scholarly journals Enzymic hydrolysis of acetylcarnitine in liver from rats, sheep and cows

1975 ◽  
Vol 152 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. D. Costa ◽  
A. M. Snoswell

1. The enzymic utilization of O-acetyl-l-carnitine other than via carnitine acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.7) was investigated in liver homogenates from rats, sheep and dry cows. 2. An enzymic utilization of O-acetyl-l-carnitine via hydrolysis of the ester bond to yield stoicheiometric quantities of acetate and l-carnitine was demonstrated; 0.55, 0.53 and 0.30μmol of acetyl-l-carnitine were utilized/min per g fresh wt. of liver homogenates from rats, sheep and dry cows respectively. 3. The acetylcarnitine hydrolysis activity was not due to a non-specific esterase or non-specific cholinesterase. O-Acetyl-d-carnitine was not utilized. 4. The activity was associated with the enriched outer mitochondrial membrane fraction from rat liver. Isolation of this fraction resulted in an eightfold purification of acetylcarnitine hydrolase activity. 4. The Km for this acetylcarnitine utilization was 2mm and 1.5mm for rat and sheep liver homogenates respectively. 6. There was a significant increase in acetylcarnitine hydrolase in rats on starvation and cows on lactation and a significant decrease in sheep that were severely alloxan-diabetic. 7. The physiological role of an acetylcarnitine hydrolase is discussed in relation to coupling with carnitine acetyltransferase for the relief of ‘acetyl pressure’.

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 861-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Harder ◽  
Meike Bente ◽  
Kerstin Isermann ◽  
Iris Bruchhaus

ABSTRACT Leishmania promastigote cells transmitted by the insect vector get phagocytosed by macrophages and convert into the amastigote form. During development and transformation, the parasites are exposed to various concentrations of reactive oxygen species, which can induce programmed cell death (PCD). We show that a mitochondrial peroxiredoxin (LdmPrx) protects Leishmania donovani from PCD. Whereas this peroxiredoxin is restricted to the kinetoplast area in promastigotes, it covers the entire mitochondrion in amastigotes, accompanied by dramatically increased expression. A similar change in the expression pattern was observed during the growth of Leishmania from the early to the late logarithmic phase. Recombinant LdmPrx shows typical peroxiredoxin-like enzyme activity. It is able to detoxify organic and inorganic peroxides and prevents DNA from hydroxyl radical-induced damage. Most notably, Leishmania parasites overexpressing this peroxiredoxin are protected from hydrogen peroxide-induced PCD. This protection is also seen in promastigotes grown to the late logarithmic phase, also characterized by high expression of this peroxiredoxin. Apparently, the physiological role of this peroxiredoxin is stabilization of the mitochondrial membrane potential and, as a consequence, inhibition of PCD through removal of peroxides.


Biochemistry ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 540-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anatole A. Klyosov ◽  
Olga V. Mitkevich ◽  
Arkady P. Sinitsyn

The molecular events involved in the cellular actions of insulin remain unexplained. Some of the acute actions of the hormone may be due to the intracellular generation of a chemical substance which modulates certain enzyme activities. Such an enzymemodulating substance has been identified as an inositol phosphate-glycan, produced by the insulin-sensitive hydrolysis of a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (glycosyl-Ptdlns) precursor. This precursor glycolipid is structurally similar to the glycosylphosphoinositide membrane protein anchor. The exposure of fat, liver or muscle cells to insulin results in the hydrolysis of glycosyl-Ptdlns, giving rise to the inositol phosphate glycan and diacylglycerol. This hydrolysis reaction is catalysed by a glycosyl-PtdIns-specific phospholipase C. This enzyme has been characterized and purified from a plasma membrane fraction of liver. This reaction also results in the acute release of certain glycosyl-Ptdlns-anchored proteins from the cell surface. Elucidation of the functional role of glycosyl-phosphoinositides in the generation of second messengers or the release of proteins may provide further insights into the pleiotropic nature of insulin action.


1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (15) ◽  
pp. 4592-4597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Pederson ◽  
Gerald J. Mileski ◽  
Bart C. Weimer ◽  
James L. Steele

ABSTRACT A cell envelope-associated proteinase gene (prtH) was identified in Lactobacillus helveticus CNRZ32. TheprtH gene encodes a protein of 1,849 amino acids and with a predicted molecular mass of 204 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence of the prtH product has significant identity (45%) to that of the lactococcal PrtP proteinases. Southern blot analysis indicates thatprtH is not broadly distributed within L. helveticus. A prtH deletion mutant of CNRZ32 was constructed to evaluate the physiological role of PrtH. PrtH is not required for rapid growth or fast acid production in milk by CNRZ32. Cell surface proteinase activity and specificity were determined by hydrolysis of αs1-casein fragment 1-23 by whole cells. A comparison of CNRZ32 and its prtH deletion mutant indicates that CNRZ32 has at least two cell surface proteinases that differ in substrate specificity.


2005 ◽  
Vol 171 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doron Rapaport

A multisubunit translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TOM complex) mediates both the import of mitochondrial precursor proteins into the internal compartments of the organelle and the insertion of proteins residing in the mitochondrial outer membrane. The proposed β-barrel structure of Tom40, the pore-forming component of the translocase, raises the question of how the apparent uninterrupted β-barrel topology can be compatible with a role of Tom40 in releasing membrane proteins into the lipid core of the bilayer. In this review, I discuss insertion mechanisms of proteins into the outer membrane and present alternative models based on the opening of a multisubunit β-barrel TOM structure or on the interaction of outer membrane precursors with the outer face of the Tom40 β-barrel structure.


1971 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 701-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. N. Palmer

1. Acid α-glucosidase was purified 3500-fold from rabbit muscle. 2. The enzyme was activated by cations, the degree of activation varying with the substrate. Enzyme action on glycogen was most strongly activated and activation was apparently of a non-competitive type. With rabbit liver glycogen as substrate, the relative Vmax. increased 15-fold, accompanied by an increase in Km from 8.3 to 68.6mm-chain end over the cation range 2–200mm-Na+ at pH4.5. Action on maltose was only moderately activated (1.3-fold, non-competitively) and action on maltotriose was marginally and competitively inhibited. 3. The pH optimum at 2mm-Na+ was 4.5 (maltose) and 5.1 (glycogen). Cation activation of enzyme action on glycogen was markedly pH-dependent. At 200mm-Na+, the pH optimum was 4.8 and activity was maximally stimulated in the range pH4.5–3.3. 4. Glucosidase action on maltosaccharides was associated with pronounced substrate inhibition at concentrations exceeding 5mm. Of the maltosaccharides tested, the enzyme showed a preference for p-nitrophenyl α-maltoside (Km 1.2mm) and maltotriose (Km 1.8mm). The extrapolated Km for enzyme action on maltose was 3.7mm. 5. The macromolecular polysaccharide substrate glycogen differed from linear maltosaccharide substrates in the kinetics of its interaction with the enzyme. Activity was markedly dependent on pH, cation concentration and polysaccharide structure. There was no substrate inhibition. 6. The enzyme exhibited constitutive α-1,6-glucanohydrolase activity. The Km for panose was 20mm. 7. The enzyme catalysed the total conversion of glycogen into glucose. The hydrolysis of α-1,6-linkages was apparently rate-limiting during the hydrolysis of glycogen. 8. Enzyme action on glycogen and maltose released the α-anomer of d-glucose. 9. The results are discussed in terms of the physiological role of acid α-glucosidase in lysosomal glycogen catabolism.


1962 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Ernster ◽  
Lois C. Jones

Rat liver microsomes catalyze the hydrolysis of the triphosphates of adenosine, guanosine, uridine, cytidine, and inosine into the corresponding diphosphates and inorganic orthophosphate. The activities are stimulated by Na2S2O4, and inhibited by atebrin, chlorpromazine, sodium azide, and deaminothyroxine. Sodium deoxycholate inhibits the ATPase activity in a progressive manner; the release of orthophosphate from GTP and UTP is stimulated by low, and inhibited by high, concentrations of deoxycholate, and that from CTP and ITP is unaffected by low, and inhibited by high, concentrations of deoxycholate. Subfractionation of microsomes with deoxycholate into ribosomal, membrane, and soluble fractions reveals a concentration of the triphosphatase activity in the membrane fraction. Rat liver microsomes also catalyze the hydrolysis of the diphosphates of the above nucleosides into the corresponding monophosphates and inorganic orthophosphate. Deoxycholate strongly enhances the GDPase, UDPase, and IDPase activities while causing no activation or even inhibition of the ADPase and CDPase activities. The diphosphatase is unaffected by Na2S2O4 and is inhibited by azide and deaminothyroxine but not by atebrin or chlorpromazine. Upon fractionation of the microsomes with deoxycholate, a large part of the GDPase, UDPase, and IDPase activities is recovered in the soluble fraction. Mechanical disruption of the microsomes with an Ultra Turrax Blender both activates and releases the GDPase, UDPase, and IDPase activities, and the former effect occurs more readily than the latter. The GDPase, UDPase, and IDPase activities of the rat liver cell reside almost exclusively in the microsomal fraction, as revealed by comparative assays of the mitochondrial, microsomal, and final supernatant fractions of the homogenate. The microsomes exhibit relatively low nucleoside monophosphatase and inorganic pyrophosphatase activities, and these are unaffected by deoxycholate or mechanical treatment. Different approaches toward the function of the liver microsomal nucleoside tri- and diphosphatases are reported, and the possible physiological role of the two enzymes is discussed.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Légiot ◽  
Claire Céré ◽  
Thibaud Dupoiron ◽  
Mohamed Kaabouni ◽  
Stéphen Manon

AbstractThe distribution of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax in the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) is a central point of regulation of apoptosis. It is now widely recognized that parts of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are closely associated to the OMM, and are actively involved in different signalling processes. We adressed a possible role of these domains, called Mitochondria-Associated Membranes (MAMs) in Bax localization and fonction, by expressing the human protein in a yeast mutant deleted of MDM34, a ERMES component (ER-Mitochondria Encounter Structure). By affecting MAMs stability, the deletion of MDM34 altered Bax mitochondrial localization, and decreased its capacity to release cytochrome c. Furthermore, the deletion of MDM34 decreased the size of an uncompletely released, MAMs-associated pool of cytochrome c.


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