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Specific and non-specific interactions of two carcinogenic mycotoxins, luteoskyrin and rugulosin with nucleic acids.

(-) Luteoskyrin and (+) Rugulosin are 2 hepatotoxic and carcinogenic anthraquinone-like pigments from Penicillia which contaminate rice and other foodstuffs. They inhibit in vivo and in vitro replication, transcription and DNA repair of Protocaryots and Eucaryots presumably by forming chelate-complexes with nucleic acids. In the present work, characterization, specificity and structure of binary polychelates (pigment-metal)n and ternary complexes (pigment-metal-nucleic acids) are successively reported: whereas, unspecific complex II with double-stranded polynucleotides is shown to result from simple adsorption of polychelate onto the double helix, complex I is specific for single-stranded DNA (or polypurine nucleotides) and results from electrostatic association of separate pigment-metal units with the polyphosphate chain. Additional stabilization is obtained by hydrophobic interaction between stacked aromatic moieties of pigment and purine units. A model of interaction is proposed for both complexes I and II.

Carcinogens

An analogue of ubiquinone which inhibits respiration by binding to the iron-sulfur protein of the cytochrome b-c1 segment of the mitochondrial respiratory chain.

A synthetic quinone, 5-n-undecyl-6-hydroxy-4,7-dioxobenzothiazole (UHDBT), inhibits electron transfer reactions in the cytochrome b-c1 segment of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Addition of UHDBT to isolated succinate-cytochrome c reductase complex has effects on reduction of the cytochromes b and c1 by succinate similar to those which result from removal of the iron-sulfur protein from the b-c1 complex. Thus, UHDBT inhibits reduction of cytochrome c1 by succinate and, if antimycin is added before succinate, UHDBT inhibits reduction of cytochrome b in addition to c1. UHDBT increases the midpoint potential of the iron-sulfur protein of the b-c1 complex from +280 to +350 mV at pH 7.2. The inhibitor also shifts the gx peak in the EPR spectrum of the iron-sulfur protein from g = 1.80 to 1.76 and shifts the gz peak from g = 2.02 to 2.03. It causes only a slight shift in the central gy = 1.90 signal. The efficacy of inhibition of cytochrome c reductase activity of isolated reductase complex by UHDBT appears to depend on the oxidation-reduction poise of some component(s) in the b-c1 complex. Inhibition is decreased and there is an extensive lag in the onset of inhibition under conditions favoring oxidation of the b-c1 complex; inhibition increases and the lag is eliminated under conditions favoring reduction of the b-c1 complex. The titer for inhibition of cytochrome c reductase activity of isolated reductase complex is one UHDBT per b-c1 complex. With reductase complex from which the iron-sulfur protein of the b-c1 complex is reversibly resolved, the titer for inhibition is proportional to the amount of iron-sulfur protein reconstituted to the complex. These results suggest that UHDBT inhibits mitochondrial respiration by binding to the iron-sulfur protein of the b-c1 complex, possibly at a site which is otherwise involved in binding ubiquinone, and that this binding is enhanced when the iron-sulfur protein is reduced.

Animals

Post-translational glycosylation-induced activation of aglycoinsulin receptor accumulated during tunicamycin treatment.

Tunicamycin, which inhibits N-linked oligosaccharide chain addition to nascent polypeptides, interrupts glycosylation of the insulin receptor in 3T3-L1 adipocytes giving rise to inactive receptors. Chronic exposure of cells to low levels (100 ng/ml) of high performance liquid chromatography-purified tunicamycin causes a greater than or equal to 90% depletion of insulin binding to cell surface and Triton X-100-extractable receptors and a 93% inhibition of [3H]glucosamine incorporation into protein in alkali-stable form. Under identical conditions, protein synthesis was inhibited less than 10%. Recovery of insulin binding activity after the removal of tunicamycin achieves 70-80% of control activity within 36 h. Concomitant with the withdrawal of tunicamycin, cells were shifted to medium containing heavy (greater than 95% 15N, 13C, 2H) amino acids after which Triton X-100-solubilized "light" and "heavy" insulin receptors were separated isopycnically on CsCl density gradients. A kinetic analysis of the recovery of functional receptors revealed that the initial appearance of previously synthesized light receptor was followed, after a short lag, by newly synthesized heavy receptor. Similar levels of light receptor, but no new heavy receptor, accrue in the presence of cycloheximide. This strongly suggests that inactive aglycoinsulin receptor accumulated post-translationally during chronic treatment with tunicamycin and then re-entered the glycosylation pathway when the inhibitor was removed giving rise to a functional insulin receptor.

Animals

Effects of long-chain fatty acids on the channel activity of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

We have analyzed the effect of free fatty acids on the function of the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) at the single-channel level, using the patch-clamp technique. Long-chain fatty acids, in the presence of albumin as a carrier, were applied to intact cells or to the cytoplasmic surface of excised membrane patches. In the latter case, AChR channels underwent immediate changes in their behaviour and only very brief opening events were apparent. This could be accounted for by a four-fold reduction in the channel mean open time, with no significant changes occurring in the conductance. An increase in the duration of intermediate closed intervals and a decrease in the burst duration were also observed. The modification appeared not to be critically dependent on the degree of saturation of fatty acyl chains. Addition of free fatty acids in the absence of albumin, as well as treatment of the excised membrane patches with phospholipase A2, resulted in complete inhibition of AChR channel activity. In intact cells, fatty acids could reach and affect AChR channels in the plasmalemma under the patch pipette when added from outside the patch-clamped area. The fatty acid-modified AChR was still able to undergo desensitization. The open channel probability was higher than 0.8 for 100 microM agonist, decreasing to 0.4 in the fatty acid-modified receptors. The results are discussed within the framework of the hypothesis that some lipophilic compounds exert their action on the AChR-lipid interface (the "annulus") (see Barantes, 1993).

Acetylcholine

Polymerase chain reaction with additional primers allows identification of amplified DNA and recognition of specific alleles.

The use of additional primers in the standard two primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is described. This modification allows detection of a target gene in a single reaction, and identification of the amplification product obtained or recognition of a specific allele. The oligonucleotides used are internal to the original amplification primers and amplification-compatible with one of the original primers. Annealing of an additional primer to the target gene as well as to the primary amplification product will lead to the appearance of an additional smaller amplification fragment upon agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR products. Use of one or more allele-specific oligonucleotides as additional primers, in addition to two gene-specific primers, will allow recognition of different alleles of the target gene in a single PCR without further analysis except gel electrophoresis. The general applicability of the method was determined with several PCR assays for the detection of pathogenic bacteria.

Alleles

Effects of temperature variation and phenethyl alcohol addition on acyl chain order and lipid organization in Escherichia coli derived membrane systems. A 2H- and 31P-NMR study.

Using 2H- and 31P-NMR techniques the effects of temperature variation and phenethyl alcohol addition were investigated on lipid acyl chain order and on the macroscopic lipid organization of membrane systems derived from cells of the Escherichia coli fatty acid auxotrophic strain K1059, which was grown in the presence of [11,11-2H2]oleic acid. Membranes of intact cells showed a gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition in the range of 4-20 degrees C, which was similar to that observed for the total lipid extract and for the dominant lipid species phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). Phosphatidylglycerol (PG) remained in a fluid bilayer throughout the whole temperature range (4-70 degrees C). At 30 degrees C acyl chain order was highest in PE, followed by the total lipid extract, PG, intact cells, and isolated inner membrane vesicles. Acyl chain order in E. coli PE and PG was much higher than in the corresponding dioleoylphospholipids. E. coli PE was found to maintain a bilayer organization up to about 60 degrees C, whereas in the total lipid extract as well as in intact E. coli cells bilayer destabilization occurred already at about 42 degrees C. It is proposed that the regulation of temperature at which the bilayer-to-non-bilayer transition occurs may be important for membrane functioning in E. coli. Addition of phenethyl alcohol did not affect the macroscopic lipid organization in E. coli cells or in the total lipid extract, but caused a large reduction in chain order of about 70% at 1 mol% of the alcohol in both membrane systems. It is concluded that while both increasing temperature and addition of phenethyl alcohol can affect membrane integrity, in the former case this is due to the induction of non-bilayer lipid structures, whereas in the latter case this is caused by an increase in membrane fluidity.

Escherichia coli

Co-expression of multiple myosin heavy chain genes, in addition to a tissue-specific one, in extraocular musculature.

We have investigated the developmental transitions of myosin heavy chain (MHC) gene expression in the rat extraocular musculature (EOM) at the mRNA level using S1-nuclease mapping techniques and at the protein level by polypeptide mapping and immunochemistry. We have isolated a genomic clone, designated lambda 10B3, corresponding to an MHC gene which is expressed in the EOM fibers (recti and oblique muscles) of the adult rat but not in hind limb muscles. Using cDNA and genomic probes for MHC genes expressed in skeletal (embryonic, neonatal, fast oxidative, fast glycolytic, and slow/cardiac beta-MHC), cardiac (alpha-MHC), and EOM (lambda 10B3) muscles, we demonstrate the concomitant expression at the mRNA level of at least six different MHC genes in adult EOM. Protein and immunochemical analyses confirm the presence of at least four different MHC types in EOM. Immunocytochemistry demonstrates that different myosin isozymes tend to segregate into individual myofibers, although some fibers seem to contain more than one MHC type. The results also show that the EOM fibers exhibit multiple patterns of MHC gene regulation. One set of fibers undergoes a sequence of isoform transitions similar to the one described for limb skeletal muscles, whereas other EOM myofiber populations arrest the MHC transition at the embryonic, neonatal/adult, or adult EOM-specific stage. Thus, the MHC gene family is not under the control of a strict developmental clock, but the individual genes can modify their expression by tissue-specific and/or environmental factors.

Amino Acid Sequence

Transforming growth factor (type beta) promotes the addition of chondroitin sulfate chains to the cell surface proteoglycan (syndecan) of mouse mammary epithelia.

Cultured monolayers of NMuMG mouse mammary epithelial cells have augmented amounts of cell surface chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycan (GAG) when cultured in transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), presumably because of increased synthesis on their cell surface proteoglycan (named syndecan), previously shown to contain chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate GAG. This increase occurs throughout the monolayer as shown using soluble thrombospondin as a binding probe. However, comparison of staining intensity of the GAG chains and syndecan core protein suggests variability among cells in the attachment of GAG chains to the core protein. Characterization of purified syndecan confirms the enhanced addition of chondroitin sulfate in TGF-beta: (a) radiosulfate incorporation into chondroitin sulfate is increased 6.2-fold in this proteoglycan fraction and heparan sulfate is increased 1.8-fold, despite no apparent increase in amount of core protein per cell, and (b) the size and density of the proteoglycan are increased, but reduced by removal of chondroitin sulfate. This is shown in part by treatment of the cells with 0.5 mM xyloside that blocks the chondroitin sulfate addition without affecting heparan sulfate. Higher xyloside concentrations block heparan sulfate as well and syndecan appears at the cell surface as core protein without GAG chains. The enhanced amount of GAG on syndecan is partly attributed to an increase in chain length. Whereas this accounts for the additional heparan sulfate synthesis, it is insufficient to explain the total increase in chondroitin sulfate; an approximately threefold increase in chondroitin sulfate chain addition occurs as well, confirmed by assessing chondroitin sulfate ABC lyase (ABCase)-generated chondroitin sulfate linkage stubs on the core protein. One of the effects of TGF-beta during embryonic tissue interactions is likely to be the enhanced synthesis of chondroitin sulfate chains on this cell surface proteoglycan.

Animals

Autosomal recessive Alport syndrome: mutation in the COL4A3 gene in a woman with Alport syndrome and posttransplant antiglomerular basement membrane nephritis.

Autosomal recessive Alport syndrome can arise from a mutation in either of the genes COL4A3 and COL4A4 on chromosome 2, which encode, respectively, the alpha 3 and alpha 4 chains of Type IV collagen. This report describes a mutation in COL4A3 in a girl who presented at age 5 with hematuria and proteinuria, lacking any family history of renal disease. Renal biopsy at age 8 showed immunoglobulin A nephropathy and Alport syndrome. Sensorineural deafness developed during adolescence, and the patient's renal disease progressed to terminal renal failure by age 20. She received a living related donor renal allograft at age 20 and developed antiglomerular basement membrane nephritis of the allograft 8 months after transplantation. Amplification and sequencing of exon 5 of COL4A3 (counting from the 3' end of the gene) revealed a 7-base-pair deletion, producing a shift of the reading frame and the creation of a premature stop codon. Each parent was heterozygous for the normal and mutant exon 5 sequences. This mutation in COL4A3 would result in the loss of 222 amino acids from the carboxy-terminal noncollagenous domain of the alpha 3(IV) chain. The mutant chain would be unable to form trimers with other Type IV collagen alpha chains. In addition, the mutant chain would lack the Goodpasture epitope, which resides in the carboxy-terminal noncollagenous domain of the alpha 3(IV) chain. The absence of this epitope may underly the subsequent development of anti-glomerular basement membrane nephritis in the allograft.

Adult

Intracytoplasmic and surface-bound immunoglobulins in "nonsecretory" and Bence-Jones myeloma.

Immunoglobulins were studied at the cellular level by direct immunofluorescence in twenty-five patients with 'nonsecretory' myeloma and thirty-six patiens with Bence-Jones (BJ) myeloma. The results were compared with those obtained in a control group of thirty-six patients with common secretory myeloma. A monoclonal Ig (IgG in eighteen, IgA in three and kappa chains only in three cases) was found in the cytoplasm of the plasma cells from all the patients with 'nonsecretory' myeloma, with a striking dysbalance in the staining brightness for the heavy and the light chains. A similar dysbalance in staining was also observed for plasma cell surface Ig chains but in the opposite way. In twenty patients with BJ myeloma studied for cytoplasmic Ig only, determinants of a heavy chain were clearly found in four cases. When surface Ig were studied also, the production of gamma chains in addition to the light chain could be ascertained in six of sixteen cases. In addition, IgM with the same light chain type as the BJ protein was detected at the cell surface on plasma cells and lymphocytes in two of these sixteen patients. 'Monoclonal' populations of B lymphocytes bearing the same Ig chains as those produced by the myeloma cells were detectable in five of eleven 'nonsecretory' myeloma and in five of sixteen BJ myeloma patients. Normal blood B lymphocytes were in decreased number, particularly when a 'monoclonal' lymphocytic population was detected. Data are discussed which suggest that plasma cells from most patients with 'nonsecretory' myeloma might synthesize and secrete Ig molecules with structurally abnormal chains that are then quickly degraded.

Bence Jones Protein

Collagen polymorphism in mature rabbit cornea.

Sequential extraction of mature rabbit corneal stroma with NaCl-Tris buffer and acetic acid solubilized only 12% of the total corneal collagen. Pepsin (E:S 1:10,4 degrees C, 48 hr) in 0.4 M acetic acid solubilized 91% to 95% of the total collagen in the residue. Approximately 68% of the solubilized material could be precipitated at 2.5M NaCl and a further 3% to 9% at 3.5M NaCl. The collagenous material precipitating at 2.5M NaCl contained alpha, beta, gamma, and some higher molecular weight components and had a CNBr profile similar to bovine type I skin collagen. It had an hydroxylysine/lysine (OHLys/Lys) ratio of 0.43, similar to that of skin collagen, but unlike skin collagen was 52% glycosyled. Although the 3.5M NaCl precipitate had a CNBr peptide profile similar to that of type I collagen, it contained two additional collagen chains of molecular weight approximately 140,000 and 100,000 daltons, had an OHLys/Lys ratio of 0.62, and was 66% glycosylated. Individual chains were separated from the collagen precipitates by gel electrophoresis,and the additional collagen chains were shown to be carbohydrate rich. These additional collagen chains may be derived from one or more molecular species which are physiologically important in the maintenance of the unique organization of corneal collagen.

Amino Acids

Recovery of human erythrocytes from the echinocyte shape induced by added choline-phospholipids is dependent on the acyl chain length.

Addition of an amphiphilic lipid, such as phosphatidylcholine (PC) species with two identical saturated chains or lysophosphatidylcholine (lysoPC) species with one saturated acyl chain of various lengths, into a suspension of intact human erythrocytes resulted in lipid incorporation into the erythrocytes membrane to produce echinocytes (crenated cells). The altered shape gradually reverted on incubation at 37 degrees C until the cells reassumed their normal disc shape. The rate of such recovery of shape increased with decreasing acyl chain length for both PC with C8-C12 acyl chains and lysoPC with a C14-C18 acyl chain, and was strongly influenced by incubation temperature. The identical rate of recovery of shape was observed for cells with normal, decreased or increased ATP content, implying that the metabolic state of the cell had no influence on the recovery process. Recovery of shape is therefore considered to be caused by translocation of the incorporated lipid molecules from the outer to the inner leaflet of the membrane lipid bilayer and the rate of recovery increases with decreasing hydrophobicity of the lipid.

Erythrocytes

On the location in the thrombin B chain of substrate recognition sites for fibrinopeptide release and factor XIII activation.

Thrombin, a serine proteinase comprised of two disulfide-linked subunits (A chain and B chain), induces clotting by releasing fibrinopeptide A from fibrinogen and then influences the character of the resulting fibrin by releasing fibrinopeptide B and by activating factor XIII. While the active center of thrombin is known to reside in its B chain, the subunit location of the structural determinants that govern the specific release of fibrinopeptides A and B and the activation of factor XIII have not been established. We have investigated the subunit location within the thrombin molecule of the determinants of substrate specificity for these actions using an isolated, immobilized B-chain preparation. Isolated B chain was prepared by covalently linking the intact thrombin molecule to Sepharose beads via the carbohydrate chain attached to asparagine 53 of its B chain, then reducing the single interchain disulfide bond to release the A chain, and finally reoxidizing the intrachain disulfide bonds of the immobilized B chain, allowing it to refold. The isolated, immobilized B chain of thrombin induced clotting of purified fibrinogen, releasing both fibrinopeptides A and B as demonstrated by HPLC and by electrophoresis of reduced fibrin chains. In addition, the B-chain preparation activated added factor XIII, yielding electrophoretically characteristic cross-linked fibrin chains.

Animals

Bovine high molecular weight kininogen. The amino acid sequence, positions of carbohydrate chains and disulfide bridges in the heavy chain portion.

The existence of two types of circulating bovine plasma high molecular weight kininogen (HMWK) was predicted from analyses of complementary DNAs coding for this protein (Kitamura, N., Takagaki, Y., Furuto, S., Tanaka, T., Nawa, H., and Nakanishi, S. (1983) Nature 305, 545-549). The present protein-based study provided evidence in support of the proposed amino acid sequence derived from analysis of the cDNA clone, and the results confirm the existence of two types of circulating HMWK. Type I HMWK contains a heavy chain composed of 361 residues, while the heavy chain of type II HMWK contains 359 residues. The amino acid sequences of type I and type II HMWK determined in this study were identical to that inferred from the cDNA sequence with the exception of microheterogeneity observed in the cDNA at position 87 (Glu/Gln) and 168 (Lys/Arg). The heavy chain of type I HMWK contains 4 asparagine-linked carbohydrate chains at Asn-69, -150 (or -151), -179, and -186, while the heavy chain of type II HMWK contains these and an additional carbohydrate chain at Asn-264. In addition, a carbohydrate chain was found to be O-glycosidically linked to Thr-118 in both chains. Among nine disulfide linkages found in HMWK, eight intrachain disulfide pairs were established in the heavy chain. One interchain disulfide bridge occurs between the heavy chain and the light chain. This disulfide pairing, as well as repeating amino acid sequences observed in the heavy chain, provides strong evidence for the existence of three homologous domains in the heavy chain of bovine HMWK.

Amino Acid Sequence