Magneto-Optical Functions at the 3p Resonances of Fe, Co, and Ni: Ab initio Description and Experiment.

We present experimental data and a complete theoretical description of the magneto-optical contributions to the complex refractive index in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) range covering the 3p resonances of Fe, Co, and Ni. The direct comparison of the two allows us to conclude that many-body corrections to the ground state and local field effects are crucial for an accurate description of M-edge spectra. Our results are relevant for investigation of static magnetization, via XUV spectroscopy of multielement systems, as well as the dynamics of magnetization, as needed in the study of femtomagnetism and spintronics.

A simple turbidimetric assay designed for the routine screening as well as therapeutic monitoring of native LDL particles.

We describe the development and performance of a homogeneous assay for the direct turbidimetric determination of LDL particles in human serum. The assay is based upon the specific agglutination of LDL particles by the polyanion PAMPS. The co-agglutination of VLDL is avoided by the addition of a zwitterionic detergent. Yielding results within 10 min, the assay requires only a small sample volume taken directly from primary serum tubes, i.e., no pretreatment of the sample is necessary. It can be easily applied to routine clinical chemistry analyzers. The results are highly correlated with LDL cholesterol determinations by ultracentrifugation (r>0.95) and dextran sulfate precipitation (r>0.95), but an increased recovery of small, high density LDL particles is observed, which more adequately reflects the atherogenic risk of LDL. The assay provides excellent intra- and inter-assay CVs in the range of 0.6--1.6 and 1.7--2.4%, respectively, on Roche Diagnostics/Hitachi analyzers. The method is well suited to the high-throughput screening of LDL cholesterol levels.

Identification of carbohydrate deficient transferrin forms by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and lectin ELISABiochim Biophys Acta 1998 Aug 24;1381(3):356.

Transferrin was isolated from sera of patients with severe alcohol abuse and from control sera by affinity chromatography using an immobilized polyclonal antibody from sheep, followed by gel filtration. The purified transferrin was then separated by MonoQ chromatography. Compared to the controls, sera from heavy alcohol consumers showed two additional transferrin peaks, eluting earlier than the three main transferrin forms present in all sera. Further analysis of the isolated transferrin forms by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay with different digoxigenylated lectins (lectin ELISA) revealed that the main carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) forms are lacking either one or both of the N-Glycan chains.

CEDIA in vitro diagnostics with a novel homogeneous immunoassay technique. Current status and future prospects.

CEDIA assays represent a state of the art technique utilizing two genetically engineered, enzymatically inactive fragments of beta-galactosidase as the basis for a homogeneous enzyme immunoassay. The smaller, amino-terminal polypeptide, designated the enzyme donor (ED), can recombine spontaneously with the large residual fragment, called the enzyme acceptor (EA), to form active beta-galactosidase, in a process called complementation. ED have been designed in such a way that a ligand, such as a hormone or drug, can be chemically attached to a specific amino acid residue without affecting the enzyme complementation. However, the binding of a ligand-specific antibody to the ED-ligand conjugate will inhibit complementation. If a sample containing ligand is added to the reaction mixture, the ligand will compete with the ED-ligand conjugate for the limited number of antibody binding sites. Thus, the ligand concentration in the sample will modulate enzymatic activity by influencing the amount of free ED-ligand conjugate available for complementation. The basic technology of CEDIA assays has a number of inherent advantages, the most important of these being a linear calibration curve with high precision over the whole assay range, lack of endogeneous enzyme activity and minimal serum interference, chemically defined conjugates and flexibility in assay design. These provide significant advantages in comparison to other homogeneous immunoassay techniques. As a result, CEDIA assays have been successfully developed for high concentration drugs such as theophylline, phenobarbital and phenytoin as well as for very low concentration analytes such as digoxin, B12 and folate. In a modified assay format, even the determination of binding proteins has been accomplished, an example being thyroxine binding proteins in the CEDIA T-uptake assay. More recently, the methodology has been extended to the measurement of high molecular weight analytes like ferritin.

Isolation of complex III from various mitochondria. Comparison of the structural and functional properties of the preparations from beef heart, calf liver and Neurospora crassa.

Active complex III was isolated by an improved procedure from beef heart mitochondria, from Neurospora crassa mitochondria and for the first time from mitochondria originating from mammalian tissue other than heart, i.e. calf liver. The described procedure consists of differential extraction of the respective mitochondria, hydroxyapatite chromatography and, finally, either gel- or affinity chromatography. The preparations contain the well known prosthetic groups, i.e. 6-8 mumol b-type heme, 3-4 mumol c-type heme and 5-8 mumol non-heme iron per g of protein. The preparations from beef heart and from calf liver mitochondria are indistinguishable in their subunit composition by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, whereas the preparation from Neurospora crassa mitochondria is clearly different. The phospholipid content of all preparations is rather low, amounting to about 100 mumol/g protein. The molar catalytic activity of ubiquinol-9-cytochrome c reductase at 25 degrees C amounts to 50s-1 for the N. crassa complex III and 70-100s-1 for the bovine complexes. After reincorporation into phospholipid vesicles, all preparations how tight coupling between electron transfer from ubiquinol to cytochrome c and proton translocation across the phospholipid bilayer.

Reconstitution of the ubiquinol: cytochrome c reductase from a bc1 subcomplex and the 'Rieske' iron-sulfur protein isolated by a new method.

1. A method for preparing the 'Rieske' iron-sulfur protein and the bc1 subcomplex of complex III was developed. The new method is advantageous over the published ones in that: (a) the final yield and amount exceeds by far those obtained when employing the hitherto published methods; (b) the iron-sulfur protein as well as the bc1 subcomplex are obtained by one and the same preparation procedure from a common source; and (c) the preparation method is easier than the published ones. 2. The iron-sulfur protein obtained represents the first reconstitutively active preparation present in a monodisperse state. 3. The reconstitution of the ubiquinol:cytochrome c reductase from the two components is a reversible dissociation process. Full activity of ubiquinol:cytochrome c reductase is reached after saturation of the binding site of the bc1 subcomplex for iron-sulfur protein. 4. Full reduction of the constituent cytochrome c1 of the bc1 subcomplex can already be obtained with substoichiometric amounts of iron-sulfur protein, however. 5. The question might be raised whether the observed dissociation equilibrium represents merely a phenomenon occurring specifically with the proteins isolated in Triton X-100 and investigated in a Triton-containing buffer, or whether dissociation of the iron-sulfur protein also takes place in the mitochondrial membrane in the course of the electron-transfer reaction sequence.

Ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase (EC 1.10.2.2). Isolation in triton X-100 by hydroxyapatite and gel chromatography. Structural and functional properties.

1. A mehod for the isolation of a monodisperse ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase (complex III) from beef heart mitochondria has been developed. The procedure consists of an enzyme solubilization in Triton X-100 followed by hydroxyapatite and gel chromatography. 2. The minimum unit of the isolated complex is composed of 9 polypeptide subunits with Mr of 49000, 47000, 30000, 25000, 12000, 11000 and 6000. It contains 8 mumol of cytochrome b, 4 mumol of cytochrome c1, 7-8 mumol of nonhemne iron, corresponding to 3.5-4 mumol of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein, less than 1.0 mumol of ubiquinone and about 60 mumol of phospholipids, per g of protein. The specific detergent binding amounts to 0.2g of Triton X-100 per g protein. 3. Cytochrome b exhibits an alpha-absorbance maximum at 562 nm. In redox titrations it reveals two half-reduction potentials, i.e. -10 and + 100 mV, at pH 7.0. The absorbance maximum of cytochrome c1 lies at 553 nm and its half-reduction potential amounts to +250 mV. 4. The reductase reveals electron-transferring activity with ubiquinol-1, -2, -3, and -9 as donor and cytochrome c as acceptor. The activity with ubiquinol-9 was analyzed according to the surface dilution scheme developed for the action of phospholipases. The molecular activity amounts to 75 mol of cytochrome c reduced per s at 20%C. 5. A dissociation constant K's of 5.5 mM has been determined for the Tritonsolubilized enzyme: ubiquinol-containing micelle association. In this case the total concentration of ubiquinol plus Triton X-100 has been substituted for the concentration of binding areas on the ubiquinol-containing micelles. This substitution makes the reasonable assumption that the sum of ubiquinol concentration plus Triton X-100 is proportional to the number of available binding areas. 6. A K'm value of 0.025 was found for ubiquinol-9. This is an analog to the Michaelis constant and is expressed as mol fraction of ubiquinol in the ubiquinol-Triton micelle.

bc1-Complex from beef heart. One-step purification by hydroxyapatite chromatography in Triton X-100, polypeptide pattern and respiratory chain characteristics.

A new simple method for the purification of the bc1-complex has been developed. The polypeptide composition of the complex was analysed by dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The content of chain components and phospholipids was determined. The b-type cytochromes were further characterized by their absorbance spectra and midpoint potentials. (1) Starting from a Triton X-100 extract of submitochondrial particles supplemented with antimycin, the bc1-complex is purified by adsorption chromatography on hydroxyapatite with citrate as specific eluant. (2) The complex splits in dodecyl sulfate into five main polypeptides with apparent molecular weight of 47, 44, 31, 11 and less than 10 kdalton. (3) The purified complex has a heme-b content of 8.0 mumol/g protein and a cytochrome c1 content of 3.8 mumol/g protein. (4) The cytochromes show the typical absorbance spectra of cytochromes b-562 and b-565 and are present in approximately equal amounts with midpoint potentials of Em7 = + 100 mV and Em7 = + mV respectively. Carbon monoxide does not bind to the cytochromes. (5) The nonheme iron protein content of the complex is diminished to 0.6 mumol/g protein. (6) The use of the nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 leads to a complete loss of lipids and ubiquinone of the bc1-complex. (7) The complex contains no succinate dehydrogenase as indicated by the absence of the 69 kdalton subunit in the dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis. In addition, it lacks an ubiquinone cytochrome c reductase activity and other electron transferring activities. This may be inferred from an inhibition by antimycin and depletion of ubiquinone and phospholipids. The highly purified and relative stable complex can be prepared giving 50% yield and may be suitable for protein chemistry studies.