Trehalose as an endogenous reserve in spores of the fungus Myrothecium verrucaria

Mandels, G. R. (U.S. Army Natick Laboratories, Natick, Mass.), Rasma Vitols, and Frederick W. Parrish. Trehalose as an endogenous reserve in spores of the fungus Myrothecium verrucaria. J. Bacteriol. 90:1589-1598. 1965.-Gross analysis of Myrothecium verrucaria spores showed approximately 3% fat, 33% carbohydrate, and 9.5% nitrogen. The water-soluble carbohydrates were trehalose, glucose, mannitol, and an unidentified phosphorylated compound. Water-soluble amino acids include leucine or norleucine (or both), valine, gamma-amino-n-butyric acid, beta-amino-n-butyric acid, ergothionine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, aspartic acid, asparagine, cystine, and cystathionine. Ergosterol was also present. alphaalpha-Trehalose is the major reserve (20% of the dry weight), although approximately 30% of it appeared to be at the spore surface and was released by nonlethal treatment with 0.1 n HCl. Treatment with toluene or exposure to heat sufficient to kill the spores (20 min at 60 C) caused rapid liberation of all of the trehalose. Although spores could utilize exogenous trehalose with no appreciable lag, some stimulus, such as exposure to heat (10 min at 55 C), incubation with azide, or germination on exogenous substrates, was necessary to effect utilization of trehalose reserves. Spores have trehalase, but it is apparently at the spore surface, since it is inactivated by acid treatment which does not kill the spores. The metabolic pathway for utilization of trehalose is not known, but presumably it is not mediated by trehalase. The involvement of mannitol is indicated, since it tends to increase as trehalose decreases, although the changes are not quantitatively equivalent.     

Constitutive and Induced Trehalose Transport Mechanisms in Spores of the Fungus Myrothecium verrucaria

Trehalose is absorbed by two distinct systems-one constitutive, the other induced by turanose and to a lesser extent by nigerose but not by trehalose. The constitutive system is apparently mediated by a surface trehalase; the induced system has the characteristics of a permease. The specificity of the induced system is apparently limited to the alpha glucosyl-glucose or glucosyl-fructose linkage, because absorption of kojibiose, nigerose, maltose, isomaltose, turanose, sucrose, and melezitose, in addition to that of trehalose, was increased. Absorption of beta-linked or of galactose-containing disaccharides was not increased. The constitutive and induced trehalose-absorbing systems differ in their activity, specificity, lability to acid treatment, effects of substrate concentration, and pH optima. Both systems require oxygen, and no marked differential effects of inhibitors were observed. The activity of the induced system is proportional to log turanose concentration (from about 1 to 300 mug/ml), and is an approximate linear function of time of exposure (from about 1 to 50 min). Accumulation of trehalose occurred against a concentration gradient in both systems but particularly in the induced. No leakage was observed. The activity of the induced system declined slowly upon removal of the inducer. Accumulated trehalose is metabolized after activation by azide as are the endogenous trehalose reserves. The accumulated trehalose appears to enter the endogenous trehalose pool found in these spores, although some data suggest it may be more accessible. Respiratory data indicate that absorbed trehalose is available for metabolism while in transit from the external membrane to the internal pool.     

Antibody for detection and quantitation of membrane-associated folate-binding protein from Lactobacillus casei

Lactobacillus casei cells contain a 25 kDa, membrane-associated, folate-binding protein (fbp), which is a component of the folate transport system. Polyclonal antibody to fbp (anti-fbp) has been prepared, and conditions have been established for detection and quantitation of the protein. Anti-fbp did not block [3H]folate transport or binding in L. casei cells. As judged by Western blots, the antibody reacted only with fbp on sodium dodecyl sulfate electrophoretograms of Triton X-100 extracts of L. casei membranes. Anti-fbp showed no cross-reactivity with L. casei dihydrofolate reductase, L. casei 5,10-methenyltetrahydrofolate synthetase, L1210 dihydrofolate reductase, rat liver dihydrofolate reductase, or L1210 folate-binding protein. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay measurements indicated the presence of an fbp in membranes of Lactobacillus salivarius and two transport-defective sublines of L. casei. Anti-fbp was used to demonstrate selective extraction, with n-butanol, of fbp from a mixture of Triton-solubilized L. casei membrane proteins; repression of fbp in membranes of L. casei cells grown on high levels of folate; and localization of fbp by electron microscopy, using anti-fbp in conjunction with goat anti-rabbit IgG gold conjugate, in L. casei membranes.     

Activation of methotrexate-alpha-alanine by carboxypeptidase A-monoclonal antibody conjugate.

Carboxypeptidase A (CP-A) and monoclonal antibody KS1/4 directed against an antigen on human lung adenocarcinoma cells (UCLA-P3) were derivatized by treatment with succinimidyl 4-(N-maleimidomethyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylate and N-succinimidyl 3-(2-pyridyldithio)propionate, respectively. The derivatized proteins were reacted to produce thioether-linked enzyme-antibody conjugates. Sequential HPLC size-exclusion and DEAE chromatography separated the conjugate preparation from unreacted enzyme and antibody. On the basis of SDS-PAGE analysis and measurement of catalytic activity, the preparation contained approximately equal amounts of 1:1 and 2:1 (enzyme:antibody) conjugates; binding activity of the conjugate (1.8 x 10(5) molecules/cell) was similar to that of unreacted antibody. In vitro cytotoxicity studies with UCLA-P3 cells demonstrated the ability of cell-bound conjugate to convert the prodrug methotrexate-alpha-alanine (MTX-Ala) to methotrexate (MTX). In the absence of conjugate, ID50 values for MTX-Ala and MTX were 8.9 x 10(-6) and 5.2 x 10(-8) M, respectively. ID50 for the prodrug improved to 1.5 x 10(-6) M with cells containing bound conjugate. This potentiation of MTX-Ala cytotoxicity by conjugate-bound CP-A, which was at least 30-fold greater than that produced by a comparable amount of free enzyme, is attributed to enhanced effectiveness of MTX generated at the cell surface as opposed to the surrounding medium. Examination of the time course of cytotoxicity over a 96-h period showed that the conjugate-prodrug combination (at 2.5 x 10(-6) M) was nearly as effective as MTX in preventing cell replication. These results demonstrate the chemotherapeutic potential of carboxypeptidase-monoclonal antibody conjugates used in conjunction with MTX peptide prodrugs.     

Affinity labeling of folate transport proteins with the N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of the gamma-isomer of fluorescein-methotrexate

Fluorescein-methotrexate, a derivative in which the fluorophore is linked via a diaminopentane spacer to either the alpha- or gamma-carboxyl group of the glutamate moiety in the drug [Gapski et al. (1975) J. Med. Chem. 18, 526-528], has been synthesized by an improved procedure and separated by DEAE-Trisacryl chromatography into the alpha- and gamma-isomers (alpha-F-MTX and gamma-F-MTX). Each isomer was characterized by mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, absorbance spectrum, TLC, and reversed-phase HPLC. Identity of the isomers was established by the following enzymatic criteria: (a) gamma-F-MTX (but not the alpha-isomer) was hydrolyzed at the pteroate-glutamate bond by carboxypeptidase G2 to yield 4-amino-4-deoxy-10-methylpteroate and gamma-glutamyldiaminopentane-fluorescein; and (b) gamma-F-MTX was a much better inhibitor of human dihydrofolate reductase than the alpha-isomer (Ki values of 0.079 and 4.6 nM). alpha- and gamma-F-MTX were comparable as inhibitors (Ki values of 1.6 and 0.6 microM) of the transport system for reduced folates and MTX in L1210 cells, but the transporter in Lactobacillus casei was inhibited only by the gamma-isomer (Ki = 4.3 microM). The gamma-isomer, therefore, was selected for covalent labeling of proteins. When L. casei folate transport protein (18 kDa) was treated with gamma-F-MTX that had been activated with N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS), the protein was readily visualized as a fluorescent band on SDS-PAGE electrophoretograms. The probe was also able to detect the transporter in membranes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Biotin derivatives of methotrexate and folate. Synthesis and utilization for affinity purification of two membrane-associated folate transporters from L1210 cells

Biotin derivatives of methotrexate and folate (2-(biotinamido)ethyl-1,3'-dithiopropionyldiaminopentyl methotrexate and/or folate), in which carboxyl groups of the functional components are joined by a disulfide-containing spacer, have been synthesized, purified by DEAE-Trisacryl chromatography, and characterized by high pressure liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. These bifunctional, dissociable probes were utilized for the single-step purification to homogeneity of two folate transport proteins (43 and 39 kDa) from L1210 cells. Treatment of the 39-kDa protein with peptide N-glycosidase F produced a smaller component (32 kDa); the 43-kDa protein, conversely, was unchanged by this procedure. When the 39-kDa transporter in intact cells was labeled with a fluorescein derivative of folate and then treated with phosphoinositol-specific phospholipase C, complete loss of fluorescence was observed. Alternatively, there was no change in fluorescence when the 43-kDa transporter was labeled with a fluorescein derivative of methotrexate and treated with the enzyme. These results indicate that the 43-kDa transporter is a nonglycosylated, integral membrane protein, whereas the 39-kDa counterpart is heavily glycosylated and anchored exofacially to the membrane by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol component.