1.Characterization of prolidase I and II purified from normal human erythrocytes: comparison with prolidase in erythrocytes from a patient with prolidase deficiency.
Uramatsu S1, Liu G, Yang Q, Uramatsu M, Chi H, Lu J, Yamashita K, Kodama H. Amino Acids. 2009 Sep;37(3):543-51. doi: 10.1007/s00726-009-0262-7. Epub 2009 Mar 5.
The effect of various sulfur-containing amino acids on the activities of prolidase isoenzymes I and II isolated from erythrocytes of healthy individuals, and erythrocyte lysates from a patient with prolidase deficiency was investigated. The activity of prolidase I against glycylproline was strongly enhanced by D: -methionine. L: -Methionine and D: ,L: -methionine slightly enhanced the activity at low concentration, but N-acetyl-L: -methionine had no effect. D: -Ethionine, L: -ethionine, and D: ,L: -ethionine also enhanced the activity of prolidase I. D: ,L: -Homocysteine enhanced the activity at low concentration, but inhibited the activity at 50 mM: . The activity of prolidase II against methionylproline was enhanced by D: -methionine, D: ,L: -methionine, and L: -methionine, but N-acetyl-L: -methionine had no effect. D: -Ethionine and D: ,L: -ethionine strongly enhanced the activity of prolidase II compared with L: -ethionine; D: ,L: -homocysteine weakly enhanced the activity.
2.Analysis of the life cycle of the soil saprophyte Bacillus cereus in liquid soil extract and in soil.
Vilain S1, Luo Y, Hildreth MB, Brözel VS. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2006 Jul;72(7):4970-7.
Bacillus is commonly isolated from soils, with organisms of Bacillus cereus sensu lato being prevalent. Knowledge of the ecology of B. cereus and other Bacillus species in soil is far from complete. While the older literature favors a model of growth on soil-associated organic matter, the current paradigm is that B. cereus sensu lato germinates and grows in association with animals or plants, resulting in either symbiotic or pathogenic interactions. An in terra approach to study soil-associated bacteria is described, using filter-sterilized soil-extracted soluble organic matter (SESOM) and artificial soil microcosms (ASM) saturated with SESOM. B. cereus ATCC 14579 displayed a life cycle, with the ability to germinate, grow, and subsequently sporulate in both the liquid SESOM extract and in ASM inserted into wells in agar medium. Cells grew in liquid SESOM without separating, forming multicellular structures that coalesced to form clumps and encasing the ensuing spores in an extracellular matrix.
3.Functional characterization of a methionine gamma-lyase in Arabidopsis and its implication in an alternative to the reverse trans-sulfuration pathway.
Goyer A1, Collakova E, Shachar-Hill Y, Hanson AD. Plant Cell Physiol. 2007 Feb;48(2):232-42. Epub 2006 Dec 13.
Methionine gamma-lyase (MGL) catalyzes the degradation of L-methionine to alpha-ketobutyrate, methanethiol and ammonia. The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome includes a single gene (At1g64660) encoding a protein (AtMGL) with approximately 35% identity to bacterial and protozoan MGLs. When overexpressed in Escherichia coli, AtMGL allowed growth on L-methionine as sole nitrogen source and conferred a high rate of methanethiol emission. The purified recombinant protein exhibited a spectrum typical of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate enzymes, and had high activity toward l-methionine, L-ethionine, L-homocysteine and seleno-L-methionine, but not L-cysteine. Quantitation of mRNA showed that the AtMGL gene is expressed in aerial organs and roots, and that its expression in leaves was increased 2.5-fold by growth on low sulfate medium. Emission of methanethiol from Arabidopsis plants supplied with 10 mM L-methionine was undetectable (<0.5 nmol min(-1) g(-1) FW), suggesting that AtMGL is not an important source of volatile methanethiol.
4.Characterization of Bacillus thuringiensis L-isoleucine dioxygenase for production of useful amino acids.
Hibi M1, Kawashima T, Kodera T, Smirnov SV, Sokolov PM, Sugiyama M, Shimizu S, Yokozeki K, Ogawa J. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2011 Oct;77(19):6926-30. doi: 10.1128/AEM.05035-11. Epub 2011 Aug 5.
We determined the enzymatic characteristics of an industrially important biocatalyst, α-ketoglutarate-dependent l-isoleucine dioxygenase (IDO), which was found to be the enzyme responsible for the generation of (2S,3R,4S)-4-hydroxyisoleucine in Bacillus thuringiensis 2e2. Depending on the amino acid used as the substrate, IDO catalyzed three different types of oxidation reactions: hydroxylation, dehydrogenation, and sulfoxidation. IDO stereoselectively hydroxylated several hydrophobic aliphatic l-amino acids, as well as l-isoleucine, and produced (S)-3-hydroxy-l-allo-isoleucine, 4-hydroxy-l-leucine, (S)-4-hydroxy-l-norvaline, 4-hydroxy-l-norleucine, and 5-hydroxy-l-norleucine. The IDO reaction product of l-isoleucine, (2S,3R,4S)-4-hydroxyisoleucine, was again reacted with IDO and dehydrogenated into (2S,3R)-2-amino-3-methyl-4-ketopentanoate, which is also a metabolite found in B. thuringiensis 2e2. Interestingly, IDO catalyzed the sulfoxidation of some sulfur-containing l-amino acids and generated l-methionine sulfoxide and l-ethionine sulfoxide.
