Characterization of a defect in the pathway for converting 5‘-deoxy-5‘-methylthioadenosine to methionine in a subline of a cultured heterogeneous human colon carcinoma

Mutagenesis of the enolase-phosphatase gene in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae affects growth on methylthioadenosine and in vivo S-adenosylmethionine pools

Enolase-phosphatase (E1), as an enzyme, is involved in methionine salvage pathway in many prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. But the identity and function of E1 in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) remain undetermined. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of E1 gene, named xep, from Xoo. Sequence analysis shows that XEP is highly conserved among the six Xoo strains we investigated and all other Xanthomonas species. The strain with an insertion mutation in xep could not grow when methylthioadenosine (MTA) was used as the sole sulfur source, but its growth in rice leaves was comparable to that of wild-type strain. Furthermore, the mutant also showed less S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and lower gene expression of sulfate reduction gene raxQ, compared to wild-type bacterial cells. Introduction of wild-type xep gene to the mutant resulted in the full restoration of growth on MTA, the SAM quantity and the expression level of raxQ. The results demonstrate that xep is involved in the predicted methionine salvage pathway and an inactive form of this gene results in a decreased SAM level in vivo. Our data also indicate that SAM may play a role in the regulation of sulfur reduction at the transcriptional level in Xoo.

Down-regulation of cIAP2 enhances 5-FU sensitivity through the apoptotic pathway in human colon cancer cells

Currently 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) plays a central role in the chemotherapeutic regimens for colorectal cancers and thus it is important to understand the mechanisms that determine 5-FU sensitivity. The expression profiles of human colon cancer cell line DLD-1, its 5-FU-resistant subclone DLD-1/FU and a further 21 types of colon cancer cell lines were compared to identify the novel genes defining the sensitivity to 5-FU and to estimate which population of genes is responsible for 5-FU sensitivity. In the hierarchical clustering, DLD-1 and DLD-1/FU were most closely clustered despite over 100 times difference in their 50% inhibitory concentration of 5-FU. In DLD-1/FU, the population of genes differentially expressed compared to DLD-1 was limited to 3.3%, although it ranged from 4.8% to 24.0% in the other 21 cell lines, thus indicating that the difference of 5-FU sensitivity was defined by a limited number of genes. Next, the role of the cellular inhibitor of apoptosis 2 (cIAP2) gene, which was up-regulated in DLD-1/FU, was investigated for 5-FU resistance using RNA interference. The down-regulation of cIAP2 efficiently enhanced 5-FU sensitivity, the activation of caspase 3/7 and apoptosis under exposure to 5-FU. The immunohistochemistry of cIAP2 in cancer and corresponding normal tissues from colorectal cancer patients in stage III revealed that cIAP2 was more frequently expressed in cancer tissues than in normal tissues, and cIAP2-positive patients had a trend toward early recurrence after fluorouracil-based chemotherapy. Although the association between drug sensitivity and the IAP family in colorectal cancer has not yet been discussed, cIAP2 may therefore play an important role as a target therapy in colorectal cancer.

The identification of 5′-fluoro-5-deoxyinosine as a shunt product in cell free extracts of Streptomyces cattleya

5'-Fluoro-5'-deoxyinosine (5'-FDI) is identified as an adventitious side product that accumulates in cell free incubations of SAM and fluoride ion in Streptomyces cattleya. 5'-FDI was identified by a combination of isotopic labelling studies and co-synthesis studies as well as enzymatic degradation. Although it is an efficiently generated end product of the cell free incubations, 5'-FDI is not a biosynthetic intermediate and it does not accumulate as a fluorometabolite with fluoroacetate and 4-fluorothreonine in whole cell incubations of S. cattleya. Clearly the purine deaminase which converts 5'-fluoro-5'-deoxyadenosine (5'-FDA) to 5'-FDI in the cell free extract does not come into contact with 5'-FDA in whole cells, suggesting some level of compartmentalisation in cells of S. cattleya. The biotransformation of 5'-FDI from fluoride ion extends the range of organofluorine products, beyond biosynthetic intermediates, that can be generated by this system, for applications such as enzymatic labelling with fluorine-18 for positron emission tomography applications.

Crystal Structure of Human E1 Enzyme and its Complex with a Substrate Analog Reveals the Mechanism of its Phosphatase/Enolase Activity

Enolase-phosphatase E1 (MASA) is a bifunctional enzyme in the ubiquitous methionine salvage pathway that catalyzes the continuous reactions of 2,3-diketo-5-methylthio-1-phosphopentane to yield the aci-reductone metabolite using Mg2+ as cofactor. In this study, we have determined the crystal structure of MASA and its complex with a substrate analog to 1.7A resolution by multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction and molecular replacement techniques, respectively. The structures support the proposed mechanism of phosphatase activity and further suggest the probable mechanism of enolization. We establish a model for substrate binding to describe in detail the enzymatic reaction and the formation of the transition state, which will provide insight into the reaction mechanisms of other enzymes in the same family.

Anaplerotic reactions in tumour proliferation and apoptosis

Our aim in this commentary is to provide evidence that certain oxoacids formed in anaplerotic reactions control cell proliferation/apoptosis. In tumour cells with impaired Krebs cycle enzymes, some anaplerotic reactions do compensate for the deficit in oxoacids. One of these, oxaloacetate, derived from the transamination of asparagine but not of aspartate, is decarboxylated 4-fold more efficiently in polyoma-virus transformed cells than in their non-transformed counterparts. The deamidation of asparagine, in the cell culture medium, to aspartate by asparaginase decreases asparagine transamination and inhibits concomitantly the growth of asparaginase-sensitive lymphoma cells, suggesting a causal relationship between asparagine transamination and growth. Another oxoacid that can provide ATP when metabolised in mitochondria, but by the branched-chain oxoacid dehydrogenase complex (BCOADC), is 2-oxobutanoate. It has two origins: (a) deamination of threonine, and (b) cleavage of cystathionine, a metabolite derived from methionine. 2-Oxobutanoate in the presence of insulin promotes growth in G1/S arrested cells. But methionine also gives rise to another substrate of BCOADC, 4-methylthio-2-oxobutanoate (MTOB), which is synthesised exclusively from methylthioadenosine (MTA) by the action of MTA phosphorylase. In Met-dependent tumour cells with defective MTA phosphorylase, 2-oxobutanoate production would exceed that of MTOB. Further, BCOADC also has 3-fold greater affinity for 2-oxobutanoate than for MTOB; hence, the deficiency in 3-methylthio propionyl CoA, the final product of MTOB decarboxylation, would be exacerbated. Methional, the transient metabolic precursor in 3-methylthio propionyl CoA biosynthesis, is apoptogenic for both normal and bcl(2)-negative transformed cells in culture. Investigations of other causal relationships between the genes/enzymes mediating the homeostasis of anaplerotic oxoacids and cell growth/death may be worthwhile.

Methionine regeneration and aminotransferases in Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, and Bacillus anthracis

The conversion of ketomethiobutyrate to methionine has been previously examined in a number of organisms, wherein the aminotransferases responsible for the reaction have been found to be members of the Ia subfamily (L. C. Berger, J. Wilson, P. Wood, and B. J. Berger, J. Bacteriol. 183:4421-4434, 2001). The genome of Bacillus subtilis has been found to contain no subfamily Ia aminotransferase sequences. Instead, the analogous enzymes in B. subtilis were found to be members of the If subfamily. These putative aspartate aminotransferases, the yugH, ywfG, ykrV, aspB, and patA gene products, have been cloned, expressed, and characterized for methionine regeneration activity. Only YkrV was able to convert ketomethiobutyrate to methionine, and it catalyzed the reaction only when glutamine was used as amino donor. In contrast, subcellular homogenates of B. subtilis and Bacillus cereus utilized leucine, isoleucine, valine, alanine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine as effective amino donors. The two putative branched-chain aminotransferase genes in B. subtilis, ybgE and ywaA, were also cloned, expressed, and characterized. Both gene products effectively transaminated branched-chain amino acids and ketoglutarate, but only YbgE converted ketomethiobutyrate to methionine. The amino donor preference for methionine regeneration by YbgE was found to be leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine. The B. subtilis ybgE gene is a member of the family III of aminotransferases and falls in a subfamily designated here IIIa. Examination of B. cereus and Bacillus anthracis genome data found that there were no subfamily IIIa homologues in these organisms. In both B. cereus and B. anthracis, two putative branched-chain aminotransferases and two putative D-amino acid aminotransferases were discovered as members of subfamily IIIb. These four sequences were cloned from B. cereus, expressed, and characterized. Only the gene product from the sequence designated Bc-BCAT2 was found to convert ketomethiobutyrate to methionine, with an amino donor preference of leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine. The B. anthracis homologue of Bc-BCAT2 was also cloned, expressed, and characterized and was found to be identical in activity. The aminooxy compound canaline was found to be an uncompetitive inhibitor of B. subtilis YbgE and also inhibited growth of B. subtilis and B. cereus in culture.

Contribution of 4-methylthio-2-oxobutanoate and its transaminase to the growth of methionine-dependent cells in culture. Effect of transaminase inhibitors

The growth in culture of methionine-dependent transformed cells of human, rat and mouse origin was arrested in the absence of L-methionine (Met) but took place in the presence of 4-methylthio-2-oxobutanoic acid (MTOB), the keto acid of Met. From 24 hr after seeding, cells grew in 0.1 mM MTOB medium at a rate comparable to that in 0.1 mM Met medium. Using [35S]MTOB, it was found that the Met synthesized was used in normal MRC-5 cells and in transformed HeLa cells to the same extent for protein, adenosylmethionine and adenosylhomocysteine syntheses. However, when the free Met content was examined, it was found to be 3-fold greater in HeLa than in MRC-5 cells. To examine the importance of this free Met for the growth of transformed cells, the transaminase responsible for converting MTOB to Met was chosen as a target enzyme for the synthesis of compounds with potential inhibitory activity. Since this is a multisubstrate enzyme, reduced Schiff bases were prepared containing both pyridoxal or other aromatic groups, as one constituent, and L-Met or other amino-acids in the free acid or ester or amide form, as the other constituent. Only esters containing the pyridoxal moiety and Met or certain of its structural analogues exhibited good selective growth inhibitory activity in that there was little (20%) or no effect on the growth of normal MRC-5 and derm cells, respectively, while that of transformed HeLa, HEp-2 and L1210 cells was strongly inhibited (80%). This inhibition was accompanied by a concomitant decrease in the activity of the MTOB transaminase in both HeLa and MRC-5 cells treated with 3c the most potent inhibitor. However, using [35S]MTOB it was found that MTOB itself accumulated 48% in HeLa but only 12% in MRC-5 cells treated with 3c. On the contrary [35S]Met formed from [35S]MTOB increased 3.7-fold in MRC-5 inhibitor-treated cells showing 20% growth inhibition whereas it decreased 38% in HeLa-treated cells showing 80% growth inhibition. This decrease in cellular Met in HeLa is not responsible for growth arrest. Indeed the growth of HeLa cells could not be restored by adding a 10-fold excess of Met. Since MTOB can alleviate Met-dependence, the intracellular homeostasis of this metabolite may play a hitherto unsuspected role in controlling cell growth.

Serum has a differential effect on DNA replication in a human melanoma cell line cultured in methionine or 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine

A human melanoma cell line called MeWo-LC1 exhibits a reduced ability to synthesize DNA when cultured in serum-supplemented medium containing 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine (MeSAdo) in place of methionine. However, DNA replication in these cells occurs normally if the cells are cultured in serum-free medium containing transferrin, and MeSAdo in place of methionine. Although the presence of serum alters the cells' ability to respond to MeSAdo, it is not likely a consequence of any increased extracellular metabolism by MeSAdo-phosphorylase or adenosine deaminase activity, or due to the diminished uptake of the nucleoside. In the presence of methionine, MeSAdo appears to have a stronger cytostatic effect in medium containing serum than in serum-free medium supplemented with transferrin. MeWo-LC1 cells contain MeSAdo-phosphorylase activity as measured both in vivo and in vitro. The diminished replication of DNA in medium containing serum and MeSAdo is likely not due to the inhibition of polyamine synthesis by the nucleoside. These results indicate that serum (factors) can have an important influence upon the ability of MeSAdo to act as a methio-source for cells cultured in the absence of methionine.