A quantitative and qualitative cytochemical analysis of glycosaminoglycan content in the zona pellucida of hamster ovarian follicles

Summary In this study the amount of neutral and acidic glycosaminoglycans in the zona pellucida and antrum of primary, preovulatory, and atretic follicles was analyzed. Serial sections of preovulatory hamster follicles were stained with PAS or alcian blue to estimate the content of neutral and acidic glycosaminoglycans, respectively. The amount of hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate and sialic acid was determined using enzyme digestion procedures followed by alcian blue staining. Microdensitometric analyses showed that the strongest PAS staining was in the zona pellucida of atretic follicles, less staining in preovulatory follicles but more than in the antrum of preovulatory follicles. No hyaluronic acid was found in the zona pellucida of any follicular type, but there was a measurable amount in the antrum of preovulatory follicles. Chondroitin sulfate was present in the zona pellucida of primary and atretic follicles, as well as in the antrum of prevulatory follicles. Sialic acid was present in the antrum and zona pellucida of all follicular types. Sialic acid plays a role in receptor recognition and its presence may reflect the role of the zona pellucida in sperm recognition and fertilization.     

Association of catalytic and regulatory subunits of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase requires a negatively charged side group at a conserved threonine.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as in higher eucaryotes, cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase is a tetramer composed of two catalytic (C) subunits and two regulatory (R) subunits. In the absence of cAMP, the phosphotransferase activity of the C subunit is inhibited by the tight association with R. Mutation of Thr-241 to Ala in the C1 subunit of S. cerevisiae reduces the affinity of this subunit for the R subunit approximately 30-fold and results in a monomeric cAMP-independent C subunit. The analogous residue in the mammalian C subunit is known to be phosphorylated. Peptide maps of in vivo 32P-labeled wild-type C1 and mutant C1(Ala241) suggest that Thr-241 is phosphorylated in yeast cells. Substituting Thr-241 with either aspartate or glutamate partially restored affinity for the R subunit. Uncharged and positively charged residues substituted at this site resulted in C subunits that failed to associate with the R subunit. Replacement with the phosphorylatable residue serine resulted in a C subunit with wild-type affinity for the R subunit. Analysis of this protein revealed that it appears to be phosphorylated on Ser-241 in vivo. These data suggest that the interaction between R and C involves a negatively charged phosphothreonine at position 241 of yeast C1, which can be mimicked by either aspartate, glutamate, or phosphoserine.     

Mutagenesis of the regulatory subunit of yeast cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Isolation of site-directed mutants with altered binding affinity for catalytic subunit

Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis was used to produce mutants in the hinge region of the regulatory subunit (R) of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cAMP-dependent protein kinase. The mutant proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli, purified, urea treated to produce cAMP-free regulatory (R), and analyzed in vitro for catalytic (C) subunit inhibitory activity in the presence and absence of cAMP. When assayed in the absence of cAMP, wild type R dimer inhibited C with an IC50 of 40 nM. Replacement of amino acid residue Ser-145 (the autophosphorylation site of yeast R) with Ala or Gly produced mutants which were 2-10-fold better inhibitors of C, while replacement with Glu, Asp, Lys, or Thr produced mutants which were 2-5-fold worse inhibitors of C relative to wild type R. When assayed in the presence of cAMP, all R subunits had a decreased affinity for C subunit, with Ser-145 and Thr-145 undergoing autophosphorylation. These results suggest that the amino acid at position 145 of R contributes to R-C interaction and therefore influences the equilibrium of yeast protein kinase subunits in vitro.     

The rabbit alpha-like globin gene cluster is polymorphic both in the sizes of BamHI fragments and in the numbers of duplicated sets of genes

The alpha-like globin gene cluster in rabbits contains embryonic zeta- globin genes, an adult alpha-globin gene, and theta-globin genes of undetermined function. The basic arrangement of genes, deduced from analysis of cloned DNA fragments, is 5'-zeta 0-zeta 1-alpha 1-theta 1- zeta 2-zeta 3-theta 2-3'. However, the pattern of restriction fragments containing zeta- and theta-globin genes varies among individual rabbits. Analysis of BamHI fragments of genomic DNA from 24 New Zealand white rabbits revealed eight different patterns of fragments containing zeta-globin genes. The large BamHI fragments containing genes zeta 0 and zeta 1 are polymorphic in length, whereas a 1.9-kb fragment containing the zeta 2 gene and the 3.5-kb fragment containing the zeta 3 gene do not vary in size. In contrast to this constancy in the size of the restriction fragments, the copy number of the zeta 2 and zeta 3 genes does vary among different rabbits. No length polymorphism was detected in the BamHI fragments containing the theta-globin genes, but again the copy number varies for restriction fragments containing the theta 2 gene. The alpha 1- and theta 1-globin genes are located in a nonpolymorphic 7.2-kb BamHI fragment. The combined data from hybridization with both zeta and theta probes shows that the BamHI cleavage pattern does not vary within the region 5'-alpha 1-theta 1- zeta 2-zeta 3-theta 2-3', but the pattern genomic blot-hybridization patterns for the progeny of parental rabbits with different zeta-globin gene patterns shows that the polymorphic patterns are inherited in a Mendelian fashion. Two different haplotypes have been mapped based on the genomic blot-hybridization data. The variation in the alpha-like globin gene cluster in the rabbit population results both from differences in the copy number of the duplication block containing the zeta-zeta-theta gene set and from the presence or absence of polymorphic BamHI sites.      

Purification and characterization of C1, the catalytic subunit of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cAMP-dependent protein kinase encoded by TPK1

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, three genes TPK1, TPK2, and TPK3 encode catalytic subunits of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. We have purified and characterized the catalytic subunit, C1, encoded by the TPK1 gene. In order to purify C1 completely free of C2 and C3, a strain was constructed that contained only the TPK1 gene and genetic disruptions of the other two TPK genes. The cellular level of C1 was increased by expressing the genes for C1 (TPK1) and yeast regulatory subunit (BCY1) on multiple copy plasmids within this strain. Purification was accomplished by a two-column procedure in which holoenzyme was chromatographed on Sephacryl-200, then bound to an anti-regulatory subunit immunoaffinity column. Pure C1 was released from the antibody column by addition of cAMP. The protein migrated on a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel with an Mr of 52,000. Kinetic analysis showed that the apparent Km for ATP and Leu-Arg-Arg-Ala-Ser-Leu-Gly was 33 and 101 microM, respectively. The kcat was determined to be 640 min-1. The protein weakly autophosphorylated, incorporating less than 0.1 mol of phosphate/mol of catalytic subunit. NH2-terminal sequencing revealed that the protein was blocked.     

Trimethyloxonium modification of single batrachotoxin-activated sodium channels in planar bilayers. Changes in unit conductance and in block by saxitoxin and calcium

Single batrachotoxin-activated sodium channels from rat brain were modified by trimethyloxonium (TMO) after incorporation in planar lipid bilayers. TMO modification eliminated saxitoxin (STX) sensitivity, reduced the single channel conductance by 37%, and reduced calcium block of inward sodium currents. These effects always occurred concomitantly, in an all-or-none fashion. Calcium and STX protected sodium channels from TMO modification with potencies similar to their affinities for block. Calcium inhibited STX binding to rat brain membrane vesicles and relieved toxin block of channels in bilayers, apparently by competing with STX for the toxin binding site. These results suggest that toxins, permeant cations, and blocking cations can interact with a common site on the sodium channel near the extracellular surface. It is likely that permeant cations transiently bind to this superficial site, as the first of several steps in passing inward through the channel.     

Growth kinetics as a function of ploidy in diploid, tetraploid, and octaploid smooth muscle cells derived from the normal rat aorta

The smooth muscle cell population in major arteries of humans and experimental animals is heterogeneous with regard to cellular DNA content. A proportion of cells has polyploid DNA content and this proportion increases with normal aging and with hypertension. We have isolated pure populations of rat aortic smooth muscle cells containing 2C, 4C, and 8C DNA content by cloning of cultures of cells previously subjected to flow cytometric cell sorting. Karyologic analysis of these clonal populations revealed them to be pure diploid, tetraploid, and octaploid populations, respectively, containing 2N (= 42), 4N, and 8N chromosomes. Cell attachment area and nuclear size appeared to increase with the level of ploidy. Studies of the proliferative characteristics of the cells revealed that the growth rate and ultimate cell densities achieved decreased as the ploidy level increased. The intrinsic cellular radiosensitivity of these clones did not vary with ploidy. Increased smooth muscle cell ploidy is, therefore, associated with a decreased rate of proliferation. The emergence of smooth muscle cells with polyploid DNA content under normal and pathologic conditions is probably due to mitotic polyploidization without net cell proliferation and may be related to the need for expression of differentiated functions.     

Identification of Src, Fyn, Lyn, PI3K and Abl SH3 domain ligands using phage display libraries.

Many proteins involved in intracellular signal transduction contain a small, 50-60 amino acid domain, termed the Src homology 3 (SH3) domain. This domain appears to mediate critical protein-protein interactions that are involved in responses to extracellular signals. Previous studies have shown that the SH3 domains from several proteins recognize short, contiguous amino acid sequences that are rich in proline residues. While all SH3 recognition sequences identified to date share a conserved P-X-X-P motif, the sequence recognition specificity of individual SH3 domains is poorly understood. We have employed a novel modification of phage display involving biased libraries to identify peptide ligands of the Src, Fyn, Lyn, PI3K and Abl SH3 domains. With biased libraries, we probed SH3 recognition over a 12 amino acid window. The Src SH3 domain prefers the sequence XXXRPLPPLPXP, Fyn prefers XXXRPLPP(I/L)PXX, Lyn prefers RXXRPLPPLPXP, PI3K prefers RXXRPLPPLPP while the Abl SH3 domain selects phage containing the sequence PPPYPPPP(I/V)PXX. We have also analysed the binding properties of Abl and Src SH3 ligands. We find that although the phage-displayed Abl and Src SH3 ligands are proline rich, they are distinct. In surface plasmon resonance binding assays, these SH3 domains displayed highly selective binding to their cognate ligands when the sequences were displayed on the surface of the phage or as synthetic peptides. The selection of these high affinity SH3 peptide ligands provides valuable information on the recognition motifs of SH3 domains, serve as new tools to interfere with the cellular functions of SH3 domain-mediated processes and form the basis for the design of SH3-specific inhibitors of disease pathways.     

Interaction of p72syk with the gamma and beta subunits of the high-affinity receptor for immunoglobulin E, Fc epsilon RI.

Activation of protein tyrosine kinases is one of the initial events following aggregation of the high-affinity receptor for immunoglobulin E (Fc epsilon RI) on RBL-2H3 cells, a model mast cell line. The protein tyrosine kinase p72syk (Syk), which contains two Src homology 2 (SH2) domains, is activated and associates with phosphorylated Fc epsilon RI subunits after receptor aggregation. In this report, we used Syk SH2 domains, expressed in tandem or individually, as fusion proteins to identify Syk-binding proteins in RBL-2H3 lysates. We show that the tandem Syk SH2 domains selectively associate with tyrosine-phosphorylated forms of the gamma and beta subunits of Fc epsilon RI. The isolated carboxy-proximal SH2 domain exhibited a significantly higher affinity for the Fc epsilon RI subunits than did the amino-proximal domain. When in tandem, the Syk SH2 domains showed enhanced binding to phosphorylated gamma and beta subunits. The conserved tyrosine-based activation motifs contained in the cytoplasmic domains of the gamma and beta subunits, characterized by two YXXL/I sequences in tandem, represent potential high-affinity binding sites for the dual SH2 domains of Syk. Peptide competition studies indicated that Syk exhibits a higher affinity for the phosphorylated tyrosine activation motif of the gamma subunit than for that of the beta subunit. In addition, we show that Syk is the major protein in RBL-2H3 cells that is affinity isolated with phosphorylated peptides corresponding to the phosphorylated gamma subunit motif. These data suggest that Syk associates with the gamma subunit of the high-affinity receptor for immunoglobulin E through an interaction between the tandem SH2 domains of SH2 domains of Syk and the phosphorylated tyrosine activation motif of the gamma subunit and that Syk may be the major signaling protein that binds to Fc epsilon RI tyrosine activation motif of the gamma subunit and that Syk may be the major signaling protein that binds to Dc epsilon tyrosine activation motifs in RBL-2H3 cells.