Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.1.30.2 (endonuclease)
18,621 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In this article we focus on presenting a broad range of examples illustrating low-energy transitions via hinge-bending motions. The examples are divided according to the type of hinge-bending involved; namely, motions involving fragments of the protein chains, hinge-bending motions involving protein domains, and hinge-bending motions between the covalently unconnected subunits. We further make a distinction between allosterically and nonallosterically regulated proteins. These transitions are discussed within the general framework of folding and binding funnels. We propose that the conformers manifesting such swiveling motions are not the outcome of "induced fit" binding mechanism; instead, molecules exist in an ensemble of conformations that are in equilibrium in solution. These ensembles, which populate the bottoms of the funnels, a priori contain both the "open" and the "closed" conformational isomers. Furthermore, we argue that there are no fundamental differences among the physical principles behind the folding and binding funnels. Hence, there is no basic difference between funnels depicting ensembles of conformers of single molecules with fragment, or domain motions, as compared to subunits in multimeric quaternary structures, also showing such conformational transitions. The difference relates only to the size and complexity of the system. The larger the system, the more complex its corresponding fused funnel(s). In particular, funnels associated with allosterically regulated proteins are expected to be more complicated, because allostery is frequently involved with movements between subunits, and consequently is often observed in multichain and multimolecular complexes. This review centers on the critical role played by flexibility and conformational fluctuations in enzyme activity. Internal motions that extend over different time scales and with different amplitudes are known to be essential for the catalytic cycle. The conformational change observed in enzyme-substrate complexes as compared to the unbound enzyme state, and in particular the hinge-bending motions observed in enzymes with two domains, have a substantial effect on the enzymatic catalytic activity. The examples we review span the lipolytic enzymes that are particularly interesting, owing to their activation at the water-oil interface; an allosterically controlled dehydrogenase (lactate dehydrogenase); a DNA methyltransferase, with a covalently-bound intermediate; large-scale flexible loop motions in a glycolytic enzyme (TIM); domain motion in PGK, an enzyme which is essential in most cells, both for ATP generation in aerobes and for fermentation in anaerobes; adenylate kinase, showing large conformational changes, owing to their need to shield their catalytic centers from water; a calcium-binding protein (calmodulin), involved in a wide range of cellular calcium-dependent signaling; diphtheria toxin, whose large domain motion has been shown to yield "domain swapping;" the hexameric glutamate dehydrogenase, which has been studied both in a thermophile and in a mesophile; an allosteric enzyme, showing subunit motion between the R and the T states (aspartate transcarbamoylase), and the historically well-studied lac repressor. Nonallosteric subunit transitions are also addressed, with some examples (aspartate receptor and BamHI endonuclease). Hence, using this enzyme-catalysis-centered discussion, we address energy funnel landscapes of large-scale conformational transitions, rather than the faster, quasi-harmonic, thermal fluctuations.
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PMID:Folding funnels and conformational transitions via hinge-bending motions. 1059 56

An assay is described to measure methylation of biotinylated oligonucleotide substrates by DNA methyltransferases using [methyl-3H]-AdoMet. After the methylation reaction the oligonucleotides are immobilized on an avidin-coated microplate. The incorporation of [3H] into the DNA is quenched by addition of unlabeled AdoMet to the binding buffer. Unreacted AdoMet and enzyme are removed by washing. To release the radioactivity incorporated into the DNA, the wells are incubated with a non-specific endonuclease and the radioactivity determined by liquid scintillation counting. As an example, we have studied methylation of DNA by the EcoRV DNA methyltransferase. The reaction progress curves measured with this assay are linear with respect to time. Methylation rates linearly increase with enzyme concentration. The rates are comparable to results obtained with the same enzyme using a different assay. The biotin-avidin assay is inexpensive, convenient, quantitative, fast and well suited to process many samples in parallel. The accuracy of the assay is high, allowing to reproduce results within +/- 10%. The assay is very sensitive as demonstrated by the detection of incorporation of 0.8 fmol methyl groups into the DNA. Under the experimental conditions, this corresponds to methylation of only 0.03% of all target sites of the substrate. Using this assay, the DNA methylation activity of some M.EcoRV variants could be detected that was not visible by other in vitro methylation assays.
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PMID:Biotin-avidin microplate assay for the quantitative analysis of enzymatic methylation of DNA by DNA methyltransferases. 1078 99

Caulobacter crescentus contains one of the two known prokaryotic DNA methyltransferases that lacks a cognate endonuclease. This endogenous cell cycle regulated adenine DNA methyltransferase (CcrM) is essential for C. crescentus cellular viability. DNA methylation catalyzed by CcrM provides an obligatory signal for the proper progression through the cell cycle. To further our understanding of the regulatory role played by CcrM, we sought to investigate its biophysical properties. In this paper we employed equilibrium ultracentrifugation, velocity ultracentrifugation, and chemical cross-linking to show that CcrM is dimeric at physiological concentrations. However, surface plasmon resonance experiments in the presence of S-adenosyl-homocysteine evince that CcrM binds as a monomer to a defined hemi-methylated DNA substrate containing the canonical methylation sequence, GANTC. Initial velocity experiments demonstrate that dimerization of CcrM does not affect DNA methylation. Collectively, these findings suggest that CcrM is active as a monomer and provides a possible in vivo role for dimerization as a means to stabilize CcrM from premature catabolism.
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PMID:Identification of the active oligomeric state of an essential adenine DNA methyltransferase from Caulobacter crescentus. 1127 26

DNA repair status plays a major role in mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and resistance to genotoxic agents. Because DNA repair processes involve multiple enzymatic steps, understanding cellular DNA repair status has required several assay procedures. We have developed a novel in vitro assay that allows quantitative measurement of alkylation repair via O(6)-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) and base excision repair (BER) involving methylpurine DNA glycosylase (MPG), human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (hOGG1) and yeast and human abasic endonuclease (APN1 and APE/ref-1, respectively) from a single cell extract. This approach involves preparation of cell extracts in a common buffer in which all of the DNA repair proteins are active and the use of fluorometrically labeled oligonucleotide substrates containing DNA lesions specific to each repair protein. This method enables methylation and BER capacities to be determined rapidly from a small amount of starting sample. In addition, the stability of the fluorometric oligonucleotides precludes the substrate variability caused by continual radiolabeling. In this report this technique was applied to human breast carcinoma MDA-MB231 cells overexpressing human MPG in order to assess whether up-regulation of the initial step in BER alters the activity of selected other BER (hOGG1 and APE/ref-1) or direct reversal (MGMT) repair activities.
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PMID:A novel fluorometric oligonucleotide assay to measure O( 6)-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase, methylpurine DNA glycosylase, 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase and abasic endonuclease activities: DNA repair status in human breast carcinoma cells overexpressing methylpurine DNA glycosylase. 1141 Jun 64

Analysis of the genome structure of the Paracentrotus lividus (sea urchin) DNA methyltransferase (DNA MTase) gene showed the presence of an open reading frame, named METEX, in intron 7 of the gene. METEX expression is developmentally regulated, showing no correlation with DNA MTase expression. In fact, DNA MTase transcripts are present at high concentrations in the early developmental stages, while METEX is expressed at late stages of development. Two METEX cDNA clones (Met1 and Met2) that are different in the 3' end have been isolated in a cDNA library screening. The putative translated protein from Met2 cDNA clone showed similarity with Escherichia coli endonuclease III on the basis of sequence and predictive three-dimensional structure. The protein, overexpressed in E. coli and purified, had functional properties similar to the endonuclease specific for apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites on the basis of the lyase activity. Therefore the open reading frame, present in intron 7 of the P. lividus DNA MTase gene, codes for a functional AP endonuclease designated SuAP1.
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PMID:An open reading frame in intron seven of the sea urchin DNA-methyltransferase gene codes for a functional AP1 endonuclease. 1195 28

Restriction endonucleases have proven to be especially resistant to engineering altered substrate specificity, in part, due to the requirement of a cognate DNA methyltransferase for cellular DNA protection. The thermophilic restriction endonuclease BstYI recognizes and cleaves all hexanucleotide sequences described by 5'-R GATCY-3' (where R=A or G and Y=C or T). The recognition of a degenerate sequence is a relatively common feature of the more than 3000 characterized restriction endonucleases. However, very little is known concerning substrate recognition by such an enzyme. Our objective was to investigate the substrate specificity of BstYI by attempting to increase the specificity to recognition of only AGATCT. By a novel genetic selection/screening process, two BstYI variants were isolated with a preference for AGATCT cleavage. A fundamental element of the selection process is modification of the Escherichia coli host genomic DNA by the BglII N4-cytosine methyltransferase to protect AGATCT sites. The amino acid substitutions resulting in a partial change of specificity were identified and combined into one superior variant designated NN1. BstYI variant NN1 displays a 12-fold preference for cleavage of AGATCT over AGATCC or GGATCT. Moreover, cleavage of the GGATCC sequence is no longer detected. This study provides further evidence that laboratory evolution strategies offer a powerful alternative to structure-guided protein design.
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PMID:Directed evolution of restriction endonuclease BstYI to achieve increased substrate specificity. 1205 62

Phase variation is important in bacterial pathogenesis, since it generates antigenic variation for the evasion of immune responses and provides a strategy for quick adaptation to environmental changes. In this study, a Helicobacter pylori clone, designated MOD525, was identified that displayed phase-variable lacZ expression. The clone contained a transcriptional lacZ fusion in a putative type III DNA methyltransferase gene (mod, a homolog of the gene JHP1296 of strain J99), organized in an operon-like structure with a putative type III restriction endonuclease gene (res, a homolog of the gene JHP1297), located directly upstream of it. This putative type III restriction-modification system was common in H. pylori, as it was present in 15 out of 16 clinical isolates. Phase variation of the mod gene occurred at the transcriptional level both in clone MOD525 and in the parental H. pylori strain 1061. Further analysis showed that the res gene also displayed transcriptional phase variation and that it was cotranscribed with the mod gene. A homopolymeric cytosine tract (C tract) was present in the 5' coding region of the res gene. Length variation of this C tract caused the res open reading frame (ORF) to shift in and out of frame, switching the res gene on and off at the translational level. Surprisingly, the presence of an intact res ORF was positively correlated with active transcription of the downstream mod gene. Moreover, the C tract was required for the occurrence of transcriptional phase variation. Our finding that translation and transcription are linked during phase variation through slipped-strand mispairing is new for H. pylori.
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PMID:Transcriptional phase variation of a type III restriction-modification system in Helicobacter pylori. 1242 50

To explore the possibility of a new therapeutic strategy for leukemia by intervening in the DNA methylation to re-express p15 suppressor gene, methylation inhibitors, 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-CdR) and cell differentiation agent (CDAII) were used to treat myelogenous leukemia cell line KG1a in which p15 gene expression was suppressed due to DNA hypermethylation. The biological characteristics of KG1a cells untreated or treated with the agents were investigated and analyzed using morphology, methylation specific-PCR (MSP), (3)H-labeled microassay technique, restriction endonuclease reaction, flow cytometry and immunofluorescence methods. The results indicated that both agents showed concentration-dependent and time-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation. 5-Aza-CdR and CDAII induced apoptosis and cell differentiation with G(2) and G(0)/G(1) arrest respectively. Furthermore, DNA methyltransferase activity and level of methylation in genomic DNA were decreased and p15 protein was re-expressed partially. It is concluded that it is possible to treat leukemia by intervening in the DNA methylation using methyltransferase inhibitors and it is worth to make a thorough study on mechanism of the new strategy.
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PMID:[Inhibitory effect on proliferation of KG1a cell line by methyltransferase inhibitors]. 1251 59

Esp1396I restriction-modification (RM) system recognizes an interrupted palindromic DNA sequence 5'-CCA(N)(5)TGG-3'. The Esp1396I RM system was found to reside on pEsp1396, a 5.6 kb plasmid naturally occurring in Enterobacter sp. strain RFL1396. The nucleotide sequence of the entire 5622 bp pEsp1396 plasmid was determined on both strands. Identified genes for DNA methyltransferase (esp1396IM) and restriction endonuclease (esp1396IR) are transcribed convergently. The restriction endonuclease gene is preceded by the small ORF (esp1396IC) that possesses a strong helix-turn-helix motif and resembles regulatory proteins found in PvuII, BamHI and few other RM systems. Gene regulation studies revealed that C.Esp1396I acts as both a repressor of methylase expression and an activator of regulatory protein and restriction endonuclease expression. Our data indicate that C protein from Esp1396I RM system activates the expression of the Enase gene, which is co-transcribed from the promoter of regulatory gene, by the mechanism of coupled translation.
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PMID:Esp1396I restriction-modification system: structural organization and mode of regulation. 1252 84

One of the "signature" phenotypes of highly malignant, poorly differentiated tumors, including hepatomas, is their remarkable propensity to utilize glucose at a much higher rate than normal cells, a property frequently dependent on the marked overexpression of type II hexokinase (HKII). As the expression of the gene for this enzyme is nearly silent in liver tissue, we tested the possibility that DNA methylation/demethylation events may be involved in its regulation. Initial studies employing methylation restriction endonuclease analysis provided evidence for differential methylation patterns for the HKII gene in normal hepatocytes and hepatoma cells, the latter represented by a highly glycolytic model cell line (AS-30D). Subsequently, sequencing following sodium bisulfite treatment revealed 18 methylated CpG sites within a CpG island (-350 to +781 bp) in the hepatocyte gene but none in that of the hepatoma. In addition, treatment of a hepatocyte cell line with the DNA methyltransferase inhibitors, 5'-azacytidine and 5'-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, activated basal expression levels of HKII mRNA and protein. Finally, stably transfecting the hepatocyte cell line with DNA demethylase also resulted in activating the basal expression levels of HKII mRNA and protein. These novel observations indicate that one of the initial events in activating the HKII gene during either transformation or tumor progression may reside at the epigenetic level.
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PMID:Glucose metabolism in cancer. Evidence that demethylation events play a role in activating type II hexokinase gene expression. 1256 45


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