scholarly journals Biosynthesis of heparin. Modulation of polysaccharide chain length in a cell-free system

1988 ◽  
Vol 254 (2) ◽  
pp. 571-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Lidholt ◽  
J Riesenfeld ◽  
K G Jacobsson ◽  
D S Feingold ◽  
U Lindahl

The formation of heparin-precursor polysaccharide (N-acetylheparosan) was studied with a mouse mastocytoma microsomal fraction. Incubation of this fraction with UDP-[3H]GlcA and UDP-GlcNAc yielded labelled macromolecules that could be depolymerized, apparently to single polysaccharide chains, by alkali treatment, and thus were assumed to be proteoglycans. Label from UDP-[3H]GlcA (approx. 3 microM) is transiently incorporated into microsomal polysaccharide even in the absence of added UDP-GlcNAc, probably owing to the presence of endogenous sugar nucleotide. When the concentration of exogenous UDP-GlcNAc was increased to 25 microM the rate of incorporation of 3H increased and proteoglycans carrying polysaccharide chains with an Mr of approx. 110,000 were produced. Increasing the UDP-GlcNAc concentration to 5 mM led to an approx. 4-fold decrease in the rate of 3H incorporation and a decrease in the Mr of the resulting polysaccharide chains to approx. 6000 (predominant component). When both UDP-GlcA and UDP-GlcNAc were present at high concentrations (5 mM) the rate of polymerization and the polysaccharide chain size were again increased. The results suggest that the inhibition of polymerization observed at grossly different concentrations of the two sugar nucleotides, UDP-GlcA and UDP-GlcNAc, may be due either to interference with the transport of one of these precursors across the Golgi membrane or to competitive inhibition of one of the glycosyltransferases. The maximal rate of chain elongation obtained, under the conditions employed, was about 40 disaccharide units/min. The final length of the polysaccharide chains was directly related to the rate of the polymerization reaction.

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günter A. Müller ◽  
Andreas W. Herling ◽  
Susanne Wied ◽  
Timo D. Müller

(1) Background: Acute administration of the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) inverse agonist Rimonabant (SR141716A) to fed Wistar rats was shown to elicit a rapid and short-lasting elevation of serum free fatty acids. (2) Methods: The effect of Rimonabant on lipolysis in isolated primary rat adipocytes was studied to raise the possibility for direct mechanisms not involving the (hypothalamic) CB1R. (3) Results: Incubation of these cells with Rimonabant-stimulated lipolysis to up to 25% of the maximal isoproterenol effect, which was based on both CB1R-dependent and independent mechanisms. The CB1R-dependent one was already effective at Rimonabant concentrations of less than 1 µM and after short-term incubation, partially additive to β-adrenergic agonists and blocked by insulin and, in part, by adenosine deaminase, but not by propranolol. It was accompanied by protein kinase A (PKA)-mediated association of hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) with lipid droplets (LD) and dissociation of perilipin-1 from LD. The CB1R-independent stimulation of lipolysis was observed only at Rimonabant concentrations above 1 µM and after long-term incubation and was not affected by insulin. It was recapitulated by a cell-free system reconstituted with rat adipocyte LD and HSL. Rimonabant-induced cell-free lipolysis was not affected by PKA-mediated phosphorylation of LD and HSL, but abrogated by phospholipase digestion or emulsification of the LD. Furthermore, LD isolated from adipocytes and then treated with Rimonabant (>1 µM) were more efficient substrates for exogenously added HSL compared to control LD. The CB1R-independent lipolysis was also demonstrated in primary adipocytes from fed rats which had been treated with a single dose of Rimonabant (30 mg/kg). (4) Conclusions: These data argue for interaction of Rimonabant (at high concentrations) with both the LD surface and the CB1R of primary rat adipocytes, each leading to increased access of HSL to LD in phosphorylation-independent and dependent fashion, respectively. Both mechanisms may lead to direct and acute stimulation of lipolysis at peripheral tissues upon Rimonabant administration and represent targets for future obesity therapy which do not encompass the hypothalamic CB1R.


1973 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
pp. 737-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Ranganathan ◽  
T. Ramasarma

The presence of mitochondria increased the incorporation of [2-14C]mevalonate into sterols in a cell-free system from rat liver. Various phenyl and phenolic compounds inhibited the incorporation of mevalonate when added in vitro. p-Hydroxycinnamate, a metabolite of tyrosine, was the most powerful inhibitor among the compounds tested. Catechol, resorcinol and quinol were inhibitory at high concentrations. Organic acids lacking an aromatic ring were not inhibitory. Two hypocholesterolaemic drugs, Clofibrate (α-p-chlorophenoxyisobutyrate) and Clofenapate [α,4-(p-chlorophenyl)phenoxyisobutyrate], which are known to affect some step before the formation of mevalonate in the biosynthesis of cholesterol in vivo, showed inhibition at a step beyond the formation of mevalonate in vitro. The presence of the aromatic ring and the carboxyl group in a molecule appears to be necessary for the inhibition.


2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (14) ◽  
pp. 6880-6888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei-Ling Li ◽  
Tzu-Yu Kwan ◽  
H. Anne Simmonds ◽  
Victor Stollar

ABSTRACT Cells infected with Sindbis virus (SV) make two positive-strand RNAs, a genomic-length RNA (G) RNA and a subgenomic (SG) RNA. In cells infected with SVstd, and in general in cells infected with wt alphaviruses, more SG RNA is made than G RNA. How the balance between synthesis of G RNA and SG RNA is regulated is not known. SVpzf and SVcpc are nsP4 mutants of SV which, in mosquito cells, make more G RNA than SG RNA. When low concentrations of pyrazofurin (inhibits the synthesis of UTP and CTP) were added to SVpzf-infected cells, the yield of virus was increased, and the ratio of SG/G RNA was changed from <1 to >1. These effects were reversed by uridine. In SVcpc-infected cells, but not in SVstd-infected cells, synthesis of viral RNA was inhibited by the addition of either uridine or cytidine, and viral yields were lowered. Our findings suggest that the activities of the viral RNA-synthesizing complexes in cells infected with SVpzf or SVcpc, in contrast to those in SVstd-infected cells, are sensitive to high concentrations of UTP or CTP. Using a cell-free system that synthesizes both SG and G RNA, we measured viral RNA synthesis as a function of the UTP/CTP concentrations. The results indicated that the presence of the SVpzf mutations in nsP4 and the SG promoter produced a pattern quite different from that seen with the SVstd nsP4 and SG promoter. As the UTP/CTP concentrations were increased, the SVpzf system, in contrast to the SVstd system, made more G RNA than SG RNA, reflecting the situation in cells infected with SVpzf.


Author(s):  
YuE Kravchenko ◽  
SV Ivanov ◽  
DS Kravchenko ◽  
EI Frolova ◽  
SP Chumakov

Selection of antibodies using phage display involves the preliminary cloning of the repertoire of sequences encoding antigen-binding domains into phagemid, which is considered the bottleneck of the method, limiting the resulting diversity of libraries and leading to the loss of poorly represented variants before the start of the selection procedure. Selection in cell-free conditions using a ribosomal display is devoid from this drawback, however is highly sensitive to PCR artifacts and the RNase contamination. The aim of the study was to test the efficiency of a combination of both methods, including pre-selection in a cell-free system to enrich the source library, followed by cloning and final selection using phage display. This approach may eliminate the shortcomings of each method and increase the efficiency of selection. For selection, alpaca VHH antibody sequences suitable for building an immune library were used due to the lack of VL domains. Analysis of immune libraries from the genes of the VH3, VHH3 and VH4 families showed that the VHH antibodies share in the VH3 and VH4 gene groups is insignificant, and selection from the combined library is less effective than from the VHH3 family of sequences. We found that the combination of ribosomal and phage displays leads to a higher enrichment of high-affinity fragments and avoids the loss of the original diversity during cloning. The combined method allowed us to obtain a greater number of different high-affinity sequences, and all the tested VHH fragments were able to specifically recognize the target, including the total protein extracts of cell cultures.


1982 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 803-810
Author(s):  
S Hata ◽  
T Nishino ◽  
N Ariga ◽  
H Katsuki

1989 ◽  
Vol 264 (10) ◽  
pp. 5392-5399
Author(s):  
L S Mayorga ◽  
R Diaz ◽  
P D Stahl
Keyword(s):  

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