Calcium binding lysozyme from pigeon egg-white was crystallized by the hanging drop vapor diffusion technique using ammonium sulphate as a precipitant. The crystals belong to the orthorhombic system, space group P2₁2₁2₁, and have unit cell dimensions of a=34.2 A, b=34.8 A, and c=99.4 A . One asymmetric unit contains one molecule of the pigeon lysozyme. The crystals diffract X-rays at least to 2.0 A resolution and are suitable for high resolution structure analysis. The diffraction data up to 3.0 A resolution were collected with a diffraction image processor, DIP100, using a Fuji imaging plate as an area detector. The structure was solved by the molecular replacement technique and refined to an R factor of 0.216. Least-squares fitting of the main-chains of pigeon egg-white lysozyme with those of chicken egg-white lysozyme and baboon α-lactalbumin showed that the main-chain folding of pigeon lysozyme is more similar to that of chicken lysozyme than that of α-lactalbumin. The largest differences between the pigeon and chicken lysozymes are in the surface loop regions.

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Modified maltooligosaccharides, IG-G-G-G-AG-G (IG: 6-deoxy-6-iodo-D-glucopyranose residue, G: D-glucopyranose residue, AG: 6-amino-6-deoxy-D-glucopyranose residue, -: α-1, 4-glycosidic linkage), IG-G-G-G-AG-M (M: methyl), and IG-G-G-G-AG-Φ (Φ phenyl) were prepared by the use of cyclodextrin glucanotransferase in order to examine the third subsite (S3') of the aglycone-binding site of human salivary and pancreatic α-amylases. Human α-amylases hydrolyzed the modified maltooligosaccharides to IG-G-G and G-AG-G, IG-G-G and G-AG-M, and IG-G-G and G-AG-Φ. This implied that G, M, and Φ fit into S3'. There was no difference in the rate parameters between the two enzymes. The K_m values for the hydrolysis of IG-G-G-G-AG-G by both enzymes were the same as those for IG-G-G-G-AG-M, and twice those for IG-G-G-G-AG-Φ. The results showed that S3' of the two enzymes has no affinity for the glucose residue and is not a subsite but a hydrophobic environment.

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Three enzyme activities involved in fatty acid β-oxidation, i.e., those of enoyl-CoA hydratase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, and 3-oxoacyl-CoA thiolase, are exhibited by one multienzyme complex (HDT) composed of two molecules each of two peptides in Pseudomonas fragi. Using specific antisera against the two subunits of HDT, we isolated the genes encoding the subunits of HDT and designated them “faoA” (for the α-subunit) and “faoB” (for the β-subunit). Their complete nucleotide sequences were determined and it was revealed that faoA and faoB, both with individual putative S. D. sequences at suitable positions, formed a cluster, in that order. The amino acid sequences deduced from the nucleotide sequences of the two genes indicated that the α-subunit, encoded by faoA, is a polypeptide of 715 amino acid residues, and that the β-subunit, encoded by faoB, consists of 390 amino acid residues lacking the first methionine of the primary product encoded by faoB. Immunoblotting of cell lysates prepared from Escherichia coli transformants carrying plasmids which possess the faoA and/or faoB gene with antisera against the subunits of HDT showed that both the faoA and faoB genes were transcribed and translated in E. coli. The overall activities of 2-enoyl-CoA hydratase and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase were increased in the E. coli cells transformed with the plasmid possessing the faoA gene, suggesting that both the hydratase and dehydrogenase activities may be exhibited by the α-subunit of HDT. 3-Oxoacyl-CoA thiolase activity may be exhibited by the β-subunit as judged from the result of an amino acid homology search, but the α-subunit was necessary for an increase in the 3-oxoacyl-CoA thiolase activity of the β-subunit in E. coil.

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Induction of the enzymes involved in fatty acid β-oxidation in Pseudomonas fragi B-0771 cells grown in a medium containing straight chain saturated fatty acids was studied. The acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (ACDH) activity was induced during the exponential phase in cells grown in palmitic acid-supplemented medium, reached a maximum at the early stationary phase, and then gradually decreased thereafter. Changes in the overall activities of 2-enoyl-CoA hydratase and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, both existing on the multienzyme complex (HDT) involved in fatty acid β-oxidation, were similar to that in ACDH activity. Straight chain saturated fatty acids having more than 6 carbon atoms could induce both the ACDH and HDT activities, and C13-C15 fatty acids caused the greatest induction of both activities. Changes in the overall activities of 2-enoyl-CoA hydratase and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase correlated with that in the amount of the α-subunit of HDT during the entire culture period in the medium containing palmitic acid. Surprisingly, the stoichiometry of the α- and β-subunit proteins of HDT was not maintained into the stationary phase culture, though the genes encoding the α- and β-subunits are tandemly coded in bacterial genomic DNA.

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Monoamine oxidase B, a typical intrinsic protein of the outer mitochondrial membrane, has an uncleavable targeting signal and is inserted into the membrane without proteolytic maturation. To investigate the region responsible for targeting the enzyme to the outer mitochondrial membrane, various mutated proteins were expressed in cultured mammalian cells, and the distributions of the expressed proteins were analyzed by immunofluorescence microscopy and subcellular fractionation. Deletion of the carboxy-terminal 28 amino acids of monoamine oxidase B abolished the transfer of the enzyme to mitochondria, while the deletion of the amino-terminal 55 amino acids had no effect on the transfer to mitochondria. The existence of the targeting signal at the carboxy-terminal portion of the enzyme was confirmed by using hybrid proteins in which the amino- or carboxy-terminal portion of the enzyme was fused to the hydrophilic portion of cytochrome b₅. The fused protein with the carboxy-terminal 29 amino acid residues of monoamine oxidase B was localized in mitochondria, whereas that with 10 amino acids remained in the cytoplasm. These results indicate that the targeting signal of monoamine oxidase B is present within its carboxy-terminal 29 amino acid residues.

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The effects of nutrients and hormones on the mRNA levels of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, fatty acid synthase, malic enzyme, and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase were examined in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes during the process of induction. The addition of both glucose and insulin to the culture medium markedly enhanced the lipogenic enzyme mRNA induction due to either of them, in 16h. Fructose or glycerol proved to be an effective substitute for glucose, suggesting that glycolytic metabolites were involved in the mRNA induction. It is remarkable that mRNA induction of acetyl-CoA carboxylase was the most sensitive to glucose and also to insulin among the lipogenic enzymes. Polyunsaturated fatty acids markedly reduced the mRNA induction of lipogenic enzymes. Dexamethasone enhanced all the lipogenic enzyme mRNA induction by insulin. On the other hand, triiodothyronine addition greatly increased the mRNA concentrations of lipogenic enzymes, but dexamethasone decreased rather than increased the mRNA induction by triiodothyronine. The effects of insulin on the induction of the lipogenic enzyme mRNAs were similar, but those of triiodothyronine were not. Triiodothyronine markedly enhanced malic enzyme mRNA induction by insulin with dexamethasone, and tended to enhance the induction of the acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase mRNAs, but not that of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNA. It appeared that insulin and triiodothyronine synergistically enhanced lipogenic enzyme mRNA induction by glucose, but the mechanisms were different.

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The Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene has been used as a genetic marker specifying trimethoprim resistance (Tmp^R). In order to use the DHFR gene as a versatile expression marker, we have constructed three types of plasmids: promoter cloning vector, terminator cloning vector, and the plasmid containing the DHFR gene cassette. In these systems, the selection of recombinant plasmids was carried out just by examining the Tmp^R phenotype of the transformed cells. Then, levels of the enzymatic activity of DHFR were measured to evaluate the efficiency of promoters and terminators in the fused DNA fragment. An expression plasmid which resulted in the E. coli host cells being able to produce DHFR up to 20% of total cellular proteins was also constructed by changing the promoter and Shine-Dalgarno sequences of the DHFR gene.

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Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) has been demonstrated to be a versatile “affinity handle” for expression of recombinant proteins. The DHFR “handle” has advantages not only in terms of efficiency of expressing the fusion protein as a soluble form but also in stabilizing unstable polypeptides and facilitating purification of the expressed protein by means of methotrexate-bound affinity chromatography and by making use of the enzyme activity. Fifteen genes encoding different lengths of polypeptides of 5 to 44 amino acids were chemically synthesized and introduced into expression vectors, pTP70-1 or its derivatives. All the polypeptide genes were efficiently expressed in Escherichia coli cells as fusion proteins which show DHFR activity. The respective fusion proteins were highly purified from cell-free extracts by monitoring the DHFR activity at each purification step. The use of methotrexate-bound affinity chromatography was very effective. In order to cut out the polypeptides, the purified fusion proteins were treated with either BrCN or site-specific protease according to the spacer sequence. The objective polypeptide was purified by means of a reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. Specific cleavage of the purified fusion protein actually yielded very few peptide fragments, so the assignment and isolation of the objective polypeptide were carried out without difficulty.

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The minimal structural unit of cytochrome c oxidase purified from Thiobacillus novellus was composed of one molecule each of two subunits with molecular masses of 32 and 23 kDa, respectively, and the unit had one molecule of heme a and one atom of copper. In the presence of n-octyl-β-D-thioglucoside, the oxidase existed as the monomeric form of the unit, while it occurred as the dimeric form of the unit in the presence of Tween 20. The monomeric form showed an active cytochrome c oxidizing activity and reduced molecular oxygen to water with ferrocytochrome c. Namely, it has been shown that the bacterial cytochrome c oxidase with one heme a molecule and one copper atom per molecule can catalyze oxidation of ferrocytochrome c with concomitant reduction of molecular oxygen to water.

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Monoclonal antibodies were raised against rabbit platelet cytosolic arachidonoyl-preferential Phospholipase A₂. The antibodies precipitated the arachidonoyl-preferential phospholipase A₂ activity in the soluble fraction of a rabbit platelet lysate in combination with an immobilized anti-mouse immunoglobulin antibody, and reacted predominantly with a protein exhibiting a molecular weight of approximately 88, 000 on immunoblotting analysis. All three antibodies established so far reacted with human platelet arachidonoyl-preferential phospholipase A₂ as effectively as the rabbit platelet enzyme. One of them reacted with the rat platelet arachidonoyl-preferential enzyme, whereas none of them reacted with rabbit platelet secretory 14-kDa group II phospholipase A₂. The existence of an immunologically related phospholipase A₂ was further shown in rabbit granulocytes, brain, lung, and liver, rat and mouse mast cells, and human monocytoma U937 cells. Thus, an arachidonoyl-preferential phospholipase A₂ with similar structural properties appeared to be expressed in a variety of cells and tissues.

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The Ca²⁺-sensitive ATPase activity of rabbit skeletal myofibrils was desensitized by treatment with excess troponin T and was found to be activated irrespective of the Ca²⁺ concentrations. A SDS-gel electrophoretic study showed that both troponin C and troponin I were removed from the myofibrils on treatment with troponin T. The Ca²⁺- and Sr²⁺-sensitivities of the ATPase of troponin T-treated myofibrils reconstituted with troponin C•I were the same as in the intact myofibrils. The Ca²⁺-activated ATPase of rabbit skeletal myofibrils was also desensitized on treatment with chicken breast troponin T or its 26K fragment. The SDS-gel electrophoretic study revealed that troponin T, in addition to troponin C and troponin I, was also removed from the myofibrils and, instead, chicken breast troponin T or its 26K fragment was incorporated into the myofibrils. The Ca²⁺-sensitivity of myofibrils treated with chicken breast troponin T or its 26K fragment was then regained on reconstitution with troponin C•I. These findings indicate that the change in composition of myofibrils on treatment with troponin T or its 26K fragment is due to the selective replacement of the troponin C•I•T complex in the myofibrils as a whole with troponin T or its 26K fragment.

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We previously found that rat liver mannan-binding protein (L-MBP) is encoded by two species of mRNA of 1.4 and 3.5kb long. In this study, the structure of the gene encoding rat L-MBP was determined from the sequences of isolated genomic DNA clones and PCR amplified DNA fragments. Rat L-MBP is encoded by at least three species of mRNA, the differences among which are generated by an alternative splicing at the 5'-nontranslated region and an alternative utilization of polyadenylation sites. The rat L-MBP gene consists of six exons separated by five introns. The coding region of rat L-MBP mRNA is encoded by four exons (Exons III-VI), the 5'-noncoding region by Exons I and II, and the 3'-noncoding region by Exon VI. The exon-intron boundaries of L-MBP are completely identical to those of rat serum and human MBP, suggesting that all three MBPs are derived from a common ancestral gene.

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Two kinds of gelatinases (or type IV collagenases), 90-kDa and 64-kDa gelatinases, were purified in a tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)- or TIMP-2-free form from the serum-free conditioned medium of human schwannoma YST-3 cells, and their activities on extracellular matrix proteins were compared. Sequential chromatographies on a gelatin-Sepharose column, an LCA-agarose column, and a gel filtration column in the presence of 5M urea yielded 600μg of the 64-kDa enzyme and 45μg of the 90-kDa enzyme from 2.8 liters of the conditioned medium. The purified enzymes showed high gelatinolytic activities without activation by p-aminophenyl mercuric acetate (APMA), indicating that 5M urea used in the final chromatography not only dissociated the inhibitors from the progelatinases but also activated the proenzymes. The inhibitor-free gelatinases showed a much higher activity than the APMA-activated inhibitor-bound enzymes. The specific activity of the 90-kDa enzyme was nearly 25 times higher than that of the 64-kDa enzyme. The 90-kDa gelatinase hydrolyzed type I collagen as well as native and pepsin-treated type IV collagens at 30°C, while at 37°C it potently hydrolyzed types I, III, and IV collagens but not fibronectin or laminin. The 64-kDa gelatinase showed a similar substrate specificity to that of the 90-kDa enzyme, except that it did not hydrolyze type I collagen and native type IV collagen at 30°C.

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A novel method to observe the autolytic activation of a mammalian cytoplasmic calcium protease, μ-calpain, was developed using a set of antipeptidic antibodies capable of distinguishing between the pre- and post-autolysis forms of the enzyme. Antibodies raised against synthetic peptides designed to match the N-terminal sequences of the pre- and post-autolysis forms of the μ-calpain large subunit reacted specifically with the corresponding form of calpain and not with the other. The antibodies were specific and sensitive enough to detect the antigens in crude cell lysates. The relevance of the immunochemical detection of calpain activation was confirmed by the observation that proteolysis of a substrate protein by purified μ-calpain paralleled autolysis at various pCa as probed by these antibodies and that autolysis preceded substrate proteolysis. We also observed calcium-dependent autolysis of calpain accompanying subsequent proteolysis of substrate in intact cells using the antibodies. The method will provide a novel approach to assess the physiological targets of the enzyme by determining the local intracellular sites of calpain activation.

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A chimeric lectin gene was constructed by using a cDNA clone coding the Bauhinia purpurea lectin (BPA) in which a part of the metal-binding region was replaced by the corresponding region of the mannose-binding Lens culinaris lectin (LCA). The chimeric lectin expressed in Escherichia coli was found to bind α mannosyl-bovine serum albumin (BSA) and this binding was inhibited by mannose.

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The electron transfer from Ubiquinol-2 to ferricytochrome c mediated by ubiquinol: cytochrome c oxidoreductase [E. C. 1. 10. 2. 2] purified from beef heart mitochondria, which contained one equivalent of ubiquinone-10 (Q₁₀), was investigated under initial steadystate conditions. The Q₁₀-depleted enzyme was as active as the Q₁₀-containing one. Double reciprocal plots for the initial steady-state rate versus one of the two substrates at various fixed levels of the other substrate gave parallel straight lines in the absence of any product. Intersecting straight lines were obtained in the presence of a constant level of one of the products, ferrocytochrome c. The other product, ubiquinone-2, did not show any significant effect on the enzymic reaction. Ferrocytochrome c non-competitively inhibited the enzymic reaction against either ubiquinol-2 or ferricytochrome c. These results indicate a Hexa-Uni ping-pong mechanism with one ubiquinol-2 and two ferricytochrome c molecules as the substrates, which involves the irreversible release of ubiquinone-2 as the first product and the irreversible isomerization between the release of the first ferrocytochrome c and the binding of the second ferricytochrome c. Considering the cyclic electron transfer reaction mechanism, this scheme suggests that the binding of quinone or quinol to the enzyme and electron transfer between the iron-sulfur center and cytochrome c₁ are rigorously controlled by the electron distribution within the enzyme.

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1, 5-Anhydro-n-glucitol (AG) is one of the main polyols and its structure resembles glucose. It has been proposed that decreased serum AG concentrations in diabetic patients are a novel indicator of diabetic metabolic derangement. However, the pathway of AG metabolism still remains to be clarified. In this study we investigated the transport of AG into human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs) isolated from healthy volunteers and found that 0.1mM 3-O-methy-D-glucose (3OMG) was equilibrated with a half saturation time of 10s, while the uptake rate of AG was much slower. The concentration dependence of AG uptake revealed that the AG transport velocity reached a plateau, with a K_m of about 50mM and V_max of about 25nmol/min/10⁷ cells. Transport of ¹⁴C-labeled 3OMG was inhibited by unlabeled n-glucose or AG in a dose-dependent manner. The mean inhibition constant (K₁) for D-glucose and for AG were 1.06 and 4.93mM, respectively. Cytochalasin B (20μM) inhibited 3OMG transport by 90% but AG transport by only 50%. S/V for ¹⁴C-labeled AG transport plotted against the concentration of unlabeled 3OMG showed a non-linear and biphasic pattern. These results suggest that AG influx into PMNLs is mediated not only by the cytochalasin B-sensitive glucose transport system but also via another facilitated transport system.

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We developed a highly sensitive procedure for assaying chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) enzyme activity in extracts of eukaryotic cells transfected with the CAT gene expression vector, by modification of the partition extraction procedure described by Sleigh [Anal. Biochem. 156, 251-256 (1986)]. The sensitivity of the new method was improved 100-fold on commercial purified enzyme. In routine measurements with cell extracts a CAT activity as low as 1.3×10^-4 unit could be measured within an error of less than 30%. The CAT enzyme expressions in undifferentiated human promyelocytic leukemic cell line HL-60 from typical gene promoters could be measured by the new method and compared to select a stronger promoter. Similar measurements were made with more mature monocytic THP-1 cells to evaluate the change in the promoter activity with cell maturation. Differentiation induction with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) activated transcription from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) promoter about 10-fold in HL-60 cells, as expected, but the level was less than that in untreated THP-1 cells. In addition, a similar activation was observed in THP-1 cells as well.

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The complete amino acid sequence of a sweet-taste-suppressing peptide, gurmarin, from the leaves of Gymnema sylvestre was determined by the Edman analysis of peptides derived from digests obtained with Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease, pyroglutamyl aminopeptidase, and lysyl endopeptidase. Gurmarin consists of 35 amino acid residues with an amino-terminal pyroglutamyl residue and has the molecular weight of 4, 209. Gurmarin has no significant homology with other known proteins.

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Fast skeletal myosins were isolated from carp acclimated to 10 and 30°C, and their structural and enzymatic properties were compared. Myosins in 0.5M KCl were subjected to limited proteolysis by using various proteases including α-chymotrypsin, trypsin, and papain, and different SDS-PAGE patterns were seen for the 10- and 30°C-acclimated myosins in all cases. Myosin subfragment-1 (Sl) prepared from the 10°C-acclimated myosin by α-chymotryptic digestion in 0.12M NaCl showed higher acto-S1 Mg²⁺-ATPase activity and lower thermostability than S1 from the warm-acclimated myosin. The peptide maps and ATP-induced spectral changes of tryptophan fluorescence also showed an obvious difference between the two types of S1. Temperature acclimation further caused changes in the rod region of myosin, since the apparent sizes of light meromyosin were different from each other for the two types of myosin. Myosin from carp acclimated to 20°C showed intermediate properties between those of the 10- and 30°C-acclimated myosins. Myosin isoforms might be expressed in a temperature-dependent manner to compensate for the effect of seasonal environmental temperature variation on swimming ability.

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A complementary DNA clone encoding the entire human long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase was isolated and the total 698-amino acid sequence was deduced. The amino acid sequence of human long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase shows 84.9% identity to that of rat long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase. The nucleotide sequences of the protein coding regions between human and rat long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase mRNAs are highly conserved (85.6%), whereas those of the 3' untranslated regions are less conserved (72%). The location of the human long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase gene was identified on chromosome 4 by spot hybridization of flow-sorted chromosomes. Computer-assisted homology search revealed a significant similarity of the enzyme with the enzymes of the luciferase family. Based on this similarity, the structure of human long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase can be divided into five domains: the N-terminus, two domains similar to those in enzymes of the luciferase family, a long gap region between the similar domains and the C-terminus.

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In the first part of the present work the interaction of glycophorin with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) is studied by freeze fracture electron microscopy, densitometry, calorimetry, and 90° static light scattering. An exothermic lipid/protein interaction energy of W_P=190 kJ•mol^-1 was found by application of the well known Van Laar relation for the displacement of the freezing point and the Gibbs-Duhem relationship. Secondly, the effects of Ca²⁺ on the lipid/protein interaction were studied. Following Ca²⁺ addition a remarkable decoupling of the interaction of the glycophorin head group with the bilayer surface was revealed by densitometry and gold-labeling electron microscopy. It is estimated that about 80% of lipid once disturbed by the adsorption of glycophorin head groups is decoupled after addition of Ca²⁺. Thirdly, the selective interaction of glycophorin with binary lipid mixtures was studied, including the mixtures of DMPC with dimyristoylphosphatidylserine (DMPS) and dilauroylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC), and the mixture of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) with DLPC.

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