Biochemical and immunological properties of alkaline invertase isolated from sprouting soybean hypocotyls.

Alkaline invertase from sprouting soybean (Glycine max) hypocotyls was purified to apparent electrophoretic homogeneity by consecutive use of DEAE-cellulose, green 19 dye, and Cibacron blue 3GA dye affinity chromatography. This protocol produced about a 100-fold purification with about a 11% yield. The purified protein had a specific activity of 48 mumol of glucose produced mg-1 protein min-1 (pH 7.0) and showed a single protein band in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) (58 kDa) and in native PAGE, as indicated by both protein and activity staining. The native enzyme molecular mass was about 240 kDa, suggesting a homotetrameric structure. The purified enzyme exhibited hyperbolic saturation kinetics with a Km (sucrose) near 10 mM and the enzyme did not utilize raffinose, maltose, lactose, or cellibose as a substrate. Impure alkaline invertase preparations, which contained acid invertase activity, on contrast, showed biphasic curves versus sucrose concentration. Combining equal activities of purified alkaline invertase with acid invertase resulted in a biphasic response, but there was a transition to hyperbolic saturation kinetics when the activity ratio, alkaline: acid invertase, was increased above unity. Alkaline invertase activity was inhibited by HgCl2, pridoxal phosphate, and Tris with respective Ki values near 2 microM, 5 microM, and 4 mM. Glycoprotein staining (periodic acid-Schiff method) was negative and alkaline invertase did not bind to two immobilized lectins, concanavalin A and wheat germ agglutinin; hence, the enzyme apparently is not a glycoprotein. The purified alkaline invertase, and a purified soybean acid invertase, was used to raise rabbit polyclonal antibodies. The alkaline invertase antibody preparation was specific for alkaline invertase and cross-reacted with alkaline invertases from other plants. Neither purified soybean alkaline invertases nor the crude enzyme from several plants cross-reacted with the soybean acid invertase antibody.     

Peroxynitrite-mediated tyrosine nitration catalyzed by superoxide dismutase.

Peroxynitrite (ONOO-), the reaction product of superoxide (O2-) and nitric oxide (NO), may be a major cytotoxic agent produced during inflammation, sepsis, and ischemia/reperfusion. Bovine Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase reacted with peroxynitrite to form a stable yellow protein-bound adduct identified as nitrotyrosine. The uv-visible spectrum of the peroxynitrite-modified superoxide dismutase was highly pH dependent, exhibiting a peak at 438 nm at alkaline pH that shifts to 356 nm at acidic pH. An equivalent uv-visible spectrum was obtained by Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase treated with tetranitromethane. The Raman spectrum of authentic nitrotyrosine was contained in the spectrum of peroxynitrite-modified Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase. The reaction was specific for peroxynitrite because no significant amounts of nitrotyrosine were formed with nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrite (NO2-), or nitrate (NO3-). Removal of the copper from the Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase prevented formation of nitrotyrosine by peroxynitrite. The mechanism appears to involve peroxynitrite initially reacting with the active site copper to form an intermediate with the reactivity of nitronium ion (NO2+), which then nitrates tyrosine on a second molecule of superoxide dismutase. In the absence of exogenous phenolics, the rate of nitration of tyrosine followed second-order kinetics with respect to Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase concentration, proceeding at a rate of 1.0 +/- 0.1 M-1.s-1. Peroxynitrite-mediated nitration of tyrosine was also observed with the Mn and Fe superoxide dismutases as well as other copper-containing proteins.     

Similar-sized daughter-strand gaps are produced in the leading and lagging strands of DNA in UV-irradiated E. coli uvrA cells.

The nascent DNA synthesized after UV irradiation contained discontinuity, i.e., daughter-strand gaps. The sizes of these gaps produced in the leading and lagging strands of UV-irradiated Escherichia coli cells were determined by using strand-specific DNA probes. The DNA isolated from irradiated uvrA delta(lac-pro) cells was hybridized with the 32P-labeled single-stranded DNA probes. After digestion with S1 nuclease, the sizes of the bound radioactive DNA fragments were determined by electrophoresis in an alkaline agarose gel. It was found that the average size of gaps produced in the leading strand was about 0.12 kb, whereas those produced in the lagging strand was slightly smaller than 0.12 kb. No gaps larger than 0.5 kb were detected.     

Nucleotide sequence of cDNA for Acacia confusa trypsin inhibitor and implication of post-translation processing.

Synthetic oligonucleotides corresponding to all possible sequences of N-terminal and C-terminal region of Acacia confusa trypsin inhibitor were used to generate ACTI-related sequences using the polymerase chain reaction on the cDNAs encoding ACTI of the seeds of legume, A. confusa. The deduced amino acid sequence agreed with that determined by the peptide analysis except an extra amino acid residue, serine, was found at the junction of A and B chain, which was removed by post-translation processing with specific protease(s). The substrate specificity of the protease(s) was found to cleave at the C-terminal sites of asparagine and serine, which was also shown to be the same case for another plant protein, abrin, isolated from legume, Abrus precatorius.     

Deletion of C-terminal 12 amino acids of GLUT1 protein does not abolish the transport activity.

We engineered the GLUT1 cDNA to delete C-terminal 12 amino acids of encoded GLUT1 protein. This mutated GLUT1 protein expressed in CHO cells by transfection of its cDNA was demonstrated to reside on the plasma membrane by cell surface labeling technique, and retain the transport activity, similar to that of the wild-type GLUT1. In addition, metabolic labeling of the intact cells with 35S indicated that the half-life of the mutated GLUT1 was not significantly different from that of the wild-type GLUT1. These results suggest that C-terminal 12 amino acids of GLUT1 are not important for the transport activity and the stability of the protein. Taken together with our previous results on the mutant without C-terminal 37 amino acids, the amino acids between the 37th and the 13th from the C-terminus appear to be essential for the transport activity.     

1,10-Phenanthroline-copper, a footprinting reagent for single-stranded regions of RNAs.

The 1,10-phenanthroline-cuprous complex (OP-Cu) with hydrogen peroxide as a coreactant nicks the single-stranded loops and bulges of RNA stem-loop structures more rapidly than the double-stranded stems. This chemical nuclease is therefore a useful footprinting reagent for these regions and can be used to monitor both intramolecular and intermolecular hybridization of single-stranded domains. The formation of A-form structures characteristic of either RNA-RNA or RNA-DNA duplexes inhibits scission because it blocks the binding site of the coordination complex in single-stranded loops and not because the oxidatively sensitive hydrogens of the ribose moiety are blocked. The C-4' and C-1' hydrogens are accessible to solvent in A-structures.     

Enhanced photorelaxation in aorta, pulmonary artery and corpus cavernosum produced by BAY K 8644 or N-nitro-L-arginine.

Segments of endothelium-denuded aorta, pulmonary arterial rings and strips of corpus cavernosum from rabbits were superfused with Krebs medium. Photorelaxation elicited by ultraviolet light (366 nm) was significantly enhanced by either BAY K 8644 (20 nM) or N-nitro-L-arginine (100 and 500 microM) and was associated with increased cyclic GMP. This action of both drugs was greater in pulmonary artery than aorta and corpus cavernosum and persisted in vascular rings for 90 min after drug removal. The effect was significantly attenuated by hemoglobin (10 microM) but was unaltered by superoxide dismutase (30 u/ml). The mechanism of such photosensitization is presently unclear.     

Interleukin-3 induces translocation and down-regulation of protein kinase C in human platelets.

Protein kinase C (PKC) is a family of phospholipid-dependent kinases that is involved, along with calcium mobilization, in the activation of human platelets. Since interleukin-3 (IL-3) has been shown to act, in part, by activating PKC, we investigated the effect of IL-3 on PKC activity and content in human platelets. Exposure of platelets to 10 ng/ml of IL-3 was associated with a rapid (i.e., within 3 minutes) translocation of PKC activity and content from the cytosol to the membrane fraction. In addition, treatment with IL-3 effected a time-dependent down-regulation of PKC activity and content. We speculate that IL-3 may act as a modulator of PKC-dependent pathways in the human platelet.     

Photoinhibition of hydroxylamine-extracted photosystem II membranes: studies of the mechanism.

The effects of photosystem II (PSII) exogenous electron donors and acceptors on the kinetics of weak light photoinhibition of NH2OH/EDTA-extracted spinach PSII membranes were examined. Under aerobic conditions, Mn2+ (approximately 1 Mn/reaction center; Km approximately 400 nM) inhibited photoinactivation and approximately 1 Mn/reaction center plus 100 microM NH2NH2 gave almost complete protection. In the absence of electron donors, strict anaerobiosis greatly inhibited photoinactivation even in the presence of an electron acceptor. Under aerobic conditions, the addition of electron acceptors (FeCN, DCIP), oxyradical scavengers, or superoxide dismutase strongly suppressed rates of photodamages. Increase in the concentrations of superoxide above those produced by illuminated NH2OH/EDTA-photosystem II membranes increased the rates of damage in the light but gave no damage in the dark. Scavengers of hydroxyl radicals and singlet oxygen did not suppress the rates of aerobic photoinhibition. These findings, along with others, lead us to conclude that photodamage of the secondary donors of the PSII reaction center occurs by two mechanisms: (1) a rapid superoxide and tyrosine YZ+ dependent process and (2) a slower process in which P680+/Chl+ catalyze the damages.     

Antibody and peptide probes of interactions between the SH1-SH2 region of myosin subfragment 1 and actin's N-terminus.

The negatively charged residues in the N-terminus of actin and the 697-707 region on myosin subfragment 1 (S-1), containing the reactive cysteines SH1 and SH2, are known to be important for actin-activated myosin ATPase activity. The relationship between these two sites was first examined by monitoring the rates of SH1 and SH2 modification with N-ethylmaleimide in the presence of actin and, secondly, by testing for direct binding of SH1 peptides to the N-terminal segment on actin. While actin alone protected SH1 from N-ethylmaleimide modification, this effect was abolished by an antibody against the seven N-terminal amino acids on actin, F(ab)(1-7), and was greatly reduced when the charge of acidic residues at actin's N-terminus was altered by carbodiimide coupling of ethylenediamine. Neither F(ab)(1-7) nor ethylenediamine treatment reversed the effect of F-actin on SH2 reactivity in SH1-modified S-1. These results show a communication between the SH1 region on S-1 and actin's N-terminus in the acto-S-1 complex. To test whether such a communication involves the binding of the SH1 site on S-1 to the N-terminal segment of actin, the SH1 peptide IRICRKG-NH2(4+) was used. Cosedimentation experiments revealed the binding of three to six peptides per actin monomer. Peptide binding to actin was affected slightly, if at all, by F(ab)(1-7). The antibody also did not change the polymerization of G-actin by the peptides. The peptides caused a small reduction in the binding of S-1 to actin and did not change the binding of F(ab)(1-7).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)