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R C Bray

Publications and source records attributed to R C Bray.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1973

Studies by electron paramagnetic resonance on the catalytic mechanism of nitrogenase of Klebsiella pneumoniae.

The properties and catalytic reactions of the enzyme nitrogenase purified from Klebsiella pneumoniae were studied by electron-paramagnetic-resonance (e.p.r.) spectroscopy at temperatures down to 8 degrees K. The two protein fractions, Kp1 (the iron-molybdenum protein) and Kp2 (the iron protein), were examined alone and in steady-state mixtures and also in pre-steady-state experiments, by using the rapid-freezing method. Kp1 protein in dithionite solution shows a rhombic type of spectrum with g(1) 4.32, g(2) 3.63, g(3) 2.009 at pH6.8 (0 degrees C). Small changes in the spectrum produced by protons (pK=8.7 at 0 degrees C) or by acetylene indicate binding of these oxidizing substrates to this protein fraction. Kp2 protein shows a rhombic spectrum with g(1) 2.053, g(2) 1.942, g(3) 1.865, which integrates to about 0.45 electron/molecule. Binding of ATP, with a dissociation constant of 4x10(-4)m, changes the spectrum to an axial form with g( parallel) 2.036, g( perpendicular) 1.929, thus indicating a conformation change of Kp2 protein. The Kp2 protein spectrum disappears reversibly on cautious oxidation. The signals of both proteins are diminished in their steady-state mixtures, obtained in the presence of ATP and dithionite (with an ATP-generating system and Mg(2+) ions) and with protons, N(2) or acetylene as oxidizing substrate. At the same time as dithionite is consumed in such reactions, the Kp1 protein signal is gradually restored and the Kp2 protein signal diminishes to zero. In rapid-freezing experiments the signals from the two proteins decreased at indistinguishable rates (t((1/2)) about 10ms), then they remained constant. Results are interpreted in terms of a scheme in which reducing equivalents pass from dithionite to Kp2 protein, then, in an ATP-dependent reaction to Kp1 protein, this being finally reoxidized by N(2) or another oxidizing substrate. In this scheme Kp1 protein cycles between its signal-giving state and a very highly reduced signal-free state.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1972

Spin-spin interaction between molybdenum and one of the iron-sulphur systems of xanthine oxidase and its relevance to the enzymic mechanism.

1. Electron-paramagnetic-resonance (e.p.r.) studies at 9 and 35GHz at helium temperatures have given new information relating to the structure and mechanism of action of xanthine oxidase. 2. As reported by others, the enzyme gives two types of e.p.r. signal attributed to iron-sulphur systems. The first has g(av.)=1.95. Parameters of the second are determined as g(1) 2.12, g(2) 2.007 and g(3) 1.91, with g(av.)=2.01. This species seems to have a slightly higher redox potential than the former one. 3. Temperature-dependent changes in the form of Mo(v) e.p.r. signals from the enzyme, observed under certain conditions, are shown to be due to weak spin-spin interaction between Mo(v) and g(av.)=1.95 Fe/S. The phenomenon has been studied most fully for the Slow Mo(v) signal. Here, the spectral change takes the form of an additional approximately isotropic 11G splitting, detected below about 45 degrees K only. Samples without Fe/S reduced showed no such changes of spectrum. 4. Similar spectral changes were observed in the Rapid Mo(v) signals, obtained in rapid-freezing experiments, but only in samples corresponding to relatively long reaction times with the substrate. It is suggested therefore that the phenomenon may provide a means of distinguishing enzyme centres with Mo only reduced from those in which both Mo and Fe/S are reduced. 5. Additional rapid-freezing data tending to support a two- rather than a one-electron transfer of reducing equivalents from substrates to xanthine oxidase are reported.

Deuterium↗
PubMed1970

The composition of milk xanthine oxidase.

The composition of milk xanthine oxidase has been reinvestigated. When the enzyme is prepared by methods that include a selective denaturation step in the presence of sodium salicylate the product is obtained very conveniently and in high yield, and is homogeneous in the ultracentrifuge and in recycling gel filtration. It has specific activity higher than previously reported preparations of the enzyme and its composition approximates closely to 2mol of FAD, 2g-atoms of Mo and 8g-atoms of Fe/mol of protein (molecular weight about 275000). In contrast, when purely conventional preparative methods are used the product is also homogeneous by the above criteria but has a lower specific activity and is generally comparable to the crystallized enzyme described previously. Such samples also contain 2mol of FAD/mol of protein but they have lower contents of Mo (e.g. 1.2g-atom/mol). Amino acid compositions for the two types of preparation are indistinguishable. These results confirm the previous conclusion that conventional methods give mixtures of xanthine oxidase with an inactive modification of the enzyme now termed ;de-molybdo-xanthine oxidase', and show that salicylate can selectively denature the latter. The origin of de-molybdo-xanthine oxidase was investigated. FAD/Mo ratios show that it is present not only in enzyme purified by conventional methods but also in ;milk microsomes' (Bailie & Morton, 1958) and in enzyme samples prepared without proteolytic digestion. We conclude that it is secreted by cows together with the active enzyme and we discuss its occurrence in the preparations of other workers. Studies on the milks of individual cows show that nutritional rather than genetic factors determine the relative amounts of xanthine oxidase and de-molybdo-xanthine oxidase. A second inactive modification of the enzyme, now termed ;inactivated xanthine oxidase', causes variability in activity relative to E(450) or to Mo content and formation of it decreases these ratios during storage of enzyme samples including samples free from demolybdo-xanthine oxidase. We conclude that even the best purified xanthine oxidase samples described here and by other workers are contaminated by significant amounts of the inactivated form. This may complicate the interpretation of changes in the enzyme taking place during the slow phase of reduction by substrates. Attempts to remove iron from the enzyme by published methods were not successful.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1969

Electron-spin-resonance evidence for enzymic reduction of oxygen to a free radical, the superoxide ion.

1. An electron-spin-resonance signal with g( parallel)2.08 and g( perpendicular)2.00 is observed by the rapid-freezing technique during the oxidation of substrates by molecular oxygen catalysed by xanthine oxidase at pH10. 2. The intensity of this signal is shown to depend on oxygen rather than on enzyme concentration, indicating that it is due to an oxygen free radical and not to the enzyme. 3. The same species is shown to be produced in the reaction at pH10 between hydrogen peroxide and periodate ions. Studies with this system have facilitated comparison of the properties of the oxygen radical with data in the literature on the products of pulse radiolysis of oxygenated water over a wide pH range. 4. It is concluded that the species observed is the superoxide ion, O(2) (-), and that the stability of this ion is greatly increased in alkaline solution. A mechanism explaining the alkaline stability is proposed. 5. The importance of O(2) (-) in the enzymic reaction is discussed.

Alkalies↗
PubMed1969

"Rapidly appearing" molybdenum electron-paramagnetic-resonance signals from reduced xanthine oxidase.

Further electron-paramagnetic-resonance studies relating to the role of molybdenum in the enzymic mechanisms of xanthine oxidase were carried out. The classification of the various molybdenum signals obtained on reducing the enzyme is briefly discussed. The group of ;Rapidly appearing' signals, which are obtained with all substrates within the turnover time and which show interaction with exchangeable protons, were studied in detail. Signals with salicylaldehyde, purine and xanthine in H(2)O and in 95% D(2)O were examined at 9 and 35GHz and interpreted with the help of computer simulation. Molybdenum atoms in a number of different chemical environments are involved, each substrate giving rise to two superimposed spectra with slightly different parameters; g values and proton splittings were determined. The spectrum with salicylaldehyde is believed to represent the reduced enzyme alone not in the form of a complex with substrate and its two constituents are believed to represent the two molybdenum atoms bonded slightly differently within the enzyme molecule. With purine and xanthine the spectra are thought to represent complexes of reduced enzyme with substrate molecules. With xanthine one signal-giving species shows coupling to two equivalent protons, whereas in all the other species observed two non-equivalent protons are involved. The origin of the protons is discussed in the light of the direct hydrogen-transfer mechanism implicated earlier for the enzyme. It is concluded that the proton derived from the substrate is located at least 3å from the molybdenum atom with which it interacts.

Aldehydes↗
PubMed1969

Complex-formation between reduced xanthine oxidase and purine substrates demonstrated by electron paramagnetic resonance.

The origin of the Rapid molybdenum electron-paramagnetic-resonance signals, which are obtained on reducing xanthine oxidase with purine or with xanthine, and whose parameters were measured by Bray & Vänngård (1969), was studied. It is concluded that these signals represent complexes of reduced enzyme with substrate molecules. Xanthine forms one complex at high concentrations and a different one at low concentrations. Purine forms a complex indistinguishable from the low-concentration xanthine complex. There are indications that some other substrates also form complexes, but uric acid, a reaction product, does not appear to do so. The possible significance of the complexes in the catalytic cycle of the enzyme is discussed and it is suggested that they represent substrate molecules bound at the reduced active site, waiting their turn to react there, when the enzyme has been reoxidized. Support for this role for the complexes was deduced from experiments in which frozen samples of enzyme-xanthine mixtures, prepared by the rapid-freezing method, were warmed until the signals began to change. Under these conditions an increase in amplitude of the Very Rapid signal took place. Data bearing on the origin of the Slow molybdenum signal are also discussed. This signal disappears only slowly in the presence of oxygen, and its appearance rate is unaffected by change in the concentration of dithionite. It is concluded that, like other signals from the enzyme, it is due to Mo(v) but that a slow change of ligand takes place before it is seen. The Slow species, like the Rapid, seems capable of forming complexes with purines.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1969

Mossbauer spectroscopy of the iron-sulfur proteins.

The Mössbauer spectra of (57)Fe in two plant ferredoxins (from spinach and Euglena) and in xanthine oxidase have been measured at a series of temperatures and magnetic fields, and are found to be similar in all three proteins. In the oxidized state the iron is nonmagnetic. In the reduced state, the iron nuclei show magnetic hyperfine interaction with an electron spin S of (1/2), producing an effective field of about 180 kG at the nuclei.

Euglena↗