Inositol(1,3,4,5) tetrakisphosphate plays an important role in calcium mobilization from Entamoeba histolytica

Calcium release from internal stores of Entamoeba histolytica, a parasitic protozoan, was observed by measuring fluorescence of Fura-2. Emptying of inositol(1,4,5)trisphosphate (Ins(1,4,5)P3)-sensitive calcium pools in permeabilized E. histolytica did not significantly affect subsequent calcium release by inositol(1,3,4,5)tetrakis-phosphate (Ins(1,3,4,5)P4). Similarly, prior depletion of Ins(1,3,4,5)P4-sensitive stores did not have any influence on subsequent calcium release by Ins(1,4,5)P3. The EC50 for calcium release was 0.15 microM with Ins(1,4,5)P3 and 0.68 microM with Ins(1,3,4,5)P4. In conclusion, the Ins(1,3,4,5)P4-sensitive calcium store in E. histolytica is separate and independent from the Ins(1,4,5)P3-sensitive pool.

Magnesium-induced structural changes in tubulin

Exogenously added Mg2+, in the intracellular concentration range, has significant effect on the conformation of tubulin as monitored by tryptophan fluorescence. This magnesium-induced conformational change is reflected in the change of the slope and intercept of the Lehrer plot. The off-rate of colchicine from colchicine-tubulin complex is also decreased severalfold upon the addition of exogenous magnesium. The conformational change is magnesium-specific, and magnesium can only be replaced by manganese. GTP, CaCl2, and NaCl have no effect. Magnesium, however has no effect on tryptophan accessibilities of tubulin-S. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of C-terminal tail-body interaction.

Local unfolding and the stepwise loss of the functional properties of tubulin

Tubulin exhibits a number of characteristic functions that can be used to identify it. They include the ability to polymerize to microtubules, GTPase activity, and the binding of numerous antimitotic drugs and fluorophores. These functions can be differentially modified by low (0.1-1.0M) urea concentrations, and such urea-induced modifications are stable over time periods of minutes to hours. These intermediate states suggest the existence of restricted regions in the protein each of which is associated with a function and its own urea sensitivity. In order of decreasing sensitivity to urea these effects are decreased rate of polymerization of tubulin to microtubules > decreased extent of polymerization approximately decreased GTPase activity > enhanced fluorescence of a rapidly binding analogue of colchicine-MTPT [2-methoxy-5-(2',3',4'-trimethoxyphenyl)tropone] approximately decreased proteolysis by trypsin (after alpha Arg339) and by chymotrypsin (after beta Tyr281) > enhanced fluorescence of 1-anilino-8-naphthalenesulfonic acid (ANS). Additional evidence for the independent behavior of the restricted regions stems from the markedly different time dependence of the response to urea. These low urea concentrations do not induce significant changes in tryptophan fluorescence, suggesting that the observed effects are due to local unfolding. At higher urea concentrations (2-4 M), the enhanced fluorescence of the ligands is abolished; MTPT fluorescence decreases at lower urea concentrations than ANS fluorescence. Moreover, tubulin becomes highly susceptible to proteolysis at multiple sites, and tryptophan emission shows a red-shift, as expected. Multistep unfolding in response to denaturants has been reported for some other proteins. Tubulin appears to be an extreme example of such local responses that proceed under milder conditions than the global transition to the unfolded state.

Uptake and toxicological effects of some heavy metals on Pleurotus sajor-caju (Fr.) singer

The uptake of heavy metals at sublethal concentrations by the mycelia and sporocarps of an edible fungus Pleurotus sajor-caju was measured by an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and their impact on growth, productivity, and cellular proteins was also studied. Mycelia demonstrated the lowest uptake of Co2+ (11 micrograms ml-1) and Hg2+ (12 micrograms ml-1) and the highest uptake of Cu2+ (182 micrograms ml-1) and Cd2+ (178 micrograms ml-1). Sporocarps obtained from the substrate treated separately with Pb2+ (100 micrograms ml-1) and CD2+ (6 micrograms ml-1) indicated a minimum and maximum uptake of Pb2+ (7 micrograms g-1) and Cd2+ (33 micrograms g-1), respectively. Although Cu2+ and Cd2+ at 6 micrograms ml-1 indicated 41 and 93% growth reduction, Pb2+ and Hg2+ also caused more than 85% reduction of growth at 15 and 6 micrograms ml-1, respectively. Pb2+ reduced mycelial protein significantly (36%), but Hg2+ caused maximum reduction (30%) of proteins in sporocarps. Separate treatment of spawned substrate with test heavy metals reduced biological efficiency of sporocarp production, but markedly with Pb2+.

A study of colchicine tubulin complex by donor quenching of fluorescence energy transfer

The utility of collisional quenching of energy donors in fluorescence energy transfer is described. In multi-donor single acceptor systems, which contain different classes of donors (as distinguished by their accessibility towards a collisional quencher), donor quenching may be used to assess the fraction of energy transfer from each class of donor. The tubulin-colchicine complex was used as a donor-acceptor system to show that two inaccessible tryptophans are at or near the colchicine binding site.

N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)colcemid, a probe for different classes of colchicine-binding site on tubulin

The nature of binding of 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl-colcemid (NBD-colcemid), an environment-sensitive fluorescent analogue of colchicine, to tubulin was tested. This article reports the first fluorometric study where two types of binding site of a colchicine analogue on tubulin were detected. Binding of NBD-colcemid to one of these sites equilibrates slowly. NBD-colcemid competes with colchicine for this site. Binding of NBD-colcemid to this site also causes inhibition of tubulin self-assembly. In contrast, NBD-colcemid binding to the other site is characterised by rapid equilibration and lack of competition with colchicine. Nevertheless, binding to this site is highly specific for the colchicine nucleus, as alkyl-NBD analogues have no significant binding activity. Fast-reaction-kinetic studies gave 1.76 x 10(5) M-1 s-1 for the association and 0.79 s-1 for the dissociation rate constants for the binding of NBD-colcemid to the fast site of tubulin. The association rate constants for the two phases of the slow site are 444.4 M-1 s-1 and 11.67 M-1 s-1 [corrected], respectively. These two sites may be related to the two sites of colchicine reported earlier, with binding characteristics altered by the increased hydrophobic nature of NBD-colcemid.

A fluorescence anisotropy study of tetramer-dimer equilibrium of lambda repressor and its implication for function

Tetramer-dimer equilibrium of lambda repressor has been studied by fluorescence anisotropy techniques. We have chosen 1-dimethylamino naphthalene-5-sulfonyl chloride (dansyl chloride)-labeled repressor to study the dissociation-association equilibrium, because of relatively long life-time of the probe (> 10 ns). Polarization of the dansyl-labeled repressor decreases with decreasing protein concentrations in the range of 20 to 0.2 microM. The decrease of anisotropy was shown to be due to reversible dissociation of the protein. Size exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography studies and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under native conditions (Ferguson plot) confirmed that at around 20 microM concentrations the repressor exists in predominantly tetrameric form, whereas in lower concentrations it exists in predominantly dimer form. A dissociation constant of 2.3 +/- 0.9 microM was estimated in 0.1 M potassium phosphate, pH 8.0, at 25 degrees C. A stoichiometric amount of isolated single operator shifted the tetramer-dimer equilibrium toward the dimer. Increased ionic strength had only a modest effect on the dissociation constant. The thermodynamic constants for the dissociation reaction calculated from the Van't Hoff plot was +26.6 kcal/mol for delta H and +64.7 e.u. for delta S. The rotational correlation times derived from isothermal Perrin plot indicated elongated dimers and tetramers.

Reversible dimer dissociation of tubulin S and tubulin detected by fluorescence anisotropy

Concentration-dependent dissociation of dimers of goat brain tubulin S and tubulin was studied by fluorescence anisotropy. Upon dilution, assembly-competent fluorescein 5'-maleimide labeled dimers of tubulin S and tubulin show a progressive decrease in fluorescence anisotropy. That this lowering of anisotropy results from the dissociation of tubulin S dimers into monomers was shown by dilution experiments with unlabeled homologous and heterologous proteins. A nonlinear least-squares fit of the data gave a dissociation constant of 7.1 x 10(-8) M for tubulin S compared to 7.2 x 10(-7) M for tubulin at 25 degrees C in 0.1 M PEM buffer, pH 7.0. van't Hoff plots of dimer-monomer dissociation of tubulin S and tubulin also show considerable differences in delta H and delta S. Effects of ionic strength and colchicine on the equilibrium constants are also substantially different for tubulin and tubulin S. The implications of these observations on the influence of C-terminal tails on tubulin structure are discussed.

Bis-ANS as a specific inhibitor for microtubule-associated protein induced assembly of tubulin

5,5'-Bis[8-(phenylamino)-1-naphthalenesulfonate] (bis-ANS), the fluorescent probe which binds to tubulin, inhibits its assembly into microtubules [Horowitz et al. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 14647-14650]. The results described in this paper demonstrate that bis-ANS is quite distinct from other well-known microtubule inhibitors in its specificity of action. The inhibitory potentials of bis-ANS and its three structural analogues ANS, Prodan [6-propionyl-2-(dimethylamino)naphthalene], and NSA (naphthalenesulfonic acid) have been compared. It is found that they can be arranged in the following order according to their polymerization inhibitory potentials: bis-ANS approximately equal to Prodan much greater than ANS greater than NSA. Interestingly, the naphthalene nucleus is sufficient to cause inhibition of polymerization. Detailed experiments were carried out to examine the mode of assembly inhibition by aminonaphthalenes at the molecular level, using bis-ANS as a representative. It was found that there was little or no effect of bis-ANS on the assembly of tubulin when polymerization was induced by assembly promoters like taxol, DMSO, or glutamate, or on the assembly of subtilisin-digested protein (tubulin S), for all of which half-maximal inhibition could not be achieved even at 120 microM bis-ANS. On the contrary, bis-ANS acts as an inhibitor in the case of MAP- (MAP2 and tau) and poly(L-lysine)-induced assembly of tubulin, with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations ranging from 1.5 to 7.6 microM. Our results place bis-ANS as a novel inhibitor, which seems to specifically inhibit C-termini-mediated assembly. Of all assembly inhibitors known so far, none exhibits such selection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A retrospective study on scorpion sting in a pediatric age group in a hospital in Calcutta

During 1985-1989, in Calcutta Medical College Hospitals, of 152 children of 1-6 year age group admitted with the history of scorpion sting 18 (11.8%) died. Maximum numbers of stings were inflicted in the fingers. Important clinical features recorded were circulatory failure, breathlessness, profuse sweating, vomiting, local oedema and convulsion. Incidences of scorpion stings were much more frequent in the summer and rainy seasons than in the winter season.

Multiphasic denaturation of the lambda repressor by urea and its implications for the repressor structure

Urea denaturation of the lambda repressor has been studied by fluorescence and circular dichroic spectroscopies. Three phases of denaturation could be detected which we have assigned to part of the C-terminal domain, N-terminal domain and subunit dissociation coupled with further denaturation of the rest of the C-terminal domain at increasing urea concentrations. Acrylamide quenching suggests that at least one of the three tryptophan residues of the lambda repressor is in a different environment and its emission maximum is considerably blue-shifted. The transition in low urea concentration (midpoint approximately 2 M) affects the environment of this tryptophan residue, which is located in the C-terminal domain. Removal of the hinge and the N-terminal domain shifts this transition towards even lower urea concentrations, indicating the presence of interaction between hinge on N-terminal and C-terminal domains in the intact repressor.

An operator-induced conformational change in the C-terminal domain of the lambda repressor

4,4'-bis(1-anilino-8-naphthalenesulfonic acid (Bis-ANS), an environment-sensitive fluorescent probe for hydrophobic region of proteins, binds specifically to the C-terminal domain of lambda repressor. The binding is characterized by positive cooperativity, the magnitude of which is dependent on protein concentration in the concentration range where dimeric repressor aggregates to a tetramer. In this range, positive cooperativity becomes more pronounced at higher protein concentrations. This suggests a preferential binding of Bis-ANS to the dimeric form of the repressor. Binding of single operator OR1 to the N-terminal domain of the repressor causes enhancement of fluorescence of the C-terminal domain bound Bis-ANS. The binding of single operator OR1 also leads to quenching of fluorescence of tryptophan residues, all of which are located in the hinge or the C-terminal domain. Thus two different fluorescent probes indicate an operator-induced conformational change which affects the C-terminal domain. The significance of this conformational change with respect to the function of lambda repressor has been discussed.

Excimer fluorescence of pyrene-maleimide-labeled tubulin

Excimer-forming cysteines in tubulin are detected by the presence of excimer fluorescence in N-(1-pyrenyl)maleimide-labeled tubulin. The ratio of excimer/monomer fluorescence of labeled protein remained unchanged upon its dilution. These results indicating that both partner of each pair(s) of cysteine are located in the same subunit. The excimer fluorescence is insensitive to prior treatment of tubulin with either colchicine or GTP, indicating that pairs of cysteines protected by those drugs are not involved in excimer formation. This excimer fluorescence of N-(1-pyrenyl)maleimide-labeled tubulin disappeared upon treatment with SDS, guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) and urea. Studies with GdmCl induced unfolding of N-(1-pyrenyl)maleimide-labeled tubulin showed that the loss of excimer fluorescence precedes subunit dissociation. The loss of both colchicine-binding activity and the excimer fluorescence with increasing temperature indicates a major conformational change of the tubulin molecule at elevated temperatures.

Interaction of Prodan with tubulin. A fluorescence spectroscopic study

The compound 6-propionyl-2-(N,N-dimethyl)-aminonaphthalene (Prodan), an efficient fluorescent probe for proteins, is shown to bind to tubulin. Detailed experiments on fluorescence enhancement, anisotropy and energy transfer were carried out to unravel the nature of Prodan-tubulin interaction and the Prodan-binding site on tubulin. It was found that Prodan binds to tubulin at a rigid site, with a stoichiometry of 1:1 and a dissociation constant of 20 microM. Competition experiments using 1,8-[3H]anilinonaphthalenesulfonate ([3H]ANS) indicated that the three aminonaphthalenes, ANS, bis(1,8-anilinonaphthalenesulfonate) and Prodan probably bind to a common region on the tubulin molecule.

Mechanism for antagonism of paraoxon by hemicholinium-3 analogues

In a newly synthesized series of DMAE analogues (bis-diethyl analogue of hemicholinium-3), selected chemicals (TL-402 = NAM-242 greater than JGC-VII-110) showed significant protection of mouse lethality after acute toxic doses of paraoxon (in vivo). DMAE and NAM-250 (like hemicholinium-3) showed minimal or no antagonism against paraoxon-induced toxicity in mice. Studies with DMAE analogues demonstrate weak anticholinesterase activity. The pattern for the neuromuscular inhibition of TL-402, NAM-242 and JGC-VII-110 is different from that of hemicholinium-3. LD50 studies identified compounds with less inherent toxicity (TL-402, NAM-242 and JGC-VII-110) and showed significant antagonism in contrast to DMAE and NAM-250. These chemicals (DMAE and NAM-250) are as toxic as the parent compound hemicholinium-3. All compounds in this series showed potent antinicotinic activity in different nicotinic-receptor preparations. The antinicotinic activity correlates with their action on the acetylcholine receptor-ion channel complex at frog neuromuscular junctions (in vitro). Electrophysiological studies demonstrate that the antinicotinic agents significantly depressed both the end plate current (EPC) amplitude and the time constant of decay (tau EPC) at the end plate of frog. In presence of paraoxon, voltage- and concentration-dependent shortening of tau EPC is observed which is more prominent than the decrease of the amplitude of EPC. The antinicotinic agents which showed significant antagonism of paraoxon both in vivo and in vitro (TL-402, NAM-242 and JGC-VII-110) also produced profound tetanic rundown after neurally or ionophoretically evoked EPC. These effects are voltage-dependent. The marked shortening of tau EPC, linear relationship between 1/tau vs DMAE analogue concentrations and potential-dependent tetanic rundown suggest that these analogues produce antagonism of paraoxon primarily by reducing end plate permeability by blocking nicotinic ACh-R associated ion channels in their open form. The antinicotinic activity of these agents is related to acetal or corresponding ether substitution.

The carboxy terminus of the alpha subunit of tubulin regulates its interaction with colchicine

Controlled proteolysis of goat brain tubulin by subtilisin was carried out to investigate regulatory aspects of the binding of colchicine to tubulin. Tubulin S, obtained by the cleavage of the carboxyl termini of both the alpha- and beta-subunits of tubulin by subtilisin, exhibited the following differences compared to native tubulin: (a) Reaction with colchicine, which has an optimum pH of 6.8, becomes independent of pH (in the range 5.7-8.0). (b) The colchicine-binding site, which is labile at 37 degrees C (t1/2 = 4-5 h), becomes highly stable (t1/2 greater than 12 h). (c) The affinity for colchicine is lowered. (d) This lowering of affinity arises from a faster dissociation (higher off rate) of the complex. The above characteristics of tubulin S were not shown by a partially digested hybrid in which the C-terminus of the beta-subunit alone was cleaved. The hybrid behaved very much like the undigested native protein. These results strongly suggest that the regulatory switch for colchicine-tubulin interaction is located in a small region (about 15 residues) of the C-terminus of the alpha-subunit of tubulin. Possibilities of the C-termini being involved in nonbonded contacts with the main body of tubulin are also noticed from the change in conformation between tubulin and tubulin S.

Isolation, characterization and biological activities of a toxin from Bacillus megaterium (B-23)

Fungitoxic substance was isolated from the culture filtrate of B. megaterium (B-23). Age of culture and pH of medium influence the fungitoxicity of its culture filtrate. Partially purified toxin was thermolabile, non-dialysable, ethyl acetate soluble, vanillin-sulphuric acid positive and effective within a range of pH 5-9. It exhibited maximum UV absorption at 224 nm. Its melting point was 242 degrees C. The efficacy of this compound was tested on 4 jute parasites namely, C. corchori, C. gloeosporioides, M. roridum and A. citri, of which M. roridum and C. corchori were least and most sensitive to the toxin respectively.

Halothane and isoflurane alter acetylcholine activated ion channel kinetics

The effects of halothane and isoflurane on the acetylcholine activated ion channel were studied in the frog sartorius muscle using the two electrode voltage clamp technique. The miniature end-plate currents (MEPCs) were recorded and evaluated for amplitude, duration of growth phase and time constant of decay (tau). Both halothane and isoflurane decreased tau in a dose dependent manner. Depression of current amplitude was also dose dependent. The ED50 value indicates tau is more affected than the amplitude of MEPC. Biexponential decay phases were seen in a small fraction of cells exposed to a low concentration of halothane but not isoflurane. Biexponential decay, when seen, was more prominent at less negative clamped membrane potential. The normal linear relationship between membrane potential and tau was not altered by anesthetics.

Use of micelles in studying drug-binding sites: simulation of the tubulin-bound fluorescence of colchicine

Enhancement of the fluorescence intensity of colchicine occurs in media of low polarity and appreciable viscosity; this is suggested to be the basis of the intensification of its fluorescence when it is bound to and immobilized in tubulin. We show here that the tubulin-bound fluorescence features of colchicine are largely reconstructed upon solubilizing it in chosen micellar aggregates that offer optimal polarities and microviscosities. Triton X-100 and bile salt micelles intensify the colchicine emission but the maximal effects are obtained with tetrameric aggregates of the peptide melittin. Estimates of the polarity, microviscosity and binding-site dimensions of colchicine are obtained using this mimetic approach. Our results suggest that well chosen micellar systems act as good models to reconstruct and analyze the spectral properties of molecules immobilized in their binding sites.