Distal residues in the oxygen binding site of haemoglobin studied by protein engineering

The geometries of the Fe-O2 and Fe-CO bonds in myoglobin and haemoglobin differ significantly from those in free porphyrin model compounds. It has been suggested that steric hindrance by Val-E11 and His-E7 and a hydrogen bond between His-E7 and oxygen affect the geometry and electronic state of the Fe-ligand bond, and that these interactions may be important in controlling oxygen affinity. We have produced mutant haemoglobins in E. coli having Val(67 beta)E11 replaced by Ala, Met, Leu or Ile and His(58 beta)E7 by Gln, Val or Gly. We have studied the effect of these mutations on the equilibrium and kinetics of ligand binding. The conformation of the new side chains and their effect on the protein structure have been examined by X-ray crystallography, and the vibrational properties of the Fe-CO bond observed by resonance Raman spectroscopy. We found that the steric hindrance of ligand binding by the E11 residue and the polarity of the E7 residue in the beta subunit are critical for fine-tuning ligand affinity.     

Salt and pH-dependent properties of native and mutant insulin

A fast and effective model for predicting the salt and pH dependent properties of protein complexes is presented. It is based on the formal charge parameter sets of ionizable groups and applied in conjunction with the finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann (FDPB) method to calculate the electrostatic interactions. All simulations were performed on the native 2Zn insulin and its fast-acting mutants such as B9D (B9Ser→ Asp), B9E (B9Aer→ Giu), B9EB10D (B9Ser→Glu, B10His→ Asp), and B10D (B10His → Asp). The salt and pH dependent properties of these dimers were analyzed from the aspect of electrostatic interaction, and the theoretical basis of the fast-acting behavior of these mutants was explained. It is found that the results agree well with experimental observations.     

A human recombinant haemoglobin designed for use as a blood substitute.

The need to develop a blood substitute is now urgent because of the increasing concern over blood-transmitted viral and bacterial pathogens. Cell-free haemoglobin solutions and human haemoglobin synthesized in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been investigated as potential oxygen-carrying substitutes for red blood cells. But these haemoglobins cannot be used as a blood substitute because (1) the oxygen affinity in the absence of 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate is too high to allow unloading of enough oxygen in the tissues, and (2) they dissociate into alpha beta dimers that are cleared rapidly by renal filtration, which can result in long-term kidney damage. We have produced a human haemoglobin using an expression vector containing one gene encoding a mutant beta-globin with decreased oxygen affinity and one duplicated, tandemly fused alpha-globin gene. Fusion of the two alpha-globin subunits increases the half-life of this haemoglobin molecule in vivo by preventing its dissociation into alpha beta dimers and therefore also eliminates renal toxicity.     

Was the loss of the D helix in alpha globin a functionally neutral mutation?

Proteins in the globin family are found in a variety of species from bacteria to man. From the many globin sequences known, evolutionary trees have been constructed showing that alpha and beta globins diverged from a common ancestor between 425 and 500 million years ago, after vertebrate species had appeared and roughly when sharks and bony vertebrates diverged. The alpha and beta globins assemble to form tetrameric haemoglobin, alpha 2 beta 2, which can switch between quaternary states having high and low oxygen affinity. This allows the protein to bind oxygen cooperatively and therefore efficiently transport oxygen from the lungs to respiring tissues. The alpha and beta globins have closely related tertiary structures, being alpha-helical proteins with similar haem-binding sites. Most globins consist of eight helices, designated A to H from the N terminus, connected by short nonhelical segments, but all known vertebrate alpha globins lack a D helix. Because the loss of this helix by alpha globin occurred shortly before tetrameric haemoglobin appeared, it might be a functionally important mutation required for a tetramer assembly or allostery. We have now tested this idea by engineering human haemoglobins containing beta subunits without a D helix and alpha subunits with a D helix. Both of these mutations have little effect on the oxygen-binding properties of the molecule. Thus it is possible that deletion of the D helix in the alpha subunit was caused by a neutral mutation.     

Coordinate Properties of Nitric Oxide in Hemoglobin Solution Containing a Minimal Amount of Nitric Oxide

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Crystals of haemoglobin with the T quaternary structure bind oxygen noncooperatively with no Bohr effect

The relationship between the structure and function of haemoglobin has mainly been studied by comparing its X-ray crystal structures with its function in solutions. To make a direct comparison we have studied the functional properties of haemoglobin in single crystals, an approach that has been an important part of the investigation of several enzyme mechanisms. Here we report on the oxygen binding by single crystals of human haemoglobin grown in solutions of polyethylene glycol. Unlike haemoglobin crystals formed in concentrated salt solution, which crack and become disordered on oxygenation, crystals grown in polyethylene glycol remain intact. X-ray studies have shown that the T (deoxy) quaternary structure of haemoglobin in this crystal at pH 7.0 is maintained at atmospheric oxygen pressure, and that the salt-bridges are not broken. We find striking differences between oxygen binding by haemoglobin in this crystal and by haemoglobin in solution. Not only is oxygenation of the crystal noncooperative, but the oxygen affinity is independent of pH in the range 6.0-8.5, and is much lower than that of the T state in solution. The lack of cooperativity without a change in quaternary structure is predicted by the two-state allosteric model of Monod, Wyman and Changeux. The absence of a Bohr effect without breakage of salt-bridges is predicted by Perutz's stereochemical mechanism. In contrast to the X-ray result that oxygen binds only to the alpha haems, our measurements show that the alpha haems have only a slightly higher affinity than the beta haems.     

茶刺蛾[Darna trima(more)]颗粒体病毒鉴定及核酸与蛋白质特性的初步研究

1985年从四川珙县分离到的茶刺蛾病原物,经感染试验,组织病理研究,包涵体及病毒粒子超微结构研究,核酸类型鉴别等,定名该病原物为茶刺蛾颗粒体病毒.另对该病毒核酸作了限制性内切酶分析和热变性试验,测得该病毒核酸为双链DNA分子,分子量为64.11×10~6d,93.87kb,Tm值为67.3℃,(G+C)含量为32.7％,包涵体蛋白的氨基酸组分中Asp、Glu和Arg含量高,占氨基酸总量的34.12％,His,Cys和Met含量很少。该病毒对茶刺蛾幼虫有很强的感染力,氨基酸在生物防治上有潜在应用前景.     

pH Dependence of Chlorophyll States, Protein Structures and Function of the PSII Membranes

IntroductionPhotosystem II ( PSII) is a pigment- proteincomplex in the thylakoid membrane. Its reactioncenter( PSII- RC) ,which is composed of D1 andD2 proteins,generates the highly positive oxidantrequired for the oxidation of water by light- drivencharge separation. Water oxidation occurs at theMn4cluster positioned atthe center of the oxygen-evolving complex on the lumenal surface of PSII.In green plants,the highly reactive Mn4cluster isshielded by a number of extrinsic proteins( 33…     

Primary sequence of a dimeric bacterial haemoglobin from Vitreoscilla

Vitreoscilla, a filamentous bacterium in the Beggiatoa family, synthesizes a soluble haem-protein which has two identical subunits of relative molecular mass 15,775 and two b haems per molecule. It is synthesized in relatively large quantities when the organism, a strict aerobe, is grown under hypoxic conditions. It forms a relatively stable oxygenated form which is spectrally similar to oxymyoglobin (oxyHb) and oxyhaemoglobin (oxyHb). The amino acid sequence of this protein has been determined and aligned to fit the helical regions of several animal and plant globins. This alignment is consistent with its being a structural homologue of the eucaryotic haemoglobins although it diverged from the others in the N-terminal region and may lack an A-helix. It showed the maximum sequence homology (24%) with lupin leghaemoglobin (Lb). Vitreoscilla Hb is the first bacterial haemoglobin to be sequenced. It may function to enable the organism to survive in oxygen-limited environments by acting as an oxygen storage-trap or to facilitate oxygen diffusion.     

Prevention of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in non-obese diabetic mice by transgenes encoding modified I-A beta-chain or normal I-E alpha-chain

Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is a disease with an autoimmune aetiology. The inbred non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse strain provides a good animal model of the human disease and genetic analysis suggests that, as in man, at least one of the several genes controlling the development of IDDM is linked to the major histocompatibility complex. The NOD mouse does not express I-E owing to a deletion in the promoter region of the I-E alpha-chain gene, and the sequence of NOD I-A beta-chain in the first external domain is unique with His 56 and Ser 57 replacing Pro and Asp, respectively, at these positions. There has been considerable interest in the role amino acid 57 might have in conferring susceptibility to autoimmune diseases, including IDDM. The presence of a charged residue (such as Asp) at this position might affect the conformation of the peptide binding groove. But it could be assumed that Pro 56 gives rise to a different conformation of I-A beta-chain than does His 56. We therefore constructed transgenic NOD mice in which the transgene encoded a modified A beta nod with Pro 56, and studied its effect on the development of IDDM in this mouse strain. Previous studies have suggested that NOD mice expressing I-E as a result of the introduction of an I-E alpha-chain (E alpha) transgene are protected from the development of insulitis and hence IDDM. To explore further the protective effect of this molecule we constructed a second class of transgenic NOD mouse carrying an E alpha d transgene. Both transgenes protected the mice from IDDM, but this was not associated with a complete deletion of any T cells expressing commonly used T-cell receptor V beta genes.     

The role of the distal histidine in myoglobin and haemoglobin

The distal E7 histidine in vertebrate myoglobins and haemoglobins has been strongly conserved during evolution and is thought to be important in fine-tuning the ligand affinities of these proteins. A hydrogen bond between the N epsilon proton of the distal histidine and the second oxygen atom may stabilize O2 bound to the haem iron. The proximity of the imidazole side chain to the sixth coordination position, which is required for efficient hydrogen bonding, has been postulated to inhibit sterically the binding of CO and alkyl isocyanides. To test these ideas, engineered mutants of sperm whale myoglobin and the alpha- and beta-subunits of human haemoglobin were prepared in which E7 histidine was replaced by glycine. Removal of the distal imidazole in myoglobin and the alpha-subunits of intact, R-state haemoglobin caused significant changes in the affinity for oxygen, carbon monoxide and methyl isocyanide; in contrast, the His-E7 to Gly substitution produced little or no effect on the rates and extents of O2, CO and methyl isocyanide binding to beta-chains within R-state haemoglobin. In the beta-subunit the distal histidine seems to be less significant in regulating the binding of ligands to the haem iron in the high affinity quaternary conformation. Structural differences in the oxygen binding pockets shown by X-ray crystallographic studies account for the functional differences of these proteins.     

盐胁迫对鲁氏酵母菌生理特性的影响

研究了盐胁迫对鲁氏酵母菌(Zygosaccharomyces rouxii CGMCC 3791)细胞生理特性的影响,结果表明,盐胁迫使细胞生长受到抑制,单位(每克)菌体乙醇含量从11.64mg增加到19.20mg(120g/L NaCl)。分析细胞胞内pH值和胞内活性氧(ROS)水平,结果表明:盐胁迫使细胞胞内pH值水平降低,胞内活性氧(ROS)水平增加,同时胞内抗氧化酶系(过氧化氢酶、超氧化物歧化酶、过氧化物酶,以及谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶)的活力提高,从而抵御由盐胁迫引起的氧胁迫。研究了盐胁迫对鲁氏酵母菌胞内谷胱甘肽(GSH)含量的影响,结果表明,随着盐质量浓度增加,胞内GSH含量增加,在120g/L盐质量浓度下,GSH含量显著增加了73.4%。考察了外源添加GSH对细胞生长的影响,发现添加0.5g/L GSH的鲁氏酵母菌,在120g/L盐质量浓度下生物量提高了15%。本研究可对深入认识鲁氏酵母菌耐盐生理机制及进一步提高其耐盐性能提供理论支持。     

铁路钢筋混凝土桥梁结构混凝土氯盐病害

基于严重病害的既有铁路钢筋混凝土桥梁的检测实践,通过对典型病害构件(桥面板、盖梁、梁体、墩等)混凝土的试验测试分析,研究了实际服役环境条件下铁路钢筋混凝土桥梁氯盐侵蚀破坏特征,调查了混凝土中氯离子迁移特性和分布,以及相应混凝土中的碱含量、pH值的变化规律.结合微观结构分析,进一步对铁路钢筋混凝土桥梁的氯盐破坏机理及其微观结构特征进行了深入探讨.研究结果表明:氯化钠盐溶液在该结构混凝土中的迁移速度非常快且发生了物理结晶作用;氯化钠盐溶液的侵入引起了混凝土中碱含量的明显增加和pH值的降低.混凝土内部孔结构发生了明显粗化.研究结果可为既有铁路钢筋混凝土桥梁氯盐病害的整治与修复提供科学依据和技术支持.     

Fusarium solani cutinase is a lipolytic enzyme with a catalytic serine accessible to solvent.

Lipases belong to a class of esterases whose activity on triglycerides is greatly enhanced at lipid-water interfaces. This phenomenon, called interfacial activation, has a structural explanation: a hydrophobic lid, which at rest covers the catalytic site, is displaced on substrate or inhibitor binding and probably interacts with the lipid matrix. Fusarium solani pisi cutinase belongs to a group of homologous enzymes of relative molecular mass 22-25K (ref. 7) capable of degrading cutin, the insoluble lipid-polyester matrix covering the surface of plants, and hydrolysing triglycerides. Cutinases differ from classical lipases in that they do not exhibit interfacial activation; they are active on soluble as well as on emulsified triglycerides. Cutinases therefore establish a bridge between esterases and lipases. We report here the three-dimensional structure of a recombinant cutinase from F. solani pisi, expressed in Escherichia coli. Cutinase is an alpha-beta protein; the active site is composed of the triad Ser 120, His 188 and Asp 175. Unlike other lipases, the catalytic serine is not buried under surface loops, but is accessible to solvent. This could explain why cutinase does not display interfacial activation.     

舟山海岛潮间带环境质量状况分析评价

2001年在舟山海岛潮间带的七个断面采集水样，根据海洋监测规范[1]对样品的温度、盐度、pH值、溶解氧(DO)、化学需氧量(COD)、以及营养盐(无机氮TIN、无机磷PO4-P)、重金属、石油类等化学指标进行测定，结果表明：潮间带水质以超四类海水为主，主要超标因子为无机氮和活性磷酸盐。     

CO加氢合成甲醇Cu-Mn~(2+)/SiO_2催化剂的研究

负载型Cu/SiO_2或Mn/SiO_2催化剂对CO加氢合成甲醇反应的催化活性甚低,而Cu-Mn~(2+)/SiO_2催化剂的催化活性却很高,研究表明,Mn~(2+)的加入使催化剂表面的分散度增大,并可能通过Cu-Mn~(2+)间的有关轨道相互作用或通过Cu、Mn与载体间的氧桥间接发生作用,使催化剂吸附氢和异裂氢的能力增大,为HCOO~-后续加氢提供充足的氢原,从而提高Cu-Mn~(2+)/SiO_2催化剂CO加氢合成甲醇的催化活性。     

Cloning and expression analysis of MBLL cDNA

The mbl (muscleblind) gene of Drosophila encodes a nuclear protein which contains two Cys3His motifs. The mutation of mbl gene will disturb the differentiation of all the Drosophila's photoreceptors. Primers have been designed according to human EST086139, which is highly homologous to mbl gene. Human fetal brain cDNA library has been screened and a novel cDNA clone has been obtained. The 2595 bp cDNA, designated MBLL (muscleblind-like), contains an open reading frame which encodes 255 amino acids and has 4 Cys3His motifs (GenBank Acc. AF061261). The amino acids sequence shares high homology to Drosophila's mbl. The Northern blot and RNA dot blot hybridization of 43 human adult tissues and 7 fetal tissues show that MBLL is a widely expressed gene, but the expression amounts differ in these tissues.     

化学修饰对川泽泻凝集素生物学活性和构象的影响

用特异性化学修饰和荧光光谱的方法分析川泽泻凝集素(APL)活性位点氨基酸的分布情况.研究结果发现,色氨酸的化学修饰使活性降低80%,统计出每分子APL含有2个色氨酸残基,一个色氨酸位于凝集活性中心,另一个位于分子表面的疏水袋中,与凝集活性无关.精氨酸的化学修饰使活性降低50%,半胱氨酸的化学修饰使活性完全丧失.天冬氨酸、谷氨酸、酪氨酸、丝氨酸/苏氨酸等化学修饰后凝集活性无明显变化.表明色氨酸、精氨酸和半胱氨酸对凝集素的凝集活性中心的构成起重要作用,天冬氨酸、谷氨酸、酪氨酸、丝氨酸/苏氨酸等氨基酸位于凝集素的凝集活性中心附近,只是在维持凝集素分子的构象上具有一定的作用.     

棉花类耐盐锌指蛋白基因的克隆与结构分析

从棉花花瓣cDNA文库中随机挑选部分克隆，经测序发现一个与拟南芥耐盐锌指蛋白基因同源的cDNA(CSTZ),CSTZ序列全长1012bp，开放阅读框共编码272个氨基酸，含典型的植物双锌指（Cys2/His2)结构区，Northern杂交证实，CSTZ的表达随棉花幼苗钠盐处理浓度的升高而增强，在棉花花龄期，CSTZ基因在叶片，根，花瓣和花药组织中大量表达，在柱头组织中表达相对较弱。