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J S O'Brien

Publications and source records attributed to J S O'Brien.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Chromosome 1 localization of the human alpha-L-fucosidase structural gene with a homologous site on chromosome 2.

Two cDNA clones coding for human alpha-L-fucosidase, one from the coding region and the other primarily from the 3' untranslated region, were used to map the location of the alpha-L-fucosidase gene. Southern filter analysis of somatic cell hybrid lines mapped the structural gene to the short arm of human chromosome 1, and in situ hybridization to chromosomes of human leukocytes further localized the homologous area to the 1p36.1----p34.1 region, with the most likely location being the distal region of 1p34. Further Southern filter analysis detected a second site of homology on chromosome 2. This alpha-L-fucosidase-like site has been designated FUCA1L.

Animals↗

Molecular cloning of a cDNA for human alpha-L-fucosidase.

A lambda gt11 human hepatoma cDNA expression library was screened with antibodies to human alpha-L-fucosidase, a lysosomal enzyme whose activity is deficient in the human autosomal recessive disease fucosidosis. Three positive clones were identified after screening 9 X 10(6) plaques. One of these was sequenced and found to be spurious, probably representing an out-of-frame cDNA that gave rise to amino acid sequences of unknown length that crossreacted with alpha-L-fucosidase. A second clone, lambda AF3, was isolated which, after establishment in Escherichia coli BNN103, gave rise to a fusion protein of Mr 154,000 containing a human fragment of Mr 40,000 that represented 80% of the mature processed enzyme (Mr 50,000). Southern blot analysis of mouse and human chromosomal DNA confirmed the human origin of insert AF3. The nucleotide sequence of AF3 was determined and colinearity was established between 270 nucleotides and 90 amino acids in alpha-L-fucosidase. AF3 was found to contain 1058 base pairs and to code for 347 amino acids of alpha-L-fucosidase. Four potential glycosylation sites were identified. The frequency of lambda AF3 in the hepatoma library was 0.0018%.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Chromogenic immunodetection of human serum albumin and alpha-L-fucosidase clones in a human hepatoma cDNA expression library.

A human hepatoma cDNA library was constructed in lambda gt11, a bacteriophage vector that was designed to express cDNA-encoded antigenic determinants in Escherichia coli. The cDNA expression library contained approximately 8 X 10(6) recombinant phages with an average insert size of 780 bp. The feasibility of using a chromogenic immunodetection procedure to isolate cDNA clones was proved by isolating a human serum albumin (HSA) cDNA clone. An approximately 1.0-kb cDNA clone was then isolated by screening the library with rabbit anti-human alpha-L-fucosidase antibodies. The identity of the alpha-L-fucosidase cDNA clone was confirmed by DNA sequence analysis and a comparison of the predicted amino acid sequence to the amino acid sequences of human alpha-L-fucosidase tryptic peptides.

Bacteriophage lambda↗

Alpha-mannosidosis: analysis of urinary oligosaccharides with high performance liquid chromatography and diagnosis of a case with unusually mild presentation.

Mannose containing oligosaccharides (OS) excreted in the urine of patients with alpha-mannosidosis have been analyzed with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC method provides a highly sensitive assay for detection of the urinary oligosaccharides and was employed for diagnosis of a fifteen-year-old female with an unusually mild presentation of the disease. Dysostosis multiplex and coarse facies were absent; mental impairment was particularly mild. The elution profile of the urinary OS from this patient and two, more severely affected, patients with mannosidosis were nearly identical, containing nine major OS fractions. The concentrations of the OS were eight fold lower in our patient but, when calculated relative to creatinine, the levels of the urinary OS of all patients were similar.

Adolescent↗

Dog and human acid beta-D-galactosidases are structurally similar.

The purification of dog liver acid beta-galactosidase is described. The dog enzyme migrated as a single major band on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate, with a molecular weight of 60000. Antiserum raised against purified human liver acid beta-galactosidase cross-reacted with beta-galactosidase from dog liver, but not with those from cat liver or Escherichia coli. Tryptic peptide maps of the dog and human acid beta-galactosidases indicate that 21 of the 24 peptides observed were homologous; a similar result was obtained after chymotryptic peptide mapping. We conclude that dog and human acid beta-galactosidases are structurally similar, and that canine GM1 gangliosidosis (acid beta-galactosidase deficiency) is an excellent model for the same disease in man.

Animals↗

Diagnosis of GM1 gangliosidosis based on detection of urinary oligosaccharides with high performance liquid chromatography.

An improved, rapid, and sensitive method for the biochemical diagnosis of GM1 gangliosidosis based on the detection and quantification of urinary galactosyl-oligosaccharides with high performance liquid chromatography was developed. The oligosaccharides, in 50-100 microliters of urine, were converted to radioactively labeled oligosaccharide-alditols with NaB3H4 and fractionated on commercial silica-amine bonded, high performance liquid chromatography columns. Delineation between infantile, juvenile, and adult onset subtypes of GM1 gangliosidosis was possible by analysis of the levels of the excreted oligosaccharides and their characteristic elution profile. Infantile and juvenile patients contain identical numbers of oligosaccharide fractions (13 resolved components) but can be distinguished by 3-10-fold lower levels of oligosaccharides in juvenile patients and, in some cases by a disproportionately lower concentration of high molecular weight compounds. Adult onset patients were distinguished by substantially lower concentrations of urinary oligosaccharides, 130-180-fold below those in infantile patients, and the apparent absence of high molecular weight oligosaccharides.

Adult↗

Prenatal diagnosis of GM1 gangliosidosis by detection of galactosyl-oligosaccharides in amniotic fluid with high-performance liquid chromatography.

Prenatal diagnosis of infantile GM1 gangliosidosis was accomplished by analyzing the galactosyl-oligosaccharides accumulating in amniotic fluid with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) at 14 weeks gestation. The pattern of amniotic oligosaccharides was nearly identical with that in neonatal urine in GM1 gangliosidosis but the concentrations were about one-fiftieth of that in urine, necessitating a highly sensitive assay.

Amniotic Fluid↗

Structure analysis of the major oligosaccharides accumulating in canine GM1 gangliosidosis liver.

A homologous series of structurally related, high molecular weight oligosaccharides have been isolated and purified from the livers of a mixed breed of Beagle dogs affected with GM1 gangliosidosis. Five individual oligosaccharide fractions were purified by charcoal chromatography, preparative silicic acid thin layer chromatography, and gel filtration chromatography. Molecular size determinations revealed that these oligosaccharides contained 6, 9, 11, and 13 sugar residues, respectively. Detailed structure analysis was carried out on the most abundant fractions, oligosaccharides 1,2 and 3 (OS 1,2 and OS 3) using permethylation analysis and 360-MHz proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy coupled with sequential exoglycosidase degradation. OS 1,2 was a mixture of two linear isomeric hexasaccharides and OS 3 was a nonasaccharide containing a bianntenary branched mannosyl core. The proposed structures are: (formula see text) These compounds are nearly identical with the oligosaccharides stored in human GM1 gangliosidosis liver but they differ from the human compounds uniquely since they contain 2 GlcNAc residues at the reducing terminus instead of 1, suggesting that there may be significant differences in glycoprotein metabolism or structure between mammalian species.

Animals↗

Canine GM1 gangliosidosis. An ultrastructural and biochemical study.

The ultrastructural and biochemical features of canine GM1 gangliosidosis were studied. beta-Galactosidase activity assayed using both skin fibroblast tissue culture strains and fresh skin revealed enzyme activities in three groups (normals, heterozygotes, and homozygotes) corresponding to an autosomal recessive inheritance. The concentration of ganglioside GM1 was greatly increased in cerebral gray matter and kidney. A striking elevation of tissue oligosaccharides was found in liver, kidney, and spleen. Most neurons in the cerebral cortex and deep gray matter were filled by spherical lamellated inclusions. Hepatocytes contained vacuoles with an amorphous granular material which may correspond to the accumulation of galactose-oligosaccharides determined chemically. The disease in dogs has features similar to both the infantile and juvenile form of human GM1 gangliosidosis.

Animals↗

Metachromatic leukodystrophy caused by a partial cerebroside sulfatase.

A patient with neuropathy and myopathy since infancy but whose neuropathy had been stable for a number of years showed a profound deficiency of arylsulfatase A in leukocytes and urine. Urine contained material that stained metachromatically and cochromatographed with cerebroside sulfate. In contrast, cultured fibroblasts contained about 10-20% of normal arylsulfatase A with properties identical to properties of normal fibroblast enzyme, except that it showed no cerebroside sulfatase activity. Growing fibroblasts in the cerebroside sulfate loading test had an attenuated rate of sulfatide hydrolysis. A re-examination of the cerebroside sulfatase reaction revealed that while only limited hydrolysis occurred with low concentrations of taurodeoxycholate or cholate (type I activation), significant hydrolysis of the natural substrate did take place with high concentrations of cholate (type II activation). This suggests that there is a partial cerebroside sulfatase defect in this atypical form of metachromatic leukodystrophy.

Adult↗

Nonuniform deficiency of hexosaminidase A in tissues and fluids of two unrelated individuals.

Serum samples from two unrelated, clinically normal individuals lacked detectable hexosaminidase A by heat inactivation and electrophoretic analysis. In contrast, 15 and 17% of the hexosaminidase in their leukocytes and 23 and 26% of the hexosaminidase of their cultured fibroblasts had the heat stability and electrophoretic properties of the A form of this enzyme. An in vitro measurement of fibroblasts GM2 ganglioside-beta-galactosaminidase was in the range expected for Tay-Sachs disease (TSD) heterozygotes (2.5 and 3.1 versus a normal mean of 3.7). In contrast, fibroblasts from a patient with TSD, analyzed in an identical fashion, contained no detectable activity. Ten days after addition of labeled GM2 ganglioside to the medium of the cultured fibroblasts, 43 and 59% of the radioactivity taken up by the cells of these patients remained as unhydrolyzed ganglioside as compared with 94% in TSD fibroblasts and 42% in control cells. An analysis of sphingolipid composition by high performance liquid chromatography although the endogenous level of GM2 was elevated in TSD fibroblasts (0.39 nmoles/mg protein) there was no increase in the cells of these patients (0 and 0.12 versus control of 0.17 nmoles/mg protein). Finally, the synthesis of hexosaminidase was examined by an electrophoretic analysis of immunoprecipitates of the enzyme precursors that had been radiolabeled by culturing fibroblasts in medium containing [3H]-leucine. These studies revealed a normal pattern of biosynthesis, processing and secretion of the alpha and beta chains. The ratio of the alpha chain to the beta chain, however, was in the range expected for TSD heterozygotes.

Adult↗

Purification of the lysosomal acid lipase from human liver and its role in lysosomal lipid hydrolysis.

The lysosomal acid lipase has been purified 2,500-fold to near homogeneity from human liver. The enzyme was converted to a soluble form by extraction of frozen tissue with Triton X-100. The enzyme, which required Triton X-100 in buffers at all purification steps for optimal yields, was stabilized by the inclusion of 33% ethylene glycol during purification. Lectin chromatography on concanavalin A-Sepharose followed by chromatography on carboxymethyl-cellulose and Sephadex G-150 provided the highly purified enzyme in 17% yield. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-acrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that the minimum molecular weight was about 29,000 +/- 1,000. Minor protein contaminants at Mr = 58,500, 14,700 and 13,900 were present in the final preparation. A single protein band, with enzyme activity, was observed in nondenaturing acrylamide gels containing Triton X-100. Gel filtration on Sephadex G-150 in the presence of Triton X-100 gave an apparent molecular weight of about 125,000 +/- 13,000. Trioleoylglycerol, cholesterol oleate, and 1,2- and 1,3-dioleoylglycerols were substrates for the purified enzyme giving apparent Vmax values of 5,400, 1,400, 19,400, and 22,100 nmol min-1 mg of protein-1, respectively, and Km values of 0.8, 0.8, 0.9, and 1.2 mM, respectively. The recoveries of both trioleoylglycerol and cholesterol oleate hydrolytic activities were nearly identical at each purification step, suggesting that the acid lipase as single enzyme is responsible for lysosomal hydrolysis of the neutral lipids. Monooleoylglycerols were not substrates for the enzyme.

Drug Stability↗

Electrophoretic analysis of glycoprotein enzymes in the sialidoses and mucolipidoses.

Ten enzymes, all known to be glycoproteins, were examined by electrophoresis or gel isoelectric focusing in 12 different patients with primary or secondary sialidase deficiency. Aberrant electrophoretic mobilities of many of the enzymes attributable to abnormal sialylation were found in all the patients. In ten of the patients seven of the enzymes were affected. The unaffected enzymes were beta-galactosidase, alkaline phosphatase and beta-glucuronidase. In the cells from the two patients with I cell disease (mucolipidosis II) in which sialidase is one of many deficient enzymes, beta-galactosidase, alpha-galactosidase, alpha-fucosidase and alpha-mannosidase were undetectable, alkaline phosphatase showed a normal electrophoretic mobility and acid phosphatase, adenosine deaminase, alpha-glucosidase and beta-D-N-acetylhexosaminidase showed aberrant mobilities.

Acid Phosphatase↗

Presentation of mucopolysaccharidosis VII (beta-glucuronidase deficiency) in infancy.

A child is presented with mucopolysaccharidosis VII (beta-glucuronidase deficiency), bringing to six the number of reported patients with the infantile onset form of this disorder. This patient exhibited the following features, previously unrecognised as part of this syndrome: presentation in the neonatal period, progressive joint contractures, and hydrocephalus. This child's course and data from published reports indicate that mucopolysaccharidosis VII, unlike the other known mucopolysaccharidoses, is clinically recognisable in the newborn period and is most likely to be associated with moderate mental deficiency which does not progress over time.

Contracture↗