Vanadate inhibition of the Ca-ATPase from human red cell membranes

1. (1) VO₃⁻ combines with high affinity to the Ca²⁺-ATPase and fully inhibits Ca²⁺-ATPase and Ca²⁺-phosphatase activities. Inhibition is associated with a parallel decrease in the steady-state level of the Ca²⁺-dependent phosphoenzyme.

2. (2) VO₃⁻ blocks hydrolysis of ATP at the catalytic site. The sites for VO₃⁻ also exhibit negative interactions in affinity with the regulatory sites for ATP of the Ca²⁺-ATPase.

3. (3) The sites for VO₃⁻ show positive interactions in affinity with sites for Mg²⁺ and K⁺. This accounts for the dependence on Mg²⁺ and K⁺ of the inhibition by VO₃⁻. Although, with less effectiveness, Na⁺ substitutes for K⁺ whereas Li⁺ does not. The apparent affinities for Mg²⁺ and K⁺ for inhibition by VO₃⁻ seem to be less than those for activation of the Ca²⁺-ATPase.

4. (4) Inhibition by VO₃⁻ is independent of Ca²⁺ at concentrations up to 50 μM. Higher concentrations of Ca²⁺ lead to a progressive release of the inhibitory effect of VO₃⁻.

Structural properties of phospholipids in the rat liver inner mitochondrial membrane. A P-NMR study

1. 1. The ³¹P-NMR characteristics of intact rat liver mitochondria, mitoplasts and isolated inner mitochondrial membranes, as well as mitochondrial phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine, have been examined.

2. 2. Rat liver mitochondrial phosphatidylethanolamine hydrated in excess aqueous buffer undergoes a bilayer-to-hexagonal (H_II) polymorphic phase transition as the temperature is increased through 10°C, and thus prefers the H_II) arrangement at 37°C. Rat liver mitochondrial phosphatidylcholine, on the other hand, adopts the bilayer phase at 37°C.

3. 3. Total inner mitochondrial membrane lipids, dispersed in an excess of aqueous buffer, exhibit ³¹P-NMR spectra consistent with a bilayer arrangement for the majority of the endogeneous phospholipids; the remainder exhibit spectra consistent with structure allowing isotropic motional averaging. Addition of Ca²⁺ results in hexagonal (H_II) phase formation for a portion of the phospholipids, as well as formation of ‘lipidic particles’ as detected by freeze-fracture techniques.

4. 4. Preparations of inner mitochondrial membrane at 4 and 37°C exhibit ³¹P-NMR spectra consistent with a bilayer arrangement of the large majority of the endogenous phospholipids which are detected. Approx. 10% of the signal intensity has characteristics indicating isotropic motional averaging processes. Addition of Ca²⁺ results in an increase in the size of this component, which can become the dominant spectral feature.

5. 5. Intact mitochondria, at 4°C, exhibit ³¹P-NMR spectra arising from both phospholipid and small water-soluble molecules (ADP, P_i, etc.). The phospholipid spectrum is characteristic of a bilayer arrangement. At 37°C the phospholipids again give spectra consistent with a bilayer; however, the labile nature of these systems is reflected by increased isotropic motion at longer (at least 30 min) incubation times.

6. 6. It is suggested that the uncoupling action of high Ca²⁺ concentrations on intact mitochondria may be related to a Ca²⁺-induced disruption of the integrity of the inner mitochondrial phospholipid bilayer. Further, the possibility that non-bilayer lipid structures such as inverted micelles occur in the inner mitochondrial membrane cannot be excluded.

A difference in the affinity labeling of Ca2+, Mg2+-activated ATPases of normal and unc A strains of Escherichia coli by the 2',3'-dialdehyde derivative of adenosine 5'-diphosphate

The 2′,3′-dialdehyde of ADP, obtained by periodate oxidation of ADP, inhibited the hydrolytic activity of the purified Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺-activated ATPase of $\text{Escherichia}\text{coli}$. In the initial stages of the reaction inhibition was due to the reaction of 1 mol inhibitor/active site. When non-specific labelling of amino groups by the dialdehyde was lowered by the simultaneous presence of 15 mM ATP in the reaction mixture, 3 mol “ATP-protectable” binding sites/mol ATPase were found. “ATP-protectable” binding of the dialdehyde was not observed when the hydrolytically inactive ATPase of an $\text{unc A}$ mutant of $\text{E.}\text{coli}$ was used although binding of the inhibitor to non-protected amino groups still occurred. This suggests that the mutant ATPase is unable to bind ATP or that the amino groups with which the dialdehyde reacts in the native enzyme are absent or masked.     

Isolation of 3-(2-carboxyethyl)thymine following in vitro reaction of β-propiolactone with calf thymus DNA

3-(2-Carboxyethyl)thymine (3-CET) was synthesized from β-propiolactone (BPL) and dThd5′P at pH 9.0–9.5 via the intermediate 3-(2-carboxyethyl)thymidine-5′-monophosphoric acid (3-CEdThd5′P). 3-CEdThd5′P was converted to 3-CET by hydrolysis in 1.5 N HCl at 100°C for 2 h. The structure of 3-CET was assigned on the basis of UV spectra, electron impact (EI) and isobutane chemical ionization mass spectra and the EI mass spectrum of a trimethylsilyl derivative of 3-CET. BPL was reacted in vitro with calf thymus DNA at pH 7.5. 100 A units of BPL-reacted DNA yielded, following perchloric acid hydrolysis and preparative paper chromatography, 3 A units of 3-CET. Reaction of BPL with the phosphodiester thymidylyl-(3′-5′)thymidine gave 3-(2-carboxyethyl)thymidylyl-(3′-5′)-3-(2-carboxyethyl)thymidine (～3%). Phosphotriester formation was not detected.     

A mechanism for the formation of inside-out membrane vesicles. Preparation of inside-out vesicles from membrane-paired randomized chloroplast lamellae

Inside-out thylakoid membrane vesicles can be isolated by aqueous polymer two-phase partition of Yeda press-fragmented spinach chloroplasts (Andersson, B. and Åkerlund, H.-E. (1978) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 503, 462–472). The mechanism for their formation has been investigated by studying the yield of inside-out vesicles after various treatments of the chloroplasts prior to fragmentation. No inside-out vesicles were isolated during phase partitioning if the chloroplasts had been destacked in a low-salt medium prior to the fragmentation. Only in those cases where the chloroplast lamellae had been stacked by cations or membrane-paired by acidic treatment did we get any yield of inside-out vesicles. Thus, the intrinsic properties of chloroplast thylakoids seem to be such that they seal into right-side out vesicles after disruption unless they are in an appressed state. This favours the following mechanism for the formation of inside-out thylakoids. After press treatment, a ruptured membrane still remains appressed with an adjacent membrane. Resealing of such an appressed membrane pair would result in an inside-out vesicle.If the compartmentation of chloroplast lamellae into appressed grana and unappressed stroma lamellae is preserved by cations before fragmentation, the inside-out vesicles are highly enriched in photosystem II. This indicates a granal origin which is consistent with the proposed model outlined. Inside-out vesicles possessing photosystem I and II properties in approximately equal proportions could be obtained by acid-induced membrane-pairing of chloroplasts which had been destacked and randomized prior to fragmentation. Since this new preparation of inside-out thylakoid vesicles also exposes components derived from the stroma lamellae it complements the previous preparation.It is suggested that fragmentation of paired membranes followed by phase partitioning should be a general method of obtaining inside-out vesicles from membranes of various biological sources.     

The amphipathic membrane proteins associated with gangliosides: The Paul-Bunnell antigen is one of the gangliophilic proteins

Two amphipathic protein fractions soluble in organic solvents as well as in water have been isolated from the ganglioside fraction of bovine erythrocyte membranes by successive chromatography in chloroform-methanol mixture on DEAE-Sephadex, silicic acid, and α-hydroxypropylated Sephadex G50 (LH60) columns. These two fractions contained a similar low molecular weight protein but with distinctively different amino acid composition. One of these proteins has been characterized by having a strong Paul-Bunnell antigen activity and had a binding affinity to ganglioside. A similar protein without Paul-Bunnell antigen activity was isolated as the major ganglioside-associated protein.     

Yeast UAA suppressors effective in psi+ strains: leucine-inserting suppressors.

We have previously reported the isolation and characterization of UAA suppressors from a haploid strain of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae containing the ψ⁺ non-Mendelian determinant which increases the efficiency of action of certain suppressors (Ono et al., 1979). Most of the suppressors caused the insertion of either tyrosine or serine. In contrast, the pattern of suppression of nutritional markers suggested that the rare suppressor, SUP26, inserted in an amino acid other than tyrosine or serine. In this investigation we report the characterization of additional suppressors, similar to SUP26, that were isolated on a medium lacking uracil and containing canavanine; this medium is expected to exclude serine-inserting suppressors because they do not suppress the ura4-1 marker, and to exclude tyrosine-inserting suppressors because they suppress the can1-100 marker. The total of 155 revertants similar to the SUP26 suppressor were analyzed genetically and these could be assigned to one or another of the six distinct loci SUP26, SUP27, SUP28, SUP29, SUP32 and SUP33. The SUP26, SUP27 and SUP29 loci mapped on chromosomes XII, IV and X, respectively. The detailed map position of the SUP29 suppressor suggests that it may be allelic to the SUP30 suppressor reported by Hawthorne &; Mortimer (1968). These six suppressors had the same pattern of suppression of UAA nutritional markers and all of them had a similar low efficiency of action on the iso-1-cytochrome c mutation cyc1-72. The efficiency of each of these suppressors was increased by a chromosomal allo-suppressor, sal. Each of the six suppressors caused the insertion of leucine in iso-1-cytochrome c at the UAA site of the cyc1-72 mutation. It is suggested that the gene products of these suppressors are redundant forms of the same leucine transfer RNA.     

Frequency changes with time in vivo of radiation-induced chromosomal aberrations in skin fibroblasts

5 Syrian hamster litter mates were each irradiated with X-rays on one flank to 300 rad. Skin biopsies were taken from both the irradiated and unirradiated (control) flanks of each animal at one day and at about 6 months after irradiation. The cells cultured from these biopsies were used to determine the frequencies of chromosomal aberrations. During the 6-month period there were significant reductions in the frequencies of both reciprocal translocations and terminal deletions.

Translocations involving the short arm of the Y-chromosome, however, showed a significant increase during this period.

It is possible that while the latter phenomenon was due to cell selection in vivo the general fall off in translocations and deletions was the result of a long term in vivo repair mechanism or perhaps the results of certain aberrations proving to be lethal with prolonged expression times.