Resonance electroconformational coupling: A proposed mechanism for energy and signal transductions by membrane proteins

Recent experiments show that membrane ATPases are capable of absorbing free energy from an applied oscillating electric field and converting it to chemical bond energy of ATP or chemical potential energy of concentration gradients. Presumably these enzymes would also respond to endogenous transmembrane electric fields of similar intensity and waveform. A mechanism is proposed in which energy coupling is achieved via Coulombic interaction of an electric field and the conformational equilibria of an ATPase. Analysis indicates that only an oscillating or fluctuating electric field can be used by an enzyme to drive a chemical reaction away from equilibrium.In vivo, the stationary transmembrane potential of a cell must be modulated to become locally oscillatory if it is to derive energy and signal transduction processes.     

The ultrastructure of chemolithoautotrophic Gallionella ferruginea and Thiobacillus ferrooxidans as revealed by chemical fixation and freeze-etching

By using sodium thioglycolate to dissolve the high amount of excreted stalk material in axenic cultures of the chemolithoautotrophic iron bacterium Gallionella ferruginea, the ultrastructure of Gallionella cells from pure cell suspensions could be studied without any loss of viability or disturbance by dense ferric stalk fibers, and compared with Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, also grown chemolithoautotrophically with ferrous iron as energy source. Both organisms were chemically fixed or freeze-etched. Particular structural differences between these iron-bacteria could be ascertained. G. ferruginea possesses intracytoplasmic membranes and soluble d-ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate-carboxylase, whereas T. ferrooxidans contains carboxysomes but no intracytoplasmic membranes; Gallionella forms poly--hydroxybutyrate and glycogen as storage material; T. ferrooxidans produces only glycogen. Both organisms also differ from each other with respect to the freeze fracture behaviour of the cell envelope layers. Whereas the cells of T. ferrooxidans exhibit a characteristic double cleavage, exposing the plasmic fracture face and exoplasmic fracture face of the outer membrane and cytoplasmic membrane, the exceptionally thin multilayered cell envelope of G. ferruginea revealed a particularly intimate association between the layers, resulting in a visualisation of the supramolecular organisation of only the inner fracture face of the cytoplasmic membrane. The results are discussed predominantly in relation to the extremely distinct environments of both organisms.     

Non-histone chromatin proteins in beef thyroid: distinct phosphorylation patterns of several protein kinases

Summary Non-histone chromatin protein (NHCP) fractions were extracted from purified beef thyroid nuclear preparations and tested for the presence of protein kinase activities using several known mediators of thyroid regulation, as well as potential phosphotransferase substrates using purified or partially purified protein kinase activities. The addition of cAMP/3-isobutyl-l-methylxanthine had no effect on NHCP historic kinase activity; the addition of 10 g of the heat-stable cAMP-dependent protein kinase A inhibitor, however, resulted in a 47% reduction in histone H₂ kinase activity. Nuclear casein kinase II activity was present in the NHCP fractions as evidenced by the capacity of spermine to stimulate (ED₅₀ = 0.19 mM) and heparin to inhibit (ID₅₀ = 0.09 g/ml) the phosphorylation of casein; further, the phosphotransferase activity could be purified by sequential casein-agarose and spermine-agarose affinity chromatography. Neither calcium-calmodulin nor calcium/phosphatidylserine/diolein had an effect on NHCP casein kinase or histone kinase activities, respectively. The addition of cAMP-dependent protein kinase A catalytic subunit, nuclear casein kinase II, calcium-activated calmodulin-dependent protein kinase and diacylglycerol-activated calcium/phospholipid-dependent protein kinase C activities exhibited distinct phosphorylation patterns when NHCP were used as substrates and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. We conclude that NHCP fraction from beef thyroid: 1) contains both cAMP-dependent protein kinase A catalytic subunit and nuclear casein kinase II and 2) substrates for cAMP-dependent protein kinase A, calcium-activited calmodulin-dependent protein kinase, protein kinase C, and nuclear casein kinase II.Abbreviations NHCP Non-Histone Chromatin Proteins - PK-A cAMP-Dependent Protein Kinase - CAMPK Calcium-Activated Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase - PK-C Diacylglycerol-Activated Calcium/phospholipid-dependent Protein Kinase - NK-11 Nuclear Casein Kinase 11 - CK-G Cytosolic Casein Kinase G or 11 - PMSF Phenylmethyl Sulfonyl Fluoride - PKI the Heat Stable PK-A Inhibitor (Walsh inhibitor) - SDS-PAGE Sodium Dodecylsulfate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis - EDTA Ethylenediamine Tetraacetic Acid - EGTA Ethyleneglycol bis- (B-aminoethyl ether) N,N,N,N,-Tetraacetic Acid - PS Phosphatidylserine - DO 1,2-Diolein     

Opioid-binding protein (OBCAM) is rich in β-sheets

Based on circular dichroism (CD) and the sequence-predictive method, the opioid-binding cell adhesion molecule (OBCAM) consisted of one half -sheets and one fourth -helices. This is consistent with significant sequence homology of the protein to several members of the immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily, particularly cell adhesion molecules, which are rich in -sheets. Hydropathy analysis suggests that hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions were evenly distributed along the sequence, but the NH₂- and COOH-termini were hydrophobic. Hydrophobic moments and Fourier-transform amphipathic analyses further suggest that residues 23–30 and 83–93 were amphiphathie -sheets. The overall conformation of OBCAM was unaltered by adding linoleic acid, which is required for opioid ligand binding.     

Surface properties of fibrinogen and fibrin

By contact angle measurements on layers of fibrinogen and fibrin, it can be shown that the transformation from fibrinogen to fibrin is accompanied by a change in surface properties from very hydrophilic (fibrinogen) to moderately but definitely hydrophobic (fibrin). It is also shown that, contrary to serum albumin and gamma globulin, fibrinogen does not become more hydrophobic upon drying.     

Extracellular matrix influences hormone and protein production by human chorionic villi

Summary Increasing evidence confirms that the extracellular matrix greatly influences cell behaviour and function. Collagen and fibrin are in contact with trophoblast throughout pregnancy. To investigate whether these two matrices influence hormon production by the trophoblast, explants from first-trimester chorionic villi were cultured for up to 30 days either a) in medium with agitation, b) embedded in type-I collagen (three-dimensional gels), or c) embedded in fibrin (three-dimensional gels). The supernatant culture medium was changed every 48 h and tested by radioimmunoassay for hCG, progesterone and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A. In addition, after 3, 7, 15, and 30 days of culture villi were fixed and studied by light and electron microscopy. Embedding in the extracellular matrix showed higher and longer-lasting production rates of all measured products and superior structural preservation as compared to cultures with agitation. Collagen matrix proved to be superior to fibrin. As established by several tests, this difference was neither due to thrombin used to polymerize fibrinogen, nor to differences in the diffusion rates through the two different matrices used. We conclude that extracellular matrix, particularly collagen, influences the synthesis of trophoblastic products. Embedding of the villous explants in three-dimensional gels constitutes a new method for long-term cultures of chorionic villi.This study was presented at the workshop Placental-and decidual-specific protein synthesis and secretion: regulation, role and interaction, Zemun, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 19–20 May, 1988 (Bischof and Castellucci 1988; see also J. Aplin 1989), and at the 11th Rochester Trophoblast Conference, Rochester, N.Y. USA, 9–12 October 1988 (Castellucci et al. 1988)     

Thermotolerance,cell filamentation,and induced protein synthesis in psychrophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria

Both the psychrophile Aquaspirillum arcticum and the psychrotroph Bacillus psychrophilus were found to acquire thermotolerance when either heat shocked or treated with nalidixic acid; two conditions which also resulted in the induction of heat shock proteins and/or stress proteins and also cell filamentation. The possible relatedness of acquisition of thermotolerance and cell filamentation was examined by inhibiting cell filamentation with 1.5% KCl. A. arcticum cells which were heat shocked in the presence of KCl did not become filamentous nor acquire thermotolerance suggesting that these two responses may be related. On the other hand, when cells of B. psychrophilus were treated in a similar fashion, they also were prevented from cell filamentation but their ability to become thermotolerant was unaffected. When A. arcticum cells were heat shocked in the presence of chloramphenicol, heat shock protein synthesis was inhibited but not the acquistion of thermotolerance. Similar experiments with B. psychrophilus revealed that partial induction of heat shock proteins still occurred; however, no thermotolerance was exhibited.Abbreviations hsp(s) heat shock proteins(s) - SEM standard error of the mean     

Analysis and separation of synaptosomal membrane proteins

Synaptosomal membrane proteins solubilized with 8% CHAPS-8 M urea were analyzed with twodimensional electrophoresis (2DE). The membrane proteins were resolved up to 250 spots on a 2DE map, ranging in isoelectric points (pI) from 3.5 to 10.0 and molecular weights (MW) from 10 kDa to 200 kDa. Comparison of the mapped proteins of synaptosomal membranes with those of myelin and mitochondorial membranes revealed that synaptosomal membrane proteins were characteristic in the area of pI from 4.0 to 7.5 and MW from 20 kDa to 130 kDa, and that at least 30 spots were synaptosomal membrane-specific proteins. Most of these 30 proteins have not been previously described, named, and characterized Serial numbers (from SY1 to SY30) were assigned to the proteins on the map in order to investigate them systematically. A preliminary attempt to separate synaptosomal membrane proteins was carried out using a reversed-phase HPLC system. Several proteins could either be isolated or enriched. SY10 (pI 4.6; MW 56 kDa) was one of these proteins, and was of particular interest for its unusual behavior on the reversed-phase column, and for its binding to an immobilized protein A-gel.     

Acid shock proteins of Escherichia coli

Synthesis of total cellular proteins of Escherichia coli was studied after transfer of cultures from pH 6.9 to pH 4.3. Proteins induced by such an external pH shift down were identified by mono- and bi-dimensional electrophoresis. 30 to 45 min after an acid shift, a group of at least sixteen polypeptides was markedly induced. Four of these polypeptides corresponded to the well known heat shock proteins GroEL, DnaK, HtpG and HtpM. Their pH induction was RpoH-dependent. Three other pH-induced proteins were previously identified as stress proteins induced either by osmolarity or aerobiosis or low temperature (proteins 32 (defined in this paper), C70.0 and C62.7). Seven other proteins were specifically induced after an acid shift and were called acid shock proteins (ASP). The induction of one of these proteins was RpoH-dependent, whereas that of others was RpoH-independent.