Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.2.1.23 (beta-galactosidase)
 14,648 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Aggregates formed during storage of freeze-dried beta-galactosidase were compared with those formed in solutions. Freeze-dried beta-galactosidase aggregated during storage in the presence of moisture, producing a protein precipitate which was soluble in guanidine hydrochloride solution but not in buffer solution. The protein precipitate dissolved in guanidine solution exhibited a large molecular size by high-performance size exclusion chromatography and converted to proteins of original size in the presence of dithiothreitol. It is suggested that the aggregation involves chemical interaction via covalent disulfide bonding. In contrast, beta-galactosidase in aqueous solution aggregated without formation of protein precipitates. Soluble aggregates were converted to proteins of original size in guanidine solution without dithiothreitol, suggesting noncovalent bonding. The difference in aggregation behavior may be ascribed to the difference in the water:protein ratio. We propose that inactivation of beta-galactosidase is due to formation of thermally denatured (unfolded) protein, which aggregates dependent on the water:protein ratio, either via noncovalent interactions at a high water:protein ratio in solution or via covalent interaction at a low water:protein ratio in the freeze-dried state.
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PMID:Aggregates formed during storage of beta-galactosidase in solution and in the freeze-dried state. 832 32

A yeast two-hybrid system was used to identify mutants of Max that exhibit an increased affinity for Myc. Truncated forms of the Max helix-loop-helix/leucine zipper motif (HLH/Zip) were first expressed in a two- hybrid system in which the bait protein was the HLH/Zip motif of Myc. Deletion of amino acids both amino-terminal and carboxy-terminal to the leucine zipper of Max reduced Myc/Max heterodimer formation as evidenced by a 160-fold reduction in the expression of the lacZ gene. A library of partially randomized sequences encoding this minimal leucine zipper of Max was then screened using the two-hybrid system. Mutant forms of the Max leucine zipper were identified whose affinities for Myc, as measured by beta-galactosidase activity in yeast lysates, were from 8- to 200-fold greater than the wild-type Max zipper. These Max mutants were shown to interact specifically with Myc and not with wild-type Max. Of 29 mutants analyzed, all had a unique amino acid sequence. This result illustrates the value of a genetic screen in the identification of a collection of mutant forms of the Max leucine zipper whose structures would not have been predicted based on principles of structure-based design.
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PMID:Use of a two-hybrid system to identify mutations in Max that confer increased affinity for Myc. 940

In the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa during conditions of sulfur limitation, CYS3, a major positive-acting regulatory protein, turns on the expression of an entire set of genes which encode permeases and enzymes involved in the acquisition of sulfur from environmental sources. CYS3 functions as a homodimeric protein and possesses a b-Zip domain that confers sequence-specific DNA binding. Expression of various hybrid GAL4-CYS3 fusion proteins in yeast was used to detect regions involved in gene activation. An amino-terminal serine/threonine-rich domain of CYS3 alone strongly activated expression of beta-galactosidase, the yeast reporter. Moreover, mutant CYS3 proteins with amino-acid substitutions in this region that showed increased expression in Neurospora also displayed an enhanced activation potential in yeast. The cys-3 gene of the exotic N. crassa Mauriceville strain and of N. intermedia were cloned and demonstrated to be functional for gene activation and for sulfur-mediated regulation by complementation of a loss-of-function cys-3 mutation. The amino-terminal serine/threonine-rich region is highly conserved in these two CYS3 proteins, in agreement with the possibility that it serves as the activation domain. Surprisingly, an extended promoter region of the cys-3 gene in the Mauriceville strain and in N. intermedia was very well conserved with that of the standard N. crassa gene, including the presence of three CYS3-binding sites possibly involved in autogenous control. Results are presented which indicate that synthesis of the CYS3 regulatory protein is highly regulated and can be detected in the nucleus of cells subjected to sulfur de-repression, but is not found in the nucleus or the cytoplasm of S-repressed cells. The amino-acid substitutions of the CYS3 protein present in a temperature-sensitive cys-3 mutant and in a second-site revertant of a cys-3 null mutation are presented and are shown to affect their DNA-binding activities.
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PMID:Functional analysis of different regions of the positive-acting CYS3 regulatory protein of Neurospora crassa. 964 2

During freezing in phosphate buffers, selective precipitation of a less soluble buffer component and subsequent pH shifts may induce protein denaturation. Previous reports indicate significantly more inactivation and secondary structural perturbation of monomeric and tetrameric beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) during freeze-thawing in sodium phosphate (NaP) buffer as compared with potassium phosphate (KP) buffer. This observation was attributed to the significant pH shifts (from 7.0 to as low as 3.8) observed during freezing in the NaP buffer (1). In the current study, we investigated the impact of the additional stress of dehydration after freezing on the recovery of active protein on reconstitution and the retention of the native structure in the dried state. Freeze-drying monomeric and tetrameric beta-gal in either NaP or KP buffer resulted in significant secondary structural perturbations, which were greatest for the NaP samples. However, similar recoveries of active monomeric protein were observed after freeze-thawing and freeze-drying, indicating that most dehydration-induced unfolding was reversible on reconstitution of the freeze-dried protein. In contrast, the tetrameric protein was more susceptible to dehydration-induced denaturation as seen by the greater loss in activity after reconstitution of the freeze-dried samples relative to that measured after freeze-thawing. To ensure optimal protein stability during freeze-drying, the protein must be protected from both freezing and dehydration stresses. Although poly(ethylene glycol) and dextran are preferentially excluded solutes and should confer protection during freezing, they were unable to prevent lyophilization-induced denaturation. In addition, Tween did not foster maintenance of native protein during freeze-drying. However, sucrose, which hydrogen bonds to dried protein in the place of lost water, greatly reduced freezing- and drying-induced denaturation, as observed by the high retention of native protein in the dried state as well as the complete recovery of active beta-gal on reconstitution. These results indicate that addition of an effective stabilizer, such as sucrose, may minimize protein denaturation during freeze-drying in phosphate buffers, even if there are large-scale changes in solution pH during freezing.
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PMID:Lyophilization-induced protein denaturation in phosphate buffer systems: monomeric and tetrameric beta-galactosidase. 1174 78

Freeze-induced perturbations of the protein native fold are poorly understood owing to the difficulty of monitoring their structure in ice. Here, we report that binding of the fluorescence probe 1-anilino-8-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS) to proteins in ice can provide a general monitor of ice-induced alterations of their tertiary structure. Experiments conducted with copper-free azurin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and mutants I7S, F110S, and C3A/C26A correlate the magnitude of the ice-induced perturbation, as inferred from the extent of ANS binding, to the plasticity of the globular fold, increasing with less stable globular folds as well as when the flexibility of the macromolecule is enhanced. The distortion of the native structure inferred from ANS binding was found to draw a parallel with the extent of irreversible denaturation by freeze-thawing, suggesting that these altered conformations play a direct role on freeze damage. ANS binding experiments, extended to a set of proteins including serum albumin, alpha-amylase, beta-galactosidase, alcohol dehydrogenase from horse liver, alcohol dehydrogenase from yeast, lactic dehydrogenase, and aldolase, confirmed that a stressed condition of the native fold in the frozen state appears to be general to most proteins and pointed out that oligomers tend to be more labile than monomers presumably because the globular fold can be further destabilized by subunit dissociation. The results of this study suggest that the ANS binding method may find practical utility in testing the effectiveness of various additives employed in protein formulations as well as to devise safer freeze-drying protocols of pharmaceutical proteins.
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PMID:ANS fluorescence detects widespread perturbations of protein tertiary structure in ice. 1646 96

We report a method to load proteins into polymer-based sustained-release systems without exposing them to water-oil or water-air interfaces, factors known to denature proteins. By dispersing a dextan solution containing a protein into a PEG solution containing small amount of alginate, a stable aqueous-aqueous "emulsion" was formed. The poly-anionic alginate generated a diffuse double layer around each dextran droplet to prevent them from contacting with each other and fusing to a block phase. Proteins distributed in the stabilized dextran droplets by preferential partition favoring dextran. Freeze-drying this emulsion resulted in protein-loaded dextran particles, 1-2 microm in diameter and 1.6 g/cm(3) in density. The particles were harvested by washing the lyophilized powder using organic solvents to remove the PEG continuous phase. An activity assay of encapsulated beta-galactosidase indicated that protein activity was preserved during the particle-forming process including the step of sonicating the particles in organic solvents. The dextran particles also improved release profile and integrity of proteins when encapsulated in degradable polymer sustained-release systems. The aqueous-aqueous emulsion offers a convenient way to prepare solvent-resistant protein-polysaccharide particles that can easily be incorporated in a variety of polymer-based pharmaceutical dosage forms and medical devices such as microspheres, scaffolds and drug-eluting stents for sustained-release protein delivery.
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PMID:Preparing polymer-based sustained-release systems without exposing proteins to water-oil or water-air interfaces and cross-linking reagents. 1841 40


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