Interaction of the antimalarial drug fluoroquine with DNA,tRNA, and poly(A): 19F-NMR chemical-shift and relaxation,optical absorption,and fluorescence studies

The interaction of the fluorinated antimalarial drug fluoroquine [7-fluoro-4-(diethyl-amino-1-methylbutylamino)quinoline] with DNA, tRNA, and poly(A) has been investigated by optical absorption, fluorescence, and ¹⁹F-nmr chemical-shift and relaxation methods. Optical absorption and fluorescence experiments indicate that fluoroquine binds to nucleic acids in a similar manner to that of its well-known analog chloroquine. At low drug-to-base pair ratios, binding of both drugs appears to be random. Fluoroquine and chloroquine also elevate the melting temperature (T_m) of DNA to a comparable extent. Binding of fluoroquine to DNA, tRNA, or poly(A) results in a downfield shift of about 1.5 ppm for the ¹⁹F-nmr resonance. The chemical shift of free fluoroquine depends on the isotopic composition of the solvent (D₂O vs H₂O). The solvent isotope shift is virtually eliminated by fluoroquine binding to any one of the nucleic acids. ¹⁹F-nmr relaxation experiments were carried out to measure the spin-lattice relaxation time (T₁), ¹⁹F{¹H} nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE), off-resonance intensity ratio (R), off-resonance rotating-frame spin-lattice relaxation time (T), and linewidth for fluoroquine in the nucleic acid complexes. By accounting for intramolecular proton-fluorine dipolar and chemical-shift anisotropy contributions to the fluorine relaxation, all of the relaxation parameters for the fluoroquine–DNA complex can be well described by a motional model incorporating long-range DNA bending on the order of a microsecond and an internal motion of the drug on the order of a nanosecond. Selective NOE experiments indicate that the fluorine in the drug is near the ribose protons in the RNA complexes, but not in the DNA complex. Details of the binding evidently differ for the two types of nucleic acids. This study provides the foundation for an investigation of fluoroquine in intact cells.     

The covalent structure of Acanthamoeba actobindin

Actobindin is a protein from Acanthamoeba castellanii with bivalent affinity for monomeric actin. Because it can bind two molecules of actin, actobindin is a substantially more potent inhibitor of the early phase of actin polymerization than of F-actin elongation. The complete amino acid sequence of 88 residues has been deduced from the determined sequences of overlapping peptides obtained by cleavage with trypsin, Staphylococcus V8 protease, endoproteinase Asp-N, and CNBr. Actobindin contains 2 trimethyllysine residues and an acetylated NH2 terminus. About 76% of the actobindin molecule consists of two nearly identical repeated segments of approximately 33 residues each. This could explain actobindin's bivalent affinity for actin. The circular dichroism spectrum of actobindin is consistent with 15% alpha-helix and 22% beta-sheet structure. A hexapeptide with sequence LKHAET, which occurs at the beginning of each of the repeated segments of actobindin, is very similar to sequences found in tropomyosin, muscle myosin heavy chain, paramyosin, and Dictyostelium alpha-actinin. A longer stretch in each repeated segment is similar to sequences in mammalian and amoeba profilins. Interestingly, the sequences around the trimethyllysine residues in each of the repeats are similar to the sequences flanking the trimethyllysine residue of rabbit reticulocyte elongation factor 1 alpha, but not to the sequences around the trimethyllysine residues in Acanthamoeba actin and Acanthamoeba profilins I and II.     

A novel method for the rapid cloning in Escherichia coli of Bacillus subtilis chromosomal DNA adjacent to Tn917 insertions

Summary A rapid and general procedure has been devised for the pBR322-mediated cloning in Escherichia coli of Bacillus subtilis chromosomal DNA extending in a specified direction from any Tn917 insertion. Derivatives of Tn917 have been constructed that contain a pBR322-derived replicon, together with a chloramphenicol-resistance (Cm^r) gene of Gram-positive origin (selectable in B. subtilis), inserted by ligation in two orientations into a SalI restriction site located near the center of the transposon. When linearized plasmid DNA carrying such derivatives was used to transform to Cm^r B. subtilis bacteria already containing a chromosomal insertion of Tn917, the pBR322 sequences efficiently became integrated into the chromosomal copy of the transposon by homologous recombination. It was then possible to clone chromosomal sequences adjacent to either transposon insertion junction into E. coli, using a selection for ampicillin-resistance, by transforming CaCl₂-treated cells with small amounts of insert-containing DNA that had been digested with various restriction enzymes and then ligated at a dilute concentration. Because pBR322 sequences may be inserted by recombination in either orientation with respect to the transposon arms, a single restriction enzyme (such as EcoRi or SphI) that has a unique recognition site in pBR322 DNA may be used to separately clone chromosomal DNA extending in either direction from the site of any transposon insertion. A family of clones generated from the region of an insertional spo mutation (spoIIH::Tn917) was used in Southern hybridization experiments to verify that cloned material isolated with this procedure accurately reflected the arrangement of sequences present in the chromosome. Strategies are discussed for taking advantage of certain properties inherent in the structure of clones generated in this way to facilitate the identification and study of promoters of insertionally mutated genes.     

Mechanical models for insect locomotion: dynamics and stability in the horizontal plane I. Theory

We study the dynamics and stability of legged locomotion in the horizontal plane. Motivated by experimental studies of insects, we develop two- and three-degree-of freedom rigid body models with pairs of ‘virtual’ elastic legs in intermittent contact with the ground. We focus on conservative compliant-legged models, but we also consider prescribed forces, prescribed leg displacements, and combined strategies. The resulting mechanical systems exhibit periodic gaits whose stability characteristics are due to intermittent foot contact, and are largely determined by geometrical criteria. Most strikingly, we show that mechanics alone can confer asymptotic stability in heading and body orientation. In a companion paper, we apply our results to rapidly running cockroaches. Received: 6 September 1999 / Accepted in revised form: 8 May 2000