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R Ménard

Publications and source records attributed to R Ménard.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Crystal structure of wild-type human procathepsin K.

Cathepsin K is a lysosomal cysteine protease belonging to the papain superfamily. It has been implicated as a major mediator of osteoclastic bone resorption. Wild-type human procathepsin K has been crystallized in a glycosylated and a deglycosylated form. The latter crystals diffract better, to 3.2 A resolution, and contain four molecules in the asymmetric unit. The structure was solved by molecular replacement and refined to an R-factor of 0.194. The N-terminal fragment of the proregion forms a globular domain while the C-terminal segment is extended and shows substantial flexibility. The proregion interacts with the enzyme along the substrate binding groove and along the proregion binding loop (residues Ser138-Asn156). It binds to the active site in the opposite direction to that of natural substrates. The overall binding mode of the proregion to cathepsin K is similar to that observed in cathepsin L, caricain, and cathepsin B, but there are local differences that likely contribute to the specificity of these proregions for their cognate enzymes. The main observed difference is in the position of the short helix alpha3p (67p-75p), which occupies the S' subsites. As in the other proenzymes, the proregion utilizes the S2 subsite for anchoring by placing a leucine side chain there, according to the specificity of cathepsin K toward its substrate.

Cathepsin K↗
PubMed1999

Green fluorescent protein as a marker in Plasmodium berghei transformation.

We present a new marker that confers both resistance to pyrimethamine and green fluorescent protein-based fluorescence on the malarial parasite Plasmodium berghei. A single copy of the cassette integrated into the genome is sufficient to direct fluorescence in parasites throughout the life cycle, in both its mosquito and vertebrate hosts. Erythrocyte stages of the parasite that express the marker can be sorted from control parasites by flow cytometry. Pyrimethamine pressure is not necessary for maintaining the cassette in transformed parasites during their sporogonic cycle in mosquitoes, including when it is borne by a plasmid. This tool should thus prove useful in molecular studies of P. berghei, both for generating parasite variants and monitoring their behavior.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Subtle mutagenesis by ends-in recombination in malaria parasites.

The recent advent of gene-targeting techniques in malaria (Plasmodium) parasites provides the means for introducing subtle mutations into their genome. Here, we used the TRAP gene of Plasmodium berghei as a target to test whether an ends-in strategy, i.e., targeting plasmids of the insertion type, may be suitable for subtle mutagenesis. We analyzed the recombinant loci generated by insertion of linear plasmids containing either base-pair substitutions, insertions, or deletions in their targeting sequence. We show that plasmid integration occurs via a double-strand gap repair mechanism. Although sequence heterologies located close (less than 450 bp) to the initial double-strand break (DSB) were often lost during plasmid integration, mutations located 600 bp and farther from the DSB were frequently maintained in the recombinant loci. The short lengths of gene conversion tracts associated with plasmid integration into TRAP suggests that an ends-in strategy may be widely applicable to modify plasmodial genes and perform structure-function analyses of their important products.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

[Genetic approach to the study of the sporogonic cycle in Plasmodium].

The development of transformation and mutagenesis techniques of the two species of Plasmodium most studied--Plasmodium falciparum (human parasite) and Plasmodium berghei (rodent parasite)--opens new perspectives for the molecular study on the parasite sporogonic cycle in the insect vector. The parasite's stages that can be genetically transformed (the asexual erythrocytic stages) and gametocytes. The function of proteins coded by genes present in single copy in the genome can thus be studied after only one recombination. Furthermore, most of the genes expressed during the sporogonic cycle are not during the erythrocytic stages, which makes possible the isolation of the erythrocytic cycles of parasites with a mutation in a gene which is essential to the development of the sporogonic cycle. Finally, the Plasmodium berghei model is particularly advantageous in that the entire cycle of this species of Plasmodium can be easily maintained in the laboratory. The species also appears to be easier to manipulate genetically than Plasmodium falciparum. Let us take the example of two surface proteins of Plasmodium sporozoites: the circumsporozoite proteins (CS) and the thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP). Both of these proteins have already been characterized in detail. Each of them possesses motives present in numerous protein of cell-cell or extracellular cell-matrice adhesion. The selective destruction of both genes has shown that both proteins also play a role in the development of the parasite within the mosquito. The CS protein is essential to the formation of sporozoites in the mosquito's intestinal oocysts, whereas the TRAP protein is essential for the sporozoites to have the power to invade the secreting cells of the mosquito's salivary glands as well as the host's hepatocytes. Using the mutagenous system for P. berghei should thus help elucidate the function of the important products expressed by the parasite during its development cycle in the vector mosquito as well as analyse the structure-function relationship of these products. It is possible that the molecular dissection of the parasite-mosquito interaction will lead to new approaches in the prevention of parasite transmission.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Human cathepsin X: a novel cysteine protease of the papain family with a very short proregion and unique insertions.

A novel cDNA encoding a cysteine protease of the papain family named cathepsin X was obtained by PCR amplification from a human ovary cDNA library. The cathepsin X cDNA is ubiquitously expressed in human tissues and contains an open reading frame of 912 nucleotides encoding a predicted protein of 303 amino acids. All highly conserved regions in papain-like cysteine proteases including the catalytic residues are present in cathepsin X. The mature part of cathepsin X is 26-32% identical to human cathepsins B, C, H, K, L, O, S and W. The cathepsin X sequence contains several unique features: (i) a very short proregion; (ii) a three amino acid residue insertion in a highly conserved region between the glutamine of the putative oxyanion hole and the active site cysteine; and (iii) a second insertion of 15 amino acid residues that can be aligned with the occluding loop region in cathepsin B.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1998

Synthesis of amidrazones using an engineered papain nitrile hydratase.

To demonstrate the usefulness of an engineered papain nitrile hydratase as a biocatalyst, a peptide amidrazone was prepared by incubation of the nitrile MeOCO-Phe-Alanitrile with the Gln19Glu papain mutant in the presence of salicylic hydrazide as a nucleophile. The amidrazone results from nucleophilic attack by salicylic hydrazide at the imino carbon of the thioimidate adduct formed between the enzyme and the peptide nitrile substrate. Compared to wild-type enzyme, the engineered nitrile hydratase causes a better than 4000-fold increase in the rate of amidrazone formation and yields a product of much higher purity. The advantages over other nitrile-hydrolyzing enzymes and current limitations of the papain nitrile hydratase are discussed.

Catalysis↗
PubMed1998

Autocatalytic processing of recombinant human procathepsin L. Contribution of both intermolecular and unimolecular events in the processing of procathepsin L in vitro.

The autocatalytic processing of procathepsin L was investigated in vitro using purified recombinant proenzyme expressed in Pichia pastoris. Pure intermolecular processing was studied by incubating the mutant procathepsin L (C25S), which cannot autoactivate with a small amount of mature active cathepsin L. The results clearly establish that, contrary to recent reports, intermolecular processing of procathepsin L is possible. The main cleavage sites are located at or near the N terminus of the mature enzyme, in an accessible portion of the proregion, which contains sequences corresponding to the known substrate specificity of cathepsin L. Contrary to procathepsins B, K, and S, autocatalytic processing of procathepsin L can generate the natural mature form of the enzyme. A continuous assay using the substrate benzyloxycarbonyl-Phe-Arg 4-methylcoumarinyl-7-amide hydrochloride has also been used to obtain information on the nature of the steps involved in the autocatalytic processing of wild-type procathepsin L. Processing is initiated by decreasing the pH from 8.0 to 5.3. The influence of proenzyme concentration on the rate of processing indicates the existence of both unimolecular and bimolecular steps in the mechanism of processing. The nature of the unimolecular event that triggers processing remains elusive. Circular dichroism and fluorescence measurements indicate the absence of large scale conformational change in the structure of procathepsin L on reduction of pH. However, the bimolecular reaction can be attributed to intermolecular processing of the zymogen.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1997

Major increase in endopeptidase activity of human cathepsin B upon removal of occluding loop contacts.

The main feature distinguishing cathepsin B from other cysteine proteases of the papain family is the presence of a large insertion loop, termed the occluding loop, which occupies the S' subsites of the enzyme. The loop is held in place mainly by two contacts with the rest of the enzyme, involving residues His110 and Arg116 on the loop that form salt bridges with Asp22 and Asp224, respectively. The influence of this loop on the endopeptidase activity of cathepsin B has been investigated using site-directed mutagenesis and internally quenched fluorogenic (IQF) substrates. Wild-type cathepsin B displays poor activity against the substrates Abz-AFRSAAQ-EDDnp and Abz-QVVAGA-EDDnp as compared to cathepsin L and papain. Appreciable increases in kcat/KM were observed for cathepsin B containing the single mutations D22A, H110A, R116A, and D224A. The highest activity however is observed for mutants where both loop to enzyme contacts are disrupted. For the triple-mutant D22A/H110A/R116A, an optimum kcat/KM value of 12 x 10(5) M-1 s-1 was obtained for hydrolysis of Abz-AFRSAAQ-EDDnp, which corresponds to a 600-fold increase relative to wild-type cathepsin B and approaches the level of activity observed with cathepsin L or papain. By comparison, the mutations have little effect on the hydrolysis of Cbz-FR-MCA. The influence of the mutations on the pH dependency of activity also indicates that the complexity of pH activity profiles normally observed for cathepsin B is related to the presence of the occluding loop. The major increase in endopeptidase activity is attributed to an increase in loop "flexibility" and suggests that the occluding loop might move when an endopeptidase substrate binds to the enzyme. The possible contribution of these interactions in regulating endopeptidase activity and the implications for cathepsin B activity in physiological or pathological conditions are discussed.

Cathepsin B↗
PubMed1997

TRAP is necessary for gliding motility and infectivity of plasmodium sporozoites.

Many protozoans of the phylum Apicomplexa are invasive parasites that exhibit a substrate-dependent gliding motility. Plasmodium (malaria) sporozoites, the stage of the parasite that invades the salivary glands of the mosquito vector and the liver of the vertebrate host, express a surface protein called thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP) that has homologs in other Apicomplexa. By gene targeting in a rodent Plasmodium, we demonstrate that TRAP is critical for sporozoite infection of the mosquito salivary glands and the rat liver, and is essential for sporozoite gliding motility in vitro. This suggests that in Plasmodium sporozoites, and likely in other Apicomplexa, gliding locomotion and cell invasion have a common molecular basis.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Circumsporozoite protein is required for development of malaria sporozoites in mosquitoes.

Malaria parasites undergo a sporogonic cycle in the mosquito vector. Sporozoites, the form of the parasite injected into the host during a bloodmeal, develop inside oocysts in the insect midgut, then migrate to and eventually invade the salivary glands. The circumsporozoite protein (CS), one of the major proteins synthesized by salivary gland sporozoites, is a surface-associated molecule which is important in sporozoite infectivity to the host. Here, by gene targeting, we created Plasmodium berghei lines in which the single-copy CS gene was disrupted. The CS(-) and wild-type parasites produced similar numbers of oocysts of comparable size in the mosquito midgut. In the CS(-) oocysts, however, sporozoite formation was profoundly inhibited. CS therefore appears to have a pleiotropic role and to be vital for malaria parasites in both the vector and the host: in mosquitoes, CS is essential for sporozoite development within oocysts, and in the vertebrate host it promotes sporozoite attachment to hepatocytes.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Gene targeting in malaria parasites.

Gene targeting, which permits alteration of a chosen gene in a predetermined way by homologous recombination, is an emerging technology in malaria research. Soon after the development of techniques for stable transformation of red blood cell stages of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium berghei, genes of interest were disrupted in the two species. The main limitations of gene targeting in malaria parasites result from the intracellular growth and slow replication of these parasites. On the other hand, the technology is facilitated by the very high rate of homologous recombination following transformation with targeting constructs (approximately 100%). Here, we describe (i) the vector design and the type of mutation that may be generated in a target locus, (ii) the selection and screening strategies that can be used to identify clones with the desired modification, and (iii) the protocol that was used for disrupting the circumsporozoite protein (CS) and thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP) genes of P. berghei.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Structure of human procathepsin L reveals the molecular basis of inhibition by the prosegment.

Cathepsin L is a member of the papain superfamily of cysteine proteases and, like many other proteases, it is synthesized as an inactive proenzyme. Its prosegment shows little homology to that of procathepsin B, whose structure, the first for a cysteine protease proenzyme, has been determined recently. We report here the 3-D structure of a mutant of human procathepsin L determined at 2.2 A resolution, describe the mode of binding employed by the prosegment and discuss the molecular basis for other possible roles of the prosegment. The N-terminal part of the prosegment is globular and contains three alpha-helices with a small hydrophobic core built around aromatic side chains. This domain packs against a loop on the enzyme's surface, with the aromatic side chain from the prosegment being located in the center of this loop and providing a large contact area. The C-terminal portion of the prosegment assumes an extended conformation and follows along the substrate binding cleft toward the N-terminus of the mature enzyme. The direction of the prosegment in the substrate binding cleft is opposite to that of substrates. The previously described role of the prosegment in the interactions with membranes is supported by the structure of its N-terminal domain. The fold of the prosegment and the mechanism by which it inhibits the enzymatic activity of procathepsin L is similar to that observed in procathepsin B despite differences in length and sequence, suggesting that this mode of inhibition is common to all enzymes from the papain superfamily.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Delineating functionally important regions and residues in the cathepsin B propeptide for inhibitory activity.

Synthetic peptides derived from the proregion of rat cathepsin B were used to identify functionally important regions and residues for cathepsin B inhibition. Successive 5 amino acid deletions of a 56 amino acid propeptide from both the N- and C-termini has allowed the identification of two regions important for inhibitory activity: the NTTWQ (residues 21p-25p) and CGTVL (42p-46p) regions. Alanine scanning of residues within these two regions indicates that Trp-24p and Cys-42p contribute strongly to inhibition, their replacement by Ala resulting in 160- and 140-fold increases in Ki, respectively.

Alanine↗
PubMed1996

Potency and selectivity of the cathepsin L propeptide as an inhibitor of cysteine proteases.

The cathepsin L propeptide (phcl-2) was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a human procathepsin L/alpha-factor fusion construct containing a stop codon at position -1 (the C-terminal amino acid of the proregion). Since the yield after purification was very low, the cathepsin L propeptide was also obtained by an alternate procedure through controlled processing of an inactive mutant of procathepsin L (Cys25Ser/Thrl10Ala) expressed in Pichia pastoris, by small amounts of cathepsin L. The peptide resulting from the cleavage of the proenzyme (phcl-1) was then purified by HPLC. The purified propeptides were characterized by N-terminal sequencing and mass spectrometry and correspond to incomplete forms of the proregion (87 and 81 aa for phcl-1 and phcl-2 respectively, compared to 96 aa for the complete cathepsin L propeptide). The two peptides were found to be potent and selective inhibitors of cathepsin L at pH 5.5, with Ki values of 0.088 nM for phcl-1 and 0.66 nM for phcl-2. The Ki for inhibition of cathepsin S was much higher (44.6 nM with phcl-1), and no inhibition of cathepsin B or papain could be detected at up to 1 microM of the propeptide. The inhibitory activity was also found to be strongly pH-dependent. Two synthetic peptides of 75 and 44 aa corresponding to N-terminal truncated versions of the propeptide were also prepared by solid phase synthesis and displayed Ki values of 11 nM and 2900 nM, respectively, against cathepsin L. The data obtained for the 4 propeptide derivatives of various lengths indicate that the first 20 residues in the N-terminal region of the propeptide are more important for inhibition than the C-terminal region which contributes little to the overall inhibitory activity.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

The secreted Ipa complex of Shigella flexneri promotes entry into mammalian cells.

The bacterial pathogen Shigella flexneri causes bacillary dysentery in humans by invading coloncytes. Upon contact with epithelial cells, S. flexneri elicits localized plasma membrane projections sustained by long actin filaments which engulf the microorganism. The products necessary for Shigella entry include three secretory proteins: IpaB, IpaC, and IpaD. Extracellular IpaB and IpaC associate in a soluble complex, the Ipa complex. We have immunopurified this Ipa complex on latex beads and found that they were efficiently internalized into HeLa cells. Like S. flexneri entry, uptake of the beads bearing the Ipa complex was associated with membrane projections and polymerization of actin at the site of cell-bead interaction and was dependent on small Rho GTPases. These results indicate that a secreted factor can promote S. flexneri entry into epithelial cells.

Actins↗
PubMed1996

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of human procathepsin L.

Human procathepsin L has been expressed in the yeast Pichia pastoris and its inactive (Cys25Ser) and unglycosylated (Thr110Ala) mutant purified, concentrated to 4 mg/ml, and crystallized by vapor diffusion against solution containing 1.4 M (Na,K)PO4 buffer, pH 7.8. Crystal size was increased by multiple macroseeding. The crystals are orthorhombic, of space group P2 1 2 1 2 1, with cell dimensions of a = 40.2 A, b = 88.4 A, and c = 94.9 A. A 2.2 A native data set was collected using synchrotron radiation. Although molecular replacement solution for the mature portion of the enzyme was easily found, the resulting maps could not be interpreted in the proregion. Heavy-atom derivative search is in progress.

Cathepsin L↗
PubMed1996

Bacterial entry into epithelial cells: the paradigm of Shigella.

Shigella flexneri is a model for the entry of bacterial pathogens into nonphagocytic epithelial cells. On contact with the epithelial cell surface, the Ipa proteins are secreted from the bacterium. The Ipa complex then triggers a reorganization of the host-cell cytoskeleton leading to the formation of membrane ruffles, which engulf the bacterium.

Bacterial Adhesion↗