Lens proteasome shows enhanced rates of degradation of hydroxyl radical modified alpha-crystallin.

Proteasome, a high molecular weight protease complex (HMP, approximately 600 kDa) was isolated from bovine eye lens epithelium tissue. In contrast with prior reports, lens proteasome degraded the major lens protein alpha-crystallin and S-carboxymethylated bovine serum albumin at 37 degrees C, mostly to trichloroacetic acid precipitable polypeptides. The proteasome, thus isolated, was labile at 55 degrees C. As indicated by the ability of p-chloromercuribenzoate and N-ethylmaleimide to block activity, a thiol group is required for activity. Alpha-crystallin was oxidized by exposure to 60Co-irradiation under an atmosphere of N2O (1-50 kilorads). This dose delivered 0.1-5.7 mol of hydroxyl radicals per mol of crystallin. Irradiation resulted in increased heterogeneity, aggregation, and fragmentation of the crystallin preparation. The proteolytic susceptibility of alpha-crystallin to the lens HMP was enhanced by the irradiation in a dose-dependent manner up to 20 kilorads (.OH concentration up to 2.3 mol per mol of alpha-crystallin). When 50 kilorads (5.7 mol .OH per mol of alpha-crystallin) was used, there was extensive aggregation and no enhancement in proteolysis over the unirradiated sample. The data indicate that the lens HMP can degrade mildly photooxidized lens proteins, but proteins which are extensively damaged are not degraded and may accumulate. This may be related to cataract formation.

Aging and cellular maturation cause changes in ubiquitin-eye lens protein conjugates.

The eye lens is a useful tissue for studying phenomena related to aging since it can be separated into differentially aged or matured zones. This work establishes correlations between ubiquitin-lens protein conjugating capabilities and age, as well as the stage of maturation of bovine lens tissue. When exogenous 125I-ubiquitin was combined with supernatants of epithelial (least mature), cortex, and core (most mature) tissue, ATP-dependent conjugation of 125I-ubiquitin to lens proteins was most effective with the epithelial tissue preparation. Conjugate formation was greatest when lenses were obtained from young animals. Supernatants from cultured bovine lens epithelial (BLE) cells conjugated more 125I-ubiquitin to lens proteins than any tissue preparation. In all cases the predominant conjugates formed in these cell-free assays were of high molecular mass, although conjugates with masses in the 25-70 kDa range were also observed. Lens tissue and cultured BLE cell preparations were also probed with antibodies to ubiquitin to detect in vivo ubiquitin-lens protein conjugates. There was more free ubiquitin and ubiquitin conjugates in tissue from young as compared with older lenses. The greatest levels of conjugates were observed in cultured BLE cells. Specificity in the ubiquitination system is indicated since some of the conjugates formed in vivo appear identical to those formed in the cell-free assays and in reticulocytes using exogenous 125I-ubiquitin. Upon development and maturation of lens tissue (i.e., core as opposed to epithelium), there is accumulation of lower molecular mass conjugates.

Properties of the ubiquitin conjugation system from bovine eye lens.

A post-translational protein modification system involving the polypeptide ubiquitin results in ubiquitin-protein conjugates of various functions. A ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme system was isolated from the epithelial tissue of bovine eye lens by DEAE-Sepharose and Bio-Gel A-1.5m column chromatography. The lens system shows similar enzymatic properties to the one from rabbit reticulocytes: requirement for ATP and sensitivity to thiol reagents. Two sets of prominent ubiquitin conjugates were formed with endogenous ubiquitin-acceptor proteins from fractions of the Bio-Gel column: a pair of ubiquitin conjugates of approximately 130 kDa and others with very high molecular mass. Extreme specificity is indicated by the ability of the lens system to catalyze conjugation of ubiquitin to the few endogenous acceptor proteins, or to histone H2B, but not to lysozyme, S-carboxymethylated bovine serum albumin, or native or heat-denatured lens alpha crystallin.

The eye lens has an active ubiquitin-protein conjugation system.

Using exogenous 125I-ubiquitin, ubiquitin-lens protein conjugation was observed with supernatants of cultured rabbit lens epithelial cells and lens cortex tissue. Conjugation was ATP-dependent with the greatest variety and amount of conjugates larger than 150 kDa. In vivo production of ubiquitin-protein conjugates in cultured rabbit and beef lens epithelial cells and rabbit lens tissues of different developmental age was established using immunological detection. There were limited similarities between conjugates found in youngest as opposed to oldest tissue. Cultured rabbit cells contained 27 pmol/mg free ubiquitin and 18 pmol/mg conjugated ubiquitin. Levels of free ubiquitin in lens tissue epithelium, cortex, and core were 36, 5, and 5 pmol/mg, respectively. There were only 2 pmol/mg conjugated ubiquitin in each of these tissues. Hydrolysis of 125I-ubiquitin was catalyzed by supernatants of cultured lens cells, beef and human lens tissues, and reticulocytes. Degradation was greatest in epithelial tissues, and least in core. This corroborates studies which show that proteolytic capabilities are attenuated in older tissue. Decreased initiation of proteolysis by ubiquitination as well as diminished proteolysis in older lens tissue may be related to the accumulation of damaged proteins in aging lens tissue.

Resolution of an ATP-metal chelate from metal-free ATP by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

The modulation of many enzymatic reactions involved in the metabolism of nucleotide phosphates such as ATP often require divalent metal ions. In the present study reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to study the chelation of divalent metal ions, such as Mn2+, Mg2+, and Ca2+, by ATP. The results of our study using radiolabeled [45Ca] showed that the metal-ATP chelate formed in solution was retained longer than the metal-free ATP due to the nonpolar groups on the column packing. Recovery of the two forms of ATP showed that the [45Ca] coeluted exclusively with the ATP-metal chelate. Other experiments showed that the retention time of the chelated form of the ATP was unaffected by eluent flow rate, but was affected by eluant pH and methanol concentration. The amount of ATP in the chelated form was found to be dependent on the amount of the metal in solution and that under appropriate conditions, i.e., with 0.1 mM CaCl2 in the mobile phase, on the divalent cation as well. Thus, we found that in terms of effectiveness in chelate formation, the metal ions were Ca2+ greater than Mg2+ greater than Mn2+. Recovery of the chelate and its reanalysis by HPLC revealed that the complex had dissociated. The chelate could be reformed by restoring the metal concentration to its original value and dissociated again by the addition of EDTA. The resolution of the ATP in a metal chelated form from the ATP in an unchelated form is discussed in terms of the stability of these chelates and the role of the hydrophobic groups of the column packing used in the reverse-phase HPLC in enhancement of this stability.

Formycin 5'-triphosphate, a fluorescent analog of ATP, as a substrate for adenylate cyclase.

Formycin 5'-triphosphate (FoTP), a fluorescent analog of ATP, is shown to be a substrate for the membrane-bound adenylate cyclase activity [ATP pyrophosphate-lyase (cyclizing), EC 4.6.1.1] from rat osteosarcoma cells. The formation of the adenylate cyclase reaction product, 3',5'-cyclic formycin monophosphate (cFoMP), was followed by the conventional radioimmunoassay (RIA) procedure used to detect cAMP and by an assay procedure in which the reaction product was separated from the substrate by reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the reaction product was detected by fluorometry. Because the HPLC--fluorometric procedure can determine the amount of cFoMP present in the reaction mixture within 6 min, the enzymatic conversion of FoTP to cFoMP can be followed directly during the course of a typical 15-min incubation. The amount of cFoMP detected by this procedure was found to be within 2% of the values obtained by the RIA. The rate of product formation with FoTP was similar to that observed with ATP and the activity of the enzyme was enhanced about 5-fold with guanyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate when either ATP or FoTP was used as the substrate. Kinetic studies revealed values for the Vmax of 120 pmol/min per mg of protein and apparent Km values of 220 microM with both substrates. In addition to suggesting that the recognition of the substrate by the adenylate cyclase may not require a specific chemical structure of the 5-membered ring of the base or a unique configuration about either the glycosyl or the C(5')-C(4') bond, the results of this study are consistent with the idea that the cytotoxicity observed with the adenosine analog formycin may be the result of its metabolism to cFoMP. Furthermore, these studies indicate that the fluorescent analog FoTP can be used, in combination with HPLC, to provide an alternative, nonradioactive direct method for the assay of adenylate cyclase catalytic activity.