scholarly journals Conformational stability of bovine α-crystallin. Evidence for a destabilizing effect of ascorbate

1992 ◽  
Vol 287 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
S A Santini ◽  
A Mordente ◽  
E Meucci ◽  
G A D Miggiano ◽  
G E Martorana

Short-term incubation of bovine alpha-crystallin with ascorbate alters the protein conformational stability. The denaturation curves with urea and guanidinium-chloride show different patterns, suggesting a deviation from a two-state mechanism owing to the presence of one or more intermediates in the unfolding of ascorbate-modified alpha-crystallin. Furthermore, the latter protein profiles are shifted to lower denaturant concentrations indicating a destabilizing action of ascorbate, which is capable of facilitating protein dissociation into subunits as demonstrated by gel filtration with 1.5 M-urea. The decrease in conformational stability cannot be ascribed to any major structural alteration, but rather to localized changes in the protein molecule. In fact, no difference between native and ascorbate-treated alpha-crystallin can be detected by amino acid analysis but perturbation of the tryptophan and tyrosine environment is indicated by alterations in intrinsic fluorescence. Furthermore, turbidity and light-scattering measurements suggest an involvement of the lysine side chains, since aggregability patterns with acetylsalicylic acid are significantly altered. The ascorbate-destabilizing effect on the conformational stability of alpha-crystallin, probably exerted through oxidative modification of amino acid residues and/or the formation of covalent adducts, provokes unfavourable steric interactions between residues along the polypeptide chains, thus favouring aggregation and insolubilization of crystallins which can lead to cataract formation, as also demonstrated by proteolytic digestion patterns which show a lower rate of degradation of the ascorbate-modified alpha-crystallin.

1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (9) ◽  
pp. 999-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Shaw ◽  
T. Viswanatha

The physicochemical properties of chymotrypsin-P obtained by the papain activation of chymotrypsinogen have been investigated. The molecular weight of this enzyme as determined by gel filtration technique has been found to be 24 000 ± 1000. The amino acid residues occupying the N-terminal positions and the composition of the B- and C-chains of chymotrypsin-P are identical with those found in α-chymotrypsin. Thus the difference between the two enzymes is restricted to the composition of their A-chains.


1968 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 531-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
P T Grant ◽  
K. B. M. Reid

1. Insulin has been isolated by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography from extracts of the discrete islet tissue of cod. The final preparation yielded a single band on electrophoresis at two pH values. The biological potency was 11·5 international units/mg. in mouse-convulsion and other assay procedures. 2. Glycine and methionine were shown to be the N-terminal amino acids of the A and B chains respectively. An estimate of the molecular weight together with amino acid analyses indicated that cod insulin, like the bovine hormone, consists of 51 amino acid residues. In contrast, the amino acid composition differs markedly from bovine insulin. 3. Oxidation of insulin with performic acid yielded the A and B peptide chains, which were separated by ion-exchange chromatography. Sequence studies on smaller peptides isolated from enzymic digests or from dilute acetic acid hydrolysates of the two chains have established the sequential order of 14 of the 21 amino acid residues of the A chain and 25 of the 30 amino acid residues of the B chain.


1990 ◽  
Vol 69 (11) ◽  
pp. 1717-1723 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Xu ◽  
E. Telser ◽  
R.F. Troxler ◽  
F.G. Oppenheim

A major macaque histatin (M-histatin 1) from the parotid secretion of the subhuman primate, Macaca fascicularis, was isolated by gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-2 and purified to homogeneity by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on a TSK-ODS C18 column. The complete amino acid sequence of M-histatin 1, determined by automated Edman degradation, is: 1 10 20 Asp-Pse-His-Glu-Glu-Arg-His-His-Gly-Arg-His-Gly-His-His-Lys-Tyr-Gly-Arg-Lys-Phe 21 30 38 His-Glu-Lys-His-His-Ser-His-Arg-Gly-Tyr-Arg-Ser-Asn-Tyr-Leu-Tyr-Asp-Asn M-histatin 1 contains 38 amino acid residues, a phosphoserine at residue 2, has a molecular weight of 4881.8, a calculated pI of 8.5, and histidine forms 26.3% of the mass. The hydropathicity plot of M-histatin 1 predicts that the molecule is entirely hydrophilic, and Chou-Fasman secondary prediction indicates that the polypeptide is devoid of alpha-helix and beta-sheet conformation in aqueous solutions but contains a series of beta turns. M-histatin 1 includes a six-amino-acid insert (residue 10-15) not present in human histatins and, with the introduction of gaps to maximize homology, it displays 89% and 91% sequence similarity with human histatins 1 and 3, respectively. M-histatin 1 exhibited fungicidal and fungistatic effects against the dimorphic pathogen, Candida albicans, in three separate bioassays. Its anticandidal effects were comparable with or greater than those of human histatins 1, 3, and 5. M-histatins 2, 3, and 4 were not sequenced directly because insufficient materials were available, but the amino acid composition of M-histatin 3 was nearly identical to that of the N-terminal 20 amino acid residues of M-histatin 1. There appears to be only one major histatin in macaque parotid secretion in contrast to the family of histatins in human parotid and submandibular secretions, and the significance of this in the context of evolution and mechanism of action in anticandidal assays is discussed.


1971 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet C. Miller ◽  
S. G. Waley

1. The nature of the subunits in rabbit muscle triose phosphate isomerase has been investigated. 2. Amino acid analyses show that there are five cysteine residues and two methionine residues/subunit. 3. The amino acid sequences around the cysteine residues have been determined; these account for about 75 residues. 4. Cleavage at the methionine residues with cyanogen bromide gave three fragments. 5. These results show that the subunits correspond to polypeptide chains, containing about 230 amino acid residues. The chains in triose phosphate isomerase seem to be shorter than those of other glycolytic enzymes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-376
Author(s):  
O.A. Zav’yalova ◽  
◽  
Yu.A. Marsyanova ◽  
Yu.V. Abalenikhinа ◽  
A.F. Ishtulin ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: The constancy of the protein composition of the body is one of the most important conditions for normal vital activity. Deviations in the content of the main bioelements, in particular, mixed valence metals, caused by environmental factors, improper nutrition and other factors, lead to various disorders. One of the properties of metals of mixed valence is the abil-ity to cause metal-catalyzed oxidation of proteins in joint action with active forms of oxygen. It seems interesting to study the oxidative modification of the amino acid residues of albumin and the change in its properties. AIM: To study the effect of reactive oxygen intermediates generated by the Fenton reaction in the presence of Fe2+ and Cu2+ on the oxidative modification of amino acid residues of bovine serum albumin. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out on bovine serum albumin (BSA), which was incubated for 2 hours in a mixture of Fenton's reagents – FeSO4 + H2O2 and in a mixture of СuSO4 + H2O2. The quantitative protein content in the samples was determined with the bromcresol green reagent (Albumin-Olvex). The content of carbonyl derivatives of proteins was estimated by the method of R.L. Levine modified by E.E. Dubinina. The content of thiol groups in albumin samples from the control and experimental groups was determined by the Ellman method with DTNB (under non-denaturing conditions. RESULTS: The presented results demonstrate that under the action of Cu2+ ions, the formation of carbonyl derivatives of aliphatic amino acids of albumin is less than in the presence of Fe2+, which can be explained by the different degrees of albumin affinity to metals of variable valence. The rate of mobility of oxidatively modified albumin in polyacrylamide gel decreases, which is explained by protein aggregation due to bityrosine cross-links. CONCLUSION: Variable valence metals affect the modification of albumin. The change in the functional properties of the protein is of physiological significance, including the case of extracellular mobilization of iron and copper.


1999 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 3001-3007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Chavagnat ◽  
Michael G. Casey ◽  
Jacques Meyer

ABSTRACT The general aminopeptidase PepN from Streptococcus thermophilus A was purified to protein homogeneity by hydroxyapatite, anion-exchange, and gel filtration chromatographies. The PepN enzyme was estimated to be a monomer of 95 kDa, with maximal activity on N-Lys–7-amino-4-methylcoumarin at pH 7 and 37°C. It was strongly inhibited by metal chelating agents, suggesting that it is a metallopeptidase. The activity was greatly restored by the bivalent cations Co2+, Zn2+, and Mn2+. Except for proline, glycine, and acidic amino acid residues, PepN has a broad specificity on the N-terminal amino acid of small peptides, but no significant endopeptidase activity has been detected. The N-terminal and short internal amino acid sequences of purified PepN were determined. By using synthetic primers and a battery of PCR techniques, the pepN gene was amplified, subcloned, and further sequenced, revealing an open reading frame of 2,541 nucleotides encoding a protein of 847 amino acids with a molecular weight of 96,252. Amino acid sequence analysis of thepepN gene translation product shows high homology with other PepN enzymes from lactic acid bacteria and exhibits the signature sequence of the zinc metallopeptidase family. The pepN gene was cloned in a T7 promoter-based expression plasmid and the 452-fold overproduced PepN enzyme was purified to homogeneity from the periplasmic extract of the host Escherichia coli strain. The overproduced enzyme showed the same catalytic characteristics as the wild-type enzyme.


1982 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 709-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Baudyš ◽  
Vladimír Kostka ◽  
Karel Grüner ◽  
Jan Pohl

S-sulfonated chicken pepsinogen was digested with TPCK-trypsin; large tryptic peptides, separated on Sephadex G-25 fine, were subjected to additional cleavage with α-chymotrypsin. The hold-up fraction of the chymotryptic digest from the Sephadex G-25 column, was resolved by high voltage electrophoresis. The three most acidic zones contained glycopeptides of identical amino acid sequence Val-Ser-Thr-Asn-Glu-Thr-Val-Tyr, yet differed in the composition of the sugar moiety. These glycopeptides, moreover, bear different numbers of sulfate groups which enabled the resolution of the peptides. The most acidic glycopeptide contains 7 glucosamine residues, 3 mannose residues and 5 sulfate groups, the second one 6 glucosamine residues, 3 mannose residues and 4 sulfate groups and the slowest, minority glycopeptide, 5 glucosamine residues, 2 mannose residues and 2 sulfate groups. The entire sugar moiety is attached to one of the chain viaasparagine. In other experiments the glycopeptides were also isolated from the thermolytic digest of chicken pepsin; their C-terminal sequence was shorter by two amino acid residues. The tentative assignment of the glycopeptides to the amino acid sequence of pepsinogen resulted from the analysis of the limited tryptic digest of the whole protein molecule. Chicken pepsinogen is glycosylated at the site of the chain occupied by a phosphoserine residue in hog pepsinogen A.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1069-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yufang Wang ◽  
Peiliang Shi ◽  
Qin Chen ◽  
Zan Huang ◽  
Dayuan Zou ◽  
...  

Abstract Disrupted mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation are often associated with macrophage pyroptosis. It remains unclear how these forms of mitochondrial dysfunction relate to inflammasome activation and gasdermin-D (Gsdmd) cleavage, two central steps of the pyroptotic process. Here, we also found MMP collapse and ROS generation induced by Nlrp3 inflammasome activation as previous studies reported. The elimination of ROS alleviated the cleavage of Gsdmd, suggesting that Gsdmd cleavage occurs downstream of ROS release. Consistent with this result, hydrogen peroxide treatment augmented the cleavage of Gsdmd by caspase-1. Indeed, four amino acid residues of Gsdmd were oxidized under oxidative stress in macrophages. The efficiency of Gsdmd cleavage by inflammatory caspase-1 was dramatically reduced when oxidative modification was blocked by mutation of these amino acid residues. These results demonstrate that Gsdmd oxidation serves as a de novo mechanism by which mitochondrial ROS promote Nlrp3 inflammasome-dependent pyroptotic cell death.


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