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Amino Acids: The Forum for Amino Acid, Peptide and Protein Research (v.17, #4)

Enhanced taurine release in cultured cerebellar granule cells in cell-damaging conditions by Professor P. Saransaari; S. S. Oja (pp. 323-334).

The release of taurine from cultured cerebellar granule neurons was studied in different cell-damaging conditions, including hypoxia, hypoglycemia, ischemia, oxidative stress and in the presence of free radicals. The effects of both ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptor agonists on the release were likewise investigated. The release of [³H]taurine from the glutamatergic granule cells was increased by K⁺ (50mM) and veratridine (0.1 mM), the effect of veratridine being the greater. Hypoxia and ischemia produced an initial increase in release compared to normoxia but resulted in a diminished response to K. Hypoglycemia, oxidative stress and free radicals enhanced taurine release, and subsequent K⁻ treatment exhibited a correspondingly greater stimulation. A common feature of taurine release in all the bove conditions was a slow response to the stimulus evoked by K⁺ and particularly to that evoked by veratridine. All ionotropic glutamate receptor agonists potentiated taurine release, but only the action of kainate seemed to be receptor-mediated. Metabotropic receptor agonists of group I slightly stimulated the release. The prolonged taurine release seen in both normoxia and cell-damaging conditions may be of importance in maintaining homeostasis in the cerebellum and reducing excitability for a longer period than other neuroprotective mechanisms.

Keywords: Amino acids; Taurine release; Cerebellar granule cells; Celldamaging conditions; Glutamate receptors; Veratridine; Potassium stimulation

Production of tyrosine and other aromatic compounds from phenylalanine by rumen microorganisms by R. I. Khan; R. Onodera; M. R. Amin; N. Mohammed (pp. 335-346).

Rumen contents from three fistulated Japanese native goats fed Lucerne hay cubes (Medicago sativa) and concentrate mixture were collected to prepare the suspensions of mixed rumen bacteria (B), mixed protozoa (P) and a combination of the two (BP). Microbial suspensions were anaerobically incubated at 39°C for 12h with or without 1 MM ofl-phenylalanine (Phe). Phe, tyrosine (Tyr) and other related compounds in both supernatant and microbial hydrolysates of the incubations were analyzed by HPLC. Tyr can be produced from Phe not only by rumen bacteria but also by rumen protozoa. The production of Tyr during 12h incubation in B (183.6 μmol/g MN) was 4.3 times higher than that in P. One of the intermediate products between Phe and Tyr seems to bep-hydroxyphenylacetic acid. The rate of the net degradation of Phe incubation in B (76.O μmol/g MN/h) was 2.4 times higher than in P. In the case of all rumen microorganisms, degraded Phe was mainly (>53%) converted into phenylacetic acid. The production of benzoic acid was higher in P than in B suspensions. Small amount of phenylpyruvic acid was produced from Phe by both rumen bacteria and protozoa, but phenylpropionic acid and phenyllactic acid were produced only by rumen bacteria.

Keywords: Amino acids; Tyrosine; Phenylalanine; Aromatic compounds; Rumen microorganisms[/klw]

Evidence that taurine modulates osmoregulation by modification of osmolarity sensor protein ENVZ — expression by H. Moeukemann; O. Labudova; K. Yeghiazarian; H. Rink; H. Hoeger; Prof. Dr. G. Lubec (pp. 347-355).

Although the involvement of taurine in osmoregulation is well-documented and widely accepted, no detailed mechanism for this function has been reported so far.We used subtractive hybridization to study mRNA steady state levels of genes up- or downregulated by taurine. Rats were fed taurine 100mg/kg body weight per day for a period of three days and hearts (total ventricular tissue) of experimental animals and controls were pooled and used for mRNA extraction. mRNAs from two groups were used for subtractive hybridization. Clones of the subtractive library were sequenced and the obtained sequences were identified by gen bank assignment.Two clones were found to contain sequences which could be assigned to the osmolarity sensor protein envZ, showing homologies of 61 and 65%. EnvZ is an inner membrane protein in bacteria, important for osmosensing and required for porine gene regulation. It undergoes autophosphorylation and subsequently phosphorylates OmpR, which in turn binds to the porin (outer membrane protein) promoters to regulate the expression of OmpF and OmpC, major outer membrane porines.This is the first report of an osmosensing mechanism in the mammalian system, which was described in bacteria only. Furthermore, we are assigning a tentative role for taurine in the osmoregulatory process by modifying the expression of the osmoregulatory sensor protein ENVZ.

Keywords: Amino acids; Taurine; Osmoregulation; Rat; Osmolarity sensor protein ENVZ

Antimicrobial activity ofo-carboranylalanine by G. Oros; I. Ujváry; R. J. Nachman (pp. 357-368).

Functionalized polyhedral carboranes, including amino acid analogs, have unique physicochemical properties and are used as experimental anticancer agents. However, our current knowledge on their effect in nonmammalian biological systems is limited. We investigated the activity spectrumin vitro ofo-carboranylalanine (o-Cba), considered to be a highly lipophilic analog of phenylalanine, against representative plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi of various taxonomic position. The antibacterial effect ofo-Cba against some species was comparable to that of the widely used agricultural antibiotic, streptomycin. The sensitivity of individual bacterial species too-Cba within the same genus varied to a greater extent than the average sensitivity of various genera. In general, this carborane-containing amino acid was more toxic to Gram positive bacteria (Bacillus, Corynebacterium, Curtobacterium, Micrococcus, Rhodococcus, and Staphylococcus) than to Gram negative ones (Agrobacterium, Erwinia, Escherichia, Pseudomonas, Rhizobium, and Xanthomonas). Compared to the commercial fungicide, prochloraz,o-Cba was weakly toxic against various fungi (Zygo- and Ascomycota). It was also inferior to the commercial fungicide metalaxyl in inhibiting the vegetative growth of oomyceteous plant pathogens (Pythium irregulare, Phytophthora cryptogea and Plasmopara halstedii). Against the asexual spores of P. halstedii,o-Cba, however, was over a thousandfold more active than tridemorph, a selective zoospore inhibitor fungicide. For all taxonomic groups, the observed antimicrobial effect ofo-Cba could be diminished with histidine, but not with phenylalanine. In studies on healthy and mildew-infected sunflower and tobacco plantso-Cba showed neither fungicidal nor phytotoxic effects at 500ppm. This is the first report on the biological activity spectrum of a carborane-containing amino acid.

Keywords: Amino acids; o-Carboranylalanine; Histidine; Bacteria; Fungi; Oomycota; Plasmopara

Synthesis of non proteinogenic dipeptides by asymmetric hydrogenation by H. -J. Kreuzfeld; Chr Döbler; Chr Fischer; W. Baumann (pp. 369-376).

N-Boc protected non-proteinogenic dipeptides with D,L-and L,L-configuration were prepared by catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of the corresponding dehydrophenylalanyl-(L)-phenylalanine derivatives. The configuration of the new stereogenic centre depends first of all on the catalyst configuration and is less influenced by the substrate configuration. Diastereomeric excesses in the range of 80–96% de could be increased up to 99% by recrystallization. Analytical data of selected new compounds are given.

Keywords: Amino acids; Non-proteinogenic dipeptides; Dehydrodipeptides; Diastereoselectivity; N-Boc-Dehydroamino acids; Asymmetric hydrogenation; Chiral rhodium catalysts

Production of polyclonal antibodies towards the immunodetection of insecticide phosalone by V. Issert; R. Lazaro; F. Lamaty; V. Rollande; P. Besançon; B. Caporiccio; P. Grenier; V. Bellon-Maurel (pp. 377-389).

Hapten synthesis for the production of specific insecticide phosalone polyclonal antibodies was carried out starting from an intermediate of the phosalone synthesis, 6-chloro-2-benzoxazolone1. Two haptens containing different spacers have been prepared: N-5-carboxypentyl-6-chloro-2-benzoxazolone7 and N-(2-oxo-3-aza-5-carboxypentyl)-6-chloro-2-benzoxazolone12. Each of these two haptens conjugated to bovine serum albumine (BSA) was used to immunize four rabbits. Immunoassays of phosalone were performed with ELISA using solid-phase bound hapten thyroglobulin conjugate and horseradish peroxidase labelled goat antirabbit IgG. The more sensitive response was observed when the antiserum obtained from the rabbit immunized with the hapten-BSA conjugate containing the N-2-oxo-3-aza-5-carboxypentyl spacer was in competition with the same hapten coupled to thyroglobulin. An identical response was obtained under the same conditions when using benzoxazolone instead of phosalone as competitor, showing a good recognition of the specific aromatic part of the organophosphate insecticide phosalone. Reduction of coating conjugate concentration (from 2 to 0.05μg/well) and also the use of heterologous coating protein instead of homologous did improve the sensitivity, resulting in a concentration of phosalone required to inhibit binding by 50% of 2 mg/l and a detection limit of 0.02 mg/l.

Keywords: Amino acids; Polyclonal antibodies; Phosalone; Immunodetection; Hapten synthesis

Inhibitory effect of arginine-derivatives from ginseng extract and basic amino acids on protein-arginine N-methyltransferase by B. C. Yool; G. H. Park; H. Okuda; T. Takaku; S. Kim; W. I. Hwang (pp. 391-400).

Protein-arginine N-methyltransferase (protein methylase I) catalyzes methylation of arginyl residues on substrate protein posttranslationally utilizing S-adenosyl-L-methionine as the methyl donor and yields N^G-methylarginine residues. Arginyl-fructose and arginyl-fructosyl-glucose from Korean red ginseng were found to inhibit protein methylase I activity in vitro. This inhibitory activity was shown to be due to arginyl moiety in the molecules, rather than that of carbohydrates. Several basic amino acids as well as polyamines were also found to inhibit protein methylase I activity. Interestingly, the intensity of the inhibitory activity was correlated with the number of amino-group in polyamines, thus, in the order of spermine > spermidine > putrescine > agmatine-sulfate, with IC₅₀ at approximately 15 mM, 25 mM, 35 mM, and 50 mM, respectively. On the other hand, neutral amino acids or NaCI did not inhibit the enzyme activity. Lineweaver-Burk plot analysis of the protein methylase I activity in the presence of arginine and spermidine indicated that the inhibition was competitive in nature in respect to protein substrate, with the Ki values of 24.8 mM and 11.5 mM, respectively.

Keywords: Amino acids; Protein; arginine methyltransferase; Inhibitors; Ginseng extract; Arginine derivatives; Basic amino acids

Where does indolylacrylic acid come from by E. Marklová (pp. 401-413).

In addition to the main catabolic routes of tryptophan (Trp), there exist minor and less thoroughly investigated pathways; one of these leads to indolylacrylic acid (IAcrA). IAcrA is a plant growth hormone, whereas its biological role in animals is still obscure, as is the way and site where it is formed in the organism. A two-stage production is likely: Intestinal microorganisms catabolize Trp to indole derivatives which are then absorbed and converted to IAcrA and its glycine conjugate, indolylacryloylglyeine (IAcrGly). Our finding of IAcrGly in the urine of proven germ-free piglets points to the possibility that Trp can be converted to IAcrA without the intervention of intestinal microorganisms. Seasonal and age variations, influence of light and connection with photodermatoses have been reported. Besides other pathological conditions the differences in IAcrGly excretion relative to normal controls were especially pronounced in some myopathies, namely in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Keywords: Amino acids; Indolylacrylic acid; Tryptophan; Indolylacryloylglycine

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Amino Acids: The Forum for Amino Acid, Peptide and Protein Research (v.17, #4)

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Amino Acids: The Forum for Amino Acid, Peptide and Protein Research (v.17, #4)