Isolation and characterization of a novel As(V)-reducing bacterium: implications for arsenic mobilization and the genus Desulfitobacterium.
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Dissimilatory arsenate-reducing bacteria have been implicated in the mobilization of arsenic from arsenic-enriched sediments. An As(V)-reducing bacterium, designated strain GBFH, was isolated from arsenic-contaminated sediments of Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Strain GBFH couples the oxidation of formate to the reduction of As(V) when formate is supplied as the sole carbon source and electron donor. Additionally, strain GBFH is capable of reducing As(V), Fe(III), Se(VI), Mn(IV) and a variety of oxidized sulfur species. 16S ribosomal DNA sequence comparisons reveal that strain GBFH is closely related to Desulfitobacterium hafniense DCB-2(T) and Desulfitobacterium frappieri PCP-1(T). Comparative physiology demonstrates that D. hafniense and D. frappieri, known for reductively dechlorinating chlorophenols, are also capable of toxic metal or metalloid respiration. DNA-DNA hybridization and comparative physiological studies suggest that D. hafniense, D. frappieri, and strain GBFH should be united into one species. The isolation of an Fe(III)- and As(V)-reducing bacterium from Lake Coeur d'Alene suggests a mechanism for arsenic mobilization in these contaminated sediments while the discovery of metal or metalloid respiration in the genus Desulfitobacterium has implications for environments cocontaminated with arsenious and chlorophenolic compounds. (+info)
Arsenic metabolites in human urine after ingestion of an arsenosugar.
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BACKGROUND: Arsenic-containing carbohydrates (arsenosugars) are common constituents of marine algae, including those species used as human food. The toxicology of these compounds has not been fully evaluated. METHODS: Arsenic metabolites in human urine were monitored over a 4-day period after ingestion of a synthetic specimen of arsenosugar. The metabolites were determined by HPLC-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and structural assignments were confirmed with liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Approximately 80% of the total ingested arsenic was excreted in the urine during the 4 days of the experiment. There was a lag-period of approximately 13 h before substantial quantities of arsenic appeared in the urine, and the excretion rate peaked between 22 and 31 h. At least 12 arsenic metabolites were detected, only 3 of which could be positively identified. Dimethylarsinate (DMA) was the major metabolite, constituting 67% of the total arsenicals excreted. A new urinary arsenic metabolite, dimethylarsinoylethanol, represented 5% of the total arsenicals, whereas trimethylarsine oxide was present as a trace (0.5%) constituent. One other significant metabolite cochromatographed with a reduced DMA standard, and hence was possibly dimethylarsinous acid. The second most abundant metabolite in the urine (20% of the total arsenic) remained unidentified, whereas the rest of the excreted arsenic was made up of several trace metabolites and small amounts of unchanged arsenosugar. CONCLUSIONS: Arsenosugars are biotransformed by humans to at least 12 arsenic metabolites, the toxicologies of which are currently unknown. (+info)
Methionine transport in Yersinia pestis.
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Yersinia pestis TJW, an avirulent wild-type strain, requires phenylalanine and methionine for growth. It was of interest to examine and define the methionine transport system because of this requirement. The methionine system showed saturation kinetics with a Km for transport of approximately 9 times 10(-7) M. After 8 s of methionine transport, essentially all of the methionine label appeared in S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) as detected in ethanol extracts. Small amounts of free methionine was detected intracellularly after 1 min of transport. Addition of glucose increased significantly the amount of intracellular methionine at 1 min. A series of SAM metabolic products was detected after 90 s to 5 min of transport including: 5'-thiomethyladenosine, homoserine lactone, S-adenosyl homoserine, and a fluorescent methyl receptor compound. Results from assays for SAM synthetase in spheroplast fractions showed a small (16%) but significant portion of synthetase associated with the membrane. However, most of the enzyme activity was associated with the cytoplasmic fraction. Methionine transport was characterized by a high degree of stereospecificity. No competition occurred from structurally unrelated amino acids. Although uptake was inhibited by uncoupling and sulfhydryl reagents, no efflux was observed. Results using energy inhibitors on unstarved and starved cells showed that respiratory inhibitors such as potassium cyanide (KCN) and amytal were most effective, and that arsenate was least effective. KCN plus arsenate completely blocked utilization of energy derived from glucose, and KCN completely blocked utilization of energy deived from D-lactate. The data indicate that methionine transport in Y. pestis is linked to the trapping of methionine in SAM. The results further suggest that this transport system can be classified as a permease-bound system where transport is coupled to an energized membrane state and to respiration. (+info)
Pathways of induction of peroxiredoxin I expression in osteoblasts: roles of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and protein kinase C.
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Peroxiredoxin I (Prx I) is an oxidative stress-inducible antioxidant protein with thioredoxin peroxidase activity. Here we report that the levels of Prx I mRNA and protein are dramatically increased in a murine osteoblast cell line, MC3T3-E1, by treatment with sodium arsenate. We further studied the signaling pathways that control the induction of Prx I expression. The treatment of osteoblasts with arsenate activated ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 MAPK. Pre-treating cells with inhibitors of p38 MAPK abolished the induction of Prx I protein but had minimal effect on the induction of Prx I mRNA, suggesting that p38 MAPK activity was required for post-transcriptional regulation. The inhibition of ERK1 and ERK2 had no effect on the induction of Prx I expression. Furthermore, rottlerin, an inhibitor of protein kinase Cdelta (PKCdelta) and calmodulin kinase III, abrogated the up-regulation at both protein and mRNA levels. Staurosporine and Go6983, inhibitors for PKC, also inhibited the induction of Prx I, suggesting that protein kinase Cdelta is required for the induction by arsenate. PKCdelta was activated by arsenate treatment by in vitro kinase assays. The inhibition of PKCdelta by rottlerin did not affect the activation of p38 MAPK by arsenate. These results suggest that there are two separate signaling pathways involved in the up-regulation of Prx I protein in response to arsenate, PKCdelta required for transcriptional activation and p38 MAPK required for post-transcriptional regulation. (+info)
Uptake kinetics of arsenic species in rice plants.
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Arsenic (As) finds its way into soils used for rice (Oryza sativa) cultivation through polluted irrigation water, and through historic contamination with As-based pesticides. As is known to be present as a number of chemical species in such soils, so we wished to investigate how these species were accumulated by rice. As species found in soil solution from a greenhouse experiment where rice was irrigated with arsenate contaminated water were arsenite, arsenate, dimethylarsinic acid, and monomethylarsonic acid. The short-term uptake kinetics for these four As species were determined in 7-d-old excised rice roots. High-affinity uptake (0-0.0532 mM) for arsenite and arsenate with eight rice varieties, covering two growing seasons, rice var. Boro (dry season) and rice var. Aman (wet season), showed that uptake of both arsenite and arsenate by Boro varieties was less than that of Aman varieties. Arsenite uptake was active, and was taken up at approximately the same rate as arsenate. Greater uptake of arsenite, compared with arsenate, was found at higher substrate concentration (low-affinity uptake system). Competitive inhibition of uptake with phosphate showed that arsenite and arsenate were taken up by different uptake systems because arsenate uptake was strongly suppressed in the presence of phosphate, whereas arsenite transport was not affected by phosphate. At a slow rate, there was a hyperbolic uptake of monomethylarsonic acid, and limited uptake of dimethylarsinic acid. (+info)
Protein levels of Escherichia coli thioredoxins and glutaredoxins and their relation to null mutants, growth phase, and function.
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Levels of Escherichia coli thioredoxin 1 (Trx1), Trx2, glutaredoxin 1 (Grx1), Grx2, and Grx3 have been determined by novel sensitive sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In a wild type strain, levels of Trx1 increased from the exponential to the stationary phase of growth (1.5-fold to 3400 ng/mg), as did levels of Grx2 (from approximately 2500 to approximately 8000 ng/mg). Grx3 and Trx2 levels were quite stable during growth ( approximately 4500 and approximately 200 ng/mg, respectively). Grx1 levels decreased from approximately 600 ng/mg at the exponential phase to approximately 285 ng/mg at the stationary phase. A large elevation of Grx1 (20-30-fold), was observed in null mutants for the thioredoxin system whereas levels of the other redoxins in all combinations of examined null mutants barely exceeded a 2-3-fold increase. Measurements of thymidine incorporation in newly synthesized DNA suggested that mainly Grx1 and, to a lesser extent, Trx1 contribute to the reduction of ribonucleotides. All glutaredoxin species were elevated in catalase-deficient strains, implying an antioxidant role for the glutaredoxins. Trx1, Trx2, and Grx1 levels increased after exposure to hydrogen peroxide and decreased after exposure to mercaptoethanol. The levels of Grx2 and Grx3 behaved exactly the opposite, suggesting that the transcription factor OxyR does not regulate their expression. (+info)
Substrate-binding recognition and specificity of trehalose phosphorylase from Schizophyllum commune examined in steady-state kinetic studies with deoxy and deoxyfluoro substrate analogues and inhibitors.
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Trehalose phosphorylase is a component of the alpha-D-glucopyranosyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside (alpha,alpha-trehalose)-degrading enzyme system in fungi and it catalyses glucosyl transfer from alpha,alpha-trehalose to phosphate with net retention of the anomeric configuration. The enzyme active site has no detectable affinity for alpha,alpha-trehalose in the absence of bound phosphate and catalysis occurs from the ternary complex. To examine the role of non-covalent enzyme-substrate interactions for trehalose phosphorylase recognition, we used the purified enzyme from Schizophyllum commune and tested a series of incompetent structural analogues of the natural substrates and products as inhibitors of the enzyme. Equilibrium-binding constants (K(i)) for deoxy- and deoxyfluoro derivatives of D-glucose show that loss of interactions with the 3-, 4- or 6-OH, but not the reactive 1- and the 2-OH, results in considerably (> or =100-fold) weaker affinity for sugar-binding subsite +1, revealing the requirement for hydrogen bonding with hydroxyls, away from the site of chemical transformation to position precisely the D-glucose-leaving group/nucleophile for catalysis. The high specificity of trehalose phosphorylase for the sugar aglycon during binding and conversion of O-glycosides is in contrast with the observed alpha-retaining phosphorolysis of alpha-D-glucose-1-fluoride (alpha-D-Glc-1-F) since the productive bonding capability of the fluoride-leaving group with subsite +1 is minimal. The specificity constant (19 M(-1).s(-1)) and catalytic-centre activity (0.1 s(-1)) for the reaction with alpha-D-Glc-1-F are 0.10- and 0.008-fold the corresponding kinetic parameters for the enzymic reaction with alpha,alpha-trehalose. The non-selective-inhibition profile for a series of inactive alpha-D-glycopyranosyl phosphates shows that the driving force for the binary-complex formation lies mainly in interactions of the enzyme with the phosphate group and suggests that hydrogen bonding with hydroxyl groups at the catalytic site (subsite -1) contributes to catalysis by providing stabilization, which is specific to the transition state. Vanadate, a tight-binding phosphate mimic, inhibits the phosphorolysis of alpha-D-Glc-1-F by forming a ternary complex whose apparent dissociation constant of 120 microM is approx. 160-fold greater than the dissociation constant of the same inhibitor complex with alpha,alpha-trehalose. (+info)
Potassium fluxes in Neocosmospora vasinfecta.
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The unidirectional K+ fluxes across the mycelial surface of Neocosmospora vasinfecta were determined using 42K. Influx was mediated by at least two kinetically distinct systems, one having an apparent Km of 6-5 mu-equiv. K+/l and the other of about 1-0 m-equiv. K+/l. The VMAX for both systems was in the range 18 to 22 mu-equiv. K+/100 mg mycelial dry matter/h (1-0 to 1-2 m-equiv. K+/l cell-water/min). Influx was strongly inhibited by 2,4-dinitrophenol, sodium azide, sodium arsenate and anaerobiosis. K+ efflux was dependent on the external K+ concentration and ranged from 3 to 10% of mycelial K+/h. The maximum efflux rate was always considerably less than the initial influx rate for the K+ concentrations examined. During incubation in dilute KCl solutions, K+ influx decreased to a value approaching the K+ efflux rate. It is considered that equilibrium with external K+ is attained primarily by the regulation of K+ influx, and that this may be the principal mechanism controlling cytoplasmic K+ levels. Adsorption of K+ was also observed throughout the K+ concentration range examined and can be attributed to two distinct K+-binding entities at the mycelial surface, half-saturating at approximately O-I mM-and 4-4 mM-KCl respectively. (+info)