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Collagen is the main structural protein in vertebrates. It plays an essential role in providing a scaffold for cellular support and thereby affecting cell attachment, migration, proliferation, differentiation, and survival. As such, it also plays an important role in numerous approaches to the engineering of human tissues for medical applications related to tissue, bone, and skin repair and reconstruction. Currently, the collagen used in tissue engineering applications is derived from animal tissues, creating concerns related to the quality, purity, and predictability of its performance. It also carries the risk of transmission of infectious agents and precipitating immunological reactions. The recent development of recombinant sources of human collagen provides a reliable, predictable and chemically defined source of purified human collagens that is free of animal components. The triple-helical collagens made by recombinant technology have the same amino acid sequence as human tissue-derived collagen. Furthermore, by achieving the equivalent extent of proline hydroxylation via coexpression of genes encoding prolyl hydroxylase with the collagen genes, one can produce collagens with a similar degree of stability as naturally occurring material. The recombinant production process of collagen involves the generation of single triple-helical molecules that are then used to construct more complex three-dimensional structures. If one loosely defines tissue engineering as the use of a biocompatible scaffold combined with a biologically active agent (be it a gene or gene construct, growth factor or other biologically active agent) to induce tissue regeneration, then the production of recombinant human collagen enables the engineering of human tissue based on a human matrix or scaffold. Recombinant human collagens are an efficient scaffold for bone repair when combined with a recombinant bone morphogenetic protein in a porous, sponge-like format, and when presented as a membrane, sponge or gel can serve as a basis for the engineering of skin, cartilage and periodontal ligament, depending on the specific requirements of the chosen application.

The resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to isoniazid is commonly linked to inactivation of a catalase-peroxidase, KatG, that converts isoniazid to its biologically active form. Loss of KatG is associated with elevated expression of the alkylhydroperoxidases AhpC and AhpD. AhpD has no sequence identity with AhpC or other proteins but has alkylhydroperoxidase activity and possibly additional physiological activities. The alkylhydroperoxidase activity, in the absence of KatG, provides an important antioxidant defense. We have determined the M. tuberculosis AhpD structure to a resolution of 1.9 A. The protein is a trimer in a symmetrical cloverleaf arrangement. Each subunit exhibits a new all-helical protein fold in which the two catalytic sulfhydryl groups, Cys-130 and Cys-133, are located near a central cavity in the trimer. The structure supports a mechanism for the alkylhydroperoxidase activity in which Cys-133 is deprotonated by a distant glutamic acid via the relay action of His-137 and a water molecule. The cysteine then reacts with the peroxide to give a sulfenic acid that subsequently forms a disulfide bond with Cys-130. The crystal structure of AhpD identifies a new protein fold relevant to members of this protein family in other organisms. The structural details constitute a potential platform for the design of inhibitors of potential utility as antitubercular agents and suggest that AhpD may have disulfide exchange properties of importance in other areas of M. tuberculosis biology.

The peroxiredoxin AhpC from Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been expressed, purified, and characterized. It differs from other well characterized AhpC proteins in that it has three rather than one or two cysteine residues. Mutagenesis studies show that all three cysteine residues are important for catalytic activity. Analysis of the M. tuberculosis genome identified a second protein, AhpD, which has no sequence identity with AhpC but is under the control of the same promoter. This protein has also been cloned, expressed, purified, and characterized. AhpD, which has only been identified in the genomes of mycobacteria and Streptomyces viridosporus, is shown here to also be an alkylhydroperoxidase. The endogenous electron donor for catalytic turnover of the two proteins is not known, but both can be turned over with AhpF from Salmonella typhimurium or, particularly in the case of AhpC, with dithiothreitol. AhpC and AhpD reduce alkylhydroperoxides more effectively than H(2)O(2) but do not appear to interact with each other. These two proteins appear to be critical elements of the antioxidant defense system of M. tuberculosis and may be suitable targets for the development of novel anti-tuberculosis strategies.

The thioredoxin (Trx) and thioredoxin reductase (TR) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis have been expressed in Escherichia coli and shown to reduce peroxides and dinitrobenzenes. The reduction of H2O2 requires both Trx and TR and is more efficient under anaerobic than aerobic conditions. In contrast, cumene hydroperoxide is reduced to cumyl alcohol and acetophenone in a process that requires NADPH and TR but not Trx. Cumene hydroperoxide reduction is partially inhibited by chelation of trace metals in the medium. The reduction of cumene hydroperoxide by TR is more effective under anaerobic than aerobic conditions due to a competing oxidase reaction in which electrons are transferred from TR to O2. Under anaerobic conditions, dinitrobenzenes also serve as electron acceptors and are reduced by TR to nitroanilines, but the enzyme does not reduce mononitrobenzenes or mononitroimidazoles such as metronidazole. The reductive activity of the Trx-TR system may modify the antioxidant defenses of M. tuberculosis., (Copyright 1999 Academic Press.)

A truncated version of human phenylalanine hydroxylase which contains the carboxy terminal 336 amino acids was produced in Escherichia coli. It was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, Q-Sepharose chromatography, and hydroxyapatite chromatography. The K(m) values of the truncated enzyme for tetrahydropterin substrates are not different from those of the full-length enzyme, nor are the Vmax values. The KM value for phenylalanine is 2-fold lower for the truncate than for the full-length enzyme. The metal content of the enzyme is 0.27 mol Fe per mole enzyme subunit, and it is activated 2.3-fold by addition of ferrous ion to assays; it is not activated by addition of copper. The truncated enzyme shows no lag in activity when an assay is started with phenylalanine, while the full-length enzyme shows a marked lag.

Tyrosine and phenylalanine hydroxylases contain homologous catalytic domains and dissimilar regulatory domains. To determine the effects of the regulatory domains upon the substrate specificities, truncated and chimeric mutants of tyrosine and phenylalanine hydroxylase were constructed: Delta117PAH, the C-terminal 336 amino acid residues of phenylalanine hydroxylase; Delta155TYH, the C-terminal 343 amino acid residues of tyrosine hydroxylase; and 2 chimeric proteins, 1 containing the C-terminal 331 residues of phenylalanine hydroxylase and the N-terminal 168 residues of tyrosine hydroxylase, and a second containing the C-terminal 330 residues of tyrosine hydroxylase and the 122 N-terminal residues of phenylalanine hydroxylase. Steady-state kinetic parameters with tyrosine and phenylalanine as substrate and the need for pretreatment with phenylalanine for full activity were determined. The truncated proteins showed low binding specificity for either amino acid. Attachment of either regulatory domain greatly increased the specificity, but the specificity was determined by the catalytic domain in the chimeric proteins. All three proteins containing the catalytic domain of phenylalanine hydroxylase were unable to hydroxylate tyrosine. Only wild-type phenylalanine hydroxylase required pretreatment with phenylalanine for full activity with tetrahydrobiopterin as substrate.

Tyrosine hydroxylase is an iron-containing monooxygenase that uses a tetrahydropterin to catalyze the hydroxylation of tyrosine to dihydroxyphenylalanine in catecholamine biosynthesis. The role of the iron in this enzyme is not understood. Purification of recombinant rat tyrosine hydroxylase containing 0.5-0.7 iron atoms/subunit and lacking bound catecholamine has permitted studies of the redox states of the resting enzyme and the enzyme during catalysis. As isolated, the iron is in the ferric form. Dithionite or 6-methyltetrahydropterin can reduce the iron to the ferrous form. Reduction by 6-methyltetrahydropterin consumes 0.5 nmol/nmol of enzyme-bound iron, producing quinonoid 6-methyldihydropterin as the only detectable product. In the presence of oxygen, reoxidation to ferric iron occurs. During turnover the enzyme is in the ferrous form. However, a fraction is oxidized during turnover; this can be trapped by added catechol or by the dihydroxyphenylalanine formed during turnover.

The iron-containing enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase catalyzes the hydroxylation of tyrosine to dihydroxyphenylalanine. A series of 4-X-substituted (X = H, F, Br, Cl, CH3, or CH3O) phenylalanines have been characterized as substrates to gain insight into the mechanism of hydroxylation. Multiple hydroxylated products were formed in most cases. As the size of the substituent at the 4-position increased, the site of hydroxylation switched from the 4- to the 3-position of the aromatic ring. The total amount of product formed with each amino acid showed a very good correlation with the sigma parameter of the substituent, with rho values of -4.3 +/- 0.7 or -5.6 +/- 0.8 when tetrahydrobiopterin or 6-methyltetrahydropterin, respectively, was used as cosubstrate. These values are consistent with a highly electron deficient transition state for hydroxylation. Oxygen addition at the 4-position resulted in either elimination of the substituent to form tyrosine or an NIH shift to form the respective 3-X-tyrosine. The relative amount of the product due to an NIH shift decreased in the order Br > CH3 > Cl >> F approximately CH3O approximately 0. A chemical mechanism for hydroxylation by tyrosine hydroxylase is presented to account for product formation from the various 4-substituted phenylalanines.