Hemochromatosis and infection: alcohol and iron, oysters and sepsis.

Hemochromatosis, or primary iron overload, is a variably expressed genetic metabolic disorder greatly modified by sex, age, diet, and alcohol consumption. Although a diagnosis has been made at the bedside by careful documentation of the slow resolution of subcutaneous iron pigment, clinical diagnosis is frequently overlooked, and even autopsy may fail to reveal hemochromatosis as the cause for cirrhosis. Genetic linkage studies have confirmed the extremely high prevalence of this disorder. Untreated patients may succumb to sepsis caused by organisms such as Vibrio vulnificus, Yersinia species, and others whose virulence is altered by iron availability.

Two substrate binding sites on tryptophanyl transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase of Escherichia coli.

Tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase of Escherichia coli has 1.8 binding sites for L-tryptophan with Kdiss of 12 x 10(-5) M as shown by equilibrium dialysis. The results are in accord with the known structure of the enzyme, and alpha2 dimer of 74,000 molecular weight, and with 2 binding sites for tryptophanyl-ATP ester. Ordinary sucrose density gradient centrifugation reveals a complex composed of one tRNATrp bound per enzyme dimer. When tRNATrp is mixed throughout the gradient at concentrations from 5.4 x 10(-6) M to 2.0 x 10(-5) M, a new peak appears in the position expected for a complex with two tRNATrp molecules bound per enzyme dimer. Sedimentation through gradients lacking tRNATrp favors dissociation of the 1:2 complex but not the 1:1 complex. The data indicate 2 binding sites for tRNATrp on tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase.

Autopsy findings and syndromic diagnoses: Bayesian calculations for pediatric pathologists.

Application of a standard statistical method known as a Bayesian calculation to the findings in pediatric anatomic pathology may help the pediatric pathologist to recognize and express the likelihood of syndromic diagnoses. This assessment can be useful in counseling and deciding which (if any) confirmatory tests are warranted. An example shows the method and its utility.

Human tryptophan transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase. Composition, function of thiol groups, and structure of thiol peptides.

Human tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase resembles its counterpart in Escherichia coli in quaternary structure (alpha2), but differs in molecular weight, amino acid composition, the number of thiol groups, and the relationship of the thiol groups to enzyme activity. Nevertheless, one of the thiol groups resides in a heptapeptide sequence homologous to a heptapeptide sequence containing a thiol group in the E. coli enzyme. Each subunit of the enzyme has 6 half-cystine residues, and four thiol groups are readily titrated with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). Titration of these four thiol groups inactivates the enzyme, and the inactivation is partially reversible by reduction with dithiothreitol. One thiol group reacts rapidly unless L-tryptophan, ATP, and Mg2+ are present together.

Tryptophanyl transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase of Escherichia coli. Character of required thiol group and structure of thiol peptides.

Native tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase purified from Escherichia coli B has on each identical subunit a single thiol group which rapidly forms a mixed disulfide with a thionitrobenzoate moiety of 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). The reaction and the concomitant inactivation of the enzyme are both reversible by reductive removal of the thionitrobenzoate with dithiothreitol. Iodoacetamide and N-ethylmaleimide also react with the thiol group required for enzyme activity, but iodoacetic acid inactivates the enzyme through another mechanism. Three or 4 half-cystine residues/subunit were detected by amino acid analysis and by titration of the denatured enzyme with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid); no disulfide bonds were detected by borohydride reduction. Cleavage of the subunit (molecular weight 37,000) with 2-nitro-5-thiocyanobenzoic acid gave fragments of molecular weights 32,000, 27,000, and 9,500. Five carboxymethylated peptides were isolated from the trypsin products of the denatured enzyme after treatment with iodo[14C]lacetate. Three of these peptides represented unique sequences surrounding thiol groups in the enzyme. One cysteine-containing nonapeptide has a heptapeptide sequence homologous to a heptapeptide sequence in a cysteine containing decapeptide from the tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase of human placenta. The nonapeptide appears to bear the thiol group required for enzyme activity.

Tryptophanyl adenylate formation by tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase from Escherichia coli.

By gel filtration and titration on DEAE-cellulose filters we show that Escherichia coli tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase forms tryptophanyl adenylate as an initial reaction product when the enzyme is mixed with ATP-Mg and tryptophan. This reaction precedes the synthesis of the tryptophanyl-ATP ester known to be formed by this enzyme. The stoichiometry of tryptophanyl adenylate synthesis is 2 mol per mole of dimeric enzyme. When this reaction is studied either by the stopped-flow method, by the fluorescence changes of the enzyme, or by radioactive ATP depletion, three successive chemical processes are identified. The first two processes correspond to the synthesis of the two adenylates, at very different rates. The rate constants of tryptophanyl adenylate synthesis are respectively 146 +/- 17 s-1 and 3.3 +/- 0.9 s-1. The third process is the synthesis of tryptophanyl-ATP, the rate constant of which is 0.025 s-1. The Michaelis constants for ATP and for tryptophan in the activation reaction are respectively 179 +/- 35 microM and 23.9 +/- 7.9 microM, for the fast site, and 116 +/- 45 microM and 3.7 +/- 2.2 microM, for the slow site. No synergy between ATP and tryptophan can be evidenced. The data are interpreted as showing positive cooperativity between the subunits associated with conformational changes evidenced by fluorometric methods. The pyrophosphorolysis of tryptophanyl adenylate presents a Michaelian behavior for both sites, and the rate constant of the reverse reaction is 360 +/- 10 s-1 with a binding constant of 196 +/- 12 microM for inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Tryptophanamide formation by Escherichia coli tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase.

When tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase from Escherichia coli is allowed to react with L-tryptophan and ATP-Mg in the presence of inorganic pyrophosphatase, the fluorescence change of the reaction mixture reveals three or four sequential processes, depending on the buffer used. Quenched-flow and stopped-flow experiments show that the first two processes, which occur in the 0.001-1.0-s time scale, can be correlated to the formation of two moles of tryptophanyl-adenylate per mole of dimeric enzyme. These two processes are reversible by adding PPi, as seen in the fluorimeter. The third process leads to a reaction product that can no longer reform ATP after addition of PPi and that represents tryptophanyl-ATP ester, as demonstrated by thin-layer chromatography. This compound has been previously shown to be formed by tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase from E. coli [K. H. Muench (1969) Biochemistry 8, 4872-4879]. Its formation is accompanied by a fluorescence decrease which reaches a minimum in about 30 min. The nature of the fourth process depends on the reaction conditions employed. In sodium bicarbonate or potassium phosphate buffer, the fourth process corresponds to the non-enzymatic hydrolysis of tryptophanyl-ATP ester. This spontaneous hydrolysis competes with formation of the ester and limits its concentration. Eventually, the progressive exhaustion of ATP brings the fluorescence intensity of the reaction mixture back to its initial value. In contrast, in ammonium bicarbonate buffer the previous third process is no longer visible, as evidenced by the absence of a fluorescence decrease beyond the fast initial quenching linked to the formation of tryptophanyl-adenylate. Instead, a fluorescence increase is observed. However, unlike the fourth process seen in sodium bicarbonate buffer, the fluorescence increase in ammonium bicarbonate is much larger than the initial fluorescence decrease linked to adenylate formation, the final fluorescence greatly surpassing the starting fluorescence signal. The reaction product of this process is tryptophanamide, as evidenced by high-performance liquid chromatography. Tryptophanamide formation is faster than that of tryptophanyl-ATP ester and is enzyme-catalyzed with a Km of 1 mM for ammonia and a rate constant of 5.7 min-1 at pH 8.3, 25 degrees C. The affinity of tryptophanamide for the protein is too weak to allow the formation of a significant concentration of enzyme-product complex. Tryptophanamide is therefore released in the reaction medium and its concentration reaches that of the limiting substrate.

The nucleotide sequence of the structural gene for Escherichia coli tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase.

The complete nucleotide sequence of trpS, the structural gene for Escherichia coli tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase, was determined using a plasmid carrying the structural gene. From the single open reading frame of correct length and orientation we deduced an amino acid sequence consistent with the amino acid composition of the purified protein. In addition, previously sequenced peptides representing 52% of the protein were readily aligned with regions of the deduced sequence. The deduced amino acid sequence of the E. coli enzyme is 60% homologous with the sequence of the enzyme from Bacillus stearothermophilus. Using currently available procedures we predicted the secondary structure for the enzyme from each organism and compared these structures to those of the two aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases whose three-dimensional structures have been determined. We used a convenient plasmid recombination procedure to map the regional locations of missense mutations within trpS that have characteristic effects on the properties of the enzyme.