Interaction of nitrogenase with nucleotide analogs of ATP and ADP and the effect of metal ions on ADP inhibition

The interaction of a large number of ATP and ADP analogs with nitrogenase from Azotobacter vinelandii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Clostridium pasteurianum has been examined. Only 1,N6-etheno-ATP and 2'-deoxy-ATP served as substrates for acetylene reduction. Other triphosphates including GTP, ITP, 8-Br-ATP, alpha,beta-methylene ATP, beta,gamma-methylene ATP, 6-chloropurine riboside triphosphate, and AMP-PNP were inert, showing less than 50% inhibition at levels up to two- to fivefold greater than ATP. Xanthosine triphosphate behaved simply as a chelator of magnesium, activating the enzyme at low levels but strongly inhibiting at high levels. When nucleotide diphosphates were tested as inhibitors with enzyme from A. vinelandii, GDP, dGDP, and 6-chloropurine riboside diphosphate were ineffective, XDP was three- to fivefold less effective, and dADP and 1,N6-etheno-ADP were about equally as effective as ADP. With enzyme from C. pasteurianum, dADP was twofold less effective than ADP, XDP was fivefold less effective, and IDP and 1,N6-etheno-ADP appeared to be ineffective. Results with enzyme from K. pneumoniae were very similar to those obtained with A. vinelandii. Different metal ions were tested in the presence of both ATP and ADP to determine whether preferential binding to one nucleotide or the other might alter the ADP/ATP ratio needed for 50% inhibition of activity. Magnesium and manganese gave the same ratio, while with Fe and Co, slightly less ADP was required for equivalent inhibition. Nickel appeared to reduce the sensitivity of A. vinelandii nitrogenase to ADP inhibition while increasing that of C. pasteurianum, but both effects were less than twofold. Calcium, strontium, and aluminum ions were inert with enzymes from these organisms. Cd and Zn were also ineffective with K. pneumoniae. Two isomers of ATP beta S were prepared by enzymatic synthesis from ADP beta S. The A form was a more potent inhibitor of A. vinelandii nitrogenase.     

Chemical modification of spinach ferredoxin with diethylpyrocarbonate: evidence for the essential nature of the histidyl residue

Spinach ferredoxin contains a single ferredoxin which can be chemically modified with diethylpyrocarbonate. By varying the concentration of diethylpyrocarbonate modified ferredoxins could be prepared which had only one or both of the imidazole nitrogens of the histidine modified. A small amount of tyrosine was also modified. Ferredoxin with only one of the imidazole nitrogens modified was fully active in NADP photoreduction by chloroplast membranes. This activity was lost as the second imidazole nitrogen was modified. The results suggest an essential role for the single histidine of ferredoxin.     

Localization and quantitation of proteins characteristic of the complexed membrane of Bacillus subtilis

We prepared antibodies to four proteins (molecular weights, 68,000, 64,000, 45,000, and 31,000) that are characteristic of the complexed (ribosome-bearing) fraction of the membrane of Bacillus subtilis and found that these proteins are immunologically distinct. Quantitation by immunoprecipitation confirmed that the ribosome-free membrane fraction contains much lower concentrations of these four proteins than the complexed-membrane fraction. The 64-kilodalton protein appeared to be attached more loosely than the other proteins, since it was more readily extracted from the membrane. In addition, this protein was also present in the cytosol in an even greater amount than in the membrane. The 68-, 64-, and 31-kilodalton proteins are present in cells in stoichiometrically equivalent amounts.     

Control of the ornithine cycle in Neurospora crassa by the mitochondrial membrane.

In Neurospora crassa, the mitochondrial membrane separates ornithine used in arginine biosynthesis from ornithine used in the arginine degradative pathway in the cytosol. Ornithine easily exchanges across the mitochondrial membrane under conditions appropriate for synthesis of the immediate biosynthetic product, citrulline. Neither of the two mitochondrial enzymes required for the ornithine-to-citrulline conversion is feedback inhibitable in vitro. Nevertheless, when arginine is added to cells and cytosolic ornithine increases as arginine degradation begins, the rate of citrulline synthesis drops immediately to about 20% of normal (B. J. Bowman and R. H. Davis, Bacteriol. 130:285-291, 1977). We have studied this phenomenon in citrulline-accumulating strains carrying the arg-1 mutation. Citrulline accumulation is blocked when arginine is added to an arg-1 strain but not to an arg-1 strain carrying a mutation conferring insensitivity of intramitochondrial ornithine synthesis to arginine. Thus, ornithine is evidently unable to enter mitochondria in normal (feedback-sensitive) cells. Other experiments show that cytosolic ornithine enters mitochondria readily except when arginine or other basic amino acids are present at high levels in the cells. We conclude that in N. crassa, the mitochondrial membrane has evolved as a secondary site of feedback inhibition in arginine synthesis and that this prevents a wasteful cycling of catabolic ornithine back through the anabolic pathway. This is compared to the quite different mechanism by which the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae prevents a futile ornithine cycle.     

Osmoregulation of alkaline phosphatase synthesis in Escherichia coli K-12.

Alkaline phosphatase, the phoA product, is synthesized constitutively in phoR mutants. This constitutive synthesis, which is independent of phosphate control, varies with changes in the osmolarity of the growth medium; phoA expression increases with increasing osmolarity. Maximum expression of the osmoregulated genes phoA, ompC, and ompF was achieved by osmotic manipulation of minimal medium; complex media repressed their expression.     

Chemically Defined Medium for Cultivation of Several Epiphytic and Phytopathogenic Spiroplasmas

A chemically defined medium, LD82, was formulated for in vitro cultivation of spiroplasmas. Medium LD82 supported good growth for four epiphytic and insect-pathogenic spiroplasmas, Spiroplasma floricola 23-6^T, Spiroplasma sp. strain SR3, Spiroplasma sp. strain brevi, and Spiroplasma sp. strain AS576, and of the phytopathogenic spiroplasmas Spiroplasma citri Maroc R8A2^T and PC1. Titers of all six strains grown in defined medium LD82 reached 2.0 × 10⁹ to 6.0 × 10⁹ CFU/ml of culture. All spiroplasma strains tested formed colonies readily on agar medium LD82. None of the spiroplasmas formed typical fried-egg colonies. All formed diffuse colonies, but the forms of colonies differed somewhat among the spiroplasma strains. In preliminary studies of nutritional requirements, phospholipids slightly enhanced the growth of the epiphytic and insect-pathogenic strains in medium LD82 and were found essential for good growth of S. citri.     

Structure of human erythrocyte spectrin. II. The sequence of the alpha-I domain

The complete sequence of 595 amino acids of the alpha-I domain of human erythrocyte spectrin has been determined. Peptides derived from three different protease cleavages were purified using high performance liquid chromatography and subjected to automated amino acid sequence analysis. These data along with sequences of the cyanogen bromide and large tryptic peptides (Speicher, D.W., Davis, G., Yurchenco, P.D., and Marchesi, V.T. (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 14931-14937) represent most or all of the sequence of spectrin alpha-I. The single remaining ambiguity is the precise termination of the COOH terminus of the alpha-I domain. The sequence data suggest that the 595 residues presented here represent the complete sequence of the alpha-I domain, but the apparent size of the COOH-terminal CNBr fragment suggests the existence of an additional 38 residues at the end of the domain. The sequence of the alpha-I domain contains a single type of internal homology composed of multiple 106-amino acid repeats consistent with the occurrence of multiple gene duplications during the course of spectrin evolution. The only portion of the alpha-I sequence which does not appear to contain this sequence repeat is the segment containing the NH2-terminal 17 residues. This unique segment may be part of the oligomer binding site. No disulfide bonds appear to be involved in the structure of alpha-I and cysteine is not highly conserved. Calculations of secondary structure suggest the presence of short helices which fold into triple helical segments approximately 50 A in length. There is little beta sheet structure. A model of spectrin structure incorporating the repeat unit and proposed secondary structure is presented. A computer search of alpha-I sequence with the National Biomedical Research Foundation database of 2145 protein sequences did not detect any significant relationships. Spectrin is apparently the first member of a new class of proteins to be structurally characterized.     

Complete nucleotide sequence of the nucleoprotein gene of influenza B virus.

A DNA copy of influenza B/Singapore/222/79 viral RNA segment 5, containing the gene coding for the nucleoprotein (NP), has been cloned in Escherichia coli plasmid pBR322, and its nucleotide sequence has been determined. The influenza B NP gene contains 1,839 nucleotides and codes for a protein of 560 amino acids with a molecular weight of 61,593. Comparison of the influenza B NP amino acid sequence with that of influenza A NP (A/PR/8/34) reveals 37% direct homology in the aligned regions, indicating a common ancestor. However, influenza B NP has an additional 50 amino acids at its N-terminal end. As is the case with influenza A NP, influenza B NP is a basic protein, with its charged residues relatively evenly distributed rather than clustered. The structural homology suggests functional similarity between the NP of influenza A and B viruses.     

Do benzodiazepine receptors mediate the anticonflict action of pentobarbital?

The effects of the benzodiazepine antagonist CGS 8216 (2-phenylpyrazolo[4,3-c]quinoline-3(5H)-one) were examined in a thirsty rat conflict test in the presence and absence of pentobarbital. CGS 8216 (2.5-10 mg/kg i.p.) did not affect nonpunished responding, but doses of 5 and 10 mg/kg significantly reduced the rate of punished responding (i.e., the number of 3 second drinking episodes in a "shock" contingency). However, a dose of CGS 8216 which did not significantly alter punished responding (2.5 mg/kg) antagonized the anticonflict actions of pentobarbital. These observations suggest that while high doses of CGS 8216 may elicit an "anxiogenic" response in rodents, lower doses of CGS 8216 antagonize the anticonflict actions of a compound which has been shown to enhance benzodiazepine affinity in vitro. These data imply that the anticonflict actions of pentobarbital may be mediated through benzodiazepine receptors.