Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:5.99.1.2 (topoisomerase)
9,166 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The present review describes several methods to characterize and differentiate between two different mechanisms of cell death, apoptosis and necrosis. Most of these methods were applied to studies of apoptosis triggered in the human leukemic HL-60 cell line by DNA topoisomerase I or II inhibitors, and in rat thymocytes by either topoisomerase inhibitors or prednisolone. In most cases, apoptosis was selective to cells in a particular phase of the cell cycle: only S-phase HL-60 cells and G0 thymocytes were mainly affected. Necrosis was induced by excessively high concentrations of these drugs. The following cell features were found useful to characterize the mode of cell death: a) Activation of an endonuclease in apoptocic cells resulted in extraction of the low molecular weight DNA following cell permeabilization, which, in turn, led to their decreased stainability with DNA-specific fluorochromes. Measurements of DNA content made it possible to identify apoptotic cells and to recognize the cell cycle phase specificity of the apoptotic process. b) Plasma membrane integrity, which is lost in necrotic but not apoptotic cells, was probed by the exclusion of propidium iodide (PI). The combination of PI followed by Hoechst 33342 proved to be an excellent probe to distinguish live, necrotic, early- and late-apoptotic cells. c) Mitochondrial transmembrane potential, assayed by retention of rhodamine 123 was preserved in apoptotic but not necrotic cells. d) The ATP-dependent lysosomal proton pump, tested by the supravital uptake of acridine orange (AO) was also preserved in apoptotic but not necrotic cells. e) Bivariate analysis of cells stained for DNA and protein revealed markedly diminished protein content in apoptotic cells, most likely due to activation of endogenous proteases. Necrotic cells, having leaky membranes, had minimal protein content. f) Staining of RNA allowed for the discrimination of G0 from G1 cells and thus made it possible to reveal that apoptosis was selective to G0 thymocytes. g) The decrease in forward light scatter, paralleled either by no change (HL-60 cells) or an increase (thymocytes) of right angle scatter, were early changes during apoptosis. h) The sensitivity of DNA in situ to denaturation, was increased in apoptotic and necrotic cells. This feature, probed by staining with AO at low pH, provided a sensitive and early assay to discriminate between live, apoptotic and necrotic cells, and to evaluate the cell cycle phase specificity of these processes. i) The in situ nick translation assay employing labeled triphosphonucleotides can be used to reveal DNA strand breaks, to detect the very early stages of apoptosis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Features of apoptotic cells measured by flow cytometry. 133 43

The subunits of topoisomerase IV (topo IV), the ParC and ParE proteins in Escherichia coli, were purified to near homogeneity from the respective overproducers. They revealed type II topoisomerase activity only when they were combined with each other. In the presence of Mg2+ and ATP, topo IV was capable of relaxing a negatively or positively supercoiled plasmid DNA or converting the knotted P4 phage DNA, whether nicked or ligated, to a simple ring. However, supercoiling activity was not detected. The topoisomerase activity was not detectable when the purified ParC and ParE proteins were combined with the purified GyrB and GyrA proteins, respectively. This is consistent with the result that neither a parC nor a parE mutation was compensated by transformation with a plasmid carrying either the gyrA or the gyrB gene. Simultaneous introduction of both the gyrA and gyrB plasmids corrected the phenotypic defect of parC and parE mutants. The results suggest that DNA gyrase can substitute for topo IV at least in some part of the function for chromosome partitioning. Antisera were prepared against the purified ParC, ParE, GyrA, and GyrB proteins and used to investigate cellular localization of these gene products. ParC protein was found to be specifically associated with inner membranes only in the presence of DNA. This result suggests that one of the functions of topo IV might be to anchor chromosomes on membranes as previously proposed for eukaryotic topoisomerase II.
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PMID:Purification and characterization of DNA topoisomerase IV in Escherichia coli. 133 83

DNA topoisomerases, a class of enzymes that change the topological structure of DNA, have been shown to be the target of many therapeutic agents, including antibacterial agents (quinolones) and anticancer agents. These drugs inhibit the enzyme in a unique way so that the enzyme is converted into a cellular poison. Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger are two major opportunistic fungal pathogens. Our results show that these fungi have high levels of both type I and type II topoisomerases (with a minimum of 5 x 10(5) ATP-independent relaxation units and 2 x 10(5) P-4 unknotting units per liter of wild-type C. albicans). The ATP-dependent type II topoisomerase (termed C. albicans topoisomerase II) was purified by approximately 2,000-fold from C. albicans cells by using a simple isolation scheme that consists of three column procedures: hydroxylapatite, phosphocellulose, and heparin-agarose chromatographies. The responses of the Candida and the calf thymus topoisomerase II to some known topoisomerase II inhibitors were measured. Etoposide and 4'-(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon-m-anisidide, compounds known to inhibit catalysis and to enhance DNA breakage by mammalian topoisomerase II, and A-80198, an etoposide derivative, enhanced cleavage by both enzymes at similar concentrations of these compounds, with the response of the calf thymus topoisomerase II from slightly to fourfold higher in magnitude than the response of the Candida enzyme in the same concentration range. In contrast, A-75272 (a cytotoxic tricyclic quinolone) shows a slightly stronger DNA cleavage enhancement effect with the Candida enzyme than with the mammalian counterpart. The abundance of the enzyme in cells and the different drug responses of the host enzyme and the fungal enzyme suggest that the fungal topoisomerase may serve as a target for the discovery of effective and safe antifungal agents.
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PMID:DNA topoisomerases from pathogenic fungi: targets for the discovery of antifungal drugs. 133 49

Bacterial DNA gyrase and the eukaryotic type II DNA topoisomerases are ATPases that catalyse the introduction or removal of DNA supercoils and the formation and resolution of DNA knots and catenanes. Gyrase is unique in using ATP to drive the energetically unfavourable negative supercoiling of DNA, an example of mechanochemical coupling: in contrast, eukaryotic topoisomerase II relaxes DNA in an ATP-requiring reaction. In each case, the enzyme-DNA complex acts as a 'gate' mediating the passage of a DNA segment through a transient enzyme-bridged double-strand DNA break. We are using a variety of genetic and enzymic approaches to probe the nature of these complexes and their mechanism of action. Recent studies will be described focusing on the role of DNA wrapping on the A2B2 gyrase complex, subunit activities uncovered by using ATP analogues and the coumarin and quinolone inhibitors, and the identification and functions of discrete subunit domains. Homology between gyrase subunits and the A2 homodimer of eukaryotic topo II suggests functional conservation between these proteins. The role of ATP hydrolysis by these topoisomerases will be discussed in regard to other energy coupling systems.
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PMID:DNA supercoiling and relaxation by ATP-dependent DNA topoisomerases. 135

Among the different mechanisms of multidrug resistance, the overexpression of the mdr1 gene has been actively investigated during the last 5 years. This gene encodes a 170 kDa protein, named P-gp, a member of a transporter superfamily, the ABC (ATP Binding Cassette) proteins. P-gp actively expels out of the tumoral cell different drugs like anthracyclins, vinca alkaloids, epipodophyllotoxins. The involvement of mdr1 gene in clinical drug resistance is now demonstrated, and several trials using P-gp modulators and chemotherapy are going on in resisting tumors. Other intrinsic drug resistance mechanisms, such as increase of intracellular glutathione content or decrease of topoisomerase activity, could be involved in clinical drug resistance.
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PMID:[Drug resistance genes]. 135 69

A mitoxantrone-resistant human MCF-7 breast cancer subline (MCF/MX) which is approximately 4000-fold resistant to mitoxantrone was isolated by serial passage of the parental wild-type MCF-7 cells (MCF/WT) in stepwise increasing concentrations of drug. MCF/MX cells were also approximately 10-fold cross-resistant to doxorubicin and etoposide but were not cross-resistant to vinblastine. Intracellular accumulation of radiolabeled mitoxantrone was markedly reduced in MCF/MX cells relative to that in the drug-sensitive MCF/WT cells. This decrease in intracellular drug accumulation into MCF/MX cells was associated with enhanced drug efflux, which was reversed when cells were incubated in the presence of sodium azide and 2, 4-dinitrophenol, suggesting an energy-dependent process. Incubation of MCF/MX cells with verapamil did not affect either the accumulation of mitoxantrone or the level of resistance in these cells. Furthermore, RNase protection and Western blot analyses failed to detect the expression of the mdr1 RNA or P-glycoprotein, a drug efflux pump known to be associated with the development of multidrug resistance in vitro. However, a polyclonal antibody directed against a synthetic peptide corresponding to the putative ATP binding domain of P-glycoprotein reacted with two (M(r) 42,000 and 85,000) membrane proteins from MCF/MX cells which were not found in MCF/WT. Functional assays and Western blot analysis for topoisomerase II revealed no differences in topoisomerase II activity or protein levels in MCF/MX cells. Thus, resistance in this cell line is apparently associated with enhanced drug efflux involving a pathway distinct from the mdr1-encoded multidrug transporter P-glycoprotein.
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PMID:Reduced intracellular drug accumulation in the absence of P-glycoprotein (mdr1) overexpression in mitoxantrone-resistant human MCF-7 breast cancer cells. 135 31

The search for homologous sequences promoted by RecA protein in vitro involves a presynaptic filament and naked duplex DNA, the multiple contacts of which produce nucleoprotein networks or coaggregates. The single-stranded DNA within the presynaptic filaments, however, is extended to an axial spacing 1.5 times that of B-form DNA. To investigate this paradoxical difference between the spacing of bases in the RecA presynaptic filament versus the target duplex DNA, we explored the effect of heterologous contacts on the conformation of DNA, and vice versa. In the presence of wheat germ topoisomerase I, RecA presynaptic filaments induced a rapid, limited reduction in the linking number of heterologous circular duplex DNA. This limited unwinding of heterologous duplex DNA, termed heterologous unwinding, was detected within 30 seconds and reached a steady state within a few minutes. Presynaptic filaments that were formed in the presence of ATP gamma S and separated from free RecA protein by gel filtration also generated a ladder of topoisomers upon incubation with relaxed duplex DNA and topoisomerase. The inhibition of heterologous contacts by 60 mM-NaCl or 5 mM-ADP resulted in a corresponding decrease in heterologous unwinding. In reciprocal fashion, the stability or number of heterologous contacts with presynaptic filaments was inversely related to the linking number of circular duplex DNA. These observations show that heterologous contacts with the presynaptic filament cause a limited unwinding of the duplex DNA, and conversely that the ability of the DNA to unwind stabilizes transient heterologous contacts.
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PMID:Unwinding of heterologous DNA by RecA protein during the search for homologous sequences. 161 46

An anucleated cell system has been used for the first time to study mitochondrial topoisomerase activity. Mitochondrial extracts from human blood platelets contained type I topoisomerase. The type I classification was based on ATP-independent activity, inhibition by ATP or camptothecin, and the lack of inhibition by novobiocin. Platelet mitochondrial topoisomerase I relaxation activity was inhibited linearly by increasing concentrations of EGTA. Topoisomerase activity greater than 90% inhibited by 175 microM EGTA was partially restored to 16 and 50% of the initial level of activity by the subsequent addition of 50 and 100 microM Ca2+, respectively. Additionally, results from studies of partially purified platelet mitochondrial topoisomerase I were consistent with the crude extract data. This work supports the hypothesis that platelet mitochondria contain a type I topoisomerase that is biochemically distinct from that previously isolated and characterized from cell nuclei.
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PMID:Mitochondrial DNA topoisomerase I from human platelets. 164 36

The presence of reverse gyrase, an unusual ATP-dependent type I topoisomerase first isolated from thermophilic archaebacteria, has been detected in four strains of Thermotogales, an order of extremely thermophilic eubacteria. This result suggests that reverse gyrase plays a key role in high-temperature-living organisms, independently of the evolutionary kingdom to which they belong.
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PMID:Reverse gyrase in thermophilic eubacteria. 164 92

A second type I topoisomerase was purified from the extremely thermophilic archaebacterium Desulfurococcus amylolyticus. In contrast to the previously described reverse gyrase from this organism, the novel enzyme designated as Dam topoisomerase III is an ATP-independent relaxing topoisomerase. It is a monomer with Mr 108,000, as determined by electrophoresis under denaturing conditions and by size exclusion chromatography. Dam topoisomerase III, like other bacterial type I topoisomerases, absolutely requires Mg2+ for activity and is specific for single-stranded DNA. At 60-80 degrees C, it relaxes negatively but not positively supercoiled DNA and is inhibited by single-stranded M13 DNA. At 95 degrees C, the enzyme unwinds both positively and negatively supercoiled substrates and produces extensively unwound form I* and I** DNA. The peculiarities of DNA topoisomerization at high temperatures are discussed.
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PMID:DNA topoisomerase III from extremely thermophilic archaebacteria. ATP-independent type I topoisomerase from Desulfurococcus amylolyticus drives extensive unwinding of closed circular DNA at high temperature. 164 92


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