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B Zerner

Publications and source records attributed to B Zerner.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Jack bean urease (EC 3.5.1.5). V. On the mechanism of action of urease on urea, formamide, acetamide, N-methylurea, and related compounds.

Acetamide and N-methylurea have been shown for the first time to be substrates for jack bean urease. In the enzymatic hydrolysis of urea, formamide, acetamide, and N-methylurea at pH 7.0 and 38 degrees C, kcat has the values 5870, 85, 0.55, and 0.075 s-1, respectively. The urease-catalyzed hydrolysis of all these substrates involves the active-site nickel ion(s). Enzymatic hydrolysis of the following compounds could not be detected: phenyl formate, p-nitroformanilide, trifluoroacetamide, p-nitrophenyl carbamate, thiourea, and O-methylisouronium ion. In the enzymatic hydrolysis of urea, the pH dependence of kcat between pH 3.4 and 7.8 indicates that at least two prototropic forms are active. Enzymatic hydrolysis of urea in the presence of methanol gave no detectable methyl carbamate. A mechanism of action for urease is proposed which involves initially an O-bonded complex between urea and an active-site Ni2+ ion and subsequently an O-bonded carbamato-enzyme intermediate.

Acetamides↗
PubMed1978

Absence of evidence for an intermediate in the deacetylation of acetylchymotrypsin.

A recent paper [Chibber, B. A. K., Tomich, J. M., Mertz, E. T. & Viswanatha, T. (1977) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74, 510-514] presented evidence that was taken to support the existence of an intermediate in the deacetylation of acetylchymotrypsin. It was observed that deacylation, as measured by following the decrease in [(14)C]acetylchymotrypsin (decrease in acid-precipitable radioactivity), occurred at 1/10 the rate of reactivation, as measured by return of activity toward N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester. Our experiments have shown that, at pH 6, the deacylation rate constant (measured by the loss of [(14)C]acetylchymotrypsin and by the formation of [(14)C]acetate) is identical (within experimental error) with the rate constant for reactivation (measured by determining the activity of aliquots of reactivating enzyme against N-acetyl-L-tryptophan ethyl ester) and with K(cat) for the turnover of p-nitrophenyl acetate by alpha-chymotrypsin. Part of the 10-fold greater reactivation rate observed by Chibber et al. has been shown to be due to the presence of 10% (vol/vol) isopropanol in their reactivation mixture, and it is argued that the balance of the effect is a manifestation of the "indole effect" produced by the simultaneous presence of 10 mM N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester throughout the reactivation experiments. The results presented are entirely consistent with the three-step mechanism of catalysis by alpha-chymotrypsin and negate the existence of the proposed additional acetyl-enzyme intermediate.

Acetylation↗
PubMed1977

Organophosphate inhibitors. The stereospecificity of hydrolysis of methyl n-butyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate by serum phosphotriesterases (EC 3.1.1.2) and by acetylcholinesterases (EC 3.1.1.7).

A chiral phosphotriester, methyl n-butyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate was used to determine the stereospecificity of hydrolysis catalysed by serum phosphotriesterases (aryl-ester hydrolases, EC 3.1.1.2) from horse, ox and rabbit. Each enzyme hydrolysed the (-)-enantiomer more quickly. The same phosphate was used to inhibit acetycholinesterase (acetycholine hydrolase, EC 3.1.1.7) from ox, rabbit and electric eel, and in each case, the (+)-enantiomer caused more rapid inhibition. Serum phosphotriesterase did not catalyse the dephosphorylation of dialkyphosphoryl-acetylcholinesterase or dialkylphosphoryl-carboxylesterase. Levels of serum phosphotriesterase in rabbits which received sub-lethal injections of the phosphotriester remained unchanged after one or several injections. In the same rabbits, the levels of blood acetylcholinesterase fell sharply following injections, but normal values were regained in 2-8 days. Serum phosphotriesterases seem incapable either of preventing acute phosphotriester poisoning or of regenerating active enzyme from phosphorylated acetylcholinesterase. However, phosphotriesterases would act in cases of chronic exposure by catalysing the hydrolysis of such organophosphate poisons as remain in the blood.

Acetylcholinesterase↗
PubMed1976

Metal ions in enzymes using ammonia or amides.

In an attempt to understand the role of nickel in jack bean urease (1), we turned to a variety of other enzymes important in the utilization, production, or transfer of ammonia. We found several, including the L-histidine and L-phenylalanine ammonialyases and some enzymes that utilize glutamine or ammonia in amidotransferase reactions, all of which show evidence for the involvement of as yet unreported transition metal ions in their mechanism of action. We support the view that catalysis by metalloenzymes may be a reflection of the chemistry of the metal ion itself as a Lewis acid, and that perhaps too much emphasis has been placed on supposed special characteristics (such as strains, "entasis") of the enzyme-metal ion association. In this context, we have discussed the mechanism of catalysis of hydrolysis of specific substrates by carboxypeptidase A, and have returned to urease to examine the role of nickel in its mechanism of action.

Ammonia↗
PubMed1976

Purification and properties of a carboxylesterase from the liver of tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier).

A procedure is described for the purification of a carboxylesterase from shark liver, using a chloroform-acetone powder prepared from the liver as the starting material. The yield of purified enzyme is approximately 50 mg from 530 g of chloroform-acetone powder. The preparation is electrophoretically homogeneous. Active-site titrations with paraoxon gave an equivalent weight of approximately 83 000. The molecular weight, found from sedimentation equilibrium experiments, is approximately 80 000. There is no evidence of any association or dissociation of this species. The enzyme shows a marked preference for aryl esters over alkyl esters, in contrast to other carboxylesterases so far studied. The amino acid composition of the purified enzyme is reported.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1975

Organophosphate inhibitors: the reactions of bis(p-nitrophenyl) methyl phosphate with liver carboxylesterases and alpha-chymotrypsin.

Bis(p-nitrophenyl) methyl phosphate (BNMP) has been tested as a spectrophotometric titrant for a group of serine hydrolases. Bis(p-nitrophenyl) methyl phosphate reacts rapidly with liver carboxylesterases from chicken, sheep, and horse, and more slowly with alpha-chymotrypsin, releasing 2 mol of p-nitrophenol per active site titrated, and producing a phosphorylated enzyme very stable to dephosphorylation. However, pig liver carboxylesterase produces 2.2 mol of p-nitrophenol per active site titratedmreaction of pig and chicken liver carboxylesterases with bis(p-nitrophenyl) [3H]methyl [32P]phosphate clarified this differencemone molecule of the chicken enzyme reacts with one molecule of bis(p-nitrophenyl) methyl phosphate, releasing both p-nitrophenol residues, and resulting in an inhibited enzyme with one phosphorus atom and one methyl group covalently bound. Pig enzyme reacts rapidly, forming (presumably) methyl p-nitrophenyl phosphoryl-carboxylesterasemthis further reacts, concurrently producing methyl phosphoryl-carboxylesterase plus p-nitrophenol, or free enzyme plus methyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate, in the ratio of about 5 : 1 at pH 7.55. The free enzyme produced undergoes further reaction with bis(p-nitrophenyl) methyl phosphate until all the carboxylesterase is inhibited.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Carboxylesterases (EC 3.1.1). Purification and titration of chicken, sheep, and horse liver carboxylesterases.

Chicken, sheep, and horse liver carboxylesterases have been purified by procedures involving ammonium sulfate fractionation, ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration on Sephadex. The actual yields of the procedures described were as follows: chicken, 1 g from 2 kg of liver powder (chloroform-acetone); sheep, 200 mg from 400 g of powder (chloroform-acetone); horse, 230 mg from 800 g of powder (acetone). The purified enzymes are free of non-carboxyl-esterase protein as shown by gel electrophoresis, although they do contain electrophoretic variants. The equivalent weight of the chicken enzyme is 67,000 based on titration with p-nitrophenyl diethyl phosphate or bis(p-nitrophenyl) phosphate, whereas those of the sheep and horse enzymes are similar to 69,500 and similar to 70,000, respectively, based on titration with p-nitrophenyl dimethylcarbamate.

Ammonium Sulfate↗
PubMed1975

Carboxylesterases (EC 3.1.1). The molecular sizes of chicken and pig liver carboxylesterases.

The molecular size of pig liver carboxylesterase has been investigated under a variety of conditions of pH and ionic strength. From equilibrium and velocity sedimentation at pH 4.0 and pH 7.5, and from chromatography on Sephadex G-200,we conclude that the monomeric molecular weight is similar to 65,000 daltons and that the enzyme associates to form trimers. Association equilibrium constants for the monomer-trimer system were estimated to be 0.02 1-2 g-2 at pH 4 (concentration-dependent molecular weight data) and 2 times 10-5 1-2g-2 at pH 7.5 (frontal gel chromatographic results). These studies were aided by comparisons of the properties of the pig liver enzyme with those of chicken liver carboxylesterase, which is shown to exhibit the velocity and equilibrium sedimentation characteristics of a homogeneous protein with molecular weight similar to 65,000. Studies of pig and chicken liver carboxylesterases in 6 M guanidinium chloride, 0.1 M in beta-mercaptoethanol, support the proposition that the monomeric species of these enzymes have molecular weights of similar to 65,000. On polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in SDS, there is no evidence for a major species of molecular weight less than similar to 65,000 for the pig enzyme, but ca. 50 percent of the chicken esterase is dissociated into two species of molecular weight similar to 30,000.

Animals↗