Studies on sphingomyelinase and beta-glucosidase activities in Niemann-Pick disease variants. Phosphodiesterase activities measured with natural and artificial substrates

Cultured fibroblasts were studied from 12 cases of Niemann-Pick disease group C. In 11, sphingomyelinase and glucocerebrosidase (and beta-glucosidase) activities were reduced to around 50% of those of controls. On isoelectric focusing, all 12 strains lacked sphingomyelinase activity in the major cathodic region (pI 8.0). The defect was also demonstrated with the artificial phosphodiester substrates bis(4-methylumbelliferyl) phosphate and 4-methylumbelliferyl pyrophosphate diester. In control fibroblasts and those heterozygous for types A or B or group C Niemann-Pick disease, the major sphingomyelinase peak electrofocused at pI 8.0. No direct interaction could be demonstrated by mixing experiments between group C Niemann-Pick extracts and those of type A disease or Gaucher disease. Profiles for beta-glucosidase activity appeared normal in Niemann-Pick group C fibroblasts. No reduction of sphingomyelinase or glucocerebrosidase activities was found in Niemann-Pick group C liver, nor any attenuation of cathodic sphingomyelinase activity in the affected tissue. Results suggest that sphingomyelinase expression differs in fibroblasts and liver. Enzyme defects associated with Niemann-Pick disease group C were only observed in cultured cells.     

Amino acid-specific ADP-ribosylation

[adenine-U-14C]ADP-ribose-agmatine and [adenine-U-14C ))ADP-ribose-histone were synthesized by an NAD:arginine ADP-ribosyltransferase from [14C]NAD and agmatine and histone, respectively. The pseudo-first order rate constants for breakdown of the two components either in 0.4 N NaOH or in 0.4 M neutral hydroxylamine were identical. Hydroxylamine treatment of [14C]ADP-ribose-agmatine or [32P]ADP-ribose-histone yielded a single radioactive product which was separated by high pressure liquid chromatography and identified as ADP-ribose-hydroxamate by the formation of a ferric chloride complex. Hydrolysis of ADP-ribose-hydroxamate with snake venom phosphodiesterase resulted in the formation of 5'-AMP, consistent with the presence of a pyrophosphate bond. Incubation of ADP-ribose-[14C]agmatine, synthesized by the ADP-ribosyltransferase from NAD and [14C]agmatine, with 0.4 M neutral hydroxylamine resulted in the release of [14C]agmatine rather than phosphoribosyl[14C]agmatine. In addition, neither NAD nor ADP-ribose reacts with hydroxylamine; i.e. there was no evidence of nucleophilic attack by hydroxylamine at the pyrophosphate bond. The ADP-ribosyl-protein linkage formed by the NAD:arginine ADP-ribosyltransferase is considerably more stable to hydroxylamine than is the ADP-ribose-glutamate bond. The presence of ADP-ribose-arginine and ADP-ribose-glutamate synthesized by the ADP-ribosyltransferase and poly(ADP-ribose) synthetase, respectively, may be the chemical basis for the "hydroxylamine-stable" and "hydroxylamine-labile" bonds described by Hilz (Hilz, H. (1981) Hoppe-Seyler's Z. Physiol. Chem. 362, 1415-1425).     

Pertussis toxin inhibits enkephalin stimulation of GTPase of NG108-15 cells

In neuroblastoma-glioma (NG108-15) hybrid cells, opiates inhibit adenylate cyclase and stimulate a low Km GTPase. It has been postulated that the stimulation of GTPase plays a role in opiate inhibition of adenylate cyclase (Koski, G., and Klee, W. A. (1981) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78, 4185-4189). Treatment of NG108-15 cells with pertussis toxin attenuates receptor-mediated inhibition of adenylate cyclase. The toxin acts by catalyzing the ADP-ribosylation of a 41,000-dalton substrate believed to be a part of the receptor-adenylate cyclase complex. We have found that toxin treatment of NG108-15 results in inhibition of the opiate-stimulated GTPase. The concentration of toxin required for inhibition of this GTPase was similar to that needed for both attenuation of opiate inhibition of adenylate cyclase and ADP ribosylation of the 41,000-dalton substrate. Inhibition of the opiate-induced GTPase by pertussis toxin in isolated membranes required NAD, consistent with the hypothesis that this effect of the toxin resulted from ADP ribosylation of a protein component of the system. Since the opiate-stimulated GTPase is believed to play a role in the receptor-mediated decrease in adenylate cyclase activity, inhibition of this GTPase may be an important part of the mechanism by which the toxin interferes with opiate action on adenylate cyclase.     

Distance measurement between the active site and cysteine-177 of the alkali one light chain of subfragment 1 from rabbit skeletal muscle

F?rster energy-transfer techniques have been applied to labeled myosin subfragment 1 from rabbit skeletal muscle to determine an intramolecular distance and whether this distance changes during magnesium-dependent ATPase activity. The alkali one light chain was labeled at Cys-177 with N-(iodoacetyl)-N'-(5-sulfo-1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine (1,5-IAEDANS) and then exchanged into subfragment 1. High specificity of labeling was indicated by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of a tryptic digest of the labeled light chain. 2'(3')-O-(2,4,6-Trinitrophenyl)adenosine 5'-diphosphate (TNP-ADP) was bound to the labeled protein at the ATPase active site. The efficiency of energy transfer between the probes was 0.09 when measured by both steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence. Anisotropy measurements of the bound AEDANS indicated considerable freedom of motion of the probe. The probable distance between the probes was 57 A. This distance was unchanged during triphosphatase activity. Two further sites of TNP-ADP interaction with subfragment 1 were found. The effect of these interactions on the energy-transfer measurements was reduced to a minimum by careful choice of reaction conditions.     

Natural selection under population regulation

The dynamical behavior of multi-allele, one-locus systems is analyzed under population regulation. Weak selection is assumed. It is shown that for sufficiently large times, t, the nth time derivative of the population number N(t) is of order n}+1 in the selection coefficients. These order relations imply there is an asymptotic “quasi-equilibrium” in which population size and mean fitness change slowly relative to changes in gene frequencies. Consistent with the results of other authors, in quasi-equilibrium the mean fitness is second-order in the selection coefficients. In an effort to understand dynamic behavior beyond the immediate neighborhood of equilibrium, the topology of mean fitness surfaces is explored. In general, population regulation leads to regions of decreasing mean fitness in which there are important changes in gene frequencies. To illustrate this and other related phenomena, I analyze models in which there is logarithmic population control, and in which genotypic fitnesses W_i(x) are linear in the allele frequencies x. Exact solutions for mean fitness W(x) are obtained for two- and three-allele systems with symmetric fertilities and mortalities.     

FLAGELLAR ELONGATION AND SHORTENING IN CHLAMYDOMONAS : The Use of Cycloheximide and Colchicine to Study the Synthesis and Assembly of Flagellar Proteins

Flagella can be removed from the biflagellate Chlamydomonas and the cells begin to regenerate flagella almost immediately by deceleratory kinetics. Under usual conditions of deflagellation, more than 98% of all flagella are removed. Under less drastic conditions, cells can be selected in which one flagellum is removed and the other left intact. When only one of the two flagella is amputated, the intact flagellum shortens by linear kinetics while the amputated one regenerates. The two flagella attain an equal intermediate length and then approach their initial length at the same rate. A concentration of cycloheximide which inhibits protein synthesis permits less than one-third of each flagellum to form when both flagella are amputated. When only one is amputated in cycloheximide, shortening proceeds normally and the degree of elongation in the amputated flagellum is greater than if both were amputated in the presence of cycloheximide. The shortening process is therefore independent of protein synthesis, and the protein from the shortening flagellum probably enters the pool of precursors available for flagellar formation. Partial regeneration of flagella occurs in concentrations of cycloheximide inhibitory to protein synthesis suggesting that some flagellar precursors are present. Cycloheximide and flagellar pulse-labeling studies indicate that precursor is used during the first part of elongation, is resynthesized at mid-elongation, and approaches its original level as the flagella reach their initial length. Colchicine completely blocks regeneration without affecting protein synthesis, and extended exposure of deflagellated cells to colchicine increases the amount of flagellar growth upon transfer to cycloheximide. When colchicine is applied to cells with only one flagellum removed, shortening continues normally but regeneration is blocked. Therefore, colchicine can be used to separate the processes of shortening and elongation. Radioautographic studies of the growth zone of Chlamydomonas flagella corroborate previous findings that assembly is occurring at the distal end (tip growth) of the organelle.