A direct spectropolarimetric assay of arabinose 5-phosphate isomerase.

Arabinose 5-phosphate isomerase (API) catalyzes the reversible isomerization of Ribulose 5-phosphate (Ru5P) to Arabinose 5-Phosphate (Ar5P) for the production of 3-deoxy-2-octulosonic acid 8-phosphate (KDO), a component of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of gram-negative bacteria. API is an attractive target for therapeutic development against gram-negative bacterial pathogens. The current assay method of API activity utilizes a general reaction for keto sugar determination in a secondary, 3-h color development reaction with 25 N sulfuric acid which poses hazard to both personnel and instrumentation. We therefore aimed to develop a more user friendly assay of the enzyme. Since Ru5P absorbs in the UV region and contains at least 2 chiral centers, it can be expected to display circular dichroism (CD). A wavelength scan revealed indeed Ru5P displays a pronounced negative ellipticity of 30,560 mDeg M-1cm-1 at 279 nm in Tris buffer pH 9.1 but Ar5P does not have any CD. API enzymatic reactions were monitored directly and continuously in real time by following the disappearance of CD from the Ru5P substrate, or by the appearance of CD from Ar5P substrate. The CD signal at this wavelength was not affected by absorption of the enzyme protein or of small molecules, or turbidity of the solution. Common additives in protein and enzyme reaction mixtures such as detergents, metals, and 5% dimethylsulfoxide did not interfere with the CD signal. Assay reactions of 1-3 min consistently yielded reproducible results. Introduction of accessories in a spectropolarimeter will easily adapt this assay to high throughput format for screening thousands of small molecules as inhibitor candidates of API.

A conversation with Andrew Benson: reflections on the discovery of the Calvin-Benson cycle.

On June 26-27, 2012, one of us (BBB) made a video based on an interview conducted with Andrew A. Benson, Professor Emeritus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA. The video was first shown in a seminar presented by BBB on July 27, 2012 at the Calvin Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, to mark the departure of the Energy Biosciences Institute to a new building. Here we record the conversation taking place during the interview. The Brancraft Library on the Berkeley campus will house the video's transcript in its oral histories collection, and the video will be housed in its motion picture collection. The video and the transcript have also been posted on You Tube (http://youtu.be/GfQQJ2vR_xE).

LuxS-independent formation of AI-2 from ribulose-5-phosphate.

BACKGROUND: In many bacteria, the signal molecule AI-2 is generated from its precursor S-ribosyl-L-homocysteine in a reaction catalysed by the enzyme LuxS. However, generation of AI-2-like activity has also been reported for organisms lacking the luxS gene and the existence of alternative pathways for AI-2 formation in Escherichia coli has recently been predicted by stochastic modelling. Here, we investigate the possibility that spontaneous conversion of ribulose-5-phosphate could be responsible for AI-2 generation in the absence of luxS. RESULTS: Buffered solutions of ribulose-5-phosphate, but not ribose-5-phosphate, were found to contain high levels of AI-2 activity following incubation at concentrations similar to those reported in vivo. To test whether this process contributes to AI-2 formation by bacterial cells in vivo, an improved Vibrio harveyi bioassay was used. In agreement with previous studies, culture supernatants of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus luxS mutants were found not to contain detectable levels of AI-2 activity. However, low activities were detected in an E. coli pgi-eda-edd-luxS mutant, a strain which degrades glucose entirely via the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, with ribulose-5-phosphate as an obligatory intermediate. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that LuxS-independent formation of AI-2, via spontaneous conversion of ribulose-5-phosphate, may indeed occur in vivo. It does not contribute to AI-2 formation in wildtype E. coli and S. aureus under the conditions tested, but may be responsible for the AI-2-like activities reported for other organisms lacking the luxS gene.

Metabolomics of supragingival plaque and oral bacteria.

Dental caries is initiated by demineralization of the tooth surface through acid production by sugar metabolism of supragingival plaque microflora. To elucidate the sugar metabolic system, we used CE-MS to perform metabolomics of the central carbon metabolism, the EMP pathway, the pentose-phosphate pathway, and the TCA cycle in supra- gingival plaque and representative oral bacteria, Streptococcus and Actinomyces. Supragingival plaque contained all the targeted metabolites in the central carbon metabolism, except erythrose 4-phosphate in the pentose-phosphate pathway. After glucose rinse, glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, dihydroxyacetone phosphate, and pyruvate in the EMP pathway and 6-phosphogluconate, ribulose 5-phosphate, and sedoheptulose 7-phosphate in the pentose-phosphate pathway, and acetyl CoA were increased. Meanwhile, 3-phosphoglycerate and phosphoenolpyruvate in the EMP pathway and succinate, fumarate, and malate in the TCA cycle were decreased. These pathways and changes in metabolites observed in supragingival plaque were similar to the integration of metabolite profiles in Streptococcus and Actinomyces.

A comprehensive method for the quantification of the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway intermediates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by GC-IDMS.

A gas chromatography isotope dilution mass spectrometry (GC-IDMS) method was developed for the quantification of the metabolites of the non-oxidative part of pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). A mid-polar GC column (Zebron ZB-AAA, 10m, film composition 50% phenyl 50% dimethyl polysiloxane) was used for the chromatographic separation of the intermediates. The optimized GC-MS procedure resulted in improved separation performances and higher sensitivities compared to previous methods. Furthermore, the use of (13)C-labeled cell extracts as internal standards improved the data quality and eliminated the need to perform a recovery check for each metabolite. The applicability of the new method was demonstrated by analyzing intracellular metabolite levels in samples derived from aerobic glucose-limited chemostat cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at steady state as well as following a short-term glucose pulse. The major achievements of the proposed quantitative method are the independent quantification of the epimers ribulose-5-phosphate and xylulose-5-posphate and the measurement of compounds present at very low concentrations in biological samples such as erythrose-4-phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.

The measurement of xylulose 5-phosphate, ribulose 5-phosphate, and combined sedoheptulose 7-phosphate and ribose 5-phosphate in liver tissue.

A modification of the method of Kauffman et al. (F. C. Kauffman, J. G. Brown, J. V. Passonneau, and O. H. Lowry (1969) J. Biol. Chem. 244, 3647-3653) for the spectrophotometric determination of xylulose 5-phosphate, ribulose 5-phosphate, and combined ribose 5-phosphate and sedoheptulose 7-phosphate in tissue extract is presented. Using commercially available enzymes all three assays come to a clear endpoint with the assays described. Values for these metabolites in liver in three dietary states are reported; 48 h starved, ad libitum feeding of standard NIH rat ration, and meal feeding of a fat-free diet. Xylulose 5-phosphate values were 3.8 +/- 0.3, 8.6 +/- 0.3, and 66.3 +/- 8.3 nmol/g. Ribulose 5-phosphate values were 3.4 +/- 0.3, 5.8 +/- 0.2, and 37.1 +/- 5.3 nmol/g. Combined ribose 5-phosphate and sedoheptulose 7-phosphate were 29.3 +/- 0.3, 38.2 +/- 1.2, and 108.2 +/- 14.5 nmol/g. The ratio of measured tissue content of [xylulose 5-phosphate]/[ribulose 5-phosphate] was found to be 1.12 +/- 0.07 in starved animals, 1.48 +/- 0.04 in ad libitum fed animals and 1.78 +/- 0.03 in low-fat meal fed animals. These data are in good agreement with the range of equilibrium constants reported for this reaction, suggesting that the ribulose 5-phosphate 3-epimerase reaction (EC 5.1.3.1) is a near equilibrium reaction despite a more than 10-fold change in the tissue content of these metabolites.

Identification and quantitation of phosphorus metabolites in yeast neutral pH extracts by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

(31)P NMR spectroscopy offers a possibility to obtain a survey of all low-molecular-weight phosphorylated compounds in yeast. The yeast cells have been extracted using chloroform into a neutral aqueous phase. The use of high fields and the neutral pH extracts, which are suitable for NMR analysis, results in well-resolved (31)P NMR spectra. Two-dimensional NMR experiments, such as proton-detected heteronuclear single quantum ((1)H-(31)P HSQC) and (31)P correlation spectroscopy ((31)P COSY), have been used to assign the resonances. In the phosphomonoester region many of the signals could be assigned to known metabolites in the glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathways, although some signals remain unidentified. Accumulation of ribulose 5-phosphate, xylulose 5-phosphate, and ribose 5-phosphate was observed in a strain lacking transketolase activity when grown in synthetic complete medium. No such accumulation occurred when the cells were grown in yeast-peptone-dextrose medium. Trimetaphosphate (intracellular concentration about 0.2 mM) was detected in both cold methanol-chloroform and perchloric acid extracts.