Adenylate cyclase and phosphodiesterase activities in relation to a rapid increase in cellular cAMP concentration by hypotonic shock indunaliella viridis

Cyclic AMP receptor protein-aequorin molecular switch for cyclic AMP

Molecular switches are designer molecules that combine the functionality of two individual proteins into one, capable of manifesting an "on/off" signal in response to a stimulus. These switches have unique properties and functionalities and thus, can be employed as nanosensors in a variety of applications. To that end, we have developed a bioluminescent molecular switch for cyclic AMP. Bioluminescence offers many advantages over fluorescence and other detection methods including the fact that there is essentially zero background signal in physiological fluids, allowing for more sensitive detection and monitoring. The switch was created by combining the properties of the cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP), a transcriptional regulatory protein from E. Coli that binds selectively to cAMP with those of aequorin, a bioluminescent photoprotein native of the jellyfish Aequorea victoria . Genetic manipulation to split the genetic coding sequence of aequorin in two and genetically attach the fragments to the N and C termini of CRP resulted in a hybrid protein molecular switch. The conformational change experienced by CRP upon the binding of cyclic AMP is suspected to result in the observed loss of the bioluminescent signal from aequorin. The "on/off" bioluminescence can be modulated by cyclic AMP over a range of several orders of magnitude in a linear fashion in addition to the capacity to detect changes in cellular cyclic AMP of intact cells exposed to different external stimuli without the need to lyse the cells. We envision that the molecular switch could find applications in vitro as well as In Vivo cyclic AMP detection and/or imaging.

Chemotaxis of the unicellular green alga Dunaliella salina and the ciliated Tetrahymena pyriformis--effects of glycine, lysine, and alanine, and their oligopeptides

Chemotactic properties of amino acids (L-alanine, glycine and L-lysine) and their oligopeptides (10(-6) M) and binding sites to these ligands were investigated in two unicellular models, the heterotrophic Tetrahymena pyriformis and the auxotrophic Dunaliella salina. Chemotaxis of Dunaliella induced by simple amino acids and their derivatives demonstrated that binding sites (receptors) for food molecules are not only present in the membrane but are also able to induce their basic physiological response. In Tetrahymena, substances with special molecular structure and properties (polar, hydrophilic character of the signal peptide chain)-5-L-Lys, 5-Gly- were required for chemoattraction, other peptides tested, lacking the required structure, were repellent. Divergences in chemotaxis and binding assays of both species suggest that trends of functional and binding parameters do not run parallel at this level of evolution.

Sudden substrate dilution induces a higher rate of citric acid production by Aspergillus niger

On the basis of the present knowledge of Aspergillus niger metabolism during citric acid fermentation, an idea on how to improve the process was formed. Initially, a higher sucrose concentration was used for the germination of spores, which caused a higher intracellular level of the osmoregulator, glycerol, to be present. When citric acid started to be excreted into the medium, the substrate was suddenly diluted. Optimization of this procedure resulted in a nearly tripled volumetric rate (grams per liter per hour) of acid production, while the overall fermentation time was halved compared with the usual batch process. Yet, a characteristic delay was observed at the start of the acid excretion after the dilution. Hypo-osmotic shock caused a prominent elevation of intracellular cyclic AMP levels. Simultaneously, the specific activity of 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase increased significantly, probably due to phosphorylation of the protein molecule by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Specific 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase activity was much higher in the treated than in the normally growing mycelium. The metabolic flow through glycolysis was expected to be higher, which should contribute to a higher volumetric rate of acid production.