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Biomedical subjects

F C Stevens

Publications and source records attributed to F C Stevens.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Circular dichroism studies on Ca2+-dependent protein modulator oxidized with N-chlorosuccinimide.

The structural features and Ca2+-binding properties of native and N-chlorosuccinimide-oxidized modulator protein were compared by circular dichroism. In the presence of Ca2+,the far-UV spectra of native and oxidized modulator protein are virtually indistinguishable, indicating that oxidation of surface methionine residues does not alter the overall conformation of the molecule. In the absence of Ca2+, however, the circular dichroism spectra of native and oxidized modulator are different with calculated helical contents of 40% and 26%, respectively. As judged by circular dichroism titration studies, the native modulator contains both high-(Kd = 1.9 X 10(-7) M) and low-affinity (Kd = 4 X 10(-4) M) Ca2+-binding sites, whereas the modified modulator appears to possess only low-affinity sites (Kd = 3.8 X 10(-4) M). The reduced secondary structure in Ca2+-free oxidized modulator protein may account for the absence of high affinity Ca2+ binding sites.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Purification and characterization of a Ca2+-binding protein in Lumbricus terrestris.

A Ca2+-binding protein which is capable of activating mammalian Ca2+-activatable cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase has been purified from Lumbricus terrestris and characterized. This protein and the Ca2+-dependent protein modulator from bovine tissues have many similar properties. Both proteins have molecular weights of approximately 18,000, isoelectric points of about pH 4, similar and characteristic ultraviolet spectra, and similar amino acid compositions. Both proteins bind calcium ions with high affinity. However, the protein from Lumbricus terrestris binds 2 mol of calcium ions with equal affinity, Kdiss = 6 X 10(-6) M, whereas the Ca2+-dependent protein modulator from bovine tissues binds 4 mol of calcium ions with differing affinities. Although the Ca2+-binding protein of Lumbricus terrestris activates the Ca2+-activatable cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase from mammalian tissues, we have failed to detect the existence of a Ca2+-activatable phosphodiesterase activity in Lumbricus terrestris. The activation of phosphodiesterase by the Ca2+-binding protein from Lumbricus terrestris is inhibited by the recently discovered bovine brain modulator binding protein (Wang, J. H., and Desai, R. (1977) J. Biol. Chem. 252, 4175-4184). Since the modulator binding protein has been shown to associate with the mammalian protein modulator to result in phosphodiesterase inhibition, it can be concluded that the Lumbricus terrestris Ca2+-binding protein also associates with the bovine brain modulator binding protein. Attempts to demonstrate the existence of a similar modulator binding protein in Lumbricus terrestris have been unsuccessful.

3',5'-Cyclic-AMP Phosphodiesterases↗
PubMed1977

Purification of a Ca2+-activatable cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase from bovine heart by specific interaction with its Ca2+-dependent modulator protein.

A Ca2+-activatable cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase from bovine heart can be eluted from a DEAE-cellulose column either in the free form by buffers containing 0.1 mM ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)N-N,N'N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA) or as a complex of the enzyme with its protein modulator by buffers containing 0.01 mM CaCl2. A purification procedure based primarily on the significantly different affinity of the two forms of the enzyme for DEAE-cellulose was developed for the purification of the enzyme from bovine heart. The procedure involves ammonium sulfate fractionation, three chromatographic steps on DEAE-cellulose, and gel filtration on Sephadex G-200 with a 5000-fold purification over the crude extract. The purified enzyme has a specific activity of 120 mumol of cAMP/mg/min, can be activated 5-fold by Ca2+, but is only 80% pure as judged by analytical disc gel electrophoresis. The purified enzyme is unstable but can be stabilized by addition of Ca2+ and the protein modulator; this is in contrast to the less pure preparations of Ca2+-activatable phosphodiesterase which are destabilized by the protein modulator in the presence of Ca2+.

2',3'-Cyclic-Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases↗
PubMed1976

Comparison of calcium-binding proteins. Bovine heart and brain protein activators of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase and rabbit skeletal muscle troponin C.

In previous studies we have shown that the activation of bovine heart cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase by purified protein activator is completely dependent on the presence of Ca2+ and that the protein activator Ca2+ complex is probably the true activator for the enzyme (Teo, T.S. and Wang, J.H. (1973) J. Biol. Chem. 248, 5930-5955). More recent studies have led us to believe that the mechanism of the Ca2+ activation of phosphodiesterase resembles that of the Ca2+ activation of muscle contraction and that the protein activator may play a role similar to troponin. In the present study we show that the protein activator resembles rabbit muscle troponin C in amino acid composition, molecular weight, isoelectric point, and ultraviolet absorption spectrum. Preliminary structural studies also indicate that these two proteins may have evolved from a common ancestral protein through gene duplication. This argument is strengthened by the finding that the tryptic peptide map of the bovine heart protein activator is indistinguishable from that of the bovine brain phosphodiesterase activator protein for which preliminary sequence information also suggests homology to troponin C (Watterson, D.M., Harrelson, W.G., Jr., Keller, P.M., Sharief, F., and Vanaman, T.C. (1976) J. Biol. Chem. 251, 4501-4513).

Amino Acid Sequence↗