Two-dimensional separation of phosphoamino acids from nucleoside monophosphates

A comparative analysis of the migration of phosphoamino acids and nucleoside monophosphates in three different two-dimensional systems is presented. The three phosphoamino acids studied are phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and phosphotyrosine, which are the residues most commonly occurring in proteins phosphorylated by protein kinases. Their migration properties have been compared to those of UMP, AMP, CMP, GMP, and TMP, which are the basic components of nucleic acids. Special attention has been paid to the behavior of UMP, which has previously been reported to often co-migrate with phosphoamino acids. Also, the migration of inorganic orthophosphate and ribose monophosphate, which are frequently present in samples derived from macromolecule hydrolysis, has been analyzed. The following separating systems have been used: double chromatography, electrophoresis followed by chromatography, and double electrophoresis. The latter is shown to have the best resolving power and to be the most convenient system.     

Separation and quantitative analysis of O-linked phosphoamino acids by isocratic high-performance liquid chromatography of the 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate derivatives

Phosphoamino acids derivatized with 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate were separated on an anion-exchange column (Partisil 10 SAX) at pH 3.90 using an isocratic elution with 10.0 mM potassium phosphate, 1.0% tetrahydrofuran, and 55% methanol. Phosphoamino acids were eluted with baseline resolution in the following order: phosphotyrosine, phosphothreonine, and phosphoserine. Each phosphoamino acid was separated from its parent amino acid, dicarboxylic amino acids, sugaramine phosphates, as well as the other common amino acids. The turn-around time from injection to injection was 35 min. The linearity for all three O-linked phosphoamino acids extended from 0.5-1000 pmol and has been shown to be directly applicable to the analysis of isolated phosphoproteins.     

Acid and base hydrolysis of phosphoproteins bound to immobilon facilitates analysis of phosphoamino acids in gel-fractionated proteins

Immobilon, a membrane of polyvinylidene difluoride to which gel-fractionated proteins can be transferred electrophoretically, was found to be an excellent matrix for the analysis of the phosphoamino acid content of phosphoproteins. Hydrolysis of 32P-labeled proteins bound to Immobilon with 5.7 N HCl resulted in the release of 90% of the 32P in the form of Pi, phosphoamino acids, and phosphopeptides. Two-dimensional electrophoretic analysis of the released phosphoamino acids yielded undistorted patterns. Because direct hydrolysis of proteins transferred to Immobilon eliminated the need for both preparative extraction of proteins from a gel and recovery by precipitation, analysis was rapid and yields of phosphoamino acids were extremely consistent. The yield of phosphoamino acids from proteins bound to Immobilon, unlike that from proteins eluted from gels, was independent of the size of the protein. The detection of 32P-labeled, phosphotyrosine-containing proteins in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels has been shown to be substantially improved by incubation of the gel in 1.0 N KOH for 2 h at 55 degrees C. Base hydrolysis of proteins bound to Immobilon proved to be faster and more sensitive than hydrolysis of proteins in gels. Less than 10% of bound protein was lost from Immobilon during the 2-h incubation at 55 degrees C in 1.0 N KOH. The autoradiographic image after alkaline hydrolysis of proteins on Immobilon was sharper than that obtained after hydrolysis of proteins in the gel. In addition, unlike base-treated gels, the dimensions of the Immobilon filter were unaffected by treatment with base.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Focus on phosphoaspartate and phosphoglutamate

Protein phosphorylation is a common signalling mechanism in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Whilst the focus of protein phosphorylation research has primarily been on protein serine/threonine or tyrosine phosphorylation, there are other phosphoamino acids that are also biologically important. Two of the phosphoamino acids that are functionally involved in the biochemistry of protein phosphorylation and signalling pathways are phosphoaspartate and phosphoglutamate, and this review focuses on their chemistry and biochemistry. In particular, we cover the biological aspects of phosphoaspartate and phosphoglutamate in signalling pathways and as phosphoenzyme intermediates. In addition, we examine the synthesis of both of these phosphoamino acids and the chemistry of the acyl phosphate group. Although phosphoaspartate is a major component of prokaryotic two-component signalling pathways, this review casts its net wider to include reports of phosphoaspartate in eukaryotic cells. Reports of phosphoglutamate, although limited, appear to be more common as free phosphoglutamate than those found in phosphoprotein form.     

Isolation of phosphoproteins by immobilized metal (Fe3+) affinity chromatography

Phosphoproteins and phosphoamino acids bind to ferric ions immobilized on iminodiacetate-agarose gel and can be eluted by increasing pH or by introducing phosphate ions to the eluant. Some other metals were found to resemble iron with regard to the interaction with protein-bound phosphate and phosphoamino acids. These observations were utilized to develop purification procedures for phosphoproteins. Hen egg albumin (ovalbumin) was fractionated into three components of varying phosphate contents. Porcine pepsin was purified in a similar manner.     

Rapid separation of phosphoamino acids including the phosphohistidines by isocratic high-performance liquid chromatography of the orthophthalaldehyde derivatives

Amino acids were derivatized with orthophthalaldehyde and separated by high-performance liquid chromatography on a polymer-based reverse-phase column (Hamilton PRP-1) at pH 7.2 using isocratic elution with 14.3 mM sodium phosphate, 1.1% tetrahydrofuran, 6.6% acetonitrile. Phosphorylated amino acids were eluted with baseline resolution in the following order: 1-phosphohistidine, phosphoserine, 3-phosphohistidine, phosphotyrosine, phosphothreonine, and phosphoarginine. Each of the phosphoamino acids was separated from its parent amino acid but aspartate and glutamate eluted in the same region as the phosphoamino acids. The sensitivity is in the picomole range and the separation time, injection to injection, is 15 min. The linearity for phosphothreonine extends at least from 30 pmol to 30 nmol. Quantitation by radioactivity is good for each of the phosphoamino acids except in the case of [1-32P]phosphohistidine, which coelutes with inorganic phosphate.     

Suppressive role of endogenous regucalcin in the regulation of protein phosphatase activity in rat renal cortex cytosol

The role of endogenous regucalcin, which is a regulatory protein of calcium signaling, in the regulation of protein phosphatase activity in the cytosol of rat renal cortex was investigated. Protein phosphatase activity toward phosphotyrosine, phosphoserine, and phosphothreonine was found in the cytosol of kidney cortex. The addition of regucalcin (50-250 nM) in the enzyme reaction mixture caused a significant decrease in protein phosphatase activity toward three phosphoamino acids. The effect of calcium (25 microM) and calmodulin (2.5 microg/ml) in increasing protein phosphatase activity toward three phosphoamino acids was significantly decreased by the addition of regucalcin (100 nM). Protein phosphatase activity toward three phosphoamino acids was significantly increased in the presence of anti-regucalcin monoclonal antibody (10-50 ng/ml) in the enzyme reaction mixture. The effect of antibody (25 ng/ml) in increasing the enzyme activity was significantly inhibited by cyclosporin A (10(-5) M) or vanadate (10(-5) M). Regucalcin in the kidney cortex cytosol was clearly decreased by the administration of saline (0.9% NaCl) for seven days in rats. Protein phosphatase activity toward three phosphoamino acids was significantly decreased by saline administration. The effect of anti-regucalcin antibody (25 ng/ml) in increasing protein phosphatase activity toward three phosphoamino acids was not seen in the renal cortex cytocol of saline-administered rats. The present study demonstrates that endogenous regucalcin plays a suppressive role in the regulation of protein phosphatase activity in the cytoplasm of rat kidney cortex.     

Synthesis of fluorine-containing bioisosteres corresponding to phosphoamino acids and dipeptide units

It has been shown that fluorinated analogues of naturally occurring biological active compounds including amino acids often exhibit unique physiological activity. Among wide varieties of fluorine-containing amino acids, nonhydrolyzable phosphoamino acids possessing a substituent of the difluoromethylene (CF(2)) unit for the phosphoryl ester oxygen are of value in the medicinal and biological fields. We have engaged in the synthesis of these classes of nonhydrolyzable phosphoamino acids corresponding to pTyr 3, pSer 4, and pThr 5 with their incorporation into peptides using newly developed deprotecting procedures. In this article, stereoselective synthesis of the CF(2)-substituted pThr mimetics and development of a two-step deprotecting methodology for the nonhydrolyzable analogues are reviewed. In the course of the above synthetic study, we found that gamma,gamma-difluoro-alpha,beta-enoates were reduced to gamma-fluoro-beta,gamma-enoates by organocopper reagents and then applied to the synthesis of (Z)-fluoroalkene dipeptide isosteres, which have served as potential dipeptide mimetics having structural as well as electrostatic similarity to the parent peptide bonds. Furthermore, mechanistic investigation of the organocopper-mediated reduction led us to development of a SmI(2)-mediated approach toward the synthesis of the fluoroalkene isosteres.     

An alternative method for a fast separation of phosphotyrosine.

A simple and rapid procedure is described for fully separating phosphotyrosine from phosphoserine and phosphothreonine through one-dimensional thin-layer chromatography. The migration properties of these phosphoamino acids are compared with those of CMP, UMP, ATP, ribose phosphate, and inorganic orthophosphate, considered the most frequent comigrating products derived from 32P-labeling experiments. We demonstrate that Rf values for the three phosphoamino acids differ from those displayed by the mentioned contaminating compounds. One of the most relevant advantages of this procedure is that a complete separation of phosphotyrosine can be achieved in only 90 min.     

Measurement of picomoles of phosphoamino acids by high-performance liquid chromatography.

A reverse-phase, high-performance liquid chromatographic system (HPLC) is described that makes possible optimal resolution and quantitation of picomole levels of phosphoamino acids, both with or without the presence of a large excess of nonphosphorylated amino acids. The assay involves precolumn derivatization of an amino acid mixture with phenyl isothiocyanate (PITC) at room temperature, followed by separation of phosphoamino acids from other amino acids by HPLC. The liquid chromatography was carried out on a C18 reverse-phase column at pH 7.4 and 30 degrees C using gradient elution with eluent A as 157 mM sodium acetate containing 2% acetonitrile and eluent B as 60% acetonitrile in water. A uv absorption at 254 nm is employed for detection of the PITC-derivatized amino acids eluting from the column. Amino acids are eluted with baseline resolution in the following order: phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, and phosphotyrosine followed by other amino acids. The sensitivity is in the picomole range, and the separation time, injection to injection, is 36 min. Phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and phosphotyrosine are resolved within the first 8 min. This procedure enables determination of as low as 5 pmol of nonradioactive phosphoamino acids in a 100-fold excess of amino acids, as is usually present in most phosphoproteins in the natural state. Phosphoamino acids in polypeptides separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis and transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane, or protein samples directly blotted on the membrane, can also be analyzed by this procedure after acid hydrolysis of the proteins bound to the PVDF membrane.     

Streptococcal erythrogenic toxin type C is not a phosphorylated protein. Description of two different purification procedures and investigation of its phosphorylation state

Abstract Erythrogenic toxin type C (ETC) from different streptococcal group A strains was successively purified by absorption on phenylsepharose, acidic dialysis of the eluate at 40% saturated ammonium sulphate solution, CM-Sepharose chromatography, finally by immunoaffinity chromatography on monoclonal antibodies. Second, after growing of bacteria in the presence of [³²P]orthophosphate to phosphorylate ETC, the ETC was purified with phenylsepharose following immunoaffinity chromatography. The occurrence of phosphoamino acids in the purified ETC was investigated by an immunoassay. No phosphoamino acids could be detected in the ETC molecule. Also after radiolabelling with ³²P it was not possible to demonstrate a radioactive signal. The treatment with alkaline phosphatase has no influence on the mitogenicity or position of ETC in isoelectric focusing. The results obtained led to the conclusion that in contrast to the literature, ETC is not a phosphorylated protein.     

Phosphoproteins and the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system of Streptococcus salivarius. Detection of two different ATP-dependent phosphorylations of the phosphocarrier protein HPr

Phosphoproteins which arise from incubation of Streptococcus salivarius ATCC25975 crude extracts with [32P]phosphoenolpyruvate and [gamma-32P]ATP, were separated and detected by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. These procedures were carried out using the methodology that has been developed to allow for the detection of phosphoproteins containing 1-P-histidinyl and 3-P-histidinyl residues, and also to distinguish between these and phosphoproteins containing acid-stable phosphoamino acids such as phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and phosphotyrosine. Extracts of cells which had been grown with various sugars as carbon sources were investigated to determine both constitutive and inducible phosphoproteins. No evidence was found for phosphoproteins specifically induced by a sugar, and in particular no evidence was found for any IIIsugar phosphocarrier protein of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS). Incubation with [gamma-32P]ATP showed that histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein (HPr) of the PTS could be phosphorylated to give both acid-stable and acid-labile phosphoamino acid residues. The acid-labile ATP-dependent phosphorylation activity was activated by glucose-6-P and appeared to produce a 3-P-histidinyl residue in HPr.     

Inhibitory effect of regucalcin on protein phosphatase activity in the nuclei of rat kidney cortex

The role of regucalcin, which is a regulatory protein of calcium signaling, in the regulation of protein phosphatase activity in the nuclei of rat kidney cortex was investigated. Protein phosphatase activity towards phosphotyrosine, phosphoserine, and phosphothreonine was found in the nuclei. The enzyme activity towards three phosphoamino acids was significantly increased by the addition of calcium chloride (10-50 microM) in the enzyme reaction mixture. This increase was significantly inhibited by trifluoperazine (25 or 50 microM), an antagonist of calmodulin. The presence of regucalcin (50 or 100 nM) in the enzyme reaction mixture caused a significant decrease in protein phosphatase activity towards three phosphoamino acids. This effect was also seen in the presence of calcium (25 microM) and/or calmodulin (5 microg/ml). Protein phosphatase activity towards three phosphoamino acids was significantly increased in the presence of anti-regucalcin monoclonal antibody (25 or 50 ng/ml) in the enzyme reaction mixture. This effect was completely blocked by the addition of regucalcin (100 nM). The effect of antibody (25 ng/ml) in increasing protein phosphatase activity towards phosphotyrosine was significantly inhibited by vanadate (10(-4) M). Also, the antibody's effect towards phosphoserine and phosphothreonine was significantly inhibited by cyclosporin A (10(-5) M). Endogenous regucalcin was found in the nuclei of rat kidney cortex using Western blot analysis. Nuclear regucalcin level was significantly reduced by the administration of saline (0.9% NaCl) for seven days in rats. Protein phosphatase activity towards three phosphoamino acids was significantly decreased by saline administration. The effect of anti-regucalcin monoclonal antibody (25 ng/ml) in increasing protein phosphatase activity towards three phosphoamino acids was weakened in the renal cortex nuclei of saline-administrated rats. The present study demonstrates that endogenous regucalcin plays a suppressive role in the regulation of protein phosphatase activity in the nuclei of rat kidney cortex cells.     

Prebiotic phosphate: a problem insoluble in water ? ]

It is well-known that in water phosphate readily reacts with calcium, precipitating as insoluble apatite. How phosphorus could have been available for prebiotic reactions is still an open problem. We suggest that phosphorus-containing compounds might have accumulated in a hydrophobic medium, since the absence of calcium ions would have prevented them from precipitating as apatite. Hydrophobic compounds may have been synthesized on the early Earth through the polymerization of methane or through Fischer-Tropsch-type reactions. Moreover, hydrophobic compounds would have been delivered to the early Earth by extraterrestrial infall. In previous articles (Morchio and Traverso [1999], Morchio et al. [2001]) we suggested that such hydrophobic material would have formed a hydrophobic layer on the surface of the sea, which would have provided an environment thermodynamically more suitable than water for the concentration and polymerization of organic molecules fundamental to life, particularly amino acids and (pyrimidine) bases. It may be hypothesized that elemental phosphorus or phosphorus-containing compounds (such as phosphite) deriving from volcanic eruptions would have ended up raining down into the hydrophobic layer, accumulating due to the absence of calcium ions, in an environment protected against hydrolysis. Phosphorus-containing compounds might have interacted with hydrophobic molecules in the layer giving rise to polymers. In particular, phosphite might have reacted with the hydrophobic amino acids, giving rise to phosphoamino acids, which, in turn, might have interacted with pyrimidine bases (relatively abundant in the layer) giving rise to peptides and oligonucleotide-like polymers. Indeed, it has been experimentally shown (Zhou et al. [1996]) that, in an anhydrous organic medium (pyridine), dialkilphosphite reacts with amino acids to form phosphoamino acids, which interact with pyrimidine nucleosides to give nucleotides, short oligonucleotides and phosphoryl peptides.     

Capillary electrophoresis of phosphorylated amino acids with fluorescence detection

A rapid and sensitive capillary electrophoresis (CE) method coupled with fluorescence detection was developed for identification of protein phosphorylation by determination of phosphoamino acids. Naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde (NDA), a fluorescence derivatization reagent, was used to label protein hydrolysate. The optimal derivatization reaction was performed with 3.5mM NDA, 40 mM NaCN and 20mM borate buffer (pH 10.0) for 15 min. The baseline separation of three phosphorylated amino acids could be obtained in less than 180 s with good repeatability by using 30 mM borate (pH 9.2) containing 2.0mM beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) as the running buffer. The detection limits for phosphothreonine, phosphotyrosine and phosphoserine were 7.0 x 10(-9)M, 5.6 x 10(-9)M and 7.2 x 10(-9)M, respectively (S/N=3). Also, the interference from other protein amino acids with large molar excess over that of phosphoamino acids was studied. With beta-casein as the analysis protein, this method was successfully validated.     

Influence of the polymeric morphology of sorbents on their properties in affinity chromatography.

The influence of the polymeric morphology of different types of Fe(3+)-containing sorbents and their properties in retention of phosphoamino acids is presented in this paper. Poly(hydroxylated polybutadienic-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) [poly(PB-HEMA)] and poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) [poly(EGDMA-HEMA)] base supports were submitted to chemical modifications to attain metal ion-containing sorbents. Properties such as specific surface area, pore volume, equilibrium volume swelling ratios, extent of conversion rate of functional groups, amount of chelated metal ion, ligand occupation, as well as quantity of phosphoamino acid retained, were used as comparative parameters for those different base matrices. Results suggest that Fe(3+) immobilized on poly(EGDMA-HEMA) base support are more efficient as a group-specific sorbent to retain phosphoamino acids than those obtained using poly(PB-HEMA) base support.     

Phosphorylation of tyrosine in cultured human placenta

The [³²P]phosphoamino acids in proteins of first-trimester and term-cultured human placentas have been separated and their relative amounts have been measured. Significant phosphorylation of tyrosine residues could be detected in the cultured placental tissue at different stages of gestation. The phosphotyrosine accounts for 2–4% of the total acid-stable phosphate in the phosphoamino acids after partial acid hydrolysis. The difference in the extent of [³²P]tyrosine in various placentas seems to be a function of biological variation of the individual placentas, rather than a function of placental age and stage of gestation. In contrast, a significant difference in the phosphorylation ratio of serine and threonine could be measured between first-trimester and term placentas. As more evidence is accumulating that protein phosphorylation of tyrosine is involved in the processes of cellular growth and proliferation, our findings of the relatively high tyrosine phosphorylation in human placenta strongly suggest that this type of protein phosphorylation may play an important role in the placental growth and development. Furthermore, these findings may correlate with the existence of the endogenous RNA virus-like particles found in normal human placenta.     

Molecular heterogeneity of creatine kinase isoenzymes

The [32P]phosphoamino acids in proteins of first trimester and term-cultured human placentas have been separated and their relative amounts were measured. A significant phosphorylation of tyrosine residues could be detected in the cultured placental tissue at different stages of gestation. The phosphotyrosine accounts for 2-4% of the total acid-stable phosphate in the phosphoamino acids after partial acid hydrolysis. The difference in the extent of [32P]tyrosine in various placentas seems to be a function of biological variation of the individual placentas, rather than a function of placental age and stage of gestation. In contrast, a significant difference in the phosphorylation ratio of serine and threonine could be measured between first trimester and term placentas. As more evidence is accumulating that protein phosphorylation of tyrosine is involved in the processes of cellular growth and proliferation, our findings of the relatively high tyrosine phosphorylation in human placenta strongly suggest that this type of protein phosphorylation may play an important role in the placental growth and development. Furthermore, these findings may correlate with the existence of the endogenous RNA virus-like particles found in normal human placenta.     

Phosphorylation of tyrosine in cultured human placenta

The [³²P]phosphoamino acids in proteins of first trimester and term-cultured human placentas have been separated and their relative amounts were measured. A significant phosphorylation of tyrosine residues could be detected in the cultured placental tissue at different stages of gestation. The phosphotyrosine accounts for 2–4% of the total acid-stable phosphate in the phosphoamino acids after partial acid hydrolysis. The difference in the extent of [³²P]tyrosine in various placentas seems to be a function of biological variation of the individual placentas, rather than a function of placental age and stage of gestation. In contrast, a significant difference in the phosphorylation ratio of serine and threonine could be measured between first trimester and term placentas. As more evidence is accumulating that protein phosphorylation of tyrosine is involved in the processes of cellular growth and proliferation, our findings of the relatively high tyrosine phosphorylation in human placenta strongly suggest that this type of protein phosphorylation may play an important role in the placental growth and development. Furthermore, these findings may correlate with the existence of the endogenous RNA virus-like particles found in normal human placenta.     

Phosphorylation of histidine in proteins by a nuclear extract of Physarum polycephalum plasmodia

A high salt nuclear extract from the true slime mold Physarum polycephalum was used as a source of kinase activity for the incubation of calf thymus histones with [gamma-32P]ATP. A major proportion of the 32P incorporated into histones was acid-labile and alkali-stable. The nature of the alkali-stable phosphorylated component was analyzed by subjecting the phosphorylated protein to total alkaline hydrolysis and separating the resultant phosphoamino acids by anion exchange chromatography. The 32P-labeled material co-chromatographed with phosphohistidine standards and did not co-chromatograph with phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, or phosphotyrosine standards. In similar experiments using reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography to separate the phosphoamino acids, the 32P-labeled phosphoamino acid behaved like the 1-isomer of phosphohistidine, in not being retained by the column, and unlike 3-phosphohistidine, phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, phosphotyrosine, and phosphoarginine, which were all retained on the column. Histone H4 was a good substrate for the histidine kinase activity and the location of the phosphorylated histidine residue was probed by peptide mapping using chymotrypsin or V8 protease. Both maps were consistent with labeling of histidine 75 and inconsistent with labeling of histidine 18. The data show that Physarum nuclei contain a major kinase activity which produces phosphohistidine. The methods we have developed for studying this kinase activity provide the basis for a complete characterization of the structure and function of the Physarum enzyme and can be applied to the study of similar kinase activities in other systems.