Density-Gradient and Chromatographic Fraction of Leptospiral Lipase

Fractionation of leptospiral lipase by CsCl density gradients and G-200 Sephadex chromatography yielded five active protein peaks. Two were obtained from the density gradients and three from G-200 Sephadex columns. Esterase activity of these fractions was demonstrated by electrophoretic examination. Several protein bands were visible when disc electrophoresis was performed on the respective fractions. Lipolytic and esterolytic activities were both present, and the overlapping of these activities was discussed.     

Cotransduction and Cotransformation of Genetic Markers in Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis

Bacteriophage SP-15, a large generalized transducing phage of Bacillus, was compared with phages PBS-1 and SP-10 for the ability to cotransduce pairs of genetic markers exhibiting different degrees of linkage. When auxotrophs of B. subtilis W-23 were used as recipients, SP-15 and PBS-1 effected a much higher frequency of cotransduction than did SP-10 with markers that were not closely linked. With more closely linked loci, the differences were not as great. SP-15 cotransduced linked markers at a higher mean frequency than PBS-1, suggesting that SP-15 is able to transfer a larger fragment of the Bacillus genome than any phage heretofore described. The frequency of the joint transfer of genetic markers in B. licheniformis was lower via transforming deoxyribonucleic acid than by transduction with phage SP-10. The availability of three procedures for genetic exchange-transduction by SP-15 and SP-10 as well as transformation-each of which reveals a different degree of linkage, makes B. licheniformis 9945A especially amenable to genetic analysis.     

Studies on the mechanism of action of diallyl sulfide, an inhibitor of the genotoxic effects of cyclophosphamide

Diallyl sulfide, a component of garlic oil, has been previously shown to inhibit induction of nuclear aberrations in the colons of mice treated with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine, a colon carcinogen. The ability of this agent to block cyclophosphamide-induced nuclear aberrations in urinary bladder and hair follicles was tested. [14C]Cyclophosphamide was injected and urine was collected to determine the disposition of metabolites of cyclophosphamide in mice treated with diallyl sulfide. This agent was capable of blocking nuclear aberration induction by cyclophosphamide in bladder and hair follicles. The effect was not mediated through inhibition of mitosis as determined by [3H]thymidine autoradiography in hair follicles. Diallyl sulfide pretreatment decreased the amount of radioactivity excreted in the urine in the first 24 h following cyclophosphamide treatment and blocked the appearance of acrolein, a cytotoxic metabolite of cyclophosphamide, in the urine over this time period. These results suggest that diallyl sulfide acts by conjugating the toxic metabolites of cyclophosphamide, thereby limiting their systemic circulation and diverting their route of excretion from the urine.     

Demonstration of two distinct high molecular weight proteases in rabbit reticulocytes, one of which degrades ubiquitin conjugates

Reticulocytes contain a nonlysosomal proteolytic pathway that requires ATP and ubiquitin. By DEAE chromatography and gel filtration, we were able to fractionate the ATP-dependent system into a 30-300-kDa fraction that catalyzes the ATP-dependent conjugation of ubiquitin to substrates ("Conjugation Fraction") and a high mass fraction (greater than 450 kDa) necessary for hydrolysis of the conjugated proteins. The latter contains two distinct proteases. One protease is unusually large, approximately 1500 kDa, and degrades proteins only when ATP and the conjugating fractions are added. This activity precipitates at 0-38% (NH4)2SO4 saturation and is essential for ATP-dependent proteolysis. Like crude extracts, it is labile in the absence of nucleotides and is inhibited by heparin, poly(Glu-Ala-Tyr), 3,4-dichloroisocoumarin, hemin, decavanadate, N-ethylmaleimide, and various peptide chloromethyl ketones. It lacks amino-peptidase and insulin-degrading activities and does not require tRNA for activity. The ubiquitin-conjugate degrading enzyme, which we suggest be named UCDEN, is inactive against substrates that cannot undergo ubiquitin conjugation. The smaller protease (670 kDa), which precipitates at 40-80% (NH4)2SO4 saturation, does not require ATP or ubiquitin and is therefore not required for ATP-dependent proteolysis. It is stimulated by N-ethylmaleimide and 3,4-dichloroisocoumarin and is stable at 37 degrees C. It hydrolyzes fluorometric tetrapeptides and proteins, including proteins which cannot be conjugated to ubiquitin. Thus, reticulocytes contain two large cytosolic proteases: one is essential for the degradation of ubiquitin conjugates, while the function of the other is uncertain.     

Mechanism of nitrogenase switch-off by oxygen.

Oxygen caused a reversible inhibition (switch-off) of nitrogenase activity in whole cells of four strains of diazotrophs, the facultative anaerobe Klebsiella pneumoniae and three strains of photosynthetic bacteria (Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides f. sp. denitrificans and Rhodopseudomonas capsulata strains AD2 and BK5). In K. pneumoniae 50% inhibition of acetylene reduction was attained at an O2 concentration of 0.37 microM. Cyanide (90 microM), which did not affect acetylene reduction but inhibited whole-cell respiration by 60 to 70%, shifted the O2 concentration that caused 50% inhibition of nitrogenase activity to 2.9 microM. A mutant strain of K. pneumoniae, strain AH11, has a respiration rate that is 65 to 75% higher than that of the wild type, but its nitrogenase activity is similar to wild-type activity. Acetylene reduction by whole cells of this mutant was inhibited 50% by 0.20 microM O2. Inhibition by CN- of 40 to 50% of the O2 uptake in the mutant shifted the O2 concentration that caused 50% inhibition of nitrogenase to 1.58 microM. Thus, when the respiration rates were lower, higher oxygen concentrations were required to inhibit nitrogenase. Reversible inhibition of nitrogenase activity in vivo was caused under anaerobic conditions by other electron acceptors. Addition of 2 mM sulfite to cell suspensions of R. capsulata B10 and R. sphaeroides inhibited nitrogenase activity. Nitrite also inhibited acetylene reduction in whole cells of the photodenitrifier R. sphaeroides but not in R. capsulata B10, which is not capable of enzymatic reduction of NO2-. Lower concentrations of NO2- were required to inhibit the activity in NO3- -grown cells, which have higher activities of nitrite reductase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

FMRF-amide-like immunoreactive efferent fibers and FMRF-amide suppression of pacemaker neurons in eyes of Bulla

The eyes of certain marine gastropods including Aplysia and Bulla, contain circadian pacemakers, which produce a circadian rhythm of autogenous compound action potential (CAP) activity. The CAPs are generated by the synchronous spike discharge of a distinctive population of retinal pacemaker neurons whose axons convey the CAP activity to the CNS. When CAP activity is recorded from a preparation with eyes attached to the CNS, the CAP activity is modulated by efferent activity. In this study we have identified FMRF-amide-like immunoreactive efferent axons in the optic nerves of Bulla. These axons arborize in the basal retinal neuropil adjacent to the pacemaker neurons and are in a position to make synaptic contacts with their dendrites. Similar immunoreactive fibers are not observed in Aplysia eyes. Exogenous FMRF-amide at micromolar concentrations suppresses ongoing CAP activity in isolated eyes but does not suppress the ERG or phase shift the circadian rhythm of CAP activity. Intracellular recordings from the retinal pacemaker neurons reveal that FMRF-amide hyperpolarizes the membrane potential, suppresses spike discharge, and decreases the input resistance, suggesting that a K conductance is increased. Electrical stimulation of the region of the cerebral ganglion that contains FMRF-amide immunoreactive neurons suppresses ongoing CAP activity. All these results are consistent with the idea that the FMRF-amide immunoreactive central neurons and their axons provide a pathway for efferent modulation of the CAP rhythm generated by the retinal pacemaker neurons.     

Strain and site dependence of polyploidization of cultured rat smooth muscle

Smooth muscle cell (SMC) growth may play an important role in the pathogenesis of vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and hypertension. Recent studies have demonstrated that, under different growth stimuli in vivo, SMC may respond by proliferation of diploid cells, polyploidization to the tetraploid (or even octaploid) state, or both. In this study, we used flow cytometry to evaluate the intrinsic tendencies of aortic SMC and nonarterial cells from rats of different strains, ages, and blood pressures to polyploidize in response to in vitro growth stimulation. Significant strain-related differences in polyploidization of aortic SMC were found (P less than 0.001): highest in WKY (normotensive inbred rat related to SHR), intermediate in SHR (genetically hypertensive rat), and lowest in Sprague-Dawley and Fischer (normotensive outbred and inbred rats). Animal age had less or no effect on the degree of polyploidization. Nonarterial cells (venous SMC and lung cells) from WKY and SHR remained essentially diploid, suggesting tissue specificity of in vitro polyploidization. Studies of the growth kinetics of uncloned and clonal populations of aortic SMC revealed decreased proliferation as the ploidy increased in WKY, SHR, and Sprague-Dawley. These findings suggest that genetic strain factors as well as cell type/site of origin significantly influence in vitro polyploidization, whereas animal age and blood pressure do not. The findings also emphasize the need to consider ploidy changes when evaluating in vitro SMC growth kinetics. Further studies will improve understanding of SMC growth regulation and the functional significance of vascular polyploidy.     

A high molecular weight protease in the cytosol of rat liver. I. Purification, enzymological properties, and tissue distribution

Rat liver cytosol has low hydrolytic activity against [3H]methylcasein at neutrality, but activity increases greatly on addition of various compounds such as poly-L-lysine, N-ethylmaleimide, and sodium dodecyl sulfate, suggesting that it contains latent proteolytic activity. The latent enzyme was found to be stabilized in the presence of 20% glycerol and to be activated by addition of poly-L-lysine. The latent enzyme was purified from a crude extract of rat liver to apparent homogeneity in the presence of 20% glycerol by conventional chromatographic techniques. The purified enzyme showed endoproteolytic activity toward various proteins when it was activated by the compounds listed above. It preferentially degraded N-substituted tripeptide substrates with a basic amino acid at the carboxyl terminus, as well as peptides containing neutral hydrophobic amino acids. It did not require activation for these peptidase activities, in contrast to its activity toward large proteins. Interestingly, a proteinase and a trypsin-like and a chymotrypsin-like peptidase activity could not be separated by customary chromatographic methods but were distinguishable by their sensitivities to various inhibitors, activators, and covalent modifiers, suggesting that the enzyme has three distinct active sites within a single protein. The enzyme seems to be a seryl endopeptidase showing maximal activity at neutral and weakly alkaline pH values. Thus, the enzyme is a unique protease with latent multifunctional catalytic sites. The distribution of the protease in soluble extracts of various rat tissues and cells was examined quantitatively by an enzyme immunoassay. The enzyme level was highest in liver and also in spleen, stomach, lung, small intestine, and kidney, but was low in heart, diaphragm, skeletal muscle, brain, and skin. The concentrations of enzyme in some established cell lines including hepatoma and rat kidney cells were comparable to that in normal liver hepatocytes. The enzyme was found mainly in the cytosol fraction, although a small amount was associated with microsomal membranes, suggesting that it is an extralysosomal protease. Immunohistochemical staining of the liver and skeletal muscles showed that the protease is distributed diffusely in panlobular hepatocytes with slight centrilobar predominance and is present in Kupffer cells, vascular endothelial cells, and bile duct epithelial cells in the liver and also diffusely in the intermyofibrillar spaces and vascular endothelial cells in skeletal muscle. The quantitative data obtained in the present study indicate the presence of the protease in the cytosol fraction of all rat tissues.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

A stochastic afterhyperpolarization model of repetitive activity in vestibular afferents

A stochastic version of Kernell's (1968, 1972) model with cumulative afterhyperpolarization (AHP) was simulated. A characteristic of the model is that the AHP is the result of an increased potassium conductance (g _K) that is time-dependent but not voltage-dependent. Quantal synaptic inputs are assumed to be the only source of interspike interval variability. The model reproduces many features of the steady-state discharge of peripheral vestibular afferents, provided that firing rates are higher than 40 spikes/s. Among the results accounted for are the interspike interval statistics occurring during natural stimulation, their alteration by externally applied galvanic currents and the increase in the interspike interval following an interposed shock. Empirical studies show that some vestibular afferents have a regular spacing of action potentials, others an irregular spacing (Goldberg and Fernández 1971b; Fernández and Goldberg 1976). Irregularly discharging afferents have a higher sensitivity to externally applied galvanic currents than do regular afferents (Goldberg et al. 1984). To explain the relation between galvanic sensitivity and discharge regularity requires the assumption that neurons differ in both their synaptic noise (_v) and the slopes of their postspike voltage trajectories (d _v/dt). The more irregular the neuron's discharge at a given firing frequency, the greater is _v and the smaller is d _v/dt. Of the two factors, d _v/dt is estimated to be four times more influential in determining discharge regularity across the afferent population. The shortcomings of the model are considered, as are possible remedies. Our conclusions are compared to previous discussions of mechanisms responsible for differences in the discharge regularity of vestibular afferents.