BIOSYNTHESIS OF L-TYROSINE O-SULPHATE FROM THE METHYL AND ETHYL ESTERS OF L-TYROSINE

1. Rat-liver supernatant preparations are capable of achieving the biological sulphation of l-tyrosine methyl ester, the reaction proceeding maximally at a substrate concentration of 30 mm and at pH 7.0. 2. Two sulphated products are formed, one of which has been identified as l-tyrosine O-sulphate. On the basis of indirect evidence the other product can be assumed to be l-tyrosine O-sulphate methyl ester. 3. An enzyme present in rat-liver supernatant preparations is capable of converting l-tyrosine O-sulphate methyl ester into l-tyrosine O-sulphate. This enzyme is inhibited by l-tyrosine methyl ester. 4. l-Tyrosine ethyl ester also yields two sulphated products when used as an acceptor in the liver sulphating system. One of these has been identified chromatographically as l-tyrosine O-sulphate and the other may be presumed to be l-tyrosine O-sulphate ethyl ester.

PREPARATION OF PREPHENIC ACID AND ITS CONVERSION TO PHENYLALANINE AND TYROSINE BY PLANT ENZYMES

Enzymes from mung bean (Phaseolus aureus Roxb.) convert prephenic acid to phenylalanine and tyrosine. In addition to glutamate NADP was required for the production of tyrosine but no cofactor appeared necessary for the formation of phenylalanine. Prephenic acid was produced by growing the auxotroph, Escherichia coli, 58-278, in 20 liters of medium in fermenters at 30 °C. From 275 to 325 mg of prephenic acid was obtained per liter. The culture nitrates were concentrated, and the prephenic acid adsorbed and eluted from Dowex 1 resin and charcoal before being recovered in 40–50% yield as the crystalline barium salt.

THE PERIODATE OXIDATION OF AMINO ACIDS WITH REFERENCE TO STUDIES ON GLYCOPROTEINS

1. All alpha-amino acids are oxidized by periodate, but at different rates. 2. The rates of oxidation of individual alpha-amino acids vary with pH. In general, oxidation proceeds more rapidly at alkaline pH. 3. Serine, threonine, cysteine, cystine, methionine, proline, hydroxyproline, tryptophan, tyrosine and histidine are rapidly and extensively oxidized by periodate. 4. Cysteine, cystine, methionine, tryptophan, tyrosine and histidine are oxidized by periodate when they are substituted in the carboxyl and amino groups, as in a polypeptide chain.

HYDROLYTIC ENZYMES OF RABBIT MONONUCLEAR EXUDATE CELLS. I. QUANTITATIVE ASSAY AND PROPERTIES OF CERTAIN PROTEASES, NON-SPECIFIC ESTERASES, AND LIPASES OF MONONUCLEAR AND POLYMORPHONUCLEAR CELLS AND ERYTHROCYTES

Oil-induced mononuclear phagocytes (MN) were quantitatively assayed for various hydrolases as unfractionated suspensions of frozen and thawed cells. They apparently contain two proteases. The first, measured with urea- or acid-denatured hemoglobin, was similar to purified Proteinase I of lung with respect to pH optimum (pH 4), stability, hydrolytic and polymerizing activities, and reactions to various inhibitors. The second protease resembled chymotrypsin in its hydrolysis of glycyl-L-phenylalanine amide, acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester and N-benzoyl-DL-phenylalanine-beta-naphthol ester (BPN). With the latter, its pH optimum was between 5.0 and 5.8, and its action was inhibited by diisopropylphosphorofluoridate (DFP) and p-chloromercuribenzoate. When assayed under the above conditions, polymorphonuclear exudate cells (PMN) and red blood corpuscles (RBC) manifested little or no hydrolysis of either hemoglobin or BPN. MN also contained esterases that split methyl butyrate and beta-naphthyl acetate. The pH optimum with the latter was 7.4, and its hydrolysis was partially inhibited by DFP, fluoride, taurocholate, and eserine. PMN had low esterase activity; RBC had little or none. MN, but not PMN or RBC, contained a stable lipase with a pH optimum of 6.1 in maleate buffer. Protamine, NaCl, heat, p-chloromercuribenzoate, ethylenediamine tetraacetate, taurocholate, and DFP were inhibitory, but no appreciable activation occurred in the presence of heparin or serum. Thus it possessed some of the characteristics of Korn's lipoprotein lipase, but not others.

THE INCORPORATION AND FATE OF H3-TYROSINE IN THE HAIR CORTEX OF RATS OBSERVED BY RADIOAUTOGRAPHY

The incorporation of H³-tyrosine into the protein of the cells in the cortex of rat hair has been investigated by radioautography. In growing hairs, radioactivity is found in the matrix, the upper bulb, and the whole of the keratogenous zone up to the fully keratinized part of the shaft, 10 and 30 minutes after an injection of labelled tyrosine. This is unequivocal evidence of protein synthesis at these sites. There is a very precise relationship between the end of protein synthesis and the hardening of the cortical cells at the top of the keratogenous zone. The way in which the silver grains of the radioautographs are clustered indicates that at 30 minutes after the injection the isotope is distributed more evenly in the matrix and upper bulb than in the top of the keratogenous zone. Possibly this reflects a difference, at these sites, in the cell components engaged in protein synthesis, or in the proteins being synthesized. The fully keratinized and hardened part of the hair was not radioactive at 10 and 30 minutes after the injection of H³-tyrosine. The rate at which the radioactivity moves into this region shows that the hair of rats grows 0.9 mm/24 hours. Comparison of the degree of radioactivity along the growing hair in the 30-minute, 12-hour, and 36-hour materials shows conclusively that protein accumulates in the cortical cells during their keratinization. An injection of a labelled amino acid does not behave as an ideal pulse dose; consequently, the grain density over the hair cortex at 36 hours is 100 per cent larger than would be expected if an ideal pulse dose situation existed.

THE ISOLATION OF AMINO ACIDS FROM MIXTURES AS THEIR N-2,4-DINITROPHENYL DERIVATIVES, METHIONINE, LEUCINE, PHENYLALANINE, ORNITHINE, LYSINE AND TYROSINE

1. The separation of the dinitrophenyl derivatives of methionine, leucine (together with isoleucine), phenylalanine, ornithine, lysine and tyrosine from each other, and from the dinitrophenyl derivatives of the other protein amino acids, by partition chromatography on columns is described. 2. The harmful effect on resolving power of using too close-fitting a packing tool in preparing these partition columns is indicated and the dimensions needed to obtain good resolution are given.