Thiazolidinediones address underlying causes of type 2 diabetes, although their mechanism of action is not clearly understood. The compounds are thought to function as direct activators of the nuclear receptor PPARgamma (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma), although pioglitazone, the weaker agonist of the two thiazolidinediones now in clinical use, seems to have more useful effects on circulating lipids. We have used tritiated pioglitazone and a photoaffinity cross-linker to identify a novel binding site in mitochondria. A saturable binding site for [3H]pioglitazone was solubilized from the membranes with CHAPS and migrated as a large complex by size exclusion chromatography. The binding correlated with a <17-kDa protein (m17), marked by a photoaffinity cross-linker, in both subcellular location and selectivity of competition by analogs. The protein was isolated and identified by mass spectrometry analysis and NH2-terminal sequencing. Three synthetic peptides with potential antigenic properties were synthesized from the predicted nontransmembrane sequence to generate antibodies in rabbits. Western blots show that this protein, which we have termed "mitoNEET," is located in the mitochondrial fraction of rodent brain, liver, and skeletal muscle, showing the identical subcellular location and migration on SDS-PAGE as the protein cross-linked specifically by the thiazolidinedione photoprobe. The protein exists in low levels in preadipocytes, and expression increases exponentially in differentiated adipocytes. The synthetic protein bound to solid phase associated with a complex of solubilized mitochondrial proteins, including the trifunctional beta-oxidation protein. It is possible that thiazolidinedione modification of the function of the mitochondrial target may contribute to lipid lowering and/or antidiabetic actions.

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Human platelet heparanase has been purified to homogeneity and shown to consist of two, non-covalently associated polypeptide chains of molecular masses 50 and 8 kDa. Protein sequencing provided the basis for determination of the full-length cDNA for this novel protein. Based upon this information and results from protein analysis and mass spectrometry, we propose a scheme to define the structural organization of heparanase in relation to its precursor forms, proheparanase and pre-proheparanase. The 8-and 50-kDa chains which make up the active enzyme reside, respectively, at the NH 2 -and COOH-terminal regions of the inactive precursor, proheparanase. The heparanase heterodimer is produced by excision and loss of an internal linking segment. This paper is the first to suggest that human heparanase is a two-chain enzyme.

Site-directed mutagenesis of autolysis sites in the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease was applied in an analysis of enzyme specificity; the protease served, therefore, as both enzyme and substrate in this study. Inspection of natural substrates of all retroviral proteases revealed the absence of beta-branched amino acids at the P1 site and of Lys anywhere from P2 through P2'. Accordingly, several mutants of the HIV-1 protease were engineered in which these excluded amino acids were substituted at their respective P positions at the three major sites of autolysis in the wild-type protease (Leu5-Trp6, Leu33-Glu34, and Leu63-Ile64), and the mutant enzymes were evaluated in terms of their resistance to autodegradation. All of the mutant HIV-1 proteases, expressed as inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli, were enzymatically active after refolding, and all showed greatly diminished rates of cleavage at the altered autolysis sites. Some, however, were not viable enzymatically because of poor physical characteristics. This was the case for mutants having Lys replacements of Glu residues at P2' and for another in which all three P1 leucines were replaced by Ile. However, one of the mutant proteases, Q7K/L33I/L63I, was highly resistant to autolysis, while retaining the physical properties, specificity, and susceptibility to inhibition of the wild-type enzyme. Q7K/L33I/L63I should find useful application as a stable surrogate of the HIV-1 protease. Overall, our results can be interpreted relative to a model in which the active HIV-1 protease dimer is in equilibrium with monomeric, disordered species which serve as the substrates for autolysis.

Abstract. In this study, we have constructed synthetic peptides which are identical to hyperacetylated amino termini of two Tetrahymena core histones (tetra-acetylated H4 and penta-acetylated hvl) and used them to generate polyclonal antibodies specific for acetylated forms (mono-, di-, tri-, etc.) of these histones. Neither of these antisera recognizes histone that is unacetylated. Immunoblotting analyses demonstrate that both transcription-related and deposition-related acetate groups on H4 are recognized by both antisera. In addition, the antiserum raised against penta-acetylated hvl also recognizes acetylated forms of this variant. Immunofluorescent analyses with both antisera demonstrate that, as expected, histone acetylation is specific to macronuclei (or new macronuclei) at all stages of the life cycle except when micronuclei undergo periods of rapid replication and chromatin assembly. During this time micronuclear staining is also detected. Our results also suggest that transcription-related acetylation begins selectively in new macronuclei immediately after the second postzygotic division. Acetylated histone is not observed in new micronuclei during stages corresponding to anlagen development and, therefore, histone acetylation can be distributed asymmetrically in development. Equally striking is the rapid turnover of acetylated histone in parental macronuclei during the time of their inactivation and elimination from the cell. Taken together, these data lend strong support to the idea that modulation of histone acetylation plays an important role in gene activation and in chromatin assembly.