scholarly journals Subunit interactions in horse spleen apoferritin. Dissociation by extremes of pH

1973 ◽  
Vol 133 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. R. Crichton ◽  
Charles F. A. Bryce

1. The dissociation of horse spleen apoferritin as a function of pH was analysed by sedimentation-velocity techniques. The oligomer is stable in the range pH2.8–10.6. Between pH2.8 and 1.6 and 10.6 and 13.0 both oligomer and subunits can be detected. At pH values between 1.6 and 1.0 the subunit is the only species observed, although below pH1.0 aggregation of the subunits to a particle sedimenting much faster than the oligomer occurs. 2. When apoferritin is first dissociated into subunits at low pH values and then dialysed into buffers of pH1.5–5.0, the subunit reassociates to oligomer in the pH range 3.1–4.3. 3. U.v.-difference spectroscopy was used to study conformational changes occurring during the dissociation process. The difference spectrum in acid can be accounted for by the transfer of four to five tyrosine residues/subunit from the interior of the protein into the solvent. This process is reversed on reassociation, but shows the same hysteresis as found by sedimentation techniques. The difference spectrum in alkali is more complex, but is consistent with the deprotonation of tyrosine residues, which appear to have rather high pK values. 4. In addition to the involvement of tyrosine residues in the conformational change at low pH values, spectral evidence is presented that one tryptophan residue/subunit also changes its environment before dissociation and subsequent to reassociation. 5. Analysis of the dissociation and reassociation of apoferritin at low pH values suggests that this is a co-operative process involving protonation and deprotonation of at least two carboxyl functions of rather low intrinsic pK. The dissociation at alkaline pH values does not appear to be co-operative. 6. Of the five tyrosine residues/subunit only one can be nitrated with tetranitromethane. Guanidination of lysine residues results in the modification of seven out of a total of nine residues/subunit. Nine out of the ten arginine residues/subunit react with cyclohexanedione.

2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
pp. 1055-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngoc T. N. Ngo ◽  
Carl Grey ◽  
Patrick Adlercreutz

AbstractMethodology was developed to expand the range of benign alkyl glycoside surfactants to include also anionic types. This was demonstrated possible through conversion of the glycoside to its carboxyl derivative. Specifically, octyl β-D-glucopyranoside (OG) was oxidised to the corresponding uronic acid (octyl β-D-glucopyranoside uronic acid, OG-COOH) using the catalyst system T. versicolor laccase/2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxy (TEMPO) and oxygen from air as oxidant. The effects of oxygen supply methodology, concentrations of laccase, TEMPO and OG as well as reaction temperature were evaluated. At 10 mM substrate concentration, the substrate was almost quantitatively converted into product, and even at a substrate concentration of 60 mM, 85% conversion was reached within 24 h. The surfactant properties of OG-COOH were markedly dependent on pH. Foaming was only observed at low pH, while no foam was formed at pH values above 5.0. Thus, OG-COOH can be an attractive low-foaming surfactant, for example for cleaning applications and emulsification, in a wide pH range (pH 1.5–10.0).


1981 ◽  
Author(s):  
German B Villanueva

It is known that storage at pH 6 stabilizes thrombin against inactivation. In order to determine whether structural changes accompany this stabilization, the conformation of human α-thrombin at pH 6.0 and 7.5 was investigated by chemical modification, solvent perturbation, UV difference spectroscopy and circular dichroism. It was shown that the CD spectra of α-thrombin at 230-200 nm peptide region were indistinguishable at two pH values indicating no difference in the secondary structure. However, differences were observed in the 320-250 nm aromatic region suggesting some changes in the microenvironment of the aromatic chromophores. Solvent perturbation in 20% ethylene glycol indicated 3.7 ± 0.5 Trp and 7.8 ± 0.5 Tyr were exposed to the solvent at pH 6.0 while 4.3 ± 0.4 Trp and 8.4 ± 0.5 Tyr were exposed at pH 7.5. Chemical modification of tryptophan residue by dimethyl(2-hydroxy- 5-nitrobenzyl)sulfonium bromide in a 100-fold molar excess of the reagent showed 3 reactive residues at pH 6.0 and 6 at pH 7.5. These results suggest that when thrombin is exposed to low pH, structural changes occur that decrease the relative degree of exposure of tryptophan and tyrosine residues. Furthermore, UV difference spectroscopy showed the development of a positive differential spectrum when thrombin at pH 6.0 was exposed to pH 7.5. From this study, it is concluded that the stability of thrombin at pH 6.0 is due to a more compact structure of the enzyme which is probably a result of reduced charge interaction at low pH.


1970 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 1249-1259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leticia Rao ◽  
T. Hofmann

The reaction of elastase with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid was investigated in the pH range 9–12. Elastase was found to be inactivated by 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid. The pH dependence of the pseudo first-order inactivation rate constant showed a pK of 10.3 and gave a Hill plot coefficient of 1.15. Trinitrophenol did not inactivate the enzyme. These results indicate that the inactivation is due to the covalent reaction of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid with a single group in the enzyme. This group is not the N-terminal since the loss of N-terminal valine was considerably slower than the loss of activity at pH 10.5. The inactivation of elastase with 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene also showed no correlation with the loss of the N-terminal. When the enzyme was exhaustively treated and fully inactivated with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid at pH 10.5, the N-terminal valine and two out of three lysine residues were trinitrophenylated. No evidence for the loss of histidine was found. One of the tyrosine residues may be trinitrophenylated as judged from the molar extinction of the trinitrophenylated protein, but it has not been possible to isolate a trinitrophenylated tyrosine-containing peptide. The results can be interpreted in one of two ways: (a) trinitrophenylation of a group with a pK of 10.3, not involved in the activity, inactivates because the introduction of the trinitrophenyl residue causes a denaturation of the enzyme; or (b) a group with a pK of 10.3 controls the active conformation of the enzyme. The results do not exclude the possibility that the N-terminal plays an important role in the activity of the enzyme. Below pH 10.5 the reactivity of the N-terminal is low, indicating that it is buried.At pH 9.0 only the ε-amino group of lysine in position 224 reacted with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid and full activity was retained. The second-order rate constant for the trinitrophenylation of this group was 25 times higher than that of the ε-amino group of the α-N-benzoyllysine.


1973 ◽  
Vol 133 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles F. A. Bryce ◽  
R. R. Crichton

1. Horse spleen apoferritin catalyses the oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+ with molecular O2 as electron acceptor under conditions where a number of other proteins have no such effect. The product is similar to ferritin by a number of criteria. 2. The progress curve is hyperbolic and the increase in initial velocity is linear with increasing apoferritin concentration. With respect to Fe2+ the reaction follows Michaelis–Menten kinetics. The pH-dependence of the reaction was determined between pH4.3 and 6.0. 3. Modification of both tryptophan residues/apoferritin subunit with 2-nitrophenylsulphenyl chloride does not affect either kcat. or Km for the oxidation. Neither does the guanidination of seven out of nine lysine residues/subunit, the modification of nine out of ten arginine residues/subunit with cyclohexanedione, or the nitration of one out of five tyrosine residues/subunit with tetranitromethane. 4. The carboxymethylation of two out of three cysteine residues/subunit and of one out of six histidine residues/subunit can be achieved with iodoacetic acid. This carboxymethylated apoferritin is completely inactive in Fe2+ oxidation. 5. Apoferritin does not take up Fe3+. It appears from these results that Fe2+ is the form in which iron is taken up by ferritin in a reaction where the protein acts as an enzyme which traps the product in the interior of the protein shell.


1986 ◽  
Vol 235 (3) ◽  
pp. 651-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
M G P Page ◽  
J P Rosenbusch

The topography of three pore-forming proteins from the outer membrane of Escherichia coli has been explored by using two labelling techniques. Firstly, the distribution of nucleophilic residues has been investigated by selective chemical modification using arylglyoxals (for arginine residues), isothiocyanates (for lysine residues), carbodi-imides (for carboxy residues) and diazonium salts. Secondly, the membrane-embedded domains have been investigated by labelling with photoactivatable phospholipid analogues and a reagent that partitions into the membrane. Few nucleophilic groups are found to be freely accessible to pore-impermeant probes reacting in the aqueous medium. More groups are accessible to small, pore-permeant probes, suggesting that several groups of each sort are contained within the pore. In addition, there appear to be a number of arginine, lysine, carboxyl and many tyrosine residues that are rather inaccessible and that react only with small, hydrophobic probes, if at all. Amongst these more deeply buried residues there are four arginine residues and an as-yet-undetermined number of carboxy residues that appear to be essential to the structural integrity of the oligomeric molecule.


1971 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Nicholson

1. The perturbing effect of glycerol on the direct spectrum of Escherichia coli DNA-dependent RNA polymerase has been studied. 2. By comparison with model compounds and with the unfolded polymerase in 3.8m-urea it was possible to determine the ratio of tyrosine and tryptophan residues present. On reduction of the urea-treated enzyme with 2-mercaptoethanol, no further change in the difference spectrum occurred. 3. The amino acid composition of the enzyme is given. 4. In the intact protein approx. 30% of the tryptophan and 54% of the tyrosine residues were exposed. In conjunction with the extinction value and molecular weight this corresponded to 7 tryptophan residues and 57 tyrosine residues on the surface and 16 tryptophan residues and 48 tyrosine residues ‘buried’. 5. The optical rotatory dispersion of the enzyme was unaffected by 20% glycerol. 6. The helix content calculated from Moffit plots over 560–300nm was 13%, and from the 233nm trough 13%.


1985 ◽  
Vol 232 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
G J Hart ◽  
A R Battersby

Uroporphyrinogen III synthase (co-synthetase) purified from Euglena gracilis is a monomer of Mr 38 500 by gel-filtration studies and 31 000 by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. The pI is apparently in the range 4.8-5.1. No evidence for any cofactors was found, and folate derivatives were shown to be absent; no metal ions appear to be present in the enzyme. The Km for hydroxymethylbilane is in the range 12-40 microM, and the product, uroporphyrinogen III, is an inhibitor. Modification studies suggest that arginine residues are essential for the activity of co-synthetase; lysine residues may also be essential, but histidine, cysteine and tyrosine residues are not.


2008 ◽  
Vol 412 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye E. Wu ◽  
Weizhe Hong ◽  
Chong Liu ◽  
Lingqing Zhang ◽  
Zengyi Chang

The extremely acidic environment of the mammalian stomach (pH 1–3) represents a stressful challenge for enteric pathogenic bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Shigella and Brucella. The hdeA (hns-dependent expression A) gene was found to be crucial for the survival of these enteric bacteria under extremely low pH conditions. We recently demonstrated that HdeA is able to exhibit chaperone-like activity exclusively within the stomach pH range by transforming from a well-folded conformation at higher pH values (above pH 3) into an unfolded conformation at extremely low pH values (below pH 3). This study was performed to characterize the action mechanisms and underlying specific structural features for HdeA to function in this unfolded conformation. In the present study, we demonstrate that the conserved ‘amphiphilic’ feature of HdeA, i.e. the exposure of the conserved hydrophobic region and highly charged terminal regions, is essential for exhibiting chaperone-like activity under extremely low pH conditions. Mutations that disrupt this amphiphilic feature markedly reduced the chaperone-like activity of HdeA. The results also strongly suggest that this acid-induced chaperone-like activity of HdeA is crucial for acid resistance of the enteric bacteria. Moreover, our new understanding of this amphiphilic structural feature of HdeA helps to better interpret how this unfolded (disordered) conformation could be functionally active.


1992 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 435 ◽  
Author(s):  
TJ Cardwell ◽  
RW Cattrall ◽  
LW Deady ◽  
KA Murphy

A study is reported of the use of a neutral carrier reagent containing two nitrogen atoms with very different basicities in a pH-sensitive membrane electrode with a view to obtaining a broad response range. This electrode responds well in the pH region of 6-12 but suffers anion interference in the region of pH 2-6. A study is included of the effect of adding various amounts of potassium tetrakis(4-chloropheny1)borate as an anion suppressing reagent to the membrane in order to reduce the anion interference at low pH values. The conclusion is drawn that an extension to the working pH range is not possible with this approach unless controlled amounts of anion suppressing reagent can be provided to approximately balance the positive charge of the carrier in each region of the pH scale.


1975 ◽  
Vol 149 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
E O Anosike ◽  
D C Watts

1. Some effects of anions on the rates of phosphoarginine synthesis by monomeric (lobster) and by dimeric (Holothuria forskali) arginine kinases are reported. 2. As with creatine kinase, acetate ions activate both enzymes: Cl- was also found to activate both although this was an inhibitor of creatine kinase. 3. NO3- inhibits the lobster enzyme. Inhibition is of the mixed type with respect to MgATP. Ki > Ki' and Ks > Ks' indicating that the presence of NO3- promotes the binding of substrate and vice versa. 4. NO3- alone has no effect on the difference spectrum of the lobster enzyme but in the presence of arginine, MgATP, MgADP, MgAMP or MgIDP the difference spectrum is greatly enhanced. A profound effect on the ionization state of tyrosine residues is inferred. 5. With the Holothuria enzyme low concentrations of NO3- activate in a manner that is competitive with arginine. Higher concentrations cause inhibition of the mixed type with respect to arginine in a similar manner to that found with MgATP for the lobster kinase. 6. Of a range of anions tested only NO3- and NO2- enhanced the inhibition of enzyme activity by MgADP, indicating the formation of a pseudo-transition-state dead-end complex, enzyme-arginine-NO3--MgADP. The effect was essentially independent of temperature with the Holothuria enzyme, but with the lobster enzyme was much less marked and temperature dependent. The difference may reflect the different stabilities of the monomer and dimer enzymes, although with neither arginine kinase is the stabilization of the dead-end complex as marked as is found with creatinine kinase.


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