The solution structure of a 55-amino-acid Kunitz-type proteinase inhibitor, ShPI, purified from the Caribbean sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus, was determined by NMR spectroscopy. Nearly complete sequence-specific 1H-NMR assignments were obtained at pH 4.6 and 36 degrees C, and stereo-specific assignments were determined for 23 pairs of diastereotopic substituents. A data set of 666 upper distance limit constraints and 122 dihedral angle constraints collected on this basis was used as input for a structure calculation with the program DIANA. Following energy minimization with the program OPAL, the average root-mean-square diviation (RMSD) of the 20 DIANA conformers used to represent the solution structure relative to the mean structure is 61 pm for all backbone atoms N, C alpha and C', and 106 pm for all heavy atoms of residues 2-53. This high-quality solution structure of ShPI has a nearly identical molecular architecture as the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), despite a mere 35% of sequence similarity between the two proteins. Exchange rates measured for 48 out of the 51 backbone amide protons showed that the positions of 20 slowly exchanging amide protons correlate well with hydrogen bonds involving these protons in the energy-minimized solution structure. The solution structure of ShPI is compared to the four homologous proteins for which the three-dimensional structure is also available.
Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a common commensal of the human upper respiratory tract and is associated with otitis media in children. The structures of the oligosaccharide portions of NTHi lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from several otitis media isolates are now well characterized but it is not known whether there are structural differences in LPS from colonizing, nondisease associated strains. Structural analysis of LPS from nondisease associated NTHi strains 11 and 16 has been achieved by the application of high-field NMR techniques, ESI-MS, ESI-MSn, capillary electrophoresis coupled to ESI-MS, composition and linkage analyses on O-deacylated LPS and core oligosaccharide material. This is the first study to report structural details on LPS from strains taken from the nasopharynx from healthy individuals. Both strains express identical structures and contain the common element of H. influenzae LPS, L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->2)-[PEtn-->6]-L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->3)-[beta-D-Glcp-(1 -->4)]-L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->5)-[PPEtn-->4]-alpha-Kdop-(2-->6)-lipid A, in which each heptose is elongated by a single hexose residue with no further oligosaccharide extensions. In the major Hex3 glycoform, the terminal Hepp residue (HepIII) is substituted at the O-2 position by a beta-D-Galp residue and the central Hepp residue (HepII) is substituted at O-3 by a alpha-D-Glcp residue. Notably, the strains express two phosphocholine (PCho) substituents, one at the O-6 position of alpha-D-Glcp and the other at the O-6 position of beta-D-Galp. Major acetylation sites were identified at O-4 of Gal and O-3 of HepIII. Additionally, both strains express glycine, and strain 11 also expresses detectable amounts of N-acetylneuraminic acid.
Structural elucidation of the sialylated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) strain 486 has been achieved by the application of high-field NMR techniques and ESI-MS along with composition and linkage analyses on O-deacylated LPS and oligosaccharide samples. It was found that the LPS contains the common element of H. influenzae, L-alpha -D-Hepp-(1-->2)][PEtn-->6]-L-alpha -D-Hepp-(1-->3)-[beta -D-Glcp-( 1-->4)]-L-alpha -D-Hepp-(1-->5)- [PPEtn-->4]-alpha -Kdop- (2-->6)-Lipid A, but instead of glycosyl substitution of the terminal heptose residue (HepIII) at the O2 position observed in other H. influenzae strains, HepIII is chain elongated at the O3 position by either lactose or sialyllactose (i.e. alpha -Neu5Ac(2-->3)-beta -D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta -D-Glcp). The LPS is substituted by an O-acetyl group linked to the O2 position of HepIII and phosphocholine (PCho) which was located at the O6 position of a terminal alpha -D-Glcp, residue attached to the central heptose, a molecular environment different from what has been reported earlier for PCho. In addition, minor substitution by O-linked glycine to the LPS was observed. By investigation of LPS from a lpsA mutant of NTHi strain 486, it was demonstrated that the lpsA gene product also is responsible for chain extension from HepIII in this strain. The involvement of lic1 in expression of PCho was established by investigation of a lic1 mutant of NTHi strain 486.
Structural analysis of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae strain 1003 has been achieved by the application of high-field NMR techniques, ESI-MS. capillary electrophoresis coupled to ESI-MS. composition and linkage analyses on O-deacylated LPS and core oligosaccharide material. It was found that the LPS contains the common structural element of H. influenzae, L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1 --> 2)-[PEtn --> 6]-L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1 --> 3)-[beta-D-Glcp-(1 --> 4)]-L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1 --> 5)-[PP Etn --> 4]-alpha-Kdop-(2 --> 6)-Lipid A. in which the beta-D-Glcp residue is substituted by phosphocholine at O-6 and an acetyl group at O-4. A second acetyl group is located at O-3 of the distal heptose residue (HepIII). HepIII is chain elongated at O-2 by either a beta-D-Glcp residue (major), lactose or sialyllactose (minor, i.e. alpha-Neu5Ac-(2 --> 3)-beta-D-Galp-(1 --> 4)-beta-D-Glcp), where a third minor acetylation site was identified at the glucose residue. Disialylated species were also detected. In addition. a minor substitution of ester-linked glycine at HepIII and Kdo was observed.
Structural analysis of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae strain 981 has been achieved using NMR spectroscopy and ESI-MS on O-deacylated LPS and core oligosaccharide (OS) material as well as by ESI-MSn on permethylated dephosphorylated OS. A heterogeneous glycoform population was identified, resulting from the variable length of the OS branches attached to the glucose residue in the common structural element of H. influenzae LPS, L-alpha-d-Hepp -(1-->2)-[P Etn-->6]-L-alpha-d-Hepp -(1-->3)-[beta-d-Glcxp-(1-->4)]-L-alpha-d-Hepp -(1-->5)-[PP Etn-->4]-alpha-Kdop -(2-->6)-Lipid A. Notably, the O-6 position of the beta-d-Glcp residue was either substituted by P Cho or the disaccharide branch beta-d-Galp-(1-->4)-d-alpha-d-Hepp, while the O-4 position was substituted by the globotetraose unit, beta-d-Galp NAc-(1-->3)-alpha-d-Galp -(1-->4)-beta-d-Galp -(1-->4)-beta-d-Glcp, or sequentially truncated versions thereof. This is the first time a branching sugar residue has been reported in the outer-core region of H. influenzae LPS. Additionally, a P Etn group was identified at O-3 of the distal heptose residue in the inner-core.
Haemophilus influenzae expresses heterogeneous populations of short-chain lipopolysaccharide (LPS) which exhibit extensive antigenic diversity among multiple oligosaccharide epitopes. These LPS oligosaccharide epitopes can carry phosphocholine (PCho) substituents, the expression of which is subject to high frequency phase variation mediated by genes in the lic1 genetic locus. The location and site of attachment of PCho substituents were determined by structural analysis of LPS from two type b H. influenzae strains, Eagan and RM7004. The lic2 locus is involved in phase variation of oligosaccharide expression. LPS obtained from the parent strains, from mutants generated by insertion of antibiotic resistance cassettes in the lic2 genetic locus, and from phase-variants showing high levels of PCho expression was characterized by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and H-1 NMR spectroscopy of derived O-deacylated samples. ESI-MS of O-deacylated LPS from wild-type strains revealed mixtures of related glycoform structures differing in the number of hexose residues. Analysis of LPS from PCho-expressing phase-variants revealed similar mixtures of glycoforms, each containing a single PCho substituent. O-Deacylated LPS preparations from the lic2 mutants were much less complex than their respective parent strains, consisting only of Hex3 and/or Hex2 glycoforms, were examined in detail by high-field NMR techniques. It was found that the LPS samples contain the phosphoethanolamine (PEtn) substituted inner-core element, L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->2)-[PEtn-->6]-L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->3)-L-alpha-D-Hepp- (1-->5)-alpha-Kdo in which the major glycoforms carry a beta-D-Glcp or beta-D-Glcp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Glcp at the O-4 position of the 3-substituted heptose (HepI) and a beta-D-Galp at the O-2 position of the terminal heptose (HepIII). LPS from the lic2 mutants of both type b strains were found to carry PCho groups at the O-6 position of the terminal beta-D-Galp residue attached to HepIII. In the parent strains, the central heptose (HepII) of the LPS inner-core element is also substituted by hexose containing oligosaccharides. The expression of the galabiose epitope in LPS of H. influenzae type b strains has previously been linked to genes comprising the lic2 locus. The present study provides definitive evidence for the role of lic2 genes in initiating chain extension from HepII. From the analysis of core oligosaccharide samples, LPS from the lic2 mutant strain of RM7004 was also found to carry O-acetyl substituents. Mono-, di-, and tri-O-acetylated LPS oligosaccharides were identified. The major O-acetylated glycoforms were found to be substituted at the O-3 position of HepIII. A di-O-acetylated species was characterized which was also substituted at the O-6 postion of the terminal beta-D-Glc in the Hex3 glycoform. This is the first report pointing to the occurrence of O-acetyl groups in the inner-core region of H. influenzae LPS. We have previously shown that in H. influenzae strain Rd, a capsule-deficient type d strain, PCho groups are expressed in a different molecular environment, being attached at the O-6 position of a beta-D-Glcp, which is in turn attached to HepI.
The plant mitochondrial processing peptidase (MPP) that catalyses the cleavage of the presequences from precursor proteins during or after protein import is a membrane-bound enzyme that constitutes an integral part of the bc1 complex of the respiratory chain. In contrast, MPP from mammals is soluble in the matrix space and does not form part of the respiratory chain. In the present study, we have compared the substrate specificity of the isolated spinach leaf bc1/MPP with rat liver MPP using synthetic signal peptides and different mitochondrial precursor proteins. Inhibition studies of processing with synthetic peptides showed a similar inhibition pattern for plant and rat MPP activity. A peptide derived from the presequence of rat liver mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) was a potent inhibitor of the spinach and rat MPP. Two nonprocessed signal peptides, rhodanese and linker-deleted ALDH (a form of ALDH that lacks the RGP linker connecting two helices in the presequence) had lower inhibitory effects towards each protease. The signal peptide from thiolase, another nonprocessed protein, had little inhibitory effect on MPP. Peptides derived from presequence of the plant Nicotiana plumbaginifolia F1β also showed a similar inhibitory pattern with rat MPP as with spinach MPP processing. In-vitro synthesised precursors of plant N. plumbaginifolia F1β and rat liver ALDH were cleaved to mature form by both spinach and rat MPP. However, the efficiency of processing was higher with the homologous precursor. Linker-deleted ALDH, rhodanese, and thiolase were not processed by the mammalian or plant MPP. However, both forms of MPP cleaved a mutated form of rhodanese that possesses a typical MPP cleavage motif, RXY S. Addition of the same cleavage motif to thiolase did not result in processing by either MPP. These results show that similar higher-order structural elements upstream from the cleavage site are important for processing by both the membrane-bound plant and the soluble mammalian MPP.
The 121-kDa pore membrane protein (POM121) is a bitopic integral membrane protein specifically located in the pore membrane domain of the nuclear envelope with its short N-terminal tail exposed on the luminal side and its major C-terminal portion adjoining the nuclear pore complex, In order to locate a signal for targeting of POM121 to the nuclear pores, we overexpressed selected regions of POM121 alone or fused to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in transiently transfected COS-1 cells or in a stably transfected neuroblastoma cell line. Microscopic analysis of the GFP fluorescence or immunostaining was used to determine the intracellular distribution of the overexpressed proteins. The endofluorescent GFP tag had no effect on the distribution of POM121, since the chimerical POM121-GFP fusion protein was correctly targeted to the nuclear ports of both COS-1 cells and neuroblastoma cells. Based on the differentiated intracellular sorting of the POM121 variants, we conclude that the first 128 amino acids of POM121 contains signals for targeting to the continuous endoplasmic reticulum/nuclear envelope membrane system but not specifically to the nuclear pol es and that a specific nuclear pore targeting signal is located between amino acids 129 and 618 in the endoplasmically exposed portion of POM121.
Lipoamide dehydrogenase belongs to a family of pyridine nucleotide disulfide oxidoreductases and is ubiquitous in aerobic organisms. This enzyme also reduces ubiquinone (the only endogenously synthesized lipid-soluble antioxidant) to ubiquinol, the form in which it functions as an antioxidant. The reduction of ubiquinone was linear with time and exhibited turnover numbers of 5 and 1.2 min-1 in the presence and absence of zinc, respectively. The reaction was stimulated by zinc and cadmium but not by the other divalent ions tested. The zinc/cadmium-dependent stimulation of the reaction increased rapidly and linearly up to a concentration of 0.1 mM and was even further increased at 0.5 mM. At pH 6, the activity was three times higher than at physiological pH. Alteration of the NADPH : NADP+ ratio revealed that the reaction is inhibited by higher concentrations of the oxidized cofactors. FAD reduced ubiquinone in a dose-dependent manner at a considerably lower rate, suggesting that the reduction of ubiquinone by lipoamide dehydrogenase involves the FAD moiety of the enzyme.
Structural elucidation of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from three serotype f Haemophilus influenzae clinical isolates RM6255, RM7290 and RM6252 has been achieved using NMR spectroscopy techniques and ESI-MS on O-deacylated LPS and core oligosaccharide material (OS) as well as ESI-MSn on permethylated dephosphorylated OS. This is the first study to report structural details on LPS from serotype f strains. We found that the LPSs of all strains were highly heterogeneous mixtures of glycoforms expressing the common H. influenzae structural element l-alpha-d-Hepp -(1-->2)-[P Etn-->6]-l-alpha-d-Hepp -(1-->3)-[beta-d-Glcp -(1-->4)]-l-alpha-d-Hepp -(1-->5)-[PP Etn-->4]-alpha-Kdo-(2-->6)-lipid A with variable length of OS chains linked to each of the heptoses. The terminal heptose (HepIII) in RM6255 is substituted at the O-3 position by a beta-d-Glcp residue whereas HepIII in strains RM7290 and RM6252 is substituted at O-2 by the globoside unit (alpha-d-Galp -(1-->4)-beta-d-Galp -(1-->4)-beta-d-Glc) or truncated versions thereof. The central heptose (HepII) is substituted by an alpha-d-Galp -(1-->4)-beta-d-Galp -(1-->4)-beta-d-Glcp -(1-->4)-alpha-d-Glcp unit in RM7290 and RM6252 or truncated versions thereof. Strain RM6255 does not express galactose in its LPS and only shows a cellobiose unit elongating from HepII (beta-d-Glcp -(1-->4)-alpha-d-Glcp ). ESI-MSn on dephosphorylated and permethylated OS provided information on the existence of additional minor isomeric glycoforms.