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H Gehring

Publications and source records attributed to H Gehring.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

A low molecular weight growth inhibitor secreted in cultures of chicken embryo fibroblasts.

We report evidence for the occurrence of a novel type of growth inhibitor in conditioned medium of chicken embryo fibroblasts which inhibits both DNA synthesis and cell proliferation. The inhibitor does not compete with the growth factors present in the serum and its effect on the target cells is non-cytotoxic and reversible. The kinetics of the inhibition of thymidine incorporation indicate that the inhibitor acts in the S-phase of the cell cycle. Comparison of the chemical and physico-chemical properties of the inhibitor with other, recently described growth inhibitors of fibroblasts has demonstrated that it is different in many respects. The inhibitor has a Mr of less than 2000, is protease resistant, and acid- and heat-stable.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Cryoenzymological study of aspartate aminotransferase. Detection of intermediates by monitoring single turnovers with a true substrate.

The mechanism of action of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase has been investigated by cryoenzymological methods. For the first time a single half-reaction of enzymic transamination with a fast-reacting natural substrate could be monitored. The cryosolvent (50% methanol) did not affect the kinetic parameters for the overall reaction at 4 degrees C with cysteine sulfinate and oxaloacetate as substrates. The Km value for cysteine sulfinate at -44 degrees C, as determined from single-turnover experiments, was only slightly higher than that at 4 degrees C with and without cryosolvent. The kcat values obtained from analysis of the overall reaction at 4 degrees C to -33 degrees C give a linear Arrhenius plot (Ea = 87 kJ mol-1), which extrapolates to the kcat value estimated from single-turnover experiments at -44 degrees C. Apparently no change in the reaction path occurs over this large temperature range. On mixing pyridoxal enzyme and cysteine sulfinate at -44 degrees C, an intermediate absorbing at 430 nm was observed, which decayed in a biphasic process and most probably reflects the external aldimine. Under all conditions tested a build-up of a quninonoid intermediate was not observed, indicating that the protonation at C4' of the coenzyme is far from being rate-limiting and/or the equilibrium favors strongly the aldimine. The initial decay rate of the 430-nm intermediate indicates that this step might be partly rate-determining. However, the slower turnover rate as well as the shapes of intermediate spectra suggests another step, most likely the hydrolysis of the ketimine, to be actually rate-limiting.

Aspartate Aminotransferases↗
PubMed1986

The precursor of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase is translocated into mitochondria as apoprotein.

Mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase is synthesized on free polysomes as a higher molecular weight precursor (Sonderegger, P., Jaussi, R., Christen, P., and Gehring, H. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 3339-3345). The present study examines whether the coenzyme pyridoxal phosphate or pyridoxamine phosphate is required for the uptake of the precursor into mitochondria. Chicken embryo fibroblasts were cultured in medium prepared with and without pyridoxal. In cells grown in the presence of pyridoxal only holoform of aspartate aminotransferase and no apoenzyme was detected. Cells cultured under pyridoxal deficiency contained about 30% of apoenzyme in secondary cultures. All of this apoform was identified as mitochondrial isoenzyme. In order to differentiate whether this apoenzyme corresponded to newly synthesized protein or originated from pre-existing holoenzyme, double isotope-labeling experiments were performed. Secondary cultures of chicken embryo fibroblasts grown under pyridoxal depletion were labeled with [3H]methionine, and then pulsed with [35S]methionine. In another series of experiments, the 3H-labeled cells were pulsed with [35S]methionine in the presence of the protonophore carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone in order to accumulate the precursor. Subsequently, the accumulated precursor was chased into the mitochondria by addition of the carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone antagonist cysteamine. The holo- and apoenzyme from the ultrasonic extract of the double-labeled cells were separated by affinity chromatography on a phosphopyridoxyl-AH-Sepharose column, immunoprecipitated, and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and fluorography. Under both experimental conditions, the 3H/35S ratio of the apoenzyme was less than half of that of the holoenzyme. Therefore, the apoenzyme and not the holoenzyme is the first product of the precursor in the mitochondria. Apparently, the precursor of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase is transported into mitochondria as apoprotein and is processed there independently of the coenzyme.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Stereospecific labilization of the C-4' pro-S hydrogen of pyridoxamine 5'-phosphate in aspartate aminotransferase.

In the course of a half-reaction of enzymic transamination, the aldimine adduct formed between the coenzyme pyridoxal 5'-phosphate and the amino acid substrate tautomerizes to the ketimine intermediate which is then hydrolyzed to the oxo acid product and the pyridoxamine 5'-phosphate form of the enzyme. In the reverse half-reaction the tautomerization is initiated by the removal of a proton from the pro-S position at C-4' of the PMP moiety of the ketimine intermediate. The present study investigates the question whether the pro-S hydrogen at C-4' of PMP is labilized by its active site environment independently of the formation of the ketimine intermediate, i.e. in the absence of substrate. Reconstitution of apoaspartate aminotransferase (mitochondrial isoenzyme from chicken) with [4'-3H] PMP results indeed in a stereospecific exchange of pro-S 3H with solvent water. The exchange follows first order kinetics (t 1/2 = 23 min at pH 7.5 and 25 degrees C). Unbound PMP showed no measurable exchange. Rigorous control experiments excluded the possibility that the observed exchange was due to a transamination reaction of the enzyme with contaminating oxo acid substrates. The newly observed stereospecific exchange reaction allows to investigate the acid/base properties of C-4' and the modulating effects of its active site environment independently of the preceding and following steps of enzymic transamination.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Transfer of C alpha-hydrogen of glutamate to coenzyme of aspartate aminotransferase during transamination reaction.

During the transamination reaction of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase, transfer of tritium from the alpha-position of glutamate to the pro-S position of C4' of pyridoxamine 5'-phosphate was detected. A fast mixing and quenching device had to be used in order to reduce the number of transamination cycles undergone by the enzyme and thus to minimize the accompanying exchange of label with water. The extent of transfer of label (mean value 1.5%; range 0.8-4%) indicates that the 1,3-prototropic shift follows a stepwise rather than a concerted mechanism and that a single acid/base group is responsible for the proton transfer. The actual extent of proton transfer has to be much higher because the rate of alpha-tritium exchange with solvent was only approximately 10% of that of the turnover of unlabeled substrate, reflecting either an isotope effect or a retention of the tritium label in the reaction center during tautomerization. Under the assumption of an isotope effect, the actual transfer may be estimated to be 13%. This value is consistent with the notion of Lys-258 acting as the proton transferring group in which case the maximal value of transfer in an active site not accessible to solvent during the 1,3-prototropic shift would be 33%. However, alternative mechanisms involving Tyr-70 or a water molecule enclosed in the active site serving as acid/base group cannot be excluded on the basis of the present results. Furthermore, in these investigations aspartate aminotransferase was found to catalyze also the exchange of tritium from the beta-position of glutamate, though at a rate 350 times slower than that of the alpha-exchange.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Mechanism of action of aspartate aminotransferase proposed on the basis of its spatial structure.

Aspartate aminotransferase is a pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzyme that catalyses the transamination reaction: L-aspartate + 2-oxoglutarate----oxaloacetate + L-glutamate. The enzyme shuttles between its pyridoxal and pyridoxamine forms in a double-displacement process. This paper proposes a mechanism of action that delineates the dynamic role of the protein moiety of this enzyme. It is based on crystallographically determined spatial structures (at 2.8 A resolution) of the mitochondrial isoenzyme in its unliganded forms and in complexes with substrate analogues, as well as on model building studies. The enzyme is composed of two identical subunits, which consist of two domains. The coenzyme is bound to the larger domain and is situated in a pocket near the subunit interface. The proximal and distal carboxylate group of dicarboxylic substrates are bound to Arg386 and Arg292 , respectively, the latter residue belonging to the adjacent subunit. These interactions largely determine the substrate specificity of the enzyme. They not only position the substrate efficient catalysis but also bring about a bulk movement of the small domain that closes the active site crevice and moves Arg386 about 3 A closer to the coenzyme. The replacement of the epsilon-amino group of Lys258 by the alpha-amino group of the substrate in the aldimine bond to pyridoxal phosphate is accompanied by a tilting of the coenzyme by approximately 30 degrees. The released epsilon-amino group of Lys258 serves as a proton acceptor/donor in the 1,3- prototropic shift producing the ketimine intermediate. At this stage, or after hydrolysis of the ketimine bond, the coenzyme rotates back to an orientation between that in the "external" aldimine intermediate and that in the pyridoxal form. Throughout this process, the protonated pyridine nitrogen atom maintains a hydrogen bond to the beta-carboxylate group of Asp222 . Upon formation of the pyridoxamine form, the small domain moves back to its original position. The proposed mechanism is compatible with the known kinetic and stereochemical features of enzymic transamination.

Aspartate Aminotransferases↗
PubMed1983

Crystalline aspartate aminotransferase: lattice-induced functional asymmetry of the two subunits.

The enzymic activity of crystalline mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase (L-aspartate:2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase, EC 2.6.1.1) was determined in suspensions of noncrosslinked microcrystals in 30% (wt/vol) polyethylene glycol. The crystals (average dimensions, 22 x 5 x 0.8 micron) were small enough to preclude diffusional rate limitation. They had the same habit as the triclinic crystals used for the determination of the spatial structure of the enzyme by x-ray crystallographic analysis [Ford, G. C., Eichele, G., and Jansonius, J. N. (1980) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77, 2559-2563]. Determination of the Michaelis-Menten parameters showed that the packing of the enzyme dimer into the crystal lattice not only decreases its activity but also induces a functional nonequivalence of the two subunits that behave identically in solution. The crystalline enzyme possesses a high-affinity subunit with Km values similar to those of the enzyme in solution (K'm = 0.5 mM for aspartate and 1.2 mM for 2-oxoglutarate) and a low-affinity subunit (K'm = 5.5 mM and 14.5 mM, respectively). The catalytic activity of the high-affinity subunit is 3% and that of the low-affinity subunit is 15% of the activity of the enzyme in solution. The functional asymmetry of the crystalline enzyme dimer could also be demonstrated by selective mechanism-based modification of either type of active sites. In view of the apparently identical conformation of the two subunits in the crystalline enzyme, its decreased catalytic efficiency and its functional asymmetry likely are due to constraints exerted by the crystal lattice on the conformational adaptability of the two subunits. In triclinic crystals the two subunits of the enzyme dimer have dissimilar lattice contacts.

Animals↗