Intrinsic activity and stability of bifunctional human UMP synthase and its two separate catalytic domains, orotate phosphoribosyltransferase and orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase.

Human UMP synthase is a bifunctional protein containing two separate catalytic domains, orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.10) and orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.23). These studies address the question of why the last two reactions in pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis are catalyzed by a bifunctional enzyme in mammalian cells, but by two separate enzymes in microorganisms. From existing data on subunit associations of the respective enzymes and calculations showing the molar concentration of enzyme to be far lower in mammalian cells than in microorganisms, we hypothesize that the covalent union in UMP synthase stabilizes the domains containing the respective catalytic centers. Evidence supporting this hypothesis comes from studies of stability of enzyme activity in vitro, at physiological concentrations, of UMP synthase, the two isolated catalytic domains prepared by site-directed mutagenesis of UMP synthase, and the yeast ODCase. The two engineered domains have activities very similar to the native UMP synthase, but unlike the bifunctional protein, the domains are quite unstable under conditions promoting the dissociated monomer.

Human uridine monophosphate synthase: baculovirus expression, immunoaffinity column purification and characterization of the acetylated amino terminus.

Human uridine monophosphate (UMP) synthase, a bifunctional protein containing orotate phsophoribosyltransferase (OPRTase, EC 2.4.2.10) and orotidine 5'-monophosphate decarboxylase (ODCase, EC 4.1.1.23) activities, has been overproduced by construction and use of a recombinant baculovirus containing the cDNA for this protein. Expression of the virus in cabbage looper larvae produces a crude larval homogenate having UMP synthase enriched about 180-fold over human placental homogenates and allows larger quantities of this human protein as well as analog proteins to be prepared for structure/function studies. A vastly improved purification procedure using a monoclonal immunoaffinity column was developed. Human UMP synthase purified from larval extracts yielded a product which comigrates in SDS gel electrophoresis with UMP synthase purified from human placenta; pure proteins prepared from these two tissue sources have the same specific activities. We found that OPRTase requires Pi ions in the assay buffers for optimal OPRTase activity; BSA in the assay vessel increases to a lesser degree both OPRTase and ODCase activities. These changes in the assay are essential to observe a parallel enrichment of the two enzyme activities. The baculovirus system was used to express human UMP synthase because it usually yields a product with posttranslational modifications that reflect those of the organism that provided the cDNA. We report data to show that human UMP synthase derived from either human placenta or larval extracts both have a sequence in which the N-terminal methionine has been removed and the formerly penultimate alanine has been acetylated.

A possible role for the conserved trimer interface of ferritin in iron incorporation.

Ferritin is a large protein, highly conserved among higher eukaryotes, which reversibly stores iron as a mineral of hydrated ferric oxide. Twenty-four polypeptides assemble to form a hollow coat with the mineral inside. Multiple steps occur in iron core formation. First, Fe2+ enters the protein. Then, several alternate paths may be followed which include oxidation at site(s) on the protein, oxidation on the core surface, and mineralization. Sequence variations occur among ferritin subunits which are classified as H or L; Fe2+ oxidation at sites on the protein appears to be H-subunit-specific or protein-specific. Other steps of ferritin core formation are likely to involve conserved sites in ferritins. Since incorporation of Fe2+ into the protein must precede any of the other steps in core formation, it may involve sites conserved among the various ferritin proteins. In this study, accessibility of Fe2+ to 1,10-phenanthroline, previously shown to be inaccessible to Fe2+ inside ferritin, was used to measure Fe2+ incorporation in two different ferritins under various conditions. Horse spleen ferritin (L/H = 10-20:1) and sheep spleen ferritin (L/H = 1:1.6) were compared. The results showed that iron incorporation measured as inaccessibility of Fe2+ to 1,10-phenanthroline increased with pH. The effect was the same for both proteins, indicating that a step in iron core formation common among ferritins was being measured. Conserved sites previously proposed for different steps in ferritin core formation are at the interfaces of pairs and trios of subunits. Dinitrophenol cross-links, which modify pairs of subunits and affect iron oxidation, had no effect on Fe2+ incorporation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Crosslinks between intramolecular pairs of ferritin subunits: effects on both H and L subunits and on immunoreactivity of sheep spleen ferritin.

Ferritin is a multisubunit protein, controlling iron storage, with a protein coat composed of 24 subunits (up to three distinct types) in different proportions depending on cell type. Little is known about the subunit interactions in ferritin protein coats composed of heterologous subunits, despite the relevance to ferritin structure and ferritin function (iron uptake and release). Synthetic crosslinking is a convenient way to probe subunit contacts. Crosslinks between subunit pairs in ferritin protein coats are also a natural post-translational modification which coincides with different iron content in ferritin from sheep spleen; ferritin from sheep spleen also contains H and L subunits. Crosslinks synthesized by the reaction of ferritin low in natural crosslinks with difluorodinitrobenzene (F2DNB) reproduced the effects of the natural crosslinks on iron uptake and release. We now extend our observations on the structural effects of natural and synthetic crosslinks to include immunoreactivity of the assembled protein, with monoclonal antibodies as a probe. We also demonstrate, for the first time, ferritin peptides involved in an apparent H- and L-subunit contact: two peptides decreased 4X in cyanogen bromide peptide maps after F2DNB crosslinking were residues L-96-138 and H-66-96; the major DNP-dipeptide was Lys-DNP-Lys. Using the structure of an all L-subunit ferritin as a model, the most likely site for the H-L DNP crosslink is L-Lys 104 (C helix) and H-Lys 67 (B helix). The B helix forms the internal subunit dimer interface, a putative site of iron core nucleation. Alteration by crosslinks of the B helix could, therefore, explain the effect of crosslinks on ferritin iron uptake, release, and iron content.