ACs 1 catalyze the conversion of ATP into the second messenger cAMP, PP i being the second product of the cyclase reaction. Mammals express nine membranous ACs (ACs 1-9) (1, 2) and a sAC that is predominantly expressed in testis (3). Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus pertussis produce the AC toxins EF and ACT, respectively, that are activated by Ca 2ϩ /calmodulin and act through excessive cAMP accumulation in host cells (4,5). sGC is structurally related to ACs 1-9 in the catalytic site and is activated by [6][7][8]. sGC catalyzes the formation of the second messenger cGMP from GTP. ACs 1-9 contain a tandem repeat structure with two transmembrane domains and two cytosolic domains (1, 2). The cytosolic domains are referred to as C1 and C2, respectively. Together, C1 and C2 form the catalytic site of AC. C1 and C2 also contain the regulatory sites for the stimulatory G-protein, G␣ s , for the inhibitory G-protein, G␣ i , and for the diterpene, forskolin. Catalytic activity of all AC isoforms depends on the presence of divalent cations (Mg 2ϩ or Mn 2ϩ ). Membranous ACs possess two Me 2ϩ -binding sites (9 -11). When mixed together, purified C1 and C2 form a functional AC that is efficiently activated by forskolin and G␣ s -GTP␥S (12, 13).AC isoforms differ from each other in their regulation (1, 2). ACs 1-9 are all activated by G␣ s , whereas sAC is activated by HCO 3 Ϫ (14). Forskolin activates ACs 1-8 but not AC9 or sAC. G␣ i inhibits ACs 1, 5, and 6. G-protein ␤␥ subunits exhibit stimulatory or inhibitory effects on AC isoforms. Ca 2ϩ /calmodulin stimulates ACs 1, 3, and 8. In addition, Mg 2ϩ and Mn 2ϩ show differential stimulatory effects on AC isoforms (15). More-

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Transported proteins often contain an extension sequence called the signal peptide. The alkaline phosphatase (PhoA) signal sequence represents a typical signal peptide for comparison to idealized sequences both in vivo and in vitro. We have designed a series of idealized signal sequences which vary in amino terminal charge and core region hydrophobicity with minimal variation in amino acid composition. The idealized core regions contain different proportions of leucine and alanine residues, effectively producing hydrophobicities above and below the threshold level required for efficient secretion. The flanking amino and carboxyl termini were designed to maintain the general features and relative hydrophobicity of their counterparts in the wild-type PhoA signal sequence. Using the phoA gene, the signal peptide region was modified to generate mutants corresponding to the model sequences. Transport studies in Escherichia coli confirmed that completely idealized signal sequences, which lack a helix-breaking proline or glycine residue, can be functional if the core region is sufficiently hydrophobic and that one positively charged residue in the amino terminus is adequate for efficient transport. The corresponding peptides were chemically synthesized and exhibited HPLC retention times that reflect the relative hydrophobicities of the sequences. Structural analyses of the isolated peptides by circular dichroism demonstrate solvent dependence and exceptionally stable alpha-helix formation by the functional signal peptides in trifluoroethanol. Although leucine and alanine residues are often predicted to have similar propensities for forming an alpha-helix, considerably higher alpha-helical content is observed in the signal peptides which contain predominantly polyleucine core regions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The conformation, in solution, of a peptide corresponding to residues 59-81 from T4 lysozyme [LYS(59-81)] has been determined by 1H NMR and CD spectroscopy. This peptide spans the region corresponding to helix C in the crystal structure of T4 lysozyme. Secondary structure predictions indicated that the peptide would possibly be helical in an aqueous environment, but in a more hydrophobic environment the peptide would certainly adopt a helical conformation. This prediction was confirmed by the far-UV CD and NMR studies, which showed the peptide to be relatively unstructured in aqueous solution and significantly helical in the presence of either TFE or SDS micelles, although the 1H NMR results did give some indication of the presence of nascent helix in aqueous solution. For LYS(59-81), in TFE, the three-dimensional structure derived from the NMR data showed that the helix had a more pronounced curvature than the gradual bend observed in the crystal structure.

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