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Studies of chromophores in model membranes by polarized light-absorption spectroscopy. The orientation and binding of tetracaine and procaine.

A method for studying the orientation and binding of chromophores in macroscopically aligned membranes by polarized light absorption spectroscopy is described. Here tetracaine and procaine solubilized in a lamellar phase of octanoyl-1-glyceride (monooctanoin) and water have been investigated. Tetracaine is found to be located in the lipid region with a preferential orientation of the molecular long axis parallel to the hydrocarbon chains. The orientation of procaine, mainly residing in the water region, is very small.

Binding Sites↗

Trypanothione reductase of Trypanosoma congolense: gene isolation, primary sequence determination, and comparison to glutathione reductase.

The gene encoding trypanothione reductase, the redox disulfide-containing flavoenzyme that is unique to the parasitic trypanosomatids (Shames et al., 1986), has been isolated from the cattle pathogen Trypanosoma congolense. Library screening was carried out with inosine-containing oligonucleotide probes encoding sequences determined from two active site peptides isolated from the purified Crithidia fasciculata enzyme. The nucleotide sequence of the gene was determined according to the dideoxy chain termination method of Sanger. The structural gene is 1476 nucleotides long and encodes 492 amino acids. We have identified the active site peptide containing the redox-active disulfide, a peptide corresponding to the histidine-467 region of human erythrocyte glutathione reductase, as well as the flavin binding domain that is highly conserved in all disulfide-containing flavoprotein reductase enzymes. Alignment of five tryptic peptides (80 residues) isolated from the C. fasciculata trypanothione reductase with the primary sequence of the T. congolense enzyme showed 88% homology with 76% identity. Additionally, a sequence comparison of the glutathione reductase from Escherichia coli or human erythrocytes to T. congolense trypanothione reductase reveals greater than 50% homology. A search for the amino acid residues in the primary sequence of trypanothione reductase functionally active in binding/catalysis in human erythrocyte glutathione reductase shows that only the two arginine residues (Arg-37 and Arg-347), shown by X-ray crystallographic data to hydrogen bond to the GS1 glutathione glycyl carboxylate, are absent.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

[Hemoglobins, XXV. Hemoglobin (erythrocruorin) CTT III from Chironomus thummi thummi (Diptera). Primary structure and relationship to other heme proteins (author's transl)].

The amino acid sequence analysis of hemoglobin (erythrocruorin) CTT III from Chironomus thummi th. (Diptera) has been checked with automatic methods and completed. The protein chain consists of 136 amino acids and contains a neutral exchange isoleucine/threonine in position 57. The molecular weight of the heme protein (Thr) is 15400. The primary structure gives the chemical basis for the refinement of the X-ray structure and the understanding of the mechanism of the Bohr effect in this monomeric hemoglobin. A homologous alignment to vertebrate globins is reported. The resulting data for the phylogeny of proto-and deuterostomian animals and the function of this hemoglobin are discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

[DNA sequence polymorphism of Chlamydia trachomatis omp1 gene].

A method for detection and genotyping of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infections based on omp1 gene amplification and sequencing was developed, and the character of omp1 gene of Chlamydia trachomatis was analysed. Urethral or endocervical specimens were collected from 323 patients attending STD clinics in Hengyang, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Jiangmen from November, 2003 to May, 2004. DNA was extracted by usual method, and an approximately 980bp fragment from the major outer membrane protein (omp1) gene of Chlamydia trachomatis was amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR). The PCR products were purified by DNA agarose gel purification system and the sequence of the omp1 gene was determined by using an ABI PRISM 3700 Genetic Analyser, and genotyping was performed by BLAST similarity search. Multiple alignment was performed with CLUSTAL package (CLUSTAL X), and a phylogenetic tree was constructed by Mega3 software to illustrate the evolutionary relationships between clinical isolates and reference strains of C. trachomatis obtained from GenBank. All variable sequences were submitted to GenBank by Banklt programe. The overall prevalence of urogenital chlamydial infection was 29.7% (96 of 323). All the 96 C. trachomatis-positive cases were sequenced, and 10 genotypes and 28 genetic variants were detected. The most prevalent genotype was E(34.4%), followed by J(25.0%), D(12.5%), F(8.3%), G(7.3%), H(3.1%), Ba(3.1%), K(3.1%), Da (2.1% ), 1 (1.1%). The distribution of C. trachomatis genotypes in the four cities in sourth China was similar to other countries in the world. The omp1 gene was highly conserved for genotype E and F, but appeared slightly less conserved for other genotypes, where the sequences displayed one or several nucleotide substitutions relatived to the corresponding reference sequence. And a similar recombination was found between genotypes Ba and D in CD1. Phylogenetic tree showed that Chlamydia trachomatis genotypes were mainly divided into three clusters, according to previous grouping in the B, F-G, and C complexes. Clusters F-G and C were characterized by small genetic distances within each cluster, but clusters B displayed larger genetic distances. And the clinical isolates were highly related to the reference strains. It is concluded that the isolated Chlamydia trachomatis strains exhibit remarkable omp1 DNA sequence polymorphism, which can encourage for vaccine design and infection control.

Chlamydia Infections↗

Isolation and sequence analysis of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene from the euryhaline yeast Debaryomyces hansenii.

The small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rDNA) from the euryhaline yeast Debaryomyces hansenii has been isolated and sequenced. After appropriate alignment of this sequence with SSU rDNA sequences from 30 other taxa, phylogenetic reconstruction using distance matrix and maximum parsimony methods indicates that D. hansenii is most closely affiliated with Candida albicans, and occurs in the cluster of the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Torulaspora delbruekii, Candida glabrata, and Kluyveromyces lactis. It appears that the capacity to tolerate high salt is independent of phylogenetic affiliations based on SSU rDNA analyses.

Base Sequence↗

Combining local-structure, fold-recognition, and new fold methods for protein structure prediction.

This article presents an overview of the SAM-T02 method for protein fold recognition and the UNDERTAKER program for ab initio predictions. The SAM-T02 server is an automatic method that uses two-track hidden Markov models (HMMS) to find and align template proteins from PDB to the target protein. The two-track HMMs use an amino acid alphabet and one of several different local structure alphabets. The UNDERTAKER program is a new fragment-packing program that can use short or long fragments and alignments to create protein conformations. The HMMs and fold-recognition alignments from the SAM-T02 method were used to generate the fragment and alignment libraries used by UNDERTAKER. We present results on a few selected targets for which this combined method worked particularly well: T0129, T0181, T0135, T0130, and T0139.

Algorithms↗

An algorithm for progressive multiple alignment of sequences with insertions.

Dynamic programming algorithms guarantee to find the optimal alignment between two sequences. For more than a few sequences, exact algorithms become computationally impractical, and progressive algorithms iterating pairwise alignments are widely used. These heuristic methods have a serious drawback because pairwise algorithms do not differentiate insertions from deletions and end up penalizing single insertion events multiple times. Such an unrealistically high penalty for insertions typically results in overmatching of sequences and an underestimation of the number of insertion events. We describe a modification of the traditional alignment algorithm that can distinguish insertion from deletion and avoid repeated penalization of insertions and illustrate this method with a pair hidden Markov model that uses an evolutionary scoring function. In comparison with a traditional progressive alignment method, our algorithm infers a greater number of insertion events and creates gaps that are phylogenetically consistent but spatially less concentrated. Our results suggest that some insertion/deletion "hot spots" may actually be artifacts of traditional alignment algorithms.

Algorithms↗

A neural network method for prediction of beta-turn types in proteins using evolutionary information.

MOTIVATION: The prediction of beta-turns is an important element of protein secondary structure prediction. Recently, a highly accurate neural network based method Betatpred2 has been developed for predicting beta-turns in proteins using position-specific scoring matrices (PSSM) generated by PSI-BLAST and secondary structure information predicted by PSIPRED. However, the major limitation of Betatpred2 is that it predicts only beta-turn and non-beta-turn residues and does not provide any information of different beta-turn types. Thus, there is a need to predict beta-turn types using an approach based on multiple sequence alignment, which will be useful in overall tertiary structure prediction. RESULTS: In the present work, a method has been developed for the prediction of beta-turn types I, II, IV and VIII. For each turn type, two consecutive feed-forward back-propagation networks with a single hidden layer have been used where the first sequence-to-structure network has been trained on single sequences as well as on PSI-BLAST PSSM. The output from the first network along with PSIPRED predicted secondary structure has been used as input for the second-level structure-to-structure network. The networks have been trained and tested on a non-homologous dataset of 426 proteins chains by 7-fold cross-validation. It has been observed that the prediction performance for each turn type is improved significantly by using multiple sequence alignment. The performance has been further improved by using a second level structure-to-structure network and PSIPRED predicted secondary structure information. It has been observed that Type I and II beta-turns have better prediction performance than Type IV and VIII beta-turns. The final network yields an overall accuracy of 74.5, 93.5, 67.9 and 96.5% with MCC values of 0.29, 0.29, 0.23 and 0.02 for Type I, II, IV and VIII beta-turns, respectively, and is better than random prediction. AVAILABILITY: A web server for prediction of beta-turn types I, II, IV and VIII based on above approach is available at http://www.imtech.res.in/raghava/betaturns/ and http://bioinformatics.uams.edu/mirror/betaturns/ (mirror site).

Algorithms↗

Cyclospora cayetanensis: a review of an emerging parasitic coccidian.

Cyclospora cayetanensis is a sporulating parasitic protozoan that infects the upper small intestinal tract. It has been identified as both a food and waterborne pathogen endemic in many developing countries. It is an important agent of Traveller's Diarrohea in developed countries and was responsible for numerous foodborne outbreaks in the United States and Canada in the late 1990s. Like Cryptosporidium, infection has been associated with a variety of sequelae such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, reactive arthritis syndrome (formally Reiter syndrome) and acalculous cholecystitis. There has been much debate as to where to place C. cayetanensis taxonomically due to its homology with Eimeria species. To date, the only genomic DNA sequences available are the ribosomal DNA of C. cayetanensis and three other species; within these a high degree of homology has been observed. This homology and the lack of sequence data from other Cyclospora species have hindered identification methods.

Animals↗

The role of pattern databases in sequence analysis.

In the wake of the numerous now-fruitful genome projects, we are entering an era rich in biological data. The field of bioinformatics is poised to exploit this information in increasingly powerful ways, but the abundance and growing complexity both of the data and of the tools and resources required to analyse them are threatening to overwhelm us. Databases and their search tools are now an essential part of the research environment. However, the rate of sequence generation and the haphazard proliferation of databases have made it difficult to keep pace with developments. In an age of information overload, researchers want rapid, easy-to-use, reliable tools for functional characterisation of newly determined sequences. But what are those tools? How do we access them? Which should we use? This review focuses on a particular type of database that is increasingly used in the task of routine sequence analysis--the so-called pattern database. The paper aims to provide an overview of the current status of pattern databases in common use, outlining the methods behind them and giving pointers on their diagnostic strengths and weaknesses.

Amino Acid Motifs↗

The rrs (16S)-rrl (23S) ribosomal intergenic spacer region as a target for the detection of Haemophilus ducreyi by a heminested-PCR assay.

The intergenic spacer region between the rrs and rrl ribosomal RNA genes of Haemophilus ducreyi was analysed and the DNA sequence was used for the selection of specific PCR primers. A highly sensitive and specific heminested-PCR assay for the identification of H. ducreyi was developed. The assay showed a sensitivity of 96% on genital ulcer specimens from patients with clinically diagnosed chancroid, compared with a sensitivity of 56% for culture methods. These results indicate that this PCR assay has the potential to become an accurate and easy reference method for the detection of H. ducreyi.

Base Sequence↗

Detection of neuron-specific gamma-enolase messenger ribonucleic acid in normal human leukocytes by polymerase chain reaction amplification with nested primers.

BACKGROUND: NNE (non-neuronal alpha-enolase) is a glycolytic enzyme detected in most tissues. NSE (neuron-specific gamma-enolase) is detected in normal neurons and tumors such as neuroblastoma. Staining with antibodies against NSE is therefore used to detect neuroblastoma cells invading bone marrow. Since staining of normal leukocytes has been reported we asked whether bona fide NSE is in fact expressed in normal blood and marrow. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We designed nested coding region specific primers for NSE and NNE and, after reverse transcription of mRNA, we amplified the coding region between these primers in a semi-nested polymerase chain reaction. In order to distinguish both iso-mRNAs from each other, we amplified a long (1,047 bp) template in a first round of 30 cycles with primers specific for NNE or NSE. One percent of this product was used in a second round of 30 cycles in which both sense primers and two nested anti-sense primers of alternate specificities yielding shorter products of discernible sizes (768 bp or 619 bp) were added together in the same reaction tube. With this combination of four primers, only that shorter product was amplified to visibility, the specificity of which was homologous to the template produced in the first 30 cycles. Restriction enzyme digestion of the amplified products was used to verify this polymerase chain reaction-based approach for the distinction of isoforms of RNA. RESULTS: This semi-nested polymerase chain reaction clearly allows for the distinction of mRNA for NNE or NSE and shows the presence of transcripts for NSE in normal human leukocytes from blood and bone marrow. CONCLUSIONS: This method exploiting short stretches of nucleotide differences in the coding regions for priming can more generally be applied to the distinction of all isoforms of RNA where nested specific primers can be designed. However, the presence of NSE specific transcripts in normal human leukocytes invalidates the use of this highly sensitive method as a disease marker in neuroblastoma.

Base Sequence↗

Molecular epidemiological study of dengue virus type 1 in Taiwan.

Taiwan has experienced several major outbreaks of dengue (DEN) virus since 1981. The predominant virus type involved has been dengue virus type one (DEN-1), which first appeared in 1987. To understand the molecular epidemiology of this virus, 15 strains of DEN-1 isolated during 1987-1991 and 1994-1995, including 11 epidemic strains, two sporadic strains, and two imported strains have been studied. Fragments of 490 nucleotides (nt) from the E/NS1 junction were amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and the nt sequences were determined. Of the 490 nt of the E/NS1 junction, 240 nt (nt 2282-2521) were aligned and compared. Nucleotide substitutions were found at 54 positions among 15 isolates. Most nt changes were synonymous substitutions, and only three amino acid changes were found. A total of 61 strains isolated worldwide were analyzed by the Neighbor-joining method, and separated phylogenetically into three distinct genotypes, I-III. Genotype I comprised isolates from Japan and Hawaii collected in the 1940s. Genotype II included most strains isolated from Asia in 1977-1995. Genotype III consisted of isolates from three continents in 1964-1995: Asia, the Americas, and Africa. Genotype III was divided further into two subgenotypes, IIIA and IIIB. Most recent isolates from Taiwan, except for the sporadic strain isolated in 1995, were similar genetically and have been classified as Genotype II.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

The primary structure of high density apolipoprotein-glutamine-I.

The major protein constituent of human plasma high density lipoproteins has been isolated and its complete amino-acid sequence determined. The protein, designated apolipoprotein-glutamine-I by the presence of carboxyl-terminal glutamine, is a single polypeptide chain of 245 amino-acid residues, including three residues of methionine. The protein is devoid of cysteine, cystine, and isoleucine. Cleavage of apolipoprotein-glutamine-I with cyanogen bromide yields four fragments with 94, 90, 36, and 25 amino acids. The amino-acid sequence of each fragment was determined by conventional methods, with proteolytic digestion with trypsin, chymotrypsin, and thermolysin. The alignment of the cyanogen bromide fragments was determined by the isolation of the methionine-containing tryptic peptides from apolipoprotein-glutamine-I. Inspection of the sequence of apolipoprotein-glutamine-I suggests an interesting distribution of amino acids that may account for its helical structure and its ability to bind and transport lipid.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

DMAPS: a database of multiple alignments for protein structures.

The database of multiple alignments for protein structures (DMAPS) provides instant access to pre-computed multiple structure alignments for all protein structure families in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Protein structure families have been obtained from four distinct classification methods including SCOP, CATH, ENZYME and CE, and multiple structure alignments have been built for all families containing at least three members, using CE-MC software. Currently, multiple structure alignments are available for 3050 SCOP-, 3087 CATH-, 664 ENZYME- and 1707 CE-based families. A web-based query system has been developed to retrieve multiple alignments for these families using the PDB chain ID of any member of a family. Multiple alignments can be viewed or downloaded in six different formats, including JOY/html, TEXT, FASTA, PDB (superimposed coordinates), JOY/postscript and JOY/rtf. DMAPS is accessible online at http://bioinformatics.albany.edu/~dmaps.

Databases, Protein↗

Structural studies on the coat protein of alfalfa mosaic virus. The complete primary structure.

The complete amino acid sequence of the coat protein of alfalfa mosaic virus (strain 425) is reported. Sequence determinations were mainly performed on peptides obtained from fragmentation by cyanogen bromide and trypsin. Both manual and automatic sequence methods were used. Some refinements of the solid-phase Edman degradation were introduced. The final alignment of the peptides was established by means of alternative cleavage methods, such as limited tryptic digestion of intact virus particles, tryptic digestion after blockage of lysine residues and chymotryptic digestion. The coat protein consists of 220 amino acid residues corresponding to a molecular weight of 24252. A remarkable clustering of basic residues occurs in the N-terminal part of the protein chain. Several internal hydrophobic clusters and a strongly acidic site at the C-terminus can be observed. Two regions of sequence homology (12 residues) were found. Some features of the secondary structure are predicted.

Amides↗

Secondary structure prediction and unrefined tertiary structure prediction for cyclin A, B, and D.

We present heuristic-based predictions of the secondary and tertiary structures of cyclins A, B, and D, representatives of the cyclin superfamily. The list of suggested constraints for tertiary structure assembly was left unrefined in order to submit this report before an announced crystal structure for cyclin A becomes available. To predict these constraints, a master sequence alignment over 270 positions of cyclin types A, B, and D was adjusted based on individual secondary structure predictions for each type. We used new heuristics for predicting aromatic residues at protein-protein interfaces and to identify sequentially distinct regions in the protein chain that cluster in the folded structure. The boundaries of two conjectured domains in the cyclin fold were predicted based on experimental data in the literature. The domain that is important for interaction of the cyclins with cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) is predicted to contain six helices; the second domain in the consensus model contains both helices and a beta-sheet that is formed by sequentially distant regions in the protein chain. A plausible phosphorylation site is identified. This work represents a blinded test of the method for prediction of secondary and, to a lesser extent, tertiary structure from a set of homologous protein sequences. Evaluation of our predictions will become possible with the publication of the announced crystal structure.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Differentiation of Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter lari, and Campylobacter upsaliensis by a multiplex PCR developed from the nucleotide sequence of the lipid A gene lpxA.

We describe a multiplex PCR assay to identify and discriminate between isolates of Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter lari, and Campylobacter upsaliensis. The C. jejuni isolate F38011 lpxA gene, encoding a UDP-N-acetylglucosamine acyltransferase, was identified by sequence analysis of an expression plasmid that restored wild-type lipopolysaccharide levels in Escherichia coli strain SM105 [lpxA(Ts)]. With oligonucleotide primers developed to the C. jejuni lpxA gene, nearly full-length lpxA amplicons were amplified from an additional 11 isolates of C. jejuni, 20 isolates of C. coli, 16 isolates of C. lari, and five isolates of C. upsaliensis. The nucleotide sequence of each amplicon was determined, and sequence alignment revealed a high level of species discrimination. Oligonucleotide primers were constructed to exploit species differences, and a multiplex PCR assay was developed to positively identify isolates of C. coli, C. jejuni, C. lari, and C. upsaliensis. We characterized an additional set of 41 thermotolerant isolates by partial nucleotide sequence analysis to further demonstrate the uniqueness of each species-specific region. The multiplex PCR assay was validated with 105 genetically defined isolates of C. coli, C. jejuni, C. lari, and C. upsaliensis, 34 strains representing 12 additional Campylobacter species, and 24 strains representing 19 non-Campylobacter species. Application of the multiplex PCR method to whole-cell lysates obtained from 108 clinical and environmental thermotolerant Campylobacter isolates resulted in 100% correlation with biochemical typing methods.

Acyltransferases↗