Large-scale purification and characterization of recombinant Pseudomonas ceramidase: regulation by calcium

Ceramidases (CDases) hydrolyze ceramide to sphingosine (SPH) and fatty acid. Pseudomonas CDase (pCDase) is a homolog of mammalian neutral ceramidases and may play roles in disease pathogenesis. In this study, pCDase was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli). The expressed recombinant pCDase was solubilized by optimizing several factors, including culture medium, the concentration of isopropyl-beta-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG), temperature, and time of induction, which were identified to be critical for the optimal production of recombinant pCDase. The recombinant pCDase was purified using nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid affinity, phenyl-Sepharose, and Q-Sepharose column chromatography, which gave an overall yield of 0.45 mg/l purified protein of starting culture. The activity of the recombinant pCDase followed classical Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with optimum activity in the neutral pH range. Both the hydrolytic and the reverse activities of CDase were stimulated by calcium with an affinity constant (K(a)) of 1.5 microM. Kinetics studies showed that calcium caused a decrease of K(m) and an increase in V(max) of pCDase. Calcium and D-erythro-sphingosine caused significant changes in the near ultraviolet circular dichroism (CD) spectra and the changes were inhibited in the presence of EGTA. These results identify important interactions between calcium and pCDase, which may play an essential role in the interaction of pCDase and its substrate.     

Cold-adaptation in sea-water-borne signal proteins: sequence and NMR structure of the pheromone En-6 from the Antarctic ciliate Euplotes nobilii

Ciliates of Euplotes species constitutively secrete pleiotropic protein pheromones, which are capable to function as prototypic autocrine growth factors as well as paracrine inducers of mating processes. This paper reports the amino acid sequence and the NMR structure of the pheromone En-6 isolated from the antarctic species Euplotes nobilii. The 63-residue En-6 polypeptide chain forms three alpha-helices in positions 18-25, 36-40 and 46-56, which are arranged in an up-down-up three-helix bundle forming the edges of a distorted trigonal pyramid. The base of the pyramid is covered by the N-terminal heptadecapeptide segment, which includes a 3(10)-turn of residues 3-6. This topology is covalently anchored by four long-range disulfide bonds. Comparison with the smaller pheromones of E. raikovi, a closely related species living in temperate waters, shows that the two-pheromone families have the same three-helix bundle architecture. It then appears that cold-adaptation of the En proteins is primarily related to increased lengths of the chain-terminal peptide segments and the surface-exposed loops connecting the regular secondary structures, and to the presence of solvent-exposed clusters of negatively charged side-chains.     

Calmodulin binds and stabilizes the regulatory enzyme, CTP: phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase

CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (CCTalpha) is a proteolytically sensitive enzyme essential for production of phosphatidylcholine, the major phospholipid of animal cell membranes. The molecular signals that govern CCTalpha protein stability are unknown. An NH(2)-terminal PEST sequence within CCTalpha did not serve as a degradation signal for the proteinase, calpain. Calmodulin (CaM) stabilized CCTalpha from calpain proteolysis. Adenoviral gene transfer of CaM in cells protected CCTalpha, whereas CaM small interfering RNA accentuated CCTalpha degradation by calpains. CaM bound CCTalpha as revealed by fluorescence resonance energy transfer and two-hybrid analysis. Mapping and site-directed mutagenesis of CCTalpha uncovered a motif (LQERVDKVK) harboring a vital recognition site, Gln(243), whereby CaM directly binds to the enzyme. Mutagenesis of CCTalpha Gln(243) not only resulted in loss of CaM binding but also led to complete calpain resistance in vitro and in vivo. Thus, calpains and CaM both access CCTalpha using a structurally similar molecular signature that profoundly affects CCTalpha levels. These data suggest that CaM, by antagonizing calpain, serves as a novel binding partner for CCTalpha that stabilizes the enzyme under proinflammatory stress.     

A membrane leucine heptad contributes to trafficking, signaling, and transformation by latent membrane protein 1

Latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) of Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is important for maintaining proliferation of EBV-infected B cells. LMP1, unlike its cellular counterpart, CD40, signals without a ligand and is largely internal to the plasma membrane. In order to understand how LMP1 initiates its ligand-independent signaling, we focused on a leucine heptad in LMP1's first membrane-spanning domain that was shown to be necessary for LMP1's signaling through NF-kappaB. LZ1EBV, a recombinant EBV genetically altered to express LZ1, a derivative of LMP1 in which a leucine heptad was replaced with alanines, transformed B cells with 56% of wild-type (wt) EBV's efficiency, demonstrating the importance of this heptad. To elucidate the mechanism by which this domain contributes to the functions of LMP1, the properties of the wt and LZ1 were compared in transfected cells. LZ1 failed to home to lipid rafts as efficiently as did wt LMP1. The distribution of tagged derivatives of LZ1 also differed from that of wt LMP1 in transfected cells. LZ1's defect in homing to lipid rafts and altered trafficking likely underlie the defect in transformation of LZ1EBV. While the third and fourth membrane-spanning domains of LMP1 foster its trafficking to the Golgi, the leucine heptad within the first membrane-spanning domain contributes to its trafficking, particularly to internal rafts. B cells that are successfully transformed by LZ1EBV have the same average number of viral genomes and the same fraction of cells with capped LZ1 at the cell surface but express 50% more of the LZ1 allele than wt infected cells.     

Antitumor agents. 258. Syntheses and evaluation of dietary antioxidant--taxoid conjugates as novel cytotoxic agents

Various dietary antioxidants, including vitamins, flavonoids, curcumin, and a coumarin, were conjugated with paclitaxel (1) through an ester linkage. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against several human tumor cell lines as well as the corresponding normal cell lines. Interestingly, most tested conjugates selectively inhibited the growth of 1A9 (ovarian) and KB (nasopharyngeal) tumor cells without activity against other cell lines. Particularly, conjugates 16 and 20 were highly active against 1A9 (ED(50) value of 0.005 microg/mL) as well as KB (ED(50) values of 0.005 and 0.14 microg/mL, respectively) cells. Compound 22b, the glycinate ester salt of vitamin E conjugated with 1, appears to be a promising lead for further development as a clinical trial candidate as it exhibited strong inhibitory activity against Panc-1 (pancreatic cancer) with less effect on the related E6E7 (normal) cell line.     

Increased behavioral and neuronal sensitivity to sex pheromone after brief odor experience in a moth

Plasticity in the response to stimuli related to food and oviposition cues is well documented in insects. However, responses to cues related to reproduction, for example, sex pheromones, are considered to be innate and thus not affected by experience. Here we show that brief preexposure to sex pheromones, without ensuing reward, lowers the threshold for behavioral response and augments the sensitivity in antennal lobe interneurons to pheromone compared with naive male moths. Thus, the sex pheromone system in insects can be modulated by experience. In addition, we show that the behavioral attraction to sex pheromone increases after preexposure in a time-dependent manner: a short-term effect, possibly a form of sensitization, and a long-term effect after more than 24 h. The behavioral long-term effect is paralleled by an increase in sensitivity of interneurons in the primary olfactory center, whereas the peripheral olfactory system does not change its sensitivity. We hypothesize that short-term sensitization to sex pheromone serves as a kind of alert system, whereas the long-term effect improves male performance when reproductively active females are present.     

Dyneins across eukaryotes: a comparative genomic analysis

Dyneins are large minus-end-directed microtubule motors. Each dynein contains at least one dynein heavy chain (DHC) and a variable number of intermediate chains (IC), light intermediate chains (LIC) and light chains (LC). Here, we used genome sequence data from 24 diverse eukaryotes to assess the distribution of DHCs, ICs, LICs and LCs across Eukaryota. Phylogenetic inference identified nine DHC families (two cytoplasmic and seven axonemal) and six IC families (one cytoplasmic). We confirm that dyneins have been lost from higher plants and show that this is most likely because of a single loss of cytoplasmic dynein 1 from the ancestor of Rhodophyta and Viridiplantae, followed by lineage-specific losses of other families. Independent losses in Entamoeba mean that at least three extant eukaryotic lineages are entirely devoid of dyneins. Cytoplasmic dynein 2 is associated with intraflagellar transport (IFT), but in two chromalveolate organisms, we find an IFT footprint without the retrograde motor. The distribution of one family of outer-arm dyneins accounts for 2-headed or 3-headed outer-arm ultrastructures observed in different organisms. One diatom species builds motile axonemes without any inner-arm dyneins (IAD), and the unexpected conservation of IAD I1 in non-flagellate algae and LC8 (DYNLL1/2) in all lineages reveals a surprising fluidity to dynein function.     

Twenty year contrast of non-native parrotfeather distribution and abundance in an unregulated river

Hydrobiologia - Efficient management of invasive species benefits from understanding patterns of persistence and change over time. In this study, we compare distribution and abundance of the...     

G-protein coupled receptor solubilization and purification for biophysical analysis and functional studies,in the total absence of detergent

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute the largest class of membrane proteins and are a major drug target. A serious obstacle to studying GPCR structure/function characteristics is the requirement to extract the receptors from their native environment in the plasma membrane, coupled with the inherent instability of GPCRs in the detergents required for their solubilization. In the present study, we report the first solubilization and purification of a functional GPCR [human adenosine A_2A receptor (A_2AR)], in the total absence of detergent at any stage, by exploiting spontaneous encapsulation by styrene maleic acid (SMA) co-polymer direct from the membrane into a nanoscale SMA lipid particle (SMALP). Furthermore, the A_2AR–SMALP, generated from yeast (Pichia pastoris) or mammalian cells, exhibited increased thermostability (∼5°C) compared with detergent [DDM (n-dodecyl-β-D-maltopyranoside)]-solubilized A_2AR controls. The A_2AR–SMALP was also stable when stored for prolonged periods at 4°C and was resistant to multiple freeze-thaw cycles, in marked contrast with the detergent-solubilized receptor. These properties establish the potential for using GPCR–SMALP in receptor-based drug discovery assays. Moreover, in contrast with nanodiscs stabilized by scaffold proteins, the non-proteinaceous nature of the SMA polymer allowed unobscured biophysical characterization of the embedded receptor. Consequently, CD spectroscopy was used to relate changes in secondary structure to loss of ligand binding ([³H]ZM241385) capability. SMALP-solubilization of GPCRs, retaining the annular lipid environment, will enable a wide range of therapeutic targets to be prepared in native-like state to aid drug discovery and understanding of GPCR molecular mechanisms.