Method for reduction of inhibition in a Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific ligase chain reaction DNA amplification assay.

The present study describes the identification of inhibitors of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific gap ligase chain reaction (LCR) DNA amplification assay as well as a method for their removal. A major contributor to inhibition was deduced to be a calcium phosphate precipitate, CaHPO4. The precipitate forms during N-acetyl-L-cysteine-sodium hydroxide (NALC-NaOH) decontamination, digestion, and concentration of respiratory specimens. The solubility product of CaHPO4 precipitate at pH 7.8, the pH at which gap LCR is optimized, indicates that the precipitate releases an amount of phosphate ions sufficient to inhibit amplification. A method for removal of the precipitate was identified. The precipitate is dissociated by exposing it to a mildly acidic (pH 4.1) buffer during the first of two centrifugation steps; the inhibitory phosphate ions are removed by the centrifugation steps. When 100 NALC-NaOH respiratory sediments were tested by gap LCR, none of the sediments were inhibitory when the acidic buffer was used while 24 samples were inhibitory when TE buffer, pH 7.8, was used. In another study, when the acidic buffer wash was applied to 1,440 NALC-NaOH respiratory sediments, only 10 sediments were found to be inhibitory. None of the inhibited sediments were culture positive for M. tuberculosis. This work demonstrates that when inhibition mechanisms are identified, relatively simple protocols can be used to obtain low inhibition rates and to allow the use of larger volume equivalents in amplification reactions.

The use of principal component analysis to resolve the spectra and kinetics of cytochrome c oxidase reduction by 5,10-dihydro-5-methyl phenazine.

The method of principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the absorption-wavelength-time surfaces generated by rapid scanning stopped-flow spectrophotometry (RSSFS). The method was used to resolve the absorption surfaces generated during the reduction of cytochrome c oxidase by 5,10-dihydro-5-methyl phenazine (MPH) into the individual spectral shapes and time courses of the component chromophores. Two forms of resting cytochrome oxidase were used in these analyses: one that has its maximum absorption in the Soret region at 418 nm (418-nm species) and the other has its absorption maximum at 424 nm (424-nm species). A weighting scheme suitable for RSSFS data was developed. The optical absorption spectra obtained by W.H. Vanneste (1966, Biochemistry, 5:838-848) for the oxidase components were found to fit adequately as components of the experimental surfaces. Among these spectra were the oxidized forms of cytochromes a and a3 in the wavelength region 330-520 nm for the 418-nm species. Vanneste's spectral shape for the oxidized cytochrome a3 did not fit as a component in the spectrum of the 424-nm species. After accounting for the spectral shape of all components present, PCA provided a straightforward method for determining the separate time courses of each chromophore. We have found for both forms used that cytochrome a is reduced by MPH in the initial stages of the reaction, while cytochrome a3 is reduced in subsequent, slow phases. An important aspect of PCA is that it provided confirmation of the spectra of the various oxidase components without requiring the use of inhibitors or the use of simplifying mechanistic assumptions. The resolution of time profiles of strongly overlapping chromophores is also demonstrated.

Reduction of cytochrome oxidase by 5,10-dihydro-5-methylphenazine: kinetic parameters from rapid-scanning stopped-flow experiments.

The kinetics of the reduction of resting cytochrome oxidase and of its cyanide complex by 5,10-dihydro-5- methylphenazine (MPH) have been characterized by rapid-scan and fixed-wavelength stopped-flow spectrophotometry in the Soret, visible, and near-IR spectral regions. In this study, we focused on a form of the resting enzyme that is characterized by a Soret absorption maximum at 424 nm. These experiments complement earlier work on the reduction of a 418 nm absorbing form of the resting enzyme [ Halaka , F.G., Babcock , G. T., & Dye, J. L. (1981) J. Biol. Chem. 256, 1084-1087]. The reduction of cytochrome a is accomplished in a second-order reaction with a rate constant of 3 X 10(5) M-1 s-1. The reduction of the 830-nm absorber, Cua, is closely coupled to but lags the reduction of cytochrome a; we have resolved a rate constant of about 20 s-1 for the copper reduction. The reduction of cytochrome a proceeds with a rate constant that is nearly independent of the spectral properties of the resting enzyme and of the ligation state of cytochrome a3. The reduction of cytochrome a3 occurs by slow, intramolecular electron transfer. We have resolved two phases for this process that have rate constants of approximately 0.2 s-1 and approximately 0.02 s-1 for both the 418- and 424-nm forms of the resting enzyme. It appears, therefore, that spectroscopic heterogeneity at the cytochrome a3 site in the resting enzyme exerts very little influence on the kinetics of the anaerobic reduction of the oxidase metal centers. From this we conclude that the rate of electron transfer to the a3 site is probably controlled by the protein conformation and not primarily by local factors within the a3 environment.

Properties of 5-methylphenazinium methyl sulfate. Reaction of the oxidized form with NADH and of the reduced form with oxygen.

Rapid-scan and fixed-wavelength stopped-flow spectrophotometry were used to characterize the 5-methylphenazinium methyl sulfate (PMS)/reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide couple at pH 7.4. Under anaerobic conditions, NADH reduces PMS to 5,10-dihydro-5-methylphenazine with a second order rate constant of 3.8 +/- 0.4 X 10(3) M-1 s-1. Oxygen reacts with 5,10-dihydro-5-methylphenazine to form PMS with a rate constant of about 180 M-1 s-1. When NADH reacts with PMS under aerobic conditions, a situation commonly encountered in carrying out routine enzymatic assays, the NADH reduction reaction and the O2 oxidation reaction proceed simultaneously with rate constants essentially the same as those determined for the two isolated reactions. The anaerobic photoreaction of PMS at pH = 7.4, which was studied by optical absorption spectroscopy, produces the 1-hydroxy-5-methylphenazinium cation (pyocyanine) and 5,10-dihydro-5-methylphenazine in nearly equal concentrations. When oxygen is present, the only detectable product is pyocyanine. These results, particularly the relatively slow rate of reaction between PMS and NADH, are used to point out potential complications in the use of the PMS/NADH couple.

Kinetic distinction between cytochromes a and a3 in cytochrome c oxidase. Rapid scanning stopped flow study of anaerobic reduction by a neutral and a negatively charged donor.

Anaerobic reduction of cytochrome c oxidase by 5,10-dihydro-5-methylphenazine (reduced PMS) and by sodium dithionite were studied by rapid scanning stopped flow spectrophotometry. In both cases the decay of the Soret band of the oxidized oxidase is not uniform. With reduced PMS, the reduction involves two molecules of reductant (4 electrons)/oxidase molecule. The first stage of the reduction exhibits an isosbestic point in the Soret region at 437 nm. This shifts to 428 nm in later stages of the reaction. The reduction of the oxidase by sodium dithionite is also complete and apparently involves SO2 radical. In this case the spectra show an isosbestic point at approximately 420 nm which shifts to 432 nm as the reaction proceeds. For each of the reductants the reaction is best described by three phases: the first is a second order reaction between the oxidase and the reductant, followed by two first order processes which appear to describe the intramolecular electron redistribution within the oxidase molecule. The results agree with the assignment of the Soret band of the oxidase molecule to cytochrome a3 with an absorption maximum near 410 nm and to cytochrome a which has its maximum absorption hear 430 nm. If these assignments are correct, the present data show that reduced PMS, an uncharged molecule, reacts more rapidly with cytochrome a than it does with cytochrome a3, while the negatively charged radical anion, SO2, appears to have more direct access to cytochrome a3.