Microcomputer analysis of hyperbolic and non-hyperbolic steady-state kinetics

A BASIC computer program has been developed which has been used to show that bovine lens aldose reductase with NADPH as substrate follows a 1:1 function, while rabbit lens hexokinase has a rate equation of minimum degree 2:2, and bovine lens polyol dehydrogenase has a rate equation of minimum degree 1:2 with xylitol as substrate. The parameter estimates obtained are very close to those from the BMDP3R curvefitting program on an ICL 2980 mainframe computer, with identical conclusions as to the minimum degree of the rate equation. The computer program can be run on any microcomputer with high resolution graphics in less than 48 K of random access memory.     

Allosteric repression: An Analysis

A kinetic analysis of repression is presented based on the accepted sequence of molecular events and the assumption that the co-repressor-repressor interaction involves an allosteric transition. This leads to an expression which relates the two experimentally accessible variables—enzyme and signal—when the system is operating in vivo. A suitable plot allows the estimation of a coefficient, h_max, which is related to the number of protomers, n, of the oligomeric repressor protein. This parameter is similar to but distinct from a Hill coefficient for allosteric inhibitions. Two examples from the literature are analysed in terms of the model.     

Position effect and related phenomena.

Position-effect variegation in Drosophila, the mosaic expression of genes juxtaposed to heterochromatin, remains an enigmatic long-range phenomenon. While the chromatin-conformation model has been challenged, compelling contrary evidence is lacking. Nevertheless, progress has been made in the genetic and molecular analysis of genes involved in the process of heterochromatin formation and in the characterization of genetic elements normally located in pericentric heterochromatin. In addition, telomeric position effect in yeast provides a new model system for the study of the quasi-stable inheritance of an inactivated state.     

Forgotten fragile sites and related phenomena

Fragile sites have been recognised since 1965. Extensive molecular characterisation of them has occurred in the last decade. Yet there are a number of interesting phenomena relating to fragile sites and similar lesions on chromosomes that have not been subject to recent published research. The aim of this short review is to stimulate interest in some of these aspects of fragile sites in the hope that a more complete picture of their nature and properties will emerge.     

A minimal model of non-hyperbolic enzyme and receptor kinetics

A simplified version of P.W. Kühl's Recovery Model [Biochem. J. 298 (1994) 171-180] has been developed in which the duration of the recovery phase of receptor or enzyme (macro)molecule was assumed to be a random value distributed exponentially like other model parameters. The model has been shown to retain all the properties of the original Recovery Model except for its ability to yield asymmetric dose-response curves (if plotted in semi-logarithmic scale). Due to its simplicity, the present model is applicable for routine fitting to experimental data. In enzyme kinetics, the model yields a diversity of non-hyperbolic dose-response curves both with higher and lower steepness than that of Henri-type ones. In receptor kinetics, the diversity of dose-response curves is further increased due to virtually no restraints being imposed on the efficacies of any state of the macromolecule.     

Modeling trap-awareness and related phenomena in capture-recapture studies

Trap-awareness and related phenomena whereby successive capture events are not independent is a feature of the majority of capture-recapture studies. This phenomenon was up to now difficult to incorporate in open population models and most authors have chosen to neglect it although this may have damaging consequences. Focusing on the situation where animals exhibit a trap response at the occasion immediately following one where they have been trapped but revert to their original naïve state if they are missed once, we show that trap-dependence is more naturally viewed as a state transition and is amenable to the current models of capture-recapture. This approach has the potential to accommodate lasting or progressively waning trap effects.     

Allosteric and catalytic functions of the PPi-binding motif in the ATP sulfurylase-GTPase system

ATP sulfurylase, from Escherichia coli K-12, catalyzes and couples the Gibbs potentials of two reactions, GTP hydrolysis and activated sulfate (APS, adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate) synthesis. Coupling these potentials requires that the catalytic cycle include reaction stage-dependent conformational changes that gate the activities of the two active sites. These interactions were probed in a mutagenesis study of a highly conserved pyrophosphate-binding motif (SXGXDS), which is located at the APS-forming active site. The motif appears to be unique to the N-type PPi synthetase family, and mutations in it are linked, in other systems, to citrullinemia, an often fatal orphan disease. The conserved sites in the motif were evaluated individually for their ability to activate GTP hydrolysis (which reports interactions among the activator (AMP or Mg2+.PPi), the enzyme, and GTP), to affect the energetic coupling of the two reactions, and to alter the kinetic constants of the adenylyl transfer reaction in the absence of guanine nucleotide. What emerges from this first mutagenic exploration of the PPi motif in any adenylyltransferase is that the residues of the motif participate differently, and in sometimes profoundly important ways, in the different functions of the enzyme.     

Allosteric regulation of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels: An emerging mechanistic perspective

Pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) play a central role in intercellular communications in the nervous system by converting the binding of a chemical messenger—a neurotransmitter—into an ion flux through the postsynaptic membrane. They are oligomeric assemblies that provide prototypical examples of allosterically regulated integral membrane proteins. Here, we present an overview of the most recent advances on the signal transduction mechanism based on the X-ray structures of both prokaryotic and invertebrate eukaryotic pLGICs and on atomistic Molecular Dynamics simulations. The present results suggest that ion gating involves a large structural reorganization of the molecule mediated by two distinct quaternary transitions, a global twisting and the blooming of the extracellular domain, which can be modulated by ligand binding at the topographically distinct orthosteric and allosteric sites. The emerging model of gating is consistent with a wealth of functional studies and will boost the development of novel pharmacological strategies.