Biomedical subjects

Punit K Srivastava

Publications and source records attributed to Punit K Srivastava.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Polymorphisms in human soluble epoxide hydrolase: effects on enzyme activity, enzyme stability, and quaternary structure.

Human soluble epoxide hydrolase (hsEH) has been shown to play a role in regulating blood pressure and inflammation. HsEH consists of an N-terminal phosphatase and a C-terminal epoxide hydrolase domain. In the present study, we examined the effects of polymorphisms in the hsEH gene on phosphatase activity, enzyme stability, and protein quaternary structure. The results showed that mutants Lys55Arg, Arg103Cys, Cys154Tyr, Arg287Gln, and the Arg103Cys/Arg287Gln (double mutant) have significantly lower phosphatase activity compared to the most frequent allele (MFA) of hsEH. In addition, the Lys55Arg, Arg103Cys, Cys154Tyr, Arg287Gln, and the double mutant have significantly lower kcat/Km values. The stabilities at 37 degrees C of purified Arg287Gln and Arg103Cys/Arg287Gln mutants were also significantly reduced compared to the MFA. HPLC size-exclusion studies showed that the MFA exists predominantly as a dimer. However, the Arg287Gln and Arg103Cys/Arg287Gln mutants show increased concentration of the monomer. We conclude that the Arg287Gln polymorphism disrupts putative intra- and inter-monomeric salt-bridges responsible for dimerization.

Amino Acid Substitution↗

PubMed2004

Immobilization of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) urease on DEAE-cellulose paper strips for urea estimation.

Pigeonpea ( Cajanus cajan ) urease was immobilized on 1 cmx1 cm DEAE-cellulose paper strips. The optimum immobilization (51% activity) was observed at 4 degrees C, with a protein concentration of 1.0 mg/strip. The apparent optimum pH shifted from 7.3 to 6.8. Immobilized urease showed an optimal stability temperature of 67 degrees C, compared with 47 degrees C for the soluble urease. Time-dependent kinetics of the thermal inactivation of the immobilized urease were examined and found to be monophasic as compared with the soluble enzyme, which was biphasic. The Michaelis constant ( K (m)) for the DEAE-cellulose-immobilized urease was found to be 4.75 mM, 1.5 times higher than the soluble enzyme. Immobilized strips stored at 4 degrees C showed an increased half-life ( t (1/2)=150 days). There was practically no leaching of the enzyme from the immobilized strips over a period of 2 weeks. These strips were used for estimating the urea content of blood samples; the results obtained matched well with those obtained in a clinical laboratory through an Autoanalyzer(R) (Zydus Co., Rome, Italy). The easy availability of pigeonpea urease, the ease of its immobilization on DEAE-cellulose strips and the significantly lower cost of urease described in the present study makes it a suitable product for future applications in diagnostics.

Cajanus↗

PubMed2003

Polymorphisms in human soluble epoxide hydrolase.

Human soluble epoxide hydrolase (hsEH) metabolizes a variety of epoxides to the corresponding vicinal diols. Arachidonic and linoleic acid epoxides are thought to be endogenous substrates for hsEH. Enzyme activity in humans shows high interindividual variation (e.g., 500-fold in liver) suggesting the existence of regulatory and/or structural gene polymorphisms. We resequenced each of the 19 exons of the hsEH gene (EPHX2) from 72 persons representing black, Asian, and white populations. A variety of polymorphisms was found, six of which result in amino acid substitutions. Amino acid variants were localized on the crystal structure of the mouse sEH, resulting in the prediction that at least two of these (Arg287Gln and Arg103Cys) might significantly affect enzyme function. The six variants of the hsEH cDNA corresponding to each single polymorphism and one corresponding to a double polymorphism were then constructed by site-directed mutagenesis and expressed in insect cells. As predicted, Arg287Gln and the double mutant Arg287Gln/Arg103Cys showed decreased enzyme activity using trans-stilbene oxide, trans-diphenylpropene oxide, and 14,15-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid as substrates. Lys55Arg and Cys154Tyr mutants had elevated activity for all three substrates. Detailed kinetic studies revealed that the double mutant Arg287Gln/Arg103Cys showed significant differences in Km and Vmax. In addition, stability studies showed that the double mutant was less stable than wild-type protein when incubated at 37 degrees C. These results suggest that at least six hsEH variants exist in the human population and that at least four of these may influence hsEH-mediated metabolism of exogenous and endogenous epoxide substrates in vivo.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Purification and characterization of urease from dehusked pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L) seeds.

Urease has been purified from the dehusked seeds of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) to apparent electrophoretic homogeneity with approximately 200 fold purification, with a specific activity of 6.24 x10(3) U mg(-1) protein. The enzyme was purified by the sequence of steps, namely, first acetone fractionation, acid step, a second acetone fractionation followed by gel filtration and anion-exchange chromatographies. Single band was observed in both native- and SDS-PAGE. The molecular mass estimated for the native enzyme was 540 kDa whereas subunit values of 90 kDa were determined. Hence, urease is a hexamer of identical subunits. Nickel was observed in the purified enzyme from atomic absorption spectroscopy with approximately 2 nickel ions per enzyme subunit. Both jack bean and soybean ureases are serologically related to pigeonpea urease. The amino acid composition of pigeonpea urease shows high acidic amino acid content. The N-terminal sequence of pigeonpea urease, determined up to the 20th residue, was homologous to that of jack bean and soybean seed ureases. The optimum pH was 7.3 in the pH range 5.0-8.5. Pigeonpea urease shows K(m) for urea of 3.0+/-0.2 mM in 0.05 M Tris-acetate buffer, pH 7.3, at 37 degrees C. The turnover number, k(cat), was observed to be 6.2 x 10(4) s(-1) and k(cat)/K(m) was 2.1 x 10(7) M(-1) s(-1). Pigeonpea urease shows high specificity for its primary substrate urea.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Kinetics of inhibition and molecular asymmetry in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) urease.

Urease from seeds of pigeonpea showed a time-dependent and irreversible inactivation at very low concentrations of heavy metal ions. Concentration of Cu(2+), Hg(2+) and Ag(+) required for 50% inactivation, on 10 min of incubation, were found to be 2.2 x 10(-6), 2.9 x 10(-8) and 6.3 x 10(-12) M, respectively. The kinetics of inactivation with each of these metal ions was found to be biphasic, with half of the activity being lost in a fast phase and remaining in a slow phase. Acetohydroxamate (AHA) inhibits pigeonpea urease competitively and reversibly with a K(i) of 0.041 mM at pH 7.3. This inhibition was found to be pH dependent. A reversible and time-dependent inhibition was observed with AHA. AHA inhibition revealed biphasic kinetics as observed with the heavy metal ions. Pigeonpea urease was also inhibited by fluoride ions competitively with a K(i) value of 1.23 mM. These inhibition studies suggest the possible interaction of these inhibitors with active site thiol groups and Ni (II) ion. A mechanism has been proposed for each of these inhibitors and compared with inhibition studies reported for other ureases.

Enzyme Inhibitors↗