Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L M Amzel

Publications and source records attributed to L M Amzel.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Structures of three human beta alcohol dehydrogenase variants. Correlations with their functional differences.

The three-dimensional structures of three variants of human beta alcohol dehydrogenase have been determined to 2.5 A resolution. These three structures differ only in the amino acid at position 47 and the molecules occupying the alcohol binding site. Human beta 1 alcohol dehydrogenase has an Arg at position 47 and was crystallized in a complex with NAD(H) and cyclohexanol. A naturally occurring variant of beta 1 alcohol dehydrogenase, found in approximately 50% of the Asian population, possesses a His at position 47 (beta 2 or beta 47H) and was crystallized in a complex with NAD+ and the inhibitor 4-iodopyrazole. A site-directed mutant of beta 1 alcohol dehydrogenase in which a Gly is substituted for Arg47 (beta 47G) was crystallized in a complex with NAD+. By comparing both the common and unique features of these structures, it is clear that position 47 contributes significantly to the strength of protein-coenzyme interactions. The substitution of Arg47 by His produces an enzyme with a 100-fold lower affinity for coenzyme, but creates no large changes in the enzyme structure. The substitution of Arg47 by Gly produces an enzyme with coenzyme binding characteristics more similar to the wild-type enzyme than to the enzyme with His at position 47, but the structure of the Gly47 variant exhibits differences in and around the coenzyme binding site. These changes involve a rigid-body rotation of the catalytic domain towards the coenzyme domain by approximately 0.8 degrees and local rearrangements of amino acid side-chains, such as a 1.0 A movement of Lys228, relative to the beta 1 enzyme. These structural alterations may compensate for the loss of coenzyme interactions contributed by Arg47 and can explain the high affinity of the Gly47 variant for coenzyme.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1994

Entropy in biological binding processes: estimation of translational entropy loss.

The loss of translational degrees of freedom makes an important, unfavorable contribution to the free energy of binding. Examination of experimental values suggest that calculation of this entropy using the Sackur-Tetrode equation produces largely overestimated values. Better agreement is obtained using the cratic entropy. Theoretical considerations suggest that the volumes available for the movement of a ligand in solution and in a complex are rather similar, suggesting also that the cratic entropy provides the best estimate of the loss of translational entropy.

Angiotensin II↗
PubMed1994

Estimation of changes in side chain configurational entropy in binding and folding: general methods and application to helix formation.

Theoretical estimations of changes in side chain configurational entropy are essential for understanding the different contributions to the overall thermodynamic behavior of important biological processes like folding and binding. The configurational entropy of any given side chain in any particular protein can be evaluated from the complete energy profile of the side chain. Calculations of the energy profiles can be performed using the side chain single bond dihedrals as the only independent variables as long as the structures at each value of the dihedrals are allowed to relax through small changes in the valence bond angles. The probabilities of different side chain conformers obtained from these energy profiles are very similar to the conformer populations obtained by analysis of side chain preferences in the proteins of the Protein Data Bank. Also, side chain conformational entropies obtained from the energy profiles agree extremely well with those obtained from the Protein Data Bank conformer populations. Changes in side chain configurational entropy in binding and folding can be computed as differences in conformational entropy because, in most cases, the frequency of the rotational oscillation around the energy minimum of any given conformer does not appear to change significantly in the reactions. Changes of side chain conformational entropy calculated in this way were compared with experimental values. The only available experimental data--the effect of side chain substitution on the stability of alpha-helices--were used for this comparison. The experimental values were corrected to subtract the solvent contributions. This comparison yields an excellent agreement between calculated and experimental values, validating not only the theoretical estimates but also the separability of the entropic contributions into configurational terms and solvation related terms.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1993

Cloning and characterization of the gene encoding ATP-dependent phospho-enol-pyruvate carboxykinase in Trypanosoma cruzi: comparison of primary and predicted secondary structure with host GTP-dependent enzyme.

The complete nucleotide (nt) sequence of the PEPCK gene encoding Trypanosoma cruzi phospho-enol-pyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK; ATP dependent, EC 4.1.1.49) has been determined. The predicted primary sequence has 473 amino acids (aa) with a calculated molecular mass of 52.5 kDa. The ubiquitous spliced leader is present at nt position -60 from the AUG start codon in PEPCK mRNA; the coding region is followed by a long 3'-non-coding region of 777 nt. Northern and Southern blot analysis showed that the PEPCK mRNA is 2.7 kb long and that the PEPCK gene is polymorphic in T. cruzi, with more than one copy in the genome of the epimastigote form. Comparison of the available aa sequences of ATP(protozoa, yeast and bacteria)- and GTP(vertebrates, insects, helminths and fungi)-dependent PEPCKs showed that the former lack two characteristic, highly conserved regions present in the GTP-dependent enzymes: one is associated with the binding of PEP while the second is frequently labeled as 'catalytic' and contains a conserved Cys residue of unusual reactivity. On the other hand, two consensus sequences with conserved predicted secondary structure were identified in all PEPCKs, independent of their nt specificity; one of them is a divalent metal-binding site previously identified in pyruvate kinase by X-ray crystallographic studies.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1993

The three-dimensional structure of an arachidonic acid 15-lipoxygenase.

In mammals, the hydroperoxidation of arachidonic acid by lipoxygenases leads to the formation of leukotrienes and lipoxins, compounds that mediate inflammatory responses. Lipoxygenases are dioxygenases that contain a nonheme iron and are present in many animal cells. Soybean lipoxygenase-1 is a single-chain, 839-residue protein closely related to mammalian lipoxygenases. The structure of soybean lipoxygenase-1 solved to 2.6 angstrom resolution shows that the enzyme has two domains: a 146-residue beta barrel and a 693-residue helical bundle. The iron atom is in the center of the larger domain and is coordinated by three histidines and the COO- of the carboxyl terminus. The coordination geometry is nonregular and appears to be a distorted octahedron in which two adjacent positions are not occupied by ligands. Two cavities, in the shapes of a bent cylinder and a frustum, connect the unoccupied positions to the surface of the enzyme. The iron, with two adjacent and unoccupied positions, is poised to interact with the 1,4-diene system of the substrate and with molecular oxygen during catalysis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Structural energetics of peptide recognition: angiotensin II/antibody binding.

The ability to predict the strength of the association of peptide hormones or other ligands with their protein receptors is of fundamental importance in the fields of protein engineering and rational drug design. To form a tight complex between a flexible peptide hormone and its receptor, the largeloss of configurational entropy must be overcome. Recently, the crystallographic structure of the complex between angiotensin II and the Fab fragment of a high affinity monoclonal antibody has been determined (Garcia, K.C., Ronco, P.M., Verroust, P.J., Brünger, A.T., Amzel, L.M. Three-dimensional structure of an angiotensin II-Fab complex at 3 A: Hormone recognition by an anti-idiotypic antibody. Science 257:502-507, 1992). In this paper we present a study of the thermodynamics of the association by high sensitivity isothermal titration calorimetry. The results of the experiments indicate that at 30 degrees C the binding is characterized by (1) a delta H of -8.9 +/- 0.7 kcal mol-1, (2) a delta Cp of -240 +/- 20 cal K-1 mol-1, and (3) the release of 1.1 +/- 0.1 protons per binding site in the pH range 6.0-7.3. Using these values and the previously determined binding constant in phosphate buffer, delta G at 30 degrees C is estimated as -11 kcal mol-1 and delta S as 6.9 cal K-1 mol-1. The calorimetric data indicate that binding is favored both enthalpically and entropically. These results have been complemented by structural thermodynamic calculations. The calculated and experimentally determined thermodynamic quantities are in good agreement.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Three-dimensional structure of an angiotensin II-Fab complex at 3 A: hormone recognition by an anti-idiotypic antibody.

The elucidation of bioactive conformations of small peptide hormones remains an elusive goal to structural chemists because of the inherent flexibility of these molecules. Angiotensin II (AII), the major effector of the renin-angiotensin system, is an octapeptide hormone for which no clear structural models exist. Peptide hormones such as AII share the property that they bind to their receptors with high affinities, in spite of the fact that they must overcome an extremely large conformational entropy barrier to bind in one conformation. A "surrogate system" that consists of a high-affinity monoclonal antibody (MAb) and AII has been used to study a bound conformation of AII. The crystallographic structure of the complex reveals a structure of AII that is compatible with predicted bioactive conformations of AII derived from structure-activity studies and theoretical calculations. In the complex, the deeply bound hormone is folded into a compact structure in which two turns bring the amino and carboxyl termini close together. The antibody of this complex (MAb 131) has the unusual property that it was not generated against AII, but rather against an anti-idiotypic antibody reactive with a MAb to AII, which renders this antibody an anti-anti-idiotypic antibody. The high affinity for AII of the original MAb to AII was passed on to MAb 131 through a structural determinant on the anti-idiotypic antibody. Strikingly, the conformation of AII in this complex is highly similar to complementarity determining region loops of antibodies, possibly indicating that a true molecular mimic of bound AII was present on the anti-idiotypic antibody against which MAb 131 was elicited.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Recognition of angiotensin II: antibodies at different levels of an idiotypic network are superimposable.

Genetic and sequence information are reported for an angiotensin II-reactive antibody (Ab1, MAb 110) and an anti--anti-idiotypic antibody (Ab3, MAb 131) that have identical antigen binding properties and that are related by an anti-idiotypic antibody (Ab2-beta) that satisfies accepted biochemical criteria for an internal image-bearing antibody. The sequences of the variable regions of the Ab3 and of the Ab1 are nearly identical, even though the Ab1 is an antibody to a peptide and the Ab3 is an antibody to a globular protein. Significantly, amino acid residues that make critical contacts with antigen in the crystal structure of the Ab3-antigen complex are highly conserved in Ab1, suggesting that the epitopes of the Ab2-beta recognized by the Ab3 do indeed resemble the bound structure of the antigen.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

ATP synthase: structure-function relationships.

Recent work has focused on obtaining a better understanding of the three-dimensional structural relationships between the alpha and beta subunits of the F1 moiety and the location of nucleotide binding domains within these subunits. Four types of approach are currently being pursued: X-ray crystallographic, chemical, molecular biological and biochemical. Here we briefly review some of the major conclusions of these studies, and point out some of the problems that must be resolved before an adequate model that relates structure to function in the ATP synthase molecule can be formulated.

Amino Acid Sequence↗