Eizou Nagahisa

Distribution of opine dehydrogenases and lactate dehydrogenase activities in marine animals

Abstract 1. 1. Opine dehydrogenases (OpDHs) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities were determined in various marine animals. OpDHs were detected in six marine invertebrate phyla; Porifera, Coelenterata, Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda and Echinodermata in phylogenic sequence. 2. 2. Among several OpDHs, tauropine dehydrogenase (TaDH) occurred widely in marine invertebrates, from Porifera to Echinodermata. 3. 3. With a few exceptions, total OpDHs activities exceeded that of LDH activity in the marine invertebrates investigated. 4. 4. With respect to anaerobic glycolysis, OpDHs are indicated to play an important role in phylogenically lower invertebrates, whereas LDH is more important in higher animals.

Adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate sulfotransferase from the marine macroalgaPorphyra yezoensis Ueda (Rhodophyta): stabilization, purification, and properties

Adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate sulfotransferase (APSSTase) was purified over 2700-fold to homogeneity from the thalli of the marine macroalgaPorphyra yezoensis Ueda (Rhodophyta), using a combination of ammonium sulfate precipitation, hydrophobic chromatography, anion-exchange chromatography and gel-filtration. The native Mr measured by gel-filtration was 350 000. The subunit Mr was estimated to be 43 000 by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. In addition, APSSTase had a relatively broad pH optimum of pH 9.0–9.8 with a peak at pH 9.5. The apparentKm value for adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate (APS) was 2.1 μM, when dithiothreitol was acceptor substrate. 3′-Phosphoadenosine 5′-phosphosulfate and inosine 5′-phosphosulfate could not substitute for APS as a sulfate donor. The enzyme utilized several organic thiols as acceptor substrates (artificial substrates): dithiothreitol (apparentKm = 1.5 mM) and dithioerythritol (apparentKm = 1.5 mM) gave the highest activity, and appreciable activity was also obtained usingl-glutathione (reduced form) which exhibited slight substrate inhibition (apparentKm = 0.6 mM; the initial velocity was maximal at 3.0–4.0 mM). While APSSTase was markedly unstable in vitro: the half-life for activity loss at 25°C and pH 9.5 was about 8 min, the instability was decreased in the presence of a relatively high concentration of Na2SO4 or (NH4)2SO4, and in the presence of APS or its analogs (AMP and β-methylene-APS). Most of the thiols, with the sole exception of glutathione, were found to inactivate APSSTase irreversibly. The thiol-mediated inactivation was completely inhibited by the high concentration of Na2SO4, and by the analogs of APS.

Complementary DNA Cloning and Molecular Evolution of Opine Dehydrogenases in Some Marine Invertebrates

The complete complementary DNA sequences of genes presumably coding for opine dehydrogenases from Arabella iricolor (sandworm), Haliotis discus hannai (abalone), and Patinopecten yessoensis (scallop) were determined, and partial cDNA sequences were derived for Meretrix lusoria (Japanese hard clam) and Spisula sachalinensis (Sakhalin surf clam). The primers ODH-9F and ODH-11R proved useful for amplifying the sequences for opine dehydrogenases from the 4 mollusk species investigated in this study. The sequence of the sandworm was obtained using primers constructed from the amino acid sequence of tauropine dehydrogenase, the main opine dehydrogenase in A. iricolor. The complete cDNA sequence of A. iricolor, H. discus hannai, and P. yessoensis encode 397, 400, and 405 amino acids, respectively. All sequences were aligned and compared with published databank sequences of Loligo opalescens, Loligo vulgaris (squid), Sepia officinalis (cuttlefish), and Pecten maximus (scallop). As expected, a high level of homology was observed for the cDNA from closely related species, such as for cephalopods or scallops, whereas cDNA from the other species showed lower-level homologies. A similar trend was observed when the deduced amino acid sequences were compared. Furthermore, alignment of these sequences revealed some structural motifs that are possibly related to the binding sites of the substrates. The phylogenetic trees derived from the nucleotide and amino acid sequences were consistent with the classification of species resulting from classical taxonomic analyses.

Tauropine dehydrogenase from the sandwormArabella iricolor (Polychaeta: Errantia): Purification and characterization

This is the first report of the purification of tauropine dehydrogenase (NAD: tauropine oxidoreductase) from a polychaete worm. In the sandworm Arabella iricolor Montagu (Polychaeta: Errantia), two forms of TaDH were detected: major component (pl = 7.5) and minor one (pl = 6.4). The major TaDH component was purified to homogeneity by means of (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, anion-exchange, affinity, chromatofocusing and hydrophobic chromatography, and characterized. From the molecular mass of 43.7 kDa obtained by rapid gel-filtration and that of 43.5 kDa by SDS-PAGE, the sandworm enzyme appeared to be a monomeric protein. Maximum rates of reduction of pyruvate and oxidation of tauropine were observed at pH 7.0 and 8.5, respectively. Pyruvate and taurine were preferred substrate for the enzyme. Apparent K(m) values determined using constant co-substrate concentrations were: 35.7 mM, 0.34 mM, and 0.036 mM for taurine, pyruvate and NADH, respectively, in the tauropine synthesizing reaction; and 4.8 mM and 0.051 mM for tauropine and NAD+, respectively, in the tauropine oxidizing reaction. The tauropine synthesizing reaction was subject to substrate inhibition by pyruvate: maximum rate was observed at 2.5-3.0 mM (inhibitory range of pyruvate concentration producing half-maximal rate was 26.8 mM).

Purification and properties of tauropine dehydrogenase from a red alga, Rhodoglossum japonicum

Tauropine dehydrogenase which is a member of ‘opine’ dehydrogenases and catalyzes the reductive condensation of taurine with pyruvate was purified from a red alga, Rhodoglossum japonicum using a combination of ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration, affinity, and ion exchange chromatography. The molecular mass of this enzyme, obtained by HPLC using TSK SW2000G in its native form and SDS-PAGE in its denatured form, was 39000 and 42000, respectively. This means tauropine dehydrogenase has monomeric structure like other opine dehydrogenases. The relative activities for amino acids as substrate were 100 for taurine, 17 for valine and 12 for homotaurine. The apparent Km values for taurine, pyruvate and NADH were 15.0 mM, 0.80 mM and 0.04 mM, and for tauropine and NAD+ were 30 mM and 0.12 mM, respectively. Diurnal change of tauropine content was observed in R. japonicum, tauropine increased in the daytime and decreased in the nighttime.