No abstract

The AAA protein Drg1 from yeast was affinity-purified, and its ATPase activity and hexamerization properties were analyzed. The same parameters were also determined for several mutant proteins and compared in light of the growth characteristics of the corresponding cells. The protein from a thermosensitive mutant exhibited reduced ATPase activity and hexamerization. These defects were not reversed by an intragenic suppressor mutation, although this allele supported growth at the nonpermissive temperature. A different set of mutants was generated by site-specific mutagenesis intended to adjust the Walker A box of the D2 domain of Drg1p to that of the D1 domain. A S562G exchange in D2 produced a nonfunctional protein that did not hexamerize but showed above-normal ATPase activity. The C561T mutant protein, on the other hand, was functional but hexamerized less readily and had reduced ATPase activity. In contrast, the C561T/S562G protein hexamerized less than wild type but had much higher ATPase activity. We distinguished strong and weak ATP-binding sites in the wild type protein but two weak sites in the C561T/S562G protein, indicating that the stronger site resides in D2. These observations are discussed in terms of the inter-relationship of ATPase activity per se, oligomeric status, and intracellular function for AAA proteins.

Metal nanoparticles (NPs), such as gold (Au) and silver (Ag), are important for chemistry, physics, and biology due to their unique optical, electrical, and photothermal properties. Such NPs are widely used for immobilization of various bioactive substances, including peptides, enzymes, antibodies and DNA. The synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles was carried out by reduction of silver nitrate by glucose and reduction of tetrachloroauric acid by sodium citrate, respectively. The size and structure of the AgNPs and AuNPs were characterized using TEM, AFM and XRD methods. The average size of the AgNPs and AuNPs was between 8 and 15 nm. Recombinant arginase I was immobilized using the carbodiimidepentafluorophenol method on the surface of NPs functionalized with ω-mercaptohexadecanoic acid. It was shown that recombinant human liver arginase I isolated from the yeast Hansenula polymorpha maintains satisfactory stability after immobilization on both NPs. The immobilized arginase retained 40% of its activity on the surface of AuNPs and 25% on AgNPs compared to the free arginase after storage at +4 ºC during 25 days. The immobilized enzyme can be used for assay of arginine in pharmaceuticals, in food products and in blood

Metallic nanoparticles potentially have wide practical applications in various fields of science and industry. In biosensorics, they usually act as catalysts or nanozymes (NZs) and as mediators of electron transfer. We describe here the development of amperometric biosensors (ABSs) based on purified oxidases, synthesized nanoparticles of CuCe (nCuCe), and micro/nanoporous gold (pAu), which were electro-deposited on a graphite electrode (GE). As an effective peroxidase (PO)-like NZ, nCuCe was used here as a hydrogen-peroxide-sensing platform in ABSs that were based on glucose oxidase, alcohol oxidase, methylamine oxidase, and L-arginine oxidase. At the same time, nCuCe is an electroactive mediator and has been used in laccase-based ABSs. As a result, the ABSs we constructed and characterized were based on glucose, methanol, methyl amine, L-arginine, and catechol, respectively. The developed nCuCe-based ABSs exhibited improved analytical characteristics in comparison with the corresponding PO-based ABSs. Additionally, the presence of pAu, with its extremely advanced chemo-sensing surface layer, was shown to significantly increase the sensitivities of all constructed ABSs. As an example, the bioelectrodes containing laccase/GE, laccase/nCuCe/GE, and laccase/nCuCe/pAu/GE exhibited sensitivities to catechol at 2300, 5055, and 9280 A·M−1·m−2, respectively. We demonstrate here that pAu is an effective carrier of electroactive nanomaterials coupled with oxidases, which may be promising in biosensors.