Affinity cystein

Kaur, J., Bachhawat, A. K. (2007) Yctlp, a novel, high-affinity, cysteine-specific transporter from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics, 176, 877-890. 

Organosulfur Adsorbates on Metal and Semiconductor Surfaces. Sulfur compounds (qv) and selenium compounds (qv) have a strong affinity for transition metal surfaces (206—211). The number of reported surface-active organosulfur compounds that form monolayers on gold includes di- -alkyl sulfide (212,213), di- -alkyl disulfides (108), thiophenols (214,215), mercaptopyridines (216), mercaptoanilines (217), thiophenes (217), cysteines (218,219), xanthates (220), thiocarbaminates (220), thiocarbamates (221), thioureas (222), mercaptoimidazoles (223—225), and alkaneselenoles (226) (Fig. 11). However, the most studied, and probably most understood, SAM is that of alkanethiolates on Au(lll) surfaces. 

The insulin-binding domain of the INSR is located within a cystein-rich region of the a-subunits. Alternative splicing of exon 11 generates two isoforms of the a-subunit which differ in their C-terminus and in their tissue distribution (type A leukocytes type B liver type A and B skeletal muscle and fat). The isoforms differ in their affinity to insulin (A > B), but then-relevance for normal and impaired insulin action is not entirely clear [1,2]. 

Another type of detoxication involves the production of cysteine conjugates, which are readily excreted. (Again, organomercury compounds show their affinity for -SH groups). Methyl mercuric cysteine is an important biliary metabolite in the rat and is degraded within the gut (presumably by microorganisms) to release inorganic mercury (see IAEA Report 137, 1972). 

Chemical modifications like alkylation with (A-ethylmaleimide (NEM) or oxidation with diamide that inhibit the phosphorylation activity of the enzyme did not seem to have any significant effect on the high affinity binding site when the enzyme was solubilized in the detergent decyl-PEG [69,41]. However, in the intact membrane these treatments reduced the affinity by a factor of 2-3. The reduction of the affinity was exclusively due to modification of the cysteine residue at position 384 in the B domain [69]. Apparently, the detergent effects the interaction between the B and C domains. 

An affinity label is a molecule that contains a functionality that is chemically reactive and will therefore form a covalent bond with other molecules containing a complementary functionality. Generally, affinity labels contain electrophilic functionalities that form covalent bonds with protein nucleophiles, leading to protein alkylation or protein acylation. In some cases affinity labels interact selectively with specific amino acid side chains, and this feature of the molecule can make them useful reagents for defining the importance of certain amino acid types in enzyme function. For example, iodoacetate and A-ethyl maleimide are two compounds that selectively modify the sulfur atom of cysteine side chains. These compounds can therefore be used to test the functional importance of cysteine residues for an enzyme s activity. This topic is covered in more detail below in Section 8.4. 

More recently attempts to generate highly selective quiescent affinity labels have been made for a number of protease and kinase targets. As examples, inhibitors of the Rhinovirus 3C protease (Mathews et al 1999) and of the epidermal growth factor receptors (Boschelli, 2002), both incorporating Michael acceptors to covalently inactivate cysteine residues in their target enzymes (Lowry and Richardson, 1981 Figure 8.6), have entered human clinical trials for the treatment of rhinovirus infection and cancer, respectively. 

Figure 3.3. Structure of the ICAT reagent. The reagent contains a biotin affinity tag that is used to isolate ICAT-labeled peptides. The reagent also contains a linker that exists in a heavy (where X= deuterium) or light form (X= hydrogen) and a reactive group with specificity towards the thiol groups of cysteine residues. Figure adapted from Gygi et al. (1999).

Membrane extracts from adult H. contortus were enriched 24-fold for cysteine protease activity by passage over a Thiol-Sepharose affinity column and the proteins obtained (abbreviated as TSBP) were clearly localized to the microvillar surface of the intestinal cells (Knox et al., 1995,1999). TSBP comprised a prominent 60 kDa protein and several minor bands between 35 and 45 kDa and 97 to 120 kDa (Fig. 13.2). Protease activity at 38, 52 and 70 kDa was attributable to cysteine proteases and at 70 and 88 kDa to serine/metalloproteases, as judged by inhibition analyses. Lectin-binding studies showed that most of the TSBPs were glycosylated. Expression library... 

Figure 16.6 The solid phase ICAT reagent provides a thiol-reactive iodoacetyl group to capture cysteine peptides, a spacer containing stable isotopic labels, and a photo-cleavable group that can release the captured peptides for mass spec analysis. The VICAT mass tag is a solution phase labeling agent that also has a photo-cleavable site to release isolated peptides from a (strept)avidin affinity resin. This compound adds a fluorescent group to better detect labeled peptides as they are being isolated from a sample.

However, if the expressed protein is treated on the affinity support using thiophenol, this also will release the protein and result in a phenylthioester at its C-terminal, which is the reactive intermediate imminendy suitable for native chemical ligation. Treatment of this activated thioester protein with a N-terminal cysteine peptide induces the native chemical ligation reaction and couples the peptide to the expressed protein through an amide bond (Severinov and Muir, 1998) (Figure 17.27). 

Alexander, S., Gorboulev, V., Gorbunov, D., Kelley T., Volk, C., Schmitt, B.M., Schlachtbauer, P., Ciarimboli, G., and Koepsell, H. (2007) Identification of cysteines in rat organic cation transporters rOCTl (C322,C451) and rOCT2 (C451) critical for transport activity and substrate affinity. Am. J. Physiol. Renal Physiol, (web preprint, June 13, 2007). 

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