Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P Dancker.
Phalloidin, an actin-filament stabilizing peptide from Amanita phalloides, did not inhibit ATP hydrolysis during actin polymerization but strongly retarded the release of the hydrolysis product Pi. Thus, the lifetime of the intermediate F-actin-ADP-Pi is significantly increased by phalloidin. The results suggest a close correlation between filament stability and F-actin-ADP-Pi intermediates.
Phalloidin, a heptapeptide from the mushroom Amanita phalloides, increased the velocity of actin polymerization, but slightly decreased the velocity of elongation (polymerization onto sonicated F-actin). A plot of log polymerization velocity vs. log actin concentration was less steep in the presence of phalloidin than in its absence, suggesting that the filament nucleus is smaller in the presence of phalloidin than in its absence.
The influence of phalloidin on the ATP hydrolysis associated with actin polymerization was investigated. Whereas in the absence of phalloidin actin-bound ATP was totally hydrolyzed during polymerization, ATP hydrolysis was not complete after actin polymerization in the presence of phalloidin: 5-10% of ATP remained unhydrolyzed and disappeared only after 2 days.
Actin, labelled with the fluorescent dye N-(3-pyrenyl)maleimide, was diluted below its critical concentration and depolymerization was followed by measuring the declining fluorescence intensity. The time courses of depolymerization were fitted to a sum of three exponentials. In most cases there was a fast initial phase followed by one or three slower ones. Increasing MgCl2 concentration slowed down depolymerization velocity, as did substitution of Tris-maleate buffer by phosphate buffer. Older F-actin preparations depolymerized more slowly than younger ones. Phalloidin strongly decreased depolymerization velocity even after sonication. In the presence of cytochalasin B depolymerization was more uniformly exponential than in the absence of cytochalasin B; overall depolymerization velocity was decreased by cytochalasin B. The results are discussed on the assumption that depolymerization kinetics reflect the length distribution of actin filaments during depolymerization.
[14C]ATP-containing G-actin was polymerized to [14C]ADP-containing F-actin. The exchange of the filament-bound nucleotide with nucleotides of the medium was investigated by measuring the loss of radioactivity from the filaments under various conditions. Nucleotide exchange was faster in the presence of ATP than of ADP (this could be observed in the presence of Mg2+ as well as in the presence of Ca2+). Cytochalasin B had a small accelerating effect in the presence of ATP but had no effect in the presence of ADP. The kinetics of exchange remained unchanged when the filaments contained a 'cap' of actin with non-radioactive nucleotides, suggesting that nucleotide exchange was not a property of the filament ends.
Inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) inhibits not only Mg2+-ATPase activity of myosin subfragment 1 (S-1) but abolishes also the ATP-induced increment of tryptophan fluorescence of subfragment 1. At the concentrations used (25-50 micron ATP, 12 mm PPi) these effects of PPi were abolished by substoichiometric actin concentrations (approx. 0.1 microM actin vs. approx. 1 microM S-1), where ATPase activity was barely stimulated by actin.
In the presence of very low concentrations (about 2X10(-7) M) of cytochalasin B (CB) the time course of actin polymerization is much more sigmoidal when followed by viscosity measurements than when followed by light scattering measurements. This suggests that under these conditions actin polymers do not immediately reach their final length but only via short "bent" polymers which can be detected only by light scattering but not by viscosity measurements. At higher CB concentrations (about equimolar to those of actin) CB reduces the average degree of polymerization and favors the nucleation step necessary for polymerization.
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Millimolar concentrations of Ca2+ stimulate actin polymerization whereas micromolar concentrations of Ca2+ depress polymerization. This latter effect leads to a reduction of ATPase (ATP phosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.3) activity of actin during sonication at low Mg2+ concentrations and in the absence of KCl. In the presence of KCl (90 mM) there is activation of ATPase activity by micromolar Ca2+ concentrations. These Ca2+ effects are half-maximal at a Ca2+ concentration of 2-10(-7) M. They can be explained by assuming that that ATPase activity is optimal in a medium range of actin polymer stability and that micromolar Ca2+ concentrations tend to labilize and depolymerize F-actin.
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Cytochalasin B stimulated polymerization and decreased the concentration of G-actin remaining in equilibrium with F-actin filaments. Polymerization in the presence of cytochalasin B gave rise to a smaller increase of viscosity but to the same increase in light scattering, compared to polymerization in the absence of cytochalasin B. Cytochalasin B reduced the viscosity of F-actin and caused the appearance of ATP hydrolysis by F-actin. The cytochalasin B-induced ATPase activity was inhibited by concentrations of KCl higher than 50 mM. The cytochalasin B-induced ATPase activity was enhanced by ethyleneglycol bis(alpha-aminoethyl ether)-N,N'-tetraacetic acid and reduced by MgCl2 at concentrations higher than 0.75 mM. The findings suggest that the stability of actin filaments is reduced by cytochalasin B.
The cyclic peptide phalloidin, one of the toxic components of Amanita phalloides prevented the drop of viscosity of F-actin solutions after the addition of 0.6 M KI and inhibited the ATP splitting of F-actin during sonic vibration. The data concerning ATP splitting are consistent with the assumption (a) that only 1 out of every 3 actin units of the filaments needs to be combined with phalloidin in order to suppress the contribution of these 3 actins to the ATPase activity of the filament and (b) that all actin units of the filaments can combine with phalloidin with a very high affinity. -halloidin did not only stabilize the actin-actin bonds in the F-actin structure but it also increased the rate of polymerization of G-actin to F-actin. The ability of F-actin to activate myosin ATPase was not affected by phalloidin. The tropomyosin-troponin complex did not prevent the stabilizing effect of phalloidin on the F-actin structure.
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Phalloidin, a toxic bicyclic peptide of rapid action from the toadstool, Amanita phalloides, gives rise to polymerization of G-actin to filamentous structures (Ph-actin) in a medium of low ionic strength. Ph-actin closely resembles the microfilaments found in liver membrane fractions (Ph-filaments) after in vivo or in vitro poisoning. Both phalloidin induced filaments are resistant to 0.6 M KI in contrast to F-actin, and become decorated by heavy meromyosin. After preincubation with cytochalasin B significantly fewer actin filaments are observed.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
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In the presence of the regulatory protein complex tropomyosin-troponin ATPase activity of vertebrate skeletal muscle actomyosin is either higher or lower than in the absence of tropomyosin-troponin. The actual behavior depends on ionic strength, Ca2+ concentration, ATP concentration (determining the amount of rigor complexes present), and the ratio between actin and myosin. This effect of the myosin-actin ratio implies that under certain conditions cooperativity in actin-myosin interaction can be seen.