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R Huber

Publications and source records attributed to R Huber.

At least 577 records · Page 32Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Molecular structure of the bilin binding protein (BBP) from Pieris brassicae after refinement at 2.0 A resolution.

The bilin binding protein (BBP) from the insect Pieris brassicae has been analysed for amino acid sequence, spectral properties and three-dimensional structure. The crystal structure that had been determined by isomorphous replacement has been refined at 2.0 A (1 A = 0.1 nm) resolution to an R-value of 0.20. The asymmetric unit contains four independent subunits of BBP. The co-ordinate differences are 0.25 A, in accord with the estimated error in co-ordinates. The polypeptide chain fold is characterized by an eight-stranded barrel. The connecting loops splay out at the upper end of the barrel and open it, whilst the lower end is closed. The overall shape resembles a calyx. The biliverdin IX gamma chromophore is located in a central cleft at the upper end of the barrel. The bilatriene moiety is in cyclic helical geometry with configuration Z,Z,Z and conformation syn,syn,syn. The geometry is in accord with the spectral properties and permits a correlation between sign of the circular dichroism bands and sense of the bilatriene helices. The fold of BBP is related to retinol binding protein (RBP), as had been recognized in the preliminary analysis, although the amino acid sequences of RBP and BBP show only 10% homology. There are large differences in the loops at the upper end of the barrel, whilst the segments of the centre and the lower end of the barrel superimpose closely. The ligands of BBP and RBP, biliverdin and retinol, respectively, are also similarly located.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

Trypsinogen-trypsin transition: a molecular dynamics study of induced conformational change in the activation domain.

The trypsinogen to trypsin transition has been investigated by a stochastic boundary molecular dynamics simulation that included a major portion of the trypsin molecule and the surrounding solvent. Attention focused on the "activation domain", which crystallographic studies have shown to be ordered in trypsin and disordered in its zymogen, trypsinogen. The chain segments that form the activation domain were found to exhibit large fluctuations during the simulation of trypsin. To model a difference between trypsin and trypsinogen, the N-terminal residues Ile-16 and Val-17 were removed in the former and replaced by water molecules. As a result of the perturbation, a structural drift of 1-2 A occurred that is limited to the activation domain. Glycine residues are found to act as hinges for the displaced chain segments.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

Refined three-dimensional structures of two cyanobacterial C-phycocyanins at 2.1 and 2.5 A resolution. A common principle of phycobilin-protein interaction.

The crystal structure of the light-harvesting protein-pigment complex C-phycocyanin (C-PC) from Mastigocladus laminosus (at 2.1 A resolution (1 A = 0.1 nm] has been refined by energy-restrained least-squares methods to a conventional R-factor of 21.7%. In the same way, the crystal structure of C-PC from Agmenellum quadruplicatum has been refined further (2.5 A, R = 18.4%); pyrrole rings C and D of the chromophore at position A84 have been corrected with respect to the previously reported structure. The two C-PC structures are very similar, 213 C alpha positions have a root-mean-square deviation of 0.49 A. Polar and ionic side-chain interactions are discussed in detail and the two subunits of C-PC from M. laminosus are compared to each other. All three chromophores are completely defined and their tetrapyrroles exhibit very similar geometry. The structure of a C-PC chromophore resembles a cleaved porphyrin which has been twisted roughly 180 degrees around the C-5-C-6 and C-14-C-15 bonds. Accordingly, the configuration/conformation of the chromophores is Z-anti, Z-syn, Z-anti (with the exception of the "configuration" of C-15 of chromophore B155, which is almost midway between Z and E). The three chromophores interact similarly with the protein. They arch around aspartate residues (A87, B87 and B39), and the nitrogens of pyrroles B and C are within hydrogen-bonding distance of one of the carboxylate oxygens. Most of the propionic side-chains of the chromophores form salt bridges with arginine and lysine residues. The updated relative chromophore distances and orientations confirm our conclusion that hexameric aggregates are probably the basic functional units, and that inter-hexameric energy transfer takes place preferentially via the central B84 chromophores.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

Some observations of a correlation between the symmetry of large heavy-atom complexes and their binding sites on proteins.

Two large, electron dense heavy-metal complexes were found to bind to crystals of heavy riboflavin synthase. The crystallographic analysis by difference Fourier methods shows that the tungsten cluster compound [(W3O2(O2CCH3)6]2+, which has trigonal symmetry, binds to a site on the 3-fold axis of the protein. The heteropolytungstate compound [NaP5W30O110]14-, which has pentagonal symmetry, binds to a site on the 5-fold axis of the protein.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1987

Crystallization, crystal structure analysis and preliminary molecular model of the bilin binding protein from the insect Pieris brassicae.

The bilin binding protein of the butterfly Pieris brassicae has been prepared, crystallized and its crystal structure determined at high resolution using film and FAST area detector intensity data. The crystallographic asymmetric unit contains a tetramer of identical subunits with a molecular weight of about 90,000. The crystal structure was determined by isomorphous replacement. Use was made of the molecular symmetry to improve phases. A molecular interpretation of the electron density distribution and partial tracing of the polypeptide chain was possible without amino acid sequence information, as the fold is very similar to retinol binding protein. It is characterized by a beta-barrel formed by two orthogonal beta-sheets and an alpha-helix. The bilin pigment seems to be bound within the beta-barrel analogously to retinol in retinol binding protein. The tetramer in the crystal has C2 symmetry and is a dimer of dimers of quasi-equivalent subunits.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

Comparison of two highly refined structures of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor.

The high resolution structures of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor refined in two distinct crystal forms have been compared. One of the structures was a result of new least-squares X-ray refinement of data from crystal form I, while the other was the joint X-ray/neutron structure of crystal form II. After superposition, the molecules show an overall root-mean-squares deviation of 0.40 A for the atoms in the main chain, while the deviations for the side-chain atoms are 1.53 A. The latter number decreases to 0.61 A when those side-chains that adopted drastically different conformations are excluded from comparison. The discrepancy between atomic temperature factors in the two models was 6.7 A2, while their general trends are highly correlated. About half of the solvent molecules occupy similar positions in the two models, while the others are different. As expected, solvents with the lowest temperature factors are most likely to be common in the two crystal forms. While the two models are clearly similar, the differences are significantly larger than the errors inherent in the structure determination.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Flexibility and rigidity, requirements for the function of proteins and protein pigment complexes. Eleventh Keilin memorial lecture.

Proteins may be rigid or flexible to various degrees as required for optimum function. Flexibility at the level of amino acid side-chains occurs universally and is important for binding and catalysis. Flexibility of large parts of a protein which rearrange or move are particularly interesting and will be discussed here. We differentiate between certain categories of large-scale flexibility although the boundaries between them are diffuse: flexibility of peptide segments, domain motions and order-disorder transitions of spatially contigous regions. The domains may be flexibly linked to allow rather unrestricted motion or the motion may be constrained to certain modes. The polypeptide segments linking the domains show characteristic structural features. The various categories of flexibility will be illustrated with the following examples. (a) Small protein proteinase inhibitors which are rather rigid molecules which provide binding surfaces complementary to their cognate proteases, but also show limited segmental flexibility and adaptation. (b) Large plasma inhibitors which exhibit large conformational changes upon interaction with proteases probably for regulatory purposes. (c) Pancreatic serine proteases which employ a disorder-order transition of their activation domain as a means to regulate enzymic activity. (d) Immunoglobulins in which rather unrestricted and also hinged domain motions occur in different parts of the molecule probably to allow binding to antigens in different arrangements. (e) Citrate synthase which adopts open and closed forms by a hinged domain motion to bind substrates and release products and to perform the catalytic condensation reaction, respectively. (f) The bifunctional multienzyme complex riboflavin synthase in which two enzymes (alpha and beta) catalyse two consecutive enzymic reactions. The beta-subunits form a shell, in which the alpha-subunits are enclosed. Diffusional motion of the catalytic intermediates is therefore restricted. In addition, segmental rearrangement occurs in the assembly of the beta-subunit. In contrast, rigidity is the dominant impression provided by the structures of the light harvesting complexes and the reaction centres involved the photosynthetic light reactions. These are large protein complexes in which the proteins serve as matrices to hold the pigments in the appropriate conformation and relative arrangement. Since motion would contribute to deactivation of the photo-excited states of the pigments and diminish the efficiency of light energy and electron transfer, a functional role for rigidity is easy to rationalize for these proteins.

Citrate (si)-Synthase↗
PubMed1987

[Value of intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography in microvascular anastomosis in tissue transplantation].

The technique of selective intraarterial digital subtraction angiography is less time-consuming and requires less contrast medium than conventional angiography thus reducing both the invasiveness and the risk associated with angiography. With this method both the morphology and the functional status of the vasculature can be determined. Anatomic variations in the blood supply which influence the operative technique can thus be known preoperatively and no longer threaten the success of the operation.

Angiography↗
PubMed1986

Human C1 inhibitor: primary structure, cDNA cloning, and chromosomal localization.

The primary structure of human C1 inhibitor was determined by peptide and DNA sequencing. The single-chain polypeptide moiety of the intact inhibitor is 478 residues (52,869 Da), accounting for only 51% of the apparent molecular mass of the circulating protein (104,000 Da). The positions of six glucosamine-based and five galactosamine-based oligosaccharides were determined. Another nine threonine residues are probably also glycosylated. Most of the carbohydrate prosthetic groups (probably 17) are located at the amino-terminal end (residues 1-120) of the protein and are particularly concentrated in a region where the tetrapeptide sequence Glx-Pro-Thr-Thr, and variants thereof, is repeated 7 times. No phosphate was detected in C1 inhibitor. Two disulfide bridges connect cysteine-101 to cysteine-406 and cysteine-108 to cysteine-183. Comparison of the amino acid and cDNA sequences indicates that secretion is mediated by a 22-residue signal peptide and that further proteolytic processing does not occur. C1 inhibitor is a member of the large serine protease inhibitor (serpin) gene family. The homology concerns residues 120 through the C-terminus. The sequence was compared with those of nine other serpins, and conserved and nonconserved regions correlated with elements in the tertiary structure of alpha 1-antitrypsin. The C1 inhibitor gene maps to chromosome 11, p11.2-q13. C1 inhibitor genes of patients from four hereditary angioneurotic edema kindreds do not have obvious deletions or rearrangements in the C1 inhibitor locus. A HgiAI DNA polymorphism, identified following the observation of sequence variants, will be useful as a linkage marker in studies of mutant C1 inhibitor genes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Crystal structure determination, refinement and the molecular model of the alpha-amylase inhibitor Hoe-467A.

The crystal and molecular structure of the alpha-amylase inhibitor Hoe-467A has been determined and refined at high resolution. The polypeptide chain is folded in two triple-stranded sheets, which form a barrel. The topology of folding is as found in the immunoglobulin domains. The amino acid triplet Trp18-Arg19-Tyr20 has an exceptional conformation and position in the molecule and is possibly involved in inhibitory activity.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Crystal structure analysis and refinement at 2.5 A of hexameric C-phycocyanin from the cyanobacterium Agmenellum quadruplicatum. The molecular model and its implications for light-harvesting.

The crystal structure of the light-harvesting protein-pigment complex C-phycocyanin from the cyanobacterium Agmenellum quadruplicatum has been determined by Patterson search techniques on the basis of the molecular model of C-phycocyanin from Mastigocladus laminosus. The crystal unit cell (space group P321) contains three (alpha beta)6 hexamers centred on the crystallographic triads. The hexamer at the origin of the unit cell exhibits crystallographic 32 point symmetry. The other two hexamers (independent of the former) show crystallographic 3-fold and local 2-fold symmetry. The 3-fold redundancy of the asymmetric unit of the crystal cell was used in the refinement process, which proceeded by cyclic averaging, model building and energy-restrained crystallographic refinement. Refinement was terminated with a conventional crystallographic R-value of 0.20 with data to 2.5 A resolution. The two independent hexamers of the unit cell are identical within the limits of error at all levels of aggregation. Two trimers, which closely resemble the M. laminosus C-phycocyanin, are aggregated head-to-head to form the hexamer. Both trimers fit complementarily and are held together by polar and ionic interactions. Conservation of the amino acid residues involved in protein-chromophore and intermonomer interactions suggests common structural features for all biliproteins. Most probably, the hexameric aggregation form present in the crystals is closely related to the discs of native phycobilisome rods. All tetrapyrrole chromophores are extended but with different geometries enforced by different protein surroundings. In particular, interactions of the propionic side-chains with arginine residues and of the pyrrole nitrogen atoms with aspartate residues define configuration and conformation of the chromophores. Relative chromophore distances and orientations have been determined and a preferential pathway for the energy transfer suggested. Accordingly, within a hexamer the absorbed energy is funneled to chromophore B84 and then transduced via B84 chromophores along the phycobilisome rods.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Determination of urapidil and its metabolites in human serum and urine: comparison of liquid-liquid and fully automated liquid-solid extraction.

Direct injection of biological fluids into an automated pre-column system for high-performance liquid chromatographic quantitation of urapidil and its metabolites was compared with sample preparation by liquid-liquid extraction. On-line sample purification and enrichment proved to be a superior method for quantitation of the parent compound and its metabolites in serum, plasma, and urine. The automatic procedure circumvents the disadvantages of conventional sample work-up by extraction, such as time-consuming and complicated sample preparation, the need for large samples, poor recovery, and formation of artefacts. Injection of 100 microliters of serum into the automated pre-column system, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection, gave a detection limit for urapidil and metabolites in serum of 5 ng/ml. For urine samples with injection of 50 microliters the detection limit for the same compounds was 100 ng/ml using UV detection, which is adequate for evaluating renal excretion. Accuracy as well as precision of the analyses were better than 10% for concentrations above 100 ng/ml. In contrast to the direct injection method, liquid-liquid extraction requires 1-2 ml of serum, plasma, or urine for clean-up. Moreover, the extraction yield for the main human metabolite is significantly lower, and its stability after extraction is inadequate for using an autosampler. The direct injection method was applied in studying the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of urapidil in healthy volunteers and patients. So far, ca. 15 000 urapidil samples (both serum or plasma and urine) have been analysed by this technique.

Antihypertensive Agents↗
PubMed1986

Heavy riboflavin synthase from Bacillus subtilis. Particle dimensions, crystal packing and molecular symmetry.

Heavy riboflavin synthase from Bacillus subtilis is an enzyme complex consisting of approximately three alpha-subunits (Mr 23.5 X 10(3)) and 60 beta-subunits (Mr 16 X 10(3)). The enzyme has been crystallized from phosphate buffer in a hexagonal crystal modification that belongs to space group P6(3)22. The asymmetric unit of the crystal cell contains ten beta-subunits. The structure of this unusual 10(6) Mr protein has been studied by small-angle X-ray scattering, electron microscopy of three-dimensional crystals, and crystallographic methods. The scattering curves can be interpreted in terms of a hollow sphere model with a ratio of inner and outer radius of 0.3:1. A diameter of 168 A was estimated from the scattering curves, in close agreement with electron microscopic studies. An aggregate with the stoichiometry beta 60, which was obtained by ligand-driven reaggregation of isolated beta-subunits, showed similar shape and dimensions, but a larger value for the ratio Ri/Ra. Electron micrographs of freeze-etched enzyme crystals showed approximately spherical molecules, which were arranged in hexagonal layers. The lattice constants found from the micrographs are in good agreement with the values derived from X-ray diffraction data. Rotation function calculations in Patterson space showed a set of peaks for 2-fold, 3-fold and 5-fold local rotation axes, accurately consistent with icosahedral symmetry and with the particle orientation A shown in the Appendix. The crystal packing can be described as follows: enzyme particles with icosahedral symmetry (point group 532) are located at points 32 of the hexagonal cell, corresponding to positions (0, 0, 0) and (0, 0, 1/2) on the 6-fold screw axes. From the data reported, it may be concluded that the enzyme structure can be described as an icosahedral capsid of 60 beta-subunits with the triangulation number T = 1. The alpha-subunits are located in the central core space of the capsid, but their spatial orientation is incompletely understood.

Bacillus subtilis↗