Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.7 (DNA polymerase)
 17,007 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The DNA polymerase and RNase H activities of HIV reverse transcriptase are both essential for HIV replication. Although the two activities are both catalyzed by a single polypeptide, they are physically separate; i.e., the DNA polymerase resides in the N-terminal domain whereas the RNase H is localized in the C-terminal domain. The present study was undertaken to characterize the enzymatic properties of these two activities and to determine whether the two catalytic sites are also functionally distinct. We have observed that EGTA specifically stimulates, whereas CaCl2 selectively inhibits, the RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity but that neither compound has any effect on the RNase H activity of a recombinant HIV reverse transcriptase. The stimulation of the DNA polymerase activity by EGTA is dependent on the Mg2+ concentration; the greatest stimulation is observed at low Mg2+ concentrations. Similarly, the inhibition of DNA polymerase activity by Ca2+ is influenced by Mg2+ concentration. Ca2+ inhibition can be reversed by increasing Mg2+ concentrations, suggesting the possibility that CaCl2 inhibits the reverse transcriptase activity by competing for a metal-binding site on the enzyme. The pyrophosphate analogue phosphonoformate selectively inhibits the polymerase activity but not the RNase H activity of HIV reverse transcriptase. In contrast, the RNase H activity can be selectively inhibited by deoxyadenosine 5'-monophosphate, whereas the DNA polymerase activity is not inhibited. These results suggest that the DNA polymerase and RNase activities are not only physically separate but that they are also functionally distinct.
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PMID:Functional characterization of RNA-dependent DNA polymerase and RNase H activities of a recombinant HIV reverse transcriptase. 170 16

The pyrophosphate analogue, foscarnet, selectively inhibits the DNA polymerase of human herpes viruses, including cytomegalovirus, and the reverse transcriptase of HIV. Viral replication is therefore prevented, but resumes when the drug is cleared from infected cells. In vitro, the combination of foscarnet and zidovudine (azidothymidine) has an additive effect against cytomegalovirus and acts synergistically against HIV. An improvement in cytomegalovirus retinitis is obtained in over 85% of affected AIDS patients during foscarnet induction therapy, but relapse usually occurs within a month of ceasing treatment. There is a similar duration of remission during maintenance therapy given for 5 days each week, but this can be extended 4- to 5-fold with daily administration of higher doses. In allograft recipients, progression of retinitis can be halted by foscarnet until immune function recovers and eradicates the virus. The incidence of acute renal failure, which is common during foscarnet therapy, may be reduced by dosage adjustment and adequate prehydration. Anaemia, phlebitis, nausea and vomiting, and disturbances in serum calcium and phosphate levels, perhaps resulting from uptake of foscarnet into bone or chelation with ionised calcium, have also been associated with administration of the drug. Cytomegalovirus retinitis is difficult to treat, with few therapeutic options available. Although treatment with foscarnet produces some severe adverse effects, with care these can be minimised, and the drug produces clinical improvement in a large proportion of patients; this is a highly encouraging finding at this stage in its development. Preliminary comparative data indicate that foscarnet and ganciclovir are similarly effective, but foscarnet may have some theoretical advantages in AIDS patients since it can be used in combination with zidovudine without potentiating myelosuppression.
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PMID:Foscarnet. A review of its antiviral activity, pharmacokinetic properties and therapeutic use in immunocompromised patients with cytomegalovirus retinitis. 170 82

Addition of pentoxifylline to lymphocytes caused a dose-dependent decrease in PHA-induced interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) expression. Expression of IL-2R protein and mRNA were inhibited by 60% at a concentration of 1 mM. Pentoxifylline also inhibited release of IL-2R into the medium by 85%. Treatment with recombinant IL-2 (50 U/ml) did not abrogate the effect of pentoxifylline. In addition to inhibition of IL-2R expression, pentoxifylline also decreased the expression of transferrin receptors and class I MHC antigens. Pentoxifylline also inhibited cell proliferation. However, aphidicolin, an inhibitor of DNA polymerase alpha inhibited cell proliferation to the same extent as pentoxifylline, but had no effect on IL-2R expression, indicating that inhibition of cell proliferation does not necessarily lead to inhibition of IL-2R expression. The inhibitory effect on IL-2R expression was also noted with other methylxanthines, theophylline and isobutylmethylxanthine, and with dbcAMP and forskolin. The inhibitory activity of pentoxifylline was prevented by W-13, a calmodulin antagonist, but not by HA-1004, a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor. This suggests that pentoxifylline might act in part through a Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent mechanism. Pentoxifylline and other methylxanthines may prove useful in delineating the biochemical pathways involved in induction and expression of cell surface receptors.
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PMID:Pentoxifylline and other methyl xanthines inhibit interleukin-2 receptor expression in human lymphocytes. 170 25

We have purified a DNA helicase from calf thymus to apparent homogeneity by monitoring the activity with a strand displacement assay. DNA helicase followed the DNA polymerase alpha-primase complex through chromatography on phosphocellulose and hydroxylapatite. Separation from DNA polymerase alpha-primase complex as well as from the bulk of another DNA-dependent ATPase was achieved on heparin-Sepharose. Further purification steps included ATP-agarose and fast protein liquid chromatography-Mono S. A 47-kDa polypeptide cosedimented with the DNA helicase activity in a glycerol gradient as well as in gel filtration on Superose 6. The calf thymus DNA helicase had a sedimentation coefficient of 4-7 S and Stokes radius of about 45 A suggesting that the enzyme might be monomer in its functional form. DNA helicase activity requires a divalent cation with Mg2+ being more efficient than Mn2+ or Ca2+. Hydrolysis of ATP is required since the two nonhydrolyzable ATP analogs adenosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) and adenylyl (beta, gamma-methylene)diphosphonate cannot substitute for ATP or dATP in the displacement reaction. Calf thymus DNA helicase is able to use ATP, dATP, dideoxy-ATP, CTP, and dCTP with Km for ATP and dATP of 0.2 and 0.25 mM, respectively. The enzyme can displace a fragment of 24 bases completely in an enzyme concentration- and time-dependent manner. The DNA helicase appears to bind to single-stranded DNA and to move to single-strand double-strand transition. The directionality of unwinding is 3'----5' with respect to the single-stranded DNA to which the enzyme is bound.
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PMID:DNA helicase from calf thymus. Purification to apparent homogeneity and biochemical characterization of the enzyme. 197 96

Ultraviolet mutagenesis of the shuttle vector plasmid pZ189 in Xeroderma Pigmentosum cells yields a mutational pattern marked by hotspots at photoproduct sites on both strands of the supF marker gene. In order to test the influence of strand orientation on the appearance of hotspots the mutagenesis study was repeated on a vector with the supF gene in the inverted orientation. We recovered a pattern the same as that in the earlier work and conclude that the nature of the DNA polymerase involved in the replication of specific strands is not a primary determinant of hotspot occurrence in this system. One of the hotspots lies in an 8 base palindrome while the corresponding site on the other strand was not a hotspot. These results were obtained with calcium phosphate transfection of the UV treated vector. When DEAE dextran was used as a transfection agent both sites in the palindrome were hotspots. In a mixing experiment the calcium phosphate pattern was recovered. Our data suggest that the sequence determinants of mutational probability at these two sites lie outside the 8 bases of the palindrome and that mutagenesis at one, but not the other, site is sensitive to perturbation of cellular calcium levels.
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PMID:Modulation of an ultraviolet mutational hotspot in a shuttle vector Xeroderma cells. 202 67

Novel DNA primase-like activity was partially purified from human Hela cells, and the activity was clearly separated from DNA polymerase alpha by phosphocellulose column chromatography. The enzyme did not show significant activity in the absence of Ca2+, and was dramatically activated by the addition of Ca2+; so it was designated as C-primase. The C-primase showed a molecular weight of 20,000 estimated by gel filtration and a sedimentation coefficient of 3.5 S by glycerol gradient centrifugation. These results, together with the other properties of the C-primase, suggest that this primase like-enzyme is distinct from the authentic eukaryotic primase in the DNA polymerase alpha/DNA primase complex.
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PMID:A Ca2+-dependent DNA primase-like activity from HeLa cells. 275 81

The aggregation factor (AF) of the marine sponge Geodia cydonium recognizes the aggregation receptor (AR) which is inserted in the plasma membrane, under formation of species-specific aggregates. The specific cell-binding fragment of the AF was used to investigate for the first time the phosphoinositide metabolism in a lower avertebrate system. We found that after binding of the cell-binding fragment to the aggregation receptor a strong and rapid stimulation of the phosphate incorporation into phosphatidylinositol occurs followed by an increased turnover of phosphoinositides in the Geodia cells. The consequences of an increased degradation of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate into the two second messengers inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate and diacylglycerol are 2-fold. First, after the addition of the extracellular stimulus the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration rises, resulting in a rapid increased Ca2+ efflux rate. The functional consequence of the increase of the extracellular Ca2+ level is an initiation of the aggregate formation that is mediated by the collagen assembly factor (= primary aggregation factor). Second, some experimental evidences are presented, showing that the other second messenger formed, diacylglycerol, causes a translocation of protein kinase C within the cell. Incubation of Geodia cells with the cell-binding fragment of the AF, or with the phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, resulted within 5 min after treatment in a 70% decrease in protein kinase C activity in the cytosolic fraction and in a 700% increase in enzyme activity in the membrane fraction. It is proposed that by membrane association protein kinase C becomes activated. As a result of this event a series of cellular proteins are phosphorylated, a process which ultimately leads to an unusually strong induction of DNA polymerase alpha activity. From these data we conclude that inositol trisphosphate and protein kinase C also play a fundamental role in cellular signal transduction in lower eukaryotes.
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PMID:Role of the aggregation factor in the regulation of phosphoinositide metabolism in sponges. Possible consequences on calcium efflux and on mitogenesis. 303 73

The beta subunit of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase III holoenzyme binds Mg2+. Reacting beta with fluoresceinmaleimide (FM) resulted in one label per beta monomer with full retention of activity. Titration of FM-beta with Mg2+ resulted in a saturable 11% fluorescence enhancement. Analysis indicated that there was one noncooperative magnesium binding site per beta monomer with a dissociation constant of 1.7 mM. Saturable fluorescence enhancement was also observed when titration was with Ca2+ or spermidine(3+) but not with the monovalent cations Na+ and K+. The Mg2+-induced fluorescence enhancement was specific for FM-beta and was not observed with FM-glutathione, dimethoxystilbenemaleimide-beta, or pyrenylmaleimide-beta. Gel filtration studies indicated that the beta dimer-monomer dissociation occurred at physiologically significant beta concentrations and that the presence of 10 mM Mg2+ shifted the dimer-monomer equilibrium to favor monomers. Both the gel-filtered dimers and the gel-filtered monomers were active in the replication assay. These and other results suggested that the fluorescence increase which accompanies beta dissociation is due to a relief from homoquenching of FM when the beta dimer dissociates into monomers.
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PMID:The dimer of the beta subunit of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase III holoenzyme is dissociated into monomers upon binding magnesium(II). 304 97

Complex, multiprotein forms of bovine (calf thymus), hamster (Chinese hamster ovary cell), and human (HeLa) cell DNA polymerase alpha (Pol alpha) were analyzed for their content of calmodulin-binding proteins. The approach used an established autoradiographic technique employing 125I-labeled calmodulin to probe proteins in denaturing SDS-polyacrylamide gel electropherograms. All three Pol alpha enzymes were associated with discrete, Ca2+-dependent calmodulin-binding proteins. Conventionally purified calf thymus Pol alpha holoenzyme contained three prominent, trifluoperazine-sensitive species with apparent molecular masses of approx. 120, 80 and 48 kDa. The 120 and 48 kDa species remained associated with the polymerase.primase core of the calf enzyme during immunopurification with monoclonal antibodies directed specifically against the polymerase subunit. The patterns of the calmodulin-binding proteins displayed by conventionally purified preparations of hamster and human Pol alpha enzymes were similar to each other and distinctly different from the pattern of comparable preparations of calf thymus Pol alpha. Immunopurified preparations of the human and hamster Pol alphas retained significant calmodulin-binding activity of apparent molecular masses of approx. 55, 80 and 150-200 kDa.
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PMID:Calcium-dependent calmodulin-binding proteins associated with mammalian DNA polymerase alpha. 306 70

Factor D, a DNA binding protein that enhances the activities of diverse DNA polymerases with a common restricted set of templates, was initially characterized in mouse liver but has resisted extensive purification. In this paper, we report that a similar stimulatory activity can be obtained in highly purified form from nuclei of rabbit hepatocytes. The rabbit liver protein increases the rates at which several DNA polymerases copy sparsely primed natural DNA templates and primed synthetic poly(dT), but it has no effect on the rates of copying of activated DNA or of poly(dG), poly(dA), and poly(dC). Direct binding of the purified stimulatory protein to an oligomer that contains a (dT)16 base stretch is visualized by retardation of the nucleoprotein complex on nondenaturing electrophoretograms. In the presence of the enhancing factor, Michaelis constants, Km, of responsive polymerase for singly primed bacteriophage M13 DNA and for poly(dT), but not for poly(dA), are decreased. Product analysis of M13 DNA primer extension indicates that the rabbit factor augments the apparent processivity of DNA polymerase by decreasing the extent of enzyme pausing at a tract of four consecutive thymidine residues in the template. Gel filtration of the native stimulatory protein yields an apparent relative molecular size of 58 +/- 2 kilodaltons. Stimulatory activity is readily inactivated by heat or by trypsin digestion, but it is resistant to micrococcal nuclease, N-ethyl-maleimide, or calcium ions.
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PMID:Rabbit liver factor D, a poly(thymidine) template stimulatory protein of DNA polymerases: purification and characterization. 340 61


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