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Autolysis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Autolysis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae was studied under different conditions. It was found that low pH and temperature, as well as the presence of divalent cations, spermine, sucrose, and polyvinylpyrrolidone, stabilized nongrowing gonococci. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid alone promoted lysis, whereas lysozyme had only a limited additive effect. The autolytic behavior of gonococci appears to be connected with their prolonged cell division process. The relative dependence on the outer membrane and the peptidoglycan layer for the mechanical stability of gonococci is discussed.

Bacteriolysis↗

Lipoteichoic acid from Bacillus subtilis subsp. niger WM: isolation and effects on cell wall autolysis and turnover.

Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) was extracted by means of hot aqueous phenol from Bacillus subtilis subsp. niger WM cells grown under various conditions in chemostat culture. The extracts were partially purified by nuclease treatment and gel permeation chromatography. Chemical analyses revealed a composition consistent with a polyglycerol phosphate polymer. The influence on autolysis of the LTAs thus obtained was studied with both whole cells and autolysin-containing native walls of B. subtilis subsp. niger WM. Lysis rates of phosphate-limited cells could be reduced to about 40% of the control rate by the addition of LTA, whereas lysis of cells grown under phosphate-sufficient conditions was affected to a much lesser extent. The lysis of native walls prepared from variously grown cells proved to be fairly insensitive to the addition of LTA. The effect of LTA on wall turnover was studied by following the release of radioactively labeled wall material during exponential growth. The most obvious effect of LTA was a lowered first-order rate of release of labeled wall material; calculations according to the model for cell wall turnover in Bacillus spp. formulated by De Boer et al. (W. R. De Boer, F. J. Kruyssen, and J. T. M. Wouters, J. Bacteriol. 145:50-60, 1981) revealed changes in wall geometry and not in turnover rate in the presence of LTA.

Acetylglucosamine↗

Isolation and characterization of a Tn551-autolysis mutant of Staphylococcus aureus.

A Lyt- mutant with reduced autolytic activity was isolated after Tn551 mutagenesis of the methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus laboratory strain RN450. The Lyt- phenotype could be transferred back into the parent and into a variety of other S. aureus strains by transduction of the transposon marker. Southern analysis has located the Tn551 insert to a 3.2-kb HindIII DNA fragment on the SmaI B fragment of the staphylococcal chromosome. The Lyt- phenotype included reduced rates of cell wall turnover and autolysis induced by detergent or methicillin treatment; however, the rate of methicillin-induced killing was not affected. Peptidoglycans prepared from the parental and mutant cells showed identical muropeptide compositions, as resolved by a high-resolution high-pressure liquid chromatography technique. On the other hand, LiCl extracts of the mutant cells contained reduced amounts of total protein and lower specific cell wall-degrading activity compared with those of extracts of parental cells. The profile of bacteriolytic enzymes as detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed multiple band differences between mutant and parental cells; a major lytic band with properties characteristic of the staphylococcal endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase was completely absent from the Lyt- cells. The Lyt- phenotype transduced into a series of methicillin-resistant strains of both homogeneous and heterogeneous phenotypes caused only a modest decrease in the level of methicillin resistance, as determined by population analysis.

Bacteriolysis↗

Inhibition of cell wall turnover and autolysis by vancomycin in a highly vancomycin-resistant mutant of Staphylococcus aureus.

A highly vancomycin-resistant mutant (MIC = 100 microg/ml) of Staphylococcus aureus, mutant VM, which was isolated in the laboratory by a step-pressure procedure, continued to grow and synthesize peptidoglycan in the presence of vancomycin (50 microg/ml) in the medium, but the antibiotic completely inhibited cell wall turnover and autolysis, resulting in the accumulation of cell wall material at the cell surface and inhibition of daughter cell separation. Cultures of mutant VM removed vancomycin from the growth medium through binding the antibiotic to the cell walls, from which the antibiotic could be quantitatively recovered in biologically active form. Vancomycin blocked the in vitro hydrolysis of cell walls by autolytic enzyme extracts, lysostaphin and mutanolysin. Analysis of UDP-linked peptidoglycan precursors showed no evidence for the presence of D-lactate-terminating muropeptides. While there was no significant difference in the composition of muropeptide units of mutant and parental cell walls, the peptidoglycan of VM had a significantly lower degree of cross-linkage. These observations and the results of vancomycin-binding studies suggest alterations in the structural organization of the mutant cell walls such that access of the vancomycin molecules to the sites of wall biosynthesis is blocked.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

A new two-component regulatory system involved in adhesion, autolysis, and extracellular proteolytic activity of Staphylococcus aureus.

A transposition mutant of Staphylococcus aureus was selected from the parent strain MT23142, a derivative of strain 8325. The site of transposition was near the 5' terminus of the gene arlS. ArlS exhibits strong similarities with histidine protein kinases. Sequence analysis suggested that arlS forms an operon with upstream gene arlR. The predicted product of arlR is a member of the OmpR-PhoB family of response regulators. The arlS mutant formed a biofilm on a polystyrene surface unlike the parent strain and the complemented mutant. Biofilm formation was associated with increased primary adherence to polystyrene, whereas cellular adhesion was only slightly decreased. In addition, the arlS mutant exhibited increased autolysis and altered peptidoglycan hydrolase activity compared to the parental strain and to the complemented mutant. As it has been shown for coagulase-negative staphylococci that some autolysins are able to bind polymer surfaces, these data suggest that the two-component regulatory system ArlS-ArlR may control attachment to polymer surfaces by affecting secreted peptidoglycan hydrolase activity. Finally, the arlS mutant showed a dramatic decrease of extracellular proteolytic activity, including serine protease activity, in comparison to the wild-type strain and the complemented mutant, and cells grown in the presence of phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (a serine protease inhibitor) showed an increased autolysin activity. Since the locus arlR-arlS strikingly modifies extracellular proteolytic activity, this locus might also be involved in the virulence of S. aureus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Production of ribonucleotides by autolysis of Pichia anomala mutant and some physiological activities.

Various mutants of Pichia anomala were isolated by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) treatment and UV irradiation through cycloheximide resistance and KCl sensitivity. The selected mutant HA-2 accumulated a higher content of RNA and grew faster than the wild-type strain in yeast extract-malt (YM) broth. Autolysis of the HA-2 mutant at 60 degrees C and pH 7.0 for 6 h was the best condition to obtain maximum yields of 5'-ribonucleotides, inosinic monophosphate (IMP) (6.2 mg/g biomass) and guanylic monophosphate (GMP) (35.5 mg/g biomass). The yield of adenylic monophosphate (AMP) (7.8 mg/g biomass) was optimal at 60 degrees C at pH 6.5 for 6 h. The inhibitory activity of the angiotensin-converting enzyme and the nitrite-scavenging activity for autolysates of the HA-2 mutant were about 13.0% and 47.0% higher than those of native strain, respectively.

Adenosine Monophosphate↗

Autolysis studies of cathepsin D.

Incubation of the single polypeptide chain cathepsin D from bovine spleen at pH 3.5, resulted in the fragmentation of the molecule. This was followed by gel electrophoresis in the presence of dodecyl sulphate, gel filtration, circular dichroism and enzyme activity measurements. Main bands of Mr 30,000 and 15,000 appeared first, followed by bands corresponding to smaller fragments. Conformational changes of the cathepsin D molecule were observed in the near ultraviolet circular dichroism spectrum during the autolysis. Measurements of the initial inactivation rate showed apparent first order kinetics which was biphasic at lower concentrations of the enzyme. The inactivation rate of cathepsin D increases with decreasing enzyme concentration. The presented results are interpreted in terms of autolytic degradation of cathepsin D.

Animals↗

Autolysis of the proteinase from Pseudomonas fluorescens.

The gene encoding the proteinase from Pseudomonas fluorescens was cloned and sequenced in an effort to identify the cleavage sites involved in its autolysis at 50 degrees C. A single open reading frame consisting of 1449 nucleotides, encoding a protein of 482 amino acids, was found. Analysis of the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified proteinase indicated the presence of a prosequence consisting of 13 amino acid residues. The molecular weight of the mature protein was calculated as 48,900 based on the deduced amino acid sequence, which was consistent with that of the purified proteinase as determined by sodium dodecylsulfate-PAGE. Greater than 90% loss of proteolytic activity was observed upon heating at 50 degrees C for 2 min compared with the unheated enzyme. Incubation of the proteinase at 50 degrees C led to disappearance of the intact enzyme, as shown by sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE, whereas it was stable in the presence of the protease inhibitor o-phenanthroline. Autolytic fragments were fractionated by reverse-phase HPLC and subjected to N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis in an effort to determine the cleavage sites. The cleavage profile was not definitive; however, amino acid residues with small side chain groups, such as glycine or alanine, were frequently found adjacent to the cleavage sites.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Interaction of thrombin des-ETW with antithrombin III, the Kunitz inhibitors, thrombomodulin and protein C. Structural link between the autolysis loop and the Tyr-Pro-Pro-Trp insertion of thrombin.

X-ray diffraction studies of human thrombin revealed that compared with trypsin, two insertions (B and C) potentially limit access to the active site groove. When amino acids Glu146, Thr147, and Trp148, adjacent to the C-insertion (autolysis loop), are deleted the resulting thrombin (des-ETW) has dramatically altered interaction with serine protease inhibitors. Whereas des-ETW resists antithrombin III inactivation with a rate constant (Kon) approximately 350-fold slower than for thrombin, des-ETW is remarkably sensitive to the Kunitz inhibitors, with inhibition constants (Ki) decreased from 2.6 microM to 34 nM for the soybean trypsin inhibitor and from 52 microM to 1.8 microM for the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. The affinity for hirudin (Ki = 5.6 pM) is weakened at least 30-fold compared with recombinant thrombin. The mutation affects the charge stabilizing system and the primary binding pocket of thrombin as depicted by a decrease in Kon for diisopropylfluorophosphate (9.5-fold) and for N alpha-p-tosyl-L-lysine-chloromethyl ketone (51-fold) and a 39-fold increase in the Ki for benzamidine. With peptidyl p-nitroanilide substrates, the des-ETW deletion results in changes in the Michaelis (Km) and/or catalytic (kcat) constants, worsened as much as 85-fold (Km) or 100-fold (kcat). The specific clotting activity of des-ETW is less than 5% that of thrombin and the kcat/Km for protein C activation in the absence of cofactor less than 2%. Thrombomodulin binds to des-ETW with a dissociation constant of approximately 2.5 nM and partially restores its ability to activate protein C since, in the presence of the cofactor, kcat/Km rises to 6.5% that of thrombin. This study suggests that the ETW motif of thrombin prevents (directly or indirectly) its interaction with the two Kunitz inhibitors and is not essential for the thrombomodulin-mediated enhancement of protein C activation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

[Kinetics of protein hydrolysis during the induced autolysis of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae biomass].

The kinetics of the initial stages of autolysis of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied and the following kinetic parameters were determined: induction period, steady-state rate of the enzyme-induced effect, and steady-state concentration of intermediate products. It was shown that appropriate inducers were able to cause a more than fourfold increase in the rate of reactions catalyzed by proteinases and almost a tenfold increase in the concentration of intermediate peptides. The mean length of the peptide molecules formed in the process was determined and dependence of this value on the degree of hydrolysis was demonstrated.

Endopeptidases↗

[Autolysis of hemolytic streptococcus group A].

As revealed, autolytic enzymatic system of hemolytic streptococcus, group A, expressed the maximal activity at the end of the exponential growth phase. Autolysis was accompanied by the release of N-acetylaminosugars and of free amino group. Optimal conditions for the lytic system function were chosen (composition, ionic strength, and buffer pH). The activating action of trypsin and chemotrypsin was demonstrated.

Bacteriolysis↗

[Effect of autolysis on the physico-chemical properties of mammalian skin].

Alterations in physico-chemical properties and in content of several biochemical components were found in skin during postmortal storage of the tissue at the temperature 22 degrees and 5 degrees and relative moisture 92%. Within 96-120 hrs of the postmortal storage a decrease in content of hydrate-bound water and of glycosaminoglycans occurred in the tissue. The alterations were accompanied by an increase in temperature of hydrothermic denaturation and in module of elasticity of the skin. As a result of autolysis solubility of collagen in water was increased at 65 degrees and its acid soluble fractions tended to become denatured although the content of hydroxyproline was unaltered. The processes occurring in the skin within the first period after death, might be considered as a two-step sequence: formation of additional interstructural hydrogen bonds and structure transformation of both collagen and glycosaminoglycans due to the effect of proteinases.

Aged↗

The existence of a precursor of cathepsin D: evidence from autolysis, denaturation and activation studies.

This report evidences that the single polypeptide chain of cathepsin D undergoes in vitro autolysis resulting in heavy (Mr about 30000) and light (Mr about 15000) polypeptide chains. These two chains are held together through non-covalent interaction, thus constituting a stable active conformation. Fluorescence and circular dichroism measurements demonstrate the irreversible denaturation of cathepsin D. The existence of cathepsin D precursor, cathepsinogen D, of about 50000 molecular weight was proved. Cathepsinogen D is converted to the active enzyme by intramolecular activation, releasing activation-inhibitory peptide(s).

Animals↗