Martin Kubala

Fluorescence of sanguinarine: fundamental characteristics and analysis of interconversion between various forms

The quaternary isoquinoline alkaloid, sanguinarine (SG) plays an important role in both traditional and modern medicine, exhibiting a wide range of biological activities. Under physiological conditions, there is an equilibrium between the quaternary cation (SG+) and a pseudobase (SGOH) forms of SG. In the gastrointestinal tract, SG is converted to dihydrosanguinarine (DHSG). All forms exhibit bright fluorescence. However, their spectra overlap, which limited the use of powerful techniques based on fluorescence spectroscopy/microscopy. Our experiments using a combination of steady-state and time-resolved techniques enabled the separation of individual components. The results revealed that (a) the equilibrium constant between SG+ and SGOH is pKau2009=u20098.06, while fluorescence of DHSG exhibited no changes in the pH range 5–12, (b) the SGOH has excitation/emission spectra with maxima at 327/418xa0nm and excited-state lifetime 3.2xa0ns, the spectra of the SG+ have maxima at 475/590xa0nm and excited-state lifetime 2.4xa0ns. The DHSG spectra have maxima at 327/446xa0nm and 2-exponential decay with components 4.2 and 2.0xa0ns, (c) NADH is able to convert SG to DHSG, while there is no apparent interaction between NADH and DHSG. These techniques are applicable for monitoring the SG to DHSG conversion in hepatocytes.

ATP-binding to P-type ATPases as revealed by biochemical, spectroscopic, and crystallographic experiments

P‐type ATPases form a large family of cation translocating ATPases. Recent progress in crystallography yielded several high‐resolution structures of Ca2+‐ATPase from sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum (SERCA) in various conformations. They could elucidate the conformational changes of the enzyme, which are necessary for the translocation of cations, or the mechanism that explains how the nucleotide binding is coupled to the cation transport. However, crystals of proteins are usually obtained only under conditions that significantly differ from the physiological ones and with ligands that are incompatible with the enzyme function, and both of these factors can inevitably influence the enzyme structure. Biochemical (such as mutagenesis, cleavage, and labeling) or spectroscopic experiments can yield only limited structural information, but this information could be considered relevant, because measurement can be performed under physiological conditions and with true ligands. However, interpretation of some biochemical or spectroscopic data could be difficult without precise knowledge of the structure. Thus, only a combination of both these approaches can extract the relevant information and identify artifacts. Briefly, there is good agreement between crystallographic and other experimental data concerning the overall shape of the molecule and the movement of cytoplasmic domains. On the contrary, the E1‐AMPPCP crystallographic structure is, in details, in severe conflict with numerous spectroscopic experiments and probably does not represent the physiological state. Notably, the E1‐ADP‐AlF4 structure is almost identical to the E1‐AMPPCP, again suggesting that the structure is primarily determined by the crystal‐growth conditions. The physiological relevance of the E2 and E2‐P structures is also questionable, because the crystals were prepared in the presence of thapsigargin, which is known to be a very efficient inhibitor of SERCA. Thus, probably only crystals of E1‐2Ca conformation could reflect some physiological state. Combination of biochemical, spectroscopic, and crystallographic data revealed amino acids that are responsible for the interaction with the nucleotide. High sequence homology of the P‐type ATPases in the cytoplasmic domains enables prediction of the ATP‐interacting amino acids also for other P‐type ATPases. Proteins 2006.

Glycine-Rich Loop of Mitochondrial Processing Peptidase α-Subunit Is Responsible for Substrate Recognition by a Mechanism Analogous to Mitochondrial Receptor Tom20

Tryptophan fluorescence measurements were used to characterize the local dynamics of the highly conserved glycine-rich loop (GRL) of the mitochondrial processing peptidase (MPP) alpha-subunit in the presence of the substrate precursor. Reporter tryptophan residue was introduced into the GRL of the yeast alpha-MPP (Y299W) or at a proximal site (Y303W). Time-resolved and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy demonstrated that for Trp299, the primary contact with the yeast malate dehydrogenase precursor evokes a change of the local GRL mobility. Moreover, time-resolved measurements showed that a functionless alpha-MPP with a single-residue deletion in the loop (Y303W/DeltaG292) is defective particularly in the primary contact with substrate. Thus, the GRL was proved to be part of a contact site of the enzyme specifically recognizing the substrate. Regarding the surface exposure and presence of the hydrophobic patches within the GRL, we proposed a functional analogy between the presequence recognition by the hydrophobic binding groove of the Tom20 mitochondrial import receptor and the GRL of the alpha-MPP. A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of the MPP-substrate peptide complex model was employed to test this hypothesis. The initial positioning and conformation of the substrate peptide in the model fitting were chosen based on the analogy of its interaction with the Tom20 binding groove. MD simulation confirmed the stability of the proposed interaction and showed also a decrease in GRL flexibility in the presence of substrate, in agreement with fluorescence measurements. Moreover, conserved substrate hydrophobic residues in positions +1 and -4 to the cleavage site remain in close contact with the side chains of the GRL during the entire production part of MD simulation as stabilizing points of the hydrophobic interaction. We conclude that the GRL of the MPP alpha-subunit is the crucial evolutional outcome of the presequence recognition by MPP and represents a functional parallel with Tom20 import receptor.

Interaction of sanguinarine and its dihydroderivative with the Na + /K + -ATPase. Complex view on the old problem

The effects of sanguinarine (SG) and its metabolite dihydrosanguinarine (DHSG) on Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase were investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy. The results showed that the enzyme in E1 conformation can bind both charged and neutral (pseudobase) forms of SG with a K(D)=7.2+/-2.0 microM or 11.7+/-0.9 microM, while the enzyme in E2 conformation binds only the charged form of SG with a K(D)=4.7+/-1.1 microM. Fluorescence quenching experiments suggest that the binding site in E1 conformation is located on the surface of the enzyme for both forms but the binding site in E2 conformation is protected from the solvent. We found no evidence for interaction of Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase and DHSG. This implies that any in vivo effect of SG attributable to inhibition of Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase can be considered only prior to SG-->DHSG transformation in the gastro-intestinal tract and/or blood. Hence, Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase inhibition will be effective in SG topical application but its duration will be very limited in SG oral or parenteral administration.

Characterization of the part of N-terminal PIP2 binding site of the TRPM1 channel.

Transient receptor potential melastatin-1 (TRPM1) is a calcium channel that is essential for the depolarization of photo-responsive retinal bipolar cells, but most of the physiological functions and cellular roles of this channel are still poorly understood. Most transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are typically regulated by intracellular proteins and other signaling molecules. Phosphatidylinositol-4,5 bisphosphate (PIP2), a minor phospholipid component of cell membranes, has previously been shown to directly bind TRP channels and to play a unique role in modulating receptor function. To characterize the binding of PIP2 as a potential regulator of TRPM1, we utilized biophysical methods and molecular modeling to study the interactions of PIP2 with an N-terminal fragment of TRPM1 (residues A451-N566). The basic N-terminal residue K464 of TRPM1 suggests that it is part of putative pleckstrin homology (PH) domain and is involved in the interactions with PIP2. This is the first report detailing the binding of PIP2 at the N-terminus of the TRPM1 receptor.

RH421 binds into the ATP-binding site on the Na + /K + -ATPase

The Na+/K+-ATPase plays a key role in ion transport across the plasma membrane of all animal cells. The voltage-sensitive styrylpyrimidium dye RH421 has been used in several laboratories for monitoring of Na+/K+-ATPase kinetics. It is known, that RH421 can interact with the enzyme and it can influence its activity at micromolar concentrations, but structural details of this interaction are only poorly understood. Experiments with isolated large cytoplasmic loop (C45) of Na+/K+-ATPase revealed that RH421 can interact with this part of the protein with dissociation constant 1μM. The Trp-to-RH421 FRET performed on six single-tryptophan mutants revealed that RH421 binds directly into the ATP-binding site. This conclusion was further supported by results from molecular docking, site-directed mutagenesis and by competitive experiments using ATP. Experiments with C45/DPPC mixture revealed that RH421 can bind to both C45 and lipids, but only the former interaction was influenced by the presence of ATP.