scholarly journals Essential carboxy groups in xylanase A

1990 ◽  
Vol 270 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
M R Bray ◽  
A J Clarke

An endo-1,4-beta-xylanase of Schizophyllum commune was purified to homogeneity through a modified procedure employing DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B and gel-filtration chromatography on Sephadex G-50. The role of carboxy groups in the catalytic mechanism was delineated through chemical modification studies. The water-soluble carbodi-imide 1-(4-azonia-4,4-dimethylpentyl)-3-ethylcarbodi-imide iodide (EAC) inactivated the xylanase rapidly and completely in a pseudo-first-order process. Other carbodi-imides and Woodward's Reagent K were less effective in decreasing enzymic activity. Significant protection of the enzyme against EAC inactivation was provided by a mixture of neutral xylo-oligomers. The pH-dependence of the EAC inactivation revealed the presence of a critical ionizable group with a pKa value of 6.6 in the active site of the xylanase. Treatment of the enzyme with diethyl pyrocarbonate resulted in modification of all three histidine residues in the enzyme with 100% retention of original enzymic activity. Titration of the enzyme with 5,5-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) and treatment with iodoacetimide and p-chloromercuribenzoate indicated the absence of free/reactive thiol groups. Reaction of the xylanase with tetranitromethane did not result in a significant activity loss as a result of modification of tyrosine residues.

1975 ◽  
Vol 149 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
S G Waley

The pH-dependence of the kinetic parameters for the hydrolysis of the β-lactam ring by β-lactamase I (penicillinase, EC 3.5.2.6) was studied. Benzylpenicillin and ampicillin (6-[D(-)-α-aminophenylacetamido]penicillanic acid) were used. Both kcat. and kcat./Km for both substrates gave bell-shaped plots of parameter versus pH. The pH-dependence of kcat./Km for the two substrates gave the same value (8.6) for the higher apparent pK, and so this value may characterize a group on the free enzyme; the lower apparent pK values were about 5(4.85 for benzylpenicillin, 5.4 for ampicillin). For benzylpenicillin both kcat. and kcat./Km depended on pH in exactly the same way. The value of Km for benzylpenicillin was thus independent of pH, suggesting that ionization of the enzyme's catalytically important groups does not affect binding of this substrate. The pH-dependence of kcat. for ampicillin differed, however, presumably because of the polar group in the side chain. The hypothesis that the pK5 group is a carboxyl group was tested. Three reagents that normally react preferentially with carboxyl groups inactivated the enzyme: the reagents were Woodward's reagent K, a water-soluble carbodi-imide, and triethyloxonium fluoroborate. These findings tend to support the idea that a carboxylate group plays a part in the action of β-lactamase I.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Roitberg ◽  
Pancham Lal Gupta

<div>Human Glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylase (GAR Tfase), a regulatory enzyme in the de novo purine biosynthesis pathway, has been established as an anti-cancer target. GAR Tfase catalyzes the formyl transfer reaction from the folate cofactor to the GAR ligand. In the present work, we study E. coli GAR Tfase, which has high sequence similarity with the human GAR Tfase with most functional residues conserved. E. coli GAR Tfase exhibits structural changes and the binding of ligands that varies with pH which leads to change the rate of the formyl transfer reaction in a pH-dependent manner. Thus, the inclusion of pH becomes essential for the study of its catalytic mechanism. Experimentally, the pH-dependence of the kinetic parameter kcat is measured to evaluate the pH-range of enzymatic activity. However, insufficient information about residues governing the pH-effects on the catalytic activity leads to ambiguous assignments of the general acid and base catalysts and consequently its catalytic mechanism. In the present work, we use pH-replica exchange molecular dynamics (pH-REMD) simulations to study the effects of pH on E. coli GAR Tfase enzyme. We identify the titratable residues governing the pH-dependent conformational changes in the system. Furthermore, we filter out the protonation states which are essential in maintaining the structural integrity, keeping the ligands bound and assisting the catalysis. We reproduce the experimental pH-activity curve by computing the population of key protonation states. Moreover, we provide a detailed description of residues governing the acidic and basic limbs of the pH-activity curve.</div>


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 1246
Author(s):  
Tengfei Wang ◽  
Hui Luo ◽  
Xu Jing ◽  
Jiali Yang ◽  
Meijun Huo ◽  
...  

Water-soluble fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized by a hydrothermal method using citric acid as the carbon source and ethylenediamine as the nitrogen source. The repeated and scale-up synthetic experiments were carried out to explore the feasibility of macroscopic preparation of CDs. The CDs/Fe3+ composite was prepared by the interaction of the CDs solution and Fe3+ solution. The optical properties, pH dependence and stability behavior of CDs or the CDs/Fe3+ composite were studied by ultraviolet spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. Following the principles of fluorescence quenching after the addition of Fe3+ and then the fluorescence recovery after the addition of asorbic acid, the fluorescence intensity of the carbon dots was measured at λex = 360 nm, λem = 460 nm. The content of ascorbic acid was calculated by quantitative analysis of the changing fluorescence intensity. The CDs/Fe3+ composite was applied to the determination of different active molecules, and it was found that the composite had specific recognition of ascorbic acid and showed an excellent linear relationship in 5.0–350.0 μmol·L−1. Moreover, the detection limit was 3.11 μmol·L−1. Satisfactory results were achieved when the method was applied to the ascorbic acid determination in jujube fruit. The fluorescent carbon dots composites prepared in this study may have broad application prospects in a rapid, sensitive and trace determination of ascorbic acid content during food processing.


The cysteine proteinases form a group of enzymes which depend for their enzymic activity on the thiol group of a cysteine residue. Several which occur in plants have been investigated extensively and include papain, ficin and stem bromelain (Smith & Kimmel i960). Although the term papain, introduced last century to describe the proteolytic principle in papaya latex (Wurtz & Bouchut 1879) is still used to describe crude dried latex, the crystalline enzyme is readily obtained (Kimmel & Smith 1954). Ficin is known to consist of several closely related enzymes which have been resolved (Sgarbieri, Gupte, Kramer & Whitaker 1964), but for most structural and mechanistic studies the unresolved mixture of enzymes has been used. Stem bromelain also appears to be a mixture of at least two proteolytic enzymes which have not yet been resolved (Ota, Moore & Stein 1962; Murachi 1964). In spite of the recognized heterogeneity of ficin and stem bromelain, it does seem that both structurally and mechanistically they are similar to papain. Only one bacterial cysteine proteinase has received a detailed study, namely, streptococcal proteinase, and it appears to have little or no relation in its amino acid sequence with the plant enzymes (Liu, Stein, Moore & Elliott 1965). The functional groups involved in the catalytic mechanism are apparently the same as in the plant proteinases (Gerwin, Stein & Moore 1966; Liu 1967; Husain & Lowe 1968 a , c ), but the mechanism of action has not been extensively studied. It may well be however that the plant and bacterial cysteine proteinases have converged onto a similar mechanism of action by two independent evolutionary pathways, as now seems apparent for the animal and bacterial serine proteinases (Alden, Wright & Kraut, this volume, p. 119). Because the tertiary crystal structure of papain (Drenth, Jansonius, Koekoek, Swen & Wolthers 1968; see also the preceding paper, p. 231) is now known, a critical survey of this enzyme is apposite.


2001 ◽  
Vol 356 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo FRANCO ◽  
Alice S. PEREIRA ◽  
Pedro TAVARES ◽  
Arianna MANGRAVITA ◽  
Michael J. BARBER ◽  
...  

Ferrochelatase (EC 4.99.1.1) is the terminal enzyme of the haem biosynthetic pathway and catalyses iron chelation into the protoporphyrin IX ring. Glutamate-287 (E287) of murine mature ferrochelatase is a conserved residue in all known sequences of ferrochelatase, is present at the active site of the enzyme, as inferred from the Bacillus subtilis ferrochelatase three-dimensional structure, and is critical for enzyme activity. Substitution of E287 with either glutamine (Q) or alanine (A) yielded variants with lower enzymic activity than that of the wild-type ferrochelatase and with different absorption spectra from the wild-type enzyme. In contrast to the wild-type enzyme, the absorption spectra of the variants indicate that these enzymes, as purified, contain protoporphyrin IX. Identification and quantification of the porphyrin bound to the E287-directed variants indicate that approx. 80% of the total porphyrin corresponds to protoporphyrin IX. Significantly, rapid stopped-flow experiments of the E287A and E287Q variants demonstrate that reaction with Zn2+ results in the formation of bound Zn-protoporphyrin IX, indicating that the endogenously bound protoporphyrin IX can be used as a substrate. Taken together, these findings suggest that the structural strain imposed by ferrochelatase on the porphyrin substrate as a critical step in the enzyme catalytic mechanism is also accomplished by the E287A and E287Q variants, but without the release of the product. Thus E287 in murine ferrochelatase appears to be critical for the catalytic process by controlling the release of the product.


1997 ◽  
Vol 324 (3) ◽  
pp. 951-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianxin REN ◽  
Francis J. CASTELLINO ◽  
Roger K. BRETTHAUER

An α-mannosidase II-like activity was identified in baculovirus-infected Spodoptera frugiperda (IPLB-SF21-AE) cells. The enzyme responsible was purified from Golgi-type membranes to apparent homogeneity by using a combination of steps including DEAE-cellulose, hydroxyapatite, concanavalin A–Sepharose and gel filtration chromatography. The molecular mass of this purified protein was approx. 120 kDa by SDS/PAGE under reducing conditions and approx. 240 kDa under non-reducing conditions, indicating that the enzyme is a disulphide-linked dimer. Substrates demonstrated to undergo hydrolysis with this enzyme were GlcNAc-Man5-GlcNAc-GlcNAc (non-reduced and reduced) and p-nitrophenyl α-d-mannopyranoside. The oligosaccharide substrate was converted into GlcNAc-Man3-GlcNAc-GlcNAc through an intermediate GlcNAc-Man4-GlcNAc-GlcNAc. Treatment of the isolated intermediate oligosaccharide with endoglycosidase H resulted in its conversion into GlcNAc-Man4-GlcNAc. This indicated that it contained the α-1,3-linked mannose residue on the α-1,6-linked mannose arm and showed that the α-1,6-linked mannose residue on the α-1,6-linked mannose arm had been preferentially hydrolysed by the mannosidase. The oligosaccharide lacking the β-1,2-linked GlcNAc residue on the α-1,3-linked mannose arm (Man5-GlcNAc-GlcNAc) was not hydrolysed in the presence of the enzyme. Metal ions were not required for enzymic activity on any of the substrates, but Cu2+ was strongly inhibitory. The activity of the enzyme was inhibited at low concentrations of swainsonine, but much higher concentrations of 1-deoxymannojirimycin were required to achieve inhibition. All of these properties are characteristic of mannosidase II enzymes from other eukaryotic tissues. The presence of mannosidase II in lepidopteran insect cells would allow entry of N-linked glycoproteins into the complex processing reaction pathway or into the terminal Man3-GlcNAc-GlcNAc pathway.


1972 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin H. Self ◽  
P. David J. Weitzman

Two isoenzymes of NADP-linked isocitrate dehydrogenase have been identified in Acinetobacter lwoffi and have been termed isoenzyme-I and isoenzyme-II. The isoenzymes may be separated by ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, by gel filtration on Sephadex G-200, or by zonal ultracentrifugation in a sucrose gradient. Low concentrations of glyoxylate or pyruvate effect considerable stimulation of the activity of isoenzyme-II. The isoenzymes also differ in pH-dependence of activity, kinetic parameters, stability to heat or urea and molecular size. Whereas isoenzyme-I resembles the NADP-linked isocitrate dehydrogenases from other organisms in having a molecular weight under 100000, isoenzyme-II is a much larger enzyme (molecular weight around 300000) resembling the NAD-linked isocitrate dehydrogenases of higher organisms.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin Laun ◽  
Iuliia Baranova ◽  
Jifu Duan ◽  
Leonie Kertess ◽  
Florian Wittkamp ◽  
...  

Hydrogenases are microbial redox enzymes that catalyze H2 oxidation and proton reduction (H2 evolution). While all hydrogenases show high oxidation activities, the majority of [FeFe]-hydrogenases are excellent H2 evolution catalysts as well. Their active site cofactor comprises a [4Fe-4S] cluster covalently linked to a diiron site equipped with carbon monoxide and cyanide ligands that facilitate catalysis at low overpotential. Distinct proton transfer pathways connect the active site niche with the solvent, resulting in a non-trivial dependence of hydrogen turnover and bulk pH. To analyze the catalytic mechanism of [FeFe]-hydrogenase, we employ in situ infrared spectroscopy and infrared spectro-electrochemistry. Titrating the pH under H2 oxidation or H2 evolution conditions reveals the influence of site-selective protonation on the equilibrium of reduced cofactor states. Governed by pKa differences across the active site niche and proton transfer pathways, we find that individual electrons are stabilized either at the [4Fe-4S] cluster (alkaline pH values) or at the diiron site (acidic pH values). This observation is discussed in the context of the natural pH dependence of hydrogen turnover as catalyzed by [FeFe]-hydrogenase.<br>


1987 ◽  
Vol 246 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
H M Muller ◽  
F Schuber

NAD+ glycohydrolase (NAD+ nucleosidase, EC 3.2.2.6) can be solubilized from calf spleen microsomes (microsomal fractions) by steapsin or by detergents to yield respectively a hydrophilic (i.e. water-soluble) and a hydrophobic form of the enzyme. The detergent-solubilized enzyme was successfully reassociated into phosphatidylcholine liposomes either by a cholate-dialysis or by a gel-filtration procedure. In both cases the incorporation of NAD+ glycohydrolase was found to be completely asymmetric, i.e. the active site of the enzyme was exposed only at the outer surface of the vesicles. By contrast, as judged by flotation experiments, the hydrophilic form of NAD+ glycohydrolase could not be reassociated into liposomes. These results are in agreement with the hypothesis that calf spleen NAD+ glycohydrolase is an amphipathic protein. When incorporated into large unilamellar vesicles composed of phosphatidylcholine, NAD+ glycohydrolase was not found to catalyse vectorial transfer of NAD+ by transglycosidation with nicotinamide as acceptor.


1981 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Wallin ◽  
M Belew ◽  
K Ohlsson ◽  
T Saldeen

The presence of leucocytes around extravascular fibrin deposits suggests that the leucocyte elastases might be partly responsible for the extravascular degradation of fibrin. Our previous studies have shown that the degradation of fibrin(ogen) by plasmin leads to the release of 2 small peptides which markedly increase vascular permeability and induce oedema e.g. in the lungs. The results of this investigation show that small peptides released from fibrinogen after degradation by leucocytes elastases also increase vascular permeability.Human fibrinogen (Kabi, Grade L) was made plasminogenfree by affinity chromatography on Lysine-Sepharose 4B prior to use. The human leucocyte elastases were isolated from extracts of lysosome-like granules of human leukaemic myeloid cells by a combination of gel filtration, affinity chromatography and preparative agarose gel electrophoresis. The fibrinogen (0.5 %) and the leucocyte elastases (in a molar ratio of 100:1) were incubated together for 48 h at +37°C and at pH 8.5. The mixture was then cooled to +4°C to stop the lysis and ultrafiltrated on a DIAFLO PM 10 membrane until the retentate was approximately 10 % of the starting volume. The peptides in the diffusate accounted for about 20 % of the starting material as estimated from absorbance measurements at 280 nm. The diffusate was concentrated by lyophilization and fractionated by chromatography on a column of Bio-Gel P-6. At least 8 fractions were obtained of which only two showed a significant activity in their ability to increase vascular permeability in rat skin. The active peptides in these two fractions were further purified to homogeneity by column zone electrophoresis at various pHs and their amino acid compositions established.


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