Use of polymerase chain reaction for citrate synthase gene to diagnose Bartonella quintana endocarditis.

We describe aortic valve endocarditis caused by Bartonella quintana in a 31-year-old man. The diagnosis was made on the basis of polymerase chain reaction amplification of the B quintana citrate synthase gene from cardiac valve tissue, the compatibility of histochemical stains of cardiac valve tissue, and serologic studies.

Protein accumulation on disposable extended wear lenses.

We investigated protein accumulation on disposable extended wear contact lenses. Fifteen volunteers were fit with one low water content, non-ionic lens (Bausch & Lomb's SeeQuence) randomly assigned to one eye and a high water content ionic lens (Vistakon's Acuvue) assigned to the fellow eye. During the first 7 weeks of extended wear the lenses were removed weekly for sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of protein deposition, and replacement lenses were inserted. Four subjects completed additional test sessions of 1 minute, 15 minutes, 24 hours, and 1 week extended wear. Lysozyme accumulation, as measured by SDS-PAGE, increased with wearing times up to one week on all Acuvue lenses, but after 24 hours wear lysozyme accumulation did not increase on the SeeQuence lens. Proteins falling into the reported molecular weight ranges of albumin, PMFA, IgG, IgA (sec), lactoferrin and subunits of protein G were evident on all gels at 1 minute of wear, but these protein groups did not have a detectable increase in deposition after 24 hours wear for either the SeeQuence or the Acuvue lenses. In most cases, the protein accumulation evident from SDS-PAGE analysis was not observable by biomicroscopy using standard clinical methods. A few patients reported preference for the initial comfort and vision achieved by the Acuvue lens, but no preference was found after adaptation.

Amino acid substitutions which stabilize aspartate transcarbamoylase in the R state disrupt both homotropic and heterotropic effects.

We have used site-specific amino acid substitutions to investigate the linkage between the allosteric properties of arpartate transcarbamoylase and the global conformational transition exhibited by the enzyme upon binding active-site ligands. Two mutationally altered enzymes in which an amino acid substitution had been introduced at a single position in the catalytic polypeptide chain (Lys-164----Glu and Glu-239----Lys) and a third species harboring both of these substitutions (Lys-164:Glu-239----Glu:Lys) were constructed. Sedimentation velocity difference studies were performed in order to assess the effects of the amino acid substitutions on the quaternary structure of the holoenzyme in the absence and presence of various active-site ligands, including the bisubstrate analog, N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA), which has been shown previously to promote the allosteric transition. In the absence of ligand, two of the mutationally altered enzymes, Lys-164----Glu and Lys-164:Glu-239----Glu:Lys, existed in the R conformation, isomorphous with that of the PALA-liganded wild-type holoenzyme. These enzymes exhibited no conformational change upon binding PALA. The unliganded Glu-239----Lys enzyme had an average sedimentation coefficient intermediate between that of the unliganded and PALA-liganded states of the wild-type enzyme which could be accounted for in terms of a mixture of T- and R-state molecules. This mutant enzyme was converted to the fully swollen conformation upon binding PALA, phosphate or carbamoyl phosphate. The allosteric properties of the mutationally altered species were investigated by PALA-binding studies and by steady-state enzyme kinetics. In each case, the mutationally altered enzymes were devoid of both homotropic and heterotropic effects, supporting the premise that the allosteric properties of the wild-type enzyme are linked to a ligand-promoted change in quaternary structure.

Cooperative binding of the bisubstrate analog N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate to aspartate transcarbamoylase and the heterotropic effects of ATP and CTP.

Most investigations of the allosteric properties of the regulatory enzyme aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) from Escherichia coli are based on the sigmoidal dependence of enzyme activity on substrate concentration and the effects of the inhibitor, CTP, and the activator, ATP, on the saturation curves. Interpretations of these effects in terms of molecular models are complicated by the inability to distinguish between changes in substrate binding and catalytic turnover accompanying the allosteric transition. In an effort to eliminate this ambiguity, the binding of the 3H-labeled bisubstrate analog N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA) to aspartate transcarbamoylase in the absence and presence of the allosteric effectors ATP and CTP has been measured directly by equilibrium dialysis at pH 7 in phosphate buffer. PALA binds with marked cooperativity to the holoenzyme with an average dissociation constant of 110 nM. ATP and CTP alter both the average affinity of ATCase for PALA and the degree of cooperativity in the binding process in a manner analogous to their effects on the kinetic properties of the enzyme; the average dissociation constant of PALA decreases to 65 nM in the presence of ATP and increases to 266 nM in the presence of CTP while the Hill coefficient, which is 1.95 in the absence of effectors, becomes 1.35 and 2.27 in the presence of ATP and CTP, respectively. The isolated catalytic subunit of ATCase, which lacks the cooperative kinetic properties of the holoenzyme, exhibits only a very slight degree of cooperativity in binding PALA. The dissociation constant of PALA from the catalytic subunit is 95 nM. Interpretation of these results in terms of a thermodynamic scheme linking PALA binding to the assembly of ATCase from catalytic and regulatory subunits demonstrates that saturation of the enzyme with PALA shifts the equilibrium between holoenzyme and subunits slightly toward dissociation. Ligation of the regulatory subunits by either of the allosteric effectors leads to a change in the effect of PALA on the association-dissociation equilibrium.