Thiaisoleucine and protein synthesis.

Thiaisoleucine is an isoleucine analogue having the gamma-methylene group of the valerianic carbon chain substituted by a sulphur atom. It has been demonstrated that thiaisoleucine is activated and transferred to tRNAIle by rat liver aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase and inhibits isoleucine incorporation into polypeptides in protein synthesizing systems from rat liver or rabbit reticulocytes, whereas it does not affect either leucine incorporation or ribosome run-off or polypeptide chain elongation rate. All tests were performed in comparison with O-methyl-threonine, an isoleucine analogue with the gamma-methylene group substituted by an oxygen atom. In all the reactions studied, both thiaisoleucine and O-methyl-threonine act as competitive inhibitors of isoleucine. With respect to O-methyl-threonine, thiaisoleucine shows higher activity as an isoleucine inhibitor.

Action of thiazolidine-2-carboxylic acid, a proline analog, on protein synthesizing systems.

Thiazolidine-2-carboxylic acid, or beta-thiaproline, is a proline analog in which the beta methylene group of proline is substituted by a sulfur atom. It has been deomonstrated that beta-thiaproline is activated and transferred to tRNAPro by Escherichia coli and rat liver aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and inhibits proline incorporation into polypeptides in protein synthesizing systems from E. coli, rat liver or rabbit reticulocytes. In mammalian systems beta-thiaproline inhibits also leucine incorporation; in rabbit reticulocyte lysate it inhibits ribosome run-off. Both these effects may be explained by the fact that beta-thiaproline once incorporated into the growing polypeptide chain impairs its further elongation, as shown by experiments made with puromycin. All tests were performed in comparison with thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid, or gamma-thiaproline, another proline analog having the gamma methylene group substituted by a sulfur atom; it was shown that in all the reactions studied both compounds act as competitive inhibitors of proline. Some differences in the effects of the two analogs have been evidenced: in almost all the reactions and mainly in the whole protein synthesizing systems, beta-thiaproline shows an higher inhibitory activity.

In vivo incorporation of selenalysine in Escherichia coli proteins and its effects on cell growth.

The presence of selenalysine in the culture medium at concentration ranging from 0.05 to 0.3 mM inhibits Escherichia coli growth rate and cell viability. The inhibition of cell growth rate can be imputed to the inhibition of protein synthesis and can be only partially reverted by lysine. Selenalysine is incorporated into cellular proteins in substitution of and in competition with lysine, reaching the value of about 1% as molar fraction with respect to the total amino acids, and substituting up to 14% of protein lysine. The effect of selenalysine on cell viability can be correlated to the extent of its incorporation into proteins, and can be completely reverted by lysine. However, substitution up to 5% of protein lysine by selenalysine does not affect the viability, thus indicating that some degree of substitution can be well tolerated by the cell.

Selenalysine and protein synthesis.

Selenalysine is a lysine analog having the gamma-methylene group substituted by a selenium atom. It has been demonstrated that selenalysine is activated and transferred to tRNAlys by either Escherichia coli or rat liver aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and inhibits lysine incorporation into polypeptides in protein-synthesizing systems from E. coli, rat liver or rabbit reticulocytes. All tests were performed in comparison with thialysine, a lysine analog having the gamma-methylene group substituted by a sulfur atom. In all the reactions studied, both thialysine and selenalysine act as competitive inhibitors of lysine. With respect to thialysine, selenalysine act as competitive inhibitors of lysine. With respect to thialysine, selenalysine shows a slightly lower activity as lysine inhibitor.

Beta-selenaproline as competitive inhibitor of proline activation.

Beta-Selenaproline, a proline analog having the beta-methylene group substituted by a selenium atom, has been tested in ATP-PPi exchange reaction catalyzed by either Escherichia coli or rat liver aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. It has been shown that with both enzymatic systems beta-selenaproline does not give rise to ATP-PPi exchange, but specifically inhibits proline activation. The inhibition is of fully competitive type and the Ki values, lower than the Km values for proline, show that beta-selenaproline binds to the synthetases with high affinity. The inability to form the complex with AMP, taking into account also the behavior of gamma-selenaproline and other proline analogs, has been ascribed to the presence of the selenium atom in the beta-position.

DNA hypomethylation and differentiation in Friend leukemia cell variants.

The occurrence, upon differentiation, of a transient DNA hypomethylation has been observed in Friend erythroleukemia cells. Treatment with hexamethylenebisacetamide (HMBA) induces within 24 h a 20% hypomethylation of newly synthesized DNA, that is followed by re-methylation before completion of the differentiative process, as measured by the appearance of benzidine-positive cells. We examined a series of mutant clones which continue to grow in the presence of an inducer. Methylcytosine content of DNA was measured by HPLC, after cell labeling with [3H]uridine. We found that one of these continuously growing clones, which was still capable of hemoglobin synthesis, showed the same degree of hypomethylation as the parental one. The re-methylation process did not occur, however, unless erythroid differentiation was reverted by the removal of the inducer. In another clone which had lost the capacity to synthesize hemoglobin, no DNA hypomethylation was detectable. These experiments show that DNA hypomethylation is an early event strictly related to cell differentiation but not to cell growth arrest.

DNA sequence heterogeneity within the Epstein-Barr virus family of repeats in the latent origin of replication.

To detect the presence of variability in the tandemly repeated sequences of the Epstein-Barr virus latent origin of replication, we analyzed the length of the family of repeats in 14 lymphoblastoid and Burkitt's lymphoma cell lines by PCR amplification. The gel electrophoresis analysis of the PCR products revealed a broad banding pattern, characteristic of each line, consisting of several fragments, sometimes smeared, of variable length. This finding was interpreted as a result of the hairpin-like structures generated by the palindrome within the family of repeats, able to originate artefacts. Since the banding pattern was different only in strictly non-correlated cell lines, we supposed that the sequence of the repeat units was polymorphic. We therefore sequenced the family of repeats in three healthy bone marrow derived lymphoblastoid cell lines carrying an endogenous EBV as well as in a B95-8 infected cell line as control. The sequence analysis revealed that each line is different both in the number and in the sequence of repeats. At the 3' end of the family of repeats the B95-8 virus was found to have a 252 bp region missing in the GenBank standard sequence. This one is probably a partial sequence since it was shorter than the control specimens obtained from different sources of B95-8 DNA analyzed by Southern blot hybridization. The length analysis of the family of repeats can be used to characterize EBV strains by PCR.

Biochemical characterization of a thialysine-resistant clone of CHO cells.

The intracellular transport and the activation of lysine, thialysine and selenalysine have been investigated in a thialysine-resistant CHO cell mutant strain in comparison with the parental strain. The cationic amino acid transport system responsible for the transport of these 3 amino acids shows no differences between the 2 strains as regards its affinity for each of these amino acids. On the other hand the Vmax of the transport system in the mutant is about double that in the parental strain. The lysyl-tRNA synthetase, assayed both as ATP = PPi exchange reaction and lysyl-tRNA synthesis, shows a lower affinity for thialysine and selenalysine than for lysine in both strains; in the mutant, however, the difference is even greater. Thus the thialysine resistance of the mutant is mainly due to the properties of its lysyl-tRNA synthetase, which shows a greater difference of the affinities for lysine and thialysine with respect to the parental strain.

Thialysine and selenalysine utilization for protein synthesis by E. coli in comparison with lysine.

Utilization of thialysine and selenalysine for protein synthesis by a lysine requiring E. coli mutant was studied. Incorporation into proteins of thialysine or selenalysine, added to culture medium together with lysine, becomes evident when the amount of available lysine in the medium is highly reduced, that is the mutant utilizes the isologs only after all the available natural aminoacid has been utilized. Compared to selenalysine, thialysine is better utilized; when both isologs are present in the medium at equal concentrations, up to 46% of protein lysine is substituted by thialysine and only 12% by selenalysine.

Studies on recognition of selenahomolysine by aminoacid transport systems and aminocyl-tRNA synthetase.

In E. coli, Se-3 aminopropylselenocysteine or selenahomolysine (SeHL) does not affect intracellular lysine transport, i.e. it cannot bind E. coli lysine transport systems. In CHO cells it inhibits cationic aminoacid transport system, but only in the presence of Na+, this indicating that it behaves like polar neutral aminoacids. On the other hand, it poorly affects leucine transport both in the presence and in the absence of Na+. SeHL is not activated by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase preparations from bacterial and mammalian sources, thus it cannot be utilized for protein synthesis.

Thialysine and selenalysine incorporation into CHO cell proteins and its effects on cell growth.

CHO cells can incorporate into proteins both thialysine and selenalysine when both are present together in the culture medium. Thialysine and selenalysine inhibit cell growth and cell viability. The inhibitory effect of either analog is additive. The inhibition of cell viability is related to the extent of protein lysine substitution by thialysine or selenalysine; it is however irrelevant whether lysine is substituted by one or the other analog or by both.

Utilization of lysine analogs by a lysine-requiring E. coli mutant.

Thialysine and selenalysine cannot substitute lysine as a growth factor for a lysine-requiring E. coli mutant, but can nevertheless be utilized for protein synthesis in the presence of lysine. In order to have information about the effects of lysine on the utilization of the two analogs, the extent of the incorporation of the three aminoacids into newly synthesized proteins has been determined. The analog starts to be utilized by cells growing in a medium containing either analog and lysine when lysine concentration becomes very low. Of the two analogs, thialysine is more easily utilized. In fact thialysine can be utilized when the lysine/thialysine ratio in the medium is 1/25. Selenalysine starts to be utilized when the lysine/selenalysine ratio is 1/200.

Transport systems for lysine, thialysine and selenalysine in E. coli KL16.

Two lysine transport systems have been identified in E. coli KL16. They differ in their affinity for lysine, one showing a KM of 0.36 microM and the other a KM of 4.7 microM. Different compounds with chemical similarities to lysine were tested for their capacity to interfere with lysine transport. Among these only thialysine and selenalysine competitively inhibit lysine transport. The inhibition is on both transport systems. Thialysine shows a KI of 4 microM for the low affinity system and a KI of 8 microM for the high affinity system. Selenalysine shows values of 6 microM and 12 microM respectively.

Aspartokinase III repression and lysine analogs utilization for protein synthesis.

The extents of thialysine and selenalysine incorporation into cell proteins were compared in E. coli KL16 and in a mutant able to grow equally well in the presence or in the absence of both lysine analogs. The mutant differs from the parental strain in the repression of aspartokinase III (AKIII), the first enzyme of the lysine biosynthetic pathway. No analog incorporation into proteins was observed in mutant cells grown in the presence of either analog, whereas a marked analog incorporation was observed in the parental strain, where up to 17% and 12% of protein lysine can be substituted by thialysine and selenalysine respectively. In the parental strain grown in media containing either analog at different concentration the extent of analog incorporation into proteins is related to the extent of AKIII repression.

Thialysine- and selenalysine-resistance in a E. coli mutant.

A thialysine-resistant mutant of E. coli strain KL16 also shows a lower sensitivity to selenalysine, the lysine analog containing selenium. No difference between the mutant and the parental strain has been shown regarding the affinities of the transport systems and the lysyl-tRNA synthetase for selenalysine, thialysine and lysine as well as the inhibitory effects of these three aminoacids on the activity of the lysine biosynthetic pathway. A marked difference between the two strains has been evidenced in the AK III repression: in the mutant the repression by selenalysine, thialysine and lysine is much lower than in the parental strain.

Intracellular transport of thialysine and selenalysine in CHO cells.

The intracellular transport of thialysine and selenalysine in CHO cells has been studied. Data have been obtained indicating that the two lysine analogs can be transported by both the cationic aminoacid transport system and by the L transport system. The affinity of the cationic aminoacid transport system is similar for the two lysine analogs but lower than that for lysine and the affinity of the L transport system for the two lysine analogs is lower than that for leucine.

Selenalysine utilization by CHO cells.

CHO cells allowed to grow in a medium containing selenalysine can utilize it for protein synthesis. Selenalysine is incorporated into cell proteins in substitution of lysine: a maximum of 5% of protein lysine can be substituted. Protein lysine substitution by selenalysine can be correlated to the reduced viability of cells grown in its presence.

Repression of lysine transport in E. coli KL16.

Data reported in this paper show that both lysine transport systems in E. coli KL16 can be repressed by lysine and its isologs, thialysine and selenalysine, whereas they are not repressed by ornithine. The repression is specific on lysine transport systems; it is evident with 0.01 mM lysine or isolog concentration and reaches a maximum with 0.1 mM concentration. By comparing the extent of repression by lysine and its isologs, lysine gives the highest and selenalysine the lowest degree of repression. The shift from the repressed to the depressed state is rather immediate once the amino acid is removed from the culture medium.