scholarly journals Trypanosome Alternative Oxidase Possesses both an N-Terminal and Internal Mitochondrial Targeting Signal

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
VaNae Hamilton ◽  
Ujjal K. Singha ◽  
Joseph T. Smith ◽  
Ebony Weems ◽  
Minu Chaudhuri

ABSTRACTRecognition of mitochondrial targeting signals (MTS) by receptor translocases of outer and inner membranes of mitochondria is one of the prerequisites for import of nucleus-encoded proteins into this organelle. The MTS for a majority of trypanosomatid mitochondrial proteins have not been well defined. Here we analyzed the targeting signal for trypanosome alternative oxidase (TAO), which functions as the sole terminal oxidase in the infective form ofTrypanosoma brucei. Deleting the first 10 of 24 amino acids predicted to be the classical N-terminal MTS of TAO did not affect its import into mitochondriain vitro. Furthermore, ectopically expressed TAO was targeted to mitochondria in both forms of the parasite even after deletion of first 40 amino acid residues. However, deletion of more than 20 amino acid residues from the N terminus reduced the efficiency of import. These data suggest that besides an N-terminal MTS, TAO possesses an internal mitochondrial targeting signal. In addition, both the N-terminal MTS and the mature TAO protein were able to target a cytosolic protein, dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), to aT. bruceimitochondrion. Further analysis identified a cryptic internal MTS of TAO, located within amino acid residues 115 to 146, which was fully capable of targeting DHFR to mitochondria. The internal signal was more efficient than the N-terminal MTS for import of this heterologous protein. Together, these results show that TAO possesses a cleavable N-terminal MTS as well as an internal MTS and that these signals act together for efficient import of TAO into mitochondria.

1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91
Author(s):  
S Miyazawa ◽  
T Osumi ◽  
T Hashimoto ◽  
K Ohno ◽  
S Miura ◽  
...  

To identify the topogenic signal of peroxisomal acyl-coenzyme A oxidase (AOX) of rat liver, we carried out in vitro import experiments with mutant polypeptides of the enzyme. Full-length AOX and polypeptides that were truncated at the N-terminal region were efficiently imported into peroxisomes, as determined by resistance to externally added proteinase K. Polypeptides carrying internal deletions in the C-terminal region exhibited much lower import activities. Polypeptides that were truncated or mutated at the extreme C terminus were totally import negative. When the five amino acid residues at the extreme C terminus were attached to some of the import-negative polypeptides, the import activities were rescued. Moreover, the C-terminal 199 and 70 amino acid residues of AOX directed fusion proteins with two bacterial enzymes to peroxisomes. These results are interpreted to mean that the peroxisome targeting signal of AOX residues at the C terminus and the five or fewer residues at the extreme terminus have an obligatory function in targeting. The C-terminal internal region also has an important role for efficient import, possibly through a conformational effect.


2018 ◽  
Vol 86 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca A. Keogh ◽  
Rachel L. Zapf ◽  
Richard E. Wiemels ◽  
Marcus A. Wittekind ◽  
Ronan K. Carroll

ABSTRACTTheStaphylococcus aureuscyclophilin PpiB is an intracellular peptidyl prolylcis/transisomerase (PPIase) that has previously been shown to contribute to secreted nuclease and hemolytic activity. In this study, we investigated the contribution of PpiB toS. aureusvirulence. Using a murine abscess model of infection, we demonstrated that appiBmutant is attenuated for virulence. We went on to investigate the mechanism through which PpiB protein contributes to virulence, in particular the contribution of PpiB PPIase activity. We determined the amino acid residues that are important for PpiB PPIase activity and showed that a single amino acid substitution (F64A) completely abrogates PPIase activity. Using purified PpiB F64A proteinin vitro, we showed that PPIase activity only partially contributes to Nuc refolding and that PpiB also possesses PPIase-independent activity. Using allelic exchange, we introduced the F64A substitution onto theS. aureuschromosome, generating a strain that produces enzymatically inactive PpiB. Analysis of the PpiB F64A strain revealed that PPIase activity is not required for hemolysis of human blood or virulence in a mouse. Together, these results demonstrate that PpiB contributes toS. aureusvirulence via a mechanism unrelated to prolyl isomerase activity.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Miyazawa ◽  
T Osumi ◽  
T Hashimoto ◽  
K Ohno ◽  
S Miura ◽  
...  

To identify the topogenic signal of peroxisomal acyl-coenzyme A oxidase (AOX) of rat liver, we carried out in vitro import experiments with mutant polypeptides of the enzyme. Full-length AOX and polypeptides that were truncated at the N-terminal region were efficiently imported into peroxisomes, as determined by resistance to externally added proteinase K. Polypeptides carrying internal deletions in the C-terminal region exhibited much lower import activities. Polypeptides that were truncated or mutated at the extreme C terminus were totally import negative. When the five amino acid residues at the extreme C terminus were attached to some of the import-negative polypeptides, the import activities were rescued. Moreover, the C-terminal 199 and 70 amino acid residues of AOX directed fusion proteins with two bacterial enzymes to peroxisomes. These results are interpreted to mean that the peroxisome targeting signal of AOX residues at the C terminus and the five or fewer residues at the extreme terminus have an obligatory function in targeting. The C-terminal internal region also has an important role for efficient import, possibly through a conformational effect.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongqin Wu ◽  
Nina Grossman ◽  
Marissa Totten ◽  
Warda Memon ◽  
Anna Fitzgerald ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Lomentospora prolificans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen with low susceptibility to current antifungal drugs. Here, we tested the in vitro susceptibility of 8 drugs against 42 clinical L. prolificans isolates. All isolates showed high MICs to voriconazole (MIC90>16 μg/ml), itraconazole (MIC90>16 μg/ml), posaconazole (MIC90>16 μg/ml), isavuconazole (MIC90>16 μg/ml), amphotericin B (MIC90>16 μg/ml), and terbinafine (MIC90>64 μg/ml) and high minimum effective concentrations (MECs) to micafungin (MEC90>8 μg/ml), with the exception of miltefosine showing an MIC90 value of 4 μg/ml. We examined six different in vitro drug combinations and found that the combination of voriconazole and terbinafine achieved the most synergistic effort against L. prolificans. We then annotated the L. prolificans whole genome and located its Cyp51 and Fks1 genes. We completely sequenced the two genes to determine if any mutation would be related to azole and echinocandin resistance in L. prolificans. We found no amino acid changes in Cyp51 protein and no tandem repeats in the 5′ upstream region of the Cyp51 gene. However, we identified three intrinsic amino acid residues (G138S, M220I, and T289A) in the Cyp51 protein that were linked to azole resistance. Likewise, two intrinsic amino acid residues (F639Y, W695F) that have reported to confer echinocandin resistance were found in Fks1 hot spot regions. In addition, three new amino acid alterations (D440A, S634R, and H1245R) were found outside Fks1 hot spot regions, and their contributions to echinocandin resistance need future investigation. Overall, our findings support the notion that L. prolificans is intrinsically resistant to azoles and echinocandins.


1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 2317-2325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Hlaváček ◽  
Jan Pospíšek ◽  
Jiřina Slaninová ◽  
Walter Y. Chan ◽  
Victor J. Hruby

[8-Neopentylglycine]oxytocin (II) and [8-cycloleucine]oxytocin (III) were prepared by a combination of solid-phase synthesis and fragment condensation. Both analogues exhibited decreased uterotonic potency in vitro, each being about 15-30% that of oxytocin. Analogue II also displayed similarly decreased uterotonic potency in vivo and galactogogic potency. On the other hand, analogue III exhibited almost the same potency as oxytocin in the uterotonic assay in vivo and in the galactogogic assay.


1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (7) ◽  
pp. 1229-1235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Zoulíková ◽  
Ivan Svoboda ◽  
Jiří Velek ◽  
Václav Kašička ◽  
Jiřina Slaninová ◽  
...  

The vasoactive intestinal (poly)peptide (VIP) is a linear peptide containing 28 amino acid residues, whose primary structure indicates a low metabolic stability. The following VIP fragments, as potential metabolites, and their analogues were prepared by synthesis on a solid: [His(Dnp)1]VIP(1-10), VIP(11-14), [D-Arg12]VIP(11-14), [Lys(Pac)15,21,Arg20]VIP(15-22), and VIP(23-28). After purification, the peptides were characterized by amino acid analysis, mass spectrometry, RP HPLC, and capillary zone electrophoresis. In some tests, detailed examination of the biological activity of the substances in vivo and in vitro gave evidence of a low, residual activity of some fragments, viz. a depressoric activity in vivo for [His(Dnp)1]VIP(1-10) and a stimulating activity for the release of α-amylase in vitro and in vivo for [Lys(Pac)15,21,Arg20]VIP(15-22) and VIP(23-28).


Biologia ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reda Sammour

AbstractThe main goal of this work was to make the cDNA-encoding subunit G2 of soybean glycinin, capable of self-assembly in vitro and rich in methionine residues. Two mutants (pSP65/G4SacG2 and pSP65/G4SacG2HG4) were therefore constructed. The constructed mutants were successfully assembled in vitro into oligomers similar to those occurred in the seed. The successful self-assembly was due to the introduction of Sac fragment of Gy4 (the codons of the first 21 amino acid residues), which reported to be the key element in self-assembly into trimers. The mutant pSP65/G4SacG2HG4 included the acidic chain of Gy4 (HG4), which was previously molecularly modified to have three methionine residues. This mutant will be useful in the efforts to improve the seed quality.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 4147
Author(s):  
Neha Gupta ◽  
Saurav Kumar Choudhary ◽  
Neeta Bhagat ◽  
Muthusamy Karthikeyan ◽  
Archana Chaturvedi

The binding of heat stable enterotoxin (STa) secreted by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) to the extracellular domain of guanylyl cyclase c (ECDGC-C) causes activation of a signaling cascade, which ultimately results in watery diarrhea. We carried out this study with the objective of finding ligands that would interfere with the binding of STa on ECDGC-C. With this view in mind, we tested the biological activity of a alkaloid rich fraction of Holarrhena pubescens against ETEC under in vitro conditions. Since this fraction showed significant antibacterial activity against ETEC, we decided to test the screen binding affinity of nine compounds of steroidal alkaloid type from Holarrhena pubescens against extracellular domain (ECD) by molecular docking and identified three compounds with significant binding energy. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed for all the three lead compounds to establish the stability of their interaction with the target protein. Pharmacokinetics and toxicity profiling of these leads demonstrated that they possessed good drug-like properties. Furthermore, the ability of these leads to inhibit the binding of STa to ECD was evaluated. This was first done by identifying amino acid residues of ECDGC-C binding to STa by protein–protein docking. The results were matched with our molecular docking results. We report here that holadysenterine, one of the lead compounds that showed a strong affinity for the amino acid residues on ECDGC-C, also binds to STa. This suggests that holadysenterine has the potential to inhibit binding of STa on ECD and can be considered for future study, involving its validation through in vitro assays and animal model studies.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document