固定化酶的微环境效应—载体离子基团性质的影响

作者合成了阴离子型和阳离子型葡聚糖,以此为载体,用CNBr活化其剩余羟基,固定化了葡萄糖淀粉酶和葡萄糖异构酶。就离子型载体对固定化酶的蛋白载量、最适pH和热稳定性等的影响做了考察。发现固定化酶的蛋白载量不仅与载体的电性质有关,也与酶分子自身的电性质有关。当载体电性质与酶蛋白电性质相反时,固定化酶的蛋白载量增加,热稳定性提高、载体电性质与酶蛋白电性质相同时,固定化酶的蛋白载量不变或下降,其热稳定性不变。作者还发现当离子型载体孔度和体系缓冲液浓度一定时,酶分子能否进入多孔性载体内部,对其最适pH是否变化影响极大。若酶分子仅被连接在载体的外表层,其最适pH不发生变化,反之亦然。作者还观察到当多糖类载体引入氨基或羧基后,大大增强了其抵抗微生物侵蚀的能力。     

p140trk mRNA marks NGF-responsive forebrain neurons: evidence that trk gene expression is induced by NGF.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) appears to act as a neurotrophic factor for basal forebrain and caudate-putamen cholinergic neurons. The mechanism by which NGF transduces its signal in these neurons is yet to be defined. Recent data indicate that the product of the trk gene, p140trk, is a critical component of the NGF receptor. Herein, we show that p140trk mRNA is highly restricted in its distribution in the adult rat forebrain, that it is present in cholinergic neurons, and that most if not all cholinergic neurons contain p140trk mRNA. Furthermore, induction of trk expression by NGF suggests that neurotrophin-mediated up-regulation of their receptor tyrosine kinases is an important feature of their actions and that neurotrophins may regulate the activity of responsive neurons through increasing the level of their receptors.     

The effect of 25-hydroxycholesterol on accumulation of intracellular calcium.

Liposomes prepared with 25-hydroxycholesterol and egg phosphatidylcholine (PC) were incubated with bovine arterial smooth muscle cells for 8 h at 37 degrees C. Cells incubated in the absence of liposomes or with liposomes containing cholesterol and PC were used as controls. The results indicated that calcium accumulated in the smooth muscle cells incubated in the presence of 25-hydroxycholesterol containing liposomes in an amount proportional to the time of incubation. The calcium accumulation, as indicated by kinetic analysis, resulted from an increased compartment size. (Ca(2+)+Mg2+)-ATPase exhibited decreased activity after pretreatment with 25-hydroxycholesterol containing liposomes and the increased intracellular calcium content was directly proportional to the decreased (Ca(2+) + Mg2+)-ATPase activity. When lipids in the cell membrane were examined, a failure to change the cholesterol/phospholipids ratio in the membrane was noted. The 25-hydroxycholesterol content in the membrane determined by HPLC did not increase. An increase in sphingomyelin and a decrease in phosphatidylethanolamine and acidic phospholipids in the membrane was noted. We suggest that the accumulation of intracellular calcium comes from both an increase of calcium influx and a decrease of (Ca(2+) + Mg2+)-ATPase activity, which may be the consequence of changes in membrane phospholipid composition.     

Sequence diversity within the argF, fbp and recA genes of natural isolates of Neisseria meningitidis: interspecies recombination within the argF gene

Studies of natural populations of Neisseria meningitidis using multilocus enzyme electrophoresis have shown extensive genetic variation within this species, which, it has been proposed, implies a level of sequence diversity within meningococci that is greater than that normally considered as the criterion for species limits in bacteria. To obtain a direct measure of the sequence diversity among meningococci, we obtained the nucleotide sequences of most of the argF, recA and fbp genes of eight meningococci of widely differing electrophoretic type (from the reference collection of Caugant). Sequence variation between the meningococcal strains ranged from 0-0.6% for fbp, 0-1.3% for argF, and 0-3.3% for recA. These levels of diversity are no greater than those found within Escherichia coli 'housekeeping' genes and suggest that multilocus enzyme electrophoresis may overestimate the extent of nucleotide sequence diversity within meningococci. The average sequence divergence between the Neisseria meningitidis strains and N. gonorrhoeae strain FA19 was 1.0% for fbp and 1.6% for recA. The argF gene, although very uniform among the eight meningococcal isolates, had a striking mosaic structure when compared with the gonococcal argF gene: two regions of the gene differed by greater than 13% in nucleotide sequence between meningococci and gonococci, whereas the rest of the gene differed by less than 1.7%. One of the diverged regions was shown to have been introduced from the argF gene of a commensal Neisseria species that is closely related to Neisseria cinerea. The source of the other region was unclear.     

Solution-state structure by NMR of zinc-substituted rubredoxin from the marine hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus.

The three-dimensional solution-state structure is reported for the zinc-substituted form of rubredoxin (Rd) from the marine hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus, an organism that grows optimally at 100 degrees C. Structures were generated with DSPACE by a hybrid distance geometry (DG)-based simulated annealing (SA) approach that employed 403 nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE)-derived interproton distance restraints, including 67 interresidue, 124 sequential (i-j = 1), 75 medium-range (i-j = 2-5), and 137 long-range (i-j > 5) restraints. All lower interproton distance bounds were set at the sum of the van Der Waals radii (1.8 A), and upper bounds of 2.7 A, 3.3 A, and 5.0 A were employed to represent qualitatively observed strong, medium, and weak NOE cross peak intensities, respectively. Twenty-three backbone-backbone, six backbone-sulfur (Cys), two backbone-side chain, and two side chain-side chain hydrogen bond restraints were include for structure refinement, yielding a total of 436 nonbonded restraints, which averages to > 16 restraints per residue. A total of 10 structures generated from random atom positions and 30 structures generated by molecular replacement using the backbone coordinates of Clostridium pasteurianum Rd converged to a common conformation, with the average penalty (= sum of the square of the distance bounds violations; +/- standard deviation) of 0.024 +/- 0.003 A2 and a maximum total penalty of 0.035 A2. Superposition of the backbone atoms (C, C alpha, N) of residues A1-L51 for all 40 structures afforded an average pairwise root mean square (rms) deviation value (+/- SD) of 0.42 +/- 0.07 A. Superposition of all heavy atoms for residues A1-L51, including those of structurally undefined external side chains, afforded an average pairwise rms deviation of 0.72 +/- 0.08 A. Qualitative comparison of back-calculated and experimental two-dimensional NOESY spectra indicate that the DG/SA structures are consistent with the experimental spectra. The global folding of P. furiosus Zn(Rd) is remarkably similar to the folding observed by X-ray crystallography for native Rd from the mesophilic organism C. pasteurianum, with the average rms deviation value for backbone atoms of residues A1-L51 of P. furiosus Zn(Rd) superposed with respect to residues K2-V52 of C. pasteurianum Rd of 0.77 +/- 0.06 A. The conformations of aromatic residues that compose the hydrophobic cores of the two proteins are also similar. However, P. furiosus Rd contains several unique structural elements, including at least four additional hydrogen bonds and three potential electrostatic interactions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

X-ray crystal structures of the oxidized and reduced forms of the rubredoxin from the marine hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus.

The structures of the oxidized and reduced forms of the rubredoxin from the archaebacterium, Pyrococcus furiosus, an organism that grows optimally at 100 degrees C, have been determined by X-ray crystallography to a resolution of 1.8 A. Crystals of this rubredoxin grow in space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) with room temperature cell dimensions a = 34.6 A, b = 35.5 A, and c = 44.4 A. Initial phases were determined by the method of molecular replacement using the oxidized form of the rubredoxin from the mesophilic eubacterium, Clostridium pasteurianum, as a starting model. The oxidized and reduced models of P. furiosus rubredoxin each contain 414 nonhydrogen protein atoms comprising 53 residues. The model of the oxidized form contains 61 solvent H2O oxygen atoms and has been refined with X-PLOR and TNT to a final R = 0.178 with root mean square (rms) deviations from ideality in bond distances and bond angles of 0.014 A and 2.06 degrees, respectively. The model of the reduced form contains 37 solvent H2O oxygen atoms and has been refined to R = 0.193 with rms deviations from ideality in bond lengths of 0.012 A and in bond angles of 1.95 degrees. The overall structure of P. furiosus rubredoxin is similar to the structures of mesophilic rubredoxins, with the exception of a more extensive hydrogen-bonding network in the beta-sheet region and multiple electrostatic interactions (salt bridge, hydrogen bonds) of the Glu 14 side chain with groups on three other residues (the amino-terminal nitrogen of Ala 1; the indole nitrogen of Trp 3; and the amide nitrogen group of Phe 29). The influence of these and other features upon the thermostability of the P. furiosus protein is discussed.     

利用普通怯寄蝇防治菜粉蝶初探

1 前言 从外地引进寄蝇或人工助长当地寄蝇种类防治农林害虫,是有效的生防手段之一,国外已有很多成功的报道。King等(1981)在路易斯安娜州蔗田中人工大量释放螟利索寄蝇(Lixophaga diatraeae)成虫防治第1代小蔗杆草螟(Diatraea saccharalis),不同地区的寄生率分别达到4.1、8.7和35.7％;由于降低了农药的使用量,奇痣窄径茧蜂(Agathis stigmatera)的自然寄生率也相应提高,很好地控制了蔗田害虫的发生。在寄蝇的田间释放技术方面,国外还没有详细的报道。在我国,利用寄蝇防治害虫的工作也是刚刚起步,很多具体问题有待于进一步研究。     

A dye release assay for determination of lysostaphin activity

We describe a method for determination of lysostaphin activity using Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBB)-dyed staphylococcal cells or RBB-dyed staphylococcal peptidoglycan as substrate. The dyed substrates are easy to prepare and are stable for at least 6 months. Soluble hydrolytic products released by lysostaphin are measured spectrophotometrically at 595 nm after the insoluble substrate is removed by filtration or centrifugation. The dye release assay is more sensitive and more accurate than the previously described turbidimetric assay.     

Deoxyribose ring conformation of [d(GGTATACC)]2: an analysis of vicinal proton-proton coupling constants from two-dimensional proton nuclear magnetic resonance

Exchangeable and nonexchangeable protons of [d(GGTATACC)]2 in aqueous cacodylate solution were assigned from two-dimensional nuclear Overhausser effect (2D NOE) spectra. With phase-sensitive COSY and double quantum filtered COSY (DQF-COSY) experiments, the cross-peaks resulting from deoxyribose ring conformation sensitive proton-proton vicinal couplings, i.e., all 1'-2', 1'-2", 2'-3', and 3'-4' couplings and six from 2"-3' couplings, were observed. From the cross-peak fine structure, the 2',2" proton assignments can be confirmed; coupling constants J1'2' and J1'2" and sums of coupling constants involving H2' and H2" for all residues and H3' for C8 were obtained. The DISCO procedure [Kessler, H., Muller, A., & Oschkinat, H. (1985) Magn. Reson. Chem. 23, 844-852] was used to extract individual 1'-2' and 1'-2" coupling constants. The sum of coupling constants involving H1' or H3' was measured from the one-dimensional spectrum where signal overlap is not a problem. Analysis of the resulting coupling constants and sums of coupling constants, in the manner of Rinkel and Altona [Rinkel, L. J., & Altona, C. (1987) J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn. 4, 621-649], led to the following conclusion: C2'-endo deoxyribose ring conformation is predominant for every residue, but a significant amount of C3'-endo conformation may exist, ranging from 14% to 30%.     

Comparison of activity and conformation changes during refolding of urea-denatured creatine kinase

The course of the recovery of the enzymatic activity and the native conformation during the renaturation of urea-denatured creatine kinase (ATP:creatine N-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.3.2) has been studied. Under suitable conditions, an activity recovery of 95% can be obtained and the reactivation follows a triphasic course. The initial two phases are relatively fast, whereas the slow phase takes some 24 h to reach completion. The recovery of the native conformation has been followed by changes in fluorescence, ultraviolet absorption and in exposed SH groups and has been shown to be a biphasic process. Both the reactivation and the refolding processes are independent of protein concentrations within a certain range, showing that the dimerization of the enzyme molecule is not rate-limiting. A comparison of the rate constants for the refolding of the molecule with those for the recovery of its catalytic activity shows that these are not synchronized and the activity recovery approaches completion after the refolding and dimerization of the subunits so far as can be detected by the methods employed. The final stage of refolding with complete activity recovery probably involves subtle conformational changes of the dimeric enzyme molecule not detectable by the physiochemical methods used in the present study.