muramidase and metaperiodate

The structure of tetragonal hen egg-white lysozyme soaked in a periodate solution has been determined to a resolution of 1.8 A. Four high-occupancy periodate positions have been identified on the basis of the anomalous signal of the I atoms. The four periodates exhibit a regular rectangular arrangement on the surface of the lysozyme molecule. No similar regular arrangement was found either in lysozyme crystals soaked in other heavy-atom anions or in other structures from the Protein Data Bank. Depending on their position on the surface of the protein, the periodate ions deviate to a varying extent from ideal octahedral geometry.

Topics: Animals; Chickens; Crystallography, X-Ray; Egg Proteins; Female; Hydrogen Bonding; Molecular Structure; Muramidase; Periodic Acid; Protein Conformation

Innate immunity directs the adaptive immune response by identifying antigens that are associated with infectious agents. Although some microbial antigens can be recognized by innate immune receptors, most cannot, and these require identification by some other means. The introduction of aldehydes into antigens by glycolaldehyde, which can be produced by activated neutrophils reacting with serine, or by the oxidation of an N-linked oligosaccharide with NaIO4, enhances by several orders of magnitude their immunogenicity in mice. The augmented immunogenicity requires the presence of an aldehyde on the antigen, and is not dependent on protein aggregation. An in vitro correlate of augmented immunogenicity is the enhanced presentation of glycolaldehyde-modified antigen to T cells by macrophages and bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. The potential clinical importance of this form of antigen modification is twofold: glycolaldehyde renders a model self antigen immunogenic, and it converts a relatively non-immunogenic malaria antigen, merozoite surface protein-1, into an effective immunogen. Thus, the tagging of antigens by the addition of aldehydes, which may be an innate immune mechanism to facilitate their recognition by the adaptive immune system, may have a role in the genesis of autoimmunity and the development of vaccines.

Topics: Acetaldehyde; Aldehydes; Animals; Antibody Formation; Antigens; Antigens, Protozoan; Autoantigens; Autoimmunity; Chickens; Columbidae; Cytochrome c Group; Immunity, Innate; Merozoite Surface Protein 1; Mice; Muramidase; Neutrophils; Ovalbumin; Oxidation-Reduction; Periodic Acid; Serine; Structure-Activity Relationship; Vaccines

Seven chemicals, three buffers, and a salt solution known to affect bacterial attachment were tested to quantify their abilities to enhance the penetration of Alcaligenes paradoxus in porous media. Chemical treatments included Tween 20 (a nonionic surfactant that affects hydrophobic interactions), sodium dodecyl sulfate (an anionic surfactant), EDTA (a cell membrane permeabilizer that removes outer membrane lipopolysaccharides), sodium PPi (a surface charge modifier), sodium periodate (an oxidizer that cleaves surface polysaccharides), lysozyme (an enzyme that cleaves cell wall components), and proteinase K (a nonspecific protease that cleaves peptide bonds). Buffers included MOPS [3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid], Tris, phosphate, and an unbuffered solution containing only NaCl. Transport characteristics in the porous media were compared by using a sticking coefficient, alpha, defined as the rate at which particles stick to a grain of medium divided by the rate at which they strike the grain. Tween 20 reduced alpha by 2.5 orders of magnitude, to alpha = 0.0016, and was the most effective chemical treatment for decreasing bacterial attachment to glass beads in buffered solutions. Similar reductions in alpha were achieved in unbuffered solutions by reducing the solution ionic strength to 0.01 mM. EDTA, protease, and other treatments designed to alter cell structures did not reduce alpha by more than an order of magnitude. The number of bacteria retained by the porous media was decreased by treatments that made A. paradoxus more hydrophobic and less electrostatically charged, although alpha was poorly correlated with electrophoretic mobility and hydrophobicity index measurements at lower alpha values.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Topics: Alcaligenes; Bacterial Adhesion; Buffers; Diphosphates; Edetic Acid; Endopeptidase K; Glass; Microspheres; Muramidase; Periodic Acid; Polysorbates; Serine Endopeptidases; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; Soil Microbiology; Water Microbiology

The distribution of lysozyme (muramidase) within eosinophil leukocytes situated in the lamina propria of human colon was studied by immunoelectron microscopy using a range of standard techniques. Tissue processed in a variety of glutaraldehyde- or paraformaldehyde-based fixatives was partially dehydrated and embedded in the acrylic resin LR White. Tissue thus treated showed lysozyme in pale cytoplasmic granules and the matrix of specific granules, but not in their crystalloids. Trypsinization of sections had little effect on this result, and tissues fixed in glutaraldehyde and embedded in Araldite showed a low level of reactivity with a similar distribution. After etching LR or Araldite sections with sodium metaperiodate, the pale granules and specific granule matrices became negative for lysozyme and the crystalloids became positive. Because crystalloids also were labeled with normal rabbit immunoglobulin after etching, this apparent redistribution of label could be due to nonspecific binding rather than exposure of masked epitope.

Topics: Colon; Cytoplasmic Granules; Eosinophils; Epitopes; Humans; Hydrogen Peroxide; Immunohistochemistry; Muramidase; Periodic Acid; Staphylococcal Protein A; Trypsin

Lysozyme was immobilized by two different methods in two different ways in order to obtain a preparation with an activity as high as possible toward a macromolecular substrate. The enzyme was bound as a Schiff base to a silicate carrier by using oxidized dextrans of different lengths as spacer and also was bound to controlled pore aminoglass via pyridino-4-aldehyde and BrCN. The latter preparations had activities up to 2.5% of the free lysozyme.

Topics: Buffers; Cell Wall; Dextrans; Enzymes, Immobilized; Glass; Micrococcus; Molecular Weight; Muramidase; Oxidation-Reduction; Periodic Acid

Reductive alkylation of lysyl epsilon-amino groups with sugars (1-deoxyglycitolation) using pyridine borane as the reducing agent has been recently described [Wong, W.S.D., Osuga, D.T. & Feeney, R.E. (1984) Anal. Biochem. 139, 58-67]. The regeneration of the lysines has now been achieved by oxidation with approximately 10 mM periodate. In experiments with glycitolated bovine serum albumin, reactions using 5, 20, and 80 mM periodate were essentially complete in the first 10 min. Oxidations of methionine to the sulfoxide were evident even at this lower concentration of periodate, while higher concentrations and prolonged reaction times only caused unnecessary destruction of amino acids. The removal was shown to occur in a wide pH range with little variation in the recovery of the lysines. The degree of glycitolation, or the nature of the attached carbohydrate residues, had no effect on the yield of products. Reductive 1-deoxygalactitolation of approximately 55% of the lysyl epsilon-amino groups of lysozyme caused no loss in enzymatic activity; when 5 mM periodate was used to remove the 1-deoxygalactitol moiety, approximately 95% of the amino groups were regenerated, concomitant with destruction of approximately 16% of the activity. On reductive 1-deoxygalactitolation of the amino groups of turkey ovomucoid, 65% of the lysyl epsilon-amino groups were modified with 70% loss of the inhibitory activity against trypsin. On treatment with 5 mM periodate, approximately 80% of the amino groups were regained with a similar recovery of the inhibitory activity.

Topics: Animals; Carbohydrates; Cattle; Glycosides; Kinetics; Lysine; Muramidase; Ovomucin; Periodic Acid; Proteins; Serum Albumin, Bovine; Trypsin; Turkeys

In vitro studies of the behaviour of the trypanosomatid flagellates Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania hertigi in the presence of cell-free haemolymph of locusts, Schistocerca gregaria and cockroaches, Periplaneta americana revealed the presence of parasite agglutinins. The range of normal values of agglutination titres was 2(-4) to 2(-13). Physico-chemical treatment of haemolymph indicated that these agglutinins are protein or glycoprotein in nature and are only partially affected by heat treatment below 65 degrees C, at which temperature incubation of haemolymph for 30 min abrogated all agglutination. Agglutination was not dependent on the presence of Ca2+ or Mg2+. Prior injection of locusts and cockroaches with T. brucei and L. hertigi significantly increased agglutinin titres between Days 4 and 6 in cockroaches (P less than 0.05) and from Days 2 to 4 when L. hertigi was inoculated into locusts. The induced differences in titres observed in locusts infected with T. brucei were not significant. Lysozyme levels were significantly increased after inoculation of T. brucei into cockroaches compared with placebo-inoculated and uninoculated controls. L. hertigi inoculation produced significant increases in lysozyme levels compared with controls between Days 1 and 7 in locusts and 3 to 6 in cockroaches. These studies indicate that, at least in easily manipulated model systems, induced responses to intrahaemocoelic inoculation to trypanosomes and Leishmania can occur. As far as we are aware this is the first report of an induced response of an insect to such important parasites. The possibility that induced responses in natural vector to this parasites occurs requires investigation.

Topics: Adsorption; Agglutination; Agglutinins; Animals; Calcium; Cockroaches; Female; Grasshoppers; Hemolymph; Insect Vectors; Male; Muramidase; Peptide Hydrolases; Periodic Acid; Sex Factors; Temperature; Trypanosoma

Schwartz, Gabriel H. (National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, Bethesda, Md.), Donald Eiler, and Milton Kern. Solubilization of the conjugation inhibitor from Escherichia coli cell wall. J. Bacteriol. 89:89-94. 1965.-Conjugation between F(-) and HfrC strains of Escherichia coli is inhibited by the presence of cell wall derived from either strain. The inhibitor can be solubilized from such cell walls or whole cells by treatment with periodate. The soluble material is relatively acid-labile and alkali-stable, nondialyzable, nonsedimentable at 100,000 x g (1 hr), partially sedimented after 3 hr at 100,000 x g, sensitive to small changes in ionic strength, neutralized by cationic reagents, and is insensitive to proteinases, nucleases, lipases, and carbohydrases. The soluble inhibitor derived from male and female cells is indistinguishable by all the criteria tested.

Topics: Antimetabolites; Cell Wall; Cellulose; Escherichia coli; Hydrochloric Acid; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Manganese; Muramidase; Periodic Acid; Pharmacology; Protamines; Research; Sodium Hydroxide; Spermine