Differences in the denaturation behavior of ribonuclease A induced by temperature and guanidine hydrochloride

Moderate temperatures or low concentrations of denaturants diminish the catalytic activity of some enzymes before spectroscopic methods indicate protein unfolding. To discriminate between possible reasons for the inactivation of ribonuclease A, we investigated the influence of temperature and guanidine hydrochloride on its proteolytic susceptibility to proteinase K by determining the proteolytic rate constants and fragment patterns. The results were related to changes of activity and spectroscopic properties of ribonuclease A. With thermal denaturation, the changes in activity and in the rate constants of proteolytic degradation coincide and occur slightly before the spectroscopically observable transition. In the case of guanidine hydrochloride-induced denaturation, however, proteolytic resistance of ribonuclease A initially increases accompanied by a drastic activity decrease far before unfolding of the protein is detected by spectroscopy or proteolysis. In addition to ionic effects, a tightening of the protein structure at low guanidine hydrochloride concentrations is suggested to be responsible for ribonuclease A inactivation.     

Impact of Low Dose Prenatal Ethanol Exposure on Glucose Homeostasis in Sprague-Dawley Rats Aged up to Eight Months

Excessive exposure to alcohol prenatally has a myriad of detrimental effects on the health and well-being of the offspring. It is unknown whether chronic low-moderate exposure of alcohol prenatally has similar and lasting effects on the adult offspring’s health. Using our recently developed Sprague-Dawley rat model of 6% chronic prenatal ethanol exposure, this study aimed to determine if this modest level of exposure adversely affects glucose homeostasis in male and female offspring aged up to eight months. Plasma glucose concentrations were measured in late fetal and postnatal life. The pancreas of 30 day old offspring was analysed for β-cell mass. Glucose handling and insulin action was measured at four months using an intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test and insulin challenge, respectively. Body composition and metabolic gene expression were measured at eight months. Despite normoglycaemia in ethanol consuming dams, ethanol-exposed fetuses were hypoglycaemic at embryonic day 20. Ethanol-exposed offspring were normoglycaemic and normoinsulinaemic under basal fasting conditions and had normal pancreatic β-cell mass at postnatal day 30. However, during a glucose tolerance test, male ethanol-exposed offspring were hyperinsulinaemic with increased first phase insulin secretion. Female ethanol-exposed offspring displayed enhanced glucose clearance during an insulin challenge. Body composition and hepatic, muscle and adipose tissue metabolic gene expression levels at eight months were not altered by prenatal ethanol exposure. Low-moderate chronic prenatal ethanol exposure has subtle, sex specific effects on glucose homeostasis in the young adult rat. As aging is associated with glucose dysregulation, further studies will clarify the long lasting effects of prenatal ethanol exposure.     

Novel Key Metabolites Reveal Further Branching of the Roquefortine/Meleagrin Biosynthetic Pathway

Metabolic profiling and structural elucidation of novel secondary metabolites obtained from derived deletion strains of the filamentous fungus Penicillium chrysogenum were used to reassign various previously ascribed synthetase genes of the roquefortine/meleagrin pathway to their corresponding products. Next to the structural characterization of roquefortine F and neoxaline, which are for the first time reported for P. chrysogenum, we identified the novel metabolite roquefortine L, including its degradation products, harboring remarkable chemical structures. Their biosynthesis is discussed, questioning the exclusive role of glandicoline A as key intermediate in the pathway. The results reveal that further enzymes of this pathway are rather unspecific and catalyze more than one reaction, leading to excessive branching in the pathway with meleagrin and neoxaline as end products of two branches.     

Evidence for stabilizing selection and slow divergent evolution of male genitalia in a millipede (Antichiropus variabilis)

It is generally accepted that postcopulatory sexual selection drives rapid divergence of genital morphology among isolated populations. The mode of selection operating upon genitalia can be explored by comparing patterns of population divergence in genetic and genitalic traits. We collected Antichiropus variabilis millipedes from eight localities across the species range. Levels of among-population genetic divergence, at microsatellite loci, and the mitochondrial COI gene were very high. Following geometric morphometric analyses, genital morphology was also found to be highly divergent among the populations surveyed, whereas head morphology had not diverged as markedly. However, pairwise comparisons of F(ST) and P(ST) showed that among-population divergence in both genital and head shape was significantly lower than that experienced by neutral genetic markers. Our results suggest that the genitalia of A. variabilis are currently experiencing a period of stabilizing selection, the mode of selection expected for genitalia that function in species recognition via a "lock-and-key" mechanism. Our results demonstrate that although genital morphology can clearly diverge among genetically isolated populations, divergence is not necessarily as rapid as commonly argued, and continuous directional sexual selection may not always underpin the evolutionary divergence of male genitalia.     

The ABC transporter ABC40 encodes a phenylacetic acid export system in Penicillium chrysogenum

The filamentous fungus Penicillium chrysogenum is used for the industrial production of β-lactam antibiotics. The pathway for β-lactam biosynthesis has been resolved and involves the enzyme phenylacetic acid CoA ligase that is responsible for the CoA activation of the side chain precursor phenylacetic acid (PAA) that is used for the biosynthesis of penicillin G. To identify ABC transporters related to β-lactam biosynthesis, we analyzed the expression of all 48 ABC transporters present in the genome of P. chryso-genum when grown in the presence and absence of PAA. ABC40 is significantly upregulated when cells are grown or exposed to high levels of PAA. Although deletion of this transporter did not affect β-lactam biosynthesis, it resulted in a significant increase in sensitivity to PAA and other weak acids. It is concluded that ABC40 is involved in weak acid detoxification in P. chrysogenum including resistance to phenylacetic acid.     

Expression of Cryptic β-Fructofuranosidase in Saccharomyces rouxii

Raffinose hydrolysis was studied in Saccharomyces rouxii. The responsible enzyme was identified as a beta-fructofuranosidase (EC 3.2.1.26), which has a pH optimum of 5.5 and a K(m) of 83 mM for raffinose. This enzyme was cryptic in cells from a 3-day culture. A 2-min treatment with 0.1 volume of ethyl acetate in sodium acetate buffer (pH 6) gave complete expression of the enzyme, which was still retained by the cell. Ghosts were prepared by modifying membrane structure with small basic proteins in distilled water, and after washing they showed the full complement of enzymatic activity. The enzyme remained cryptic in osmotically protected spheroplasts; however, after lysis (by dilution) release, as well as expression, was effected. Mechanical disruption of fresh cells revealed and released all of the enzyme. Cells in early stationary phase had all of their beta-fructofuranosidase in a cryptic state. Aging yielded fractional expression of activity; initially this was proportional to cell death, but later the degree of expression exceeded the death rate. Media from aged cultures or cell-free extracts of aged cells were not effective in revealing the cryptic enzyme of younger cells. S. rouxii beta-fructofuranosidase has a different autolytic-release pattern from its counterpart in S. cerevisiae. Also, high concentrations of glucose do not repress the S. rouxii enzyme. The beta-fructofuranosidase in young cells of S. rouxii must be enclosed by the protoplasmic membrane or a special vesicular structure. This system was compared with other Saccharomyces species in connection with the translocation of enzymes across the protoplasmic membrane.     

Radioimmunoassay studies of intestinal calcium-binding protein in the pig. I. Identification of intestinal calcium-binding protein in blood and response to a low calcium diet.

We have developed a radioimmunoassay for porcine intestinal calcium-binding protein (CaBP) and have used it to detect CaBP in pig plasma. Plasma CaBP is identical to intestinal CaBP on the basis of immunological activity, molecular size, and molecular charge properties. The plasma CaBP concentration was greater in the portal blood than in mixed venous blood, suggesting that blood CaBP originates in the gut. Two of four 15-week-old littermate pigs were placed on a low calcium diet (0.15% calcium, 0.65% phosphorus) and two on a control diet (0.65% calcium, 0.65% phosphorus). After 2 weeks, the entire small intestine was removed and divided into nine 1.8-m segments. CaBP was assayed in both plasma and intestinal mucosa. When the two pigs on a low calcium diet were compared with two control pigs, there was a general increase in immunoreactive CaBP in both plasma and intestinal mucosa. However, there was no increment in immunoreactive CaBP in the first 1.8-m segment of small intestine. Seventy-one percent of the increment in CaBP occurred distal to the first two segments. The largest fractional low calcium diet effect occurred in the ileum. The mean CaBP concentration for the total small intestine increased by a factor of 1.9. The plasma CaBP concentration increased by a factor of 2.6. In these pigs, plasma CaBP was a more reliable indicator of change in CaBP status than was the measurement in the proximal gut segment which contained the duodenum. The assay of CaBP in blood is convenient and may obviate the sampling errors inherent in intestinal biopsy.     

Site-Specific Cryo-focused Ion Beam Sample Preparation Guided by 3D Correlative Microscopy

The development of cryo-focused ion beam (cryo-FIB) for the thinning of frozen-hydrated biological specimens enabled cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) analysis in unperturbed cells and tissues. However, the volume represented within a typical FIB lamella constitutes a small fraction of the biological specimen. Retaining low-abundance and dynamic subcellular structures or macromolecular assemblies within such limited volumes requires precise targeting of the FIB milling process. In this study, we present the development of a cryo-stage allowing for spinning-disk confocal light microscopy at cryogenic temperatures and describe the incorporation of the new hardware into existing workflows for cellular sample preparation by cryo-FIB. Introduction of fiducial markers and subsequent computation of three-dimensional coordinate transformations provide correlation between light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy/FIB. The correlative approach is employed to guide the FIB milling process of vitrified cellular samples and to capture specific structures, namely fluorescently labeled lipid droplets, in lamellas that are 300 nm thick. The correlation procedure is then applied to localize the fluorescently labeled structures in the transmission electron microscopy image of the lamella. This approach can be employed to navigate the acquisition of cryo-ET data within FIB-lamellas at specific locations, unambiguously identified by fluorescence microscopy.