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Biomedical subjects

I Zündorf

Publications and source records attributed to I Zündorf.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Monoclonal antibodies against an arabinogalactan-protein from pressed juice of Echinacea purpurea.

Pressed juices of the aerial parts of Echinacea purpurea are used as non-specific immunostimulants, and arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs) have been shown to be part of the active principle. Monoclonal antibodies against an AGP from pressed juice of Echinacea purpurea with complement-stimulating activity have been established by means of hybridoma techniques. To test the specificity of the antibodies, several other arabinogalactan-proteins from suspension cultures of Echinacea purpurea, the roots of Echinacea pallida, the aerial parts of Rudbeckia hirta, the roots of Baptisia tinctoria and gum arabic as well as an arabinogalactan from larch wood were tested in a competitive ELISA for cross reactivities. Chemical modifications at the periphery of the AGP molecules either by reduction of uronic acids or by dearabinosylation had no influence on the reactivity of the molecules towards the antibodies. For further characterization of the epitope, different Ara-Gal-oligosaccharides were used as antigens. A hexasaccharide consisting of a backbone of four molecules of 6-linked beta- D-Gal p, the second and the fourth of them branched at O-2 to an alpha- L-Ara f residue showed weak but reproducible cross reactivity, indicating that the antibodies may be at least in part directed to the carbohydrate moiety of the AGP. Testing of anti-AGP antibodies JIM 8 and LM 2 revealed good reactivity of LM 2 with the Echinacea AGP, whereas Jim 8 showed only very weak interaction.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Generation and characterisation of monoclonal antibodies to oleanolic acid.

Monoclonal antibodies to oleanolic acid, a pentacyclic triterpene, were generated using the hybridoma fusion method described by Kohler and Milstein . Protein conjugates of the target molecule for immunisation were prepared either by directly linking the isoprenoid to different protein carriers via the carboxylic function or after introduction of a succinic spacer between the protein carrier and position 3 of the target molecule. Antibodies of three different cell lines were further analysed by competitive ELISA and were shown to be directed either against both rings A and B or to ring E of the pentacyclic system. Thus these antibodies can be used in the specific detection of oleanolic acid itself or of a broad range of oleanolic acid derivatives sharing a specific structural moiety. Therefore these antibodies may be interesting tools for the screening of putative terpenoid-containing plants.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

On the problem of establishing the subcellular localization of Dictyostelium retrotransposon TRE5-A proteins by biochemical analysis of nuclear extracts.

At first sight a protein that is enriched in extracts prepared from nuclei by means of biochemical methods can be considered to be a nuclear protein in vivo. Although this assumption will hold true for most of the analyzed proteins, it could also lead to false interpretations. We analyzed the subcellular distribution of endogenous and plasmid-borne proteins derived from the retrotransposon TRE5-A of Dictyostelium discoideum. In biochemical fractionation experiments the proteins encoded by TRE5-A open reading frame 1 (ORF1p) and the putative endonuclease encoded in ORF2 (ENp) were found in the detergent-insoluble material containing the nuclei. However, salt extraction of isolated nuclei did not considerably release the TRE5-A proteins. Instead, the TRE5-A proteins were strongly enriched in a fraction that contained the chromosomal DNA after removal of most cytoskeletal and histone proteins. These observations implied that ORF1p and ENp were both attached to chromatin in vivo, but this conclusion was disproved by the expression of genetic fusions of green fluorescent protein with either ORF1p or ENp. We show conclusive evidence that both fusion proteins were located as large aggregates of native protein in the cytoplasm of D. discoideum cells.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Gene function analysis by amber stop codon suppression: CMBF is a nuclear protein that supports growth and development of Dictyostelium amoebae.

The C-module-binding factor, CMBF, is a nuclear DNA-binding protein which was originally identified through its specific binding to a promoter element within the retrotransposable element TRE5-A of Dictyostelium discoideum AX2 cells. In order to analyse putative physiological functions of CMBF for the TRE5-A-hosting D. discoideum cells, we used a novel strategy to create mutant cell lines which stably underexpressed functional CMBF. An amber (UAG) translation stop codon was introduced into the chromosomal copy of the CMBF-encoding gene (cbfA), and an amber suppressor tRNA gene was expressed in the same mutant cells. Due to the low efficiency of translation stop codon suppression in this system all recovered cell lines expressed <20 % of wild-type CMBF levels. The mutant cell lines displayed strong growth phenotypes when plated on their natural food source, bacteria. We show evidence that growth reduction was due to impaired phagocytosis of bacteria in the mutants. All obtained mutants showed a strong developmental defect which was defined by the formation of very small fruiting bodies. The strength of the developmental phenotype appeared to depend upon the residual CMBF levels maintained in the mutants. We propose that CMBF is a general transcription regulator which supports the normal expression of several genes required for the maintenance of high proliferation rates of D. discoideum amoebae as well as proper aggregation and development. Our results demonstrate that amber stop codon suppression may be a useful strategy to stably underexpress proteins whose coding genes cannot be successfully disrupted by homologous recombination.

Active Transport, Cell Nucleus↗
PubMed1999

A Dictyostelium protein binds to distinct oligo(dA) x oligo(dT) DNA sequences in the C-module of the retrotransposable element DRE.

The genome of the eukaryotic microbe Dictyostelium discoideum contains some 200 copies of the nonlong-terminal repeat retrotransposon DRE. Among several unique features of this retroelement, DRE is transcribed in both directions leading to the formation of partially overlapping plus strand and minus strand RNAs. The synthesis of minus strand RNAs is controlled by the C-module, a 134-bp DNA sequence located at the 3'-end of DRE. A nuclear protein (CMBF) binds to the C-module via interaction with two almost homopolymeric 24 bp oligo(dA) x oligo(dT) sequences. The DNA-binding drugs distamycin and netropsin, which bind to A x T-rich DNA sequences in the minor groove, competed efficiently for the binding of CMBF to the C-module. The CMBF-encoding gene, cbfA, was isolated and a DNA-binding domain was mapped to a 25-kDa C-terminal region of the protein. A peptide motif involved in the binding of A x T-rich DNA by high mobility group-I proteins ('GRP' box) was identified in the deduced CMBF protein sequence, and exchange of a consensus arginine residue for alanine within the CMBF GRP box abolished the interaction of CMBF with the C-module. The current data support the theory that CMBF binds to the C-module by detecting its long-range DNA conformation and interacting with A x T base pairs in the minor groove of oligo(dA) x oligo(dT) stretches.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1998

Generation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies against the pyrrolizidine alkaloid retrorsine.

Monoclonal antibodies against retrorsine were established using a retrorsine-hemisuccinate::bovine-thyroglobuline conjugate as antigen for immunization. In competitive enzyme-linked immunoassays the specificity of the obtained antibodies was tested with 20 different pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Among these the alkaloids acetylgynuramine, gynuramine, integerrimine, neoplatyphylline, platyphylline, rosmarinine, senecionine, and seneciphylline were able to bind the antibody. There was no cross-reactivity with the alkaloids senkirkine, angeloyl-heliotridine, heliotridine, axillarine, anacrotine, monocrotaline, madurensine, otosenine, retronecine, tussilagine, triangularine, and jacoline as well as with seneciphylline N-oxide. From this antigen spectrum it can be concluded that besides the necic structure itself the dominant and discriminative epitope consists of the exocyclic ethylidene group of the various diesters.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Expression of the rat muscarinic receptor gene m3 in Dictyostelium discoideum.

We functionally expressed the rat muscarinic m3 receptor (rm3) in the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum under the control of the homologous discoidin I gamma promoter. Cells transfected with the authentic rm3 receptor gene expressed about 100 functional receptor molecules per cell, corresponding to a Bmax for [3H]-NMS of 36 +/- 9 fmol/mg of protein in isolated membranes. Genetic fusion of the Dictyostelium contact site A (csA) leader peptide to the amino terminus of rm3 increased the receptor expression by about 17-fold. Remarkable, in [3H]-NMS ligand binding experiments performed with whole cells no characteristic saturable binding was observed and there was no significant difference in [3H]-NMS binding to whole cells of rm3 and csA/rm3 transformants. The recombinant rm3 receptor showed an about 10-fold higher affinity to the M3-selective antagonist p-F-HHSiD compared to the M2-selective antagonist AQ-RA 741, suggesting that membranes derived from transgenic D. discoideum cells may be useful for the search of new subtype-specific muscarinic receptor ligands.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Internally located and oppositely oriented polymerase II promoters direct convergent transcription of a LINE-like retroelement, the Dictyostelium repetitive element, from Dictyostelium discoideum.

The Dictyostelium discoideum NC4 genome harbors approximately 150 individual copies of a retrotransposable element called the Dictyostelium repetitive element (DRE). This element contains nonidentical terminal repeats (TRs) consisting of conserved building blocks A and B in the left TR and B and C in the right TR. Seven different-sized classes of RNA transcripts from these elements were resolved by Northern (RNA) blot analysis, but their combined abundance was very low. When D. discoideum cells were grown in the presence of the respiratory chain blocker antimycin A, steady-state concentrations of these RNA species increased 10- to 20-fold. The D. discoideum genome contains two DRE subtypes, the full-length 5.7-kb DREa and the internally deleted 2.4-kb DREb. Both subtypes are transcribed, as confirmed by analysis of cloned cDNA. Primary transcripts from the sense strand originate at nucleotide +1 and terminate at two dominant sites, located 21 or 28 nucleotides upstream from the 3' end of the elements. The activity of a reasonably strong polymerase II promoter in the 5'-terminal A module is slightly upregulated by the tRNA gene located 50 +/- 4 nucleotides upstream and drastically reduced by the adjacent B module of the DRE. Transcripts from the opposite DNA strand (complementary-sense transcripts) were also detected, directed by an internally located polymerase II promoter residing within the C module. This latter transcription was initiated at multiple sites within the oligo(dA12) stretch which terminates DREs.

Animals↗