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T Kakuno

Publications and source records attributed to T Kakuno.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

A novel FAD-protein that allows effective reduction of methyl viologen by NADH (NADH-methyl viologen reductase) from photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodospirillum rubrum: purification and characterization.

It was found that the cytoplasm of light-grown cells of Rhodospirillum rubrum could catalyze the reduction of methyl viologen (MV) (Em, 7 = -0.44 V) by NADH and NADPH. In the present study, the enzyme capable of catalyzing MV reduction by NADH (NADH-MV reductase) was purified 1,500-fold from an extract of cells with a yield of 4.4%. The purification procedure comprised (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, and chromatographies on Sepharose CL-6B, DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B, phenyl-Sepharose CL-4B, Blue-Cellulofine, and TSK-Gel G3000SW. Two NADPH-MV reductases were separated during the purification. The NADH-MV reductase obtained was nearly homogeneous, as judged on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis both in the presence and absence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The enzyme has a molecular weight of 220,000 and an isoelectric point of 4.8; it is composed of four subunits with a molecular weight of 57,000, and is bound with about 1 mol FAD/mol subunit. The activity is optimum at pH 8. The Km values for NADH and MV are 115 microM and 1.3 mM, respectively, with a molecular activity of 13,000 min-1. The activity was stimulated 2.4-fold in the presence of 20-100 mM ammonium ions. The enzyme also catalyzed the reduction of benzyl viologen, methylene blue and 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol (Em, 7 = -0.36, +0.011, and +0.217 V, respectively) at comparable rates. The ratios of the activity with NADH to that with NADPH were 80, 133, 41, and 5.5 with MV, benzyl viologen, methylene blue and 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol, respectively. The enzyme was significantly stable in the presence of both 5mM 2-mercaptoethanol and 20% (w/v) glycerol. The activity was not appreciably influenced by the presence of 2 M urea, although the reagent caused dissociation to the subunits.

Chromatography↗

Barley leaf peroxidase: purification and characterization.

Peroxidase was prepared from extracts of barley leaves and separated into seven components, different in pI. The purification procedure comprised two parts. The first part was based on the fact that all the components had practically the same molecular weights. It consisted of fractionations with acetone and ammonium sulfate, ion-exchange chromatographies on CM-cellulose and DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B, and molecular-sieve chromatography on Ultrogel AcA44; the components were all purified together to near homogeneity on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and the procedure resulted in 1,200-fold purification with a yield of 39%. The ion-exchange chromatographies were carried out under conditions such that the components would not be adsorbed. In the second part, the enzyme preparation was separated into the seven components by repeating isoelectric electrophoresis. Their isoelectric points (pI) were 6.3, 6.8, 7.4, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7, and 9.3. The components other than the pI 6.3 and 6.8 components were each purified to homogeneity in the electrophoresis. The seven components thus prepared were the same in molecular weight on SDS-gel electrophoresis (44,000) and showed absorption maxima at the same wave-lengths (403, 496, and 534 nm), RZ (A403/A275) ranging from 2.09 to 2.81. Their protoheme IX contents were 0.81-1.07 mol/mol, and their true sugar contents 15-26% (g/g). The amino acid compositions suggest that the five components described above are not real isoenzymes, but exhibit different pI values due to differences in glycosyl residue. The pI 9.3 component was crystallized in spite of its high sugar content.

Crystallization↗

Isolation, characterization, and comparison of a ubiquitous pigment-protein complex consisting of a reaction center and light-harvesting bacteriochlorophyll proteins present in purple photosynthetic bacteria.

Protein complexes (photochemical reaction complex; PR complex) bound to both light-harvesting bacteriochlorophyll-1 (LH-Bchl-1) and reaction center Bchl (RC-Bchl) were purified from Rhodospirillum rubrum (wild and carotenoid-less), Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides (wild), and Chromatium vinosum (wild). Another protein complex (LH-2 complex) bound to LH-Bchl-2 was also purified from Rps. sphaeroides. The bacteria were grown in the presence of a [14C]amino acid mixture. The purification procedure included molecular-sieve chromatography in the presence of cholate-deoxycholate, and non-equilibrated isoelectric electrophoresis with 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylamino]-1-propanesulfonate. The purified complexes were separated into their constituent proteins by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molar ratios of the proteins were determined by comparing their radioactivities divided by their molecular weights after consideration of the molecular masses of the complexes. The PR complexes all contained per mol: 1 mol each of RC H-, M-, and L-subunits, 10-13 (probably 12) mol each of two other proteins with molecular weights of 11-12K and 8-11K, 28-32 mol Bchl, 13-15 mol carotenoids (except in the carotenoid-less mutant), 2.6-3.9 mol ubiquinone (or menaquinone in Chr. vinosum), and 53-79 mol phosphate without phospholipid. The LH-2 complex contained per mol: 1 mol 52K protein, about 13 (probably 12) mol each of 9K and 8K proteins, 30 mol Bchl, 10 mol carotenoids, and 38 mol phosphate without phospholipid. The PR complexes and LH-2 complex showed similar X-ray diffraction patterns, implying that they had similar, highly organized molecular structures.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Effect of amino acid residues on conformational stability in eight mutant proteins variously substituted at a unique position of the tryptophan synthase alpha-subunit.

To elucidate the role of individual amino acid residues in stabilizing the conformation of a protein, the stabilities of wild-type tryptophan synthase alpha-subunit from Escherichia coli and seven mutant proteins substituted by single amino acid residues at position 49, which is buried in the interior of the protein, were compared. The mutant proteins have Gln, Met, Val, Tyr, Leu, Ser, or Lys in place of Glu in the wild-type protein. The dissociation constant, pK, of the Glu residue at position 49 for the wild-type protein was determined to be 7.5 from a titration curve obtained by comparison of two-dimensional isoelectric focusing electrophoresis of the wild-type and mutant proteins. Our results indicate that 1) the conformational stabilities of the proteins studied increase linearly with hydrophobicity of the substituting residues (except Tyr), with the coefficient of this linear dependence being 2.0, 3.4, or 1.3 at pH 5.5, 7.0, or 9.0, respectively; and 2) Lys or Glu at position 49 serve as a destabilizing factor when ionized.

Amino Acids↗

Reconstruction of photosynthetic, cyclic electron transport system from photoreaction unit, ubiquinone-10 protein, cytochrome c2 and polar lipids purified from Rhodospirillum rubrum.

It was previously reported that in chromatophores of Rhodospirillum rubrum, reaction center, which consists of three kinds of protein (Mm, about 78K), is a small fragment of a large protein complex (PRU; photoreaction unit), which contains six other kinds of protein including light-harvesting bacteriochlorophyll protein, has Mm of about 700K and is free of phospholipid [J. Biochem. 86, 1211-1224 (1979); 94, 1815-1826 (1983(]. In the present study, the photosynthetic, cyclic electron transport system sensitive to antimycin A was effectively reconstructed by incubating 60 nM PRU (which contained 1 mol of reaction center and 2 mol of ubiquinone-10 per mol) with 300 nM each of oxidized ubiquinone-10 protein, reduced cytochrome c2 and lipoamino acid (which were all purified from Rhodospirillum rubrum) in the presence of low concentrations of cholate and deoxycholate (pH 8.0). In the light, the cytochrome was oxidized while the quinone was reduced. The oxidation and reduction each progressed rapidly at first, then slowly, reaching maxima (steady states) 1-2 min after the light had been turned on. At the steady states, 30% of the cytochrome was oxidized while 11% of the total quinone was reduced. When the light was turned off, the original oxidation-reduction states of the cytochrome and quinone were restored at rapid rates initially then at slow rates. Antimycin A stimulated the slow rates in the light-on state and depressed them in the light-off state, but did not influence the fast rates. Ubiquinone-10 protein was required for the antibiotic-sensitive, slow oxidation reactions. This indicates that the slow rates were due to cyclic electron transport. Cytochrome c2 was tightly bound to PRU at a molar ratio of 1:1. This cytochrome as well as the quinone bound to PRU was responsible for the fast rates. PRU had other sites able to bind cytochrome c2 and ubiquinone-10 protein with Km of 0.4 and 0.1 microM, respectively. Of the polar lipids tested, lipoamino acid was the most effective for reconstruction, and its effect was maximal at 300 nM, which is far below its critical micelle concentration.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Action of chlorophyllase purified from rye seedlings on light-harvesting bacteriochlorophyll of chromatophores and spheroplasts from Rhodospirillum rubrum.

1. The chlorophyllase [EC 3.1.1.14] purified from greened rye seedlings hydrolyzed the bacteriochlorophyll isolated from Rhodospirillum rubrum, but not the pigment bound to the membrane of chromatophores or spheroplasts from the bacterium. 2. Acetone, if added at such concentrations that the bound bacteriochlorophyll would not be solubilized, enabled the enzyme to hydrolyze the bound pigment. The acetone concentrations required for half the maximum hydrolysis rates were 16% with chromatophores and 7% with spheroplasts. 3. The enzymic hydrolysis of the bound bacteriochlorophyll in the presence of acetone removed bacteriochlorophyllide from the membrane, leaving its esterifying alcohol, possibly all-trans-geranylgeraniol, in situ. 4. Washing of chromatophores with 30% acetone removed about 10% of the bound bacteriochlorophyll. The bound pigment remaining after washing was not hydrolyzed by the enzyme unless acetone was added. 5. It seems possible that light-harvesting bacteriochlorophyll was mostly, if not all, bound to the inner surface of chromatophores (the outer surface of spheroplasts), having its esterifying alcohol residue buried in the membrane and its porphyrin residue emerging from the membrane into the inside solution; thus, chlorophyllase could not make contact with the ester linkage between the esterifying alcohol and porphyrin moieties of the pigment unless the esterifying alcohol residue was partly exposed.

Bacterial Chromatophores↗

Structure of the extracellular ferredoxin from Rhodospirillum rubrum: close similarity to clostridial ferredoxins.

The amino acid sequence of an [8Fe-8S] ferredoxin isolated from the culture medium of Rhodospirillum rubrum, a photosynthetic purple non-sulfur bacterium, was determined by a combination of various conventional procedures. The sequence was A-Y-K-I-E-E-T-C-I-S-C-G-A-C-A-A-E-C-P-V-N-A-I-E-Q-G-D-T-I-F-V-V-N-A-D-T-C-I-D-C - G-N-C-A-N-V-C-P-V-G-A-P-V-A-E (55 amino acid residues). It lacked methionine, leucine, histidine, arginine, and tryptophan. The molecular weight was calculated to be 5,568 excluding iron and sulfur atoms. The distribution of 8 cysteine residues was exactly the same as that of clostridial-type ferredoxin, suggesting retention of the duplication of the bacterial ancestral ferredoxin gene. The extracellular ferredoxin of R. rubrum was compared with other ferredoxins observed in closely related photosynthetic bacteria and the evolutionary significance of this ferredoxin is discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Chemical nature of protein complex of photoreaction unit including reaction center in chromatophores of photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodospirillum rubrum, as detected by successive dissociation method.

Reaction center of chromatophores of Rhodospirillum rubrum consists of three kinds of protein, H-, M-, and L-subunit, and is bound with many other kinds of protein to form a larger protein complex (PRU; photoreaction unit), which contains all the bacteriochlorophyll. In the present study, purified PRU was dissociated in a stepwise manner in the presence of various mixtures of lithium dodecyl sulfate, sodium cholate and/or sodium deoxycholate, and separated into five, smaller protein complexes (PL1, PL2, PL3, PL4, and PL4') by high-speed molecular-sieve chromatography. The protein complexes were analyzed for molecular mass (Mm), protein composition, and molecular weights of the constituent proteins by the chromatography described above and by lithium or sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The results suggest that PRU consisted of 1 molecule each of 40K, 39K, 31K (H-subunit), 25K (M-subunit), and 22K (L-subunit), about 12 molecules each of 12K (light-harvesting bacteriochlorophyll-protein) and 11K, and about 6 molecules each of 10K and 9K (the protein nomenclature refers to the apparent molecular weights); the measured and calculated Mm values were 650K and 547K, respectively. The compositions of the other protein complexes were as follows. PL1 = PRU-10K-9K (measured & calculated Mm, 520K & 409K); PL2 = PL1-39K (340K & 267K); PL3 = PL2-40K (160K & 147K); PL4 = PL3-31K-25K (90K & 82K); PL4' = 31K + 25K + 22K (inactivated reaction center) (90K & 78K). The molar ratios of 12K and 11K to 25K were lower in the dissociated protein complexes than in PRU, and they differed from one complex to another. The locations of the constituent proteins in PRU are discussed.

Bacterial Chromatophores↗

Purification and properties of chlorophyllase from greened rye seedlings.

1. Chlorophyllase [EC 3.1.1.14] was extracted from the acetone-dried powder of the chloroplasts of greened rye seedlings with 1% cholate, and purified 870-fold with a yield of about 30%. The purification procedure was composed of fractionations with acetone and ammonium sulfate, and hydrophobic chromatography on a phenyl-Sepharose CL-4B column. 2. The purified enzyme was pure as analyzed by molecular-sieve chromatography and isoelectric electrophoresis. It had an isoelectric point of 4.5 and a molecular weight of 39,000. 3. The purified enzyme was stable at pH 6-9 and 4 degrees C. At pH 7.5, it was stable in the presence and absence of 30% acetone. However, at 30 degrees C, it was not stable above a 10% concentration of acetone. 4. The purified enzyme hydrolyzed chlorophylls a and b from spinach into chlorophyllides a and b and phytols, respectively; and bacteriochlorophyll a from Rhodospirillum rubrum into bacteriochlorophyllide a and a derivative of phytol, possibly all-trans-geranylgeraniol. The hydrolysis rates were stimulated to their maxima in the presence of 30% acetone; maximum stimulation was about 50% with bacteriochlorophyll a and about 400% with chlorophyll a. 5. At pH 7.5 and 30 degrees C in the presence of 30% acetone, the Km values and specific activities were 12 microM and 480 nmol . min-1 . mg-1 for chlorophylls a, and 4 microM and 170 nmol . min-1 . mg-1 for R. rubrum bacteriochlorophyll a, respectively.

Bacteriochlorophylls↗

Ferredoxin excreted from photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodospirillum rubrum: purification and properties.

When the photoheterotroph, Rhodospirillum rubrum, was grown in the light, ferredoxin was excreted from the cells in a significant amount, as well as hydrogenase. The extracellular ferredoxin was purified to a homogeneous state. The molecular weight was approximately 9,000, and the oxidation-reduction mid-potential was -0.29 V (N=1) at pH 7.0 and 25 degrees C. The amino acid composition was different from those of the intracellular ferredoxins, which were already known. The contents of non-heme iron and acid-labile sulfur were 10.6 and 7.9 mol/mol protein, respectively. The extracellular hydrogenase catalyzed the evolution of hydrogen gas from the ferredoxin in the reduced form. The Km for the ferredoxin was 4.1 micro M, one-seven hundredth as low as that for methyl viologen. There is a possibility that hydrogenase here were functional for evolution of hydrogen gas outside the cells.

Amino Acids↗

Extracellular hydrogenase from photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodospirillum rubrum.

With Rhodospirillum rubrum, hydrogenase was found to exist partly as an extracellular enzyme in the culture medium. After 4-day cultivation, the total activity and the specific activity of the enzyme in the medium were about 10 times and 230 times as high as those in the crude extract obtained from disrupted cells. The time course for the production of hydrogenase during cultivation was studied.

Hydrogen↗

Disintegration of Rhodospirillum rubrum chromatophore membrane into photoreaction units, reaction centers, and ubiquinone-10 protein with mixture of cholate and deoxycholate.

1. The membrane of Rhodospirillum rubrum chromatophores was disintegrated with mild detergents (cholate and deoxycholate) in order to study the spatial arrangement of the functional proteins in the photochemical apparatus and the electron transport system in the membrane. 2. The components solubilized from the membrane by a mixture of cholate and deoxycholate (C-DOC) were separated into four fractions by molecular-sieve chromatography in the presence of C-DOC; they were designated as F1, F2, F3, and F4 in the order of elution. The fractions were further purified by repeated molecular-sieve chromatography in the presence of C-DOC until each fraction was chromatographically homogeneous. 3. F1 appeared to be conjugated forms of F2. 4. The purified F2 was composed of a rigid complex having a weight of 7 X 10(5) daltons, containing approximately 10 different kinds of protein species with molecular weights of 3.8 X 10(4), 3.6 X 10(4), 3.5 X 10(4), 2.8 X 10(4), 2.7 X 10(4), 2.6 X 10(4), 1.3 X 10(4), 1.2 X 10(4), 1.1 X 10(4), and 1.0 X 10(4). The complex contained 33 bacteriochlorophylls, 4 iron atoms, and 90 phosphates, but no cytochrome, ubiquinone, or phospholipid. It showed the same reaction center activity as chromatophores, indicating that the complex was a unit of the photochemical apparatus (photoreaction unit). Each chromatophore of average size was estimated to possess about 24 photoreaction units. 5. The purified F3 showed an absorbance spectrum characteristic of reaction centers, and contained 3.4 bacteriochlorophylls, 2.0 bacteriopheophytins, and 1.9 acid-labile iron atoms, but no cytochrome or ubiquinone (C-DOC reaction center). It had a weight of 1.2 X 10(5) daltons, and the main components were 4 protein species with molecular weights of 2.8 X 10(4), 2.7 X 10(4), 2.6 X 10(4), and 1.0 X 10(4). 6. The purified F4 showed a molecular weight of about 11,000, and contained one mole of ubiquinone-10 per mole (ubiquinone-10 protein). 7. The reaction center activity of C-DOC reaction centers was stimulated by ubiquinone-10 protein. In addition, the reaction center oxidized reduced cytochrome c2 in the light, provided that ubiquinone-10 protein was present (photo-oxidase activity).

Bacterial Chromatophores↗

Reversible conversion from Ca(2)+-ATPase activity to Mg(2)+- and Mn(2)+-ATPase activities of coupling factor purified from acetone powder of Rhodospirillum rubrum chromatophores.

It is known that the coupling factor purified from the acetone powder of chromatophores from Rhodospirillum rubrum shows ATPase activity in the presence of Ca(2)+, but not in the presence of Mg(2)+ or Mn(2)+. The present study deals with conditions, under which the Ca(2)+-ATPase activity is reversibly converted into Mg(2)+- and Mn(2)+-ATPase activites with the purified coupling factor. 1. Of the pH indicators tested, 6 kinds coverted the Ca(2)+-ATPase activity into Mg(2)+- and Mn(2)+-ATPase activities in the order, ethyl orange greater than tropaeolin 000 greater than or equal to metanil yellow greater than tropaeolin 00 greater than ethyl red greater than or equal to bromthymol blue. 2. Of the detergents tested, those other than Triton X-100 and Brij 58 caused the conversion described above; dodecylsulfonate was most effective, whereas dodecylpyridinium chloride was moderately effective. 3. 2,4-Dinitrophenol stimulated approximately two-fold the Ca(2)+-ATPase activity, but not the Mg(2)+- or Mn(2)+-ATPase activity at all. However, in the presence of dodecylpyridinium chloride, the pH indicator remarkably stimulated the Mg(2)+- and Mn(2)+-ATPase activities, accompanied with a partial inhibition of the Ca(2)+-ATPase activity. Methyl red and ethyl red showed similar effects. 4. All the nucleoside triphosphates tested can serve as the substrate. ATP was most effective for the Ca(2)+-ATPase activity, whereas dATP was most effective for the Mg(2)+- and Mn(2)+-ATPase activities induced by ethyl orange. 5. In the presence of ethyl orange, the ATPase activity was induced by various divalent cations in the following order of effectiveness, Mg(2)+ greater than Zn(2)+ greater than CO(2)+ greater than Mn(2)+ greater than Ni(2)+. 6. The mechanism of the reversible conversion from the Ca(2)+-ATPase activity to the Mg(2)+- and Mn(2)+-ATPase activities by pH indicators and detergents is discussed.

Bacterial Chromatophores↗

Complete stabilization of water-soluble hydrogenase from Rhodospirillum rubrum under air atmosphere with a high concentration of chloride ions.

Hydrogenase was easily solubilized from light-grown cells of R. rubrum with 10 mM Na ethylenediaminetetraacetate. The enzyme thus obtained was so stable that loss of its activity was undetectable during storage at room temperature for 6 months under air atmosphere, provided that NaCl, KCl or CsCl was present at greater than or equal to 0.7 M.

Aerobiosis↗

Chromatium hydrogenase.

Previous reports of a relatively air-stable soluble hydrogenase from the photosynthetic anaerobe, Chromatium vinosum, have been substantiated. The properties of this enzyme, as seen in highly purified samples prepared by procedures that permit improved yields, are described. A possible role for flavin mediation is noted.

Chromatium↗

Polarographic studies in presence of Triton X-100 on oxidation-reduction components bound with chromatophores from Rhodospirillum rubrum.

Polarographic studies on oxidation-reduction components bound with chromatophores from Rhodospirillum rubrum were carried out at 24 degrees. 1. Using a carbon-paste electrode as the working electrode, polarographic waves characteristic of oxidation-reduction components were observed in the presence, but not in the absence of Triton X-100; these waves were therefore measured in the presence of the detergent. 2. At least two kinds of oxidation-reduction components were detectable, having different half-wave potentials (E1/2); at pH 7, one had an E1/2 value of +275 mV (POC+275) and the other had a value of +60 mV (POC+60). 3. POC+275 was reduced by succinate and by NADH. Both reductions were almost completely inhibited by antimycin A, which hardly affected the reductions of ubiquinone-10 by succinate and by NADH. Most POC+275 molecules were not reduced by the substrates when quinones were extracted from the chromatophores, and the reductions were mostly restored when ubiquinone-10 was re-added. This indicates that POC+275 is functional between ubiquinone-10 and cytochrome c2 in the electron transport system. 4. POC+60 was reduced by succinate, but hardly at all by NADH. The reduction of POC+60 was not influenced either by the addition of antimycin A or by the extraction of quinones. This suggests that POC+60 is functional in the process from succinate dehydrogenase [EC 1.3.99.1] to ubiquinone-10 in the electron transport system. 5. Of the POC+275 reducible by dithionite, approximately 70% could be reduced in the absence of Triton X-100, provided that the potential of the working electrode immersed in chromatophore suspensions was set at potentials of 0 mV or lower and that the electrochemical reaction was carried out at pH 7.5. When the potential of the electrode was set at +50 mV (the same as the E1/2 value of ubiquinone-10 bound with chromatophores), and the suspension was allowed to stand for various lengths in the presence of the detergent, it was found that approximately half of the electrochemically reducible POC+275 was rapidly reduced, followed by a slow reduction. The discrepancy in the oxidation-reduction equilibrium on the basis of the E1/2 values of ubiquinone-10 and POC+275 is discussed.

Antimycin A↗