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Biomedical subjects

A Nakazawa

Publications and source records attributed to A Nakazawa.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Site-directed mutagenesis of Pro-17 located in the glycine-rich region of adenylate kinase.

Proline 17 in the glycine-rich region of adenylate kinase was replaced by Gly (the Gly-mutant) or Val (the Val-mutant) by site-directed mutagenesis. The mutant enzymes were purified to homogeneous states on sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis after solubilization of the proteins from the pellets of cell lysates of Escherichia coli. The apparent Km values of the Gly- and the Val-mutants for AMP increased approximately 7- and 24-fold, respectively, as compared with that of the wild-type enzyme. The apparent Km values for ATP also increased 7- and 42-fold in the Gly- and Val-mutants, respectively. In contrast, Vmax values of both mutant enzymes were comparable to that of the wild-type enzyme. These results suggest that Pro-17 plays an important role for the binding of substrates, but not for catalytic efficiency, although it does not directly interact with substrates. Adenosine diphosphopyridoxal, which specifically modifies Lys-21 in adenylate kinase (Tagaya, M., Yagami, T., and Fukui, T. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 8257-8261), inactivated the wild-type and mutant enzymes at almost the same rates. Interestingly, both mutant enzymes showed higher specificities for adenine nucleotides than the wild-type enzyme. Both mutant enzymes were less resistant than the wild-type enzyme against inactivation at elevated temperatures or by treatment with trypsin. It would appear that most of the properties of the mutant enzymes may be explained on the basis of a need for conformational flexibility of the loop which includes Pro-17 for substrate binding.

Adenylate Kinase↗
PubMed1989

Site-directed mutagenesis of Gly-15 and Gly-20 in the glycine-rich region of adenylate kinase.

Glycine-15 or Glycine-20 in the glycine-rich region of chicken adenylate kinase was replaced by Ala via site-directed mutagenesis. The two mutant enzymes showed lower enzymatic activities under the standard assay conditions. Kinetic analyses of the mutant enzymes revealed that they have markedly lower affinities for AMP and ATP, the Vmax values being comparable to that of the wild-type enzyme. These properties are similar to those of the (Pro-17----Leu, Gly or Val) enzymes (Reinstein, J., Brune, M., & Wittinghofer, A. (1988) Biochemistry 27, 4712-4720; Tagaya, M., Yagami, T., Noumi, T., Futai, M., Kishi, F., Nakazawa, A., & Fukui, T. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. in press), providing evidence that the glycine-rich region in adenylate kinase is important for the binding of both substrate nucleotides. The substrate specificity and the susceptibilities as to thermal denaturation and proteolysis were also affected by the mutations.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1989

[Study on two-dimensional tooth mobility].

Tooth mobility was measured with the use of a two-dimensional displacement measuring system. This small-sized system can measure the displacement both in the direction of the tooth axis and the buccolingual direction simultaneously with no contact. As test teeth, lower right first premolars with no clinical mobility were examined. The load was applied from the lingual to the buccal direction, to the vertical direction as well as from the buccal to the lingual direction. The results obtained were as follows: 1. This system possesses sufficient accuracy and reproducibility for tooth mobility measurement (measurement range 500 microns, resolving power 1 microns). 2. Most of the load-displacement curves showed diphasic displacement. 3. As to the amount of displacement in the buccolingual direction, 3 of 8 cases showed greater values by the load in the buccal direction and the remaining 5 by the load in the lingual direction. 4. As to the displacement direction of loaded teeth, the lingual and buccal load displaced teeth to the lingual-coronal and buccal-radicular directions respectively. Teeth under the vertical load were displaced almost to the radicular and slightly to the buccal direction. 5. As to the direction of tooth displacement in relation to load directions, it appeared that the teeth not only rotated within the dental sockets but also indented or extruded into the dental sockets.

Dental Stress Analysis↗
PubMed1988

Mechanism of adenylate kinase. Histidine-36 is not directly involved in catalysis, but protects cysteine-25 and stabilizes the tertiary structure.

Several previous reports on muscle adenylate kinase (AK) have suggested that histidine-36 (His-36) is located in the binding site of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and is involved in catalysis. We have tested the role of His-36 using site-specific mutagenesis on chicken muscle AK expressed in Escherichia coli. Three mutant proteins (H36Q, H36N, and H36G) were obtained by substituting His-36 with glutamine, asparagine, and glycine, respectively. Steady-state kinetic studies showed that the mutants have similar kinetic properties to those of the wild-type (WT) AK, which suggested that His-36 is not directly involved in catalysis. However, His-36 is likely to interact with or protect cysteine-25 (Cys-25) on the basis of the following evidence: The crystal structure of porcine muscle AK revealed a close proximity between His-36 and Cys-25; the mutants were unstable during purification (the order of stability was WT greater than H36Q greater than H36N greater than H36G); the H36G mutant readily dimerized; the sulfhydryl groups of mutants became more reactive (WT less than H36Q less than H36N) toward 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). Furthermore, His-36 was found to stabilize the tertiary structure of AK on the basis of guanidine hydrochloride induced denaturation studies, which showed that the conformational stability decreases in the order WT greater than H36Q greater than H36N.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adenylate Kinase↗
PubMed1988

Nucleotide sequence of the regulatory gene xylR of the TOL plasmid from Pseudomonas putida.

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of the xylR gene for a transcriptional activator for the degradative pathway of aromatic hydrocarbons on the TOL plasmid from Pseudomonas putida. The 1698-bp sequence for a 566-amino acid (aa) protein (Mr 63741) was identified as the XylR-encoding sequence. Three regions in XylR show homology to Klebsiella pneumoniae NtrC and NifA, both of which are transcriptional activators for the ntr and nif genes involved in the nitrogen metabolism. The central region of XylR (aa 234-473) corresponds to the region that was proposed to interact with RNA polymerase having a sigma factor, NtrA [Drummond et al., EMBO J. 5 (1986) 441-447]. The C-terminal region (aa 515-558) has a putative DNA-binding structure. A short segment proximal to the central region (aa 211-229) is thought to be an interdomain linker. No amino acid homology was found in the N-terminal regions among these proteins. These findings suggest the interaction of XylR with an NtrA in the transcriptional activation of the degradative pathway.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1988

Molecular cloning of cDNA and chromosomal assignment of the gene for human phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase, the enzyme for epinephrine biosynthesis.

Phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT; EC 2.1.1.28) catalyzes the synthesis of epinephrine from norepinephrine, the last step of catecholamine biosynthesis. To isolate a cDNA clone for human PNMT, we first isolated a cDNA clone for bovine adrenal medulla PNMT using mixed oligodeoxyribonucleotide probes whose synthesis was based on the partial amino acid sequence of tryptic peptides from the bovine enzyme. By screening a bovine adrenal medulla cDNA library, a cDNA clone with an insert of about 200 base pairs (bp) was isolated. This clone consisted of 84 bp of carboxyl-terminal coding region, which contained amino acid sequences corresponding to two tryptic peptides, and about 100 bp of 3'-untranslated region. Using this cDNA fragment as the probe, we screened a human pheochromocytoma cDNA library and isolated a cDNA clone with an insert of about 1.0 kilobase pairs, which contained the complete coding region of the enzyme. Northern blot analysis of human pheochromocytoma poly(A)+ RNA using this cDNA insert as the probe showed a single RNA species of about 1,000 nucleotides, suggesting that this clone is a full-length cDNA. Determination of the nucleotide sequence revealed that human PNMT consists of 282-amino acid residues with a predicted molecular weight of 30,853, including initial methionine. The amino acid sequence of the human PNMT was highly homologous (88%) to that of the bovine enzyme. Chromosomal assignment of the gene for human PNMT was carried out using mouse-human somatic cell hybrids. The PNMT gene was assigned to chromosome 17.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1988

Structure and complete nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding chicken cytosolic adenylate kinase.

The gene encoding cytosolic adenylate kinase (AK1) was isolated from a chicken genomic DNA library by using its cDNA as a hybridization probe. The chicken AK1 gene spanned about 6 kilobase pairs and consisted of 7 exons. Analyses of the 5'-flanking region sequence and S1 nuclease mapping revealed that the transcription initiation site is located at 84 base pairs upstream from the ATG initiation codon. The TATA box and the putative CAT box were located 29 base pairs and 97 base pairs upstream from the transcription initiation site, respectively. A total of 7 GC boxes were found in the 5'-flanking region, the exon 1, and the intron 1. The GC boxes were surrounded by the sequences with extremely high G+C contents. When projected on the three-dimensional structure of the AK1 protein molecule, introns fell either between or near the ends of alpha-helices and beta-strands, and most of the coding exons encoded at least one alpha-helix and one beta-strand. The dot matrix plot analysis between chicken AK1 and bovine mitochondrial adenylate kinase (AK2) suggested that the AK1 gene might have evolved from the AK2 gene by deletion of one or more exon(s).

Adenylate Kinase↗
PubMed1988

Structure of the human tyrosine hydroxylase gene: alternative splicing from a single gene accounts for generation of four mRNA types.

Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) is a rate-limiting enzyme for catecholamine biosynthesis. Recently, Grima et al. (Nature (1987) 326, 707-711) and we (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. (1987) 146, 971-975; Nucleic Acids Res. (1987) 15, 6733) reported four similar but distinct mRNAs that encode human TH. These mRNAs are constant for the major part, but are distinguishable from one another as to the insertion/deletion of 12-bp and 81-bp sequences near the N-terminus. We isolated genomic clones encoding the human TH gene and determined the nucleotide sequence. The human TH gene is split into 14 exons. The 12-bp insertion sequence is encoded by the 3'-terminal portion of the first exon. The 81-bp insertion sequence corresponds to the second exon. Taking into consideration also the results of Southern blot analysis of human genomic DNA, we concluded that the four types of human TH mRNA are produced through alternative splicing from a single gene. Two kinds of alternative splicing are involved: the alternative use of two donor sites in the first exon, and the inclusion/exclusion of the second exon. We propose a possible secondary structure for the latter alternative splicing pathway.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Purification and properties of formate dehydrogenase from Moraxella sp. strain C-1.

NAD+-dependent formate dehydrogenase was screened in various bacterial strains. Facultative methanol-utilizing bacteria isolated from soil samples, acclimated to a medium containing methanol and formate at pH 9.5, were classified as members of the genus Moraxella. From a crude extract of Moraxella sp. strain C-1, formate dehydrogenase was purified to homogeneity, as judged by disc gel electrophoresis. The enzyme has an isoelectric point of 3.9 and a molecular weight of approximately 98,000. The enzyme is composed of two identical subunits with molecular weights of about 48,000. The apparent Km values for sodium formate and NAD+ were calculated to be 13 mM and 0.068 mM, respectively.

Aldehyde Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed1987

Phenylalanine dehydrogenase of Bacillus badius. Purification, characterization and gene cloning.

Phenylalanine dehydrogenase produced by Bacillus badius IAM 11059 was purified from the crude extract of B. badius to homogeneity, as judged by disc gel electrophoresis. The enzyme has an isoelectric point of 3.5 and a relative molecular mass, Mr, of 310,000-360,000. The enzyme is composed of identical subunits with an Mr 41,000-42,000. The substrate specificity of the enzyme in the oxidative deamination reaction was high for L-phenylalanine, but rather low in the reductive amination reaction, with phenylpyruvate, p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate, and 2-oxohexanoate. The gene for the enzyme was cloned into Escherichia coli with plasmid pBR322 as a vector. The enzyme was expressed in high level in E. coli. The enzyme produced by E. coli transformant was purified to homogeneity and shown to be identical to that of B. badius IAM 11,059 with respect to the specific activity, Mr, subunit structure and amino acid composition.

Amino Acid Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed1987

Isolation and characterization of two types of cDNA for mitochondrial adenylate kinase and their expression in Escherichia coli.

Two cDNA clones for mitochondrial adenylate kinase were isolated from a cDNA library of bovine liver poly(A)+ RNA by using synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides as probes. The clone containing a 0.9-kilobase insert had the reading frame for a 241-residue protein (AK2A), while the other clone containing a 1.6-kilobase insert had the frame for a 234-residue protein (AK2B). Nucleotide sequences of these two clones were the same in the 5' portion up to the coding sequence for the 233rd residue, but different in the remaining 3' portions. The reported amino acid sequence of mitochondrial adenylate kinase from bovine heart corresponded to AK2A. Neither AK2A nor AK2B had a cleavable NH2-terminal presequence as that found in other imported mitochondrial proteins. RNA blot analysis of poly(A)+ RNAs from bovine liver and heart revealed three species of mRNA with approximate sizes of 0.9, 1.4, and 1.7 kilobases. The 1.7- and 1.4-kilobase species were specific for AK2B, whereas the 0.9-kilobase species was specific for AK2A. In the liver, the 1.7-kilobase mRNA was more abundant, whereas in the heart the 0.9-kilobase mRNA was predominant. The 1.4-kilobase mRNA was present only in the heart. The AK2A- and AK2B-coding sequences were expressed in Escherichia coli cells under the control of trc promoter. Both the products reverted the temperature-sensitive phenotype of the adenylate kinase mutant of E. coli.

Adenylate Kinase↗
PubMed1987

Isolation of a novel cDNA clone for human tyrosine hydroxylase: alternative RNA splicing produces four kinds of mRNA from a single gene.

Human tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) cDNA was isolated by molecular cloning. Lambda gt 11 cDNA library constructed from human pheochromocytoma was screened with a synthetic 23-mer oligonucleotide complementary to rat TH mRNA. We found a novel type of cDNA clone whose N-terminal sequence is similar to but clearly distinct from each of the three types (type 1, 2 and 3) of TH cDNA reported by Grima et al. [Nature (1987) 326, 707-711]. It contains both the 12-bp insert characteristic of type 2 cDNA and the 81-bp sequence of type 3. This novel cDNA clone was designated as type 4. Southern blot analysis of human genomic DNA indicated that TH is encoded by a single gene. This suggests that the four different forms of TH mRNA are produced by alternative RNA splicing from a single primary transcript.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗
PubMed1987

Novel phenylalanine dehydrogenases from Sporosarcina ureae and Bacillus sphaericus. Purification and characterization.

NAD+-dependent phenylalanine dehydrogenases were purified 1,500- and 1,600-fold, and crystallized from Sporosarcina ureae SCRC-R04 and Bacillus sphaericus SCRC-R79a, respectively. The purified enzymes were homogeneous as judged by disc gel electrophoresis. The enzyme from S. ureae has a molecular weight of 305,000, while that of B. sphaericus has a molecular weight of 340,000. Each is probably composed of eight subunits identical in molecular weight. The S. ureae enzyme showed a high substrate specificity in the oxidative deamination reaction acting on L-phenylalanine, while that of B. sphaericus acted on L-phenylalanine and L-tyrosine. The enzymes had lower substrate specificities in the reductive amination reaction acting on alpha-keto acids. The Sporosarcina enzyme acted on phenylpyruvate, alpha-ketocaproate, alpha-keto-gamma-methylthiobutyrate and rho-hydroxyphenylpyruvate. The Bacillus enzyme acted on rho-hydroxyphenylpyruvate, phenylpyruvate, and alpha-keto-gamma-methylthiobutyrate. The enzyme from B. sphaericus catalyzes The enzyme from B. sphaericus catalyzes the transfer of pro-S (B) hydrogen from NADH.

Amino Acid Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed1987

Expression of the regulatory gene xylS on the TOL plasmid is positively controlled by the xylR gene product.

The regulatory gene xylS on the TOL plasmid of Pseudomonas putida activates the transcription of the xylDLEGF operon for the m-toluate-degrading pathway in the presence of m-toluate. The gene also activates the transcription of the same operon in the presence of m-xylene or m-methylbenzyl alcohol, but for this activation another regulatory gene, xylR, is required. In this study we examined the xylS expression by determining the mRNA by reverse transcriptase mapping and by monitoring the enzyme activity of the xylE gene product, which was expressed under the control of the xylS promoter. The results of the above experiments provide evidence that xylR positively controls the transcription of xylS in the presence of m-xylene or m-methylbenzyl alcohol. The xylS product thus amplified may in turn activate the xylDLEGF operon. The nucleotide sequence of the xylS promoter resembles that of the promoter of the xylCAB operon for the m-xylene-degrading pathway, which is also activated by xylR in the presence of m-xylene or m-methylbenzyl alcohol. In addition, we have demonstrated that the expression of xylR is negatively controlled by its own product. On the basis of these findings, we propose a revised model for the regulation of expression of xyl genes on the TOL plasmid.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1987

High level expression of chicken muscle adenylate kinase in Escherichia coli.

Chicken muscle adenylate kinase was produced in a large amount in Escherichia coli cells harboring an expression plasmid, pKK-cAKl-1. The plasmid was constructed by placing the cDNA sequence for chicken muscle adenylate kinase after the tac promoter. After induction by isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside, the enzyme protein amounted to about 10% of the bacterial proteins. The enzyme was readily purified in two steps by using phosphocellulose and Sephadex G-100 columns. The apparent molecular weight of the enzyme produced in E. coli was estimated to be 22,000 on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, in agreement with the value deduced from the cDNA sequence. Ten amino acids in the NH2-terminal region were determined, and were identical with the sequence deduced from the cDNA sequence except that the terminal methionine was absent. Michaelis constants for ATP, ADP, and AMP of the enzyme thus synthesized were essentially identical to those determined with the enzyme in crude extracts of chicken skeletal muscle.

Adenylate Kinase↗
PubMed1987

Overproduction of the xylS gene product and activation of the xylDLEGF operon on the TOL plasmid.

The effect of high-level expression of the regulatory gene xylS of the Pseudomonas putida TOL plasmid on the activation of the xylDLEGF operon was investigated in Escherichia coli. The xylS gene was placed downstream from the tac promoter, and the resultant fusion was cloned in cis to the xylDLEGF operon. The expression of the operon was monitored by the level of catechol 2,3-dioxygenase, whose structural gene xylE was placed directly after the operator-promoter region of xylDLEGF. xylS transcription was also determined by reverse transcriptase mapping of mRNA. Overproduction of the xylS gene product elicited constitutive high expression of the xylDLEGF operon even in the absence of the inducer for the operon. The results were consistent with a cascade model for the positive control of the xylDLEGF operon by the xylR and xylS genes (S. Inouye, A. Nakazawa, and T. Nakazawa, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, in press): m-xylene, a substrate of the degradative pathway, binds to the xylR gene product; the m-xylene-xylR product complex activates the xylS gene; and the xylS product thus synthesized de novo activates the xylDLEGF operon.

Bacterial Proteins↗