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Physiological Research 2012Digitonin solubilizes mitochondrial membrane, breaks the integrity of the respiratory chain and releases two mobile redox-active components: coenzyme Q (CoQ) and...
Digitonin solubilizes mitochondrial membrane, breaks the integrity of the respiratory chain and releases two mobile redox-active components: coenzyme Q (CoQ) and cytochrome c (cyt c). In the present study we report the inhibition of glycerol-3-phosphate- and succinate-dependent oxygen consumption rates by digitonin treatment. Our results show that the inhibition of oxygen consumption rates is recovered by the addition of exogenous synthetic analog of CoQ idebenone (hydroxydecyl-ubiquinone; IDB) and cyt c. Glycerol-3-phosphate oxidation rate is recovered to 148 % of control values, whereas succinate-dependent oxidation rate only to 68 %. We find a similar effect on the activities of glycerol-3-phosphate and succinate cytochrome c oxidoreductase. Our results also indicate that succinate-dependent oxidation is less sensitive to digitonin treatment and less activated by IDB in comparison with glycerol-3-phosphate-dependent oxidation. These findings might indicate the different mechanism of the electron transfer from two flavoprotein-dependent dehydrogenases (glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase) localized on the outer and inner face of the inner mitochondrial membrane, respectively.
Topics: Animals; Cytochromes c; Digitonin; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase; Glycerophosphates; Hyperthyroidism; Kinetics; Male; Mitochondria, Liver; Mitochondrial Membranes; Oxidation-Reduction; Oxygen Consumption; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Recovery of Function; Succinate Cytochrome c Oxidoreductase; Succinic Acid; Ubiquinone
PubMed: 22480420
DOI: 10.33549/physiolres.932318 -
The Biochemical Journal Sep 19721. Digitonin-treated and untreated homogenates, cell extracts and washed microsomal preparations from liver of Wistar R rats are capable of transferring sugar from...
Enzymic transfer of glucose and xylose from uridine diphosphate glucose and uridine diphosphate xylose to bilirubin by untreated and digitonin-activated preparations from rat liver.
1. Digitonin-treated and untreated homogenates, cell extracts and washed microsomal preparations from liver of Wistar R rats are capable of transferring sugar from UDP-glucose or UDP-xylose to bilirubin. No formation of bilirubin glycosides occurred with UDP-galactose or d-glucose, d-xylose or d-glucuronic acid as the sources of sugar. 2. Procedures to assay digitonin-activated and unactivated bilirubin UDP-glucosyltransferase and bilirubin UDP-xylosyltransferase were developed. 3. In digitonin-activated microsomal preparations the transferring enzymes had the following properties. Both enzyme activities were increased 2.5-fold by pretreatment with digitonin. They were optimum at pH6.6-7.2. Michaelis-Menten kinetics were followed with respect to UDP-glucose. In contrast, double-reciprocal plots of enzyme activity against the concentration of UDP-xylose showed two intersecting straight-line sections corresponding to concentration ranges where either bilirubin monoxyloside was formed (at low UDP-xylose concentrations) or where mixtures of both the mono- and di-xyloside were synthesized (at high UDP-xylose concentrations). Both enzyme activities were stimulated by Mg(2+); Ca(2+) was slightly less, and Mn(2+) slightly more, stimulatory than Mg(2+). Of the activities found in standard assay systems containing Mg(2+), 58-78% (substrate UDP-glucose) and 0-38% (substrate UDP-xylose) were independent of added bivalent metal ion. Double-reciprocal plots of the Mg(2+)-dependent activities against the concentration of added Mg(2+) were linear. 4. In comparative experiments the relative activities of liver homogenates obtained with UDP-glucuronic acid, UDP-glucose and UDP-xylose were 1:1.5:2.7 for untreated preparations and 1:0.29:0.44 after activation with digitonin. 5. Bilirubin UDP-glucuronyltransferase was protected against denaturation by human serum albumin, whereas bilirubin UDP-xylosyltransferase was not. 6. Digitonin-treated and untreated liver homogenates from Gunn rats were inactive in transferring sugar to bilirubin from UDP-glucuronic acid (in agreement with the work of others), UDP-glucose or UDP-xylose.
Topics: Animals; Bilirubin; Calcium; Digitonin; Enzyme Activation; Glucose; Glucosyltransferases; Glucuronates; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; In Vitro Techniques; Kinetics; Liver; Magnesium; Male; Manganese; Microsomes, Liver; Protein Denaturation; Rats; Serum Albumin; Uridine Diphosphate Sugars; Xylose
PubMed: 4658990
DOI: 10.1042/bj1290619 -
The Journal of General Physiology Jan 1954The sedimentation behavior of aqueous solutions of digitonin and of cattle rhodopsin in digitonin has been examined in the ultracentrifuge. In confirmation of earlier...
The sedimentation behavior of aqueous solutions of digitonin and of cattle rhodopsin in digitonin has been examined in the ultracentrifuge. In confirmation of earlier work, digitonin was found to sediment as a micelle (D-1) with an s(20) of about 6.35 Svedberg units, and containing at least 60 molecules. The rhodopsin solutions sediment as a stoichiometric complex of rhodopsin with digitonin (RD-1) with an s(20) of about 9.77 Svedberg units. The s(20) of the RD-1 micelle is constant between pH 6.3 and 9.6, and in the presence of excess digitonin. RD-1 travels as a single boundary also in the electrophoresis apparatus at pH 8.5, and on filter paper at pH 8.0. The molecular weight of the RD-1 micelle lies between 260,000 and 290,000. Of this, only about 40,000 gm. are due to rhodopsin; the rest is digitonin (180 to 200 moles). Comparison of the relative concentrations of RD-1 and retinene in solutions of rhodopsin-digitonin shows that RD-1 contains only one retinene equivalent. It can therefore contain only one molecule of rhodopsin with a molecular weight of about 40,000. Cattle rhodopsin therefore contains only one chromophore consisting of a single molecule of retinene. It is likely that frog rhodopsin has a similar molecular weight and also contains only one chromophore per molecule. The molar extinction coefficient of rhodopsin is therefore identical with the extinction coefficient per mole of retinene (40,600 cm.(2) per mole) and the E(1 per cent, 1 cm., 500 mmicro) has a value of about 10. Rhodopsin constitutes about 14 per cent of the dry weight, and 3.7 per cent of the wet weight of cattle outer limbs. This corresponds to about 4.2 x 10(6) molecules of rhodopsin per outer limb. The rhodopsin content of frog outer limbs is considerably higher: about 35 per cent of the dry weight, and 10 per cent of the wet weight, corresponding to about 2.1 x 10(9) molecules per outer limb. Thus the frog outer limb contains about five hundred times as much rhodopsin as the cattle outer limb. But the relative volumes of these structures are such that the ratio of concentrations is only about 2.5 to 1 on a weight basis. Rhodopsin accounts for at least one-fifth of the total protein of the cattle outer limb; for the frog, this value must be higher. The extinction (K(500)) along its axis is about 0.037 cm.(2) for the cattle outer limb, and about 0.50 cm.(2) for the frog outer limb.
Topics: Animals; Cattle; Digitalis; Digitonin; Molecular Weight; Rhodopsin
PubMed: 13118108
DOI: 10.1085/jgp.37.3.381 -
The Journal of Biological Chemistry Jun 2023Phosphatidylserine (PS) synthase from Candida albicans, encoded by the CHO1 gene, has been identified as a potential drug target for new antifungals against systemic...
Phosphatidylserine (PS) synthase from Candida albicans, encoded by the CHO1 gene, has been identified as a potential drug target for new antifungals against systemic candidiasis. Rational drug design or small molecule screening are effective ways to identify specific inhibitors of Cho1, but both will be facilitated by protein purification. Due to the transmembrane nature of Cho1, methods were needed to solubilize and purify the native form of Cho1. Here, we used six non-ionic detergents and three styrene maleic acids (SMAs) to solubilize an HA-tagged Cho1 protein from the total microsomal fractions. Blue native PAGE and immunoblot analysis revealed a single band corresponding to Cho1 in all detergent-solubilized fractions, while two bands were present in the SMA2000-solubilized fraction. Our enzymatic assay suggests that digitonin- or DDM-solubilized enzyme has the most PS synthase activity. Pull-downs of HA-tagged Cho1 from the digitonin-solubilized fraction reveal an apparent MW of Cho1 consistent with a hexamer. Furthermore, negative-staining electron microscopy analysis and AlphaFold2 structure prediction modeling suggest the hexamer is composed of a trimer of dimers. We purified Cho1 protein to near-homogeneity as a hexamer using affinity chromatography and TEV protease treatment, and optimized Cho1 enzyme activity for manganese and detergent concentrations, temperature (24 °C), and pH (8.0). The purified Cho1 has a K for its substrate CDP-diacylglycerol of 72.20 μM with a V of 0.079 nmol/(μg∗min) while exhibiting a sigmoidal kinetic curve for its other substrate serine, indicating cooperative binding. Purified hexameric Cho1 can potentially be used in downstream structure determination and small drug screening.
Topics: Candida albicans; CDPdiacylglycerol-Serine O-Phosphatidyltransferase; Detergents; Digitonin
PubMed: 37116705
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.104756 -
PloS One 2011Vpr, an accessory protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1, is a multifunctional protein that plays an important role in viral replication. We have previously...
Vpr, an accessory protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1, is a multifunctional protein that plays an important role in viral replication. We have previously shown that the region between residues 17 and 74 of Vpr (Vpr(N17C74)) contained a bona fide nuclear localization signal and it is targeted Vpr(N17C74) to the nuclear envelope and then imported into the nucleus by importin α (Impα) alone. The interaction between Impα and Vpr is important not only for the nuclear import of Vpr but also for HIV-1 replication in macrophages; however, it was unclear whether full-length Vpr enters the nucleus in a manner similar to Vpr(N17C74). This study investigated the nuclear import of full-length Vpr using the three typical Impα isoforms, Rch1, Qip1 and NPI-1, and revealed that full-length Vpr is selectively imported by NPI-1, but not Rch1 and Qip1, after it makes contact with the perinuclear region in digitonin-permeabilized cells. A binding assay using the three Impα isoforms showed that Vpr bound preferentially to the ninth armadillo repeat (ARM) region (which is also essential for the binding of CAS, the export receptor for Impα) in all three isoforms. Comparison of biochemical binding affinities between Vpr and the Impα isoforms using surface plasmon resonance analysis demonstrated almost identical values for the binding of Vpr to the full-length isoforms and to their C-terminal domains. By contrast, the data showed that, in the presence of CAS, Vpr was released from the Vpr/NPI-1 complex but was not released from Rch1 or Qip1. Finally, the NPI-1-mediated nuclear import of Vpr was greatly reduced in semi-intact CAS knocked-down cells and was recovered by the addition of exogenous CAS. This report is the first to show the requirement for and the regulation of CAS in the functioning of the Vpr-Impα complex.
Topics: Active Transport, Cell Nucleus; Cell Nucleus; Cellular Apoptosis Susceptibility Protein; Digitonin; Gene Knockdown Techniques; Glutathione Transferase; HEK293 Cells; HIV; HeLa Cells; Humans; Permeability; Protein Isoforms; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Surface Plasmon Resonance; alpha Karyopherins; vpr Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
PubMed: 22110766
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027815 -
Current Protocols in Cytometry Apr 2019Flow cytometry approaches combined with a genetically encoded targeted fluorescent biosensor are used to determine the subcellular compartmental availability of the...
Flow cytometry approaches combined with a genetically encoded targeted fluorescent biosensor are used to determine the subcellular compartmental availability of the oxidized form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD ). The availability of free NAD can affect the activities of NAD -consuming enzymes such as sirtuin, PARP/ARTD, and cyclic ADPR-hydrolase family members. Many methods for measuring the NAD available to these enzymes are limited because they cannot determine free NAD as it exists in various subcellular compartments distinctly from bound NAD or NADH. Here, an approach to express the sensor in mammalian cells, monitor NAD -dependent fluorescence intensity changes using flow cytometry approaches, and analyze data obtained is described. The benefit of flow cytometry approaches with the NAD sensor is the ability to monitor compartmentalized free NAD fluctuations simultaneously within many cells, which greatly facilitates analyses and calibration. © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Topics: Acrylamides; Biosensing Techniques; Calibration; Digitonin; Enzyme Inhibitors; Flow Cytometry; Fluorescence; HeLa Cells; Humans; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Intracellular Space; Mitochondria; NAD; Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase; Piperidines; Small Molecule Libraries; Statistics as Topic
PubMed: 30556645
DOI: 10.1002/cpcy.54 -
Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta Dec 2012The two novel cyanobacterial cyclic lipopeptides, anabaenolysin (Abl) A and B permeabilised mammalian cells, leading to necrotic death. Abl A was a more potent...
The two novel cyanobacterial cyclic lipopeptides, anabaenolysin (Abl) A and B permeabilised mammalian cells, leading to necrotic death. Abl A was a more potent haemolysin than other known biodetergents, including digitonin, and induced discocyte-echinocyte transformation in erythrocytes. The mitochondria of the dead cells appeared intact with regard to both ultrastructure and membrane potential. Also isolated rat liver mitochondria were resistant to Abl, judged by their ultrastructure and lack of cytochrome c release. The sparing of the mitochondria could be related to the low cholesterol content of their outer membrane. In fact, a supplement of cholesterol in liposomes sensitised them to Abl. In contrast, the prokaryote-directed cyclic lipopeptide surfactin lysed preferentially non-cholesterol-containing membranes. In silico comparison of the positions of relevant functional chemical structures revealed that Abl A matched poorly with surfactin in spite of the common cyclic lipopeptide structure. Abl A and the plant-derived glycolipid digitonin had, however, predicted overlaps of functional groups, particularly in the cholesterol-binding tail of digitonin. This may suggest independent evolution of Abl and digitonin to target eukaryotic cholesterol-containing membranes. Sub-lytic concentrations of Abl A or B allowed influx of propidium iodide into cells without interfering with their long-term cell viability. The transient permeability increase allowed the influx of enough of the cyanobacterial cyclic peptide toxin nodularin to induce apoptosis. The anabaenolysins might therefore not only act solely as lysins, but also as cofactors for the internalisation of other toxins. They represent a potent alternative to digitonin to selectively disrupt cholesterol-containing biological membranes.
Topics: Anabaena; Animals; Apoptosis; Bacterial Toxins; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Membrane; Cholesterol; Cytochromes c; Digitonin; Hemolysin Proteins; Lipopeptides; Liposomes; Liver; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial; Mitochondria; Mitochondria, Liver; Models, Molecular; Peptides, Cyclic; Propidium; Rats
PubMed: 22842546
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2012.07.015 -
Journal of Neurochemistry Nov 1985Digitonin permeabilizes the plasma membranes of bovine chromaffin cells to Ca2+, ATP, and proteins and allows micromolar Ca2+ in the medium to stimulate directly...
Digitonin permeabilizes the plasma membranes of bovine chromaffin cells to Ca2+, ATP, and proteins and allows micromolar Ca2+ in the medium to stimulate directly catecholamine secretion. In the present study the effects of digitonin (20 microM) on the plasma membrane and on intracellular chromaffin granules were further characterized. Cells with surface membrane labeled with [3H]galactosyl moieties retained label during incubation with digitonin. The inability of digitonin-treated cells to shrink in hyperosmotic solutions of various compositions indicated that tetrasaccharides and smaller molecules freely entered the cells. ATP stimulated [3H]norepinephrine uptake into digitonin-treated chromaffin cells fivefold. The stimulated [3H]norepinephrine uptake was inhibited by 1 microM reserpine, 30 microM NH4+, or 1 microM carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone (FCCP). The data indicate that [3H]norepinephrine was taken up into the intracellular storage granules by the ATP-induced H+ electrochemical gradient across the granule membrane. Reduction of the medium osmolality from 310 mOs to 100 mOs was required to release approximately 50% of the catecholamine from chromaffin granules with digitonin-treated chromaffin cells which indicates a similar osmotic stability to that in intact cells. Chromaffin granules in vitro lost catecholamine when the digitonin concentration was 3 microM or greater. Catecholamine released into the medium by micromolar Ca2+ from digitonin-treated chromaffin cells that had subsequently been washed free of digitonin could not be pelleted in the centrifuge and was not accompanied by release of membrane-bound dopamine-beta-hydroxylase. The studies demonstrate that 20 microM of digitonin caused profound changes in the chromaffin cell plasma membrane permeability but had little effect on intracellular chromaffin granule stability and function. It is likely that the intracellular chromaffin granules were not directly exposed to significant concentrations of digitonin. Furthermore, the data indicate that during catecholamine release induced by micromolar Ca2+, the granule membrane was retained by the cells and that catecholamine release did not result from release of intact granules into the extracellular medium.
Topics: Adenosine Triphosphate; Adrenal Medulla; Animals; Cattle; Cell Membrane; Cell Membrane Permeability; Chromaffin Granules; Chromaffin System; Digitonin; Kinetics; Norepinephrine; Osmolar Concentration; Reserpine
PubMed: 3876408
DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1985.tb07226.x -
Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta Jan 2016Membranes prepared from rat brain were treated with increasing concentrations of cationic, neutral, anionic and zwitterionic surfactants. Potent inactivation of...
Membranes prepared from rat brain were treated with increasing concentrations of cationic, neutral, anionic and zwitterionic surfactants. Potent inactivation of [(3)H]MK-801 binding to NMDA receptors (NRs) was provided by the cation cetyl pyridinium (IC50 25 μM) and the neutral digitonin (IC50 37 μM). A 2 h incubation of rat brain membranes at 24°C with 100 μM of the neutral Triton X-100 resulted in about 50% reversible inhibition (without inactivation). Reversible inhibition was also effected by the anion deoxycholate (IC50 700 μM), and by the zwitterions N-lauryl sulfobetaine (12-SB(±), 400 μM) and CHAPS (1.5 mM), with inactivation at higher concentrations. Keeping the NR cation channel in the closed state significantly protected against inactivation by cations and by 12-SB(±), but not by the other detergents. Inactivation depended differentially on the amount of the membranes, on the duration of the treatment, and on the temperature. Varying the amount of membranes by a factor 8 yielded for cetyl trimethylammonium (16-NMe3(+)) IC50s of inactivation from 10 to 80 μM, while for deoxycholate the IC50 of inactivation was 1.2 mM for all tissue quantities. Some compounds inactivated within a few min (16-NMe3(+), digitonin, CHAPS), while inactivation by others took at least half an hour (Triton X-100, deoxycholate, 12-SB(±)). These last 3 ones also exhibited the steepest temperature dependence. Knowledge about the influence of various parameters is helpful in selecting appropriate conditions allowing the treatment of brain membranes with amphiphiles without risking irreversible inactivation.
Topics: Animals; Cell Membrane; Cerebral Cortex; Cetrimonium; Cetrimonium Compounds; Cholic Acids; Deoxycholic Acid; Detergents; Digitonin; Dizocilpine Maleate; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; Hippocampus; Male; Octoxynol; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
PubMed: 26518518
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2015.10.021 -
The Biochemical Journal Dec 1991Although the cyst wall of Entamoeba invadens contains chitin, synthesis of this structural polymer during encystation has not been described before. Here we report that...
Although the cyst wall of Entamoeba invadens contains chitin, synthesis of this structural polymer during encystation has not been described before. Here we report that conditions which stimulate encystation of the parasite lead to increased chitin synthase (ChS) activity, measured by incorporation of [3H]GlcNAc ([3H]N-acetylglucosamine) from UDP-GlcNAc. The radiolabelled product was precipitable by trichloroacetic acid or ethanol and identified as chitin because it was digested by purified chitinase to radioactive chitobiose and GlcNAc. Cell fractionation indicated that approx. 60% of the enzyme is in the high-speed supernatant. pH-activity profiles showed that soluble ChS has an optimum at 6.0, whereas particulate ChS has a peak at pH 7.0-7.5. Both the activities were dependent on bivalent metal ions, especially Mn2+ and Mn2+ plus Co2+. In contrast with the ChS of other organisms, neither the particulate nor the soluble ChS of E. invadens was activated by trypsin treatment. Soluble and particulate ChS were also stimulated by digitonin and phosphatidylserine, whereas phosphatidylethanolamine stimulated only the soluble ChS. The enzyme activities were inhibited by UDP, UDP-glucose and UDP-GalNAc, but not by the analogues Polyoxin-D or Nikkomycin. This is the first report of an enzyme which is developmentally regulated during encystation of the primitive eukaryotic genus Entamoeba.
Topics: Animals; Cations, Divalent; Chitin; Chitin Synthase; Chitinases; Digitonin; Entamoeba; Glucose; Morphogenesis; Phospholipids; Subcellular Fractions; Trypsin; Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylglucosamine
PubMed: 1764027
DOI: 10.1042/bj2800641