scholarly journals Oxidative folding of hirudin in human serum

2006 ◽  
Vol 394 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jui-Yoa Chang ◽  
Bao-Yun Lu ◽  
Por-Hsiung Lai

Human serum contains factors that promote oxidative folding of disulphide proteins. We demonstrate this here using hirudin as a model. Hirudin is a leech-derived thrombin-specific inhibitor containing 65 amino acids and three disulphide bonds. Oxidative folding of hirudin in human serum is shown to involve an initial phase of rapid disulphide formation (oxidation) to form the scrambled isomers as intermediates. This is followed by the stage of slow disulphide shuffling of scrambled isomers to attain the native hirudin. The kinetics of regenerating the native hirudin depend on the concentrations of both hirudin and human serum. Quantitative regeneration of native hirudin in undiluted human serum can be completed within 48 h, without any redox supplement. These results cannot be adequately explained by the existing oxidized thiol agents in human serum or the macromolecular crowding effect, and therefore indicate that human serum may contain yet to be identified potent oxidase(s) for assisting protein folding.

Author(s):  
Dennis Sherwood ◽  
Paul Dalby

As a polymer of many amino acids, any given protein can, in principle, adopt a huge number of configurations. In reality, however, the biologically stable protein adopts a single configuration that is stable over time. Thermodynamically, this configuration must represent a Gibbs free energy minimum. This chapter therefore explores how the thermodynamics and kinetics of protein folding and unfolding can be investigated experimentally (using, for example, chaotropes, heating or ligand interactions), and how these measurements can be used to enrich our understanding of protein configurations and stability.


1998 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. S65
Author(s):  
Rafael Radi ◽  
Beatriz Alvarez ◽  
Gerardo Ferrer-Sueta ◽  
Bruce A. Freeman

1999 ◽  
Vol 274 (2) ◽  
pp. 842-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Alvarez ◽  
Gerardo Ferrer-Sueta ◽  
Bruce A. Freeman ◽  
Rafael Radi

1984 ◽  
Vol 51 (03) ◽  
pp. 349-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Caranobe ◽  
P Sié ◽  
F Fernandez ◽  
J Pris ◽  
S Moatti ◽  
...  

SummaryA simultaneous investigation of the kinetics of serotonin (5 HT) uptake and of binding sites was carried out in the platelets of normal subjects and of 10 patients affected with various types of myeloproliferative disorders (MD). The 5 HT uptake was analysed according to the Lineweaver-Burk and the Eadie-Hofstee methods. With the two methods, the patient’s platelets exhibited a dramatic reduction of the Vi max and of the Km; in some patients the Eadie-Hofstee analysis revealed that a passive diffusion phenomenon is superimposed on the active 5 HT uptake at least for the higher concentration used. The binding data were analysed with the Scatchard method. Two classes of binding sites (high affinity - low capacity, low affinity - high capacity) were found in normal subjects and patients. Pharmacological studies with imipramine, a specific inhibitor of 5 HT uptake, suggested that both the sites are involved in 5 HT uptake. The number of both binding sites was significantly decreased in patient’s platelets while the affinity constants of these binding sites were not significantly reduced in comparison with those of the control subjects. No correlations were found between Vi max, Km and the number of binding sites. These results suggest that a reduction in the number of platelet membrane acceptors for 5 HT commonly occurs in myeloproliferative disorders but does not provide a full explanation of the uptake defect.


1966 ◽  
Vol 16 (01/02) ◽  
pp. 277-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Silver ◽  
M Murray

SummaryVarious investigators have separated the coagulation products formed when fibrinogen is clotted with thrombin and identified fibrinopeptides A and B. Two other peaks are observed in the chromatogram of the products of coagulation, but these have mostly been dismissed by other workers. They have been identified by us as amino acids, smaller peptides and amorphous material (37). We have re-chromatographed these peaks and identified several amino acids. In a closed system of fibrinogen and thrombin, the only reaction products should be fibrin and peptide A and peptide B. This reasoning has come about because thrombin has been reported to be specific for the glycyl-arginyl peptide bond. It is suggested that thrombin also breaks other peptide linkages and the Peptide A and Peptide B are attacked by thrombin to yield proteolytic products. Thrombin is therefore probably not specific for the glycyl-arginyl bond but will react on other linkages as well.If the aforementioned is correct then the fibrinopeptides A and B would cause an inhibition with the coagulation mechanism itself. We have shown that an inhibition does occur. We suggest that there is an autoinhibition to the clotting mechanism that might be a control mechanism in the human body.The experiment was designed for coagulation to occur under controlled conditions of temperature and time. Purified reactants were used. We assembled an apparatus to record visually the speed of the initial reaction, the rate of the reaction, and the density of the final clot formed after a specific time.The figures we derived made available to us data whereby we could calculate and plot the information to show the mechanism and suggest that such an inhibition does exist and also further suggest that it might be competitive.In order to prove true competitive inhibition it is necessary to fulfill the criteria of the Lineweaver-Burk plot. This has been done. We have also satisfied other criteria of Dixon (29) and Bergman (31) that suggest true competitive inhibition.


1979 ◽  
Vol 42 (05) ◽  
pp. 1652-1660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis J Morgan ◽  
Geoffrey S Begg ◽  
Colin N Chesterman

SummaryThe amino acid sequence of the subunit of human platelet factor 4 has been determined. Human platelet factor 4 consists of identical subunits containing 70 amino acids, each with a molecular weight of 7,756. The molecule contains no methionine, phenylalanine or tryptophan. The proposed amino acid sequence of PF4 is: Glu-Ala-Glu-Glu-Asp-Gly-Asp-Leu-Gln-Cys-Leu-Cys-Val-Lys-Thr-Thr-Ser- Gln-Val-Arg-Pro-Arg-His-Ile-Thr-Ser-Leu-Glu-Val-Ile-Lys-Ala-Gly-Pro-His-Cys-Pro-Thr-Ala-Gin- Leu-Ile-Ala-Thr-Leu-Lys-Asn-Gly-Arg-Lys-Ile-Cys-Leu-Asp-Leu-Gln-Ala-Pro-Leu-Tyr-Lys-Lys- Ile-Ile-Lys-Lys-Leu-Leu-Glu-Ser. From consideration of the homology with p-thromboglobulin, disulphide bonds between residues 10 and 36 and between residues 12 and 52 can be inferred.


1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 536-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Chmelík ◽  
Pavel Anzenbacher ◽  
Vítěz Kalous

The renaturation of the two main components of human serum albumin, i.e. of mercaptalbumin and nonmercaptalbumin, was studied polarographically. It has been demonstrated that renaturation of both proteins after 1-min denaturation in 8M urea is reversible. By contrast, renaturation after 200 min denaturation in 8M urea is an irreversible process; the characteristics of renatured mercaptalbumin differ more from the properties of the native protein than the characteristics of nonmercaptalbumin. The studies of the kinetics of renaturation of both proteins have shown that the renaturation can be represented by a two-state model. This means that the existence of stable intermediary products during the renaturation process was not determined polarographically.


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