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A C North

Publications and source records attributed to A C North.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Pheromone binding to two rodent urinary proteins revealed by X-ray crystallography.

The principal protein excreted in male rat urine, urinary alpha 2-globulin and the homologous mouse protein, major urinary protein, have been well characterized, although their functions remain unclear. Male rat urine affects the behaviour and sexual response of female rats, leading to the proposal that rodent urinary proteins are responsible for binding pheromones and their subsequent release from drying urine. Urinary alpha 2-globulin is also involved in hyaline droplet nephropathy, an important toxicological syndrome in male rats resulting from exposure to a number of industrial chemicals and characterized by the accumulation of liganded urinary alpha 2-globulin in lysosomes in the kidney, followed by the induction of renal cancer. We now report the three-dimensional structures of mouse major urinary protein (at 2.4 A resolution) and rat urinary alpha 2-globulin (at 2.8 A resolution). The results corroborate the role of these proteins in pheromone transport and elaborate the structural basis of ligand binding.

Alpha-Globulins↗
PubMed1992

Crystallization and initial X-ray analysis of the C2-subunit of crustacyanin.

Crystals of the C2-subunit of crustacyanin have been grown from solutions containing ammonium sulphate and 2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol as co-precipitants. The crystals belong to space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) (a = 42.0 A, b = 80.9 A, c = 110.8 A) with two subunits per asymmetric unit and diffract beyond 2.2 A resolution.

Carrier Proteins↗
PubMed1991

Trimethoprim binds in a bacterial mode to the wild-type and E30D mutant of mouse dihydrofolate reductase.

Previous crystallographic studies of the antibacterial trimethoprim in complexes with bacterial and avian dihydrofolate reductases have shown substantial differences in the mode of binding, providing plausible explanations for the origin of the remarkable species selectivity of this inhibitor (Matthews, D. A., Bolin, J. T., Burridge, J. M., Filman, D. J., Volz, K. W., Kaufman, B. T., Beddell, C. R., Champness, J. N., Stammers, D. K., and Kraut, J. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 381-391; Matthews, D. A., Bolin, J. T., Burridge, J. M., Filman, D. J., Volz, K. W., and Kraut, J. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 392-399). A major species difference between the active sites is that the only carboxylate present is always Glu in vertebrates and Asp in bacteria. Crystallographic studies of the wild-type and E30D mutant of the enzyme from mouse now reveal that in both cases trimethoprim is bound in an identical fashion to that observed with the bacterial enzyme, and there is no obvious single explanation for the origin of the 10(5)-fold selectivity of trimethoprim binding. In an earlier study of a mouse wild-type enzyme using more limited data it was proposed that trimethoprim bound in the avian mode (Stammers, D. K., Champness, J. N., Beddell, C. R., Dann, J. G., Eliopoulos, E. E., Geddes, A. J., Ogg, D., and North, A. C. T. (1987) FEBS Lett. 218, 178-184), but a re-examination indicates that the occupancy of the active site by trimethoprim is less than had been thought, and we are currently unable to make an unambiguous interpretation of the electron density maps and cannot confirm the avian mode of binding in those crystals.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Mouse oncogene protein 24p3 is a member of the lipocalin protein family.

Rigorous new methods of protein sequence analysis have been applied to the lipocalins, a diverse family of ligand binding proteins. Using three conserved sequence motifs to search for similar patterns in a large sequence database, the size and composition of this protein family have been defined in an automatic and objective way. It has allowed the identification of an existing sequence, mouse 24p3 protein, as a lipocalin and the possible rejection of other putative members from this protein family. On the basis of this newly discovered homology, a possible function for mouse 24p3 protein is proposed.

Acute-Phase Proteins↗
PubMed1991

Crystallization of and preliminary X-ray data for the mouse major urinary protein and rat alpha-2u globulin.

Crystals of the mouse major urinary protein (MUP) and rat alpha-2u globulin (AMG) have been grown from solutions of polyethylene glycol 3350 and CdCl2, respectively. The crystals differ both in their morphologies and space groups but have very similar unit cell sizes. AMG crystallized in P2(1) (a = 56.6 A, b = 103.8 A, c = 62.7 A, beta = 95.1 degrees) with four subunits/asymmetric unit, while MUP gave crystals in P4(1)2(1)2 or P4(3)2(1)2 (a = 57.3 A, c = 109.9 A) with one subunit/asymmetric unit. Both crystal forms diffract beyond 2.8 A resolution.

Alpha-Globulins↗
PubMed1991

Structure of the pig insulin dimer in the cubic crystal.

Atomic coordinates for pig insulin in the cubic crystal have been refined by reciprocal-space methods to an R factor of 0.173 for data between 10.0 and 1.7 A resolution with structure-factor amplitudes greater than two standard deviations. Stereochemical parameters for the refined model are close to standard values and the estimated error in the positions of well-ordered atoms is about 0.1 A. Residues directly involved in the formation of the exact (crystallographic) cubic insulin dimer are oriented similarly to those in the non-crystallographic 2Zn insulin dimer. Other residues, which make different molecular contacts in the different crystal forms, have locally altered conformations. The cubic insulin molecule is significantly more similar to one of the two independent molecules in the 2Zn insulin dimer than the other. This more similar molecule is expected to be the more stable conformer.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Applications of molecular graphics for the study of recognition.

Molecular recognition depends upon a precise structural complementarity between the pairs of molecules concerned. For example, the strong affinity between an antigen and its specific antibody can be negated by replacement of a single amino-acid residue. The protein beta-lactoglobulin from cows' milk is a member of a family of ligand-binding proteins with dual molecular recognition properties--for ligand and for a target receptor cell. This paper describes the use of molecular mechanics and energy calculations in attempting to understand the basis of such molecular recognition phenomena.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

The structure of mouse L1210 dihydrofolate reductase-drug complexes and the construction of a model of human enzyme.

The structure of mouse L1210 dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) complexed with NADPH and trimethoprim has been refined at 2.0 A resolution. The analogous complex with NADPH and methotrexate has been refined at 2.5 A resolution. These structures reveal for the first time details of drug interactions with a mammalian DHFR, which are compared with those observed from previous X-ray investigations of DHFR/inhibitor complexes. The refined L1210 structure has been used as the basis for the construction of a model of the human enzyme. There are only twenty-one sequence differences between mouse L1210 and human DHFRs, and all but two of these are located close to the molecular surface: a strong indication that the active sites are essentially identical in these two mammalian enzymes.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Theoretical prediction and experimental measurement of the bile-pigment isomer pattern obtained from degradation of catalase haem.

Degradation in vitro of the haem in catalase by a 'coupled oxidation' reaction yields products in which approx. 45% of the haem groups have been cleaved at the alpha-methene bridge, 55% at the beta-bridge and a trace at the delta-bridge. Molecular-mechanics calculations with the three-dimensional structural co-ordinates of catalase shows that these proportions of products can be accounted for by the relative accessibility of the four methene bridges to a haem-linked oxygen molecule, thus further confirming Brown's [(1976) Biochem. J. 159, 23-27] hypothesis that the first stage of haem catabolism in vivo is selective attack by haem-bound oxygen, with selectivity conferred by the surrounding protein moiety.

Animals↗