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T Ureta

Publications and source records attributed to T Ureta.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

[The organization of metabolism : subcellular localization of glycolytic enzymes].

The subject of cellular metabolic organization (with focus on carbohydrate metabolism) is reviewed. The existence of a "soluble" phase in the cell is considered unlikely. A note of caution regarding metabolic compartmentation as shown by isotope studies is presented. Emphasis is given to the description of experiments purporting to show the influence of protein crowding, interactions between glycolytic enzymes, and reversible association to structural proteins or to organelles. The transient nature of those associations is considered to be particularly relevant to the organization and regulation of glycolysis. The proposed role of isozymes as structural determinants of metabolic compartmentation is stressed. A few studies based on immunocytochemical observations of glycolytic enzymes are briefly described. A list of questions whose answers are badly needed is presented.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Search for compartments of glucose metabolism in the microinjected frog oocyte.

Microinjection of frog oocytes allows the modification of intracellular levels of substrates, intermediates, cofactors and enzymes. Use of labeled glucose at specific positions has led us to conclude that oocytes utilize glucose mainly for glycogen synthesis and to a lesser extent for the pentose-P pathway. Glycolysis, glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis are not operative in these cells. The subject of compartmentation of glucose utilization has been addressed in this paper. First, we show that microinjection of glucose results in a 30-fold increase of carbon incorporation into glycogen when compared to oocytes incubated at saturating glucose concentrations. On the other hand, carbon incorporation into CO2, remains at about the same levels in both conditions Second, microinjection of NADP+ increases CO2 release and inhibits glycogen synthesis from glucose. Third, co-injection of unlabeled intermediates affects differentially glycogen synthesis and CO2 production from labeled glucose. Finally, microinjection of pure yeast hexokinase stimulates markedly 14CO2 release and inhibits glycogen synthesis. We conclude that two separate pools of glucose-6-P exists in oocytes: one pool is committed to the pathway of glycogen synthesis while a second pool serves as substrate for the operation of the pentose-P pathway.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

A modified form of mitochondrial hexokinase produced by ATP-induced solubilization.

Mitochondrial hexokinases from several rat tissues were analyzed by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. Solubilization by glucose-6-P or Triton X-100 released hexokinases A and B. Solubilization by ATP resulted in a decrease of hexokinase A and the concomitant appearance of a new fraction of lower net charge (hexokinase Am) which readily reverts to hexokinase A by dialysis or dilution. Treatment of homogeneous or partially purified hexokinase A with ATP did not generate hexokinase Am. Hexokinases Am and A were equally inhibited by an anti-hexokinase immune serum and displayed the same Km values for glucose and ATP. Hexokinase Am may represent a conformer or an oligomer produced during ATP-induced solubilization of hexokinase A from mitochondria.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1982

The comparative isozymology of vertebrate hexokinases.

1. Multiple hexokinase isozymes have been found in most vertebrates. Since each isozyme displays distinctive structural, kinetic and regulatory characteristics, the system qualifies as a useful probe for studies on molecular evolution. 2. At least seven types of chromatographic patterns of liver hexokinases have been observed in mammals. In contrast, each Class of lower vertebrates present only two or three distinct profiles. 3. Aves and higher Reptiles do not have the same hexokinase isozymes as other vertebrates. The nature of the differences is poorly understood. 4. Ontogenetic changes of liver hexokinase profiles are quite different in rat, chick and frog. 5. Structural comparisons of three vertebrate hexokinases having a molecular weight of approximately 100,000 suggest that those isozymes originated from a pre-vertebrate ancestor through gene duplication followed by fusion and further duplication events. Another hexokinase (the so-called glucokinase), with half the molecular weight, may have arisen either as the result of subsequent even splitting of the fused gene or, less probably, by divergence from a duplicated gene before the fusion event.

Amphibians↗
PubMed1981

Genetic and biochemical characterization of D-arabinose dehydrogenase from Neurospora crassa.

D-Arabinose dehydrogenase has been purified to homogeneity from wild-type Neurospora crassa 74-A (FGSC 262) and from two colonial mutants, col-15a (FGSC 1391) and col-16a (FGSC 1349), found to contain more of the enzyme. The enzymes were characterized by measurement of several kinetic and physicochemical parameters. The enzymes were the same in all characteristics studied thus far. Immunological studied performed with enzyme preparations from the three strains showed antigenic identity and indicated that those colonial strains contain more normal enzyme, rather than the usual amount of an altered "improved" enzyme. Quantitation of the enzyme in crude extracts, performed by single radial immunodiffusion, showed that the colonial strains have twice the level of enzyme as the wild-type strain. Genetic characterization, performed by analysis of meiotic products, heterokaryosis, and reversions, indicated that the difference in D-arabinose dehydrogenase activity detected among the three strains is probably determined by one gene. The genetic control, structural or regulatory of this enzyme activity is different from that determining the morphological alterations exhibited by mutant strains carrying the col-15 or col-16 gene.

Arabinose↗
PubMed1981

Ontogeny of chick liver hexokinase isozymes.

Glucose phosphorylating activities were measured in liver extracts from chicks at several developmental stages. Enzyme activity levels in supernates were low (about 0.16 units/g liver) from day 10th of egg incubation until the 17th day, at which time a transient increase to 0.5 units/g was observed. At hatching, the levels were again low (0.15 units/g) compared to adult levels (0.9 units/g). Particulate hexokinase activity was rather constant from day 10th to adulthood (about 0.3 units/g). Chromatography of liver supernates in DEAE-cellulose columns revealed the presence of four hexokinases in embryos up to day 15th of incubation. From that day onwards, the least retained from (hexokinase 4) was no longer found. The most retained form (hexokinase 1) disappeared at hatching, at which time a pattern consisting of hexokinases 2 and 3 was found to be very similar to the adult profile. The four isozymes were characterized as low Km glucose hexokinase of broad sugar specificities and molecular weights of about 100,000. Particulate hexokinase activity of embryonic chick liver was found to be composed of the same isozymes observed in cytosolic extracts. Incubation of particles with glucose 6-P or ATP failed to release hexokinase activity.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

The identification of extrahepatic "glucokinase" as N-acetylglucosamine kinase.

Several research groups have reported the presence of a high Km glucokinase (ATP:D-glucose 6-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.2) in tissues other than adult liver. As shown in this report, protein fractions catalyzing glucose phosphorylation only at high substrate concentrations (100 mM) are indeed found in bovine spleen, rat kidney, human placenta, and newborn rat liver. However, the study of substrate specificities and Michaelis constant values showed that those fractions could be better described as N-acetylglucosamine kinase (ATP:acetamide-2-deoxy-D-glucose-6-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.9) which, in addition to N-acetylglucosamine (Km = 0.066 mM), can also phosphorylate glucose although with very high Km values (370 mM). Furthermore, a homogeneous preparation from bovine spleen was able to phosphorylate both N-acetylglucosamine and glucose. An immune serum against bovine spleen N-acetylglucosamine kinase did not cross-react with purified hexokinases or with glucokinase from rat. However, it was able to remove the putative "glucokinases" from extracts of rat kidney, newborn rat liver, and one of two electrophoretic bands of liver "glucokinase." It is proposed that any report of extrahepatic glucokinase should explicity rule out N-acetylglucosamine kinase as the enzyme being described.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Glucose utilization in vertebrates as a molecular probe for the study of evolution.

Hexokinase isozymic profiles from the liver of 68 vertebrate species are presented. The comparison of the diverse patterns observed, as well as the kinetic and physicochemical properties of the isozymes, reveals that the hexokinases from mammals are very similar to those from turtles and amphibians. The hexokinases from birds, lizards and snakes on the other hand are similar within themselves and different from the enzymes from mammals and amphibians. Liver pyruvate kinases show about the same behavior. The hexokinase system from vertebrate muscle however is very uniform in all the species studied consisting mainly of hexokinase B.

Amphibians↗
PubMed1976

The allosteric regulation of hexokinase C from amphibian liver.

A type C hexokinase (ATP:D-hexose-6-phosphotransferase EC 2.7.1.1) was partially purified from the liver of the frog Calyptocephalella caudiverbera. The enzyme is inhibited by glucose levels in the range of normal blood sugar concentrations. The extent of the inhibition by glucose depends on the concentration of ATP, being most marked between 1 and 5 mM ATP. Fructose, although a substrate, was not inhibitory of its own phosphorylation. The inhibitory effect of high glucose levels exhibited a strong, reversible pH dependence being most marked at pH 6.5. At pH 7.5 the inhibition by high glucose levels was a function of the enzyme concentration, the effect being stronger at high enzyme concentrations, whereas no inhibition was observed when assaying very diluted preparations. At all enzyme concentrations studied, high levels of glucose caused no inhibition at pH 8.5, whereas at pH 6.5 strong inhibition was always observed. Short times of photooxidation of hexokinase C as well as incubation with low concentrations of p-chloromercuribenzoate resulted in the loss of the inhibition by excess of glucose. Glucose-6-phosphate was found to be a strong inhibitor of hexokinase C but only at high glucose levels. The inhibitory effect of glucose-6-P follows sigmoidal kinetics at low (about 0.02 mM) glucose concentrations, the Hill coefficient being 2.3. The kinetics of the inhibition became hyperbolic at high (greater than 0.2 mM) glucose levels. These results suggest that the inhibition of hexokinase C by excess glucose is due to the interaction of glucose with a second, aldose-specific, regulatory site on the enzyme. The modification of the inhibitory effect by ATP, glucose-6-P, enzyme concentration, and pH, all of them at physiological levels, indicates a major role for hexokinase C in the regulation of glucose utilization by the liver.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1975

Adaptive character of liver glucokinase.

1. Glucokinase is one of four glucose phosphorylating enzymes present in rat liver. Its distinctive features are a high K-m for glucose (high-K-m isozyme) and a rather narrow substrate specificity. In contrast, the other three enzymes, collectively called hexokinases or low-K-m isozymes, exhibit low K-m values for glucose and a wider substrate specificity. 2. Glucokinase is present in the liver os mammals (with some exceptions), amphibians and lower reptiles; It is absent from higher reptiles and birds. The presence or absence of glucokinase may represent an evolutionary adaptation to feeding habits and other physiological peculiarities. Differences in the immunological behavior and in the kinetic parameters of glucokinases from different taxa suggest the operation of divergent evolution. 3. The levels of glucokinase in rat liver depend strictly on the supply of carbohydrate in the diet. Glycogen phosphorylase and glycogen synthetase behave similarly, whereas other carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes depend on the provision of either protein or protein plus carbohydrate. Glucokinase decays with a half-life of 33 hr when rats are starved or fed a carbohydrate-free diet, and is induced by the administration of glucose. The adaptive character is not exhibited by all mammals, indicating evolutionary discrimination within the same class and even within the same single order Rodentia. Enzyme adaptation in the liver may partially explain the condition known as 'hunger diabetes'. 4. The endocrine system plays a paramount role in glucokinase adaptation, since insulin is essential for glucose-dependent glucokinase induction and, on the other hand, glucagon, catecholamines and cyclic AMP prevent the induction. Glucocorticoids and some pituitary hormones modulate the rate of induction. The mechanisms underlying the hormonal regulation of glucokinase levels are not well known. 5. The variations in liver glucokinase correspond to changes in the amount of enzyme protein as assessed by immunochemical titration. This fact agrees with the effects of inhibitors of protein synthesis on glucokinase induction. 6. An antiserum against rat glucokinase reacts with the enzyme from mammals and turtles but not with the amphibian enzyme. It does not react with low-K-m hexokinases from different sources. 7. The saturation function for glucose is sigmoidal in mammalian and amphibian glucokinases but not in glucokinase from lower reptiles. The Hill's coefficient is very constant with values about 1.6. The K0.5 (concentration for half saturation) values in the different species studied vary between 1.5 and 8 mM. These kinetic parameters may be considered as another adaptive feature aimed to give maximal efficiency to the liver uptake of glucose at the changeable concentrations in the blood resulting from variations in the amount of dietary glucose.

Adaptation, Physiological↗