Virulence of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis isolated from pork and from the throats of swine.

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis was isolated from retail pork and from healthy swine throats. These wild-type strains and their representative cured isogenic strains were tested for the presence of plasmids and several virulence factors, and these characteristics were compared with those of virulent strains from humans. Two pork isolates (serotype IVB) and four swine isolates (serotypes IIB, IIC, III, and IVB) harbored a 42- to 48-megadalton plasmid which had similar fragmentation patterns resulting from digestion with restriction endonuclease. These six strains were lethal for mice via oral challenge and were positive in autoagglutination and calcium dependency tests. They also invaded HeLa cells and induced cytotoxicity. Histopathological examination and indirect fluorescent-antibody staining provided definite evidence of the pathogenicity of these strains when tissue sections from orally infected mice were used. The virulence factors of wild-type pork and swine isolates with the 42- to 48-megadalton plasmid were identical to those of two human isolates (serotypes IVB and VB). Hence, these pork and swine isolates should be considered potentially pathogenic for humans. The finding suggests that retail pork and swine may play an important role in the epidemiology of human infections caused by Y. pseudotuberculosis.     

Self-association mode of a flavoenzyme D-amino acid oxidase from hog kidney. II. Stoichiometry of holoenzyme association and energetics of subunit association

The self-association pattern of D-amino acid oxidase holoenzyme in 0.1 M sodium pyrophosphate, pH 8.3, at 25 degrees C was examined by the low-angle laser light-scattering method. As to the results of nonlinear least-squares analysis of the apparent weight-average molecular weight (Mwapp) versus protein concentration (c) data, the following three models fitted equally well the data over the concentration range of 0.03-11.4 mg/ml: 1) the model of isodesmic indefinite self-association of the monomer where the dimerization constant differs from the isodesmic association constant, 2) the model which involves the dimerization of the monomer and isodesmic indefinite self-association of the dimer, and 3) the model which involves the trimerization of the monomer and isodesmic indefinite self-association of the trimer. In a more limited concentration range (0.3-11.4 mg/ml), a model of isodesmic indefinite self-association of the stable dimer where the dimer does not dissociate into the monomers cannot be excluded from the above three models. Measurements with the concentration range lowered to 0.03 mg/ml enabled us to exclude unequivocally the model involving such a stable dimer and to extrapolate the Mwapp data to the Mr of the monomer at infinite dilution as in the case of the apoenzyme. The observed sedimentation boundary profiles were qualitatively consistent with the idealized boundary profiles calculated with the model which involves the dimerization of the monomer and isodesmic indefinite self-association of the dimer, so this model is the most probable of the models examined. These results provide the first evidence that the association mode of the holoenzyme is different from that of the apoenzyme, i.e. isodesmic indefinite self-association of the monomer (Tojo, H., Horiike, K., Shiga, K., Nishina, Y., Watari, H., and Yamano, T. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 12607-12614). The overall linkage scheme, between binding of coenzyme FAD and subunit association, was considered, and the overall free energy change in each process in the scheme was calculated. The total stabilization energies of the intersubunit interaction in the holoenzyme relative to the apoenzyme were found to be -2.2 kcal/mol at the dimerization step and -0.5 kcal/mol at the step of the addition of the dimer to any 2i-mer (i = 1,2, ...).     

Effect of L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate administration on glutathione and cysteine concentrations in guinea pig liver and kidney

Effect of L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate administration on the glutathione and cysteine concentrations in liver and kidney was studied in the guinea pig. Liver glutathione concentration increased significantly by 21 to 29% at one to three hours after the intraperitoneal injection of 5 mmol of sodium L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate per kg of body weight. Cysteine concentration did not change significantly. In contrast to the liver, a significant increase in cysteine and also a significant decrease in glutathione concentrations were observed in the kidney. Incubation of L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate with liver and kidney homogenates resulted in cysteine formation of 1.21 and 0.56 mumol per g of fresh tissue per 30 min, respectively. These results seem to indicate that, in the liver, L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate administration resulted in the formation of cysteine, which was utilized for glutathione synthesis. In the kidney, it seems to be suggested that the administration of this compound accelerated glutathione turnover.     

A resonance Raman study on the structures of complexes of flavoprotein D-amino acid oxidase

Resonance Raman (RR) spectra were obtained for the purple complexes of D-amino acid oxidase (DAO) with D-lysine or N-methylalanine. RR spectra of a complex of oxidized DAO with the oxidation product of D-lysine or D-proline were also measured. The isotope shifts of the observed bands of the purple complex with D-lysine upon 13C- or 15N-substitution of lysine indicate that the ligand is delta 1-piperideine-2-carboxylate. That the band at 1671 cm-1 for the purple intermediate with N-methylalanine shifts to 1666 cm-1 in D2O solution indicates that the imino acid, N-methyl-alpha-iminopropionate, has a protonated imino group. Many bands due to a ligand in the RR spectra of the complex of oxidized DAO with an oxidation product can be observed below 1000 cm-1, but no band for the purple complex is seen in this frequency region. The band associated with the CO2-symmetric stretching mode of the product, such as delta 1-piperideine-2-carboxylate or delta 1-pyrrolidine-2-carboxylate, complexed with the oxidized DAO shifts in D2O solution. This suggests that the product imino acid interacts with the enzyme through some proton(s).     

A resonance Raman study on the reaction intermediates of D-amino acid oxidase

Resonance Raman (RR) spectra of two reaction intermediates of D-amino acid oxidase with substrate analogs were obtained. The reaction intermediates studied were (1) the one in the aerobic oxidative reaction of the enzyme with beta-cyano-D-alanine and (2) the other in the reverse reductive reaction of the enzyme with chloropyruvate and ammonium. Both intermediates are characterized with the charge transfer absorption bands in the long wavelength region extending beyond 600 nm. The RR spectra of the two intermediates excited at 488.0 or 514.5 nm are those of oxidized flavin, which is consistent with our previous assumption that oxidized flavin is involved in these reaction intermediates. Relatively simple RR spectra were obtained for these intermediates with excitation at 632.8 nm which is within the region of the charge transfer bands. The resonance enhancement for the Raman lines around 1585 and 1350 cm-1 for either of the intermediates with excitation in the region of the charge transfer bands suggests that the charge transfer interaction involves the N(5)-C(4a) region extending to the C(10a)-N(1)-C(2) region of the isoalloxazine nucleus. The Raman line at 1657 cm-1 for the intermediate with chloropyruvate and ammonium was assigned to C = N of an imino acid from the isotopic frequency shift upon 15N-substitution. The assignment substantiates our previous conclusion that the intermediate involves an imino acid, alpha-imino-beta-chloropropionate.     

Thermodynamic characterization of hog kidney D-amino acid oxidase apoenzyme in concentrated guanidine hydrochloride solution. Preferential interaction with the solvent components and the molecular weight of the monomeric unit

This paper describes the physical characterization of the monomeric unit of hog kidney D-amino acid oxidase apoenzyme in 6 M guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl) solution by means of differential refractometry, densimetry, light scattering, equilibrium sedimentation, and high-speed gel filtration chromatography. In 6 M GuHCl solution, the oxidase interacts preferentially with GuHCl: the values of the preferential interaction parameter are 0.11 +/- 0.03 (S.D.) g/g of protein by densimetry and 0.14 +/- 0.04 g/g of protein by refractometry. The volume change, delta V, of the oxidase on transfer from the native to the denatured state is -350 ml/mol. The molecular weight of the monomeric apoenzyme is 39,600 +/- 1,700 by light scattering and 38,000 +/- 1,200 by high-speed equilibrium sedimentation. The values of the molecular weight estimated by the empirical methods, i.e., sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and high-speed gel filtration chromatography in 6 M GuHCl, agree well with those obtained by the thermodynamic methods mentioned above. These results confirm definitely that the complex of the apoenzyme with SDS normally behaves in the same manner as those of standard proteins in SDS-gel electrophoresis. This is also supported in this study by the analysis of the electrophoretic data at several gel concentrations by Ferguson plots. The molecular weight of quasi-D-amino acid oxidase apoenzyme was also examined by the empirical methods.     

Porcine kidney -amino acid oxidase: the three-dimensional structure and its catalytic mechanism based on the enzyme–substrate complex model

The three-dimensional structure of porcine kidney -amino acid oxidase (DAO), an FAD-dependent oxidase, has been solved by X-ray crystallography. The overall structure is a dimer, subunits of which are correlated by a non-crystallographic two-fold axis. Each subunit comprises two domains, ‘αβ domain’ and ‘pseudo-barrel domain’. The coenzyme FAD is in an elongated conformation and is bound at the N-terminal βαβ dinucleotide binding motif. The active site is located in the boundary region between the two domains. The crystal structure of DAO in complex with a substrate analog, o-aminobenzoate, was also solved and is used for modeling the DAO- -leucine complex, i.e. Michaelis complex, by means of molecular mechanics simulation. The Michaelis-complex model provided structural information leading to two alternative hypothetical mechanisms for the reductive half-reaction of DAO. These two hypotheses characterize themselves by electron transfer from the lone-pair orbital of the substrate amino nitrogen to flavin C(4a) and by proton transfer from the substrate α-position to flavin N(5) which acts as a catalytic base.