scholarly journals A new non-covalent complex of semisynthetically modified tryptic fragments of cytochrome c

1986 ◽  
Vol 239 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
A E Proudfoot ◽  
C J Wallace ◽  
D E Harris ◽  
R E Offord

We have prepared a semisynthetic analogue of fully acetimidylated horse cytochrome c, a complex in which the peptide bond between residues glycine-37 and arginine-38 is lacking. In contrast with the complex that we have previously described [Harris & Offord (1977) Biochem. J. 161, 12-25], in which the break in continuity is between residues arginine-38 and lysine-39, the new analogue has a nearly normal redox potential, and can more fully restore succinate oxidation to mitochondria depleted of cytochrome c. Studies of this and other analogues lead us to propose an explanation for the low biological activity of complex (1-38)-(39-104) and a role for the invariance of arginine-38.

1984 ◽  
Vol 217 (3) ◽  
pp. 595-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
C J A Wallace

The biological consequences of acetimidylation of all 19 epsilon-amino groups of horse cytochrome c are a slight decrease in both the redox potential of the protein and its ability to stimulate oxygen uptake in the cytochrome c-depleted-mitochondria assay. Examination of a number of specific partially acetimidylated analogues and acetimidylated cytochromes c of other species has shown that the changes in biological properties, which are associated with a slight structural change as monitored by n.m.r. spectroscopy [Boswell, Moore, Williams, Harris, Wallace, Bocieck & Welti (1983) Biochem. J. 213, 679-686], appear to stem from modification of residues in a restricted region of the sequence. The failure of the redox potential of Saccharomyces cerevisae cytochrome c to be affected by acetimidylation suggests that it is lysine-53, absent from that species, that is the sensitive residue.


2011 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. V. Ostroverkhova ◽  
R. V. Chertkova ◽  
A. N. Nekrasov ◽  
D. A. Dolgikh ◽  
M. P. Kirpichnikov

1998 ◽  
Vol 37 (12) ◽  
pp. 121-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Isaacs ◽  
Terry Mah ◽  
S. K. Maneshin

A novel method is described to automatically estimate several key parameters affecting denitrification in activated sludge processes: the nitrate concentration, the denitrification capacity, and the maximum (substrate unlimited) and actual denitrification rates. From these, the concentration of active denitrifying microorganisms and the quality of available organic substrate pool can be estimated. Additionally, a modification of the method allows the determination of the efficacy of various carbon substrates to enhance denitrification, and this can be used to determine optimal dosing rates of an external carbon source. The method is based on measurements of either fluorescence or redox potential (ORP) in an isolated mini-reactor, the Biological Activity Meter (BAM), situated in the anoxic zone of the wastewater treatment plant. Advantages of the method are that it is in situ, operating at the same temperature as in the measured anoxic zone, requires no pumps or pipes for mixed liquor sampling, consumes little or no reagents, and uses measurement signals which are instantaneous and low maintenance, one of which provides a direct measure of biological activity.


1977 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 706-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Chr. Petersen ◽  
Hans Degn ◽  
Peter Nicholls

1. Coupled, cytochrome-c-depleted ('stripped') rat liver mitochondria reducing oxygen in the presence of exogenous cytochrome c, with succinate or ascorbate as substrates, show marked declines in the steady-state reduction of cytochrome c in excess oxygen on addition of uncouplers. Calculated ratios of maximal turnover in the uncoupled state and in the energized state for the cytochrome c oxidase (EC 1.9.3.1) reaction lie between 3 and 6, as obtained with reconstituted oxidase-containing vesicles. The succinate-cytochrome c reductase activity in such mitochondria shows a smaller response to uncoupler than that of the oxidase.2. The respiration rates of uncoupled mitochondria oxidizing ascorbate in the presence of added cytochrome c follow a Michaelis–Menten relationship with respect to oxygen concentration, in accordance with the pattern found previously with the solubilized oxidase. But succinate oxidation tends to give nonlinear concave-upward double-reciprocal plots of respiration rate against oxygen concentration, in accordance with the pattern found previously with intact uncoupled mitochondria.3. From simultaneous measurements of cytochrome c steady-state reduction, respiration rate, and oxygen concentration during succinate oxidation under uncoupled conditions it is found that at full reduction of cytochrome c, apparent Km for oxygen is 0.9 μM and the maximal oxidase (aa3) turnover is 400 s−1 (pH 7.4, 30 °C).4. The redox state of cytochrome c in uncoupled systems reflects a simple steady state; the redox state of cytochrome c in energized systems tends towards an equilibrium condition with the terminal cytochrome a3, whose apparent potential under these conditions is more negative than that of cytochrome c.


2011 ◽  
Vol 392 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Kantyka ◽  
Karolina Plaza ◽  
Joanna Koziel ◽  
Danuta Florczyk ◽  
Hennig R. Stennicke ◽  
...  

AbstractBacterial proteases are considered virulence factors and it is presumed that by abrogating their activity, host endogenous protease inhibitors play a role in host defense against invading pathogens. Here we present data showing thatStaphylococcus aureuscysteine proteases (staphopains) are efficiently inhibited by Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen 1 (SCCA1), an epithelial-derived serpin. The high association rate constant (kass) for inhibitory complex formation (1.9×104m/s and 5.8×104 m/s for staphopain A and staphopain B interaction with SCCA1, respectively), strongly suggests that SCCA1 can regulate staphopain activityin vivoat epithelial surfaces infected/colonized byS. aureus. The mechanism of staphopain inhibition by SCCA1 is apparently the same for serpin interaction with target serine proteases whereby the formation of a covalent complex result in cleavage of the inhibitory reactive site peptide bond and associated release of the C-terminal serpin fragment. Interestingly, the SCCA1 reactive site closely resembles a motif in the reactive site loop of nativeS. aureus-derived inhibitors of the staphopains (staphostatins). Given thatS. aureusis a major pathogen of epithelial surfaces, we suggest that SCCA1 functions to temper the virulence of this bacterium by inhibiting the staphopains.


1969 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 797-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jurtshuk ◽  
Ann K. May ◽  
Leodocia M. Pope ◽  
Patricia R. Aston

A comparative study was undertaken to examine the succinate and terminal oxidase activities of the electron-transport systems of Azotobacter vinelandii and mammalian mitochondria. For succinate oxidation, both systems exhibited similar relative specificities for the electron acceptors phenazine methosulfate, O2, methylene blue, K3Fe(CN)6, nitrotetrazolium blue, 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCIP), and cytochrome c. They differed in that DCIP and cytochrome c were less active in the Azotobacter electron-transport system (R3 fraction) than in the bovine mitochondrial system. Comparative studies with known inhibitors of mammalian mitochondrial electron-transport demonstrated that the succinoxidase activity of the Azotobacter R3 fraction was, at least, 2000 times less sensitive to antimycin A, 700 times less sensitive to thenoyl-trifluoroacetone, and 30 times less sensitive to 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxy-quinoline-N-oxide. Both systems were equally sensitive to KCN, p-chloromercuribenzoic acid, and chlorpromazine.The ability of the two systems to use tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD) and its derivatives as electron donors, for terminal oxidation, was also similar. Studies on steady state reduction revealed that in the Azotobacter R3 fraction, the cytochromes (a2, a1, b1, c4 + c5) and flavoprotein components were reduced substantially by succinate as well as by TMPD in the presence of ascorbate. Ultrastructure analyses of the Azotobacter R3 electron-transport fraction revealed the vesicular membranous components identified as oxidosomes according to the terminology used by DeLey and contained spherical headpiece units of 80 Å in diameter which appeared to be morphologically identical with the tripartite units or the elementary particles described by Green and associates, viz., Kopaczyk et al., and by Fernandez-Moran et al.


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