Single cell studies of enzymatic hydrolysis of a tetramethylrhodamine labeled triglucoside in yeast. (1/797)

Several hundred molecules of enzyme reaction products were detected in a single spheroplast from yeast cells incubated with a tetramethylrhodamine (TMR) labeled triglucoside, alpha-d-Glc(1-->2)alpha-d-Glc(1-->3)alpha-d-Glc-O(CH2)8CONHCH2- CH2NH- COTMR. Product detection was accomplished using capillary electrophoresis and laser induced fluorescence following the introduction of a single spheroplast into the separation capillary. The in vivo enzymatic hydrolysis of the TMR-trisaccharide involves at least two enzymes, limited by processing alpha-glucosidase I, producing TMR-disaccharide, TMR-monosaccharide, and the free TMR-linking arm. Hydrolysis was reduced by preincubation of the cells with the processing enzyme inhibitor castanospermine. Confocal laser scanning microscopy studies confirmed the uptake and internalization of fluorescent substrate. This single cell analysis methodology can be applied for the in vivo assay of any enzyme with a fluorescent substrate.  (+info)

Trimming and readdition of glucose to N-linked oligosaccharides determines calnexin association of a substrate glycoprotein in living cells. (2/797)

To analyze the role of glucose trimming and reglucosylation in the binding of substrate proteins to calnexin in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of living cells, we made use of the thermosensitive vesicular stomatitis virus tsO45 glycoprotein (G protein). At nonpermissive temperature the G protein failed to fold completely and remained bound to calnexin. When the cells were shifted to permissive temperature, complete folding occurred accompanied by glucosidase-mediated elimination of calnexin-G protein complexes. If release from calnexin was blocked during the temperature shift by inhibiting the glucosidases, folding occurred, albeit at a reduced rate. In contrast, when unfolded by a shift from permissive to nonpermissive temperature, the G protein was reglucosylated rapidly and became capable of rebinding to calnexin. The rate at which calnexin binding occurred showed a 20-min delay that was explained by accumulation of the G protein in calnexin-free exit sites of the ER. These contained the glucosyltransferase responsible for reglucosylation of misfolded glycoproteins but had little or no calnexin. After unfolding and reglucosylation, the G proteins moved slowly from these structures back to the ER where they reassociated with the chaperone. Taken together, these results in live cells fully supported the lectin-only model of calnexin function. The ER exit sites emerged as a potentially important location for components of the quality control system.  (+info)

Manganese sulfate-dependent glycosylation of endogenous glycoproteins in human skeletal muscle is catalyzed by a nonglucose 6-P-dependent glycogen synthase and not glycogenin. (3/797)

Glycogenin, a Mn2+-dependent, self-glucosylating protein, is considered to catalyze the initial glucosyl transfer steps in glycogen biogenesis. To study the physiologic significance of this enzyme, measurements of glycogenin mediated glucose transfer to endogenous trichloroacetic acid precipitable material (protein-bound glycogen, i.e., glycoproteins) in human skeletal muscle were attempted. Although glycogenin protein was detected in muscle extracts, activity was not, even after exercise that resulted in marked glycogen depletion. Instead, a MnSO4-dependent glucose transfer to glycoproteins, inhibited by glycogen and UDP-pyridoxal (which do not affect glycogenin), and unaffected by CDP (a potent inhibitor of glycogenin), was consistently detected. MnSO4-dependent activity increased in concert with glycogen synthase fractional activity after prolonged exercise, and the MnSO4-dependent enzyme stimulated glucosylation of glycoproteins with molecular masses lower than those glucosylated by glucose 6-P-dependent glycogen synthase. Addition of purified glucose 6-P-dependent glycogen synthase to the muscle extract did not affect MnSO4-dependent glucose transfer, whereas glycogen synthase antibody completely abolished MnSO4-dependent activity. It is concluded that: (1) MnSO4-dependent glucose transfer to glycoproteins is catalyzed by a nonglucose 6-P-dependent form of glycogen synthase; (2) MnSO4-dependent glycogen synthase has a greater affinity for low molecular mass glycoproteins and may thus play a more important role than glucose 6-P-dependent glycogen synthase in the initial stages of glycogen biogenesis; and (3) glycogenin is generally inactive in human muscle in vivo.  (+info)

Cellulolytic enzymes in culture filtrates of Rhizoctonia lamellifera. (4/797)

During growth in a liquid culture containing a single soluble or an insoluble cellulosic carbon source, Rhizoctonia lamellifera released cellulolytic enzymes into the medium. These enzymes were separated by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography into seven components, three of high and four of low molecular weight. One of the components had the character of a C1 cellulase. When the components were combined they released more reducing sugars from cellulosic substrates than when used singly.  (+info)

Latency of some glycosidases of rat liver lysosomes. (5/797)

The latency of the alpha-glucosidase activity of intact rat liver lysosomes was studied by using four substrates (glycogen, maltose, p-nitrophenyl, alpha-glucoside, alpha-fluoroglucoside) at a range of substrate concentrations. The results indicate that the entire lysosome population is impermeable to glycogen and maltose, but a proportion of lysosomes are permeable to alpha-fluoroglucoside and a still higher proportion permeable to p-nitrophenyl alpha-glucoside. Incubation at 37 degrees C in an osmotically protected buffer of of pH 5.0 caused lysosomes to become permeable to previously impermeant substrates and ultimately to release their alpha-glucosidase into the medium. The latencies of lysosomal beta-glucosidase and beta-galactosidase were examined by using p-nitrophenyl beta-glucoside and beta-galactoside as substrates. The results indicate permeability properties to these substrates similar to that to p-nitrophenyl alpha-glucoside. On incubation in an osmotically protected buffer of pH 5, lysosomes progressively released their beta-galactosidase in soluble form, but beta-glucosidase remained attached to sedimentable material. Lysosomal beta-glucosidase was inhibited by 0.1% Triton X-100; alpha-glucosidase and beta-galactosidase were not inhibited.  (+info)

Acarbose, a pseudooligosaccharide, is transported but not metabolized by the maltose-maltodextrin system of Escherichia coli. (6/797)

The pseudooligosaccharide acarbose is a potent inhibitor of amylases, glucosidases, and cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase and is clinically used for the treatment of so-called type II or insulin-independent diabetes. The compound consists of an unsaturated aminocyclitol, a deoxyhexose, and a maltose. The unsaturated aminocyclitol moiety (also called valienamine) is primarily responsible for the inhibition of glucosidases. Due to its structural similarity to maltotetraose, we have investigated whether acarbose is recognized as a substrate by the maltose/maltodextrin system of Escherichia coli. Acarbose at millimolar concentrations specifically affected the growth of E. coli K-12 on maltose as the sole source of carbon and energy. Uptake of radiolabeled maltose was competitively inhibited by acarbose, with a Ki of 1.1 microM. Maltose-grown cells transported radiolabeled acarbose, indicating that the compound is recognized as a substrate. Studying the interaction of acarbose with purified maltoporin in black lipid membranes revealed that the kinetics of acarbose binding to LamB is asymmetric. The on-rate of acarbose is approximately 30 times lower when the molecule enters the pore from the extracellular side than when it enters from the periplasmic side. Acarbose could not be utilized as a carbon source since the compound alone was not a substrate of amylomaltase (MalQ) and was only poorly attacked by maltodextrin glucosidase (MalZ).  (+info)

Properties of beta-glucosidase in cultured skin fibroblasts from controls and patients with Gaucher disease. (7/797)

Membrane-bound beta-glucosidase from cultured skin fibroblasts can be solubilized in an active form by treatment of membrane preparations with a mixture of Triton X-100 and sodium taurocholate. Several properties of the solubilized enzyme have been studied in fibroblasts from normal, healthy individuals and from 14 patients with different clinical forms of Gaucher disease. The patients studied were classified as follows: group 1 consisted of 10 chronic patients, all (with one exception) of Ashkenazi Jewish origin; group 2 consisted of three black American patients with severe visceral symptoms, manifest from early childhood, but with no apparent neurological involvement; and group 3 consisted of a single white patient with the classical infantile form of the disease. Specific beta-glucosidase activity ranged from 6.6% to 16.5% mean control value in group 1 patients and from 4.1% to 5.8% in groups 2 and 3. When compared with the enzyme from control fibroblasts, the enzyme from chronic Gaucher patients (group 1) was more rapidly inactivated at 50 degrees C, had an altered pH curve, was less effectively inhibited by deoxycorticosterone-beta-glucoside, and was more effectively inhibited by deoxycorticosterone. The enzyme from patients in groups 2 and 3 was qualitatively indistinguishable from the control enzyme in terms of these parameters. No differences in Km (4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-glucoside) or sedimentation coefficient were found between the beta-glucosidases from control and Gaucher cells. The results demonstrate that cells from Ashkenazi Jewish patients with the chronic form of Gaucher disease contain a structurally altered form of beta-glucosidase. This enzyme differs both from normal beta-glucosidase and from the residual enzyme in patients of different ethnic origin and with clinically more severe forms of the disease.  (+info)

Recent biochemical approaches to post-testicular, epididymal contraception. (8/797)

Results from recent animal models with implications for putative human male contraceptives acting on the epididymis are reviewed. Inducing sterility by enhancing sperm transport through the epididymis has not been achieved. The induction of infertility in males of several species is easier to achieve by direct actions of drugs on sperm function (e.g. inhibition of sperm-specific isoenzymes of the glycolytic pathway by chloro-compounds) than by indirectly reducing amounts of epididymal secretions normally present in high concentration (e.g. alpha-glucosidase, L-carnitine). The former show promise for the clinic since human spermatozoa are susceptible to inhibition. On the other hand, the infertile male mice of the c-ros knock-out model demonstrate the influence of even a small region of the epididymis on fertility, so that targeting the as yet unknown epididymal factors presumably secreted in limiting amounts by this epididymal segment, is a new lead for a contraceptive. Targeting a specific sperm protein acquired in the testis, but depleted in the epididymis by toxicants that induce rapid infertility, may also lead to the discovery of new contraceptives, but these will require developing new means of organ-specific delivery of contraceptive drugs.  (+info)