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Biomedical subjects

N M Kredich

Publications and source records attributed to N M Kredich.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Induction of hemoglobin synthesis by xylosyladenine in murine erythroleukemia cells. Metabolism of xylosyladenine and effects on transmethylation.

The adenosine analog xylosyladenine is a potent inducer of hemoglobin synthesis in Friend virus-infected murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells. In cultures treated with 0.1 microM xylosyladenine and an inhibitor of adenosine deaminase, 80% of the cells accumulated hemoglobin. Under these conditions, cell growth was inhibited by 50%. No effect was observed in the absence of adenosine deaminase inhibition. An adenosine kinase-deficient MEL subline was isolated and was found to be resistant to induction by xylosyladenine. Treated cells accumulated substantial amounts of the xylofuranosyl analogs of ATP, S-adenosylmethionine, and S-adenosylhomocysteine, indicating that metabolites of xylosyladenine participate in S-adenosylmethionine-mediated transmethylation reactions. Measurements of in vivo nucleic acid methylation showed that xylosyladenine causes a marked inhibition of 2'-O-methyluridine, 2'-O-methylcytidine, 5-methyluridine, and 5-methylcytidine formation in the RNA of treated cells. DNA methylation was not inhibited. These data suggest that the xylofuranosyl analogs of S-adenosylmethionine and/or S-adenosylhomocysteine can inhibit intracellular RNA methylation in MEL cells while having little or no such effect on DNA methylation.

Adenosine↗

Influence of cytoskeletal assembly on phosphatidylcholine synthesis in intact phagocytic cells.

Interactions of the plasma membrane with the cytoskeleton are required for diverse cellular functions such as adhesion, division, secretion, endocytosis and chemotaxis. We therefore investigated whether the reversible assembly of microtubules and/or microfilaments in leukocytes affected the synthesis of a key membrane component, phosphatidylcholine. The effects of a variety of antitubuin and antimicrofilament agents on phosphatidylcholine synthesis via the methylation of phosphatidyl-ethanolamine and its formation through CDP-choline were studied. The antitubulins inhibited the incorporation of 3H-methyl groups into phosphatidylethanolamine in guinea pig macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes by as much as 64%, while cytochalasin B, an antimicrofilament agent, had no effect. In contrast, the incorporation of methyl-3H-choline into phosphatidylcholine was stimulated in these cells by as much as 2 fold by the anti-tubulins. The synthesis of phosphatidylcholine in a nonphagocytic cell type, splenic lymphocytes, was not altered in the presence of the antitubulin agents. Changes in the state of polymerization of cellular tubulin pools associated with certain specialized functions of cells may, through effects on phosphatidylcholine synthesis, alter local membrane composition, microviscosity, or the interaction of membrane proteins with their environment.

Animals↗

Resistance of an adenosine kinase-deficient human lymphoblastoid cell line to effects of deoxyadenosine on growth, S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase inactivation, and dATP accumulation.

Accumulation of dATP derived from 2'-deoxyadenosine (dAdo), causing inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase and depletion of the other deoxynucleotide substrates required for DNA synthesis, has been suggested as the cause of the lymphopenia and immune defect in inheritable deficiency of adenosine deaminase (adenosine aminohydrolase, EC 3.5.4.4). dAdo also inactivates the enzyme S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (AdoHcyase; S-adenosyl-L-homocystein hydrolase EC 3.3.1.1) which is involved in the catabolism of S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine (AdoHcy), both a product and a potent inhibitor of S-adenosylmethionine-dependent transmethylation. We have tried to determine whether inactivation of AdoHcyase might also contribute to dAdo toxicity to adenosine deaminase-inhibited cells. dAdo rapidly inactivates intracellular AdoHcyase and causes the accumulation of AdoHcy in WI-L2 human B lymphoblastoid cells. Low concentrations of adenosine (Ado), which block binding of dAdo to purified AdoHcyase, prevented inactivation of intracellular AdoHcyase and also lessened the growth-inhibitory effect of dAdo. A mutant of this cell line which lacks Ado kinase and accumulated endogenously synthesized Ado was resistant to the effects of dAdo on both growth and AdoHcyase activity. The mutant also accumulated far less dATP from dAdo than did its parent and was resistant to the inhibitory effect of dAdo on DNA synthesis, indicating the Ado kinase is involved in dAdo phosphorylation in these cells. Combinations of deoxycytidine, thymidine, and deoxyguanosine that could prevent dATP-mediated depletion of deoxynucleotide pools but not AdoHcyase inactivation were less effective than Ado in preventing dAdo toxicity to normal lymphoblasts. Our results suggest that inactivation of AdoHcyase, as well as dATP accumulation, contributes to dAdo toxicity.

Adenosine Kinase↗

Synthesis of L-cysteine in Salmonella typhimurium.

In Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli the biosynthesis of L-cysteine from L-serine and inorganic sulphate proceeds along a branched convergent pathway along one arm of which sulphate is reduced to sulphide, while on the other L-serine is acetylated to O-acetyl-L-serine. This system is subject to positive genetic control in which growth on a poor sulphur source, O-acetyl-L-serine and the product of the cysB regulatory gene are all required for derepression. The final step consists of the formation of L-cysteine from O-acetyl-L-serine and sulphide. We find that in S. typhimurium this reaction is catalysed by two different enzymes, O-acetylserine sulphydrylase A and O-acetylserine sulphydrylase B, coded for by cysK and cysM respectively. Both enzymes are under the control of the cysteine regulon, and either alone is sufficient for cysteine prototrophy during aerobic growth. Although the advantage to the bacterium of having two separate enzymes to carry out the same reaction is unclear, preliminary data suggest that O-acetylserine sulphydrylase B is preferentially utilized for cysteine biosynthesis during anaerobic growth. We speculate that one enzyme may prefer free sulphide as a substrate while the other may use a bound form of sulphide.

Anaerobiosis↗

S-adenosylhomocysteine toxicity in normal and adenosine kinase-deficient lymphoblasts of human origin.

The human lymphoblast line WI-L2 is subject to growth inhibition by a combination of the adenosine deaminase (ADA; adenosine aminohydrolase, EC 3.5.4.4.) inhibitor erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)adenine (EHNA) and adenosine. Although adenosine-induced pyrimidine starvation appears to contribute to this effect, uridine only partially reverses adenosine toxicity in WI-L2 and not at all in strain 107, an adenosine kinase-(ATP:adenosine 5'-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.20) deficient derivative of WI-L2. Treatment of both cell lines with EHNA and adenosine leads to striking elevations in intracellular S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine (AdoHcy), a potent inhibitor of S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet)-dependent methylation reactions. The methylation in vivo of both DNA and RNA is inhibited by concentrations of EHNA and adenosine that elevate intracellular AdoHcy. Addition of 100 muM L-homocysteine thiolactone to cells treated with EHNA and adenosine enhances adenosine toxicity and further elevates AdoHcy to levels approximately 60-fold higher than those obtained in the absence of this amino acid, presumably by combining with adenosine to form AdoHcy in a reaction catalyzed by S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (EC 3.3.1.1). In the adenosine kinase-deficient strain 107, a combination of ADA inhibition and L-homocysteine thiolactone markedly increases intracellular AdoHcy and inhibits growth even in the absence of exogenous adenosine. These results demonstrate a form of toxicity from endogenously produced adenosine and support the view that AdoHcy, by inhibiting methylation, is a mediator of uridine-resistant adenosine toxicity in these human lymphoblast lines. Furthermore, they suggest that AdoHcy may play a role in the pathogenesis of the severe combined immunodeficiency disease found in most children with heritable ADA deficiency.

Adenosine↗

Phospholipid methylation in macrophages is inhibited by chemotactic factors.

Chemotaxis by human monocytes has been shown to require methylation mediated by S-adenosyl-L-methionine(AdoMet), but the specific transmethylation reaction necessary for this function was not elucidated. In an attempt to define the methylation requirement for chemotaxis, we examined the effect of chemotactic agonists and antagonists on protein carboxy-O-methylation of protein and methylation of phospholipid in guinea pig macrophages. Chemotactic agents tested over a wide dose and time range produced no alteration in carboxy-O-methylation. However, these agents did produce an effect on the methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine by macrophages. AdoMet-mediated phospholipid methylation was inhibited by as much as 73% by chemotactic factors, and there was excellent correlation (r = 0.99) between their concentrations for producing half-maximal chemotactic responses and for inhibiting phospholipid methylation. The inhibition of methylation by chemotactic factors was observed at all incubation times and could not be explained by an increased turnover of membrane phospholipid. Neither the chemotaxis antagonist fPhe-Met nor the nonchemotactic tripeptide Met-Met-Met significantly depressed phospholipid methylation. Immune phagocytosis by macrophages similarly did not alter phospholipid methylation. The chemotactic factors produced no alteration in total macrophage phospholipid synthesis or in the phospholipid methylation in a nonchemotactic cell type. The formation of newly methylated derivatives of phosphatidylethanolamine in macrophages was decreased by a biologically active dose of chemotactic factor. These findings indicate that chemotactic factors are capable of altering the methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine in chemotactically responsive cells. The inhibition of phospholipid methylation by chemotactic factors may be necessary for the translation of a chemotactic signal on the surface of the cell into directional cell movement.

Animals↗

Regulation of O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase B by L-cysteine in Salmonella typhimurium.

A technique based on resistance to azaserine was used to isolate mutants lacking O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase B, one of two enzymes in Salmonella typhimurium capable of synthesizing L-cysteine from O-acetyl-L-serine and sulfide. The mutant locus responsible for this defect has been designated cysM, and genetic mapping suggests that cysM is very close to and perhaps contiguous with cysA. Strains lacking either O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase B or the second sulfhydrylase, O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase A (coded for by cysK), are cysteine prototrophs, but cysK cysM double mutants were found to require cysteine for growth. O-Acetylserine sulfhydrylase B was depressed by growth on a poor sulfur source, and depression was dependent upon both a functional cysB regulatory gene product and the internal inducer of the cysteine biosynthetic pathway, O-acetyl-L-serine. Furthermore, a cysBc strain, in which other cysteine biosynthetic enzymes cannot be fully repressed by growth on L-cystine, was found to be constitutive for O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase B as well. Thus O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase B is regulated by the same factors that control the expression of O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase A and other activities of the cysteine regulon. It is not clear why S. typhimurium has two enzymes whose physiological function appears to be to catalyze the same step of L-cysteine biosynthesis.

Chromosome Mapping↗

In vivo inactivation of erythrocyte S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase by 2'-deoxyadenosine in adenosine deaminase-deficient patients.

The cytotoxic nucleoside 2'-deoxyadenosine is excreted in excessive amounts by individuals with genetic deficiency of adenosine deaminase, and may be in part responsible for the severe combined immune dysfunction from which they suffer. Earlier studies from this laboratory showed that 2'-deoxyadenosine causes the irreversible inactivation of the enzyme S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase by an active site-directed, "suicide-like" process. In this communication we have demonstrated similar inactivation of S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase in hemolysate and in intact erythrocytes, as well as a striking deficiency of S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase activity in the erythrocytes of three adenosine deaminase-deficient patients. In vivo suicide-like inactivation of S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase by 2'-deoxyadenosine may contribute to the cytotoxicity of 2'-deoxyadenosine and to the immune dysfunction in adenosine deaminase deficiency.

Adenosine Deaminase↗

Inactivation of human gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase by cystamine. Demonstration and quantification of enzyme-ligand complexes.

Human erythrocyte gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase is inactivated by the disulfide cystamine (2,2'-dithiobis-(ethylamine)) at pH 8.2 with a rate constant of 1020 min-1 mM-1. Magnesium ion and various combinations of substrates and products confer differing degrees of protection against cystamine inactivation, thus allowing the detection and quantification of certain enzyme-ligand interactions. By measuring inactivation rates as a function of ligand concentrations in incomplete reaction mixtures, we have obtained evidence for the following complexes: enzyme . Mg2+; enzyme . Mg2+ . MgATP2-; enzyme . Mg2+ . L-glutamate; enzyme . Mg2+ . MgATP2- . L-glutamate; enzyme . Mg2+ . L-gamma-glutamyl-L-alpha-aminobutyrate. The data also imply the existence of enzyme . (Mg2+)2 . MgATP2- . L-glutamate and several enzyme forms resulting from the weak binding to L-alpha-aminobutyrate. The methods used permit the calculation of cystamine inactivation rates for most of these enzyme forms and also give values for the equilibrium constants describing their formation.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Requirement of S-adenosyl-L-methionine-mediated methylation for human monocyte chemotaxis.

The chemotactic response of motile bacteria requires the methylation of specific proteins by S-adenosyl-L-methionine. To determine whether methylation is required for the chemotaxis of human leukocytes, we studied the effects of inhibition of S-adenosyl-L-methionine-mediated methylation on monocyte chemotactic responsiveness. Methylation was inhibited in monocytes by treating the cells with substances that produced elevations in intracellular S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine, a competitive inhibitor of S-adenosyl-L-methionine methylation. Treatment of isolated monocytes with the adenosine deaminase inhibitor, erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)adenine, plus exogenous adenosine and L-homocysteine thiolactone increased intracellular S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine levels by as much as 1500-fold. Concomitant with increases in S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine were a decrease in monocyte protein carboxy-O-methylation as well as a marked inhibition of monocyte chemotactic responsiveness. Conditions that almost completely inhibited methylation and chemotaxis did not depress monocyte phagocytosis, indicating that this latter function either is independent of S-adenosyl-L-methionine-mediated methylation or is extremely resistant to inhibition of such reactions by S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine. These studies indicate that S-adenosyl-L-methionine-mediated methylation is required for the chemotaxis of eukaryotic cells and that the chemotactic and phagocytic functions of human monocytes have different requirements for methylation.

Adenosine Deaminase Inhibitors↗

Regulation of L-cystine transport in Salmonella typhimurium.

A kinetic analysis of L-cystine uptake in wild-type Salmonella typhimurium indicates the presence of at least two, and possibly three, separate transport systems. CTS-1 accounts for the majority of uptake at 20 muM L-cystine, with a Vmax of 9.5 nmol/min per mg and a Km of 2.0 muM; CTS-2 is a low-capacity, higher-affinity system with a Vmax of 0.22 nmol/min per mg and a Km of 0.05 muM; a third, nonsaturable process has been designated CTS-3. We find that wild-type CTS-1 levels are at least 11 times higher in sulfur-limited cells than in L-cystine-grown cells. Pleiotropic cysteine auxotrophs of the types cysE (lacking serine transacetylase) and cysB- (lacking a regulatory element of positive control) have very low levels of CTS-1 even when grown under conditions of sulfur limitation, which response is analogous to that previously observed for cysteine biosynthetic enzymes (N . M. Kredich, J. Biol. Chem. 246:3474-3484, 1971). CTS-1 is induced in cysE mutants by growth in the presence of O-acetyl-L-serine (the product of serine transacetylase), again paralleling the behavior of the cysteine biosynthetic pathway. Strain DW25, a prototrophic cysBc mutant, which is constitutive for cysteine biosynthesis, is also derepressed for CTS-1 when grown on L-cystine. Since CTS-1 is regulated by sulfur limitation, O-acetyl-L-serine, and the cysB gene product, the same three conditions controlling cysteine biosynthesis, we propose that this transport system is a part of the cysteine regulon.

Azides↗