Syntaxin 7 is a mammalian target soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) involved in membrane transport between late endosomes and lysosomes. The aim of the present study was to use immunoaffinity techniques to identify proteins that interact with Syntaxin 7. We reasoned that this would be facilitated by the use of cells producing high levels of Syntaxin 7. Screening of a large number of tissues and cell lines revealed that Syntaxin 7 is expressed at very high levels in B16 melanoma cells. Moreover, the expression of Syntaxin 7 increased in these cells as they underwent melanogenesis. From a large scale Syntaxin 7 immunoprecipitation, we have identified six polypeptides using a combination of electrospray mass spectrometry and immunoblotting. These polypeptides corresponded to Syntaxin 7, Syntaxin 6, mouse Vps10p tail interactor 1b (mVti1b), alpha-synaptosome-associated protein (SNAP), vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP)8, VAMP7, and the protein phosphatase 1M regulatory subunit. We also observed partial colocalization between Syntaxin 6 and Syntaxin 7, between Syntaxin 6 and mVti1b, but not between Syntaxin 6 and the early endosomal t-SNARE Syntaxin 13. Based on these and data reported previously, we propose that Syntaxin 7/mVti1b/Syntaxin 6 may form discrete SNARE complexes with either VAMP7 or VAMP8 to regulate fusion events within the late endosomal pathway and that these events may play a critical role in melanogenesis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2001

Reactions of BBr(n)(+) (n = 0--2) at fluorinated and hydrocarbon self-assembled monolayer surfaces: observations of chemical selectivity in ion--surface scattering.

Ion-surface reactions involving BBr(n)(+) (n = 0--2) with a fluorinated self-assembled monolayer (F-SAM) surface were investigated using a multi-sector scattering mass spectrometer. Collisions of the B(+) ion yield BF(2)(+) at threshold energy with the simpler product ion BF(+)* appearing at higher collision energies and remaining of lower abundance than BF(2)(+) at all energies examined. In addition, the reactively sputtered ion CF(+) accompanies the formation of BF(2)(+) at low collision energies. These results stand in contrast with previous data on the ion-surface reactions of atomic ions with the F-SAM surface in that the threshold and most abundant reaction products in those cases involved the abstraction of a single fluorine atom. Gas-phase enthalpy data are consistent with BF(2)(+) being the thermodynamically favored product. The fact that the abundance of BF(2)(+) is relatively low and relatively insensitive to changes in collision energy suggests that this reaction proceeds through an entropically demanding intermediate at the vacuum--surface interface, one which involves interaction of the B(+) ion simultaneously with two fluorine atoms. By contrast with the reaction of B(+), the odd-electron species BBr(+)* reacts with the F-SAM surface to yield an abundant single-fluorine abstraction product, BBrF(+). Corresponding gas-phase ion--molecule experiments involving B(+) and BBr(+)* with C(6)F(14) also yield the products BF(+)* and BF(2)(+), but only in extremely low abundances and with no preference for double fluorine abstraction. Ion--surface reactions were also investigated for BBr(n)(+) (n = 0-2) with a hydrocarbon self-assembled monolayer (H-SAM) surface. Reaction of the B(+) ion and dissociative reactions of BBr(+)* result in the formation of BH(2)(+), while the thermodynamically less favorable product BH(+)* is not observed. Collisions of BBr(2)(+) with the H-SAM surface yield the dissociative ion-surface reaction products, BBrH(+) and BBrCH(3)(+). Substitution of bromine atoms on the projectile by hydrogen or alkyl radicals suggests that Br atoms may be transferred to the surface in a Br-for-H or Br-for-CH(3) transfer reaction in an analogous fashion to known transhalogenation reactions at the F-SAM surface. The results for the H-SAM surface stand in contrast to those for the F-SAM surface in that enhanced neutralization of the primary ions gives secondary ion signals one to two orders of magnitude smaller than those obtained when using the F-SAM surface, consistent with the relative ionization energies of the two materials.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2001

Surface expression of the conserved C repeat region of streptococcal M6 protein within the Pip bacteriophage receptor of Lactococcus lactis.

The C repeat region of the M6 protein (M6c) from Streptococcus pyogenes was expressed within the Pip bacteriophage receptor on the surface of Lactococcus lactis. M6c was also detected in the culture medium. The pip-emm6c allele was integrated into the chromosome and stably expressed without antibiotic selection. The level of cell-associated surface expression of PipM6c was 0.015% of total cellular protein. The amount of PipM6c on the cell surface was increased about 17-fold by expressing pip-emm6c from a high-copy-number plasmid. Replacing the native pip promoter with stronger promoters isolated previously from Lactobacillus acidophilus increased surface expression of PipM6c from the high-copy-number plasmid up to 27-fold. Concomitantly, the amount of PipM6c in the medium increased 113-fold. The amount of PipM6c did not vary greatly between exponential- and stationary-phase cultures. Western blots indicated that the full-length PipM6c protein and most of the numerous proteolytic products were found only on the cell surface, whereas only one proteolytic fragment was found in the culture medium.

Antigens, Bacterial↗

PubMed2001