PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Paracoccus”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 595 records · Page 33Linked to original sources

Changes in the cytochrome c content during the aerobic adaptation of Paracoccus denitrificans.

Concentration of cytochrome c decreases when shaking anaerobically grown cells in a non-growth medium down to 50% of the original amount in the cell, depending on the degree of aeration. Only 10-20% of this amount can be found in the adaptation medium. The main portion of cytochrome c is degraded during the adaptation. Inhibitors of proteinases do not influence the degradation. Addition of mammalian cytochrome c fully prevents the degradation of bacterial cytochrome c but not its release from cells. Potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) exhibits a similar effect as oxygen. The degradation system is probably localized in the periplasmic space of the cells.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

A novel exopolymer-producing bacterium, Paracoccus zeaxanthinifaciens subsp. payriae, isolated from a "kopara" mat located in Rangiroa, an atoll of French Polynesia.

An aerobic, mesophilic and heterotrophic marine bacterium designated RA19, able to produce two different exocellular polymers and zeaxanthin, was isolated from a French polynesian bacterial mat (localy named "kopara") situated in the atoll of Rangiroa. This microorganism, on the basis of its phenotypical features and the genotypic investigations, can be clearly assigned to the Parococcus zeaxanthinifaciens species and the name Parococcus zeaxanthinifaciens subsp. payriae is proposed. Optimal growth occurs between 30 degrees C and 35 degrees C, at pH between 6.5 and 7.5 and at ionic strength between 20 and 40 g/L of NaCl. The guanine-plus-cytosine content of DNA was 65.6%. This bacterium excreted, under laboratory conditions, two different polymers: a water-soluble exopolysaccharide (EPSI) consisting of 5 different sugars and a non-water-soluble macromolecule assumed to be of a glycoproteinic nature. The high sulfate content of the EPS1 and preliminary biological tests clearly showed that applications could be found in the very near future for both polymers in the cosmetic area. Their contribution to the viscous laminated microbial mat locally called "kopara" can be also mentioned.

Base Composition↗

The pH-dependent redox inactivation of amicyanin from Paracoccus versutus as studied by rapid protein-film voltammetry.

The redox properties of the blue copper protein amicyanin have been studied with slow and fast scan protein-film cyclic voltammetry. At slow scan rates, which reveal the thermodynamics of the redox reactions, the reduction potential of amicyanin depends on pH in a sigmoidal manner, and the data can be analysed in terms of electron transfer being coupled to a single protonatable group with pKa(red)=6.3 and pKa(ox) < or = 3.2 at 22 degrees C. Voltammetry at higher scan rates reveals the kinetics and shows that the low-pH reduced form of amicyanin is not oxidised directly; instead, oxidation occurs only after conversion to the high-pH form. Simulations show that this conversion, which gates the electron transfer, occurs with a rate constant >750 s-1 at 25 degrees C. In order to decrease the rate of the coupled reaction, the experiments were performed at 0 degrees C, at which the rate constant for this conversion was determined to be 35 +/- 20 s-1. Together with evidence from NMR, the results lead to a mechanism involving protonation and dissociation of the copper coordinating histidine-96 in the reduced form.

Bacterial Proteins↗

On the effects of thiocyanate and venturicidin on respiration-driven proton translocation in Paracoccus denitrificans.

A fast-responding O2 electrode has been used to confirm and extend observations of a significant kinetic discrepancy between O2 reduction and consequent proton translocation in 'O2-pulse' experiments in intact cells of P. denitrificans. The permeant, chaotropic SCN- ion abolishes this discrepancy, and greatly increases the observable----H+/O ratio, to a value approaching its accepted, true, limiting stoichiometry. The observable H+ decay rates are very slow, particularly in the absence of SCN-. The submaximal----H+/O ratios observed in the absence of SCN- are essentially independent of the size of the O2 pulse, in a manner not easily explained by a delocalised chemiosmotic energy-coupling scheme. Osmotically active protoplasts of P. denitrificans do not show a significant kinetic discrepancy between O2 reduction and H+ translocation, even in the the absence of SCN-. However, the submaximal----H+/O ratios observed in the absence of SCN- are again essentially independent of the size of the O2 pulse. As in intact cells, the observable H+ decay rates are very slow. The energy-transfer inhibitor venturicidin causes a significant increase in the----H+/O ratio observed in protoplasts of P. denitrificans in the absence of SCN-; the decay kinetics of the H+ translocation process are also somewhat modified. Nevertheless, the----H+/O ratio observed in the presence of venturicidin is also independent of the size of the O2 pulse. This observation militates further against arguments in which (a) a non-ohmic leak of protons from the bulk aqueous phase might alone be the cause of the low----H+/O ratios observed in the absence of SCN-, and (b) in which there might be a delta p-dependent change ('redox slip') in the actual----H+/O ratio. It is concluded that the observable protonmotive activity of the respiratory chain of P. denitrificans in the absence of SCN- is directly influenced by the state of the H+-ATP synthetase in the cytoplasmic membrane of this organism. We are unable to explain the data in terms of a model in which the putative protonmotive force may be acting to affect the----H+/O ratio. The possibility is considered that the delocalised bulk-to-bulk phase membrane potential set up in response to protonmotive activity is energetically insignificant.

Cell Membrane↗

The role of subunit III in bovine cytochrome c oxidase. Comparison between native, subunit III-depleted and Paracoccus denitrificans enzymes.

In order to obtain information on the role of subunit III in the function and aggregation state of cytochrome c oxidase, the kinetics of ferrocytochrome c oxidation by the bovine cytochrome c oxidase depleted of its subunit III were studied and compared with those of the oxidase isolated from P. denitrificans which contains only two subunits. The aggregation state of both enzymes dispersed in dodecyl maltoside was also compared. The two-subunit oxidase from P. denitrificans gave linear Eadie-Hofstee plots and the enzyme resulted to be monomeric (Mr = 82 000) both, in gel filtration and sucrose gradient centrifugation studies. The bovine heart subunit III depleted enzyme, under conditions when the P. denitrificans cytochrome c oxidase was in the form of monomers, was found to be dimeric by sucrose gradient centrifugation analysis. At lower enzyme concentrations monomers were, however, detected by gel filtration. Depletion of subunit III was accompanied by the loss of small polypeptides (VIa, VIb and VIIa) and of almost all phospholipid (1-2 molecules were left per molecule of enzyme). The electron-transfer activity of the subunit III-depleted enzyme showed a monophasic Eadie-Hofstee plot, which upon addition of phospholipids became non-linear, similar to that of the control bovine cytochrome c oxidase. One of the roles of subunit III may be that of stabilising the dimers of cytochrome c oxidase. Lack of this subunit and loss of phospholipid is accompanied by a change in the kinetics of electron transfer, which might be the consequence of enzyme monomerisation.

Animals↗