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High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of glutathione and its thiol and disulfide degradation products.

A rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for quantitation of picomole levels of glutathione, glutathione disulfide, cysteine, cystine, cysteinylglycine, cysteinylglycine disulfide and cysteine glutathione-mixed disulfide in biological samples is described. The compounds were separated isocratically on a reversed-phase column by ion-pair chromatography. The mobile phase consisted of an aqueous buffer containing 0.1 M monochloroacetic acid and 3.3 mM 1-heptanesulfonic acid (pH 2.60)-methanol-N,N-dimethylformamide (96.5:3.0:0.5). After chromatographic separation, the disulfides were reduced by a potential (-1.0 V) from a battery, with subsequent detection of all thiols by electrochemical oxidation (+0.15 V) with a dual gold-mercury electrode. Thiol and disulfide concentrations were determined in tissue extracts (liver and kidney) and fluids (bile and plasma) from control rats and rats treated with acivicin, an inhibitor of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase. A marked increase in biliary glutathione concentration was observed in treated animals with a corresponding decrease in cysteine and cysteinylglycine concentrations. The results demonstrate that this method is useful for measuring glutathione and its degradation products in tissues and fluids.

Animals↗

High-performance liquid chromatographic assay using electrochemical detection for the combined measurement of amifostine, WR 1065 and the disulfides in plasma.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the combined analysis of the chemoprotective agent, amifostine, its active metabolite, WR 1065, and the (symmetrical and mixed) disulfides of WR 1065 in plasma. These three compounds were quantified by measuring WR 1065 after three different sample pretreatment procedures. During these procedures, amifostine and the disulfides were quantitatively converted into WR 1065, by incubating the sample either at a low pH or in the presence of dithiothreitol, respectively. The resulting amounts of WR 1065 were determined by HPLC with electrochemical detection (Au electrode, + 1.00 V). The lower limit of quantitation of WR 1065 was 0.15 microM. The within-day and between-day precision were < or =4.4 and < or =8.2% for WR 1065, < or =4.9 and < or =13.1% for amifostine and < or =8.5 and < or =5.5% for the disulfides, respectively. The within-day and between-day accuracy ranged from 97.2 to 109.8% and from 97.6 to 101.5% for WR 1065, from 88.3 to 110.7% and from 99.4 to 101.5% for amifostine and from 99.2 to 110.2% and from 103.3 to 104.9% for the disulfides, respectively. This method is superior to other described methods due to its simple and relatively rapid analysis of all three compounds in one system. Furthermore, it is at least as sensitive as earlier reported methods for one of the compounds and the application of the gold electrode requires only minor maintenance. Therefore, this method is very suitable for pharmacokinetic studies of amifostine and its metabolites. As an example, the plasma concentrations of amifostine, WR 1065 and the disulfides are shown in a patient after receiving an i.v. dose of 740 mg/m2 amifostine.

Amifostine↗

Automated data interpretation based on the concept of "negative signature mass" for mass-mapping disulfide structures of cystinyl proteins.

An efficient method for data processing and interpretation is needed to support and extend disulfide mass-mapping methodology based on partial reduction and cyanylation-induced cleavage to proteins containing more than four cystines. Here, the concept of "negative signature mass" is introduced as the novel feature of an algorithm designed to identify the disulfide structure of a cystinyl protein given an input of mass spectral data and an amino acid sequence. The "negative signature mass" process is different from the conventional approach in that it does not directly rule-in disulfide linkages, but rather eliminates linkages from a list of all possible theoretical linkages, with the goal of ruling out enough linkages so that only one disulfide structure can be constructed. The operating principles and the effectiveness of the algorithm are described in the context of analyzing ribonuclease A, a 124-residue protein containing eight cysteines in the form of four cystines (disulfides).

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A vibrational spectroscopic assignment of the disulfide bridges in recombinant bovine growth hormone and growth hormone analogs.

Disulfide stretching vibrations for bovine growth hormone (bGH) occur in a vibrational envelope centered at 540 cm-1 which spans 480-580 cm-1. A multitude of vibrational bands present in this envelope, that are not related to disulfide stretching, emphasize the need for model compounds when assigning S-S stretching modes. Raman spectroscopic data for bGH analogs, in which one or both of the two disulfide bridges have been selectively cleaved, have been used to characterize the S-S stretching envelope for the two cystine links in bGH. The Raman data for the r-bGH analogs indicate that the number of disulfide bonds present in r-bGH is determined, not by the observance of the presence or absence of a single spectral peak, but by the relative intensity of vibrational envelope from 520-560 cm-1. Cleavage of disulfide bridges in bGH results in a general decrease in vibrational spectral intensity in the 520-560 cm-1 range. This decrease in intensity is proportional to the number of cystine links severed.

Animals↗

Prompt fragmentation of disulfide-linked peptides during matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry.

During the analysis of an Asp-N digest of a recombinant hematopoietic growth factor by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS), we observed pseudomolecular ions corresponding to reduced forms of peptides known to be present only in single disulfide linkages. Chromatographic fractionation of the peptide digest, followed by MALDI-MS and electrospray ionization (ESI) MS, confirmed that the reduced peptides were not present in the map. Fragmentation of the disulfide-linked peptides into their reduced forms occurred upon ionization from different matrices (alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid,2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and in some instances sinapinic acid) but only after increasing the laser fluence to above threshold. Analysis of the disulfide-linked peptide fractions by ESI-MS, before and after mixing and drying with matrix, indicated that the matrix did not cause reduction. In a low-energy tandem mass spectrometric experiment with one of the cystinyl peptides, fragmentation did not occur preferentially at the disulfide bond. The pseudomolecular ions exhibited the same m/z values by MALDI-MS as their chemically reduced counterparts, indicating that they arose due to prompt fragmentation or "in-source decay" rather than "post-source decay". This finding is important for MALDI-MS analysis of peptide maps of proteins and peptide fractions with intact disulfides.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Fluorescent labeling of disulfide proteins on 2D gel for screening allergens: a preliminary study.

An experimental protocol was established to detect disulfide proteins as fluorescent spots on 2D gel. In summary, free sulfhydryl groups in a protein mixture were capped with nonfluorescent iodoacetamide, followed by chemical reduction of disulfide bonds, and labeling of newly exposed sulfhydryl groups with the fluorescent probe, monobromobimane. Disulfide proteins were detectable as fluorescent spots under the UV lamp. As accumulating evidence suggests that disulfide bonds are responsible for the allergenicity of many proteins, we sought to use this protocol to find new allergens. In a model experiment using soybean trypsin inhibitor, a well-known allergen with disulfide bonds, and myoglobin, which has a free sulfhydryl group, only the former was labeled with fluorescence. Application of the protocol to mite and pollen extracts facilitated detection of known allergens or putative allergens exhibiting sequence similarities to known allergens. In this note, we report the protocol as a complementary tool for screening allergens, which is now solely dependent on immunological recognition.

Allergens↗

Sulfur shuffle: modulating enzymatic activity by thiol-disulfide interchange.

The facile modulation of biological processes is an important goal of biological chemists. Here, a general strategy is presented for controlling the catalytic activity of an enzyme. This strategy is demonstrated with ribonuclease A (RNase A), which catalyzes the cleavage of RNA. The side-chain amino group of Lys41 donates a hydrogen bond to a nonbridging oxygen in the transition state for RNA cleavage. Replacing Lys41 with a cysteine residue is known to decrease the value of k(cat)/K(m) by 10(5)-fold. Forming a mixed disulfide between the side chain of Cys41 of K41C RNase A and cysteamine replaces the amino group and increases k(cat)/K(m) by 10(3)-fold. This enzyme, which contains a mixed disulfide, is readily deactivated by dithiothreitol. Forming a mixed disulfide between the side chain of Cys41 and mercaptopropyl phosphate, which is designed to place a phosphoryl group in the active site, decreases activity by an additional 25-fold. This enzyme, which also contains a mixed disulfide, is reactivated in the presence of dithiothreitol and inorganic phosphate (which displaces the pendant phosphoryl group from the active site). An analogous control mechanism could be installed into the active site of virtually any enzyme by replacing an essential residue with a cysteine and elaborating the side chain of that cysteine into appropriate mixed disulfides.

Binding Sites↗

Conserved cysteine residues in the shaker K+ channel are not linked by a disulfide bond.

Many voltage-activated K+ channels contain two conserved cysteine residues in putative transmembrane segments S2 and S6. It has been proposed that these cysteines form an intrasubunit disulfide bond [Guy, H.R., & Conti, F. (1990) Trends Neurosci. 13, 201-206]. This proposal was tested using site-directed mutagenesis followed by electrophysiological and biochemical analysis of the Shaker B K+ channel. Each Shaker B subunit contains seven cysteine residues, including the conserved residues C286 and C462 and a less conserved cysteine, C245. Each cysteine in the Shaker B protein can be mutated individually without eliminating functional activity, indicating that the protein does not contain a disulfide bond that is essential for protein folding or the assembly of active channels. To determine whether there is a nonessential disulfide bond, Shaker B protein was subjected to limited proteolysis. Fragments were analyzed by electrophoresis under reducing and nonreducing conditions followed by immunoblotting. The results indicate that the two conserved residues C286 and C462 do not form a disulfide bond with each other or with C245. In addition, the subunits are not linked by disulfide bonds. In HEK293T cells, Shaker B protein is first made as an incompletely glycosylated precursor that is converted to the fully glycosylated mature protein. Glycosylation occurs at two positions in the S1-S2 loop.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Reduction of phenoxyl radicals by thioredoxin results in selective oxidation of its SH-groups to disulfides. An antioxidant function of thioredoxin.

Thioredoxin is an important cellular redox buffer. In this report, we describe the reaction of thioredoxin with phenoxyl radicals. The vicinal sulfhydryls of the bis(cysteinyl) active site sequence reduced phenoxyl radicals released in horseradish peroxidase-catalyzed oxidation of phenol. Redox cycling of phenol was accompanied by selective oxidation of thioredoxin sulfhydryls to disulfides. HPLC/UV-vis measurements showed that the SH:phenol oxidation ratio was 15:1 under the conditions used. At the end of the reaction, oxidized thioredoxin was quantitatively recovered in the reduced form with dithiothreitol. Oxidation of sulfhydryls to sulfoxy derivatives, oxidation of other amino acid residues, and formation of covalent adducts with phenolic metabolites (quinones) were not detected by LC-MS. While the thiyl radical of glutathione was readily detected with the spin trap 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide, no ESR-detectable DMPO-thiyl adducts formed during the oxidation of thioredoxin. Similarly, oxidation of vicinal sulfhydryls of dihydrolipoic acid did not produce DMPO-thiyl spin adducts, indicating that fast intramolecular cyclization to disulfide occurred with thioredoxin. Measurements of the superoxide dismutase-sensitive chemiluminescence response of lucigenin demonstrated that thioredoxin oxidation was accompanied by release of superoxide, most likely via disulfide radical anion-mediated one-electron reduction of oxygen. We propose that formation of disulfides is characteristic of the phenoxyl radical-catalyzed oxidation of vicinal sulfhydryls in both small thiols and disulfide-forming oxidoreductases. Reversibility of the phenoxyl radical-catalyzed modification of thioredoxin may be responsible for its function as an efficient cytosolic antioxidant.

Acridines↗

Transmembrane signaling by the aspartate receptor: engineered disulfides reveal static regions of the subunit interface.

Ligand binding to the periplasmic domain of the transmembrane aspartate receptor generates an intramolecular conformational change which spans the bilayer and ultimately signals the cytoplasmic CheA histidine kinase, thereby triggering chemotaxis. The receptor is a homodimer stabilized by the interface between its two identical subunits: the present study investigates the role of the periplasmic and transmembrane regions of this interface in the mechanism of transmembrane signaling. Free cysteines and disulfide bonds are engineered into selected interfacial positions, and the resulting effects on the transmembrane signal are assayed by monitoring in vitro regulation of kinase activity. Three of the 14 engineered cysteine pairs examined, as well as six of the 14 engineered disulfides, cause perturbations of the interface structure which essentially destroy transmembrane regulation of the kinase. The remaining 11 cysteine pairs, and eight engineered disulfides covalently linking the two subunits at locations spanning positions 18-75, are observed to retain significant transmembrane kinase regulation. The eight functional disulfides positively identify adjacent faces of the two N-terminal helices in the native receptor dimer and indicate that large regions of the periplasmic and transmembrane subunit interface remain effectively static during the transmembrane signal. The results are consistent with a model in which the subunit interface plays a structural role, while the second membrane-spanning helix transmits the ligand-induced signal across the bilayer to the kinase binding domain. The effects of engineered cysteines and disulfides on receptor methylation in vitro are also measured, enabling direct comparison of the in vitro methylation and phosphorylation assays.

Cell Membrane↗

Characterization of lipoamide dehydrogenase from Escherichia coli lacking the redox active disulfide: C44S and C49S.

Lipoamide dehydrogenase from Escherichia coli, a dimeric flavoprotein in the pyridine nucleotide-disulfide oxidoreductase family of enzymes, catalyzes the reduction of NAD+ by dihydrolipoamide. The two electrons are transferred via a redox active disulfide and FAD. Cys44 and Cys49 comprise the redox active disulfide, Cys44 interchanging with dihydrolipoamide and Cys49 interacting with the flavin. Each of these residues has been mutated to serine (C44S, C49S). The altered enzymes showed minute amounts of activity, 0.003% for C44S and 0.012% for C49S using the physiological substrates dihydrolipoamide and NAD+. These very low activities were expected, since the disulfide was no longer present in C44S and C49S, making dithiol-disulfide interchange impossible. However, the enzymes were capable of catalyzing reactions using NADH as the electron donor and alternate electron acceptors: K3Fe(CN)6, thio-NAD+, DCIP, and O2. These activities with NADH indicated that interaction of C44S and C49S with pyridine nucleotides was not affected greatly by the mutation. The pH dependence of the charge-transfer absorbance of C44S gives pKa values of 2.7, associated with titration of Cys49, and 9.5, associated with titration of the acid-base catalyst, His444'. A pKa of 5.1 was estimated for Cys44 in C49S from the pH dependence of its reactivity with methyl methanethiosulfonate. The fluorescence of the FAD in oxidized wild type lipoamide dehydrogenase is markedly temperature dependent, while the remaining fluorescence of two-electron-reduced enzyme is independent of temperature. The fluorescence of the FAD in C44S and in C49S is likewise independent of temperature. The FAD of C44S and C49S is stoichiometrically titrated by 1 equiv of sodium dithionite. However, the FAD of C44S is markedly less completely reduced by 1 equiv of NADH than is the FAD of C49S. Ferricyanide stoichiometrically reoxidizes the FADH2 of both altered forms of the enzyme.

Cysteine↗

Disulfide arrangement and chemical modification of beta-1,4-endoglucanase E2 from Thermomonospora fusca.

Thermomonospora fusca endoglucanase E2 contains six cysteine residues scattered along the protein sequence. Four of the cysteine residues were shown to participate in two disulfide bonds while the last two form a third disulfide bond. Neither full reduction of the disulfides nor complete carboxymethylation of all six cysteines totally destroys enzymatic activity, but the activity of the reduced enzyme is much lower than the native enzyme and the iodoacetamide-modified enzyme has very low activity. Reduction of only the accessible disulfides drastically decreases the enzyme's thermostability. One disulfide linkage joins Cys80 to Cys125, another joins Cys232 to Cys267, and the third joins Cys315 to Cys407. The first two bonds are similar to those in cellobiohydrolase II, which also belongs to cellulase family B (Rouvinen et al., 1990; Lao et al., 1991; Henrissat et al., 1989). Direct evidence for the involvement of carboxyl groups in catalysis by E2 was demonstrated by chemical modification with carbodiimide.

Actinomycetales↗

Disulfide bond assignments and secondary structure analysis of human and murine interleukin 10.

Interleukin 10 (IL-10), which was first discovered by its ability to inhibit the synthesis of various cytokines, most notably gamma interferon, from Th1 helper cells, displays pleiotropic immunoregulatory properties. Human and murine IL-10 have a high amino acid sequence identity (ca. 73%) which includes the conservation of all four cysteine residues in human IL-10 and the first four out of five cysteine residues for murine IL-10. Chemical analysis was used to determine that both recombinant human and recombinant murine IL-10 contain two disulfide bonds. The disulfide pairs for each were determined by mass spectrometric and reversed-phase HPLC analysis of trypsin-derived polypeptide fragments. The disulfide bond assignments for both species were similar in that the first cysteine residue in the sequence paired with the third and the second paired with the fourth. The fifth cysteine in murine IL-10 was determined by chemical modification to be unpaired. Far-UV circular dichroism analysis indicated that the secondary structure of recombinant human and murine IL-10 are composed of ca. 60% alpha-helix. Reduction of the disulfide bonds structurally destabilized the protein and led to a structure containing only 53% alpha-helix. The reduced protein displayed no in vitro biological activity in a mast cell proliferation assay. These studies indicate that IL-10 is a highly alpha-helical protein containing two disulfide bonds, either one or both of which are critical for its structure and function. In addition, these properties suggest that this interesting cytokine may belong to the alpha helical cytokine class of hematopoietic ligands.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Contribution of individual disulfide bonds to the oxidative folding of ribonuclease A.

The eight cysteine residues of ribonuclease A form four disulfide bonds in the native protein. We have analyzed the folding of three double RNase A mutants (C65A/C72A, C58A/C110A, and C26A/C84A, lacking the C65-C72, C58-C110, and C26-C84 disulfide bonds, respectively) and two single mutants (C110A and C26A), in which a single cysteine is replaced with an alanine and the paired cysteine is present in the reduced form. The folding of these mutants was carried out in the presence of oxidized and reduced glutathione, which constitute the main redox agents present within the ER. The use of mass spectrometry in the analysis of the folding processes allowed us (i) to follow the formation of intermediates and thus the pathway of folding of the RNase A mutants, (ii) to quantitate the intermediates that formed, and (iii) to compare the rates of formation of intermediates. By comparison of the folding kinetics of the mutants with that of wild-type RNase A, the contribution of each disulfide bond to the folding process has been evaluated. In particular, we have found that the folding of the C65A/C72A mutant occurs on the same time scale as that of the wild-type protein, thus suggesting that the removal of the C65-C72 disulfide bond has no effect on the kinetics of RNase A folding. Conversely, the C58A/C110A and C26A/C84A mutants fold much more slowly than the wild-type protein. The removal of the C58-C110 and C26-C84 disulfide bonds has a dramatic effect on the kinetics of RNase A folding. Results described in this paper provide specific information about conformational folding events in the regions involving the mutated cysteine residues, thus contributing to a better understanding of the complex mechanism of oxidative folding.

Alanine↗

Protein engineering of a disulfide bond in a beta/alpha-barrel protein.

A disulfide bond has been introduced in the beta/alpha-barrel enzyme N-(5'-phosphoribosyl)anthranilate isomerase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The design of this disulfide bond was based on a model structure of this enzyme, built from the high-resolution crystal structure of the N-(5'-phosphoribosyl)anthranilate isomerase domain from Escherichia coli. The disulfide cross-link is spontaneously formed in vitro between residues 27 and 212, located in the structurally adjacent alpha-helices 1 and 8 of the outer helical ring of the beta/alpha-barrel. It creates a loop of 184 residues that account for 83% of the sequence of this enzyme, thus forming a quasi circular protein. The cross-linked mutant enzyme displays wild-type steady-state kinetic parameters. Measurements of the equilibrium constant for the reduction of this disulfide bond by 1,4-dithiothreitol show that its bond strength is comparable to that of other engineered protein disulfide bonds. The oxidized, cross-linked N-(5'-phosphoribosyl)anthranilate isomerase mutant is about 1.0 kcal/mol more stable than the wild-type enzyme, as estimated from its equilibrium unfolding transitions by guanidine hydrochloride.

Aldose-Ketose Isomerases↗

Structural and functional characterization of the mutant Escherichia coli glutaredoxin (C14----S) and its mixed disulfide with glutathione.

Glutaredoxin is essential for the glutathione (GSH)-dependent synthesis of deoxyribonucleotides by ribonucleotide reductase, and in addition, it displays a general GSH disulfide oxidoreductase activity. In Escherichia coli glutaredoxin, the active site contains a redox-active disulfide/dithiol of the sequence Cys11-Pro12-Tyr13-Cys14. In this paper, we have prepared and characterized the Cys14----Ser mutant of E. coli glutaredoxin and its mixed disulfide with glutathione. The Cys14----Ser mutant of glutaredoxin is shown to retain 38% of the GSH disulfide oxidoreductase activity of the wild-type protein with hydroxyethyl disulfide as substrate but to be completely inactive with ribonucleotide reductase, demonstrating that dithiol glutaredoxin is the hydrogen donor for ribonucleotide reductase. The covalent structure of the mixed disulfide of glutaredoxin(C14S) with GSH prepared with 15N-labeling of the protein was confirmed with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, establishing a basis for NMR structural studies of the glutathione binding site on glutaredoxin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Chemical modification of Torpedo acetylcholinesterase by disulfides: appearance of a "molten globule" state.

Modification of Torpedo californica acetylcholinesterase (AChE) both by bis(1-oxy-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-3-imidazolin-4-yl)disulfide (biradical) and by 4,4'-dithiopyridine, via a thiol-disulfide exchange reaction, was monitored by EPR and optical spectroscopy, respectively. Incubation with these reagents caused complete loss of enzymic activity. Treatment with glutathione of AChE modified by either of the two disulfides led to rapid release of the bound reagent with simultaneous regeneration of the single free thiol group of the enzyme. However, no concomitant recovery of catalytic activity was observed. SDS-PAGE showed that both the modified and demodified enzymes retained their structure as a disulfide-linked dimer. Circular dichroism revealed that modification of AChE by the disulfide agents with or without demodification by glutathione led to a complete disappearance of the ellipticity in the near-UV and to a much smaller decrease in ellipticity in the far-UV. The CD spectra observed are typical of the "molten globule" state of proteins. 1-Anilino-8-naphthalenesulfonate binding measurements and an enhanced susceptibility to trypsinolysis supported the supposition that chemical modification had transformed native AChE to a "molten globule".

Acetylcholinesterase↗

Stabilization of the Fv fragments in recombinant immunotoxins by disulfide bonds engineered into conserved framework regions.

Disulfide-stabilized Fv's (dsFv's) are recombinant Fv fragments of antibodies in which the unstable variable heavy (VH) and variable light (VL) heterodimers are stabilized by disulfide bonds engineered at specific sites that lie between structurally conserved framework positions of VH and VL. We have recently described one example of a recombinant immunotoxin, B3(dsFv)-PE38KDEL, that is composed of such a dsFv connected to a truncated form of Pseudomonas exotoxin [Brinkmann, U., Reiter, Y., Jung, S.-H., Lee, B., & Pastan, I. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 90, 7538-7542]. This disulfide-stabilized immunotoxin has the same cytotoxic activity and specificity as its single-chain immunotoxin counterpart. To determine whether the stabilization of Fv's by disulfides at these positions is generally applicable, we made and analyzed two other dsFv-containing immunotoxins. One is made from the e23 antibody, which binds to the carcinoma-associated antigen erbB2; the other is made from the anti-Tac antibody, which binds to the p55 subunit of the IL-2 receptor. Comparison of the specificity and activity of these immunotoxins with those of their scFv counterparts revealed that e23(dsFv)-PE38KDEL was considerably more active than e23(Fv)-PE38KDEL, whereas anti-Tac(dsFv)-PE38KDEL was only somewhat more active than its single-chain counterpart. These results suggest that dsFv's have at least the same binding properties as scFv's, and in some cases they may have better binding. Thus, it should be feasible to use the positions we have identified in the conserved framework region to disulfide-stabilize many different Fv's.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

ADP Ribose Transferases↗