Nosso conhecimento de nutrição em avicultura é relativamente maduro, incluindo uma completa lista de exigência de nutrientes, o estabelecimento dos níveis mínimos de cada nutriente necessários para uma máxima produtividade e os níveis e a biodisponibilidade desses nutrientes, contidos nas matérias-primas utilizadas no fábrico das rações. No entanto, não sabemos se os níveis adequados de nutrientes para um ótimo crescimento, em animais saudáveis, são adequados para uma ótima resposta imune ou imunocompetência durante um desafio infeccioso. Um dos mecanismos através dos quais a nutrição interfere na imunidade é a regulação pela disponibilidade de substrato, sendo estabelecido pelo fornecimento de nutrientes necessários para uma resposta imune. Um dos exemplos implicados nesse grupo são os aminoácidos e, dentre esses, a metionina e a arginina. A metionina é importante para a síntese protéica, para a formação de glutationa e poliaminas e é a principal fonte doadora de grupos metila para a formação do DNA. A arginina é importante para a produção de óxido nítrico nos macrófagos. O óxido nítrico tem ação bactericida, cumprindo importante papel na atividade citotóxica celular. Este trabalho teve como objetivo verificar se níveis de metionina e arginina usualmente utilizados na indústria avícola influenciam a resposta imune de frangos de corte submetidos a estímulos imunológicos. O primeiro experimento avaliou a influência da metionia, expressa em aminoácidos sulfurados totais (AAS). Na fase inicial de criação (1 a 21 dias) foram utilizados 0,72; 0,82 e 0,92% de AAS e na fase final (22 a 42 dias) 0,65; 0,75 e 0,85% de AAS. Os estímulos empregados nesse experimento foram as vacinas comumente utilizadas na indústria avícola, micobacterium avium inativado e tuberculina aviária. Como resultado tivemos que os níveis de AAS testados não influenciaram a resposta imune. Porém, as vacinas realizadas prejudicaram o desempenho dos frangos até os 21 dias de idade. De 1 a 42 dias de criação, houve uma interação entre os estímulos e os níveis de AAS, onde o maior nível de AAS do grupo não estimulado mostrou melhor ganho de peso. O segundo experimento avaliou a influência de diferentes níveis de metionina (0,31; 0,51 e 0,66% de 1 a 21 dias e 0,29; 0,49 e 0,64% de 22 a 42 dias de criação) e arginina (1,33 e 1,83% de 1 a 21 dias - 1,14 e 1,64% de 22 a 42 dias) sobre a resposta imune e sobre o desempenho de frangos de corte. O programa de estímulos foram vacinas comumente utilizadas na indústria avícola, eritrócito de carneiro a 10%, micobacterium avium inativado e tuberculina aviária. Como resultado desse experimento tivemos que os níveis de arginina testados não influenciaram o desempenho nem a resposta imune das aves, e em relação a metionina, não houve influência sobre a resposta imune humoral, mas o nível intermediário de metionina obteve melhor resposta celular. Além disso, as vacinas realizadas no primeiro dia prejudicaram o desempenho dos frangos até os 21 dias de idade. Com base nos dois estudos é possível concluir que os níveis de metionina e arginina utilizados atualmente na nutrição de frangos de corte, podem ser adequados para atender a demanda do sistema imune. Em termos de desempenho, os níveis de metionina (AAS) utilizados na agroindústria, podem ser aumentados, aliados a um bom programa sanitário. Além disso pode-se observar que os programas de vacinação, embora necessários, certamente interferem negativamente no desempenho das aves. / Our knowledge of nutrition of poultry and livestock is relatively mature, including a very complete listing of the required nutrients, a quantitative accounting of the minimal level of each nutrient that is needed to maximize production characteristics, and the levels and bioavailabilities of the essential nutrients supplied by feedstuffs. However, it is not known if the requirement values that maximize productivity in healthy, unchallenged animals are optimal for immunocompetence and disease resistance. The regulation by substract availability (diet nutrients) is one of mechanisms trough of witch nutrition interferes on immune response. Amino acids like methionine and arginine are two examples of this. Methionine is important for protein synthesis, glutathione and polyamines production and is the principal source of metil groups to DNA formation. Arginine is important to nitric oxide production by macrophages. Nitric oxide has bactericide action, playing important role in cellular citotoxic activity. This study aim to evaluate the influence of supplementation at different methionine and arginine levels on performance and the immune response in broiler chickens immunologically stimuli. First experiment evaluated methionine (as sulfur amino acids – SAA). In initial fase (1 to 21 days) the levels tested were 0.72, 0.82 and 0.92% and final fase (22 to 42 days) the levels were 0.65, 0.75 and 0.85%. The stimuli program was constituted of vaccines routinely adopted in large-scale bird husbandry, inactivated Mycobacterium avium and avian tuberculin. As results SAA levels tested not influenced immune response. Yet, vaccines administered impaired bird performance upon the 21st day of age. In total period an interaction between immunological stimuli and SAA levels was observed, at this the greatest level of ASS in no-stimulated group showed better weight gain. The second experiment tested the influence of methionine levels (0.31, 0.51 and 0.66% in initial phase and 0.29, 0.49 and 0.64% in final phase) and arginine levels (1.33 and 1.83% in initial phase and 1.14 and 1.64% in final phase) on bird performance and immune response. The stimuli program was vaccines routinely adopted in large-scale bird husbandry, inactivated Mycobacterium avium, Sheep Red Blood Cells 10% (SRBC), and avian tuberculin. It was observed that arginine levels tested influenced neither bird performance nor immune response. To methionine, no effect was observed on humoral immune response, however the intermediate methionine level caused better immune cellular response. Moreover, the vaccines administered on the first day impaired bird performance upon the 21st day of age. Based on these two experiments results it’s possible to conclude that methionine and arginine levels here tested witch are similar of those used on current poultry nutrition could be adequate to attend immune system requirements. To performance this practical levels of methionine could be increased if a god sanity program is used. Moreover, it’s possible to see that vaccination programs are necessary but certainly interfere on bird performance in a negative way.

This study addresses the fundamentals of an important degradation pathway of storing protein pharmaceuticals in an aqueous formulation, oxidation of methionine residues by peroxides. First, a mechanism by which methionine residues are oxidized is identified via ab initio calculations. The major difference of this new mechanism to previous ones is the role of solvent molecules in the oxidation process. Previously proposed mechanisms suggested that solvent molecules facilitate the transfer of hydrogen associated with the oxidation reaction, but the estimated activation energies and pH dependence of oxidation rates derived from this mechanism rates do not agree with experimental observations. In our proposed mechanism, however, water molecules stabilize the charge separation in the transition-state complex through specific interaction such as hydrogen bonding. This mechanism satisfies all experimental studies on the oxidation of organic sulfides by peroxides. A correct picture of instability mechanism is essential in developing stabilization strategies to design a robust formulation. Based on this mechanism, a structure/instability relationship is built to explain the oxidation rates of methionine residues in a protein molecule. Specifically, a structural property, two-shell water coordination number, is found to correlate semi-quantitatively to the rates of oxidation of methionine residues in G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) and hPTH (human parathoid hormone). We also show that a traditionally used structural property, solvent accessible area, can not provide such accurate correlation and that the dynamic motion of protein molecules and an explicit treatment of solvent molecules are essential to describe the rates of oxidation of methionine residues. Furthermore, the insight provided by the molecule-level understanding in developing a stabilizing formulation is discussed. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Some pathogenic bacteria derive significant amounts of iron heme from their hosts. In this study we investigated SiaA, a heme binding protein from Streptococcus pyogenes. The wildtype methionine79 putative axial ligand was mutated to alanine. SiaA M79A was expressed in E. coli in three production runs, lysed by sonication or French press, and purified by fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC). Nickel affinity FPLC was found to give much purer SiaA when 30 mM imidazole was added to the binding buffer. The protocol using extensive sonication resulted in SiaA weighing 30464 Da. The protocol using French press resulted in SiaA weighting 33358 Da. Despite the difference in masses, the two forms of SiaA interacted with heme similarly.

The enzyme L-methionine γ-lyase (MGL) utilizes a pyridoxal-5’-phosphate-cofactor in order to convert L-methionine to α-ketobutyrate, ammonia and methyl mercaptan. MGL is proposed to be a potential drug target since it is expressed in the human pathogens, Trichomonas vaginalis and Entamoeba histolytica, but not in humans. There is currently a need to find alternative drug targets for these pathogens, because the misuse and overuse of the currently prescribed drugs of choice, metronidazole and tinidazole, have lead to drug resistance. The overall goal of this thesis was to examine the chemistry of MGL 1 from T. vaginalis (TvMGL1) by probing the active site by site-directed mutagenesis and with fluorinated methionine analogs. The mutation of the active site residue Cys113 to Ser led to a 5-fold decrease in turnover rate for L-methionine relative to the wild-type enzyme. The results suggest that the active site C113 residue plays an important role in catalysis and is consistent with literature reports for MGL homologs from Pseudomonas putida and E. histolytica. Probing the active site of TvMGL1 with the fluorinated methionine analogs, L-difluoromethionine (DFM) and L-trifluoromethionine (TFM), were found to increase the turnover rate of the enzyme with an increase in fluorine substitution. The results suggest that the bulky fluorine atoms do not interfere with the Michaelis-Menten kinetics of the enzyme, and the γ-elimination step is rate determining. The second goal of this thesis was to identify the reactive intermediates generated by the processing of TFM and the uninvestigated DFM by TvMGL1, and to investigate the theoretical and experimental chemistry and biochemistry of these fluorinated groups (CF3S- and CF2HS-). The reactivity of the intermediates, generated from the processing of DFM by TvMGL1 was correlated to the cytotoxicity observed in model organisms expressing TvMGL1, and consistent with the hypothesis that the intermediates will result in the thioformylation of primary amines. The results suggest that cytotoxicity requires thioacylation of a single primary amine, while sequential cross-linking of primary amines is not an absolute requirement. The relationship between the chemical structure of the reactive intermediates produced from the enzymatic processing of these analogs and their cellular toxicity is discussed. Attempts at the synthesis of 3,3-difluoro-O-methyl-L-homoserine were undertaken in order to examine the catalytic mechanism of TvMGL1, since the compound is expected to inhibit the enzyme. To ensure that the oxo moiety does not impede the chemistry of the enzyme, the analog, O-methyl-L-homoserine was examined as a potential substrate for TvMGL1. Several synthetic routes to 3,3-difluoro-O-methyl-L-homoserine were examined; however, attempts to fluorinate the β-carbon atom of the starting material were unsuccessful.

Protein restriction during rodent pregnancy is a well-established model of developmental programming. Although the Southampton low-protein diet model of developmental programming has been accepted to produce hypertensive offspring, the mechanism of this programming remains unclear. Currently the effects of protein restriction in the Southampton low-protein diet are confounded by a relative elevation of the amino acid methionine. The aim of this project was thus to clarify the roles of protein reduction and methionine elevation within this model, especially within the context of amino acid and one-carbon metabolism. Pregnant Wistar rats were fed casein-based diets ad libitum varying in casein (18% or 9%) and methionine content (0.5% or 1.0%) from day 0 through 20 of pregnancy. Two diets exactly replicated the Southampton control and low-protein diets (Con: 18% casein, 0.5% methionine; LP: 9% casein, 0.5% methionine), while a third low-protein high-methionine diet (LP-MET: 9% casein, 1.0% methionine) was employed as a positive control for methionine stress. On day 20 of gestation dams were sacrificed and the feto-placental unit was excised; maternal and fetal blood was collected for HPLC analysis of free amino acids. Maternal plasma was also analyzed for homocysteine content using a spectrophotometric-based enzyme assay. Diet did not affect maternal weight gain, food consumption, litter size or fetal weight. In dams and fetuses, methionine was significantly elevated in both low-protein groups. Maternal homocysteine was significantly elevated only in dams fed the low-protein high-methionine diet. Reductions in maternal serine, proline and glycine levels also occurred in dams fed the low-protein high-methionine diet; fetuses of these dams had significantly reduced levels of all three branch chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine). Both low-protein diets resulted in drastic reductions in circulating threonine levels in dams and fetuses. Thus, ingestion of low-protein diets with a relative (0.5%) or overt excess (1.0%) of methionine appears to disrupt one-carbon metabolism at the level of homocysteine remethylation to methionine. This may place strain on the folate cycle, as may be indicated by the reduced levels of threonine, serine and glycine. Further testing is necessary to clarify the extent to which folate stores are being utilized for homocysteine remethylation. Increased competition for placental amino acid transport may explain the alternations in circulating free fetal amino acids. Further investigations into levels of other one-carbon metabolites in dams and fetuses are necessary to fully characterize the effect of low-protein high-methionine diets, particularly within the context of the Southampton model of developmental programming.

This study has investigated the involvement of photosynthetic electron transport chain on the regulation of gene expression of methionine sulfoxide reductase (UfMSR) in the marine macroalga Ulva fasciata Delile.UfMSRA is from copper stress and UfMSRB ir from hypersalinity stress. UfMSRA is similar to Arabidopsis AtMSRA4 and UfMSRB is similar to AtMSRB1. UfMSRA is specific to the MetSO S-enantiomer and UfMSRB catalytically reduces the MetSO R-enantiomer. Both enzymes are required, since in the cell oxidation of Met residues at the sulfur atom results in a racemic mixture of the two stereoisomers. UfMSRA and UfMSRB transcripts were increased by white light, blue light and red light with the maximum at 1 h following a decline, but kept constant in the dark. The magnitude of UfMSRA and UfMSRB transcript increase showed a positive linear correlation to increasing light intensity from 0-1200 u mole¡Pm-2¡Ps-1. The treatment with linear electron transport chain inhibitors, hydroxylamine, 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl) -1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU), 2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone (DBMIB) and stigmatellin, effectively inhibited PS II activity under 300 u mole¡Pm-2¡Ps-1 irradiance. DBMIB and stigmatellin can increase UfMSRA transcript that was reversed by 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP), a PS I electron donor. It indicates that the block of electron transport of the downstream of cytochrome b6f indeuces UfMSRA gene expression. Hydroxylamine, DCMU and DBMIB decreased UfMSRB transcript that was not reversed by DCPIP while stigmatellin increased UfMSRB mRNA level, reflecting a role of reduced state with Qo site located at cytochrome b6f on the induction of UfMSRB gene expression. The cyclic electron transport chain inhibitors, antimycin A that inhibited photosynthetic electron transport, can inhibit the increase of UfMSRA and UfMSRB transcripts by irradiance. UfMSRA and UfMSRB gene expression were both modulated by cyclic electron transport chain and linear electron transport chain. These results reveal that photosynthetic electron transport chain modulates UfMSRA and UfMSRB gene expression by change its redox state.

Methionine synthases catalyze methyl transfer from 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate (5-methyl-THF) to L-homocysteine (Hcy) in order to generate methionine (Met). Mammals, including humans, use a cobalamin dependent form, while fungi use a cobalamin independent protein called Met6p. The large structural differences between them make Met6p a potential anti-fungal drug target. Met6p is a 90 kDa protein with the active site located between two (βα)₈ barrels. The active site has a catalytic Zn²+ and binding sites for the two substrates, Hcy and folate. I present the crystal structures of three engineered variants of the Met6p enzyme from Candida albicans. I also solved Met6p in complex with several substrate and product analogs, including Hcy, Met, Gln, 5-methyl-THF-Glu₃ and Methotrexate-Glu₃ (MTX-Glu₃), and the bi-dentate ligand S-adenosyl homocysteine. Also described is a new fluorescence-based activity assay monitoring Hcy. Lastly, a high-throughput Differential Scanning Fluorimetry (DSF) assay was used to screen thousands of compounds in order to identify ligands which bind Met6p. My work details the mode of interaction of Hcy and folate with the Met6p protein. Several residues important to activity were discovered, like Asn 126 and Tyr 660, and proven to be important by site directed mutagenesis. Structural analysis revealed an important aspect of the mechanism. When Hcy binds to its pocket it makes strong ion pairs with the enzyme. In particular, 614 moves toward the substrate amine and triggers a rearrangement of active site loops; this draws the catalytic Zn²+ toward the Hcy thiol where a new ligand bond is formed, activating the thiol for methyl transfer. The work presented here lays the groundwork for structure based drug design and makes the development of Met6p specific bi-dentate ligands feasible. The fluorescence based activity assay I developed was successfully used to test the folate analog MTX-Glu₃, which inhibits with an IC₅₀ of ~4 mM. I also discovered our first bi-dentate ligand in the form of S-adenosyl homocysteine. / text

No description available.

Some pathogenic bacteria derive significant amounts of iron heme from their hosts. In this study we investigated SiaA, a heme binding protein from Streptococcus pyogenes. The wildtype methionine79 putative axial ligand was mutated to alanine. SiaA M79A was expressed in E. coli in three production runs, lysed by sonication or French press, and purified by fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC). Nickel affinity FPLC was found to give much purer SiaA when 30 mM imidazole was added to the binding buffer. The protocol using extensive sonication resulted in SiaA weighing 30464 Da. The protocol using French press resulted in SiaA weighting 33358 Da. Despite the difference in masses, the two forms of SiaA interacted with heme similarly.

The enzyme L-methionine γ-lyase (MGL) utilizes a pyridoxal-5’-phosphate-cofactor in order to convert L-methionine to α-ketobutyrate, ammonia and methyl mercaptan. MGL is proposed to be a potential drug target since it is expressed in the human pathogens, Trichomonas vaginalis and Entamoeba histolytica, but not in humans. There is currently a need to find alternative drug targets for these pathogens, because the misuse and overuse of the currently prescribed drugs of choice, metronidazole and tinidazole, have lead to drug resistance. The overall goal of this thesis was to examine the chemistry of MGL 1 from T. vaginalis (TvMGL1) by probing the active site by site-directed mutagenesis and with fluorinated methionine analogs. The mutation of the active site residue Cys113 to Ser led to a 5-fold decrease in turnover rate for L-methionine relative to the wild-type enzyme. The results suggest that the active site C113 residue plays an important role in catalysis and is consistent with literature reports for MGL homologs from Pseudomonas putida and E. histolytica. Probing the active site of TvMGL1 with the fluorinated methionine analogs, L-difluoromethionine (DFM) and L-trifluoromethionine (TFM), were found to increase the turnover rate of the enzyme with an increase in fluorine substitution. The results suggest that the bulky fluorine atoms do not interfere with the Michaelis-Menten kinetics of the enzyme, and the γ-elimination step is rate determining. The second goal of this thesis was to identify the reactive intermediates generated by the processing of TFM and the uninvestigated DFM by TvMGL1, and to investigate the theoretical and experimental chemistry and biochemistry of these fluorinated groups (CF3S- and CF2HS-). The reactivity of the intermediates, generated from the processing of DFM by TvMGL1 was correlated to the cytotoxicity observed in model organisms expressing TvMGL1, and consistent with the hypothesis that the intermediates will result in the thioformylation of primary amines. The results suggest that cytotoxicity requires thioacylation of a single primary amine, while sequential cross-linking of primary amines is not an absolute requirement. The relationship between the chemical structure of the reactive intermediates produced from the enzymatic processing of these analogs and their cellular toxicity is discussed. Attempts at the synthesis of 3,3-difluoro-O-methyl-L-homoserine were undertaken in order to examine the catalytic mechanism of TvMGL1, since the compound is expected to inhibit the enzyme. To ensure that the oxo moiety does not impede the chemistry of the enzyme, the analog, O-methyl-L-homoserine was examined as a potential substrate for TvMGL1. Several synthetic routes to 3,3-difluoro-O-methyl-L-homoserine were examined; however, attempts to fluorinate the β-carbon atom of the starting material were unsuccessful.