The properties of purified capsular polysaccharide from the cyanobacterium Microcystis flos-aquae C3-40 were examined by capillary viscometry. Capsule suspensions exhibited similar viscosities between pH 6 and 10 but were more viscous at pH <=4 than at pH 6 to 11. At pH 7, a biphasic effect of metal ion concentration on capsule viscosity was observed: (i) capsule viscosity increased with increa...

Most studies of the roles of catalytic metal ions in ribozymes have focused on inner-sphere coordination of the divalent metal ions to the substrate or ribozyme. However, divalent metal ions are strongly hydrated in water, and some proteinenzymes, such as Escherichia coli RNase H and exonuclease III, are known to use metal cofactors in their fully hydrated form [Duffy, T. H., and Nowak, T. (198...

Interaction of certain metal ions with prothrombin and prothrombin fragment 1 has been shown to result in conformational change(s). Self-association of prothrombin and prothrombin fragment 1 in the presence of divalent cations has been reported. The present study has made use of a covalent cross-linking reagent, dithiobis(succinimidylpropionate), to study the self-association of prothrombin in ...

Trace metal ions such as Zn(2+), Fe(2+), Cu(2+), Mn(2+), and Co(2+) are required cofactors for many essential cellular enzymes, yet little is known about the mechanisms through which they enter into cells. We have shown previously that the widely expressed ion channel TRPM7 (LTRPC7, ChaK1, TRP-PLIK) functions as a Ca(2+)- and Mg(2+)-permeable cation channel, whose activity is regulated by intra...

Two modified 2'-deoxynucleoside 5'-triphosphates have been used for the in vitro selection of a modified deoxyribozyme (DNAzyme) capable of the sequence-specific cleavage of a 12 nt RNA target in the absence of divalent metal ions. The modified nucleotides, a C5-imidazolyl-modified dUTP and 3-(aminopropynyl)-7-deaza-dATP were used in place of TTP and dATP during the selection and incorporate tw...

The ribozyme RNase P absolutely requires divalent metal ions for catalytic function. Multiple Mg2+ ions contribute to the optimal catalytic efficiency of RNase P, and it is likely that the tertiary structure of the ribozyme forms a specific metal-binding pocket for these ions within the active-site. To identify base moieties that contribute to catalytic metal-binding sites, we have used in vitr...

Novel 4-acyl-5-pyrazolones having aza-15-crown-5 (HPMP-A15C5) and aza-18-crown-6 (HPMP-A18C6) moieties as an intramolecular synergist have been synthesized by simple coupling reactions between 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-chloroacetyl-5-pyrazolone and the corresponding azacrown ethers. The solvent extraction of the divalent metal ions (Mn(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Cd(2+) and Pb(2+)) were exam...

Inorganic phosphate, glucose l-phosphate, divalent metal ions, EDTA, m-propoxybenzamidine, and AMP were found to be competitive inhibitors of the reaction catalyzed by phosphorylase phosphatase. By a comparison of kinetic studies with the substrates, phosphorylase a and the phosphorylated peptide, it was deduced that inorganic phosphate affected the reaction by binding to the catalyst, whereas ...

Polynucleotide adsorption to negatively charged surfaces via divalent ions is extensively used in the study of biological systems. We analyze here the adsorption mechanism via a self-consistent mean-field model that includes the pH effect on the surface-charge density and the interactions between divalent ions and surface groups. The adsorption is driven by the cooperative effect of divalent me...

Based on the effects of ionomycin upon mitochondrial respiration, ionomycin was shown to be an effective ionophore for Ca2+ in rat liver mitochondria. The ionomycin-induced efflux of Ca2+ across the inner membrane was more sensitive to loading the mitochondria with Ca2+ than was efflux catalyzed by A23187. At saturating concentrations of Ca2+, the turnover number for ionomycin was 3- to 5-fold ...