scholarly journals Molecular variants of β2-microglobulin in renal insufficiency

1994 ◽  
Vol 298 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Vincent ◽  
L Dennoroy ◽  
J P Revillard

Many patients with renal insufficiency treated by dialysis for more than 10 years have tissue deposits of amyloid material containing polymerized beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2m). The mechanisms of beta 2m polymerization and degradation remain unknown. In biological fluids (serum and urine) from haemodialysis patients and in dialysis fluids from patients treated by chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), we have characterized different molecular forms of beta 2m, including proteolytic split products. beta 2m isoforms of pI 5.7, 5.3 and 4.5-5.0 were isolated from urine and CAPD fluid. The pI 5.3 beta 2m, but not the other forms, was recovered both as monomers and as dimers. Such dimers were also detected in serum from patients but not from healthy controls. pI 5.3 and 5.7 beta 2m isoforms were found to be nearly identical by mass spectrometry and by their amino acid sequences. The amino acid sequence of the 43 N-terminal amino acids of beta 2m of pI 5.0 showed identity with the corresponding region of pI 5.7 beta 2m. Fragments recovered from CAPD fluid were similar to proteolytic fragments generated from pure pI 5.7 beta 2m by incubation in mouse ascitic fluid at acidic pH. Furthermore, pure pI 5.7 beta 2m was converted into more acidic forms of 12 kDa upon incubation in mouse ascitic fluid at acid pH. beta 2m dimers found in serum may represent a precursor of amyloid fibrils.

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 2762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Sulatskaya ◽  
Natalia Rodina ◽  
Dmitry Polyakov ◽  
Maksim Sulatsky ◽  
Tatyana Artamonova ◽  
...  

The persistence of high concentrations of beta-2-microglobulin (β2M) in the blood of patients with acute renal failure leads to the development of the dialysis-related amyloidosis. This disease manifests in the deposition of amyloid fibrils formed from the various forms of β2M in the tissues and biological fluids of patients. In this paper, the amyloid fibrils formed from the full-length β2M (β2m) and its variants that lack the 6 and 10 N-terminal amino acids of the protein polypeptide chain (ΔN6β2m and ΔN10β2m, respectively) were probed by using the fluorescent dye thioflavin T (ThT). For this aim, the tested solutions were prepared via the equilibrium microdialysis approach. Spectroscopic analysis of the obtained samples allowed us to detect one binding mode (type) of ThT interaction with all the studied variants of β2M amyloid fibrils with affinity ~104 M−1. This interaction can be explained by the dye molecules incorporation into the grooves that were formed by the amino acids side chains of amyloid protofibrils along the long axis of the fibrils. The decrease in the affinity and stoichiometry of the dye interaction with β2M fibrils, as well as in the fluorescence quantum yield and lifetime of the bound dye upon the shortening of the protein amino acid sequence were shown. The observed differences in the ThT-β2M fibrils binding parameters and characteristics of the bound dye allowed to prove not only the difference of the ΔN10β2m fibrils from other β2M fibrils (that can be detected visually, for example, by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), but also the differences between β2m and ΔN6β2m fibrils (that can not be unequivocally confirmed by other approaches). These results prove an essential role of N-terminal amino acids of the protein in the formation of the β2M amyloid fibrils. Information about amyloidogenic protein sequences can be claimed in the development of ways to inhibit β2M fibrillogenesis for the treatment of dialysis-related amyloidosis.


1979 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisbeth Myhre ◽  
Kaare M. Gautvik

ABSTRACT Two antisera with known region specificities have been used to characterize calcitonin immunoreactivity (iCT) in serum of patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MCT). Antiserum I which was raised against the synthetic hormone (1–32 amino acid residues), contained heterogeneous populations of immunoglobulins directed predominantly against carboxyterminal sequences of the hormone, but the antiserum reacted also with the amino-terminal fragment (1–10 amino acid residues). Antiserum II, which was raised against the carboxy-terminal hormone fragment (11–32 amino acid residues) reached equally well with the intact hormone and the C-terminal fragment, but showed negligible binding of the amino terminal fragment. Antiserum I measured therefore both amino-terminal and carboxy-terminal sequences of calcitonin while antiserum II measured only carboxy-terminal amino acid sequences. In 40 patients with MCT, antiserum I measured usually the highest concentration of serum iCT suggesting the presence of non-uniform hormone immunoreactivity. The different molecular forms of circulating iCT in 7 MCT patients were explored by using antiserum I after gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. The patients who were selected on basis of iCT measurement in serum using antiserum I and II, could be divided into 3 groups which showed characteristic iCT profiles. Group 1, in which antiserum II measured a higher concentration of serum iCT, contained predominantly (60–70 %) small fragments of calcitonin immunoreactivity. On the other hand, in the sera of group 3 in which antisera I measured an equal or the highest concentrations, the dominant form of the hormone consisted of molecular sequences equal to or larger than the intact hormone (90 %). In group 2, the two antisera measured an equal amount of serum iCT and molecular forms consisting mostly of larger hormone fragments dominated (50 %). All the patients were normocalcaemic in spite of frequently grossly elevated serum iCT, and 33 out of 36 patients had normal serum immunoreactive parathyroid hormone. In conclusion: 1. Serum iCT is heterogeneous and represents peptides of quite different molecular size with no or low biological activity. 2. Most of the serum calcitonin immunoreactivity consists of peptides with carboxy-terminal amino acid sequences. 3. Most, if not all, of the amino-terminal calcitonin immunoreactivity is due to monomeric and polymeric hormonal forms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1018
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Yokota

Helicases are nucleic acid-unwinding enzymes that are involved in the maintenance of genome integrity. Several parts of the amino acid sequences of helicases are very similar, and these quite well-conserved amino acid sequences are termed “helicase motifs”. Previous studies by X-ray crystallography and single-molecule measurements have suggested a common underlying mechanism for their function. These studies indicate the role of the helicase motifs in unwinding nucleic acids. In contrast, the sequence and length of the C-terminal amino acids of helicases are highly variable. In this paper, I review past and recent studies that proposed helicase mechanisms and studies that investigated the roles of the C-terminal amino acids on helicase and dimerization activities, primarily on the non-hexermeric Escherichia coli (E. coli) UvrD helicase. Then, I center on my recent study of single-molecule direct visualization of a UvrD mutant lacking the C-terminal 40 amino acids (UvrDΔ40C) used in studies proposing the monomer helicase model. The study demonstrated that multiple UvrDΔ40C molecules jointly participated in DNA unwinding, presumably by forming an oligomer. Thus, the single-molecule observation addressed how the C-terminal amino acids affect the number of helicases bound to DNA, oligomerization, and unwinding activity, which can be applied to other helicases.


1980 ◽  
Vol 187 (3) ◽  
pp. 863-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
D M Johnson ◽  
J Gagnon ◽  
K B Reid

The serine esterase factor D of the complement system was purified from outdated human plasma with a yield of 20% of the initial haemolytic activity found in serum. This represented an approx. 60 000-fold purification. The final product was homogeneous as judged by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis (with an apparent mol.wt. of 24 000), its migration as a single component in a variety of fractionation procedures based on size and charge, and its N-terminal amino-acid-sequence analysis. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the first 36 residues of the intact molecule was found to be homologous with the N-terminal amino acid sequences of the catalytic chains of other serine esterases. Factor D showed an especially strong homology (greater than 60% identity) with rat ‘group-specific protease’ [Woodbury, Katunuma, Kobayashi, Titani, & Neurath (1978) Biochemistry 17, 811-819] over the first 16 amino acid residues. This similarity is of interest since it is considered that both enzymes may be synthesized in their active, rather than zymogen, forms. The three major CNBr fragments of factor D, which had apparent mol.wts. of 15 800, 6600 and 1700, were purified and then aligned by N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis and amino acid analysis. By using factor D labelled with di-[1,3-14C]isopropylphosphofluoridate it was shown that the CNBr fragment of apparent mol.wt. 6600, which is located in the C-terminal region of factor D, contained the active serine residue. The amino acid sequence around this residue was determined.


1993 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 442-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Hutsul ◽  
Elizabeth Worobec ◽  
Tom R. Parr Jr. ◽  
Gerald W. Becker

Eight Serratia strains and several members of the Enterobacteriaceae family were used in immunoblot and Southern DNA hybridization experiments and probed with antibody and DNA probes specific for the 41-kDa Serratia marcescens porin, to determine the extent of homology between Gram-negative porins. Immunoblot analyses performed using porin-specific rabbit sera and cell envelope preparations from these strains revealed that all strains produced at least one cross-reactive protein in the 41-kDa molecular weight range. Chromosomal DNA from each of the same strains was used in Southern analyses, probed with a 20-base-length oligonucleotide probe deduced from the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the 41-kDa Serratia marcescens porin. The probe hybridized to DNA from all of the Serratia species and six of the nine other enteric bacteria. Putative porin proteins from all the Serratia species were subjected to N-terminal amino acid sequencing and porin functional analysis using the black lipid bilayer method. All amino acid sequences were identical, with one exception in which an asparagine was substituted for an aspartic acid in Serratia rubidaea. All porins had very similar porin function (single channel conductance ranging between 1.72 and 2.00 nS). The results from this study revealed that a strong conservation exists among the Serratia porins and those produced by other enteric bacteria.Key words: porins, Serratia marcescens, homology studies.


Biochemistry ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 442-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Hermodson ◽  
Kirk C. S. Chen ◽  
Thomas M. Buchanan

1988 ◽  
Vol 256 (3) ◽  
pp. 1043-1046 ◽  
Author(s):  
N D Avent ◽  
K Ridgwell ◽  
W J Mawby ◽  
M J Tanner ◽  
D J Anstee ◽  
...  

The Rh D blood-group antigen forms part of a complex, involving several other polypeptides, that is deficient in the red cells of individuals who lack all the antigens of the Rh blood-group system (Rhnull red cells). These include components recognized by anti-(Rh D) antibodies and the murine monoclonal antibodies R6A and BRIC 125. We have carried out protein-sequence studies on the components immunoprecipitated by these antibodies. Anti-(Rh D) antibodies immunoprecipitate an Mr-30,000-32,000 polypeptide (the D30 polypeptide) and an Mr-45,000-100,000 glycoprotein (D50 polypeptide). Antibody R6A immunoprecipitates two glycoproteins of Mr 31,000-34,000 (R6A32 polypeptide) and Mr 35,000-52,000 (R6A45 polypeptide). The D30 and R6A32 polypeptides were found to have the same N-terminal amino acid sequences, showing that they are closely related proteins. The D50 polypeptide and the R6A45 polypeptide also had indistinguishable N-terminal amino acid sequences that differed from that of the D30 and R6A32 polypeptides. The putative N-terminal membrane-spanning segments of the two groups of proteins showed homology in their amino acid sequence, which may account for the association of each of the pairs of proteins during co-precipitation by the antibodies. Supplementary data related to the protein sequence have been deposited as Supplementary Publication SUP 50417 (6 pages) at the British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ, U.K., from whom copies can be obtained on the terms indicated in Biochem. J. (1988) 249, 5.


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