and slowly reactive lysyl residues in all of the three heavy meromyosins, however, the effect was more profound with cardiac heavy meromyosins. Addition of MgADP induced spectral changes in trinitrophenylated skeletal but not in cardiac myosins. Similar changes occurred in skeletal and to a lesser degree in ventricular heavy meromyosin, but no definite spectral changes were observed in atrial heavy meromyosin. The findings suggest that structural differences exist around the reactive lysyl residue in the head portion of the three myosins.     

A novel superfamily of enzymes that catalyze the modification of guanidino groups

Three enzymes, peptidyl-arginine deiminase from Porphyromonas gingivalis, arginine deiminase and amidinotransferase are traditionally classified separately. By combining PSI-BLAST and FUGUE, data presented in this article describe how these enzymes belong to a novel superfamily, adopting a common fold and sharing similar catalytic mechanisms.     

Variation in proton affinity of the guanidino group between free and blocked arginine

Summary. In this paper, the analog of arginine residues in peptides was synthesized and characterized by ESI-MS/MS (electrospray ionization with tandem mass spectrometry), ³¹P NMR, ¹H NMR, IR and high-resolution mass spectrometry. When the Todd reaction activity of the guanidino group in free arginine and the arginine peptide analog were compared, it was found that the proton affinity of the guanidino group was decreased when both the N- and the C-terminal were blocked. As a result, the guanidino group of arginine residues in peptides could be phosphorylated under the Todd reaction condition, but not the free arginine. This result was further proved by the theoretical calculation of their proton affinity.