Kinetic characteristics of the ATP-pyrophosphate isotope exchange catalyzed by RNA ligase from T4 bacteriophage

The dependence of initial rate v0 of ATP--PPi exchange reaction catalyzed by RNA-ligase of bacteriophage T4 on the concentration of ATP(s), pyrophosphate (z) and Mgcl2 has been determined. The dependence of v0 on s and z described by the equation v0 = k-1k2E0/(k-1 + K2) (1 + K1/s + k2/z) has been obtained for the reaction of E + S in equilibrium ES in equilibrium E1 + Z, where E--enzyme, E1--adenylylenzyme, S--ATP, Z--pyrophosphate, K1 and K2--constants of equilibrium, k-1, k2--velocity constants of transition of ES to E + S and E1 + Z, E0--complete concentration of enzyme. The low inhibition of the ATP--PPi exchange by the acceptor A(pA)2 and donors pAp, p(Ap)3, pCp has been shown. The dependence of v0 on the concentration of MgCl2 is consent with the incorporation of only dimagnesium salts of substrates in the isotope-exchange reaction.     

Ysp2 mediates death of yeast induced by amiodarone or intracellular acidification

Recently we have found that the drug amiodarone induces apoptosis in yeast, which is mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here we have used this finding as a tool to screen for genes involved in the death program. We have described a novel mitochondrial protein, Ysp2, acting in the amiodarone-induced death cascade. After amiodarone addition both the control and amiodarone-resistant ysp2-deleted cells formed ROS, but the mutant (unlike the control) did not undergo the mitochondrial thread-to-grain transition. To test whether the action of Ysp2 is amiodarone-specific we tried to induce PCD by other agents. We have found that acetic acid-induced PCD also depends on Ysp2. We also demonstrate that, like acetic acid, propionic acid or nigericin triggered intracellular acidification causing ROS-dependent death. We suggest that intracellular acidification results in the protonation of superoxide anion (O2-*) to form HO2, one of the most aggressive ROS, which in turn induces Ysp2-mediated PCD.     

Fe(II) phthalocyanine catalyzed oxidation of dGMP by molecular oxygen

We show that iron(II)-phthalocyanines are able to catalyze guanosine oxidation by molecular oxygen in the presence of reducing agents such as ascorbic acid and 2-mercaptoethanol. The products of 5′-monophosphate-2′-deoxyguanosine (dGMP) oxidation were directly analyzed using the HPLC-ESI/MS method. The main oxidation products were 5′-phospho-2′-deoxy-8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine and the 1,N2-glyoxal adduct of the 5′-monophosphate-2′-deoxyguanosine.     

Kinetics of growth and substrate consumption of Escherichia coli ML 30 on two carbon sources.

When E. coli ML 30 is grown in batch culture on a mineral salt medium containing a mixed carbon source of glucose and pyruvate, there is no sequential utilization of the carbon sources. The consumption of glucose and pyruvate takes place simultaneously with reciprocal influence (inhibition) on rates of substrate uptake. The specific growth rate is greater than mupmax for pyruvate but smaller than musmax for glucose. In the paper three cases of kinetics of growth and of substrate consumption at several combinations of initial substrate concentrations are considered. A mathematical model is proposed and investigated. The model allows to describe the growth on glucose or on pyruvate not only as singular carbon sources, but also as a mixed carbon source with reciprocal inhibition on rates of substrate uptake. By data fitting parameters of growth and substrate consumption were found.     

Beneficial effect of fluorocarbon emulsion media on the function of neuromuscular preparations in vitro

The effects of liquid fluorocarbons as bathing media were determined by use of in vitro neuromuscular preparations. Rat hemidiaphragms were bathed in either oxygenated fluorocarbon (FC) emulsion or standard oxygenated Krebs solution. Contractile force in response to simple supramaximal nerve stimuli as well as to high frequency stimulation was greater, while twitch:tetanus ratio was smaller in FC emulsion. With such medium, post-tetanic potentiation of contraction was also more consistently observed. Indirectly stimulated diaphragms survived longer in FC emulsion. After cessation of oxygenation, oxygen tension (ρO(2)) of the medium declined more rapidly with Krebs than with FC emulsion; ρO(2) directly correlated with force of contraction. Similarly, in the chick biventer cervicis preparation, FC emulsion enhanced nerve-stimulated force of contraction; returning the preparation to standard Krebs solution reversed this phenomenon. Dose-resonse curves of muscle contraction in response to acetycholine and KCl administration were shifted upward during FC emulsion superfusion. Frequency of miniature endplate potentials was lower in FC emulsion than that observed in Krebs solution, measured from the same cell of the rat diaphragm. Resting membrane potentials were also greater in muscle cells sampled from FC emulsion-bathed preparations. These data suggest that FC emulsion is superior to standard Krebs solution as a bathing medium for in vitro neuromuscular preparations by virtue of the high solubility of oxygen in it.     

Affinity labelling of phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase from E. coli MRE-600 by E. coli tRNAphe containing photoreactive group.

The photoinduced reaction of phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (E.C.6.1.1.20) from E.coli MRE-600 with tRNAphe containing photoreative p-N3-C6H4-NHCOCH2-group attached to 4-thiouridine sU8 (azido-tRNAphe) was investigated. The attachment of this group does not influence the dissociation constant of the complex of Phe-tRNAphe with the enzyme, however it results in sevenfold increase of Km in the enzymatic aminoacylation of tRNAphe. Under irradiation at 300 nm at pH 5.8 the covalent binding of [14C]-Phe-azido-tRNAphe to the enzyme takes place 0.3 moles of the reagent being attached per mole of the enzyme. tRNA prevents the reaction. Phenylalanine, ATP,ADP,AMP, adenosine and pyrophosphate (2.5 xx 10(-3) M) don't affect neither the stability of the tRNA-enzyme complex nor the rate of the affinity labelling. The presence of the mixture of either phenylalanine or phenylalaninol with ATP as well as phenylalaninol adenylate exhibits 50% inhibition of the photoinduced reaction. Therefore, the reaction of [14C]-Phe-azido-tRNA with the enzyme is significantly less sensitive to the presence of the ligands than the reaction of chlorambucilyl-tRNA with the reactive group attached to the acceptor end of the tRNA studied in 1. It has been concluded that the kinetics of the affinity labelling does permit to discriminate the influence of the low molecular weight ligands of the enzyme on the different sites of the tRNA enzyme interaction.     

Role of mitochondria in the pheromone- and amiodarone-induced programmed death of yeast

Although programmed cell death (PCD) is extensively studied in multicellular organisms, in recent years it has been shown that a unicellular organism, yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also possesses death program(s). In particular, we have found that a high doses of yeast pheromone is a natural stimulus inducing PCD. Here, we show that the death cascades triggered by pheromone and by a drug amiodarone are very similar. We focused on the role of mitochondria during the pheromone/amiodarone-induced PCD. For the first time, a functional chain of the mitochondria-related events required for a particular case of yeast PCD has been revealed: an enhancement of mitochondrial respiration and of its energy coupling, a strong increase of mitochondrial membrane potential, both events triggered by the rise of cytoplasmic [Ca2+], a burst in generation of reactive oxygen species in center o of the respiratory chain complex III, mitochondrial thread-grain transition, and cytochrome c release from mitochondria. A novel mitochondrial protein required for thread-grain transition is identified.