The reaction between cytochrome c1 and cytochrome c.

The kinetics of electron transfer between the isolated enzymes of cytochrome c1 and cytochrome c have been investigated using the stopped-flow technique. The reaction between ferrocytochrome c1 and ferricytochrome c is fast; the second-order rate constant (k1) is 3.0 . 10(7) M-1 . s-1 at low ionic strength (I = 223 mM, 10 degrees C). The value of this rate constant decreases to 1.8 . 10(5) M-1 . s-1 upon increasing the ionic strength to 1.13 M. The ionic strength dependence of the electron transfer between cytochrome c1 and cytochrome c implies the involvement of electrostatic interactions in the reaction between both cytochromes. In addition to a general influence of ionic strength, specific anion effects are found for phosphate, chloride and morpholinosulphonate. These anions appear to inhibit the reaction between cytochrome c1 and cytochrome c by binding of these anions to the cytochrome c molecule. Such a phenomenon is not observed for cacodylate. At an ionic strength of 1.02 M, the second-order rate constants for the reaction between ferrocytochrome c1 and ferricytochrome c and the reverse reaction are k1 = 2.4 . 10(5) M-1 . s-1 and k-1 = 3.3 . 10(5) M-1 . s-1, respectively (450 mM potassium phosphate, pH 7.0, 1% Tween 20, 10 degrees C). The 'equilibrium' constant calculated from the rate constants (0.73) is equal to the constant determined from equilibrium studies. Moreover, it is shown that at this ionic strength, the concentrations of intermediary complexes are very low and that the value of the equilibrium constant is independent of ionic strength. These data can be fitted into the following simple reaction scheme: cytochrome c2+1 + cytochrome c3+ in equilibrium or formed from cytochrome c3+1 + cytochrome c2+.

The oxidation-reduction kinetics of the reaction of cytochrome c1 with non-physiological redox agents.

The kinetics of the oxidation-reduction reactions of cytochrome c1 with ascorbate, ferricyanide, triphenanthrolinecobalt(III) and N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD) have been examined using the stopped-flow technique. The reduction of ferricytochrome c1 by ascorbic acid is investigated as a function of pH. It is shown that at neutral and alkaline pH the reduction of the protein is mainly performed by the doubly deprotonated form of ascorbate. From the ionic-strength-dependence studies of the reactions of cytochrome c1 with ascorbate, ferricyanide and triphenanthrolinecobalt(III), it is demonstrated that the reactions rate is governed by electrostatic interactions. The second-order rate constants for the reaction of cytochrome c1 with ascorbate, ferricyanide, TMPD and triphenanthrolinecobalt(III) are 1.4 . 10(4), 3.2 . 10(3), 3.8 . 10(4) and 1.3 . 10(8) M-1 . s-1 (pH 7.9, I = 0, 10 degrees C), respectively. Application of the Debye-Hückel theory to the data of the ionic-strength-dependence studies of these redox reactions of cytochrome c1 yielded for ferrocytochrome c1 and ferricytochrome c1 a net charge of --5 and --4, respectively. The latter value is close to that of --3 for the oxidized enzyme, calculated from the amino acid sequence of the protein. This implies that not a local charge on the surface of the protein, but the overall net charge of cytochrome c1 governs the reaction rate with small redox molecules.

The isolation and purification of cytochrome c1 from bovine heart.

A large-scale isolation method for cytochrome c1 from beef heart is presented, based in principle on the procedure of Yu et al. (Yu, C.A., Yu, L. and King, T.E. (1972) J. Biol. Chem. 247, 1012--1019). Optimal solubilization of cytochrome c1 from succinate-cytochrome c oxidoreductase was achieved with 15% beta-mercaptoethanol, 1.5% cholate, 0.5% deoxycholate in 8% saturated ammoniun sulphate. The protein is purfied to a higher degree by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and Ultrogel AcA 44. The method is reproducible and gives highly purified cytochrome c1 with a yield from succinate-cytochrome c oxidoreductase of 40%. The purified cytochrome c1 contains 32 nmol of heme/mg protein and has a spectral heme-to-protein ratio (Ared417nm/Ax276nm) of 2.7. Reduced cytochrome c1 is oxidized very rapidly by ferricytochrome c (k = 3 . 10(7) M-1 . S-1 at 10 degrees C, 100 mM potassium phosphate (pH 7.0) and 1% Tween 20). Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate shows that the isolated protein consists of one peptide, with a molecular weight of 31 000, carrying the chromophore. In the presence of 1% sodium cholate or 1% Tween 80, cytochrome c1 is in the monomeric state, whereas at lower concentrations of detergent the protein aggregates. The aggregation of cytochrome c1 is found to be reversible.

Ionic strength effects on cytochrome aa3 kinetics.

1. The occurrence of an optimal ionic strength for the steady-state activity of isolated cytochrome aa3 can be attributed to two opposite effects: upon lowering of the ionic strength the affinity between cytochrome c and cytochrome aa3 increases, whereas in the lower ionic strength region the formation of a less active cytochrome c-aa3 complex limits the ferrocytochrome c association to the low affinity site. 2. At low ionic strength, the reduction of cytochrome c-aa3 complex by ferrocytochrome c1 proceeds via non-complex-bound cytochrome c. Under these conditions the positively charged cytochrome c provides the electron transfer between the negatively charged cytochromes c1 and aa3. 3. Polylysine is found to stimulate the release of tightly bound cytochrome c from the cytochrome c-aa3 complex. This property points to the existence of negative cooperativity between the two binding sites. We suggest that the stimulation is not restricted to polylysine, but also occurs with cytochrome c. 4. Dissociation rates of both high and low affinity sites on cytochrome aa3 were determined indirectly. The dissociation constants, calculated on the basis of pre-steady-state reaction rates at an ionic strength of 8.8 mM, were estimated to be 0.6 nM and 20 microM for the high and low affinity site, respectively.

Affinity purification of plasma proteins: characterization of six affinity matrices and their application for the isolation of human factor VIII.

For the purification of coagulation factor VIII, (1,1'-carbonyl-diimidazole [CDI]-activated) Sepharose CL-4B was functionalized with two aminoalkyl and four aminoalkyl-carbamylalkyl ligand-spacer combinations. The affinity matrices were contacted with human plasma. All affinity matrices showed complete adsorption of factor VIII (greater than 90%) and three aminoalkyl-carbamylalkyl Sepharoses gave factor-VIII recoveries of 50-65% and a factor-VIII preparation with a specific activity of 1-2 U factor VIII/mg of protein. Furthermore, no fibrinogen, immunoglobulin G and albumin could be detected in the isolated factor VIII. Optimal results were obtained using the di-methyl-aminopropyl-carbamyl-pentyl-Sepharose affinity matrix.

Preparative isolation of distinct molecular forms of rabbit liver ferritin using high-performance liquid chromatography.

Rabbit liver ferritin was separated to fractions of distinct molecular form using a chromatofocusing column coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography equipment. This purification method was fast, less than 1 h, and enabled preparation of fractions, highly enriched in particular subtypes of ferritin. Analytical isoelectrofocusing of these fractions demonstrated a gradual shift in the range of isoelectric points of these subtypes of ferritin. Gradient-pore polyacrylamide slab-gel electrophoresis showed a distinct shift in the subunit ratio of the ferritins, ranging from 87% low molecular weight (L) subunit in the first fraction eluting at a pH 5.4, to 28% L-subunit in the fraction eluting in the trailing edge of the protein peak at pH 4.0. The pI range of the fractions covered the complete range, from pH 4.9 to pH 5.4, of isoelectric points of the whole rabbit liver ferritin preparation.

Activation of human endothelial cell-type plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) by negatively charged phospholipids.

The endothelial cell-type plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) may exist in an inactive, latent form that can be converted into an active form upon treatment of the protein with denaturants, such as sodium dodecyl sulfate, guanidine HCl, or urea. The present paper demonstrates that latent PAI-1 can be activated by lipid vesicles containing the negatively charged phospholipids phosphatidylserine (PS) or phosphatidylinositol. The presence of a net negative charge on the phospholipid headgroup is essential for activation, since lipid vesicles consisting exclusively of zwitterionic phospholipids, such as phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, do not activate PAI-1. In the presence of PS vesicles, PAI-1 inhibited tissue-type plasminogen activator 50-fold more effectively than in the absence of phospholipids, whereas sodium dodecyl sulfate enhanced PAI-1 activity by 25-fold. In mixed phospholipid vesicles containing PS and phosphatidylcholine in various molar ratios, the extent of PAI-1 activation was directly related to the PS content of the phospholipid membrane. Ca2+ ions interfered with the inhibitory activity of PS-activated PAI-1, suggesting that Ca2+ ions may regulate PAI-1 activity in the presence of negatively charged phospholipids. An important consequence of these findings is that, as in blood coagulation, negatively charged phospholipids may play an important regulatory role in controlling the fibrinolytic system by activating an inhibitor of tissue-type plasminogen activator.

Large-scale purification of factor VIII by affinity chromatography: optimization of process parameters.

The optimization of a new process for the extraction of human coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) from plasma with the tailor-made affinity matrix dimethylamino-propylcarbamylpentyl-Sepharose CL-4B (C3-C5 matrix) is described. First, plasma is applied to DEAE-Sephadex A-50 anion exchanger in order to separate a number of proteins, including coagulation factors II, IX and X (prothrombin complex), from FVIII. Subsequently, the unbound fraction of the ion exchanger, containing FVIII, is contacted with the C3-C5 affinity matrix. Optimization of the FVIII affinity chromatographic procedure is accomplished in terms of the ligand density of the matrix, adsorption mode (batch-wise versus column-wise adsorption and matrix to plasma ratio), and conditions of pH and conductivity to be applied on washing and desorption. In scale-up experiments, by processing 20 l of plasma, the recovery (340 U VIII:C/kg plasma) and the specific activity (s.a.) (1.2 U VIII:C/mg protein) are better than those obtained by cryoprecipitation (recovery 300 U VIII:C/kg plasma, s.a. 0.3 U VIII:C/mg protein). The newly developed process using the specially designed C3-C5 affinity matrix has potential application in the process-scale purification of FVIII.