Synthesis and characterization of soluble concanavalin A oligomer

Concanavalin A, (Con A, MW 26,500/monomer unit) was crosslinked with glutaraldehyde to form soluble, high-molecular-weight (larger than MW 300,000) Con A Oligomers. After filtration to remove insoluble and low-molecular-weight portions (below 300,000 daltons), the size and molecular-weight distribution were characterized by laser light scattering and gel-filtration chromatography. The molecular-size determined by laser light scattering ranged from 870 to 4070 A, while the molecular weight determined by gel chromatography ranged from 6 x 10(5) to higher than 2 x 10(6) daltons. The affinity and kinetics of Con A oligomer binding to polysaccharide (glycogen) were evaluated by precipitation test and turbidity development, respectively. The binding with glycogen was strongest at neutral pH and showed similar activity to unmodified Con A molecules. The binding constants of alpha-D-glucose and succinyl-aminophenyl alpha-D glucopyranoside-insulin to Con A oligomer were 1.0 x 10(3)M(-1) and 4.5 x 10(4)M(-1), respectively and the binding capacity of the oligomer was nearly 85% to 95% of monomeric Con A. The complexes of saccharides and soluble Con A oligomer were stable for at least 7 days. (c) 1993 Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Protective somatic antigen of Corynebacterium diphtheriae

Deoxycholate C. diphtheriae extract was separated into fractions differing in the size of their molecules. Correlation between the molecular weight of each fraction, its specific protein content and its immunogenicity was observed. The high-molecular fraction (mol. wt. exceeding 300,000 daltons) was shown to be the protective somatic antigen of C. diphtheriae.     

Phenol addition to the Bradford dye binding assay improves sensitivity and gives a characteristic response with different proteins

Phenol has been added to the Coomassie Brilliant Blue G-250 dye reagent used in the standard Bradford protein assay and its effect upon the reagent blank and assay response of fourteen proteins investigated. Phenol can enhance or impair colour yield depending upon its concentration and the amount and type of protein assayed. Four characteristic protein responses to increasing assay concentrations of phenol have been observed. These indicate a complex influence of phenol upon the protein assay. Dye reagent containing 0.5% phenol gave optimal colour yield with most of the proteins investigated and an improved assay response of ovalbumin, ribonuclease, lysozyme, insulin, pepsin and chymotrypsinogen-A relative to bovine albumin.     

Glycogen as Primordial Carbon Reserve and α-Glucosidase in the Genera Lynghya-Phormidium-Plectonema,Thermophilic Cyanobacteria

This work was done to characterize the structure of a photosynthetic polysaccharide and its metabolizing enzymes in cyanobacteria, which represent a link between bacteria and green plants in evolutionary terms. Filamentous cyanobacteria, occurring in an alkaline hot spring (45–50^oC, pH 8.5–9.0) in Kagoshima Prefecture, were morphologically classified in the genera Lyngbya-Phormidium-Plectonema (LPP). We found a thermostable neutral (α-glucosidase with optimum pH 6.5 in the LPP. A polysaccharide isolated from the TCA-soluble fraction of the LPP was characterized as glycogen that resembled animal glycogen in structure. We also recognized the presence of the TCA-insoluble glycogen at 32–38% of the total amount of glycogen, most of which was bound non-covalently to protein and had a similar iodine absorption spectrum to that of the TCA-soluble glycogen.     

Biosynthesis of glycogen in Neurospora crassa. Existence of a glucoproteic intermediate in the initiation process.

A soluble enzyme preparation (20,000 X g supernatant fraction), prepared from the mycelia of wild-type Neurospora crassa, was capable of transferring [14C]glucose from UDP-[14C]glucose into both trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-soluble and TCA-insoluble macromolecule products in the absence of added primer. These reactions did not require either high concentrations of salts or any other chemical reagents. Two labeled products were formed; one was a glycogen-like polysaccharide and the other was a glycoprotein with glucosyl chains bound to protein through an acid-labile bond. After mild treatment of the glucoprotein with acid, the product liberated from the protein behaved as a mixture of malto-oligosaccharides and alpha-1,4-glucan with branches. The carbohydrate moiety of the glucoprotein seemed to be released upon prolonged incubation with the enzyme preparation. The glucan thus liberated from the glucoprotein may serve as a primer for the glycogen synthase. The results obtained are therefore suggestive of the existence of a glucoproteic intermediate in the initiation of glycogen biosynthesis.     

A prelysosomal compartment sequesters membrane-impermeant fluorescent dyes from the cytoplasmic matrix of J774 macrophages

After the membrane impermeant dye Lucifer Yellow is introduced into the cytoplasmic matrix of J774 cells, the dye is sequestered within cytoplasmic vacuoles and secreted into the extracellular medium. In the present work we studied the intracellular transport of Lucifer Yellow in J774 macrophages and the nature of the cytoplasmic vacuoles into which this dye is sequestered. When the lysosomal system of J774 cells was prelabeled with a Texas red ovalbumin conjugate and Lucifer Yellow was then loaded into the cytoplasm of the cells by ATP-mediated permeabilization of the plasma membrane, the vacuoles that sequestered Lucifer Yellow 30 min later were distinct from the Texas red-stained lysosomes. After an additional 30 min Lucifer Yellow and Texas red colocalized in the same membrane bound compartments, indicating that the Lucifer Yellow had been delivered to lysosomes. We next prelabeled the plasma membrane of J774 cells with anti-macrophage antibody and Texas red protein A before Lucifer Yellow was loaded into the cells. The phase-lucent vacuoles that subsequently sequestered Lucifer Yellow also stained with Texas red, showing that they were part of the endocytic pathway. J774 cells were fractionated on percoll density gradients either 15 or 60 min after Lucifer Yellow was introduced into the cytoplasmic matrix of the cells. In cells fractionated after 15 min, Lucifer Yellow was contained within the fractions of light buoyant density that contain plasma membrane and endosomes; the dye later appeared in vesicles of higher density which contained lysosomes. Secretion of Lucifer Yellow from the cytoplasmic matrix of J774 cells is inhibited by the organic anion transport blocker probenecid. We found that probenecid also reversibly inhibited sequestration of dye, indicating that sequestration of dye within cytoplasmic vacuoles was also mediated by organic anion transporters. These studies show that the vacuoles that sequester Lucifer Yellow from the cytoplasmic matrix of J774 cells possess the attributes of endosomes. Thus, in addition to their role in sorting of membrane bound and soluble substances, macrophage endosomes may play a role in the accumulation and transport of molecules resident in the soluble cytoplasm.     

Glycogen synthesis in the obliquely striated muscle of Ascaris suum

A glycogen synthase, designated GS II, which occurs in a protein/carbohydrate complex has been purified from Ascaris suum muscle. The purified GS-II complex which is eluted from concanavalin-A--Sepharose contains proteins with Mr 140,000 and 66,000 and a glycoprotein with a carbohydrate/protein mass ratio of 3:1. GS II activity was totally dependent on glucose 6-phosphate, but exogenous glycogen was not required for polysaccharide synthesis. The GS-II complex was not phosphorylated by cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinase, and antibodies to the protein and carbohydrate components of GS II did not cross react with the purified cyclic-AMP-regulated glycogen synthase (GS I) from A. suum muscle. Polysaccharide which was synthesized de novo by the complex was added to the large-molecular-mass glycoprotein in GS II. The glycogen-like character of the newly synthesized polysaccharide was confirmed by the observation that glycogen phosphorylase utilized the polymer as substrate in both the synthesis and degradation reactions. A model is discussed in which a core glycoprotein serves as the substrate for a glycogen synthase which is distinctly different from GS I.     

Molecular and metabolic heterogeneity of liver glycogen

On refeeding after starvation, the resynthesis of rabbit-liver glycogen proceeds inhomogeneously and over-produces material of low molecular weight. The fate of radioactivity incorporated into glycogen from d-glucose-¹⁴C can be explained if glycogen of high molecular weight is synthesised on a protein backbone. Confirmation of this view is given by the effect upon glycogen of reagents that break disulphide bonds; these cause loss of the polysaccharide of high molecular weight. Buoyant densities of glycogens are found to be independent of molecular weight and even of extensive degradation. It is concluded that glycogen synthesis proceeds by two routes; one results in the production of polysaccharide of high molecular weight which has a protein backbone capable of forming disulphide bonds, and another results in the production of polysaccharide of low molecular weight which has either no protein backbone or a protein backbone that is incapable of forming disulphide bridges. Apart from size, the two species are physicochemically indistinguishable.     

Subcellular distributions of UDP-galactose: Polysaccharide transferase and UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase involved in biosynthesis of prespore-specific acid mucopolsaccharide in Dictyostelium discoideum

During the development of a cell aggregate of Dictystelium discoideum into a fruiting body, an antigenic acid mucopolysaccharide is synthesized only in the prespore cells of a cell mass. In this study, the subcellular distributions of UCPgalactose: polysaccharide transferase and UDPglucose pyrophosphorylase involved in biosynthesis of the mucopolysaccharide were determined. The transferase was specifically localized in the smaller vesicles with lighter density than the prespore-specific vacuoles identifiable electronmicroscopically. In contrast to the enzyme, the antigenic mucopolysaccharide was exclusively localized in the prespore-specific vacuoles. Unlike the transferase, UDPglucose pyrophosphorylase was confined to the soluble fraction. The sucrose gradient profiles of the transferase activity in the 5000 × g supernatant gave two main peaks. When the profiles were compared among standing and migrating slugs and culminating cell mass, the difference in the profiles closely reflected the state of biosynthesis of the acid mucopolysaccharide in eac developmental stage.     

Two pools of glycogen in Saccharomyces.

The effect of different extraction procedures on the yields of water-soluble and water-insoluble glycogen fractions from a number of Saccharomyces strains was studied by using a specific method for glycogen determination. The similarity of the yields obtained by the different procedures showed that neither form of glycogen is an artifact, and variations in the relative amounts of glycogen in the two fractions during cell growth and in different yeast strains suggest that they represent different pools of storage material with specific roles in cell development and differentiation. A proportion of the water-insoluble glycogen fraction, solubilized by mechanical agitation, was shown to be strongly associated with a beta-glucan-like polysaccharide that may be a cell wall component.     

Intestinal Peyer’s patch-immunomodulating glucomannans from rhizomes of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge

During screening for intestinal Peyer’s patch-immunomodulating polysaccharides from plant resources including medicinal herbs, a potent modulating activity was observed in a crude polysaccharide fraction (AS-1) from the rhizome of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge. Oral administration of AS-1 (100 mg/kg/day) to aged BALB/c mice enhanced productions of IL-10, IFN-γ and IL-6 from Peyer’s patch immunocompetent cells, and its oral administration to ovalbumin (OVA)-fed B10.A mice led to significant suppression on induction of OVA-specific IgE in systemic immune system. Further fractionation of the polysaccharides in the crude polysaccharide fraction, AS-1, yielded 4 polysaccharide fractions that were potently active, and contained glucomannans. Treatment of these polysaccharide fractions with endo-β-d-(1 → 4)-mannanase significantly decreased their activities. Mannanase digestion of the active glucomannan gave both long and short hexosyl-oligosaccharides, whereas konjac glucomannan, which was inactive, released short oligosaccharides. Structural analysis indicates that the long oligosaccharides from the active glucomannan contain mannanase-resistant complex structure comprising β-d-Man and β-d-Glc.     

The Effect of Methyl Glyoxal on Growth and Cell Division of Chlamydomonas reinhardii

Methyl glyoxal, at concentrations of 1.0–2.0 mM, inhibits growth of the green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardii. The photosynthetic assimilation of carbon dioxide is also inhibited by the glyoxal. At the lower concentrations (less than 1.0–1.5 mM) protein synthesis Is inhibited, whereas polysaccharide synthesis and assimilation of carbon dioxide into the alcohol–soluble fraction is stimulated; at higher concentrations fl.5–2.5 mM) these latter two processes are also inhibited. Cell division in synchonized cultures of the alga is more sensitive to methyl glyoxal when it is added at the start of the growth cycle than when added late in the growth cycle. However, when added late in the growth cycle, methyl glyoxal delays the onset of cell division by 2 hours. No such delay occurs when cycloheximide is added 4–6 hours before division.     

Target size of 5'-nucleotidase in smooth muscle

Target size of the 5'-nucleotidase in six different smooth muscles was determined by radiation inactivation. The enzyme in the soluble fraction of rat myometrium and vas deferens gave a target size of approximately 80,000 daltons. The plasma membrane bound 5'-nucleotidase however, gave target size of 80,000 to 110,000 daltons in rat gastric fundus and vas deferens and dog stomach and ileum, 135,000 daltons in rat mesenteric artery and 210,000 daltons in rat myometrium.     

DEGRADATION OF THE CELL-WALL POLYSACCHARIDE OF PORPHYRIDIUM SP. (RHODOPHYTA) BY MEANS OF ENZYMATIC ACTIVITY OF ITS PREDATOR,GYMNODINIUM SP. (PYRROPHYTA)1

The dinoflagellate Gymnodinium sp., which preys specifically on cells of the red microalga Porphyridium sp., possesses enzymes that degrade exocellular polysaccharides of the Porphyridium sp. A crude extract of Gymnodinium sp. was applied to this polysaccharide, and the degradation products were characterized by charge and size separations. Charge separation revealed the presence of a fraction that was not found in the native polysaccharide. This fraction, which was eluted from an anion-exchange resin with water alone, was composed mostly of glucose and xylose (in a 1:1 weight ratio). Size separation of the degradation products revealed three fractions; the molecular weight of the main one was 5 × 10⁶ daltons, whereas that of the native polysaccharide was 7 × 10⁶ daltons. The carbohydrate composition of these fractions was determined. Although the main product of degradation had a relatively high molecular weight, its viscosity was significantly reduced relative to the native polysaccharide. Additional enzymatic degradation is required for further exploration of the structure of the exocellular polymer of Porphyridium sp.     

Evidence for the autophagy of microinjected proteins in HeLA cells

Rhodamine-conjugated proteins were microinjected into living HeLa cells. Fluorescence microscopy was then employed to study their segregation from the cytoplasm into lysosomes. Results obtained in this way were verified when the corresponding unconjugated proteins were localized by autoradiographic, histological, and antibody-staining methods after their microinjection. Most injected proteins were segregated into cytoplasmic granular structures during their removal from cells. As evidence that these were autophagic vacuoles, they were found to contain no detectable acid phosphatase activity upon formation, after which they moved to the juxtanuclear position of lysosomes and appeared to fuse with them. The segregation of microinjected proteins exhibited a high degree of selectivity. The half- times of placement of individual exogenous proteins into cytoplasmic granules varied from 3 h to nearly 3 days, and one protein, hemoglobin, was never observed to enter them. Furthermore, endogenous HeLa proteins in a size fraction near 200,000 daltons were segregated much more rapidly than those in a fraction near 40,000 daltons. In these studies, rapid protein segregation appeared to take place by a mechanism of exclusion of the injected protein from numerous cytoplasmic domains.     

Uptake of Lucifer Yellow CH into intact barley roots: Evidence for fluid-phase endocytosis

Intact barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) roots have been shown to take up the highly fluorescent dye Lucifer Yellow CH (LYCH) into their cell vacuoles. In the apical 1 cm of root tip, differentiating and dividing cells showed a prolific uptake of LYCH into their provacuoles. The LYCH was retained during fixation, apparently becoming bound to electron-dense material in the vacuoles. The dye freely entered the apoplast of roots in which the Casparian band was not developed, being taken up into the vacuoles of cells in both the cortex and stele. However, when LYCH was applied to a 1-cm zone approx. 6 cm behind the root tip the Casparian band on the radial walls of the endodermis completely prevented the dye from entering the cells of the stele, only the cell walls and vacuoles of the cortical cells taking up the dye. The inability of LYCH to cross the plasmalemma of the endodermal cells and enter the stele via the symplast substantiates previous claims that the dye is unable to cross the plasmalemma of plant cells. The results are discussed in the light of recent demonstrations that LYCH is a particularly effective marker for fluid-phase endocytosis in animal and yeast cells. A calculation of the energetic requirements for LYCH uptake into barley roots supports the contention that LYCH is taken up into the vacuoles of plant cells by fluid-phase endocytosis.Abbreviation LYCH Lucifer Yellow CH     

NDF6: a thylakoid protein specific to terrestrial plants is essential for activity of chloroplastic NAD(P)H dehydrogenase in Arabidopsis

NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (NDH) is a homolog of respiratory complex I and mediates one of the two pathways of cyclic electron flow around PSI (CEF I). Although 15 ndh subunits have been identified in the chloroplastic and nuclear genomes of higher plants, no electron accepter subunits have been identified to date. To identify the missing chloroplastic NDH subunits, we undertook an in silico approach based on co-expression analysis. In this report, we characterized the novel gene NDF6 (NDH-dependent flow 6; At1g18730) which encodes a protein that is essential for NDH activity. NDF6 has one transmembrane domain and is localized in the thylakoid membrane fraction. Homologous proteins of NDF6 were identified in the genomes of terrestrial plants; however, no homologs have been found in cyanobacteria, which are thought to be the origin of chloroplasts and have a minimal NDH complex unit. NDF6 is unstable in ndhB-impaired or disrupted mutants of higher plants in which the chloroplastic NDH complex is thought to be degraded. These results suggest that NDF6 is a novel subunit of chloroplastic NDH that was added to terrestrial plants during evolution.     

Purification and Chemical Properties of a Flocculant Produced by Paecilomyces

A new flocculant for microbial cells was purified by ethanol precipitation and gel chromatography from the culture fluid of Paecilomyces sp. I-1. Isoelectric focusing of the flocculant (PF-101) showed a single band at pH 8.5, and its molecular weight was estimated to be over 300,000 daltons by the ultra-filtration method. The results of elemental analysis, the IR spectrum and investigation of the acid hydrolysate by gas and liquid chromatography and colorimetrie analysis suggested that PF-101 was a polysaccharide composed of galactosamine. About 80% of the galactosamine residues were N-unsubstituted and 8% were N-acetylated. Studies on deaminative cleavage, periodate oxidation and Smith degradation suggested that the galactosamine residues were mainly linked by α (→4)-linkaees.     

The periodic association of MAP2 with brain microtubules in vitro

Several high molecular weight polypeptides have been shown to quantitatively copurify with brain tubulin during cycles of in vitro assembly-disassembly. These microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) have been shown to influence the rate and extent of microtubule assembly in vitro. We report here that a heat-stable fraction highly enriched for one of the MAPs, MAP2 (mol wt approximately 300,000 daltons), devoid of MAP1 (mol wt approximately 350,000 daltons), has been purified from calf neurotubules. This MAP2 fraction stoichiometrically promotes microtubule assembly, lowering the critical concentration for tubulin assembly to 0.05 mg/ml. Microtubules saturated with MAP2 contain MAP2 and tubulin in a molar ratio of approximately 1 mole of MAP2 to 9 moles of tubulin dimer. Electron microscopy of thin sections of the MAP2-saturated microtubules fixed in the presence of tannic acid demonstrates a striking axial periodicity of 32 +/- 8 nm.     

Quantification of alginate by aggregation induced by calcium ions and fluorescent polycations

For quantification of polysaccharides, including heparins and alginates, the commonly used carbazole assay involves hydrolysis of the polysaccharide to form a mixture of UV-active dye conjugate products. Here, we describe two efficient detection and quantification methods that make use of the negative charges of the alginate polymer and do not involve degradation of the targeted polysaccharide. The first method utilizes calcium ions to induce formation of hydrogel-like aggregates with alginate polymer; the aggregates can be quantified readily by staining with a crystal violet dye. This method does not require purification of alginate from the culture medium and can measure the large amount of alginate that is produced by a mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa culture. The second method employs polycations tethering a fluorescent dye to form suspension aggregates with the alginate polyanion. Encasing the fluorescent dye in the aggregates provides an increased scattering intensity with a sensitivity comparable to that of the conventional carbazole assay. Both approaches provide efficient methods for monitoring alginate production by mucoid P. aeruginosa.