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Biomedical subjects

W W Idler

Publications and source records attributed to W W Idler.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

O-phosphoserine content of intermediate filament subunits.

Purified subunits of intermediate filaments obtained from a variety of tissues and cell types contain O-phosphoserine and, in some cases, smaller amounts of O-phosphothreonine. The O-phosphoserine content was estimated by reaction of performic acid oxidized subunits with methylamine in NaOH. Decamin of BHK-21 and CHO fibroblasts contained about 1 mol/mol. Avian and mammalian desmin consists of two subunits, an acidic (alpha) subunit which contained 2 mol/mol and a more basic (beta) nonphosphorylated subunit. The principal (Mr approximately 60 000) subunit of squid brain neurofilaments contained 5 mol/mol. Most mouse and bovine keratin subunits contained 3--6 mol/mol, although certain bovine subunits of higher molecular weight contained none. The O-phosphoserine contents of keratin subunits purified from the viable and stratum corneum layers were the same. The O-phosphoserine was located in non-alpha-helical regions of the subunits which presumably project out from the alpha-helical wall of the intermediate filaments. Most subunits could be partially dephosphorylated in vitro with alkaline phosphatase. It was found that the capacity of such partially dephosphorylated subunits for assembly into native-type filaments in vitro was independent of their phosphate content.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

In vitro reconstitution of intermediate filaments form mammalian neurofilament triplet polypeptides.

Intermediate filaments (IF) were reconstituted in vitro from bovine neurofilament triplet polypeptides. Neural IF, solubilized in either low salt or 8 M urea solution, assembled into IF when returned to near-physiological solution conditions. The 68,000-dalton component of the triplet, purified to homogeneity by preparative NaDodSO4 electrophoresis, was renatured and reassembled into short (approximatley 0.05-micrometer) approximatley 10 nm-diameter filaments. These results demonstrate that the triplet polypeptides are components of neural IF and that the 68,000-dalton polypeptide is an IF structural protein.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

In vitro assembly of homopolymer and copolymer filaments from intermediate filament subunits of muscle and fibroblastic cells.

This paper presents evidence that the intermediate filament (IF) subunits of muscle cells (skeletin or desmin) and fibroblastic cells (decamin or vimentin) separately form homopolymer IF in vitro and, when mixed, prefer to form copolymer IF in vitro. Because they coexist in cells, they may also form copolymers in vivo. The IFs of baby hamster kidney fibroblasts (BHK-21) consist of a major subunit, decamin, and two minor subunits which, on the basis of two-dimensional gel and peptide mapping criteria, are identical to the alpha and beta subunits of smooth muscle desmin. The subunits differ only in their degrees of phosphorylation: alpha desmin contained 2 mol/mol of O-phosphoserine whereas beta desmin contained none. The decamin and desmin subunits assembled into homopolymer IF in vitro in high yield from purified denatured subunits under identical conditions of pH and ionic strength. However, homopolymer decamin IF disassembled into soluble protofilaments in solutions of ionic strength less than 0.05 mol/liter whereas homopolymer desmin IF disassembled at ionic strength less than 0.03 mol/liter. When decamin and desmin were mixed together as denatured subunits or as soluble protofilaments, the IF assembled in vitro had solubility properties intermediate between those of the homopolymer IFs, indicating that the two subunits had formed copolymer IF. The stoichiometry of copolymerization as determined in mixtures in which one subunit was present in excess was suggestive of the formation of three-chain units. The possibility of nonspecific aggregation was eliminated by isolation of stable three-chain alpha-helix-enriched particles from such IF. When tracer amounts of [35S]methionine-labeled decamin were mixed with desmin, labeled IFs were obtained under conditions in which homopolymer decamin IFs were soluble. These in vitro findings may be of physiological significance because native BHK-21 IF also had solubility properties similar to those of the copolymer IF.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Characterization of the keratin filament subunits unique to bovine snout epidermis.

Steinert [Biochem. J. (1975) 149, 39-48] reported that the alpha-keratin polypeptides (the subunits of the intracellular keratin filaments) of bovine hoof and snout epidermis are the same. We now demonstrate that this is not so: in addition to the seven polypeptides previously identified in hoof epidermis, snout epidermis also contains at least three other polypeptides of higher molecular weight. These unique polypeptides were isolated, purified and characterized. They are chemically and structurally very similar to the other polypeptides of bovine epidermis and readily polymerize in vitro with them to form native-type epidermal keratin filaments.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1980

Intermediate filaments of baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cells and bovine epidermal keratinocytes have similar ultrastructures and subunit domain structures.

Structural features of the intermediate filaments (IF) of bovine epidermal keratinocytes (keratin filaments) and of baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cells were studied to define the molecular basis of the similarities and differences in their properties. Purified subunits of the IF were specifically cleaved at their methionine and tryptophan residues. Peptide maps indicated that the IF subunits of BHK-21 cells were similar but not identical to each other and quite different from each of the keratin IF subunits. Intact IF were subjected to limited tryptic digestion, and structurally identical alpha-helix-enriched particles were released. Their properties indicated these IF were composed of a similar three-chain unit which contained regions of coiled-coil alpha-helix interspersed with region of non-alpha-helix. These two types of experiments permitted the construction of subunit domain maps which revealed a common structure: all subunits possessed two alpha-helical domains of the same size that were adjoined by non-alpha-helical domains of variable size. We propose that the reported solubility and immunological differences in these IF and perhaps those of other types of cells are due largely to variations in the size, configuration, and amino acid sequence of the non-alpha-helical regions of the subunits in the IF.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1980

Structural changes of human epidermal alpha-keratin in disorders of keratinization.

The chemistry and structure of the epidermal alpha-keratin extracted from the skin of patients with a variety of disorders of keratinization have been investigated using biochemical, biophysical, and electron microscopic techniques developed for the characterization of normal mammalian epidermal keratin. Generally, the alpha-keratin polypeptides of the diseased epidermis differed from those of uninvolved epidermis or of normal volunteers in having varying numbers of polypeptide components of lower molecular weights, numerous free amino acids, higher contents of alpha-helix, and only limited facility for polymerization in vitro into native-type epidermal keratin filaments. As the alpha-helix-enriched fragments, which represent up to two-thirds of the polypeptide chains, isolated after limited tryptic digestion of the keratin filaments of normal, uninvolved, and involved epidermis, were physicochemically identical, it seems that the end-terminal non-alpha-helical regions of the polypeptides of diseased epidermis are abnormal. These differences may be a result of degradation or of altered protein synthesis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1979

Subunit structure of the mouse epidermal keratin filament.

The two proteins which are the subunits of mouse epidermal keratin filaments have been isolated from fully differentiated epidermis (stratum corneum), viable differentiating cells and cells grown in culture. The proteins have molecular weights of 68 000 and 60 000, consist of families of very similar species, have common N-terminal (N-acetylserine) and C-terminal (glycine) residues, contain 35--40% alpha-helix and are immunologically cross-reacting. In mixtures, the two proteins polymerize in vitro into native-type keratin filaments that are 70--80 angstrom in diameter, up to 30 micrograms long, possess a characteristic alpha-type X-ray diffraction pattern and contain the subunits in the precise molar ratio of 1 : 2 or 2 : 1.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1975

The polypeptide composition of bovine epidermal alpha-keratin.

1. The polypedtide chains that comprise the subunits of the tonofilaments, or th alpha-keratin component, of bovine epidermis were fractionated by combination of chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and preparative polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. 2. The seve polypeptide chains investigated had generalyy similar properties; all contained two residues per molecule of tryptophan and N-acetylserine was the common N-terminal amino acid residue. 3. On the basis of close similarities in alpha-helix content and amino acid composition, the polypeptide chains were classified into three distinct groups. Each group contained approximately one-third of the total polypeptides on a molar basis. The groups and designated polypeptides chain numbers were: group one, polypeptides 1a and 1b, which had moleculae weights of 58,000, contained about 25% alpha-helix, 86 glutamic acid and 8 cysteine residues per molecule, but which differed in net charge, extinction coefficients and tyrosine contents; group two, polypeptides 2, 3, and 4, which hadmolecular weights within thewithin the range of 52,00-56,000, contained about 48% alpha-helix, 54 glutamic acid and 6 cysteine residues per molecule, but which differed in extinction coefficients and tryosine contents; and group, polypeptides 5 and 6, which had molecular weights of 47000-48000, contained about 56% alpha-helix, 64 glutamic acid and 4 cysteine residues per molecule, but which differed in extinction coefficients and tyrosine contents...

Amino Acids↗