Psychrotolerant Paenibacillus tundrae isolates from barley grains produce new cereulide-like depsipeptides (paenilide and homopaenilide) that are highly toxic to mammalian cells.

Paenilide is a novel, heat-stable peptide toxin from Paenibacillus tundrae, which colonizes barley. P. tundrae produced 20 to 50 ng of the toxin mg(-1) of cells (wet weight) throughout a range of growth temperatures from +5°C to +28°C. Paenilide consisted of two substances of 1,152 Da and 1,166 Da, with masses and tandem mass spectra identical to those of cereulide and a cereulide homolog, respectively, produced by Bacillus cereus NS-58. The two components of paenilide were separated from those of cereulide by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), showing a structural difference suggesting the replacement of O-Leu (cereulide) by O-Ile (paenilide). The exposure of porcine spermatozoa and kidney tubular epithelial (PK-15) cells to subnanomolar concentrations of paenilide resulted in inhibited motility, the depolarization of mitochondria, excessive glucose consumption, and metabolic acidosis. Paenilide was similar to cereulide in eight different toxicity endpoints with porcine and murine cells. In isolated rat liver mitochondria, nanomolar concentrations of paenilide collapsed respiratory control, zeroed the mitochondrial membrane potential, and induced swelling. The toxic effect of paenilide depended on its high lipophilicity and activity as a high-affinity potassium ion carrier. Similar to cereulide, paenilide formed lipocations, i.e., lipophilic cationic compounds, with K(+) ions already at 4 mM [K(+)], rendering lipid membranes electroconductive. Paenilide-producing P. tundrae was negative in a PCR assay with primers specific for the cesB gene, indicating that paenilide was not a product of plasmid pCER270, encoding the biosynthesis of cereulide in B. cereus. Paenilide represents the first potassium ionophoric compound described for Paenibacillus. The findings in this paper indicate that paenilide from P. tundrae is a potential food-poisoning agent.

Oxidative stress induces degradation of mitochondrial DNA.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is located in close proximity of the respiratory chains, which are the main cellular source of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS can induce oxidative base lesions in mtDNA and are believed to be an important cause of the mtDNA mutations, which accumulate with aging and in diseased states. However, recent studies indicate that cumulative levels of base substitutions in mtDNA can be very low even in old individuals. Considering the reduced complement of DNA repair pathways available in mitochondria and higher susceptibility of mtDNA to oxidative damage than nDNA, it is presently unclear how mitochondria manage to maintain the integrity of their genetic information in the face of the permanent exposure to ROS. Here we show that oxidative stress can lead to the degradation of mtDNA and that strand breaks and abasic sites prevail over mutagenic base lesions in ROS-damaged mtDNA. Furthermore, we found that inhibition of base excision repair enhanced mtDNA degradation in response to both oxidative and alkylating damage. These observations suggest a novel mechanism for the protection of mtDNA against oxidative insults whereby a higher incidence of lesions to the sugar-phosphate backbone induces degradation of damaged mtDNA and prevents the accumulation of mutagenic base lesions.

Encapsulation of glutamine synthetase in mouse erythrocytes: a new procedure for ammonia detoxification.

There are a number of pathological situations in which ammonia levels increase leading to hyperammonemia, which may cause neurological alterations and can lead to coma and death. Currently, there are no efficient treatments allowing rapid and sustained decrease of ammonia levels in these situations. A way to increase ammonia detoxification would be to increase its incorporation in glutamine by glutamine synthetase. The aim of this work was to develop a procedure to encapsulate glutamine synthetase in mouse erythrocytes and to assess whether administration of these erythrocytes containing glutamine synthetase (GS) reduce ammonia levels in hyperammonemic mice. The procedure developed allowed the encapsulation of 3 +/- 0.25 IU of GS / mL of erythrocytes with a 70% cell recovery. Most metabolites, including ATP, remained unaltered in glutamine synthetase-loaded erythrocytes (named ammocytes by us) compared with native erythrocytes. The glutamine synthetase-loaded ammocytes injected in mice survived and retained essentially all of their glutamine synthetase activity for at least 48 h in vivo. Injection of these ammocytes into hyperammonemic mice reduced ammonia levels in the blood by about 50%. The results reported indicate that ammocytes are able to keep their integrity, normal energy metabolism, the inserted glutamine synthetase activity, and can be useful to reduce ammonia levels in hyperammonemic situations.

Acute ammonia neurotoxicity in vivo involves increase in cytoplasmic protein P53 without alterations in other markers of apoptosis.

Acute intoxication with large ammonia doses leads to activation of NMDA receptors in the brain, resulting in oxidative stress and disturbance of mitochondrial function. Altered mitochondrial function is a crucial step in some mechanisms of cellular apoptosis. This study assesses whether ammonia intoxication in vivo leads to induction of apoptotic markers such as permeability transition pore (PTP) formation, caspase-3, and caspase-9 activation, changes in p53 protein, or cytochrome c release. Acute ammonia intoxication did not affect caspase-9 or caspase-3 activities. The mitochondrial membrane potential also remained unaltered in non-synaptic brain mitochondria after injection of ammonia, indicating that ammonia did not induce PTP formation in brain in vivo. The nuclear level of p53 did not change, whereas its cytoplasmic level increased approximately two-fold. In agreement with the theory that translocation of the p53 from cytosol to nuclei is an essential step for induction of apoptosis we did not find apoptotic nuclei in brain of rats injected with ammonia. This supports the idea that ammonia neurotoxicity does not involve apoptosis and points to impaired p53 transfer from cytoplasm to nuclei as a possible preventer of apoptosis. We did not find any release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol after ammonia injection. Cytochrome c content was significantly reduced (30%) in brain mitochondria from rats injected with ammonia. This decrease may contribute to the reduced state 3 respiration, decreased respiratory control index, and disturbances in the mitochondrial electron transport chain in brain mitochondria from rats injected with ammonia.

Acute ammonia intoxication induces an NMDA receptor-mediated increase in poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase level and NAD metabolism in nuclei of rat brain cells.

Acute ammonia toxicity is mediated by excessive activation of NMDA receptors. Activation of NMDA receptors leads to activation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) which mediates NMDA excitotoxicity. PARP is activated following DNA damage and may lead to cell death via NAD+ and ATP depletion. The aim of the present work was to assess whether acute ammonia intoxication in vivo leads to increased PARP in brain cells nuclei and to altered NAD+ and superoxide metabolism and the contribution of NMDA receptors to these alterations. Acute ammonia intoxication increases PARP content twofold in brain cells nuclei.NAD+ content decreased by 55% in rats injected with ammonia. This was not due to decreased NAD+ synthetase nor increased NAD+ hydrolase activities and would be due to increased NAD+ consumption by PARP. Superoxide radical formation increased by 75% in nuclei of brains of rats injected with ammonia, that also induced protein nitrotyrosylation and DNA damage. Blocking NMDA receptors prevented ammonia-induced PARP, superoxide and nitrotyrosylation increase, DNA damage and NAD+ decrease. These results show that acute ammonia intoxication in vivo leads to activation of NMDA receptors, leading to increased superoxide formation and PARP content and depletion of NAD+ in brain cells nuclei that contribute to ammonia toxicity.

Sources of oxygen radicals in brain in acute ammonia intoxication in vivo.

The effects of acute ammonia intoxication on reactive oxygen species production by different sources in rat brain were studied. Ammonia intoxication in vivo leads to reduced activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase in brain nonsynaptic mitochondria and increased formation of O(2)(-) by submitochondrial particles. It also results in increased xanthine oxidase (XO) activity and decreased xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH)/XO activity ratio indicating conversion of XDH to XO and also increases monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) activity but not of MAO-B. Blocking NMDA receptors with MK-801 prevents ammonia-induced oxidative stress, XDH to XO conversion and MAO-A activation. Ammonia intoxication did not lead to H(2)O(2) formation by mitochondria, in spite of increased O(2)(-) generation. The main source of H(2)O(2) in the mitochondrial matrix was Mn-SOD. Ammonia intoxication in vivo leads to increased superoxide and decreased hydrogen peroxide in nonsynaptic brain mitochondria. Increased superoxide is due to increased formation by the respiratory chain and by xanthine and aldehyde oxidases and decreased elimination by antioxidant enzymes. The reduced formation of hydrogen peroxide is due to the reduced activity of Mn-SOD. Prevention of ammonia-induced production of reactive oxygen species by MK-801 supports the idea that it is mediated by activation of NMDA receptors.