MCM2-7 complexes bind chromatin in a distributed pattern surrounding the origin recognition complex in Xenopus egg extracts

The MCM2-7 complex is believed to function as the eukaryotic replicative DNA helicase. It is recruited to chromatin by the origin recognition complex (ORC), Cdc6, and Cdt1, and it is activated at the G(1)/S transition by Cdc45 and the protein kinases Cdc7 and Cdk2. Paradoxically, the number of chromatin-bound MCM complexes greatly exceeds the number of bound ORC complexes. To understand how the high MCM2-7:ORC ratio comes about, we examined the binding of these proteins to immobilized linear DNA fragments in Xenopus egg extracts. The minimum length of DNA required to recruit ORC and MCM2-7 was approximately 80 bp, and the MCM2-7:ORC ratio on this fragment was approximately 1:1. With longer DNA fragments, the MCM2-7:ORC ratio increased dramatically, indicating that MCM complexes normally become distributed over a large region of DNA surrounding ORC. Only a small subset of the chromatin-bound MCM2-7 complexes recruited Cdc45 at the onset of DNA replication, and unlike Cdc45, MCM2-7 was not limiting for DNA replication. However, all the chromatin-bound MCM complexes may be functional, because they were phosphorylated in a Cdc7-dependent fashion, and because they could be induced to support Cdk2-dependent Cdc45 loading. The data suggest that in Xenopus egg extracts, origins of replication contain multiple, distributed, initiation-competent MCM2-7 complexes.     

Long-term circulation of vaccine-derived poliovirus that causes paralytic disease

Successful implementation of the global poliomyelitis eradication program raises the problem of vaccination against poliomyelitis in the posteradication era. One of the options under consideration envisions completely stopping worldwide the use of the Sabin vaccine. This strategy is based on the assumption that the natural circulation of attenuated strains and their derivatives is strictly limited. Here, we report the characterization of a highly evolved derivative of the Sabin vaccine strain isolated in a case of paralytic poliomyelitis from a 7-month-old immunocompetent baby in an apparently adequately immunized population. Analysis of the genome of this isolate showed that it is a double (type 1-type 2-type 1) vaccine-derived recombinant. The number of mutations accumulated in both the type 1-derived and type 2-derived portions of the recombinant genome suggests that both had diverged from their vaccine predecessors approximately 2 years before the onset of the illness. This fact, along with other recent observations, points to the possibility of long-term circulation of Sabin vaccine strain derivatives associated with an increase in their neurovirulence. Comparison of genomic sequences of this and other evolved vaccine-derived isolates reveals some general features of natural poliovirus evolution. They include a very high preponderance and nonrandom distribution of synonymous substitutions, conservation of secondary structures of important cis-acting elements of the genome, and an apparently adaptive character of most of the amino acid mutations, with only a few of them occurring in the antigenic determinants. Another interesting feature is a frequent occurrence of tripartite intertypic recombinants with either type 1 or type 3 homotypic genomic ends.     

Effect of redox potential on activity of hydrogenase 1 and hydrogenase 2 in Escherichia coli

This report elucidates the distinctions of redox properties between two uptake hydrogenases in Escherichia coli. Hydrogen uptake in the presence of mediators with different redox potential was studied in cell-free extracts of E. coli mutants HDK103 and HDK203 synthesizing hydrogenase 2 or hydrogenase 1, respectively. Both hydrogenases mediated H(2) uptake in the presence of high-potential acceptors (ferricyanide and phenazine methosulfate). H(2) uptake in the presence of low-potential acceptors (methyl and benzyl viologen) was mediated mainly by hydrogenase 2. To explore the dependence of hydrogen consumption on redox potential of media in cell-free extracts, a chamber with hydrogen and redox ( E(h)) electrodes was used. The mutants HDK103 and HDK203 exhibited significant distinctions in their redox behavior. During the redox titration, maximal hydrogenase 2 activity was observed at the E(h) below -80 mV. Hydrogenase 1 had maximum activity in the E(h) range from +30 mV to +110 mV. Unlike hydrogenase 2, the activated hydrogenase 1 retained activity after a fast shift of redox potential up to +500 mV by ferricyanide titration and was more tolerant to O(2). Thus, two hydrogenases in E. coli are complementary in their redox properties, hydrogenase 1 functioning at higher redox potentials and/or at higher O(2) concentrations than hydrogenase 2.     

Size-exclusion chromatography of enzymatically treated cellulose and related polysaccharides: a review

Size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) of wood pulp polysaccharides (cellulose and hemicelluloses) has become widely used for the analysis of these polymers, including monitoring of transformations occurring under various chemical and biological processes. The present review provides information on the different procedures and methodologies developed for the characterization of molecular mass distribution (MMD) and chemical composition of cellulose and hemicelluloses by SEC. This paper also includes the significant results obtained in the characterization of enzymatically treated wood polysaccharides. Conventional SEC with double detection (refractometric and UV), "hyphenated" with a fractional dissolution, was demonstrated to be an efficient method for simultaneous determination of MMD and chemical heterogeneity.     

Recoverin is a zinc-binding protein

Recoverin is an N-myristoylated 23 kDa calcium-binding protein from retina, which modulates the Ca2+-sensitive deactivation of rhodopsin via Ca2+-dependent inhibition of rhodopsin kinase. It was shown by intrinsic and bis-ANS probe fluorescence, circular dichroism, and differential scanning calorimetry that myristoylated recombinant recoverin interacts specifically with zinc ions. Similar to the calcium binding, the binding of zinc to Ca2+-loaded recoverin additionally increases its alpha-helical content, hydrophobic surface area, and environmental mobility/polarity of its tryptophan residues. In contrast to the calcium binding, the binding of zinc decreases thermal stability of the Ca2+-loaded protein. Zn2+-titration of recoverin, traced by bis-ANS fluorescence, reveals binding of a single Zn2+ ion per protein molecule. It was shown that the double-mutant E85Q/E121Q with inactivated Ca2+-binding EF-hands 2 and 3 (Alekseev, A. M.; Shulga-Morskoy, S. V.; Zinchenko, D. V.; Shulga-Morskaya, S. A.; Suchkov, D. V.; Vaganova, S. A.; Senin, I. I.; Zargarov, A. A.; Lipkin, V. M.; Akhtar, M.; Philippov, P. P. FEBS Lett. 1998, 440, 116-118), which can be considered as an analogue of the apo-protein, binds Zn2+ ion as well. Apparent zinc equilibrium binding constants evaluated from spectrofluorimetric Zn2+-titrations of the protein are 1.4 x 10(5) M(-1) (dissociation constant 7.1 microM) for Ca2+-loaded wild-type recoverin and 3.3 x 10(4) M(-1) (dissociation constant 30 microM) for the E85Q/E121Q mutant (analogue of apo-recoverin). Study of the binding of wild-type recoverin to ROS membranes showed a zinc-dependent increase of its affinity for the membranes, without regard to calcium content, suggesting further solvation of a protein myristoyl group upon Zn2+ binding. Possible implications of these findings to the functioning of recoverin are discussed.     

Genotyping Yersinia pestis strains from various natural foci

Seven genetic variants of Yersinia pestis were detected by finger-printing of 85 strains of this bacterium from natural foci by means of a BX probe. Variants of Y. pestis strains correlate with certain species of carriers.