No abstract

Amide‐inducible expression of the aliphatic amidase system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa can be reconstituted in Escherichia coli with only the amidase structural gene amiE, the negative regulator amiC and the positive regulator amiR, a transcription antitermination factor. Complementation experiments in E. coli suggest that negative control of amidase expression by AmiC is mediated by a protein‐protein interaction with AmiR. Purified AmiC binds acetamide with a KD of 3.7 microM in equilibrium dialysis studies, and therefore AmiC appears to be the sensory partner of the AmiC/AmiR pair of regulatory proteins, responding to the presence of amides. Sequence analysis techniques suggest that AmiC is a member of the structural family of periplasmic binding proteins, but has a distinct and novel cytoplasmic role.

cDNAs were obtained for macrophage migration-inhibitory factor (MIF)/L-dopachrome methyl ester tautomerase homologues from the parasitic nematodes Trichinella spiralis (TsMIF) and Trichuris trichiura (TtMIF). The translated sequences, which were partly confirmed by sequencing of proteolytic fragments, show 42 and 44% identity respectively with human or mouse MIF, and are shorter by one C-terminal residue. Unlike vertebrate MIF and MIF homologues of filarial nematodes, neither TsMIF nor TtMIF contain cysteine residues. Soluble recombinant TsMIF, expressed in Escherichia coli showed secondary structure (by CD spectroscopy) and quaternary structure (by light-scattering and gel filtration) similar to that of the trimeric mammalian MIFs and D-dopachrome tautomerase. The catalytic specificity of recombinant TsMIF in the ketonization of phenylpyruvate (1.4x10(6) M(-1) x s(-1)) was comparable with that of human MIF, while that of p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate (9.1x10(4) M(-1) x s(-1)) was 71-fold lower. TsMIF showed high specificity in tautomerization of the methyl ester of L-dopachrome compared with non-esterified L-dopachrome (>87000-fold) and a high kcat (approximately 4x10(4) s(-1). The crystal structure, determined to 1.65 A (1 A=0.1 nm), was generally similar to that of human MIF, but differed in the boundaries of the putative active-site pocket, which can explain the low activity towards p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate. The central pore was blocked, but was continuous, with the three putative tautomerase sites. Recombinant TsMIF (5 ng/ml-5 pg/ml) inhibited migration of human peripheral-blood mononuclear cells in a manner similar to that shown by human MIF, but had no effect from 5 to 500 ng/ml on anti-CD3-stimulated murine T-cell proliferation. TsMIF was detected in supernatants of T. spiralis larvae cultured in vitro at 6 ng/ml (55 ng/mg total secreted protein). In conclusion TsMIF has structural, catalytic and cell-migration-inhibitory properties which indicate that it is partially orthologous to mammalian MIF.

The surname of the fifth author (ROWE) was misspelled. It should read ROE. Activity and genomic organization of human glucose transporter 9 (GLUT9), a novel member of the family of sugar-transport facilitators predominantly expressed in brain and leucocytes

The human hereditary disease primary hyperoxaluria type 1 is caused by a deficiency of the liver-specific peroxisomal enzyme alanine:glyoxylate aminotransferase (AGT). In this study, the crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of C-terminal His-tagged human AGT expressed in Escherichia coli is reported. At least two crystal forms were obtained using similar conditions for three different polymorphic variants, namely AGT, AGT[P11L] and AGT[P11L, I340M]. Complete data have been collected for all three AGT variants. The crystals of AGT[P11L] belong to space group P4(1)2(1)2 (or its enantiomorph), with unit-cell parameters a = b = 90.81, c = 142.62 A, and diffract to a resolution of 2.8 A.