A uronic acid isomerase in Flavobacterium heparinum

1970 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
James C. Karapally ◽  
Carl P. Dietrich

The isolation and characterization of a uronic acid isomerase from F. heparinum is described. The enzyme converts glucuronic acid and galacturonic acid to fructuronic acid and tagaturonic acid. The equilibrium point of the reaction is affected by buffers. In the presence of borate, 75% of glucuronic acid is converted to fructuronic acid. In the presence of phosphate, the equilibrium is reached when 31% of glucuronic acid is converted to fructuronic acid. Conversely, fructuronic acid and tagaturonic acid are converted to glucuronic acid and galacturonic acid, respectively. Monosaccharides derived from heparin and chondroitin sulfates do not affect the activity of the isomerase, in contrast to the monosaccharides from hyaluronic acid which have marked inhibitory (or diluting) activity upon the enzyme. The role of this enzyme in the metabolism of mucopolysaccharides is discussed.

1968 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 647-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl P. Dietrich

1. Heparin was degraded by enzymes of adapted Flavobacterium heparinum. Several degradation products were separated by combined Sephadex-gel filtration and paper chromatography, and chemically analysed. 2. These products were identified as glucosamine 2,6-disulphate, saturated disaccharides constituted of uronic acid and glucosamine and containing two and three sulphate residues, and tetra- and hexa-saccharides with the same basic disaccharide units. 3. The implications of these findings with respect to the present knowledge of heparin structure and its enzymic degradation are discussed.


1987 ◽  
Vol 245 (3) ◽  
pp. 795-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
U Ludwigs ◽  
A Elgavish ◽  
J D Esko ◽  
E Meezan ◽  
L Rodén

Degradation of connective-tissue polysaccharides with bacterial or fungal eliminases and subsequent characterization of the reaction products are now part of standard methodology for the analysis of these compounds. However, the scope of preparative and analytical work based on the use of eliminases has been limited by the lack of procedures for specific removal of the unsaturated uronic acid residues generated in the eliminase reactions. In the present investigation, we have shown that these residues are cleaved by mercuric salts under mild conditions that are not likely to affect other structures in an oligo- or poly-saccharide molecule. Thus the disaccharide generated from hyaluronic acid by digestion with chondroitinase AC or ABC was cleaved into a keto acid and free N-acetylglucosamine within 10 min at room temperature upon exposure to 14 mM-mercuric acetate at pH 5. The reaction of the disaccharide with mercuric salts was used for ready determination of the distribution of radioactivity between the glucuronic acid and N-acetylglucosamine moieties in radioactive hyaluronic acid that had been synthesized by IMR-90 fibroblasts from 3H-labelled monosaccharides. When the precursor was [3H]galactose, over 95% of the incorporated radioactivity was found in the glucuronic acid moiety. In contrast, cells grown in the presence of [3H]glucosamine synthesized a polysaccharide in which almost all of the label was located in the N-acetylglucosamine units. It is apparent from these experiments that the reaction of unsaturated uronic acid residues with mercuric salts provides a new tool with potential for many applications in the study of the structure and metabolism of connective-tissue polysaccharides.


1992 ◽  
Vol 57 (10) ◽  
pp. 2151-2156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Chabreček ◽  
Ladislav Šoltés ◽  
Hynek Hradec ◽  
Jiří Filip ◽  
Eduard Orviský

Two methods for the preparation of high molecular weight [3H]hyaluronic acid were investigated. In the first one, hydrogen atoms in the molecule were replaced by tritium. This isotopic substitution was performed in aqueous solution using Pd/CaCO3 as the catalyst. In the second method, the high molecular weight hyaluronic acid was alkylated with [3H]methyl bromide in liquid ammonia at a temperature of -33.5 °C. High-performance gel permeation chromatographic separation method was used for the isolation and characterization of the high molecular weight [3H]hyaluronic acid. Molecular weight parameters for the labelled biopolymers were Mw = 128 kDa, Mw/Mn = 1.88 (first method) and Mw = 268 kDa, Mw/Mn = 1.55 (second method). The high molecular weight [3H]hyaluronic acid having Mw = 268 kDa was degraded further by specific hyaluronidase. Products of the enzymatic depolymerization were observed to be identical for both, labelled and cold biopolymer. This finding indicates that the described labelling procedure using [3H]methyl bromide does not induce any major structural rearrangements in the molecule.


1993 ◽  
Vol 340 (1293) ◽  
pp. 325-332 ◽  

Many genes which are regulated by growth factors contain a common regulatory element, the serum response element (SRE). Activation of transcription by the SRE involves a ternary complex formed between a ubiquitous factor, serum response factor (SRF), and a second protein, p62/TCF. We used a yeast genetic screen to isolate cDNAs encoding a protein, SAP-1, with the DNA binding properties of p62/TCF. The SAP-1 sequence contains three regions of homology to the previously uncharacterized Elk-1 protein, which also acts as an SRF accessory protein. Only two of these regions are required for cooperative interactions with SRF in the ternary complex. The third contains several conserved sites for the MAP kinases, whose activity is regulated in response to growth factor stimulation. We discuss the potential role of these proteins in regulation of the c-fos SRE.


1978 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-356
Author(s):  
M.E. Callow ◽  
S.J. Coughlan ◽  
L.V. Evans

The cell wall of 24-h zygotes of Fucus serratus is composed of 3 layers—an inner fibrillar layer (sulphated fucan), an outer fibrillar layer (alginic aicd/cellulose) and an exterior amorphous layer (sulphated fucan, alginic acid). The 2 layers containing sulphated fucan are preferentially thickened at the rhizoid pole. Light- and electron-microscope autoradiographic pulse-chase experiments on 22-h zygotes using 35SO2-(4) show the Golgi bodies to be the sites of fucan sulphation. The isolation and characterization of isolated Golgi-rich fractions from 22-h zygotes shows that the first detectable labelled macromolecule is associated with these fractions 2 min after addition of 35SO2-(4). The sulphate acceptor molecule has been partially characterized. 35S-APS and 35S-paps are detectable in the soluble fraction 0.5 min after addition of 35SO2-(4). The results are discussed in relation to other published work on the differentiation of Fucus embryos and on polysaccharide sulphation.


Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Fei ◽  
Zhi-Xiong Liu

Cymbidium faberi Rolfe is a very popular potted plant in China, Japan and Korea where it has been cultivated for centuries. The economic value of this popular native Asian orchid could be enhanced by changes in its floral traits. In Arabidopsis, PISTILLATA (PI) is involved in regulating petal and stamen development. In order to investigate the possible role of the PI ortholog involved in floral development, we isolated CyfaPI from C. faberi. Protein alignment and a phylogenetic tree grouped CyfaPI in the PI lineage. CyfaPI transcripts were detected in all floral organs, but were absent in leaves. Moreover, in flowers, the highest expression level of CyfaPI was present in the gynostemium and the lowest level was found in anther caps. In addition, ectopic expression of CyfaPI in Arabidopsis pi-1 mutant rescued petal development, and complement the development of filament-like structure (part of stamen), but failed to complement anther development in the stamen whorl. All these finding suggest that CyfaPI is mainly responsible for perianth and gynostemium development in C. faberi. Our data may help to trace the development of the gynostemium program and evolution in orchids.


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