Amino-acid Composition (amino-acid + composition)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Combined use of selective inhibitors and fluorogenic substrates to study the specificity of somatic wild-type angiotensin-converting enzyme

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 8 2006
Nicolas D. Jullien
Somatic angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) contains two homologous domains, each bearing a functional active site. Studies on the selectivity of these ACE domains towards either substrates or inhibitors have mostly relied on the use of mutants or isolated domains of ACE. To determine directly the selectivity properties of each ACE domain, working with wild-type enzyme, we developed an approach based on the combined use of N-domain-selective and C-domain-selective ACE inhibitors and fluorogenic substrates. With this approach, marked differences in substrate selectivity were revealed between rat, mouse and human somatic ACE. In particular, the fluorogenic substrate Mca-Ala-Ser-Asp-Lys-DpaOH was shown to be a strict N-domain-selective substrate of mouse ACE, whereas with rat ACE it displayed marked C-domain selectivity. Similar differences in selectivity between these ACE species were also observed with a new fluorogenic substrate of ACE, Mca-Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe-Ser-Pro-DpaOH. In support of these results, changes in amino-acid composition in the binding site of these three ACE species were pinpointed. Together these data demonstrate that the substrate selectivity of the N-domain and C-domain depends on the ACE species. These results raise concerns about the interpretation of functional studies performed in animals using N-domain and C-domain substrate selectivity data derived only from human ACE. [source]


Purification, characterization and amino-acid sequence analysis of a thermostable, low molecular mass endo-,-1,4-glucanase from blue mussel, Mytilus edulis

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 16 2000
Bingze Xu
A cellulase (endo-,-1,4- d -glucanase, EC 3.2.1.4) from blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) was purified to homogeneity using a combination of acid precipitation, heat precipitation, immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography, size-exclusion chromatography and ion-exchange chromatography. Purity was analyzed by SDS/PAGE, IEF and RP-HPLC. The cellulase (endoglucanase) was characterized with regard to enzymatic properties, isoelectric point, molecular mass and amino-acid sequence. It is a single polypeptide chain of 181 amino acids cross-linked with six disulfide bridges. Its molecular mass, as measured by MALDI-MS, is 19 702 Da; a value of 19 710.57 Da was calculated from amino-acid composition. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was estimated by isoelectric focusing in a polyacrylamide gel to a value of 7.6. According to amino-acid composition, the theoretical pI is 7.011. The effect of temperature on the endoglucanase activity, with carboxymethyl cellulose and amorphous cellulose as substrates, respectively, was studied at pH 5.5 and displayed an unusually broad optimum activity temperature range between 30 and 50 °C. Another unusual feature is that the enzyme retains 55,60% of its maximum activity at 0 °C. The enzyme readily degrades amorphous cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose but displays no hydrolytic activity towards crystalline cellulose (Avicel) and shows no cross-specificity for xylan; there is no binding to Avicel. The enzyme can withstand 10 min at 100 °C without irreversible loss of enzymatic activity. Amino-acid sequence-based classification has revealed that the enzyme belongs to the glycoside hydrolase family 45, subfamily 2 (B. Henrissat, Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolecules Végétales, CNRS, Joseph Fourier Université, Grenoble, France, personal communication). [source]


Structure of grouper iridovirus purine nucleoside phosphorylase

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 2 2010
You-Na Kang
Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) catalyzes the reversible phosphorolysis of purine ribonucleosides to the corresponding free bases and ribose 1-phosphate. The crystal structure of grouper iridovirus PNP (givPNP), corresponding to the first PNP gene to be found in a virus, was determined at 2.4,Å resolution. The crystals belonged to space group R3, with unit-cell parameters a = 193.0, c = 105.6,Å, and contained four protomers per asymmetric unit. The overall structure of givPNP shows high similarity to mammalian PNPs, having an ,/, structure with a nine-stranded mixed ,-barrel flanked by a total of nine ,-helices. The predicted phosphate-binding and ribose-binding sites are occupied by a phosphate ion and a Tris molecule, respectively. The geometrical arrangement and hydrogen-bonding patterns of the phosphate-binding site are similar to those found in the human and bovine PNP structures. The enzymatic activity assay of givPNP on various substrates revealed that givPNP can only accept 6-oxopurine nucleosides as substrates, which is also suggested by its amino-acid composition and active-site architecture. All these results suggest that givPNP is a homologue of mammalian PNPs in terms of amino-acid sequence, molecular mass, substrate specificity and overall structure, as well as in the composition of the active site. [source]


Structure of the first PDZ domain of human PSD-93

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 12 2009
Monica Fiorentini
The crystal structure of the PDZ1 domain of human PSD-93 has been determined to 2.0,Å resolution. The PDZ1 domain forms a crystallographic trimer that is also predicted to be stable in solution. The main contributions to the stabilization of the trimer seem to arise from interactions involving the PDZ1,PDZ2 linker region at the extreme C-terminus of PDZ1, implying that the oligomerization that is observed is not of biological significance in full-length PSD-93. Comparison of the structures of the binding cleft of PSD-93 PDZ1 with the previously reported structures of PSD-93 PDZ2 and PDZ3 as well as of the closely related human PSD-95 PDZ1 shows that they are very similar in terms of amino-acid composition. However, the cleft is significantly narrower in PSD-95. This could be part of the basis of peptide selectivity between PSD-93 PDZ1 and PSD-95 PDZ1. [source]


A novel type of carbohydrate,protein linkage region in the tyrosine-bound S-layer glycan of Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum D120-70

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 17 2000
Christina Schäffer
The surface-layer (S-layer) protein of Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum D120-70 contains glycosidically linked glycan chains with the repeating unit structure ,4)[,- d -Galp -(1,2)]-,- l -Rhap -(1,3)[,- d -Glcp -(1,6)]-,- d -Manp -(1,4)-,- l -Rhap -(1,3)-,- d -Glcp -(1,. After proteolytic degradation of the S-layer glycoprotein, three glycopeptide pools were isolated, which were analyzed for their carbohydrate and amino-acid compositions. In all three pools, tyrosine was identified as the amino-acid constituent, and the carbohydrate compositions corresponded to the above structure. Native polysaccharide PAGE showed the specific heterogeneity of each pool. For examination of the carbohydrate,protein linkage region, the S-layer glycan chain was partially hydrolyzed with trifluoroacetic acid. 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, including a novel diffusion-edited difference experiment, showed the O-glycosidic linkage region ,- d -glucopyranose,O -tyrosine. No evidence was found of additional sugars originating from a putative core region between the glycan repeating units and the S-layer polypeptide. For the determination of chain-length variability in the S-layer glycan, the different glycopeptide pools were investigated by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry, revealing that the degree of polymerization of the S-layer glycan repeats varied between three and 10. All masses were assigned to multiples of the repeating units plus the peptide portion. This result implies that no core structure is present and thus supports the data from the NMR spectroscopy analyses. This is the first observation of a bacterial S-layer glycan without a core region connecting the carbohydrate moiety with the polypeptide portion. [source]