Oxidative Bax dimerization promotes its translocation to mitochondria independently of apoptosis.

Bax is a cytosolic protein, which in response to stressing apoptotic stimuli, is activated and translocates to mitochondria, thus initiating the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. In spite of many studies and the importance of the issue, the molecular mechanisms that trigger Bax translocation are still obscure. We show by computer simulation that the two cysteine residues of Bax may form disulfide bridges, producing conformational changes that favor Bax translocation. Oxidative, nonapoptogenic treatments produce an up-shift of Bax migration compatible with homodimerization, which is reverted by reducing agents; this is accompanied by translocation to mitochondria. Dimers also appear in pure cytosolic fractions of cell lysates treated with H2O2, showing that Bax dimerization may take place in the cytosol. Bax dimer-enriched lysates support Bax translocation to isolated mitochondria much more efficiently than untreated lysates, indicating that dimerization may promote Bax translocation. The absence of apoptosis in our system allows the demonstration that Bax moves because of oxidations, even in the absence of apoptosis. This provides the first evidence that Bax dimerization and translocation respond to oxidative stimuli, suggesting a novel role for Bax as a sensor of redox imbalance.

Glutathione depletion causes cytochrome c release even in the absence of cell commitment to apoptosis.

We demonstrate here that the release of mature cytochrome c from mitochondria is a cellular response to the depletion of glutathione, the main intracellular antioxidant, independently from the destiny of the cells, i.e., apoptosis or survival. On the one hand, cytosolic cytochrome c was detected in cells where the inhibition of glutathione synthesis led to glutathione depletion without impairing viability or in tight concomitance with glutathione depletion prior to puromycin-induced apoptosis. Removal of the apoptogenic agent prior to apoptosis, but after glutathione extrusion and cytochrome c release, led to recovery of preapoptotic cells, which resume healthy features, i.e., restoration of normal glutathione levels and disappearance of cytosolic cytochrome c. On the other hand, in an example of apoptosis occurring without glutathione depletion, no translocation of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol was detected. Unlike the other instances of apoptosis, in this case caspase 3 was not activated, thus suggesting the following oxidant-related apoptotic pathway: glutathione depletion, cytochrome c release, and caspase 3 activation. These results show that cytochrome c release is not a terminal event leading cells to apoptosis, but rather is the consequence of a redox disequilibrium that, under some circumstances, may be associated with apoptosis.

Rescue of cells from apoptosis by inhibition of active GSH extrusion.

Cells induced to apoptosis extrude glutathione in the reduced form concomitantly with (U937 cells) or before (HepG2 cells) the development of apoptosis, much earlier than plasma membrane leakage. Two specific inhibitors of carrier-mediated GSH extrusion, methionine or cystathionine, are able to decrease apoptotic GSH efflux across the intact plasma membrane, demonstrating that in these cell systems GSH extrusion occurs via a specific mechanism. While decreasing GSH efflux, cystathionine or methionine also decrease the extent of apoptosis. They fail to exert anti-apoptotic activity in cells previously deprived of GSH, indicating that the target of the protection is indeed GSH efflux. The cells rescued by methionine or cystathionine remained viable after removal of the apoptogenic inducers and were even able to replicate. This shows that a real rescue to perfect viability and not just a delay of apoptosis is achieved by forcing GSH to stay within the cells during apoptogenic treatment. All this evidence indicates that extrusion of reduced glutathione precedes and is responsible for the irreversible morphofunctional changes of apoptosis, probably by altering the intracellular redox state without intervention of reactive oxygen species, thus giving a rationale for the development of redox-dependent apoptosis under anaerobic conditions.

Purification and characterization of Ag,Zn-superoxide dismutase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae exposed to silver.

Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase plays an important role in protecting cells from oxygen toxicity by catalyzing the dismutation of superoxide anion into hydrogen peroxide and oxygen. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase is coregulated with copper-thionein by copper via the transcription factor ACE 1. We demonstrate here that presence of AgNO3 in the culture medium leads to a five times increase of Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase mRNA, with a concomitant six times decrease of the enzyme activity. Susceptibility of yeast to silver was apparently inversely related to Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase activity. From silver-treated yeast a Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase with impaired dismutase function was purified and was shown to contain silver, which was located to the copper site. These data suggest that Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase may play an additional direct role in the defense of S. cerevisiae against metal stress by functioning as metal chelator.

Purification of iron superoxide dismutase from the cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica Lemm. and localization of the enzyme in heterocysts by immunogold labeling.

Iron superoxide dismutase (Fe-SOD; EC 1.15.1.1) was isolated from the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica Lemm. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis separated the purified protein into three closely running, enzymatically active bands. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated by gel filtration to be about 40 kDa. Polyclonal antibodies were produced by immunization of rabbits with the isolated enzyme, and were purified on a column of protein A-Sepharose. The Fe-SOD antibody reacted with the purified Fe-SOD and also specifically recognized the protein in extracts of A. cylindrica. In the extracts, anti-Fe-SOD did not cross-react with Mn-SOD, an enzyme which belongs to an SOD class displaying high homology of primary and three-dimensional structure with respect to Fe-SOD. Iron superoxide dismutase was localized in heterocysts by immunogold labeling and transmission electron microscopy. These results are the first in-situ evidence for the presence of SOD in the cells specialized for nitrogenase activity.

Activation and induction by copper of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Presence of an inactive proenzyme in anaerobic yeast.

The Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase activity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was found to be strictly related to the extent of oxygen metabolism, since cells grown under anaerobic or repressed conditions were found to contain 10% and 40% the activity of derepressed cells, respectively. The dependence of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase on oxygen was found to be related to the availability of copper to the cells since the enzyme activity and immunoreactive protein measured under the various conditions was roughly proportional to the copper content of cells and in anaerobic cells a large fraction of the enzyme was found to be in the form of an inactive proenzyme which was activated by the addition of copper to cell extracts. The Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase mRNA did not parallel the dependence of the enzyme concentration on oxygen metabolism, suggesting that the gene expression was affected by copper also at the post-transcriptional level. However, under conditions of copper overloading, a more direct effect on transcription was observed and the presence of the inactive proenzyme in anaerobic cultures was associated with the over-expression of metallothionein.

Manganese accumulation in yeast cells. Electron-spin-resonance characterization and superoxide dismutase activity.

Manganese accumulation was studied by room-temperature electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy in Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown in the presence of increasing amounts of MnSO4. Mn2+ retention was nearly linear in intact cells for fractions related to both low-molecular-mass and macromolecular complexes ('free' and 'bound' Mn2+, respectively). A deviation from linearity was observed in cell extracts between the control value and 0.1 mM Mn2+, indicating more efficient accumulation at low Mn2+ concentrations. The difference in slopes between the two straight lines describing Mn2+ retention at concentrations lower and higher than 0.1 mM, respectively, was quite large for the free Mn2+ fraction. Furthermore it was unaffected by subsequent dialyses of the extracts, showing stable retention in the form of low-molecular-mass complexes. In contrast, the slope of the line describing retention of 'bound' Mn2+ at concentrations higher than 0.1 mM became less steep after subsequent dialyses of the cell extracts. This result indicates that the macromolecule-bound Mn2+ was essentially associated with particulate structures. In contrast to Cu2+, Mn2+ had no effect on the major enzyme activities involved in oxygen metabolism except for a slight increase of cyanide-resistant Mn-superoxide dismutase activity, due to dialyzable Mn2+ complexes.