High-density lipoprotein cholesterol--a significant bias between methods.

A peculiar characteristic of highly concentrated cytosolic recombinant human glyoxalase II (GII) solutions is to undergo partial precipitation. Previous work indicated that anionic phospholipids (PLs) exert a noncompetitive inhibition on the enzymatic activity of the soluble enzyme. In this study, FTIR spectroscopy was used to analyze the structural properties and the thermal stability of the soluble protein in the absence and in the presence of liposomes made of different phospholipids (PLs). The structural analysis was performed on the precipitate as well. The interaction of acidic PLs with GII lowered the thermal stability of the enzyme and inhibited protein intermolecular interactions (aggregation) brought about by thermal denaturation. Infrared data indicated that ionic and hydrophobic interactions occur between GII and acidic PLs causing small changes in the secondary structure of the enzyme. No interactions of the protein with egg phosphatidylcholine liposomes were detected. The results are consistent with the destabilization of the protein tertiary structure, and indicate that GII possesses hydrophobic part(s) that interact with the acyl chains of PLs. Data on precipitated GII did not show remarkable modification of secondary structure, suggesting that hydrophobic stretches of the enzyme may also be involved in the protein-protein association (precipitation) at high GII concentration. The alterations in the GII structure and the noncompetitive inhibition exerted by acidic PLs are strictly related.

Chemical Precipitation↗

PubMed2002

Aggregation of granulocyte colony stimulating factor under physiological conditions: characterization and thermodynamic inhibition.

We have investigated the aggregation of recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (rhGCSF), a protein that rapidly aggregates and precipitates at pH 6.9 and 37 degrees C. We observed that native monomeric rhGCSF reversibly forms a dimer under physiological conditions and that this dimeric species does not participate in the irreversible aggregation process. Sucrose, a thermodynamic stabilizer, inhibits the aggregation of rhGCSF. We postulate that sucrose acts by reducing the concentration of structurally expanded species, consistent with the hypothesis that preferential exclusion favors most compact species in the native state ensemble. Thermodynamic stability data from unfolding curves and hydrogen-deuterium exchange experimental results support the above hypothesis. Thus, the strategy of stabilizing the native state of the protein under physiological conditions using thermodynamic stabilizers, especially ligands binding with high affinity to the native state, is expected to protect against protein aggregation occurring under such nonperturbing solution conditions.

Chemical Precipitation↗

PubMed2002

Modeling the inhibition of the bacteral reduction of U(VI) by beta-MnO2(s).

Pyrolusite (beta-MnO2(s)) was used to assess the influence of a competitive electron acceptor on the kinetics of reduction of aqueous uranyl carbonate by a dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium (DMRB), Shewanella putrefaciens strain CN32. The enzymatic reduction of U(VI) and beta-MnO2(s) and the abiotic redox reaction between beta-MnO2(s) and biogenic uraninite (UO2(s)) were independently investigated to allow for interpretation of studies of U(VI) bioreduction in the presence of beta-MnO2(s). Uranyl bioreduction to UO2(s) by CN32 with H2 as the electron donor followed Monod kinetics, with a maximum specific reduction rate of 110 M/h/10(8) cells/mL and a half-saturation constant of 370 microM. The bioreduction rate of beta-MnO2(s) by CN32 was described by a pseudo-first-order model with respect to beta-MnO2(s) surface sites, with a rate constant of 7.92 x 10(-2) h(-1)/10(8) cells/mL. Uraninite that precipitated as a result of microbial U(VI) reduction was abiotically reoxidized to U(VI) by beta-MnO2(s), with concomitant reduction to Mn(II). The oxidation of biogenic UO2(s) coupled with beta-MnO2(s) reduction was well-described by an electrochemical model. However, a simple model that coupled the bacterial reduction of U(VI) and beta-MnO2(s) with an abiotic redox reaction between UO2(s) and beta-MnO2(s) failed to describe the mass loss of U(VI) in the presence of beta-MnO2(s). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) revealed that the particle size and spatial distribution of the biogenic UO2(s) changed dynamically in systems with, as compared to without, beta-MnO2(s)). These observations suggested that the surface properties and localization of UO2(s) in relation to the cell and beta-MnO2(s) surfaces was an important factor controlling the abiotic oxidation of UO2(s) and, thus, the overall rate and extent of U(VI) bioreduction. The coupled model that was modified to account for the "effective" contact surface area between UO2(s) and beta-MnO2(s) significantly improved the simulation of microbial reduction of U(VI) in the presence of beta-MnO2(s).

Chemical Precipitation↗