PubMed · 3937020
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R A Hartline. 1985. alpha-Aminoadipate.. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0076-6879(85)13085-5
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The peak concentration and rate of clearance of neurotransmitter from the synaptic cleft are important determinants of synaptic function, yet the neurotransmitter concentration time course is unknown at synapses in the brain. The time course of free glutamate in the cleft was estimated by kinetic analysis of the displacement of a rapidly dissociating competitive antagonist from N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors during synaptic transmission. Glutamate peaked at 1.1 millimolar and decayed with a time constant of 1.2 milliseconds at cultured hippocampal synapses. This time course implies that transmitter saturates postsynaptic NMDA receptors. However, glutamate dissociates much more rapidly from alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors. Thus, the time course of free glutamate predicts that dissociation contributes to the decay of the AMPA receptor-mediated postsynaptic current.
The addition of 0.1 M L-lysine to the fermentation medium reduced the production of penicillin by about 50% in Aspergillus nidulans. To analyse this effect at the molecular level, the expression of the penicillin biosynthesis genes acvA and ipnA, encoding delta-(L-alpha-aminoadipyl)-L-cysteinyl-D-valine synthetase and isopenicillin N synthetase, was studied by using translational fusions with different reporter genes (strain AXB4A, acvA-uidA, ipnA-lacZ fusions; AXB4B, acvA-lacZ, ipnA-uidA fusions) integrated in single copy at the chromosomal argB locus of Aspergillus nidulans. Irrespective of the reporter genes used the expression of acvA and ipnA fusion genes was repressed in L-lysine grown cultures. The expression of a fusion gene of an A. nidulans primary metabolism gene (oliC-lacZ) was not affected by L-lysine.
The enzyme activity of purified delta-(L-alpha-aminoadipyl)-L-cysteinyl-D-valine (ACV) synthetase from Streptomyces clavuligerus was studied biochemically. The dependence of ACV synthetase activity on reaction parameters, including substrates, cofactors, temperature and pH, were determined, resulting in a substantially increased enzyme activity. The activity is very labile to high temperature and is also unstable at acidic pH. The enzyme specificity is strict towards L-alpha-aminoadipate, but rather loose with respect to L-valine; certain modifications of L-cysteine can also be tolerated. Some unnatural tripeptides synthesized by ACV synthetase can be converted into bioactive compounds by isopenicillin N synthase. The only nutrient found to negatively affect ACV synthetase activity is phosphate, but various compounds such as thiol-blocking reagents and ATP-utilization products (AMP and pyrophosphate) are inhibitory to the enzyme.