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D Cascio

Publications and source records attributed to D Cascio.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Crystal structure of CATGGCCATG and its implications for A-tract bending models.

The single-crystal x-ray analysis of orthorhombic CATGGCCATG has revealed a previously unrecognized mode of intrinsic bending in DNA. The decamer shows a smooth bend of 23 degrees over the central four base pairs, caused by preferential stacking interactions at guanine bases. The bend is produced by a roll of base pairs along their long axes, in a direction that compresses the wide major groove of the double helix. This major-groove-compressing bend at GGC, plus the abundant crystallographic evidence that runs of successive adenine bases (A-tracts) are straight and unbent, requires rethinking of the models most commonly invoked to explain A-tract bending. A decade of excellent experimental work involving gel migration experiments, cyclization kinetics, and nucleosome phasing has clearly established that introduction of short A-tracts into a general DNA sequence in synchrony with the natural repeat of the helix leads to bending. But it does not logically and inevitably follow that the actual bending is to be found within these introduced A-tracts or even at junctions with general-sequence B-DNA.

Base Composition↗
PubMed1993

Crystal structure of a synthetic triple-stranded alpha-helical bundle.

The x-ray crystal structure of a peptide designed to form a double-stranded parallel coiled coil shows that it is actually a triple-stranded coiled coil formed by three alpha-helices. Unlike the designed parallel coiled coil, the helices run up-up-down. The structure is stabilized by a distinctive hydrophobic interface consisting of eight layers. As in the design, each alpha-helix in the coiled coil contributes one leucine side chain to each layer. The structure suggests that hydrophobic interactions are a dominant factor in the stabilization of coiled coils. The stoichiometry and geometry of coiled coils are primarily determined by side chain packing in the solvent-inaccessible interior, but electrostatic interactions also contribute.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Crystal structure of activated tobacco rubisco complexed with the reaction-intermediate analogue 2-carboxy-arabinitol 1,5-bisphosphate.

The crystal structure of activated tobacco rubisco, complexed with the reaction-intermediate analogue 2-carboxy-arabinitol 1,5-bisphosphate (CABP) has been determined by molecular replacement, using the structure of activated spinach rubisco (Knight, S., Andersson, I., & Brändén, C.-I., 1990, J. Mol. Biol. 215, 113-160) as a model. The R-factor after refinement is 21.0% for 57,855 reflections between 9.0 and 2.7 A resolution. The local fourfold axis of the rubisco hexadecamer coincides with a crystallographic twofold axis. The result is that the asymmetric unit of the crystals contains half of the L8S8 complex (molecular mass 280 kDa in the asymmetric unit). The activated form of tobacco rubisco is very similar to the activated form of spinach rubisco. The root mean square difference is 0.4 A for 587 equivalent C alpha atoms. Analysis of mutations between tobacco and spinach rubisco revealed that the vast majority of mutations concerned exposed residues. Only 7 buried residues were found to be mutated versus 54 residues at or near the surface of the protein. The crystal structure suggests that the Cys 247-Cys 247 and Cys 449-Cys 459 pairs are linked via disulfide bridges. This pattern of disulfide links differ from the pattern of disulfide links observed in crystals of unactivated tobacco rubisco (Curmi, P.M.G., et al., 1992, J. Biol. Chem. 267, 16980-16989) and is similar to the pattern observed for activated spinach tobacco.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1992

Crystal structure of the unactivated form of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from tobacco refined at 2.0-A resolution.

The structure of the unactivated form of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase was refined at a resolution of 2.0 A to an R-factor of 17.1%. The previous model (Chapman et al., 1988) was extensively rebuilt, and the small subunit was retraced. The refined model consists of residues 22-63 and 69-467 of the large subunit and the complete small subunit. A striking feature of the model is that several loops have very high B-factors, probably representing mobile regions of the molecule. An examination of the intersubunit contacts shows that the L8S8 hexadecamer is composed of four L2 dimers. The dominant contacts between these L2 dimers are formed by the small subunits. This suggests that the small subunits may be essential for maintaining the integrity of the L8S8 structure. The active site shows differences between the unactivated form and the quaternary complex. In particular, Lys334 has moved out of the active site by about 10A. This residue lies on loop 6 of the alpha beta barrel, which is a particularly mobile loop. The site of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase activation is well ordered in the absence of the carbamylation of Lys201 and Mg2+ binding. The residues are held poised by a network of hydrogen bonds. In the unactivated state, the active site is accessible to substrate binding.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Refined atomic model of glutamine synthetase at 3.5 A resolution.

An atomic model of 43,692 non-hydrogen atoms has been determined for the 12-subunit enzyme glutamine synthetase from Salmonella typhimurium, by methods of x-ray diffraction including restrained least-squares atomic refinement against 65,223 unique reflections. At 3.5 A resolution the crystallographic R-factor (on 2 sigma data) is 25.8%. As reported earlier for the unrefined structure, the 12 subunits are arranged in two layers of six; at the interface of pairs of subunits within each layer, cylindrical active sites are formed by six anti-parallel beta strands contributed by one subunit and two strands by the neighboring subunit. This interpretation of the electron density map has now been supported by comparison with glutamine synthetase from Escherichia coli by the Fourier difference method. Each active site cylinder holds two Mn2+ ions, with each ion having as ligands three protein side chains and two water molecules (one water shared by both metals), as well as a histidyl side chain just beyond liganding distance. The protein ligands to Mn2+ 469 are Glu-131, Glu-212, and Glu-220; those to Mn2+ 470 are Glu-129, His-269, and Glu-357. The two layers of subunits are held together largely by the apolar COOH terminus, a helical thong, which inserts into a hydrophobic pocket formed by two neighboring subunits on the opposite ring. Also between layers, there is a hydrogen-bonded beta sheet interaction, as there is between subunits within a ring, but hydrophobic interactions account for most of the intersubunit stability. The central loop, which extends into the central aqueous channel, is subject to attack by at least five enzymes and is discussed as an enzyme "passive site."

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1989

The structure of DAPI bound to DNA.

The structure of the DNA fluorochrome 4'-6-diamidine-2-phenyl indole (DAPI) bound to the synthetic B-DNA oligonucleotide C-G-C-G-A-A-T-T-C-G-C-G has been solved by single crystal x-ray diffraction methods, at a resolution of 2.4 A. The structure is nearly isomorphous with that of the native DNA molecule alone. With one DAPI and 25 waters per DNA double helix, the residual error is 21.5% for the 2428 reflections above the 2-sigma level. DAPI inserts itself edgewise into the narrow minor groove, displacing the ordered spine of hydration. DAPI and a single water molecule together span the four AT base pairs at the center of the duplex. The indole nitrogen forms a bifurcated hydrogen bond with the thymine O2 atoms of the two central base pairs, as with netropsin and Hoechst 33258. The preference of all three of these drugs for AT regions of B-DNA is a consequence of three factors: (1) The intrinsically narrower minor groove in AT regions than in GC regions of B-DNA, leading to a snug fit of the flat aromatic drug rings between the walls of the groove. (2) The more negative electrostatic potential within the minor groove in AT regions, attributable in part to the absence of electropositive-NH2 groups along the floor of the groove, and (3) The steric advantage of the absence of those same guanine-NH2 groups, thus permitting the drug molecule to sink deeper into the groove. Groove width and electrostatic factors are regional, and define the relative receptiveness of a section of DNA since they operate over several contiguous base pairs. The steric factor is local, varying from one base pair to the next, and hence is the means of fine-tuning sequence specificity.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1988

Tertiary structure of plant RuBisCO: domains and their contacts.

The three-dimensional structure of ribulose-1,5-biphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RuBisCO), has been determined at 2.6 A resolution. This enzyme initiates photosynthesis by combining carbon dioxide with ribulose bisphosphate to form two molecules of 3-phosphoglycerate. In plants, RuBisCO is built from eight large (L) and eight small (S) polypeptide chains, or subunits. Both S chains and the NH2-terminal domain (N) of L are antiparallel beta, "open-face-sandwich" domains with four-stranded beta sheets and flanking alpha helices. The main domain (B) of L is an alpha/beta barrel containing most of the catalytic residues. The active site is in a pocket at the opening of the barrel that is partly covered by the N domain of a neighboring L chain. The domain contacts of the molecule and its conserved residues are discussed in terms of this structure.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

A crystal form of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from Nicotiana tabacum in the activated state.

A new crystal form of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (EC 4.1.1.39) from Nicotiana tabacum has been obtained at alkaline pH with polyethylene glycol 8000 in the presence of a non-ionic detergent, beta-octyl glucoside. The crystals are grown at room temperature by the hanging-drop vapor diffusion technique from a protein solution containing enzyme complexed with CO2, Mg2+, and the transition state analog 2-C-carboxy-D-arabinitol-1,5-bisphosphate. The crystals belong to the the space group P3(1)21 (or P3(2)21) with the cell parameters a = 204.6 A, and c = 117.4 A (1 A = 0.1 nm). The asymmetric unit contains half (L4S4: L, large subunit, 53,000 Mr; S, small subunit, 15,000 Mr) of a hexadecameric molecule (L8S8, 540,000 Mr). The crystals diffract to at least 2.6 A Bragg spacing and are suitable for X-ray structure determination.

Crystallization↗
PubMed1987

Propidium binding to a ribonuclease-DNA complex: X-ray and fluorescence studies.

Propidium iodide, an antitumor compound, was diffused into crystals of a complex between RNase A and deoxytetraadenylate (dpA)4). This complex has four deoxyoligomers bound per protein molecule. A difference Fourier analysis at 2.9 A showed that the principal binding site for the propidium in the crystals was a hydrophobic depression on the side of RNase away from the active site and apparently involves methionine 13 and phenylalanine 8. Binding of propidium at this site produces small conformational changes that effect binding of nucleotides at the active site of the enzyme. Fluorescence titrations in the presence and absence of nucleotide inhibitors suggested that propidium iodide is a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme with a Kl of approximately 1 mM. No significant binding of propidium to the 16 nucleotides of single-stranded DNA associated with each protein molecule was observed.

Fourier Analysis↗
PubMed1986

Structural studies of Rubisco from tobacco.

An electron density map of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco) from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) has been obtained by X-ray crystallography at a nominal resolution of 0.34 nm. Phases were determined by multiple isomorphous replacement with three heavy atom derivatives and then refined by solvent flattening. Rubisco is barrel-shaped, and has (422) symmetry. The fourfold axis runs down an open central channel, concentric with the barrel. The molecule measures 10.5 nm along the fourfold axis, and has a diameter of 13 nm perpendicular to the fourfold axis at the widest point. The diameter of the central channel is 2.8 nm at the centre of the molecule, and 0.6 nm at its narrowest constriction. Portions of the polypeptide backbone of the promoter have been traced and some 127 residues have been assigned to 14 alpha-helices. The amino acid sequences of Rubisco from Rhodospirillum rubrum and from the large subunit of tobacco are sufficiently similar to suggest that the two chains are folded in the same general way.

Models, Molecular↗
PubMed1986

The mechanism of binding of a polynucleotide chain to pancreatic ribonuclease.

The crystalline complex of pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase) with oligomers of d(pA)4 has been solved by x-ray diffraction methods and refined by standard procedures to a conventional crystallographic R factor of 0.22 at 2.5 angstrom resolution. The asymmetric unit is a complex of one RNase molecule associated with four d(pA)4 oligomers. Although the DNA in this complex is segmented, and therefore shows some discontinuities, it nevertheless traces a continuous path 12 nucleotides in length that passes through the active site cleft of the enzyme and over the surface of the protein. The DNA makes a series of eight to nine electrostatic bonds between its phosphate groups and lysine and arginine residues on the protein, as well as specific chemical interactions at the active site. The path described by the sequence of nucleotides is likely to be that taken by an extended polynucleotide chain when it is bound by the enzyme.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Isolation, characterization, and preliminary X-ray diffraction data for a serine protease from Penicillium cyclopium.

The major extracellular protein of Penicillium cyclopium has been isolated from its culture media and purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel, and ion-exchange chromatography. We show this secreted protein to be endopeptidase. The molecular weight is approximately 32,000, the pI is 5.0, and the pH optimum using a variety of protein and synthetic substrates is around 7.0. Inhibition studies show that the protease is not inhibited by pepstatin nor by p-chloromercuribenzoic acid, indicating, respectively, that it is not an aspartyl protease nor a thiol protease. Complete inhibition is observed, however, with phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride. Three crystal forms suitable for high resolution x-ray diffraction studies have been obtained from this purified protease with reflections being observed to well beyond 3.0 A resolution. One form having a needle morphology is of the orthorhombic crystal class and has space group P2(1)2(1)2(1). The unit cell dimensions are a = 41.9 A, b = 43.2 A, and c = 111.5 A with 1 molecule of the protease occurring in the asymmetric unit. The second form grown at pH values less than 6.0 has a plate morphology, is of orthorhombic space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), and has unit cell dimensions a = 59.12 A, b = 62.33 A, and c = 70.62 A. The third form is polyhedral in habit, is also of space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), and appears when the pH of the mother liquor is greater than 7.0. The cell dimensions of this crystal form are a = 57.07 A, b = 58.82 A, c = 70.79 A, and again there is 1 molecule/asymmetric unit. Three-dimensional structural analysis by x-ray diffraction is now underway. All crystal forms are somewhat denser than the norm having mass to volume ratios of 1.58, 2.00, and 1.85 A3/dalton, respectively.

Chromatography, Gel↗
PubMed1986

An experiment regarding crystallization of soluble proteins in the presence of beta-octyl glucoside.

Twenty-one soluble proteins, five tRNAs, and three protein-nucleic acid complexes were studied in a systematic manner with regard to their crystallization behavior from polyethylene glycol and ammonium sulfate solutions in the presence of 0 to 1.5% beta-octyl glucoside. Our observations suggest that this neutral detergent does influence in a very positive way the growth characteristics of the macromolecules included in this experiment. In general, more reproducible and rapid growth was noted with an increased number of large individual crystals at the expense of microcrystals. In several cases, new crystal forms were discovered. Selected x-ray diffraction analyses imply that crystals grown in the presence of beta-octyl glucoside diffract as well or better than those grown in its absence. In addition, a screen of two proteins grown in the presence of 14 different common detergents suggested that a general detergent effect may be beneficial for the growth of crystals of biological macromolecules.

Crystallization↗
PubMed1985

A computer method for scanning and analysis of dot blots.

A system is described for computer analysis of autoradiograms produced from dot blots. The autoradiograms are first digitized on a rotating drum densitometer. The system automatically locates, integrates, and corrects the intensity of each spot for background. A linear range of exposures for each series of dilutions on the dot blot is calculated, and the amount of specific RNA is reported relative to other samples or to an internal standard. Without operator intervention, the system can directly scan and analyze all possible spots produced by the commercial filtration devices which use the geometry of a 96-well microtiter plate.

Computers↗
PubMed1983

Beta-thiomaltosides as active site probes for alpha-amylase.

A series of substituted 1-thio-beta-D-maltopyranosides was synthesized and confirmed by elemental analysis, optical rotation, NMR, and liquid chromatography. These compounds were shown by several biochemical techniques to bind to the active site of alpha-amylase. Steady-state kinetic studies showed the compounds to be competitive inhibitors, with affinities lying within the range of the natural ligands, maltose and maltotriose. Affinity chromatography employing p-aminophenyl-1-thio-beta-D-maltopyranoside linked to Sepharose provides a relatively simple procedure for alpha-amylase purification. The binding of p-bromphenyl-1-thio-beta-D-maltoside was observed in crystals of alpha-amylase using X-ray crystallography, and through the use of difference Fourier analysis its interaction at 5.0-A resolution with the active site of the enzyme has been visualized. The inhibitor binds in a long, deep cleft that divides the two major domains of the enzyme. These studies are believed to provide a first step toward the rational design of ligands for the physiological regulation of starch breakdown and utilization through modulation of alpha-amylase activity.

Animals↗