Effects of salinity and temperature on reproductive and life span characteristics of clonal Artemia. (International Study on Artemia. LXVI)

An apomictic clone of the tetraploid parthenogenetic Artemia population from M. Embolon (Thessaloniki, Greece) was assayed for 10 reproductive and life span characteristics under laboratory conditions (in various salinity and temperature regimes). Salinity was proved to have significant impact on the majority of the characters used in this study. Discriminant function analysis gave an overall prediction of 97.32% over the three salinities (50, 80 and 120 ppt). The temperature of 30°C seemed to be an extreme one affecting significantly nearly all of the studied variables. The overall prediction according to the discriminant analysis was 94.69% among the three temperatures (22, 26 and 30°C). The clone performed best at 80 ppt and 22°C. The data presented in this study may generate useful suggestions to investigate the potentiality of using a single genetic lineage in order to visualize the effects of different environmental cues on a specific clone.     

Requirements for Cu(A) and Cu-S center assembly of nitrous oxide reductase deduced from complete periplasmic enzyme maturation in the nondenitrifier Pseudomonas putida

Bacterial nitrous oxide (N(2)O) reductase is the terminal oxidoreductase of a respiratory process that generates dinitrogen from N(2)O. To attain its functional state, the enzyme is subjected to a maturation process which involves the protein-driven synthesis of a unique copper-sulfur cluster and metallation of the binuclear Cu(A) site in the periplasm. There are seven putative maturation factors, encoded by nosA, nosD, nosF, nosY, nosL, nosX, and sco. We wanted to determine the indispensable proteins by expressing nos genes from Pseudomonas stutzeri in the nondenitrifying organism Pseudomonas putida. An in silico study of denitrifying bacteria revealed that nosL, nosX (or a homologous gene, apbE), and sco, but not nosA, coexist consistently with the N(2)O reductase structural gene and other maturation genes. Nevertheless, we found that expression of only three maturation factors (periplasmic protein NosD, cytoplasmic NosF ATPase, and the six-helix integral membrane protein NosY) together with nosRZ in trans was sufficient to produce catalytically active holo-N(2)O reductase in the nondenitrifying background. We suggest that these obligatory factors are required for Cu-S center assembly. Using a mutational approach with P. stutzeri, we also studied NosA, the Cu-containing outer membrane protein previously thought to have Cu insertase function, and ScoP, a putative membrane-anchored chaperone for Cu(A) metallation. Both of these were found to be dispensable elements for N(2)O reductase biosynthesis. Our experimental and in silico data were integrated in a model of N(2)O reductase maturation.     

The genome sequence of Yersinia pestis bacteriophage phiA1122 reveals an intimate history with the coliphage T3 and T7 genomes

The genome sequence of bacteriophage phiA1122 has been determined. phiA1122 grows on almost all isolates of Yersinia pestis and is used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a diagnostic agent for the causative agent of plague. phiA1122 is very closely related to coliphage T7; the two genomes are colinear, and the genome-wide level of nucleotide identity is about 89%. However, a quarter of the phiA1122 genome, one that includes about half of the morphogenetic and maturation functions, is significantly more closely related to coliphage T3 than to T7. It is proposed that the yersiniophage phiA1122 recombined with a close relative of the Y. enterocolitica phage phiYeO3-12 to yield progeny phages, one of which became the classic T3 coliphage of Demerec and Fano (M. Demerec and U. Fano, Genetics 30:119-136, 1945).     

Identification,purification, and characterization of an eukaryotic-like phosphopantetheine adenylyltransferase (coenzyme A biosynthetic pathway) in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus abyssi

Although coenzymeA (CoA) is essential in numerous metabolic pathways in all living cells, molecular characterization of the CoA biosynthetic pathway in Archaea remains undocumented. Archaeal genomes contain detectable homologues for only three of the five steps of the CoA biosynthetic pathway characterized in Eukarya and Bacteria. In case of phosphopantetheine adenylyltransferase (PPAT) (EC 2.7.7.3), the putative archaeal enzyme exhibits significant sequence similarity only with its eukaryotic homologs, an unusual situation for a protein involved in a central metabolic pathway. We have overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and characterized this putative PPAT from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus abyssi (PAB0944). Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography measurements are consistent with the presence of a dephospho-CoA (dPCoA) molecule tightly bound to the polypeptide. The protein indeed catalyzes the synthesis of dPCoA from 4'-phosphopantetheine and ATP, as well as the reverse reaction. The presence of dPCoA stabilizes PAB0944, as it induces a shift from 76 to 82 degrees C of the apparent Tm measured by differential scanning microcalorimetry. Potassium glutamate was found to stabilize the protein at 400 mm. The enzyme behaves as a monomeric protein. Although only distantly related, secondary structure prediction indicates that archaeal and eukaryal PPAT belong to the same nucleotidyltransferase superfamily of bacterial PPAT. The existence of operational proteins highly conserved between Archaea and Eukarya involved in a central metabolic pathway challenge evolutionary scenarios in which eukaryal operational proteins are strictly of bacterial origin.     

Structure of an integrin-ligand complex deduced from solution x-ray scattering and site-directed mutagenesis

The structural basis of the interaction of integrin heterodimers with their physiological ligands is poorly understood. We have used solution x-ray scattering to visualize the head region of integrin alpha 5 beta 1 in an inactive (Ca2+-occupied) state, and in complex with a fragment of fibronectin containing the RGD and synergy recognition sequences. Shape reconstructions of the data have been interpreted in terms of appropriate molecular models. The scattering data suggest that the head region undergoes no gross conformational changes upon ligand binding but do lend support to a proposed outward movement of the hybrid domain in the beta subunit. Fibronectin is observed to bind across the top of the head region, which contains an alpha subunit beta-propeller and a beta subunit vWF type A domain. The model of the complex indicates that the synergy region binds on the side of the beta-propeller domain. In support of this suggestion, mutagenesis of a prominent loop region on the side of the propeller identifies two residues (Tyr208 and Ile210) involved in recognition of the synergy region. Our data provide the first view of a complex between an integrin and a macromolecular ligand in solution, at a nominal resolution of approximately 10 A.     

Pyridoxal phosphate inhibits dynamic subunit interchange among serine hydroxymethyltransferase tetramers

Cytoplasmic serine hydroxymethyltransferase (cSHMT) is a tetrameric, pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the reversible interconversion of serine and tetrahydrofolate to glycine and methylenetetrahydrofolate. The enzyme has four active sites and is best described as a dimer of obligate dimers. Each monomeric subunit within the obligate dimer contributes catalytically important amino acid residues to both active sites. To investigate the interchange of subunits among cSHMT tetramers, a dominant-negative human cSHMT enzyme (DNcSHMT) was engineered by making three amino acid substitutions: K257Q, Y82A, and Y83F. Purified recombinant DNcSHMT protein was catalytically inactive and did not bind 5-formyltetrahydrofolate. Coexpression of the cSHMT and DNcSHMT proteins in bacteria resulted in the formation of heterotetramers with a cSHMT/DNcSHMT subunit ratio of 1. Characterization of the cSHMT/DNcSHMT heterotetramers indicates that DNcSHMT and cSHMT monomers randomly associate to form tetramers and that cSHMT/DNcSHMT obligate dimers are catalytically inactive. Incubation of recombinant cSHMT protein with recombinant DNcSHMT protein did not result in the formation of hetero-oligomers, indicating that cSHMT subunits do not exchange once the tetramer is assembled. However, removal of the active site PLP cofactor does permit exchange of obligate dimers among preformed cSHMT and DNcSHMT tetramers, and the formation of heterotetramers from cSHMT and DNcSHMT homodimers does not affect the activity of the cSHMT homodimers. The results of these studies demonstrate that PLP inhibits dimer exchange among cSHMT tetramers and suggests that cellular PLP concentrations may influence the stability of cSHMT protein in vivo.     

MAP kinase-dependent degradation of p27Kip1 by calpains in choroidal melanoma cells. Requirement of p27Kip1 nuclear export

We investigated the status and the regulation of the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) inhibitor p27(Kip1) in a choroidal melanoma tumor-derived cell line (OCM-1). By contrast to normal choroidal melanocytes, the expression level of p27(Kip1) was low in these cells and the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway was constitutively activated. Genetic or chemical inhibition of this pathway induced p27(Kip1) accumulation, whereas MAP kinase reactivation triggered a down-regulation of p27(Kip1) that could be partially reversed by calpain inhibitors. In good accordance, ectopic expression of the cellular calpain inhibitor calpastatin led to an increase of endogenous p27(Kip1) expression. In vitro, p27(Kip1) was degraded by calpains, and OCM-1 cell extracts contained a calcium-dependent p27(Kip1) degradation activity. MAP kinase inhibition partially inhibited both calpain activity and calcium-dependent p27(Kip1) degradation by cellular extracts. Immunofluorescence labeling and subcellular fractionation revealed that p27(Kip1) was in part localized in the cytoplasmic compartment of OCM-1 cells but not of melanocytes, and accumulated into the nucleus upon MAP kinase inhibition. MAP kinase activation triggered a cytoplasmic translocation of the protein, as well as a change in its phosphorylation status. This CRM-1-dependent cytoplasmic translocation was necessary for MAP kinase- and calpain-dependent degradation. Taken together, these data suggest that in tumor-derived cells, p27(Kip1) could be degraded by calpains through a MAP kinase-dependent process, and that abnormal cytoplasmic localization of the protein, probably linked to modifications of its phosphorylation state, could be involved in this alternative mechanism of degradation.     

Repair of oxidative DNA damage

Cellular genomes suffer extensive damage from exogenous agents and reactive oxygen species formed during normal metabolism. The MutT homologs (MutT/MTH) remove oxidized nucleotide precursors so that they cannot be incorporated into DNA during replication. Among many repair pathways, the base excision repair (BER) pathway is the most important cellular protection mechanism responding to oxidative DNA damage. The 8-oxoG glycosylases (Fpg or MutM/OGG) and the MutY homologs (MutY/MYH) glycosylases along with MutT/MTH protect cells from the mutagenic effects of 8-oxoG, the most stable and deleterious product known caused by oxidative damage to DNA. The key enzymes in the BER process are DNA glycosylases, which remove different damaged bases by cleavage of the N-glycosylic bonds between the bases and the deoxyribose moieties of the nucleotide residues. Biochemical and structural studies have demonstrated the substrate recognition and reaction mechanism of BER enzymes. Cocrystal structures of strated the substrate recognition and reaction mechanism of BER enzymes. Cocrystal structures of several glycosylases show that the substrate base flips out of the sharply bent DNA helix and the minor groove is widened to be accessed by the glycosylases. To complete the repair after glycosylase action, the apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) site is further processed by an incision step, DNA synthesis, an excision step, and DNA ligation through two alternative pathways. The short-patch BER (1-nucleotide patch size) and long-patch BER (2–6-nucleotide patch size) pathways need AP endonuclease to generate a 3′ hydroxyl group but require different sets of enzymes for DNA synthesis and ligation. Protein-protein interactions have been reported among the enzymes involved in BER. It is possible that the successive players in the repair pathway are assembled in a complex to perform concerted actions. The BER pathways are proposed to protect cells and organisms from mutagenesis and carcinogenesis.     

A recombinant β-O-glucosidase from Caldocellum saccharolyticum to hydrolyse desulfo-glucosinolates

Glucosinolates, natural compounds found in Brassicaceae, can easily be transformed into desulfo-glucosinolates by action of Helix pomatia sulfatase. The recombinant -O-glucosidase from Caldocellum saccharolyticum does not catalyse glucosinolate degradation but can hydrolyse desulfo-glucosinolates (thio-d-glucosidic substrates) to produce the corresponding pure nitriles, including valuable homochiral representatives.     

Development of In Vivo Sponge Cultures: Particle Feeding by the Tropical Sponge Pseudosuberites aff. andrewsi

The rate of food particle uptake of the tropical sponge Pseudosuberites aff. andrewsi was studied in relation to particle concentrations and particle size. A range of different concentrations of either the marine microalga Dunaliella tertiolecta (∼5–8 μm) or the marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. (∼1 μm) was supplied to the sponges. D. tertiolecta had a pronounced effect on the filtration activity of the sponges: at concentrations higher than approximately 4 × 10⁵ cells/cm³, the filtration rates dropped dramatically. Such a clear effect was not found for Synechococcus sp. The results further showed that the maximal amount of food (when expressed in organic carbon) that can be taken up per cubic centimeter of sponge volume per unit of time should in principle be sufficient to enable growth (irrespective of the food particle type). At the maximal food particle concentration that did not affect the filtration rates, the uptake of organic carbon is already highly in excess of the amount of organic carbon that the sponges need to cope with their respiratory demand. Based on these findings, a series of growth experiments was carried out in which the sponges were subjected to a constant concentration of different types of food particles (Synechococcus sp. and the microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana and Nannochloropsis sp). Although initial growth was sometimes observed, continuous growth at a constant rate could not be obtained. It is concluded that qualitative aspects of feeding rather than quantitative aspects are the key to successful in vivo sponge culture. Received December 20, 2000; accepted March 26, 2001