Mechanism of dioxygen formation catalyzed by vanadium bromoperoxidase. Steady state kinetic analysis and comparison to the mechanism of bromination.

The steady state kinetic mechanism of the bromide-assisted disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide, forming dioxygen, catalyzed by vanadium bromoperoxidase has been investigated and compared to the mechanism of monochlorodimedone (MCD) bromination under conditions of 0.0125-6 mM H2O2, 1-500 mM Br-, and pH 4.55-6.52. Under these conditions, 50 microM MCD was sufficient to inhibit at least 90% of the dioxygen formation during MCD bromination. The rate data is consistent with a substrate-inhibited Bi Bi Ping Pong mechanism, in which the substrate bromide, is also an inhibitor at pH 4.55 and 5.25, but not at pH 5.91 and 6.52. The kinetic parameter KmBr, KmH2O2, KisBr, and KiiBr determined for the reactions of bromide-assisted disproportionation fo hydrogen peroxide and MCD bromination are similar, indicating that the mechanisms of both reactions occur via the formation of a common intermediate, the formation of which is rate-limiting. Fluoride is a competitive inhibitor with respect to hydrogen peroxide in both reactions at pH 6.5. At high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, the bromide-assisted disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide occurs during the bromination of MCD. The sum of the rates of MCD bromination and dioxygen formation during MCD bromination is equal to the rate of dioxygen formation in the absence of MCD. The apportionment of the reaction through the MCD bromination and dioxygen formation pathways depends on pH, with much lower hydrogen peroxide concentrations causing significant dioxygen formation at higher pH.

Mechanistic investigations of the novel non-heme vanadium bromoperoxidases. Evidence for singlet oxygen production.

Three newly discovered non-heme bromoperoxidases isolated from marine algae were found to catalyze the production of singlet oxygen in reactions composed of the bromoperoxidase, hydrogen peroxide, and bromide. The bromoperoxidases studied were vanadium bromoperoxidase (V-BrPO) from Ascophyllum nodosum, native non-heme bromoperoxidase from Corallina vancouveriensis (which contains vanadium and iron), and the vanadium-reconstituted bromoperoxidase derivative from C. vancouveriensis. These enzyme systems generated near infrared emission, characteristic of singlet oxygen. The emission had a peak intensity near 1268 nm, was greatly increased in 2H2O-containing buffers, and was greatly decreased by the singlet oxygen quenchers, histidine and azide. The yield of singlet oxygen was approximately 80% of the theoretical yield. A unique feature of the non-heme bromoperoxidases distinct from the iron heme haloperoxidases, was the remarkable stability of the non-heme enzymes in the presence of singlet oxygen and oxidized bromine species. V-BrPO turned over multiple aliquots of 2 mM hydrogen peroxide without losing efficiency. In contrast, iron heme lactoperoxidase was completely inactivated after turnover of the first aliquot of 2 mM hydrogen peroxide, and iron heme chloroperoxidase was 50% deactivated. The profile of singlet oxygen formation by V-BrPO and the near stoichiometric yield of singlet oxygen suggest that the mechanism of singlet oxygen formation is the same as the mechanism of dioxygen formation determined by oxygen probe measurements.

The effect of C-terminal processing on the activity of human interferon-gamma.

Homogeneous recombinant human interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) obtained from Escherichia coli (E. coli) was treated with a protease-containing fraction prepared from mechanically lysed E. coli cells. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the resulting product revealed two major components of molecular weight less than that of intact IFN-gamma. These were purified by ion exchange chromatography in the presence of 7 M urea and shown to have intact IFN-gamma N-terminal sequences, suggesting that they resulted via C-terminal cleavages of IFN-gamma. Amino acid analysis indicated that 4 C-terminal residues of IFN-gamma were lacking in one, and 15 in the other. The species lacking 4 C-terminal residues had activities virtually indistinguishable from those of IFN-gamma in antiviral and growth inhibitory assays using Encepharomyocarditis-treated HeLa or T98G cells and in a macrophage activation assay using macrophage-like U937 cells. The species lacking 15 C-terminal residues had markedly decreased activities in each of these assays, and had decreased binding affinity for IFN-gamma cell surface receptors. These observations define the C-terminal residues important for IFN-gamma's biological activity--information which should be useful in designing analogs of IFN-gamma with enhanced or altered biological activities.

Recombinant-DNA-derived bovine growth hormone from Escherichia coli. 2. Biochemical, biophysical, immunological and biological comparison with the pituitary hormone.

Bacterially synthesized, recombinant-DNA-derived bovine growth hormone (r-bGH), prepared as described in the preceding paper in this journal, has been characterized in comparison with pituitary bovine growth hormone (pit-bGH). The characterization criteria include sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, automated N-terminal sequence analysis, amino acid composition, isoelectric focusing, reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, ultraviolet absorbance, analysis for free protein thiol, sizing by gel filtration, circular dichroism, radioimmunoassay and biological activity in the hypophysectomized rat weight-gain assay. In every respect the r-bGH appears to be virtually identical to pit-bGH.