Effects of 8-substituted adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate derivatives on high Km phosphodiesterase activity

Most of twenty-one 8-substitued adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate derivatives were found to inhibit competitively the hydrolysis of adenosine 3'5'-monophosphate by partially purified high Km (Michaelis-Menten constant) phosphodiesterase from hog brain cortex, which had one active site at high concentration of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (0.3 to 4.0 mM). The Ki value for the 8-substituted alkylaminoadenosine 3'5'-monophosphate derivative was found to decrease with increasing unbranched carbon chain of the substituent, and a minimum value was obtained in the case of 8-octylaminoadenosine 3',5'-monophosphate. The Ki value, however, increased gradually as the substituent of derivative became longer than that of 8-octylminoadenosine 3'5'-monophosphate. The similar phenomenon was observed in the 8-substituted alkylthioadenosine 3',5'-monophosphate. The standard affinity for adenosine 3,5'-monophosphate of the high Km phosphodiesterase was 5.0 kcal/mol, which was calculated from Km. The standard affinity for 8-hexylthioadenosine 3',5'-monophosphate, which inhibited most strongly the enzyme activity, was 7.2 kcal/mol. The difference (2.2 kcal/736) between the standard affinity for adenosine 3',5'-monphosphate and that for 8-hexylthioadenosine 3',5'-monophosphate seems to be based on the partial affinity for the substituent (hexylthio group) of the active site on the enzyme or its neighborhood. A characteristic similar interrelation between substituent length of derivatives and their inhibitory effect on the enzyme activity was observed similarly in two different series of derivatives, 8-substituted alkylaminoadenosine 3',5'-monophosphate and alkylthioadenosine 3',5'-monophosphate. The results may indicate the characteristic structure of the active site of the enzyme or its neighborhood.

Increased adhesion of Chinese hamster ovary cells to substratum by cholera enterotoxin

A new, simple assay method using Chinese hamster ovary cells was devised for cholera enterotoxin. The effect of the cholera toxin was measured by an increase in cell adhesion to the substratum. The increase was dependent on the concentration of the toxin used and was effective for a longer period of time than that of adhesion increased by dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate and theophyline. There was a delay of about 60 min before the increase in adhesion, using the toxin, appeared, whereas the increase caused by dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate appeared almost at once.

Adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate-deficient mutants of Vibrio cholerae

Two adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (AMP)-deficient mutants of Vibrio cholerae (biotype El Tor) were successfully isolated by nitrosoguanidine treatment followed by pencillin screening for pleiotropic sugar-negative clones. Exogenous cyclic AMP is required for the fermentation of sucrose, trehalose, fructose, maltose, and mannose but not of glucose, as well as for the formation of normal flagella and specific somatic antigens. A striking characteristic of the mutants is their growth behavior at higher temperatures. They cannot grow on TCBS selective plates at 37 C or higher unless they are provided with a supply of exogenous cyclic AMP, although they are capable of producing colonies on the same medium, even without cyclic AMP, at temperatures lower than 30 C. Since the mutants are converted to spheroplasts, spindle forms, and spiral filaments in cyclic AMP-free media at 37 C, and this phenomenon is stopped by the addition of cyclic AMP or a combination of 20% sucrose and 0.2% magnesium chloride, it is assumed that cyclic AMP is essential for the synthesis of the cell wall of V. cholerae at higher temperatures.

Benzoate metabolism in Pseudomonas putida(arvilla) mt-2: demonstration of two benzoate pathways

Benzoate-grown cells of Pseudomonas putida(arvilla) mt-2 contain both metapyrocatechase and pyrocatechase activities, although the former activity is much higher than that of the latter. A spontaneous mutant deficient in metapyrocatechase and 2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde hydrolyase, the first two enzymes in the meta-cleavage pathway of the ring of catechol, has been isolated from this strain. This mutant grows well on a minimal medium containing benzoate as a sole carbon source and has the high activity of pyrocatechase. These findings indicate that the strain mt-2 possesses the genetic capacity for enzymes of both the meta- and ortho-cleavage pathways of benzoate degradation, but its phenotypic expression is the meta pathway.