Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Y Banno.
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The subcellular distribution of calmodulin and particulate calmodulin-binding activity was studied in a eukaryotic protozoan, Tetrahymena pyriformis NT-1. The particulate calmodulin-binding activity was found to be localized principally in microsomes and to some extent in cilia and surface membranes called pellicles. Nearly all (93%) of the total amount of calmodulin was recovered in two soluble compartments, the ciliary and postmicrosomal supernatant fractions.
1. A serine protease of hepatoma 8999, isolated in the mitochondrial fraction, was purified and crystallized. The purified enzyme was apparently homogeneous on ultracentrifugal analysis and polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. The ratio of absorbance at 280 nm and 260 nm, A280/A260, was 1.90 and its absorption coefficient, A280 1% was 10.5 cm-1 estimated from dry weight measurements. Its S20, w value was 2.23 S and its molecular weight was estimated to be 24000 +/- 1000. The enzyme contained twice as much lysine, arginine and histidine as chymotrypsinogen did, but had a very similar amino acid composition to serine protease from skeletal muscle. Its isoelectric point was pH 10.6. 2. The substrate specificity of the enzyme was the same as that of chymotrypsin A. Its Km and kcat values for N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester, N-acetyl-L-phenylalanine ethyl ester and N-acetyl-L-tryptophan ethyl ester were 0.35 mM and 10.69 s-1, 0.38 mM and 10.7 s-1, and 0.11 mM and 11.8 s-1, respectively. Its activity was completely inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and partially inhibited with tosylphenylalanine chloromethyl ketone. 3. The enzyme was shown to be located in different granules from the intracellular particules (light and heavy mitochondrial fraction) by sucrose density gradient centrifugation, and it was stained in mast cells of the hepatoma 8999 by the immunofluorescent technique. 4. Serine protease is present in different amounts in various organs of rat and the enzyme from hepatoma 8999 gave a single band that fused completely with those of the enzymes from skeletal muscle, heart, liver and kidney, respectively, on Ouchterlony double-diffusion analysis using antiserum to the crystalline enzyme of hepatoma 8999, but the enzyme from small intestine did not react with the antiserum.
1. Hepatoma 8999 showed extremely high activity of serine protease, but similar activities of other lysosomal proteases to those of normal rat liver. 2. Serine protease from rat liver formed a single immunoprecipitation band against antiserum to purified protease from hepatoma 8999. 3. The serine proteases in rat liver and hepatoma 8999 were restricted to the inner membranes of the mitochondrial fraction. 4. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with sodium dodecylsulfate showed that hepatoma 8999 mitochondria contained less of the slowest moving protein component than rat liver mitochondrial protein. This component was found to be the best substrate for mitochondrial serine protease in both liver and hepatoma 8999. 5. The role of serine protease in mitochondrial protein degradation is discussed on the basis of these results.
The mechanisms of proteolysis of two apo-forms of pyridoxal enzymes, cystathionase [EC 4.2.1.15] and ornithine aminotransferase [EC 2.6.1.13] by serine protease from the rat small intestine were compared. The apo-forms of these two pyridoxal enzymes are susceptible to the serine protease, whereas the holo-forms of the enzymes are not. Pyridoxal phosphate, the coenzyme of these two enzymes, prevented their inactivation by the serine protease. The difference in susceptibility of the apo- and holo-forms to the serine protease was due to the difference in their conformations. The time course of inactivation of cystathionase by the protease was apparently biphasic. During the first phase of inactivation, disappearance of the band corresponding to the native protomer, with a molecular weight of 47,000, was accompanied by accumulation of new material with a molecular weight of 39,000. In the late stage of proteolysis, extensive degradation of the large molecular weight intermediate was observed. This large intermediate product was isolated and found to compete with intact cystathionase as a substrate for the protease. Proteolysis of cystathionase was accompanied by both dissociation of the enzyme molecule and loss of its antigenicity. Limited proteolysis of ornithine aminotransferase apoenzyme by the serine protease resulted in formation of a large molecular weight product similar to the native apoenzyme, but with nicks in the molecule. Dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the apoenzyme is degraded to intermediate forms (molecular weight 41,500 and 15,000) and later, to stable forms (molecular weight 25,500 and 13,500).
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In an attempt to evaluate taxonomic character of sugar composition of dermatophytes, the purified cell walls from 13 species are analyzed on neutral sugar composition by gas liquid chromatography. The results were principally compatible with those obtained by conventional morphological examination. Neutral sugar components of dermatophytes cell walls were mannose and glucose in the ratio of 1:2.7 for Epidermophyton and 1:1.4 for Microsporum. There were two types in Trichophyton, in which the ratios of mannose to glucose were 1:1.6 and 1:3.8. The cases of Trichophyton ferrugineum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes were exceptional. The ratio of the former was 1:1.4, which implied the relation to Microsporum group, and the ratio of the latter was 1:2.3, which was supposed to be the intermediate of two types of Trichophyton group. Albino type cell wall of Epidermophyton floccosum was more rich in glucose than pigmented type one.
1. Specific proteases which inactivate the apo-proteins of many pyridoxal enzymes were found in skeletal muscle, liver and small intestine of rats. The protease from these three organs were purified and their properties were compared. 2. The purified proteases from liver and skeletal muscle appeared homogeneous on acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Two different proteases were separated from small intestine. A homogeneous, crystalline enzyme was obtained from the muscle layer while enzyme from the mucosa was partially purified. 3. They showed substrate specificity for pyridoxal enzymes. Their pH optima were in an alkaline region. They showed activity with the substrate of chymotrypsin, N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester, but not with that of trypsin, p-toluenesulfonyl-L-arginine ethyl ester. They were inhibited by pyridoxal phosphate or pyridoxamine phosphate and seryl residues were involved in their active center. 4. The four enzymes differed in the following characters: (a) molecular weights; (b) patterns of elution from a CM-Sephadex column; (c) rates of inactivation of substrate enzymes; (d) rates of cleavage of N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester; (e) reactivities with antiserum against the enzyme from the muscle layer of small intestine; (f) specific activities. 5. The amino acid composition and effect of chemical modifications of the crystalline enzyme from the muscle layer of small intestine were examined to elucidate its active sites and mode of action. Serine and histidine residues were found to be essential for protease activity. A tyrosine residue was also necessary for activity. Modifications of its sulfhydryl group, amino residues and carboxyl group had no effect on its activity.
1. The mechanism of proteolysis of ornithine transaminase apoenzyme II by group-specific protease and the relation between the confirmations of ornithine transaminase and its susceptibility to group-specific protease were studied to elucidate the mode of action of the protease. 2. Differences in the conformations of ornithine transaminase apoenzyme II, molecular weight 67000, and ornithine transaminase holoenzyme, molecular weight 140000, were shown by studies on difference spectra produced by various concentrations of ethylene glycol. Increase of the titratable sulfhydryl groups on resolution of the coenzyme from ornithine transaminase also supports this finding. These results are consistent with the facts that the apoenzyme was sensitive to group-specific protease, while the holoenzyme was not. 3. Kinetics studies showed that ornithine transaminase apoenzyme II was degraded by limited proteolysis. Reaction of the native enzyme with group-specific protease resulted in a nick in the enzyme molecule with formation of one homogeneous large product and small peptides. The large product was not degraded further. The large product was indistinguishable from native ornithine transaminase apoenzyme II in various properties including its elution volume on gel filtration, its mobility on disc electrophoresis, its antigenicity, its estimated number of exposed tryptophan residues, and its titratable number of sulfhydryl groups. But unlike the apoenzyme the product did not show tetramerization with coenzyme or catalytic activity, although it retained the ability to bind with coenzyme and had the same number of bound pyridoxal phosphate as the native ornithine transaminase molecule. Thus, native ornithine transaminase apoenzyme II was degraded by limited proteolysis. Unfolded enzyme, denatured by 8 M urea, was degraded extensively. 4. The initial step of intracellular proteins degradation is discussed on the basis of these results.
1. To study the role of group-specific protease in enzyme degradation, alternation of its activity under various physiological conditions was examined. 2. Studies on the distribution of group-specific protease in various organs of rats showed high activity in skeletal muscle and the muscle layer of small intestine, and rather low activity in liver. The activity varied in different muscles, but red muscle tended to have higher activity than white muscle. Activity was much lower in the muscles of the stomach and colon than in those of the small intestine. 3. Group-specific protease in skeletal muscle increased under various dietary conditions (starvation, protein-free diet or high protein diet), but the activities in the muscle layer of the small intestine and liver were not greatly influenced by dietary conditions. None of the hormones tested (i.e. hydrocortisone, glucagon, insulin, growth hormone and estrogen) influenced the activity of group-specific protease in liver. 4. The level of group-specific protease in skeletal muscle was increased markedly fifteen days after denervation, with a reciprocal decrease in the level of muscle phosphorylase, which is a good substrate of the protease. 5. Liver protease activity appeared in the late suckling period. The activity in skeletal muscle was high at the time of birth and attained the adult level 3 weeks after birth. The activity in the muscle layer of the small intestine did not change after birth. Thus the mechanism for evoking these three specific proteases during development are apparently different. The activity of liver protease began to decrease approximately 12 h after partial hepatectomy and reached a minimum after about 72 h. Recovery of the protease activity was very slow and activity had not returned to the normal value 7 days after the operation. This observation seems to be consistent with the fact that there is little or no protease activity in liver in the neonatal period.
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Structural studies on the cerebroside isolated from the yeast form of a dimorphic pathogen, Candida albicans were carried out using fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB/MS), proton magnetic resonance spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and usual chemical methods. The component sugar was only glucose attached to ceramide in a beta-configuration. The major fatty acid was 2-hydroxystearic acid (62%). The predominant long chain base was identified as 9-methyl-C18-sphinga-4,8-dienine which is widely distributed in fungi and reported to be essential to the fruit-inducing activity of fungi. Therefore, the structure of the main molecular species of the cerebroside was determined to be N-2-hydroxystearoyl-1-O-beta-glucosyl-9-methyl-C18-sphinga-4 ,8-dienine. Cerebroside prepared from the mycelial form of C. albicans has the same structure.
Two toxins were isolated from a toxigenic strain of Clostridium difficile. The toxins were purified by gel filtration and ion-exchange column chromatography to homogeneity as judged from polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and were designated D-1 and D-2. Toxin D-1 was lethal for mice, increased vascular permeability, and induced fluid accumulation in ligated rabbit ileal loops, and toxin D-2 displayed cytotoxicity in HeLa cells with a minimum of 1 pg of toxin. The molecular weights of toxins D-1 and D-2, as estimated by gel filtration, ranged from 550,000 to 600,000 and from 450,000 to 500,000, respectively. These toxins were heat labile and inactivated by pronase and trypsin. Amino acid analyses of both toxins showed them to be of relatively similar composition. Antisera prepared against purified toxin D-1 neutralized all of the biologic activities of toxin D-1, whereas it did not affect any of the biologic activities of toxin D-2. A sensitive latex-agglutination immunoassay was developed for screening for C. difficile toxin D-1 in patients with pseudomembranous colitis.
An acid alpha-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.20) was purified to homogeneity from the culture medium of Tetrahymena thermophila CU 399. Its general molecular, catalytic and immunological properties were compared to those of the T. pyriformis W enzyme. The enzyme from T. thermophila was a 105-kD monomer and the N-terminus (25 amino acid residues) displayed some homology with that of T. pyriformis enzyme. The purified enzyme was most active at 56 degrees C and showed resistance to thermal inactivation. The acid alpha-glucosidase appears to have alpha-1,6-glucosidase as well as alpha-1,4-glucosidase activity. The Km values determined with p-nitrophenyl-alpha-glucopyranoside, maltose, isomaltose and glycogen were 0.7 mM, 2.5 mM, 28.5 mM and 18.5 mg/ml, respectively. The enzyme was antigenically distinct from T. pyriformis acid alpha-glucosidase.
A phospholipase C (PLC) activity that preferentially hydrolyses phosphatidylcholine to diacylglycerol and phosphorylcholine was found to be present in Tetrahymena pyriformis, strain W and most of its activity was recovered in the membrane fraction. This enzyme was extracted with 1% Triton X-100 from the membrane fraction and purified to apparent homogeneity by sequential chromatographies on Fast Q-Sepharose, hydroxyapatite HCA-100S, Mono Q and Superose 12 gel filtration columns. The purified enzyme had specific activity of 2083 nmol of diacylglycerol released/mg of protein/min for dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine hydrolysis. Its apparent molecular mass was 128 kDa as determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and was 127 kDa by gel filtration chromatography, indicating that the enzyme is present in a monomeric form. The enzyme exhibited an optimum pH 7.0 and the apparent Km value was determined to be 166 microM for dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine. A marked increase was observed in phosphatidylcholine hydrolytic activity in the presence of 0.05% (1.2 mM) deoxycholate. Ca2+ but not Mg2+ enhanced the activity at a concentration of 2 mM. This purified phospholipase C exhibited a preferential hydrolytic activity for phosphatidylcholine but much less activity was observed for phosphatidylinositol (approximately 9%) and phosphatidylethanolamine (approximately 2%).
The proteolytic processing and secretion of a lysosomal enzyme, acid alpha-glucosidase, was studied by pulse-chase labeling with [35S]methionine in Tetrahymena thermophila CU-399 cells treated with ammonium chloride. This cell secreted a large amount of acid alpha-glucosidase into the cultured medium during starvation. The secretion was found to be repressed by addition of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl). Acid alpha-glucosidase was produced as a precursor form (108 kDa) and then processed to a mature polypeptide (105 kDa) within 60 min. This mature enzyme was secreted into the media within 2-3 h after chase, whereas the precursor form was not secreted by either control cells or NH4Cl-treated cells. NH4Cl did not affect the processing of the precursor acid alpha-glucosidase. Processing profile of this enzyme was apparently indistinguishable from that of the mutant MS-1 defective in lysosomal enzyme secretion. Furthermore, the purified extracellular (CU-399) and intracellular (MS-1) acid alpha-glucosidases were the same in molecular mass (105 kDa) and enzymatic properties. They contained no mannose 6-phosphate residues in N-linked oligosaccharides. These results suggested that unlike mammalian cells, Tetrahymena acid alpha-glucosidase may be transferred to lysosomes by a mannose 6-phosphate receptor-independent mechanism, and also that low pH was not essential for the proteolytic processing of precursor polypeptide.