From metal to ligand electroactivity in nickel(ii) oxamato complexes

The locus of oxidation in square-planar nickel(ii) oxamato complexes can be continuously shifted from the metal to the ligand by an appropriate choice of electron-donating substituents on the aromatic moiety of the ligand.

The naphthoquinol oxidizing cytochrome bc1 complex of the hyperthermophilic knallgasbacterium Aquifex aeolicus: properties and phylogenetic relationships

Phylogenetic analysis of constituent proteins of Rieske/cytochrome b complexes [Schütz et al. (2000) J. Mol. Biol. 300, 663-675] indicated that the respective enzyme from the hyperthermophile Aquifex (A.) aeolicus is closely related to proteobacterial counterparts, in disagreement with positioning of its parent species on small subunit rRNA trees. An assessment of the details and possible reasons for this discrepancy necessitates a thorough understanding of the biochemical and biophysical properties of the enzyme in addition to the bioinformatic data. The cytochrome bc(1) complex from A. aeolicus, which is part of the "Knallgasreaction" pathway, was therefore studied in membranes and in detergent-solubilized, isolated complex. Hemes b(L) (E(m,7) = -190 mV; g(z)= 3.7), b(H) (E(m,7) = -60 mV; g(z )= 3.45), and c(1) (E(m,7) = +160 mV; g(z )= 3.55) were identified by EPR and optical spectroscopy in combination with electrochemical methods. Two electrochemically distinct (E(m,7) = +95 mV; E(m,7) = +210 mV) Rieske centers were detected in membranes, and the +210 mV species was shown to correspond to the Rieske center of the cyt bc(1) complex. The gene coding for this latter Rieske protein was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, and the resulting protein was characterized in detail. The pool quinone of A. aeolicus was determined to be naphthoquinone. The redox poises of the individual electron-transfer steps are compared to those of other Rieske/cyt b complexes. The Aquifex enzyme was found to represent the only extant naphthoquinol oxidizing true cyt bc(1) complex described so far. An improved scenario for the phylogenetic positioning of the Aquifex cyt bc(1) complex is proposed.

Cellulosome from Clostridium cellulolyticum: molecular study of the Dockerin/Cohesin interaction

Clostridium cellulolyticum produces cellulolytic complexes (cellulosomes) made of 10-13 cell wall degrading enzymes tightly bound to a scaffolding protein (CipC) by means of their dockerin domain. It has previously been shown that the receptor domains in CipC are the cohesin domains and that the cohesin/dockerin interaction is calcium-dependent. In the present study, surface plasmon resonance was used to demonstrate that the free cohesin1 from CipC and dockerin from CelA have the same K(D) (2.5 x 10(-)(10) M) as that of the entire CelA and a larger fragment of CipC, the latter of which contains, in addition to cohesin1, a cellulose binding domain and a hydrophilic domain of unknown function. This demonstrates that neither the catalytic domain of CelA nor the noncohesin domains of CipC have any influence on the interaction. Dockerin domains are composed of two conserved segments of 22 residues: removal of the second segment abolishes the affinity for cohesin1, whereas modified dockerins having twice the first segment, twice the second, or both segments but in a reverse order have K(D) values for cohesin1 in the same range as that observed for wild-type dockerin. These data indicate that if two segments are required for the complexation with the cohesin, segments 1 and 2 are similar enough to replace each other. Calcium overlay experiments revealed that the dockerin domain has one calcium binding site per conserved segment. Circular dichroism performed on wild-type and mutant dockerins indicates that this domain is well structured and that removal of calcium only weakly affects the secondary structure, which remains 40-45% helical.

Association of bile-salt-dependent lipase with membranes of human pancreatic microsomes is under the control of ATP and phosphorylation

Bile-salt-dependent lipase (BSDL) is secreted by the pancreas into the duodenum, where it catalyses the hydrolysis of dietary lipid esters on activation by bile salts. The secretion pathway of BSDL is comparable with that of other digestive enzymes produced by pancreatic acinar cells. However, in contrast with these other enzymes, BSDL is partly associated with endoplasmic reticulum membranes as part of a folding complex, including a Grp94-related protein to which BSDL is transiently linked. The release of BSDL from membranes occurs once its glycosylation is completed [Bruneau and Lombardo (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 13524-13533]. In the present study, investigations concerning the mechanism of association/dissociation of BSDL with membranes of microsomes were performed. For this purpose the role of ATP and that of the possible phosphorylation of BSDL were examined. For the first time, it is shown that human pancreatic BSDL is phosphorylated, probably at a serine residue, during its transport within the acinar cell. The phosphorylation of BSDL is provoked by calphostin C, an inhibitor of protein kinase C. In the presence of 1-(isoquinolinesulphonyl)2-methylpiperazine, a non-specific inhibitor of serine/threonine protein kinase A, C or G, or of calcium chelator 1,2-bis(O-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N', N'-tetra-acetic tetra(acetoxymethyl)ester, the phosphorylation of BSDL elicited by calphostin C is abolished. These data suggested that the phosphorylation of BSDL within human pancreatic microsomes is under the control of a cascade of protein kinases. We have also shown that the phosphorylation of BSDL appears to be involved in the release of the enzyme from microsome membranes. Nevertheless ATP, which modifies the conformation of BSDL, triggers this association, and an unhydrolysable ATP analogue was unable to promote it.

Electron transfer in tetrahemic cytochromes c3: spectroelectrochemical evidence for a conformational change triggered by heme IV reduction

Electron transfer in tetrahemic cytochromes c3 from Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough (D.v.H.) and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans Norway (D.d.N.) strains has been investigated by thin layer spectroelectrochemistry with visible absorption, CD, and resonance Raman (RR) monitoring. The observed splitting of the isosbestic point in the Soret absorption band indicates that the electron transfer from the (FeIII)4 state to the (FeII)4 state proceeds via an intermediate species, which corresponds to 25 and 50% reduction for the D.v.H. cyt.c3 and the D.d.N. cyt.c3, respectively. For the latter, a specific CD signal is observed at half-reduction. RR monitoring of the redox process does not reveal multiple splitting of the high-frequency RR bands, at variance with previously published results on the enzymatic reduction of cyt.c3 from Desulfovibrio vulgaris Miyazaki, a cytochrome highly homologous to D.v.H. cyt.c3 [Verma, A.L., Kimura, A., Nakamura, A., Yagi, T., Inoguchi, H., & Kitagawa, T. (1988) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 110, 6617-6623]. The low-frequency RR spectra of the intermediate species differ significantly from the ones calculated from a linear combination of the all-ferric and all-ferrous states, for the same reduction ratio. Frequency shifts of the bending modes of the cysteine and propionate heme substituents are observed, as well as changes specific to each cytochrome; most notable is the activation of two torsional modes in the case of D.d.N. cyt.c3. Comparison of the results obtained for the two cytochromes leads to the conclusion that reduction of heme IV triggers the observed conformational change. This conclusion is supported by the spectroelectrochemical investigation of the mutant D.v.H. cyt.c3 H25M, in which the sixth ligand of heme III, histidine, is replaced by a methionine.