William Ferdinand

Increased content of hydrophobic amino acid residues in lipid-rich mitochondrial membranes: A comparison of rat and human liver mitochondria

Abstract 1. 1. Lipid and amino acid analyses of membranes from rat and human liver mitochondria have been carried out. 2. 2. Human membranes have a significantly higher content of lipid, and particularly of phospholipid. than the rat membranes. 3. 3. In parallel with this, the human membrane protein contains a significantly higher fraction of hydrophobic amino acids.

Amino acid composition of rat and human liver microsomes in normal and pathological conditions

The amino acid composition of proteins from liver microsomes has been studied in rats and in human subjects with normal liver, with obstructive jaundice or liver cirrhosis. The pattern of the amino acid composition of microsomes appeared to be species-specific. Phenylalanine, threonine, serine, proline, histidine and [aspartic acid plus asparagine] were increased, while alanine, tyrosine, glycine and arginine were decreased in the human compared to the rat microsomes. In patients with obstructive jaundice of short duration (less than two months) only a slight decrease in leucine and phenylalanine could be noticed, while in the case of liver cirrhosis amino acid composition was markedly changed.

Amino acid composition of human liver mitochondrial membranes in normal and pathological conditions

The amino acid composition of proteins from liver mitochondrial membranes has been studied in patients with normal liver, with biliary diseases and fatty liver, with obstructive jaundice or liver cirrhosis. A characteristic pattern of the amino acid composition in patients with normal liver has been found. In the mitochondrial membranes of patients with fatty liver tryptophan and lysine were decreased while [aspartic acid plus asparagine] and [glutamic acid plus glutamine] were increased compared to their counterpart in the normal liver. In patients with obstructive jaundice of short duration (less than two months) only a slight decrease in methionine content was found, while in the case of liver cirrhosis amino acid composition was markedly changed.

Ultrastructural aspects and amino acid composition of the purified inner and outer membranes of human liver mitochondria as compared to rat liver mitochondria

1. The mitochondria isolated from human or rat liver were fractionated into submitochondrial particles and purified inner and outer membrane. According to different marker enzymes the inner membranes were enriched about 5-6-fold and the outer membranes about 12-14-fold. The electron microscopical appearance of the membranes was that expected on the basis of enzymic characterization. 2. A comparison of the average amino acid composition of the membrane proteins from the two types of mitochondria has been made. In the case of submitochondrial particles there were statistically significant differences between the human and rat hydrolysates for only five amino acids. Analysing the purified mitochondrial membranes there were significant differences between the two species for nine amino acids in the case of outer membranes and for 12 amino acids in the case of inner membranes. 3. With one exception all amino acids that were increased or decreased in the outer membrane exhibited a similar trend in the inner membrane of human compared with rat liver mitochondria. It appears that liver mitochondrial membranes have a species-dependent pattern of amino acid composition of their proteins.

Amino Acid Composition of Band 3 Protein from Red Blood Cells of Normal and Epileptic Children

Amino acid analyses of the band 3 protein purified from erythrocyte membranes of control and epileptic children showed that no major structural abnormalities of this protein could be linked with the red blood cell membrane alterations previously described in child epilepsy and, consequently, the molecular basis of these alterations should be looked for elsewhere.