Intracellular pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase from human jejunal mucosa. Isolation and characterization

Human jejunal intracellular pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase was purified 30-fold from intestinal mucosa. The apparent molecular weight of the enzyme was 75,000 by Sephadex G-200 gel filtration, and the isoelectric point was at pH 8.0. The enzyme was maximally active at pH 4.5 and was unstable at increasing temperatures. Intracellular pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase cleaved both terminal and internal gamma-glutamate linkages. In contrast, brush-border pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase catalyzed the hydrolysis of only terminal gamma-glutamate linkages. The intracellular enzyme showed greatest affinity for the complete folic acid molecule with longer glutamate chains. Subcellular fractionation studies showed the intracellular enzyme was localized in lysosomes. These data show that the properties of human jejunal intracellular pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase are distinct from those of the brush-border enzyme but are similar to the properties of intracellular pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase described in other tissues.

Folate binding and hydrolysis by pig intestinal brush-border membranes

The intestinal absorption of dietary polyglutamyl folate involves hydrolysis, binding, and transport at the brush-border surface of the enterocyte. We studied the binding of [3H]folic acid ([3H]PteGlu) and the hydrolysis of [14C]pteroyltriglutamate ([14C]PteGlu3) by use of brush-border vesicles prepared from pig jejunal mucosa. [3H] PteGlu associated with the vesicles was not affected by increasing the osmolarity of the incubation solution, verifying that the experiments describe binding and not transport of PteGlu. The binding of [3H]PteGlu was saturable (Kd = 0.08 microM) and pH dependent with maximal binding at pH 5.2. Binding was competitively inhibited by PteGlu3 (Ki = 0.25 microM) and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (Ki = 0.8 microM) but was not affected by components of the PteGlu molecule. ZnCl2, MgCl2, and MnCl2 enhanced the binding capacity but not the affinity of the binding component for PteGlu. We distinguished the processes of folate binding and hydrolysis by demonstrating differences in metal ion requirements and susceptibilities to various inhibitors. In addition, the binding component and the hydrolytic enzyme had distinct affinities for PteGlu (Ki = 45 microM for PteGlu3 hydrolysis). These data demonstrate pH-dependent, specific, and saturable binding of PteGlu to the intestinal brush-border membrane and suggest that the binding component is separate from the hydrolytic enzyme.

Clinical studies of intestinal folate conjugases

Clinical differences between the two human intestinal mucosal folate conjugases were assessed by measurement of their activities in normal individuals and in patients with chronic diarrhea of differing causes. Intracellular folate conjugase (ICFC) was 15-fold more active than brush border folate conjugase (BBFC) in jejunal mucosa from seven obese patients undergoing elective gastric bypass surgery. The activity of ICFC was similar among normal volunteers and patients with diarrhea of unknown origin (DUO), gluten-sensitive enteropathy (GSE), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and the short bowel syndrome (IBD-SBS). By contrast, BBFC, sucrase, and lactase were decreased significantly in GSE, and BBFC was increased in IBD-SBS. The activity of BBFC correlated with lactase and with sucrase in the normal subjects and in patients with DUO, whereas no correlations were found with the activity of ICFC in any group. Our clinical studies confirm that ICFC and BBFC are different enzymes. ICFC is not affected by intestinal disease, whereas the activity of jejunal BBFC, like that of other brush border enzymes, is decreased by mucosal injury and is also capable of adapting to distal small intestinal disease or surgical resection.

Pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase from human jejunal brush borders. Purification and characterization

Pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase was solubilized with Triton X-100 from human jejunal mucosal brush borders and purified approximately 5,000-fold using organomercurial affinity chromatography, DEAE-cellulose chromatography, and gel filtration. The apparent molecular weight of the purified enzyme in the Triton micelle was estimated as 700,000 using Bio-Gel A-1.5m gel filtration. Sodium dodecyl sulfate/urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by Coomassie stain demonstrated two polypeptide bands at 145,000 and 115,000 daltons. The purified enzyme had an isoelectric point of 7.2, was maximally active at pH 5.5, and was stable above pH 6.5 and at temperatures up to 65 degrees C for at least 90 min. Human jejunal brush-border pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase is an exopeptidase which liberated [14C]Glu as the sole labeled product of PteGlu2[14C]Glue (where PteGlun represents pteroylpolyglutamate), failed to liberate a radioactive product from PteGlu2[14C]GluLeu2, and released all possible labeled PteGlun products during incubation with Pte[14C]GluGlu6 with the accumulation of Pte[14C]Glu. PteGlu2, PteGlu3, and PteGlu7 were substrates, each with Km = 0.6 microM, whereas PteGlu was a weak inhibitor of the hydrolysis of PteGlu3 with Ki = 20 microM. Components of the pteroyl moiety, Glu, and short chain Glun in alpha or gamma linkages were not inhibitory. The enzyme was activated by Zn2+ or Co2+. The properties of brush-border pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase are different from those described for the soluble intracellular pteroylpolyglutamate hydrolase in other species and in human mucosa, yet are consistent with previous data on the process of hydrolysis of PteGlun in the intact human intestine.

Comparative stability and catalytic and chemical properties of the sulfate-activating enzymes from Penicillium chrysogenum (mesophile) and Penicillium duponti (thermophile)

ATP sulfurylases from Penicillium chrysogenum (a mesophile) and from Penicillium duponti (a thermophile) had a native molecular weight of about 440,000 and a subunit molecular weight of about 69,000. (The P. duponti subunit appeared to be a little smaller than the P. chrysogenum subunit.) The P. duponti enzyme was about 100 times more heat stable than the P. chrysogenum enzyme; k inact (the first-order rate constant for inactivation) at 65 degrees C = 3.3 X 10(-4) s-1 for P. duponti and 3.0 X 10(-2) s-1 for P. chrysogenum. The P. duponti enzyme was also more stable to low pH and urea at 30 degrees C. Rabbit serum antibodies to each enzyme showed heterologous cross-reaction. Amino acid analyses disclosed no major compositional differences between the two enzymes. The analogous Km and Ki values of the forward and reverse reactions were also essentially identical at 30 degrees C. At 30 degrees C, the physiologically important adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (APS) synthesis activity of the P. duponti enzyme was 4 U mg of protein-1, which is about half that of the P. chrysogenum enzyme. The molybdolysis and ATP synthesis activities of the P. duponti enzyme at 30 degrees C were similar to those of the P. chrysogenum enzyme. At 50 degrees C, the APS synthesis activity of the P. duponti enzyme was 12 to 19 U mg of protein-1, which was higher than that of the P. chrysogenum enzyme at 30 degrees C (8 +/- 1 U mg of protein-1). Treatment of the P. chrysogenum enzyme with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoate) (DTNB) at 30 degrees C under nondenaturing conditions modified one free sulfhydryl group per subunit. Vmax was not significantly altered, but the catalytic activity at low magnesium-ATP or SO4(2-) (or MoO4(2-)) was markedly reduced. Chemical modification with tetranitromethane had the same results on the kinetics. The native P. duponti enzyme was relatively unreactive toward DTNB or tetranitromethane at 30 degrees C and pH 8.0 or pH 9.0, but at 50 degrees C and pH 8.0, DTNB rapidly modified one SH group per subunit. APS kinase (the second sulfate-activating enzyme) of P. chrysogenum dissociated into inactive subunits at 42 degrees C. The P. duponti enzyme remained intact and active at 42 degrees C.

Effect of Age on Poly- and Monoglutamyl Folacin Absorption in Human Subjects

Intestinal folacin absorption and mucosal conjugase activities were assessed in healthy male elderly (65-83 years) and young (20-29 years) human subjects. Luminal disappearance as measured simultaneously from the perfused jejunum of 3 mumol of both [3H]pteroylmonoglutamate [( 3H]PG-1) and pteroyl-[14C]glutamyl-hexaglutamate [( 14C]PG-7) as well as the urinary recovery of each isotope and mucosal conjugase activities were compared. Luminal disappearance of either [3H]PG-1 or [14C]PG-7 was not different for the two age groups (P greater than 0.05). The average (mean +/- SD) disappearance of [3H]PG-1 was 63 +/- 12% in the elderly and 67 +/- 6% in the young groups. In contrast, the disappearance of [14C]PG-7 averaged 51 +/- 6% in the elderly and 48 +/- 3% in the young group. Urinary recovery (percent in 48 hours) was not different for either isotope when the two age groups were compared (P greater than 0.05). The urinary recovery of 3H averaged 60 +/- 21% in the elderly and 59 +/- 13% in the young in contrast to 35 +/- 22% and 35 +/- 7% for 14C recovery in the elderly and young groups, respectively. Folacin conjugase activities measured at pH 6.5 and at pH 4.5 were not different between the groups (P greater than 0.05). The findings indicate that intestinal absorption of folacin and activity of folacin conjugases are not affected by the aging process.

ATP sulfurylase from Penicillium chrysogenum: is the internal level of the enzyme sufficient to account for the rate of sulfate utilization?

The in vivo rate of sulfate activation in Penicillium chrysogenum (wild-type strain ATCC 24791) was determined to be 0.19 +/- 0.09 mumol g(-1) (dry weight) min(-1) by the following methods. (i) The maximum growth of the organism in synthetic medium was a linear function of the initial Na(2)SO(4) concentration between 0 and 8 x 10(-4) Na(2)SO(4). The growth yield was 1.64 x 10(-2) g (dry weight) of mycelium per mumol of added sulfate, corresponding to a minimum sulfur requirement of 61 mumol/g (dry weight). Under these conditions (limiting sulfate) the minimum doubling time of P. chrysogenum in submerged culture was about 3.8 h, corresponding to a maximum exponential growth rate constant of 3.0 x 10(-3) min(-1). If all the sulfur in this mycelium passed through adenosine-5'-phosphosulfate, the rate of sulfate activation in vivo must have been 0.183 mumol min(-1) g(-1) (dry weight). (ii) In the presence of excess (35)SO(4) (2-), the total organic (35)S produced varied with the mycelial growth rate. However, until the culture approached maximum density, the product of [(growth rate constant) x (organic (35)S content)] was nearly constant at 0.24 to 0.28 mumol min(-1) g(-1) (dry weight). (iii) A sulfur-starved mycelium pulsed with 10(-4) M (35)SO(4) (2-) produced organic (35)S at a rate of about 0.10 mumol min(-1) g(-1) (dry weight) under conditions where the internal concentrations of ATP and sulfate would permit ATP sulfurylase to operate at about 70% of its V(max). Cell-free extracts of P. chrysogenum growing rapidly on excess sulfate contained 0.22 U of ATP sulfurylase per g (dry weight). Thus, in spite of the relatively low specific activity of homogeneous ATP sulfurylase (0.13 U/mg of protein, corresponding to an active site turnover of 7.15 min(-1)), the mycelial content of the enzyme was sufficient to account for the observed growth rate of the organism on inorganic sulfate as the sole sulfur source.

Mechanism of the antimicrobial action of pyrithione: effects on membrane transport, ATP levels, and protein synthesis

Pyrithione is a general inhibitor of membrane transport processes in fungi. A brief preincubation of Penicillium mycelia with pyrithione resulted in a marked decrease in the activities of a variety of independently regulated transport systems, including those for inorganic sulfate, inorganic phosphate, methylamine (actually, the NH(4) (+) permease), choline-O-sulfate, glucose, l-methionine (a specific system), and several hydrophobic l-alpha-amino acids (the general amino acid permease). The degree of inhibition at any fixed pyrithione concentration and exposure time increased as the pH of the incubation medium was decreased. This result strongly suggests that the active species is the un-ionized molecule and that pyrithione acts by collapsing a transmembrane DeltapH driving force. The degree of transport inhibition caused by a given concentration of pyrithione increased with increasing time of exposure to the inhibitor. However, exposure time and pyrithione concentration were not reciprocally related. At "low" pyrithione concentrations, transport inhibition plateaued at some finite value. This observation suggests that the fungi can detoxify low levels of the inhibitor. The concentration of pyrithione required for a given degree of growth inhibition increased as the experimental mycelial density increased. This phenomenon was consistent with the suggestion that the fungi are capable of inactivating pyrithione.