Glucose metabolism in the mucosa of the small intestine: Enzymes of the pentose phosphate pathway

1. The occurrence of five enzymes of the pentose phosphate pathway in cell-free preparations of the mucosa of rat small intestine is described. These enzymes were found to be localized mainly in the supernatant fraction (6240000g-min.). 2. The properties of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase were studied with respect to K(m) values for substrates and NADP(+), pH optima and the effects of p-chloromercuribenzoate and palmitoyl-CoA. Higher total and specific activities of these two dehydrogenases were noted in the proximal half of the small intestine of the rat than in the distal half. 3. The specific activities of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase in the mucosa of the small intestine of the rat, cat, rabbit and guinea pig were compared. 4. In the rat the specific activities of ribose 5-phosphate isomerase, transketolase and transaldolase were higher in the supernatant fractions from the intestinal mucosa than in those from the liver. 5. The role of the pentose phosphate pathway is discussed in relation to the metabolism of hexose phosphates in the intestinal mucosa.     

The biosynthesis of glycerides by mitochondria from rat liver: The requirement for a soluble protein

1. The synthesis of glycerides from l-3-glycerophosphate and palmitic acid by mitochondrial preparations from rat liver was shown to be stimulated markedly by a soluble factor from the supernatant fraction of the liver. 2. That the soluble factor was a protein was indicated by its inactivation after treatment with papain and after boiling for 3min. at 100 degrees , its precipitation by ammonium sulphate and its behaviour on Sephadex G-200. The soluble factor was purified by ammonium sulphate fractionation and gel filtration. 3. Bovine serum albumin and lipoprotein fractions from rat and human serum also stimulated glyceride biosynthesis but the stimulations were one-twentieth to one-third of that obtained with the soluble factor. 4. The function of the soluble factor could not be explained by assuming a leakage of acyl-CoA synthetase, phosphatidate phosphatase or diglyceride acyltransferase from the mitochondria into the supernatant during preparation of the mitochondrial fraction. 5. Palmitic acid, in the presence of the soluble factor and optimum amounts of ATP and CoA, was a more effective substrate than palmitoyl-CoA or palmitoylcarnitine for the biosynthesis of glycerides by mitochondria.     

Calf thymus DNA polymerase delta independent of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA).

DNA polymerase delta from calf thymus was purified under conditions that minimized proteolysis to a specific activity of 27,000 units/mg. The four step isolation procedure included phosphocellulose, hydroxyapatite, heparin-Sepharose and FPLC-MonoS. This enzyme consists of four polypeptides with Mr of 140, 125, 48 and 40 kilodaltons. Velocity gradient sedimentation in glycerol removed the 48 kDa polypeptide while the other three sedimented with the DNA polymerase activity. The biochemical properties of the three subunit enzyme and the copurification of 3'----5' exonuclease activity were typical for a bona fide DNA polymerase delta. Tryptic peptide analysis showed that the 140 kDa polypeptide was different from the catalytic 180 kDa polypeptide of calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha. Both high Mr polypeptides (140 and 125 kDa) were catalytically active as analysed in an activity gel. Four templates were used by DNA polymerase delta with different preferences, namely poly(dA)/oligo(dT)12-18 much much greater than activated DNA greater than poly(dA-dT) greater than primed single-stranded M13DNA. Calf thymus proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) could not stimulated this DNA polymerase delta in any step of the isolation procedure. If tested on poly(dA)/oligo(dT)12-18 (base ratio 10:1), PCNA had no stimulatory effect on DNA polymerase delta when tested with low enzyme DNA ratio nor did it change the kinetic behaviour of the enzyme. DNA polymerase delta itself did not contain PCNA. The enzyme had an intrinsic processivity of several thousand bases, when tested either on the homopolymer poly(dA)/oligo(dT)12-18 (base ratio 64:1) or on primed single-stranded M13DNA. Contrary to DNA polymerase alpha, no pausing sites were seen with DNA polymerase delta. Under optimal in vitro replication conditions the enzyme could convert primed single-stranded circular M13 DNA of 7,200 bases to its double-stranded form in less than 10 min. This supports that a PCNA independent DNA polymerase delta exists in calf thymus in addition to a PCNA dependent enzyme (Lee, M.Y.W.T. et al. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 1906-1913).     

Replication of single-stranded porcine circovirus DNA by DNA polymerases alpha and delta

Porcine circovirus is the only mammalian DNA virus so far known to contain a single-stranded circular genome (Tischer et al. (1982) Nature 295, 64-66). Replication of its small viral DNA (1.76 kb) appears to be dependent on cellular enzymes expressed during S-phase of the cell cycle (Tischer et al. (1987) Arch. Virol. 96, 39-57). In this paper we have exploited the porcine circovirus genome to probe for in vitro initiation and elongation of DNA replication by different preparations of calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha and delta as well as by a partially purified preparation from pig thymus. The results indicated that three different purification fractions of calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha and one from pig thymus initiate DNA synthesis at several sites on the porcine circovirus DNA. It appears that the sites at which DNA primase synthesizes primers are not entirely random. Subsequent DNA elongation by a highly purified DNA polymerase alpha holoenzyme which had been isolated by the criterion of replicating single-stranded M13 DNA (Ottiger et al. (1987) Nucleic Acids Res. 15, 4789-4807) is very efficient. Complete conversion to the double-stranded form is obtained in less than 1 min. When the DNA synthesis by DNA polymerase alpha is blocked with the DNA polymerase alpha specific monoclonal antibody SJK 132-20 after initiation by DNA primase, DNA polymerase delta can efficiently replicate from the primers. This in vitro DNA replication system may be used in analogy to the bacteriophage systems in E. coli to study initiation and elongation of DNA replication.     

Calcium-dependent calmodulin-binding proteins associated with mammalian DNA polymerase alpha

Complex, multiprotein forms of bovine (calf thymus), hamster (Chinese hamster ovary cell), and human (HeLa) cell DNA polymerase alpha (Pol alpha) were analyzed for their content of calmodulin-binding proteins. The approach used an established autoradiographic technique employing 125I-labeled calmodulin to probe proteins in denaturing SDS-polyacrylamide gel electropherograms. All three Pol alpha enzymes were associated with discrete, Ca2+-dependent calmodulin-binding proteins. Conventionally purified calf thymus Pol alpha holoenzyme contained three prominent, trifluoperazine-sensitive species with apparent molecular masses of approx. 120, 80 and 48 kDa. The 120 and 48 kDa species remained associated with the polymerase.primase core of the calf enzyme during immunopurification with monoclonal antibodies directed specifically against the polymerase subunit. The patterns of the calmodulin-binding proteins displayed by conventionally purified preparations of hamster and human Pol alpha enzymes were similar to each other and distinctly different from the pattern of comparable preparations of calf thymus Pol alpha. Immunopurified preparations of the human and hamster Pol alphas retained significant calmodulin-binding activity of apparent molecular masses of approx. 55, 80 and 150-200 kDa.     

Structural Determinants of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Stereoselectivity Towards (β)-L-Deoxy- and Dideoxy-Pyrimidine Nucleoside Triphosphates: Molecular Basis for the Combination of L-Dideoxynucleoside Analogs with Non-nucleoside Inhibitors in Anti HIV Chemotherapy

Abstract

We have compared the HIV-1¹ RT mutants containing the single substitutions L100I, K103N, V106A, V179D, Y181I and Y188L, known to confere NNI-resistance in treated patients, to HIV-1 RT wt for their sensitivity towards inhibition by D- and L-deoxy- and dideoxy-nucleoside tiphosphates. The results showed a differential effect of the substitutions on the affinity for both D- and L-enantiomers of deoxy- and dideoxy-nucleoside triphosphates and provide a rationale for the utilization of L-dideoxynucleoside analogs with NNI in combination chemotherapy.     

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen: More than a clamp for DNA polymerases

DNA metabolic events such as replication, repair and recombination require the concerted action of several enzymes and cofactors. Nature has provided a set of proteins that support DNA polymerases in performing processive, accurate and rapid DNA synthesis. Two of them, the proliferating cell nuclear antigen and its adapter protein replication factor C, cooperate to form a moving platform that was initially thought of only as an anchor point for DNA polymerases δ and ε. It now appears that proliferating cell nuclear antigen is also a communication point between a variety of important cellular processes including cell cycle control, DNA replication, nucleotide excision repair, post-replication mismatch repair, base excision repair and at least one apoptotic pathway. The dynamic movement of proliferating cell nuclear antigen on and off the DNA renders this protein an ideal communicator for a variety of proteins that are essential for DNA metabolic events in eukaryotic cells.