Immobilized carboxypeptidase Y. Applications in protein chemistry

Bioaffinity layering: a novel strategy for the immobilization of large quantities of glycoenzymes

A simple strategy for increasing considerably the quantities of glycoenzymes immobilized on insoluble supports is described. The strategy that we call bioaffinity layering makes use of the multivalent nature of concanavalin A (Con A) and the multiple oligosaccharide chains of most glycoenzymes to build alternating lectin and glycoenzyme layers on a Sepharose matrix with precoupled Con A. Using this procedure, it was possible to increase the amounts of several glycoenzymes immobilized on Sepharose and 19.0 mg glucose oxidase could be associated with one ml Sepharose matrix after seven Con A/glucose oxidase incubation cycles. Bioaffinity layered preparations of glycoenzymes exhibited high activities as indicated by very high effectiveness factor (eta) values and those of glucose oxidase and invertase exhibited a layer-by-layer increase in thermostability. The sensitivity of a flow-through glucose monitoring cartridge integrated into a flow injection analysis (FIA) system was enhanced significantly by increasing the amount of immobilized glucose oxidase via bioaffinity layering. A cartridge bearing six layers of glucose oxidase on Sepharose support was used effectively and repeatedly for analysis of medium glucose concentration during a fed-batch cultivation of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Concanavalin A: a useful ligand for glycoenzyme immobilization--a review

Concanavalin A is finding increasing applications as a useful ligand in glycoenzyme immobilization. An attempt therefore, has been made to summarize the work available in the area. Glycoenzymes that are recalcitrant to immobilization procedures involving covalent coupling to solid supports can be immobilized in high yields by binding to matrices precoupled with concanavalin A. In addition, glycoenzymes associated with concanavalin A matrices usually exhibit high retention of activity and enhanced stability against various forms of inactivation. Binding of the glycoenzymes on the concanavalin A supports, being noncovalent, can be reversed by incubating the preparation with a high concentration of sugars/glycosides or at acidic pH. The association can be, however, rendered covalent by crosslinking the preparations with bifunctional reagents like glutaraldehyde. Crosslinking may be accompanied by further increase in stability, albeit at the expense of the loss of some enzyme activity. Several laboratory-size reactors containing concanavalin A matrix-bound glycoenzyme have been successfully operated for reasonably long durations with only small losses in catalytic activity. Insoluble glycoenzyme preparation can also be obtained by precipitating them from solution as concanavalin A complexes. Such complexes have small particle dimensions but can be successfully used in column reactors after a subsequent immobilization step. Insoluble concanavalin A-flocculates containing various microorganisms and glycoenzymes that successfully carry out multistep transformations have also been obtained by several investigators.

Use of immobilized exopeptidases and volatile buffers for analysis of peptides by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry

beta-Lipotrophin (62-77) or Ac-gastrin releasing peptide was incubated with immobilized carboxypeptidase Y or aminopeptidase M. Subsequent aliquots of each incubation mixture were analysed by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry using a dithiothreitol/dithioerythritol liquid matrix. The use of immobilized enzymes and volatile buffers for exopeptidase digestions enabled rapid and facile separation of enzyme from digestion products. This approach to mass spectral peptide analysis reduced spectral background arising from a glycerol matrix, buffer salts, or enzyme proteins and contaminants, enabling analysis of as little as 200 picomoles of a suitable peptide.

Reductive amination for solid-phase coupling of protein. A practical alternative to cyanogen bromide

For coupling proteins to Sephacryl gels periodate oxidation of these gels was investigated as an alternative method to cyanogen bromide activation. Optimum conditions were studied with respect to periodate concentration, time of oxidation, pH and type of coupling buffer, concentration of protein, temperature and time of protein uptake, and protein leakage after coupling. The effects of sodium cyanoborohydride and ascorbic acid as reducing agents, and of manganese ions as a potential catalyst were investigated. Using the derived optimum conditions, stable solid-phased antibodies were produced in high yield and used to adsorb factor VIII from plasma. These gels were stable for many weeks, as was the intermediate oxidised gel. Reductive amination for coupling proteins to oxidised Sephacryl gels results in increased binding and lower leakage than is obtained with cyanogen bromide activated agarose.

Identification of the C-terminal portion of a protein by comparative peptide mapping

A method is presented for the simple identification of C-terminal fragment of proteins. The method consists of (i) C-terminal processing of a protein by carboxypeptidase and (ii) comparative peptide mapping of the intact and carboxypeptidase-excised protein after fragmentation by endoproteinase or by chemical cleavage. The peptide mapping was performed by means of high-performance reversed-phase chromatography, where the C-terminal fragment was identified as a peptide peak that was lost or decreased in the carboxypeptidase-excised protein. The C-terminal sequence of the protein could be then determined by sequential Edman degradation of the C-terminal fragment collected from the peptide mapping chromatography. The sensitivity of the method depends solely on the peptide detection and subsequent Edman degradation, currently available techniques of which require a nanomole to subnanomole quantity of protein. The present method can be coupled with conventional carboxypeptidase technology because it utilizes a protein portion remaining after carboxypeptidase digestion while released amino acids are needed in the conventional technique. The method would be particularly valuable in finding a gene probe site for a RNA message coding for the C-terminal portion of a molecule.

Complete amino acid sequence of a new type of lethal neurotoxin from the venom of the funnel-web spider Atrax robustus

Robustoxin, the lethal neurotoxin isolated from the venom of the male Sydney funnel-web spider, Atrax robustus, is of unique structural type and physiological mode of action. The primary structure of this 42-residue peptide was determined to be H2N-Cys-Ala-Lys-Lys-Arg-Asn-Trp-Cys-Gly-Lys-Asn-Glu-Asp-Cys-Cys-Cys-Pro- Met-Lys-Cys-Ile-Tyr-Ala-Trp-Tyr-Asn-Gln-Gln-Gly-Ser-Cys-Gln-Thr-Thr-Ile- Thr-Gly-Leu-Phe-Lys-Lys-Cys-H. The disposition of disulphide-bridged cysteine residues at both the amino- and carboxy-termini and as a triplet at residues 14-16 appears to have no precedent amongst neurotoxins.

Carboxypeptidase Y from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Conformational differences reflected in kinetic behaviour in water and deuterium oxide

The glycoenzyme carboxypeptidase Y (peptidyl--amino-acid hydrolase, EC 3.4.16.1), from baker's yeast (British Fermentation Products Strain, Ng 72), of molecular weight 60 000, had a protein portion closely similar to those in the literature for carboxypeptidase Y isolations from other yeast sources, but was 25.3 wt% carbohydrate (mannose 83.3% by wt., glucosamine 10.3% by wt. with traces of galactose and galactosamine). Circular dichroic spectra indicated that the enzyme lost its beta-structure as the pH was lowered from 8.08 to 4.16. At p2H 8.22 in 2H2O media the conformation of this enzyme was different from that observed at pH 8.08. A tyrosine residue appeared to be perturbed by lowering the pH of the medium. Carboxypeptidase Y was rapidly, and essentially irreversibly, inactivated at low p2H. The pH profile of kcat for the carboxypeptidase Y-catalysed hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenyltrimethylacetate showed two inflections at 45 degrees C: one at pKapp approximately 3.7 insensitive to temperature variation (ascribed to a carboxyl group), and one of pKapp approximately 5.7 markedly temperature-dependent and possibly caused by a histidine residue.

Use of immobilized carboxypeptidase Y (I-CPY) as a catalyst for deblocking in peptide synthesis

CPY is a metal-free carboxypeptidase from yeast with broad specificity [1]. In addition to exopeptidase activity at acid pH, the enzyme is an effective esterase at alkaline pH. N-alpha-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester is hydrolyzed faster by CPY than by chymotrypsin. These observations suggested that the immobilized form of the enzyme would be of value in removing ester groups from the C-terminal ends of peptides. In this report we describe sequential synthesis using I-CPY and alpha-COOH deblocking of peptides made by conventional methods.

Mechanistic studies of carboxypeptidase Y from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. pH and pD profiles and inactivation at low pH (pD) values

Steady-state kinetics of carboxypeptidase Y, a proteinase from yeast, were studied by using the reaction of 4-nitrophenyl trimethylacetate as a probe. The pH profile of kcat. is sigmoidal in H2O-based buffers for the carboxypeptidase Y-catalysed hydrolysis of this ester (kcat. referring to the rate of deacylation of trimethylacetyl-carboxypeptidase Y). The corresponding pD profile in 2H2O is doubly sigmoidal, with inflexions at pD approximately 3.8 and approximately 6.8. The ionization of pKDapp. approximately 3.8 is caused by a rapid inactivation in 2H2O media by a process that is only slowly reversed on transfer to pH 7.00 phosphate buffer in H2O. The corresponding inactivation in H2O-based buffers of low pH is considerably slower (approximately 30-fold), follows a first-order rate-dependence and is very strongly pH-dependent, indicating some form of co-operative change in enzyme tertiary structure.

Normal subunit cleavage of alpha-2-macroglobulin in cystic fibrosis

Alpha-2-macroglobulin (alpha 2-M) has been purified from the plasma of patients with cystic fibrosis and normal controls, and the proteolytic subunit cleavage on reaction with trypsin has been compared. As no differences were observed between the two groups, a primary genetic defect affecting alpha 2M subunit cleavage in cystic fibrosis is unlikely.

Use of immobilized light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein to study the stoichiometry of its self-association

D. J. Davis & E. L. Gross (1976) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 449, 554-564 previously observed that the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein or chlorophyll protein complex II self-associated as determined by ultracentrifugation. We have determined the stoichiometry of complex formation by immobilizing the monomer on ethylenediamine-Sepharose 4B and determing the ability of immobilized protein to bind the free protein. The amount of soluble protein bound to the immobilized protein increased as the concentration of soluble protein increased. The binding was maximal between pH 7 and 8. The maximum binding was three molecules bound per one molecule of protein immobilized. These results indicate that a tetramer is the intrinsic structural unit of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein in the chloroplast membrane. Upon complex formation, the chlorophyll fluorescence was decreased without any spectral change. The maximum binding was approximately doubled upon addition of 0.5 mM CaCl2 whereas 5 mM NaCl had no effect. Addition of CaCl2 had no effect on the fluorescence of the monomer. The light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein can be isolated from a sodium lauryl sulfate extract of chloroplasts by affinity chromatography using the immobilized light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein.