Glucosylation of Salicyl Alcohol by Gardenia jasminoides Cell Cultures

Cultured cells of Gardenia jasminoides produced both salicinand isosalicin from exogenously supplied salicyl alcohol. Theglucosylation activity of the cells was highest in the exponentialphase of growth and ca. 70% of the added substrate was convertedto the glucosides within 4 days. The rate of glucosylation wasalso dependent on the medium composition such as auxin and sucroseconcentrations. The ratio of salicin to isosalicin formed fromsalicyl alcohol was influenced by the growth stage of the culturedcells. Salicin was converted to isosalicin when exogenouslyadded to the culture. (Received October 11, 1985; Accepted March 10, 1986)     

Chemical modification by diethylpyrocarbonate of an essential histidine residue in 3-ketovalidoxylamine A C-N lyase

3-Ketovalidoxylamine A C-N lyase of Flavobacterium saccharophilum is a monomeric protein with a molecular weight of 36,000. Amino acid analysis revealed that the enzyme contains 5 histidine residues and no cysteine residue. The enzyme was inactivated by diethylpyrocarbonate (DEP) following pseudo-first order kinetics. Upon treatment of the inactivated enzyme with hydroxylamine, the enzyme activity was completely restored. The difference absorption spectrum of the modified versus native enzyme exhibited a prominent peak around 240 nm, but there was no absorbance change above 270 nm. The pH-dependence of inactivation suggested the involvement of an amino acid residue having a pKa of 6.8. These results indicate that the inactivation is due to the modification of histidine residues. Substrates of the lyase, p-nitrophenyl-3-ketovalidamine, p-nitrophenyl-alpha-D-3-ketoglucoside, and methyl-alpha-D-3-ketoglucoside, protected the enzyme against the inactivation, suggesting that the modification occurred at or near the active site. Although several histidine residues were modified by DEP, a plot of log (reciprocal of the half-time of inactivation) versus log (concentration of DEP) suggested that one histidine residue has an essential role in catalysis.     

On the degradation of dermorphin and D-Arg2-dermorphin analogs by a soluble rat brain extract

Degradation of dermorphin, [D-Arg2]dermorphin and [D-Arg2, Gly3, Phe4]dermorphin in a soluble rat brain extract was examined. The former two heptapeptides were degraded in a similar fashion to produce corresponding N-terminal tetrapeptide as the main degradation product along with the parallel release of Tyr5, Pro6 and Ser7-NH2. Tyr-D-Arg-Phe-Gly showed a good enzymatic stability. When captopril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, was present in the incubation mixture, hydrolysis of the Gly4-Tyr5 bond was markedly suppressed and resulted in release of the corresponding N-terminal hexapeptide as the main degradation product. Combined use of captopril and amastatin, an aminopeptidase inhibitor, markedly suppressed the hydrolysis of these peptides. On the other hand, [D-Arg2, Gly3, Phe4]dermorphin was hydrolyzed easier than the other two heptapeptides and considerable amounts of Tyr1 and Phe4 were released after 20 hr incubation while the N-terminal tetrapeptide, Tyr-D-Arg-Gly-Phe, showed a good enzymatic stability. On the basis of these results, possible degradation pathways of these heptapeptides were discussed.     

Synergistic induction of ornithine decarboxylase by diacylglycerol, A23187, and cholera toxin in guinea pig lymphocytes

When guinea pig lymphocytes were cultured with 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-glycerol (OAG), A23187, and cholera toxin, ornithine decarboxylase activity was induced synergistically, peaking at 6 h. Addition of 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol 13-acetate (TPA), A23187, and dibutyryl cAMP caused the same kind of induction. Cholera toxin potentiated the ability of A23187 to induce ornithine decarboxylase, but not that of OAG. Dibutyryl cAMP augmented the induction caused by A23187 but not by TPA. These results suggest that both the activation of Ca++-sensitive, phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase C) and the increase in intracellular levels of Ca++ and cAMP are necessary for this induction. cAMP may potentiate the induction by modulating a Ca++ messenger system other than that for protein kinase C activation.     

Induction of ornithine decarboxylase in guinea-pig lymphocytes. Synergistic effect of diacylglycerol and calcium

Calmodulin antagonists, N-(6-aminohexyl)-5-chloro-1-naphthalenesulfonamide (W-7), N-(6-aminohexyl)-1-naphthalenesulfonamide (W-5) and trifluoperazine inhibited ornithine decarboxylase induction in lymphocytes activated with phytohemagglutinin or inophore A23187. W-7, a more potent calmodulin antagonist than W-5, suppressed ornithine decarboxylase induction in a higher extent than did W-5. These results suggest that calmodulin may play an important role in ornithine decarboxylase induction in the activated lymphocytes. However, the extent of ornithine decarboxylase induction was greater in cells pretreated with Clostridium phospholipase C and then incubated with ionophore A23187 than in cells incubated with ionophore A23187 without the pretreatment. Moreover, combined treatment of cells with ionophore A23187 and tumor promotor, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, caused synergistic induction of ornithine decarboxylase activity. These results, taken together, suggest that both activations of Ca2+-activated phospholipid-dependent protein kinase by diacylglycerol and of calmodulin-dependent function resulted from an elevation of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration may operate in the induction of ornithine decarboxylase in the activated lymphocytes.     

Affinity of chromatin constituents for isopeptidase

Isopeptidase is a novel eukaryotic enzyme that cleaves a structural chromatin protein, A24, stoichiometrically into H2A and ubiquitin. To understand the rapid turnover of ubiquitin in mitosis as wells as the high specific activity of the enzyme associated with metaphase chromosomes, attempts were made to determine chromatin constituents that show high affinity for this enzyme. Endogenous protease-free isopeptidase was prepared from calf thymus and applied to a Sepharose 4B affinity column on which histones, DNA, NHCP and ubiquitin were respectively immobilized. The enzyme proved to bind only histones. To further determine which of the histone fractions is involved, affinity columns with each histone fraction were also used. The enzyme showed affinity for all histone fractions. However, the strength of affinity varied in the order H2A>H³ H2B≥H4?H1, being inversely correlated with the ratio of basic/acidic amino acids in these molecules. These results suggest that the turnover of A24 in mitosis is controlled, at least in part, by the affinity of enzyme for histones, and also that such affinity is caused by a mechanism which cannot be explained simply by the electrostatic interaction between negatively charged enzyme molecules and positively charged histones.     

Purification and characterization of myosin light-chain kinase from porcine myometrium and its phosphorylation and modulation by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase

Myosin light-chain kinase was purified from porcine myometrium to apparent homogeneity at about 262-fold with an Mr of 130 000 as determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and a sedimentation coefficient of 4.5 S. The approximate content of the soluble myosin light-chain kinase was estimated to be about 0.85 microM. The purified enzyme exhibited strict substrate specificity only for 20-kDa myosin light chain and Ka values of 0.6 nM and 0.3 microM for calmodulin and Ca2+, respectively. The enzyme was phosphorylated by the catalytic subunit of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, which resulted in a decrease in the affinity for calmodulin of 4-7-fold without effect on the Vmax. The maximal amount of phosphate incorporated into the enzyme was 0.5-0.8 and 1.0-1.4 mol per mol of the enzyme in the presence and absence of Ca2+ and calmodulin, respectively. In the presence of a subsaturating concentration of calmodulin, the enzyme showed a lower sensitivity for Ca2+ by phosphorylation.     

Serologic dissection of HLA-D specificities by the use of monoclonal antibodies

To study the gene products of the HLA complex, we produced two monoclonal antibodies, termed HU-18 and HU-23. They were active in complement-dependent cytotoxicity and detected B-cell alloantigens encoded by a locus (or loci) linked to HLA. When three types of HLA-DR4 homozygous B-cell lines with different HLA-D specificities were tested for reactivity with HU-18 and HU-23, they displayed distinct reaction patterns depending on the HLA-D specificities they possessed: EBV-Wa (HLA-DYT homozygous), negative for both HU-18 and HU-23; KT2 and KOB (HLA-DKT2 homozygous), positive only for HU-18; and ER (HLA-Dw4 homozygous), positive for both. These differential reaction patterns were further confirmed by testing against a panel of 17 HLA-DR4-positive peripheral blood lymphocytes with known HLA-D specificities. Thus, these monoclonal antibodies allow us to identify HLA-DYT, HLA-DKT2, and HLA-Dw4 solely by serologic methods. This is the first clearcut serologic identification of these three HLA-DR4-associated HLA-D specificities, which have been indistinguishable by conventional serology and identified only by cellular techniques. It is hoped that immunochemical investigations using HU-18 and HU-23 will advance our understanding of the HLA-D region on a molecular level.