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)

Lipoproteins in Gram-negative Enterobacteriaceae carry three fatty acids on the N-terminal cysteine residue, two as a diacylglyceride and one through an N-linkage following signal peptide cleavage. Most lipoproteins are anchored in the outer membrane, facing the periplasm, but some lipoproteins remain in the plasma membrane, depending on the amino acid at position +2, immediately after the fatty-acylated cysteine. In vitro, the last step in lipoprotein maturation, N-acylation of apolipoproteins by the plasma membrane apolipoprotein N-acyltransferase (Lnt), is necessary for efficient recognition of outer membrane lipoproteins by the Lol system, which transports them from the plasma to the outer membrane (Fukuda, A., Matsuyama, S.-I., Hara, T., Nakayama, J., Nagasawa, H., and Tokuda, H. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 43512-43518). To study the role of Lnt in vivo, we constructed a conditional lnt mutant of Escherichia coli. The apo-form of peptidoglycan-anchored major lipoprotein (Lpp) and two other outer membrane lipoproteins accumulated in the plasma membrane when lnt expression was reduced. We also found that Lnt is an essential protein in E. coli and that the lethality is partially because of the retention of apoLpp in the plasma membrane. Topology mapping of Lnt with beta-galactosidase and alkaline phosphatase fusions indicated the presence of six membrane-spanning segments. The lnt gene in a mutant of Salmonella enterica displaying thermosensitive Lnt activity (Gupta, S. D., Gan, K., Schmid, M. B., and Wu, H. C. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 16551-16556) was found to carry a mutation causing a single glutamate to lysine substitution at a highly conserved position in the last predicted periplasmic loop of the protein.
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PMID:Depletion of apolipoprotein N-acyltransferase causes mislocalization of outer membrane lipoproteins in Escherichia coli. 1551 25

Nutrient deprivation during ischemia leads to severe insult to neurons causing widespread excitotoxic damage in specific brain regions such as the hippocampus. One possible strategy for preventing neurodegeneration is to express therapeutic proteins in the brain to protect against excitotoxicity. We investigated the utility of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV)-based vectors as genetic tools for delivery of therapeutic proteins in an in vivo excitotoxicity model. The efficacy of these vectors at preventing cellular loss in target brain areas following excitotoxic insult was also assessed. EIAV vectors generated to overexpress the human antiapoptotic Bcl-2 or growth factor glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) genes protected against glutamate-induced toxicity in cultured hippocampal neurons. In an in vivo excitotoxicity model, adult Wistar rats received a unilateral dose of the glutamate receptor agonist N-methyl-D-aspartate to the hippocampus that induced a large lesion in the CA1 region. Neuronal loss could not be protected by prior transduction of a control vector expressing beta-galactosidase. In contrast, EIAV-mediated expression of Bcl-2 and GDNF significantly reduced lesion size thus protecting the hippocampus from excitotoxic damage. These results demonstrate that EIAV vectors can be effectively used to deliver putative neuroprotective genes to target brain areas and prevent cellular loss in the event of a neurological insult. Therefore these lentiviral vectors provide potential therapeutic tools for use in cases of acute neurotrauma such as cerebral ischemia.
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PMID:Lentiviral-mediated delivery of Bcl-2 or GDNF protects against excitotoxicity in the rat hippocampus. 1558 9

Induction of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) via sublethal stress protects neurons from subsequent lethal injuries. Here we show that specific and efficient intracellular transduction of Hsp70 can be achieved utilizing an 11 amino acid leading sequence from human immunodeficiency virus (TAT-Hsp70) in primary neuronal cultures. Western blot and immunohistochemistry demonstrated intracellular accumulation of Hsp70 in insoluble protein fractions and mitochondrial compartments. We then examined the effects of Hsp70 overexpression using TAT-Hsp70 in models of nitrosative and excitotoxic neuronal death in vitro. Neurons were pre-incubated with 300 nM TAT-Hsp 70 overnight, then exposed to either peroxynitrite (ONOO-) or glutamate. TAT-Hsp70 maintained cellular respiration, inhibited extracellular lactate dehydrogenase release, and/or reduced cell death assessed by flow cytometry vs. vehicle, wild-type Hsp70, and TAT-beta-galactosidase controls. Hsp70 transduction using a TAT fusion protein is an effective method to selectively increase Hsp70 in neurons and is sufficient to provide neuroprotection from nitrosative stress and excitotoxicity. Further study is needed to confirm whether TAT-Hsp70 is protective in in vivo models of brain injury.
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PMID:Selectively increasing inducible heat shock protein 70 via TAT-protein transduction protects neurons from nitrosative stress and excitotoxicity. 1599 87

A GlcNase (exo-beta-D-glucosaminidase) was purified from culture supernatant of Amycolatopsis orientalis subsp. orientalis grown in medium with chitosan. The enzyme hydrolysed the terminal GlcN (glucosamine) residues in oligomers of GlcN with transglycosylation observed at late reaction stages. 1H-NMR spectroscopy revealed that the enzyme is a retaining glycoside hydrolase. The GlcNase also behaved as an exochitosanase against high-molecular-mass chitosan with K(m) and kcat values of 0.16 mg/ml and 2832 min(-1). On the basis of partial amino acid sequences, PCR primers were designed and used to amplify a DNA fragment which then allowed the cloning of the GlcNase gene (csxA) associated with an open reading frame of 1032 residues. The GlcNase has been classified as a member of glycoside hydrolase family 2 (GH2). Sequence alignments identified a group of CsxA-related protein sequences forming a distinct GH2 subfamily. Most of them have been annotated in databases as putative beta-mannosidases. Among these, the SAV1223 protein from Streptomyces avermitilis has been purified following gene cloning and expression in a heterologous host and shown to be a GlcNase with no detectable beta-mannosidase activity. In CsxA and all relatives, a serine-aspartate doublet replaces an asparagine residue and a glutamate residue, which were strictly conserved in previously studied GH2 members with beta-galactosidase, beta-glucuronidase or beta-mannosidase activity and shown to be directly involved in various steps of the catalytic mechanism. Alignments of several other GH2 members allowed the identification of yet another putative subfamily, characterized by a novel, serine-glutamate doublet at these positions.
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PMID:Two exo-beta-D-glucosaminidases/exochitosanases from actinomycetes define a new subfamily within family 2 of glycoside hydrolases. 1631 14

Alterations in astrocyte function that may affect neuronal viability occur with brain aging. In this study, we evaluate the neuroprotective capacity of astrocytes in an experimental model of in vitro aging. Changes in oxidative stress, glutamate uptake and protein expression were evaluated in rat cortical astrocytes cultured for 10 and 90 days in vitro (DIV). Levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein and S100beta increased at 90 days when cells were positive for the senescence beta-galactosidase marker. In long-term astrocyte cultures, the generation of reactive oxygen species was enhanced and mitochondrial activity decreased. Simultaneously, there was an increase in proteins that stained positively for nitrotyrosine. The expression of Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD-1) and haeme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) proteins and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) increased in aged astrocytes. Glutamate uptake in 90-DIV astrocytes was higher than in 10 DIV ones, and was more vulnerable to inhibition by H2O2 exposure. Enhanced glutamate uptake was probably because of up-regulation of the glutamate/aspartate transporter protein. Aged astrocytes had a reduced ability to maintain neuronal survival. These findings indicate that astrocytes may partially loose their neuroprotective ability during aging. The results also suggest that aged astrocytes may contribute to exacerbating neuronal injury in age-related neurodegenerative processes.
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PMID:Astrocytes aged in vitro show a decreased neuroprotective capacity. 1725 Jun 85

Glutamine synthetase (GS) is expressed in a tissue-specific and developmentally controlled manner, and functions to remove ammonia or glutamate. Furthermore, it is the only enzyme that can synthesize glutamine de novo. Since congenital deficiency of GS has not been reported, we investigated its role in early development. Because GS is expressed in embryonic stem (ES) cells, we generated a null mutant by replacing one GS allele in-frame with a beta-galactosidase-neomycine fusion gene. GS(+/LacZ) mice have no phenotype, but GS(LacZ/LacZ) mice die at ED3.5, demonstrating GS is essential in early embryogenesis. Although cells from ED2.5 GS(LacZ/LacZ) embryos and GS(GFP/LacZ) ES cells survive in vitro in glutamine-containing medium, these GS-deficient cells show a reduced fitness in chimera analysis and fail to survive in tetraploid-complementation assays. The survival of heavily (>90%) chimeric mice up to at least ED16.5 indicates that GS deficiency does not entail cell-autonomous effects and that, after implantation, GS activity is not essential until at least the fetal period. We hypothesize that GS-deficient embryos die when they move from the uterine tube to the harsher uterine environment, where the embryo has to catabolize amino acids to generate energy and, hence, has to detoxify ammonia, which requires GS activity.
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PMID:Glutamine synthetase is essential in early mouse embryogenesis. 1755 5

The GltS Na+/glutamate permease of Escherichia coli is the most extensively studied member of the ESS family of bacterial glutamate:Na+ symporters. This paper presents the membrane topology analysis of the GltS with translational alkaline phosphatase and beta-galactosidase gene fusions generated by TnphoA, nested deletions and targeted fusions. The topology model suggested by the translational fusion technique is compared with the MemGen model and discussed in detail.
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PMID:Membrane topology of the GltS Na+/glutamate permease of Escherichia coli. 1766 58

Tangential cell dispersion in the retina is a spacing mechanism that establishes a regular mosaic organization among cell types and contributes to their final positioning. The present study has used the X-inactivation transgenic mouse expressing the lacZ reporter gene on one X chromosome. Due to X chromosome inactivation, 50% of early progenitor cells express beta-galactosidase (beta-Gal); therefore, all cells derived from a particular beta-Gal-expressing progenitor cell can be identified in labeled columns. The radial segregation of clonally related beta-Gal-positive and beta-Gal-negative cells can be used to determine whether single cells transgress a clonal boundary in the retina. We investigated the extent to which particular cell classes tangentially disperse by analyzing the placement of labeled cells expressing particular markers at several ages and quantifying their tangential displacement. Retinal neurons expressing cell markers at postnatal day (P) 1 have a greater degree of tangential dispersion compared with amacrine and bipolar cells at P5-6. We also studied whether there is a functional correlation with these dispersion patterns by investigating the emergence of functional ionotropic glutamate receptors. To determine the degree of functional glutamate receptor activation, agmatine (AGB) was used in combination with cell-specific labeling. AGB permeates functional glutamate receptor channels following activation with alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA), kainate or N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA). Within these receptor groups, high concentrations of AMPA, kainate, and NMDA are associated with a high degree of tangential dispersion in the adult. Developmentally, functional kainate and AMPA receptors were detected by P1 and were associated with tangentially dispersed cells. Functional NMDA receptors were not detected as early as kainate and AMPA receptors. These results indicate that cells generated early during development are more likely to disperse tangentially compared with those generated later in development. Therefore, functional AMPA and kainate receptors may play a critical role in tangentially displacing cell types.
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PMID:Emergence of cellular markers and functional ionotropic glutamate receptors on tangentially dispersed cells in the developing mouse retina. 1804 73

Ammonium concentration and nitrogen source regulate promoter activity and use for the transcription of chiA, the major chitinase gene of Pseudoalteromonas sp. S91 and S91CX, an S91 transposon lacZ fusion mutant. The activity of chiA was quantified by beta-galactosidase assay of S91CX cultures containing different ammonium concentrations (NH4+; 0, 9.5 or 191 mM) and with different nitrogen sources (N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) or glutamate (glt)). S91 chiA expression was found to depend on both the NH4+ concentration and source of nitrogen in marine minimal medium (MMM). Pseudoalteromonas sp. S91 and S91CX can use either GlcNAc or glt as a sole source of carbon in MMM containing a standard concentration of 9.5 mM NH4+. Adding excess NH4+, 20 times the standard concentration, to MMM significantly reduced chiA activity below that found in the presence of either GlcNAc or glt. When no NH4+ was added to MMM, S91CX was also able to use either GlcNAc or glt as a source of nitrogen; under these conditions chiA activity was significantly increased. Under all conditions tested, GlcNAc induced chiA activity significantly more than glt. Regulation of bacterial chitinases by nitrogen has not been previously reported. Transcriptional start point analysis of S91 chiA, using 5'RACE (ligation-anchored PCR), showed that during growth in MMM supplemented with (1) maltose (solely a carbon source for S91), chiA transcription occurred from only one putative sigma(70)-dependent promoter; (2) the chitin monomer GlcNAc, transcription initiated from two putative sigma(54)-dependent promoters and (3) glt, transcription initiated from all three putative promoters.
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PMID:Nitrogen regulates chitinase gene expression in a marine bacterium. 1944 Feb 32

The mitochondrial aspartate-glutamate carriers (AGC) aralar (SLC25A12) and citrin (SLC25A13) are components of the malate aspartate shuttle (MAS), a major intracellular pathway to transfer reducing equivalents from NADH to the mitochondrial matrix. Aralar is the main AGC isoform present in the adult brain, and it is expressed mainly in neurons. To search for the other AGC isoform, citrin, in brain glial cells, we used a citrin knockout mouse in which the lacZ gene was inserted into the citrin locus as reporter gene. In agreement with the low citrin levels known to be present in the adult mouse brain, beta-galactosidase expression was very low. Surprisingly, unlike the case with astroglial cultures that express citrin, no beta-galactosidase was found in brain glial cells. It was confined to neuronal cells within discrete neuronal clusters. Double-immunolabelling experiments showed that beta-galactosidase colocalized not with glial cell markers but with the pan-neuronal marker NeuN. The deep cerebellar nuclei and a few midbrain nuclei (reticular tegmental pontine nuclei; magnocellular red nuclei) were the regions where beta-galactosidase expression was highest, and it was up-regulated in fasted mice, as was also the case for liver beta-galactosidase. The results support the notion that glial cells have much lower AGC levels and MAS activity than neurons.
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PMID:Low levels of citrin (SLC25A13) expression in adult mouse brain restricted to neuronal clusters. 1990 84


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