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Biomedical subjects

C T Walsh

Publications and source records attributed to C T Walsh.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

N-bromoacetyl-peptide substrate affinity labeling of vitamin K dependent carboxylase.

Vitamin K dependent carboxylase (carboxylase) is a membrane-associated endoplasmic reticular enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of certain glutamate residues of essential blood coagulation proteins to gamma-carboxyglutamyl (Gla) residues. A series of N-bromoacetyl-peptide substrate affinity labels based on the Gla domain of these blood-clotting proteins was synthesized, and the substrate and inactivator kinetic parameters were assessed. The most promising of these affinity peptides, N-bromoacetyl-FLEELY, was both substrate for carboxylase and an irreversible time-dependent inactivator of the enzyme, inactivating 80% of carboxylase under pseudo-first-order conditions. Addition of saturating amounts of a competing peptide substrate completely abolished the inhibitory properties of N-bromoacetyl-FLEELY, consistent with inactivation occurring at the active site. The partition ratio of inactivation/carboxylation was 1/30. The 94-kDa carboxylase was purified to 15-50% purity by a modification of a recent protocol [Wu, S.-M., Morris, D. P., & Stafford, D. W. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88, 2236-2240] and covalently labeled with N-bromoacetyl-FLEEL[125I]Y. On silver-stained 10% sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels, the predominant radiolabeled band was the 94,000 molecular weight species. This result independently validates that the 94-kDa protein is a carboxylase.

Acetates

Effects of cyclosporin A and FK506 on Fc epsilon receptor type I-initiated increases in cytokine mRNA in mouse bone marrow-derived progenitor mast cells: resistance to FK506 is associated with a deficiency in FK506-binding protein FKBP12.

The inhibitory effects of cyclosporin A (CsA) and FK506 on Fc epsilon receptor type I-initiated increases in cytokine mRNA and the expression of their intracellular binding proteins were studied in interleukin 3 (IL-3)-dependent, mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs). In BMMCs sensitized with IgE anti-trinitrophenyl, CsA inhibited trinitrophenylated bovine serum albumin-induced increases in mRNA for IL-1 beta, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and IL-6 in a dose-related manner (IC50 values of 4, 65, and 130 nM, respectively). FK506 did not inhibit hapten-specific increases of mRNA for TNF-alpha or IL-6, and for IL-1 beta the IC50 was greater than 50-fold higher than that of CsA. Neither agent inhibited exocytosis of the endogenous secretory granule mediators beta-hexosaminidase and histamine at the IC50 values for inhibition of increases in cytokine mRNA. BMMCs expressed cyclophilin, and CsA inhibited the phosphatase activity of cellular calcineurin with an IC50 of approximately 8 nM. That CsA inhibited IL-1 beta mRNA accumulation in IgE-activated BMMCs with an IC50 similar to that for inhibition of calcineurin activity, whereas the IC50 values were approximately 20-fold higher for the inhibition of TNF-alpha and IL-6 mRNA, suggests that the induction of TNF-alpha and IL-6 is less dependent upon calcineurin activity than is the induction of IL-1 beta. BMMCs were deficient in the 12-kDa FK506-binding protein FKBP12, but not FKBP13, as assessed by RNA and protein blot analyses. FK506 did not inhibit calcineurin phosphatase activity in BMMCs, even at drug concentrations of 1000 nM. The resistance of BMMCs to inhibition of Fc epsilon receptor type I-mediated increases in cytokine mRNA by FK506 is most likely due to their deficiency of FKBP12 and the related inability to inhibit the activity of calcineurin.

Amino Acid Isomerases

Dioxygen transfer during vitamin K dependent carboxylase catalysis.

The vitamin K dependent carboxylase of liver microsomes is involved in the posttranslational modification of certain serine protease zymogens which are critical components of the blood clotting cascade. During coupled carboxylation/oxygenation this carboxylase converts glutamate residues, dihydrovitamin K, CO2, and O2 to a gamma-carboxyglutamyl (Gla) residue, vitamin K (2R,3S)-epoxide, and H2O with a stoichiometry of 1:1 for all substrates and products. In this paper we investigate the role of molecular oxygen in the reaction by following the course of the oxygen atoms using 18O2. Two different mass spectroscopic techniques, electron ionization positive ion mass spectrometry and supercritical fluid chromatography-negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry, were used to quantitate the amount of 18O incorporation into the various oxygens of the vitamin K epoxide product. We found that 0.95 mol atoms of oxygen were incorporated into the epoxide oxygen, 0.05 mol atoms of oxygen were incorporated into the quinone oxygen of vitamin K epoxide, and the remaining ca. 1.0 mol atoms of oxygen were incorporated into H2O. No incorporation of oxygen into vitamin K epoxide from 50% H2(18)O was observed. Thus, the carboxylase operates as a dioxygenase 5% of the time during carboxylation/oxygenation. The relevance of these findings with respect to the nonenzymic "basicity enhancement" model proposed by Ham and Dowd [(1990) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 112, 1660-1661] is discussed.

Animals

Biosynthetic thiolase from Zoogloea ramigera. Mutagenesis of the putative active-site base Cys-378 to Ser-378 changes the partitioning of the acetyl S-enzyme intermediate.

The proposed active-site base Cys-378 of thiolase, responsible for deprotonation of acetyl-CoA, has been converted to a less acidic residue Ser-378 by mutagenesis. Comparison of the CD spectra and dimethyl suberimidate cross-linking experiments of the wild type, mutant Ser-378, and Gly-378 enzymes indicated that there have been no major conformational changes. The Ser-378 enzyme retains 0.1% of the Vmax of wild type in the direction of acetoacetyl-CoA thiolytic cleavage and 0.07% of the Vmax in the Claisen condensation direction. Analysis of the acetyl S-enzyme intermediate partitioning, that is capture of the acetyl enzyme by 1) the thiolate of coenzyme A relative to 2) the C-2 carbanion of acetyl-CoA, is changed to favor reaction 2 in the case of the Ser-378 mutant enzyme.

Acetyl-CoA C-Acetyltransferase

p-aminobenzoate synthesis in Escherichia coli: kinetic and mechanistic characterization of the amidotransferase PabA.

p-Aminobenzoic acid (PABA) is an important precursor in the bacterial biosynthetic pathway for folate enzymes. This biosynthesis requires three separate proteins: PabA, PabB, and PabC. Together PabA and PabB convert glutamine and chorismate to glutamate and 4-amino-4-deoxychorismate. This aminochorismate is subsequently transformed to PABA by PabC. In this study, PabA from Escherichia coli has been purified to homogeneity from an overproducing construct and found to have no detectable glutaminase activity until addition of the E. coli PabB subunit. PabB forms a 1:1 complex with PabA to yield a glutaminase k(cat) of 17 min-1. The addition of chorismate, the substrate of PabB, induces a 2-fold increase of k(cat) as well as a 3-fold increase of Km for glutamine. The PabA/PabB complex has Kd less than 10(-8) M but does not form a stable complex isolable by gel filtration. Studies with the glutamine affinity label diazooxonorleucine (DON) reveal it is an inactivator of the glutaminase activity of the PabA/PabB complex, but DON does not alkylate and inactivate PabA alone. Similarly, while isolated PabA shows no tendency to form a glutamyl-enzyme intermediate, the PabA/PabB complex forms a covalent intermediate with [14C]glutamine on PabA that accumulates to 0.56 mol/mol in hydrolytic turnover. PabA is thus a conditional glutaminase, activated by 1:1 complexation with PabB.

4-Aminobenzoic Acid

Kinetic isotope effect analysis of the reaction catalyzed by Trypanosoma congolense trypanothione reductase.

African trypanosomes are devoid of glutathione reductase activity, and instead contain a unique flavoprotein variant, trypanothione reductase, which acts on a cyclic derivative of glutathione, trypanothione. The high degree of sequence similarity between trypanothione reductase and glutathione reductase, as well as the obvious similarity in the reactions catalyzed, led us to investigate the pH dependence of the kinetic parameters, and the isotopic behavior of trypanothione reductase. The pH dependence of the kinetic parameters V, V/K for NADH, and V/K for oxidized trypanothione has been determined for trypanothione reductase from Trypanosoma congolense. Both V/K for NADH and the maximum velocity decrease as single groups exhibiting pK values of 8.87 +/- 0.09 and 9.45 +/- 0.07, respectively, are deprotonated. V/K for oxidized trypanothione, T(S)2, decreases as two groups exhibiting experimentally indistinguishable pK values of 8.74 +/- 0.03 are deprotonated. Variable magnitudes of the primary deuterium kinetic isotope effects on pyridine nucleotide oxidation are observed on V and V/K when different pyridine nucleotide substrates are used, and the magnitude of DV and D(V/K) is independent of the oxidized trypanothione concentration at pH 7.25. Solvent kinetic isotope effects, obtained with 2',3'-cNADPH as the variable substrate, were observed on V only, and plots of V versus mole fraction of D2O (i.e., proton inventory) were linear, and yielded values of 1.3-1.6 for D2OV. Solvent kinetic isotope effects obtained with alternate pyridine nucleotides as substrates were also observed on V, and the magnitude of D2OV decreases for each pyridine nucleotide as its maximal velocity relative to that of NADPH oxidation decreases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

Cyclosporin A, the cyclophilin class of peptidylprolyl isomerases, and blockade of T cell signal transduction.

Cyclosporin A, the major immunosuppressive drug in transplantation, and the more potent therapeutic drug candidate, FK506, have led to the discovery of two superfamilies of immunosuppressant binding proteins, the cyclophilins and the FK binding proteins. These proteins, enzymes with high kcat values for isomerization of X-Pro bonds in peptides and protein substrates, are distributed in all cell compartments where protein folding normally occurs. It is likely that they play major roles in the protein folding and protein trafficking in the cell. It is also likely that they have been suborned in T cells by the immunosuppressant drugs that are potent pseudosubstrate ligands that selectively block the signal transduction cascade. The discovery of the inhibition of protein phosphatase 2B (calcineurin) by the drug-immunophilin complex (CsA-CyP or FK506-FKBP) provides evidence for a specific downstream target of the drug-immunophilin complexes and may prompt a search for endogenous ligands of cyclophilin and FKBP that may effect signal transduction regulation. The molecular insights gained over a short time in this area have been remarkable; they promise to elucidate the steps in T cell activation and delineate new targets for immunosuppressive therapy.

Amino Acid Isomerases

Cyclosporin-mediated inhibition of bovine calcineurin by cyclophilins A and B.

The Ca(2+)- and calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase calcineurin is inhibited by the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporin A in the presence of cyclophilin A or B. Of the two isoforms, cyclophilin B is more potent by a factor of 2-5 when either the phosphoprotein [32P]casein or the [32P]phosphoserine [Ser(32P)] form of the 19-residue bovine cardiac cAMP-dependent protein kinase regulatory subunit peptide RII, [Ser(32P)15]RII, is used as substrate. With [Ser(32P15]RII as substrate, the concentrations of the cyclosporin A.cyclophilin A and cyclosporin A.cyclophilin B complexes, which cause 50% inhibition of calcineurin activity, are 120 and 50 nM, respectively. Lowering the concentration of calcineurin 80% with [32P]casein as substrate lowered the apparent inhibition constant for each complex even further; 50% inhibition of calcineurin was observed at 40 nM for cyclosporin A.cyclophilin A, whereas it was less than 10 nM for cyclosporin A.cyclophilin B. In all inhibition assays with [32P]casein or [Ser(32P)15]RII, the concentration of calcineurin required for measurable phosphatase activity is such that these complexes behave as tight-binding inhibitors of calcineurin, and steady-state kinetics cannot be used to assess inhibition patterns or Ki values. Limited trypsinization of calcineurin produces a fragment that is still inhibited, indicating that the interaction of cyclosporin.cyclophilin with calcineurin does not require either calmodulin or Ca2+.

Amino Acid Isomerases

C-terminal cysteines of Tn501 mercuric ion reductase.

Mercuric ion reductase (MerA) catalyzes the reduction of Hg(II) to Hg(0) as the last step in the bacterial mercury detoxification pathway. A member of the flavin disulfide oxidoreductase family, MerA contains an FAD prosthetic group and redox-active disulfide in its active site. However, the presence of these two moieties is not sufficient for catalytic Hg(II) reduction, as other enzyme family members are potently inhibited by mercurials. We have previously identified a second pair of active site cysteines (Cys558 Cys559 in the Tn501 enzyme) unique to MerA, that are essential for high levels of mercuric ion reductase activity [Moore, M. J., & Walsh, C. T. (1989) Biochemistry 28, 1183; Miller, S. M., et al. (1989) Biochemistry 28, 1194]. In this paper, we have examined the individual roles of Cys558 and Cys559 by site-directed mutagenesis of each to alanine. Phenotypic analysis indicates that both merA mutations result in a total disruption of the Hg(II) detoxification pathway in vivo, while characterization of the purified mutant enzymes in vitro shows each to have differential effects on catalytic function. Compared to wild-type enzyme, the C558A mutant shows a 20-fold reduction in kcat and a 10-fold increase in Km, for an overall decrease in catalytic efficiency of 200-fold in kcat/Km. In contrast, mutation of Cys559 to alanine results in less than a 2-fold reduction in kcat and an increase in Km of only 4-5 fold for an overall decrease in catalytic efficiency of only ca. 10-fold in vitro. From these results, it appears that Cys558 plays a more important role in forming the reducible complex with Hg(II), while both Cys558 and Cys559 seem to be involved in efficient scavenging (i.e., tight binding) of Hg(II).

Alanine

Interaction of Tn501 mercuric reductase and dihydroflavin adenine dinucleotide anion with metal ions: implications for the mechanism of mercuric reductase mediated Hg(II) reduction.

The flavoprotein Tn501 mercuric reductase (MerA) catalyzes the reduction of Hg(II) to Hg(0) through the intermediacy of the tightly bound two-electron-reduced cofactor FADH-. To gain insight into the MerA mechanism, the interaction of the holoenzyme or free FADH- with various metal ions was investigated. The free two-electron-reduced FAD cofactor, FADH-, readily reduces a variety of metal ions, provided they have suitably high redox potentials. For Hg(II) with various ligands, the rate of reduction is inversely proportional to the stability of the Hg(II)-ligand complex. These results are consistent with the free cofactor reducing metal ions by an outer-sphere electron transfer mechanism. In contrast, MerA can tightly bind several redox labile metal ions, but only Hg(II) is reduced. The inability of MerA to reduce these bound metal ions may suggest that MerA differs from free FADH- and utilizes an inner-sphere electron transfer mechanism in Hg(II) reduction.

Bacterial Proteins

Catalytic domains of the LAR and CD45 protein tyrosine phosphatases from Escherichia coli expression systems: purification and characterization for specificity and mechanism.

The cytoplasmic domains of two human transmembrane protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases), LAR and CD45, have been expressed in Escherichia coli, purified to near-homogeneity, and compared for catalytic efficiency toward several phosphotyrosine-containing peptide substrates. A 615-residue LAR fragment (LAR-D1D2) containing both tandemly repeated PTPase domains shows almost identical specific activity and high catalytic efficiency as the 40-kDa single-domain LAR-D1 fragment, consistent with a single functional active site in the 70-kDa LAR-D1D2 enzyme. A 90-kDa fragment of the human leukocyte CD45 PTPase, containing two similar tandemly repeated PTPase domains, shows parallel specificity to LAR-D1 and LAR-D1D2 with a high kcat/Km value for a phosphotyrosyl undecapeptide. Sufficient purified LAR-D1 and LAR-D1D2 PTPases were available to demonstrate enzymatic exchange of 18O from 18O4 inorganic phosphate into H2(16)O at rates of approximately 1 x 10(-2) s-1. The oxygen-18 exchange probably proceeds via a phosphoenzyme intermediate. Brief incubation of all three PTPase fragments with a [32P]phosphotyrosyl peptide substrate prior to quench with SDS sample buffer and gel electrophoresis led to autoradiographic detection of 32P-labeled enzymes. Pulse/chase studies on the LAR 32P-enzyme showed turnover of the labeled phosphoryl group.

Amino Acid Sequence

Characterization of EntF as a serine-activating enzyme.

EntF is the enzyme responsible for serine activation during the biosynthesis of enterobactin (a cyclic trimer of N-dihydroxybenzoyl serine) in Escherichia coli. EntF has been overexpressed and purified to > 90% homogeneity. The enzyme has been shown to complement the entF- MK1 strain in the synthesis of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoyl serine derivatives and exhibits L-serine-dependent ATP[32P] pyrophosphate exchange activity with a Km for serine of 260 mM and a turnover number of 760 min-1. Release of PPi during incubation of EntF with serine and ATP was observed, but with a low turnover number of 1.0 min-1. These results suggested the presence of an enzyme-bound intermediate, which has been shown by gel filtration analysis to be (L-serine)adenylate.

Adenosine Triphosphate

Overexpression, purification, and characterization of yeast cyclophilins A and B.

Two isoforms of yeast cyclophilins, yCyPA and yCyPB, have been subcloned, expressed in Escherichia coli, and purified to homogeneity. The full-length (163-amino acid) yeast CyPA was easily expressed and purified; however, only a genetically truncated, 186-residue form of yCyPB lacking a putative 20-amino acid signal sequence could be purified. Each yeast cyclophilin isoform is a peptidyl-prolyl isomerase, inhibitable by the immunosuppressive drug CsA (IC50's of 40 +/- 8 nM and 101 +/- 14 nM at 18 nM concentrations of yCyPA and yCyPB, respectively). Polyclonal antibodies raised against recombinant yCyPA detected native yCyPA in yeast cell extracts by both immunoprecipitation and Western blot analysis. However, polyclonal antibodies raised against recombinant yCyPB detected no native yCyPB in yeast cell extracts by Western blot analysis; small amounts of yCyPB were found in the culture broth, suggesting secretion extracellularly of this isoform. Northern analysis indicated that both yCyPA mRNA and yCYPB mRNA (at a much lower level) were detectable in cell-free extracts. Characterization of the yeast cyclophilin proteins demonstrated that their catalytic properties and sensitivity to CsA parallel those of the human cyclophilins.

Amino Acid Isomerases

83-kilodalton heat shock proteins of trypanosomes are potent peptide-stimulated ATPases.

A Crithidia fasciculata 83-kDa protein purified during a separate study of C. fasciculata trypanothione synthetase was shown to have ATPase activity and to belong to the hsp90 family of stress proteins. Because no ATPase activity has previously been reported for the hsp90 class, ATP utilization by C. fasciculata hsp83 was characterized: this hsp83 has an ATPase kcat of 150 min-1 and a Km of 60 microM, whereas the homologous mammalian hsp90 binds ATP but has no ATPase activity. Crithidia fasciculata hsp83 undergoes autophosphorylation on serine and threonine at a rate constant of 3.3 x 10(-3) min-1. Similar analysis was performed on recombinant Trypanosoma cruzi hsp83, and comparable ATPase parameters were obtained (kcat = 100 min-1, Km = 80 microM, kautophosphorylation = 6.3 x 10(-3) min-1). The phosphoenzyme is neither on the ATPase hydrolytic pathway nor does it affect ATPase catalytic efficiency. Both C. fasciculata and T. cruzi hsp83 show up to fivefold stimulation of ATPase activity by peptides of 6-24 amino acids.

Adenosine Triphosphatases

Active site mutants of human cyclophilin A separate peptidyl-prolyl isomerase activity from cyclosporin A binding and calcineurin inhibition.

Based on recent X-ray structural information, six site-directed mutants of human cyclophilin A (hCyPA) involving residues in the putative active site--H54, R55, F60, Q111, F113, and H126--have been constructed, overexpressed, and purified from Escherichia coli to homogeneity. The proteins W121A (Liu, J., Chen, C.-M., & Walsh, C.T., 1991a, Biochemistry 30, 2306-2310), H54Q, R55A, F60A, Q111A, F113A, and H126Q were assayed for cis-trans peptidyl-prolyl isomerase (PPIase) activity, their ability to bind the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporin A (CsA), and protein phosphatase 2B (calcineurin) inhibition in the presence of CsA. Results indicate that H54Q, Q111A, F113A, and W121A retain 3-15% of the catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km) of wild-type recombinant hCyPA. The remaining three mutants (R55A, F60A, and H126Q) each retain less than 1% of the wild-type catalytic efficiency, indicating participation by these residues in PPIase catalysis. Each of the mutants bound to a CsA affinity matrix. The mutants R55A, F60A, F113A, and H126Q inhibited calcineurin in the presence of CsA, whereas W121A did not. Although CsA is a competitive inhibitor of PPIase activity, it can complex with enzymatically inactive cyclophilins and inhibit the phosphatase activity of calcineurin.

Amino Acid Isomerases

NMR analysis of regioselectivity in dephosphorylation of a triphosphotyrosyl dodecapeptide autophosphorylation site of the insulin receptor by a catalytic fragment of LAR phosphotyrosine phosphatase.

An autophosphorylation site in the activated insulin receptor tyrosine kinase domain has three tyrosines phosphorylated when fully activated. To begin to examine recognition of triphosphotyrosyl sites by protein tyrosine phosphatases in possible control of signal transduction a triphosphotyrosyl dodecapeptide TRDIpYETDpYpYRK corresponding to residues 1,142-1,153 of the insulin receptor was prepared and incubated with the 40-kDa catalytic domain of the human PTPase LAR. To assess regioselectivity of recognition, the three diphosphotyrosyl regioisomers, and the three monophosphotyrosyl regioisomers were prepared and assayed. All seven peptides were PTPase substrates. To identify any preferences in dephosphorylation at pY5, pY9, or pY10, 1H-NMR analyses were conducted during enzyme incubations and distinguishing fingerprint regions determined for each of the seven phosphotyrosyl peptides. LAR PTPase shows strong preference for dephosphorylation first at pY5 (at tri-, di-, and monophosphotyrosyl levels). Initially this regioselectivity gives the Y5(pY9)(pY10) diphospho regioisomer, followed by equal dephosphorylation at pY9 or pY10 to give the corresponding monophosphoryl species on the way to fully dephosphorylated product. The NMR methodology is applicable to other peptides with multiple sites of phosphorylation that undergo attack by any phosphatase.

Amino Acid Sequence

Evidence for in vivo incorporation of D-lactate into peptidoglycan precursors of vancomycin-resistant enterococci.

The VanA ligase encoded by the vancomycin resistance plasmid pIP816 of Enterococcus faecium BM4147 condenses D-alanine with various D-2-hydroxy and D-2-amino acids in vitro. D-Lactate added to the culture medium restored the vancomycin resistance of a strain that does not produce the VanH dehydrogenase and therefore appears to be a substrate of VanA in vivo.

Drug Resistance, Microbial