Biomedical subjects

V M Coghlan

Publications and source records attributed to V M Coghlan.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Electrostatic interactions stabilizing ferredoxin electron transfer complexes. Disruption by "conservative" mutations.

Mitochondrial ferredoxins mediate electron transfer from NADPH:ferredoxin oxidoreductase to cytochrome P450 enzymes. Previous studies on human ferredoxin, in which acidic residues were replaced with neutral amino acids, established that Asp-76 and Asp-79 are are important for binding to both reductase and P450 (Coghlan, V. M., and Vickery, L. E. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 18606-18612). Here we report that replacement of Asp----Glu at position 76 or 79, whereas maintaining negative charge at these positions also results in dramatic decreases in binding affinity for both electron transfer partners (5-100-fold, delta(delta G) approximately 1.0-2.8 kcal/mol). These results imply that the active electron transfer complexes in these systems are dominated by a stable form which requires specific pairwise electrostatic interactions of fixed geometry for recognition and binding. This mechanism contrasts with that proposed for other electron transfer systems (as exemplified by cytochrome c) in which electrostatic interactions are believed to function primarily in precollisional orientation leading to "encounter complexes" having multiple geometries of similar free energy.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1991

Site-specific mutations in human ferredoxin that affect binding to ferredoxin reductase and cytochrome P450scc.

Ferredoxins found in animal mitochondria function in electron transfer from NADPH-dependent ferredoxin reductase (Fd-reductase) to cytochrome P450 enzymes. To identify residues involved in binding of human ferredoxin to its electron transfer partners, neutral amino acids were introduced in a highly conserved acidic region (positions 68-86) by site-directed mutagenesis of the cDNA. Mutant ferredoxins were produced in Escherichia coli, and separate assays were used to determine the effect of substitutions on the capacity of each mutant to bind to Fd-reductase and cytochrome P450scc and to participate in the cholesterol side chain cleavage reaction. Replacements at several positions (mutants D68A, E74Q, and D86A) did not significantly affect activity, suggesting that acidic residues at these positions are not required for binding or electron transfer interactions. In contrast, substitutions at positions 76 and 79 (D76N and D79A) caused dramatic decreases in activity and in the affinity of ferredoxin for both Fd-reductase and P450scc; this suggests that the binding sites on ferredoxin for its redox partners overlap. Other substitutions (mutants D72A, D72N, E73A, E73Q, and D79N), however, caused differential effects on binding to Fd-reductase and P450scc, suggesting that the interaction sites are not identical. We propose a model in which Fd-reductase and P450scc share a requirement for ferredoxin residues Asp-76 and Asp-79 but have other determinants that differ and play an important role in binding. This model is consistent with the hypothesis that ferredoxin functions as a mobile shuttle in steroidogenic electron transfer, and it is considered unlikely that a functional ternary complex is formed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1991

1H NMR spectra of vertebrate [2Fe-2S] ferredoxins. Hyperfine resonances suggest different electron delocalization patterns from plant ferredoxins.

We report the observation of paramagnetically shifted (hyperfine) proton resonances from vertebrate mitochondrial [2Fe-2S] ferredoxins. The hyperfine signals of human, bovine, and chick [2Fe-2S] ferredoxins are described and compared with those of Anabaena 7120 vegetative ferredoxin, a plant-type [2Fe-2S] ferredoxin studied previously [Skjeldal, L., Westler, W. M., & Markley, J. L. (1990) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 278, 482-485]. The hyperfine resonances of the three vertebrate ferredoxins were very similar to one another both in the oxidized state and in the reduced state, and slow (on the NMR scale) electron self-exchange was observed in partially reduced samples. For the oxidized vertebrate ferredoxins, hyperfine signals were observed downfield of the diamagnetic envelope from +13 to +50 ppm, and the general pattern of peaks and their anti-Curie temperature dependence are similar to those observed for the oxidized plant-type ferredoxins. For the reduced vertebrate ferredoxins, hyperfine signals were observed both upfield (-2 to -18 ppm) and downfield (+15 to +45 ppm), and all were found to exhibit Curie-type temperature dependence. This pattern and temperature dependence are distinctly different from those found with reduced plant-type ferredoxins which have signal centered around +120 ppm with Curie-type temperature dependence, assigned to cysteines which interact with Fe(III), and signals centered around +20 ppm with anti-Curie temperature dependence, assigned to cysteines which interact with Fe(II) [Dugad, L. B., La Mar, G. N., Banci, L., & Bertini, I. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 2263-2271].(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1990

Hybribox: a device for processing numbers of radioactively labeled hybridization filters with a minimum of personal exposure.

The device described permits the rapid and efficient processing of large numbers of filter hybridizations while virtually eliminating exposure to radioactive emission from the labeled probe. The filters are annealed and washed without being transferred from the holder. Throughout the process, the Plexiglas composition of the device absorbs the beta particles and exposure to the hands and arms is essentially zero. Since the hybridization solution can be reused several times, the cost involved approximates that of the conventional methods for hybridization.

Cloning, Molecular↗

PubMed1989

Expression of human ferredoxin and assembly of the [2Fe-2S] center in Escherichia coli.

A cDNA fragment encoding human ferredoxin, a mitochondrial [2Fe-2S] protein, was introduced into Escherichia coli by using an expression vector based on the approach of Nagai and Thøgersen [Nagai, K. & Thøgersen, M. C. (1984) Nature (London) 309, 810-812]. Expression was under control of the lambda PL promoter and resulted in production of ferredoxin as a cleavable fusion protein with an amino-terminal fragment derived from bacteriophage lambda cII protein. The fusion protein was isolated from the soluble fraction of induced cells and was specifically cleaved to yield mature recombinant ferredoxin. The recombinant protein was shown to be identical in size to ferredoxin isolated from human placenta (13,546 Da) by NaDodSO4/PAGE and partial amino acid sequencing. E. coli cells expressing human ferredoxin were brown in color, and absorbance and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of the purified recombinant protein established that the [2Fe-2S] center was assembled and incorporated into ferredoxin in vivo. Recombinant ferredoxin was active in steroid hydroxylations when reconstituted with cytochromes P-450scc and P-450(11) beta and exhibited rates comparable to those observed for ferredoxin isolated from human placenta. This expression system should be useful in production of native and structurally altered forms of human ferredoxin for studies of ferredoxin structure and function.

Cloning, Molecular↗

PubMed1988

Purification and characterization of human placental ferredoxin.

A ferredoxin-type iron-sulfur protein was isolated from human placenta mitochondria. The properties of the purified protein were very similar to those of adrenal ferredoxin (adrenodoxin), and immunological cross-reactivity with polyclonal antibodies to bovine adrenodoxin was observed. The N-terminal amino acid sequence and the visible absorption spectrum were identical to bovine adrenodoxin. The molecular mass as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Mr approximately 13,500), however, is slightly smaller than that of adrenodoxin, and the C-terminal sequence is different. Human placental ferredoxin can substitute for bovine adrenodoxin in reactions reconstituted with bovine adrenal enzymes which catalyze the side chain cleavage of cholesterol to pregnenolone and the 11 beta-hydroxylation of deoxycorticosterone to corticosterone.

Adrenal Glands↗

PubMed1986

Cloning and sequencing of papain-encoding cDNA.

Messenger RNA extracted from Carica papaya fruit was converted to cDNA and cloned into the PstI restriction site of plasmid pBR322. Subclones of the approximately 1.4-kb fragment were sequenced. The nucleotide sequence matched that expected, based on the amino acid (aa) sequence for papain, with the following exceptions: at aa positions 47, 118 and 135 the codon for glutamate was found instead of glutamine; at aa position 169 the codon for asparagine was found instead of glycine; at aa positions 86-88, a difference in the order of the aa codons was observed, namely tyr-pro-tyr instead of the published pro-tyr-tyr. The upstream sequence revealed that papain is probably synthesized with a 133-aa prosegment, suggesting that the enzyme is synthesized as an inactive zymogen. The downstream segment revealed an unusual (AT)9AGAA sequence beginning 26 bp from the double TGA stop codon.

Amino Acid Sequence↗