Seminario Glúcidos 3 y lípidos 1. Comente los mecanismos de
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Seminario Glúcidos 3 y lípidos 1. Comente los mecanismos de
Seminario Glúcidos 3 y lípidos 1. Comente los mecanismos de regulación del ciclo de Krebs. Los productos que se obtienen del ciclo, en que otras vías metabólicas participan. 2. A partir de glucosa, describa el destino de los diferentes carbonos a través de las rutas metabólicas en que participa. 3. Describa el modo de acción de Celulasas. 4. Describa el mecanismo de acción de la ATP sintasa. 5. Que relación existe entre la síntesis de ácidos grasos y el ciclo de Krebs? 6. Describa diferencias y similitudes de la ácido graso sintasa de vertebrados, levadura y bacterias. Cómo es el mecanismo de acción? 7. Se adjuntan algunos trabajos científicos relacionados con el tema, como lectura complementaria. Puede escoger alguno(s) para leer y comentarlos en clases. Si tiene dudas específicas de los papers puede venir a consultarme, el día miércoles 6 de noviembre a las 17 hrs. Sobre el paper de las celulasas, se le puede consultar a una de las autoras, que trabaja en el laboratorio de bioquímica. Marcela Vega, [email protected]. OXIDATION OF FATTY ACIDS AND TRICARBOXYLIC CYCLE INTERMEDIATES BY ISOLATED RAT LIVER MITOCHONDRIA* BY EUGENE (From the Departments P. KENNEDYt of Biochemistry AND ALBERT L. LEHNINGER and Surgery, University (Received for publication, ACID of Chicago, Chicago) March 2, 1949) * Thii investigation was supported by grants from the American Cancer Society (recommended by the Committee on Growth of the National Research Council), Mr. Ben May, Mobile, Alabama, and the Nutrition Foundation, Inc. t Nutrition Foundation Fellow in Biochemistry. 957 Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 Beginning with the fundamental observation of Warburg in 1913 (1) it has been a general finding that the more highly organized enzyme systems of animal tissues responsible for oxidation of metabolites by molecular oxygen are associated with the insoluble particulate portion of the cell. Among the several approaches which have been used to study the morphology and composition of such catalytically active particulate material, the most fruitful has been the differential centrifugation technique for separation of nuclei, mitochondria or “large granules,” and other substructures developed by Bensley and his school (2) and refined by Claude (3,4) and Hogeboom, Schneider, and Pallade (5, 6). Considerable work on the composition and enzymatic activity of the various particulate fractions has been described by the Rockefeller group (7, 8), Schneider (9), and other investigators. For instance, quantitative assayshave revealed that most of the succinoxidase and cytochrome oxidase activity is present in the mitochondria or “large granules” (7). In this laboratory studies have been made on the enzymatic oxidation of fatty acids to acetoacetate and also via the Krebs tricarboxylic acid cycle. These complex and highly organized reactions take place in suspensionsof particulate material separated from rat liver homogenates by centrifugation (10, 11). Certain observations on the properties of this enzyme system (11) suggested that the activity was to some extent dependent on osmotic factors, and Potter, on the basis of measurementsof “cytolysis quotients,” suggestedthat the activity was present only in intact cells (12). With the publication of what appears to be a definitive method for the isolation of mitochondria or “large granules” by Hogeboom, Schneider, and Pallade (5,6), it was possibleto demonstrate that mitochondria isolated by this method bear all the demonstrable fatty acid oxidase activity of whole rat liver. The particulate material isolated by this method is stated to be homogeneousand identical in morphology and vital staining characteristics 958 OXIDATION OF FATTY ACIDS with the mitochondria of the intact cell (6); mitochondria isolated by the earlier procedures of Bensley and Hoerr (2) and Claude (3) apparently represent partially damaged forms without these properties. Since the publication of our preliminary note on the localization of fatty acid oxidase activity in these particles (13), Schneider has published a confirmatory report (14). This paper is concerned with the experimental details of the basic experiments. Analytical Methods-Octanoate was determined by the method of Lehninger and Smith (15), acetoacetate by a modification of the method of Greenberg and Lester (16), and citrate by the method of Speck, Moulder, and Evans (17). Manometric measurements of oxygen uptake were made at 30” in Warburg vessels of conventional design with air as the gas phase. Flasks were equilibrated for 5 minutes prior to closing of the taps. Determinations of inorganic and total phosphorus were made according to the method of Gomori (18) and partition of the phosphorus of the enzyme preparations was carried out according to methods described by Schneider (19) and Schmidt and Thannhauser (20). Radioactivity measurements were made on thin layers of aqueous solutions by means of a Geiger-Mtiller counting tube and recording apparatus of standard commercial type. Separations of esterified phosphate for these measurements were performed as described elsewhere (21). Preparation of Mitochondria from Rat Liver-The procedure of Hogeboom, Schneider, and Pallade (5, 6) was used for the preparation of the particulate fractions of rat liver. Normal adult albino rats of Sprague-Dawley stock were used throughout this study. The animals were killed by decapitation and exsanguinated. The livers were quickly removed and chilled in cracked ice. All operations during the preparation of the fractions were carried out in a room maintained at 2” and all reagents and apparatus were previously chilled. The fresh, chilled rat liver was homogenized in 9 volumes of cold 0.88 M sucrose in a glass homogenizer of the type described by Potter and Elvehjem (22). Nuclei, whole cells, stroma, and erythrocytes were removed by three successive centrifugations, each of 3 minutes duration, at about 1500 X g in the Sorvall model SP centrifuge. The mitochondria were then sedimented from the cleared supernatant by centrifugation in a Sorvall model SS-1 centrifuge at 18,000 X g for 20 minutes. The sedimented mitochondria were washed by resuspension in 10 volumes of 0.88 M sucrose, followed by resedimentation for 20 minutes at 18,000 X g. The supernatant was carefully decanted and the washed mitochondria were taken up in sufhcient ice-cold 0.15 M KC1 or water (about 5.0 ml. for each gm. of whole tissue used as starting material) to yield a sus- Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 EXPERIMENTAL E. P. KENNEDI’ AND A. L. LEHNINGER 959 Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 pension containing about 1 mg. of total nitrogen per ml. The fmal concentration of KC1 in the fatty acid oxidase test system was about 0.05 M, a value shown to be near the optimum for fatty acid oxidation in a previous study (11). In experiments in which the mitochondria were taken up in distilled water, sufficient KC1 was added to the test flasks to provide a fmal concentration of about 0.05 M. Throughout these fractionations, it was found essential that low temperatures be maintained in order to preserve enzyme activity. We have found that the Sorvall angle centrifuges are especially well adapted for this purpose, since the temperature rise during centrifugation in the cold room is held to a minimum. The International refrigerated centrifuge has also been used with complete success. Although these fractions can be obtained at higher temperatures, their ability to oxidize fatty acids and Krebs cycle intermediates then becomes greatly attenuated or lost, probably because of enzymatic destruction of as yet unidentified cofactors. Microscopic examination showed that the mitochondria so prepared were free of whole cells, nuclei, and dhbris, confirming the work of Hogeboom et al. who have stated that this procedure yields morphologically intact mitochondria free of extraneous elements (6). We have found that these preparations are contaminated to a small degree with erythrocytes. These extraneous elements may be removed by taking up the unwashed pellet of mitochondria which had been sedimented once in 10 volumes of 0.88 M sucrose as described above, and subjecting the suspension at this point to two or three preliminary sedimentations at low speed (2000 X g), each of 5 minutes duration. The main bulk of the mitochondria, now freed of red blood cells, is then sedimented by means of a 20 minute centrifugation at 18,000 X g. This procedure also reduces the desoxypentose nucleic acid phosphorus content of the mitochondria preparations to vanishingly small values. The phosphorus distribution in the mitochondria is discussed more fully in a later section of this paper. To avoid the necessity of a high speed centrifuge for the preparation of mitochondria, we have also used an abridged procedure which yields preparations of mitochondria which are entirely satisfactory for the study of the enzyme systems involved in this report. The 0.88 M sucrose extract of rat liver, freed of nuclei and whole cells exactly as described above, is sedimented at 2400 X g for 30 minutes at 0” in the Sorvall model SP angle centrifuge. The supernatant is decanted and the mitochondria are then washed by resuspension in 10 volumes of 0.15 M KC1 and resedimented by centrifugation for 7 minutes at 2400 X g. While the yield of mitochondria obtained by this procedure is not so large as in the standard procedure, the material appears to be identical in composition and enzymatic activity. A second abridged procedure has also been used for preparing mitochondria. 960 OXIDATION OF FATTY ACIDS Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 The 0.88 M sucrose extract of rat liver, after removal of nuclei, etc., by preliminary centrifugations as outlined by Hogeboom et al., is treated with 0.1 volume of 1.5 M KC1 and allowed to stand in an ice bath for 5 to 10 minutes. The addition of salt causes agglutination of a large part of the mitochondria and they are now sedimentable in 5 to 10 minutes at 2000 X g. The sedimented material can then be washed with 0.15 M KC1 solution to free it of sucrose. Such material appears to be identical in enzymatic behavior with the material obtained by the original method of Hogeboom et al. and is obviously more convenient to prepare. All experiments reported in this paper were done with mitochondria prepared by the original method of Hogeboom et al. with or without the additional low speed centrifugations to remove extraneous erythrocytes. Distribution of Fatty Acid Oxidme Activity in Particulate Fractions of Rat Diver-The three principal fractions obtained from 0.88 M sucrose homogenates by the procedure of Hogeboom et al. described above were tested for fatty acid oxidase activity. Sodium octanoate was used as substrate in the standard test system described previously (11). The fractions tested were the “nuclear precipitate,” containing principally nuclei, whole cells, erythrocytes, and stroma, together with some mitochondria; the mitochondria or “large granules” of the rat liver, in a purified condition almost entirely free of extraneous structures; and the supernatant, containing “microsomes” (6), ultramicroscopic particles, and the soluble material of the rat liver homogenates. In these experiments, the “nuclear precipitate” was washed once with ice-cold isotonic KC1 to free it of oxidizable metabolites. No attempt was made to free the final supernatant of sucrose, which was thus present in the flasks at about isotonic concentrations. Previous work has shown that this concentration of sucrose is somewhat inhibitory to the oxidation. Typical results of such tests are summarized in Table I. It is seen that only the mitochondrial fraction has the ability to oxidize octanoate as evidenced by octanoate disappearance, oxygen uptake, and acetoacetate formation. In comparable amounts as judged by total nitrogen determination, the “nuclear fraction” and the supernatant were quite inactive in fatty acid oxidation. Furthermore, other experiments in which suspensions of mitochondria were tested in combination with the nuclear fraction and with the supernatsnt indicated that there was no stimulation of fatty acid oxidation over that shown by the mitochondria alone, nor was there any significant inhibition. Schneider (14) has found that the addition of either the nuclear fraction or the supernatant or both to the mitochondrial fraction increased the activity of the latter slightly. However, Schneider did not add to his test system catalytic amounts of the Gdicarboxylic acids needed for the full activity of the fatty acid oxidase system (11). E. P. KENNEDY AND A. L. 961 LEHNINGER It is possible that the other fractions contributed trace amounts of such compounds, accounting for the small stimulation observed by Schneider. These preparations of mitochondria showed activity in the oxidation of fatty acid, based on total enqme nitrogen values, at least as great as the most active preparations obtained previously from isotonic saline homogenates. The &oz of such preparations (cmm. of oxygen taken up per Acid Oxidase Activity of Fractions Prepared of Rat Liver from 0.88 111Sucrose Homogenates The Warburg vessels contained a final volume of 5.0 ml. The final concentrations of added substances were as follows: KCl, 0.05 M; sodium L-malate, 0.0005 M; MgSO1, 0.005 M; phosphate buffer, pH 7.4, 0.01 M; adenosine triphosphate, 0.0005 M; and cytochrome c, 1 X 10-S M. Water was substituted for sodium octanoate, 0.002 M, in control vessels. The flasks were incubated at 30” for 45 minutes with air as the gas phase. An aqueous suspension of the nuclear precipitates and mitochondrial fractions was added to the respective test systems in amounts representing the yields from 450 mg. of fresh, wet tissue in Experiment 1, and 375 mg. in Experiment 2. The supernatant fraction was derived from 150 mg. of fresh tissue in each experiment. - EXp.26 malt NO. 1 - Octmoate FtaCth 1 Mitochondria.. “Nuclear 2 - .. . ppt.“. Supernatant . Mitochondria. . “Nuclear Supernatant ppt.“. . . . . .. .. . . .- m. w 2.7 2.7 3.5 3.5 4.5 4.5 6.1 23.2 1.5 2.3 1.3 1.0 3.0 16.1 2.9 3.4 2.9 3.3 . - - Iry 8.0 0.9 5.1 0.0 w 0.3 8.5 0.3 1.1 0.2 0.2 0.5 4.1 0.0 0.9 mg. of dry weight per hour at 38” in the presence of octanoate substrate) is approximately 65 to 70. Due to variable losses of activity during preparation, it is probable that these values are not maximal. It was of considerable interest to determine whether the cofactor requirements of the fatty acid oxidase complex in the mitochondria were essentially the same as those previously described (11) for saline-washed particulate material of rat liver. The requirements of the suspensions of mitochondria for added cofactors needed for fatty acid oxidation are sum- Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 I TABLE Fatty 962 OXIDATION OF FAlTY ACIDS Requirements The system is identical for 70 minutes. When the tain the volume constant. containing about 1.3 mg. by washing with isotonic TABLE II of Fatty Acid Oxidation with that described in Table I, except that incubation was components were omitted, water was substituted to mainThe mitochondria were added as an aqueous suspension, of enzyme N per flask, after sucrose had been removed KCl. Oa uptake Complete system ........... Octanoate omitted. ........ Malate omitted. ........... MgSO, “ ............ Cytochrome c omitted. . , KC1 omitted. .............. ATP .“ ............... in Mitochondria Octanoate A&to&ate diS~ppCCLIaIlCe PM PM w 12.3 2.5 0.93 3.6 8.5 3.2 0.45 2.7 2.2 0.5 0.4 0.6 1.4 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.0 1.3 0.0 0.0 a requirement for added KC1 or other solute, previously shown to be necessary for the enzyme complex, can be demonstrated for the purified mitochondria only if these particles are first washed free of sucrose, which otherwise completely replaces added KCl, as previous work has shown (11). Schneider (14) reported that mitochondria isolated from 0.88 M SUcrose homogenates showed very low rates of octanoate oxidation. However, he did not supplement his test system with the G-dicarboxylic acids. As the data in Table II show, the presence of malate is absolutely essential for oxidation of octanoate in mitochondria prepared by this method and this fact probably explains his failure to find appreciable activity. Localization of the fatty acid oxidase activity in the mitochondria prepared from 0.88 M sucrose suspensions implies that the saline-washed particulate material previously studied (11) actually was enzymatically active that Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 marized in Table II. It can be seen that they are identical with those previously reported, magnesium ions, neutral salt, adenosine triphosphate, cytochrome c, and catalytic amounts of malate being necessary for full activity. In the mitochondria, however, the oxidation proceeds at about half the optimum rate in the absence of added cytochrome c. The water suspensions of saline-washed enzyme previously studied were almost completely dependent upon added cytochrome c for activity (11). This difference is most probably due to the fact that the method used for the preparation of the purified mitochondria allows these structures to be obtained in a more nearly undamaged form, without loss of cytochrome c by “leaching out” during the course of the preparation. It should be noted further E. P. KENNEDY AND A. L. 963 LEHNINGER TABLE Activity of Mitochondria Isolated Mitochondria III from Saline-Washed Enzyme Isolated Directly from Fresh System Liver Compared with The test system is the same as that in Table I, except that the octanoate concentration was 0.001 M. Water was added to replace octanoate in control flasks, and incubation was for 60 minutes. Mitochondria derived from 375 mg. of fresh tissue were added to each flask. -----7-Mitochondria I From fresh liver Isolated from saline-washed enzyme 1 + + Ij CcY i 3.3 15.3 1.7 14.9 /I PM PM I 5.0 i / 5.0 j / / 0.1 5.7 0.2 4.9 saline-washed particulate enzyme system previously studied contains sufficient particulate material, having sedimentation characteristics identical with those of mitochondria from fresh whole liver extracts, to account for all the fatty acid oxidase activity observed in the crude preparation. The finding that the mitochondria, as isolated by the sucrose procedure from the whole liver cells, are the site of the enzymatic oxidation of fatty acid, and that apparently identical particles can be extracted by the same procedure from particulate rat liver enzyme preparations show identical activity, strongly supports the view that the mitochondria or “large granules” are the sole intracellular structures of the rat liver active in fatty acid oxidation under the test conditions used. It should be stressed that the fatty acid oxidase system is made up of many individual enzymes and is obviously extremely complex. It is conceivable that the nuclear fraction or the supernatant may actually contain some of the individual enzymes neces- Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 because of its content of mitochondria. In order to settle this point conclusively, a saline-washed preparation of the particulate matter of rat liver was made (ll), suspended in 10 volumes of 0.88 M sucrose, and lightly homogenized. This suspension was then subjected to the procedure of Hogeboom et al. for obtaining mitochondria from whole liver. Three centrifugations at 2000 X g were made to remove nuclei, erythrocytes, and whole cells. The mitochondria remaining in the suspension were then sedimented at high speed and washed as usual. A control preparation of mitochondria made from the same weight of the same rat liver was isolated directly by the technique described in the preceding section. Both suspensions of enzyme were tested for fatty acid oxidase activity. The results are summarized in Table III. The data clearly indicate that the 964 OXIDATION OF FAT’PY ACIDS sery for fatty acid oxidation but may be totally deficient in one or more enzymes of the system, causing over-all inactivity. Oxidation of Krebs Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Intermediates in MitochondriaSince the saline-washed particulate material previously studied contains all the enzymes involved in the Krebs cycle and since the mitochondria had previously been shown to contain considerable succinoxidase activity (7), it was of interest to determine whether isolated mitochondria also possessed IV Fractions of Rat Liver in Ozidation of Intermediate Compounds of Krebs Cycle The flask contents were as follows: glycylglycine buffer, pH 7.2,0.033 M; adenosine triphosphate, 0.0005 M; cytochrome c, 1 X UF M; MgSO+ 0.005 M; 0.1 ml. of orthophosphate containing Pa*, 359,000 counts per minute (the phosphate esterification data are in Table VI). The final concentration of substrates was 0.01 Y in each case, except for oxalacetate and pyruvate which were added together at a concentration of 0.005 M each. Mitochondria and nuclear precipitate fractions were added, so that each flask contained an amount of material derived from 225 mg. of fresh wet liver tissue. The flasks containing supernatant were tested with the material derived from 90 mg. of tissue. The final volume wss 3.0 ml.; incubation for 40 minutes with air as gas- phase. Substrate Fraction Oxygen uptake PJf Mitochondria “Nuclear ppt.” Supernatant - Citrate cu-Ketoglutarate Pyruvate + oxalacetate None Citrate a-Ketoglutarate Pyruvate + oxalacetate None Citrate a-Ketoglutarate Pyruvate + oxalacetate None 7.1 6.3 7.1 0.18 1.9 1.7 0.98 0.0 0.54 0.0 1.4 0.31 the enzymatic equipment necessary for the oxidation of pyruvate and other intermediates of the Krebs cycle. The results of a typical experiment in Table IV indicate that intermediate compounds of the Krebs cycle are readily oxidized by suspensions of rat liver mitochondria. The nuclear and microsome fractions showed slight activity, which may have been due to contamination of these fractions by mitochondria. The substrates tested in this experiment were pyruvate plus oxalacetate, citrate, and cr-ketoglutarate. These oxidations represent key enzymatic steps of the Krebs cycle. In addition, these mitochondrial preparations are capable Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 TABLE Activity of Subcellular E. P. KENNEDY AND A. L. 965 LEHNINQER TABLE V from Malate and Pyruvate in Mitochondria The flask contents were as follows: 0.05 M KCl, 0.005 M MgSOd, 0.01 M phosphate, pH 7.4, 0.0005 M adenosine triphosphate, and 1W5 M cytochrome c. The final concentration of malate and pyruvate was 0.01 M in each case, and the final volume was 3.0 ml. Each flask contained mitochondria suspended in 0.15 M KC1 equivalent to about 1 mg. of enzyme N. The time of incubation was 65 minutes at 30” with air as the gas phase. Citrate Formation Substrate Pyruvate only. Malate only. . . . Pyruvate + malate. . . None............................. oxygen . .. upt& Pyruvate used Citrate formed PM PM 10.1 10.7 13.5 0.5 18.4 3.9 9.4 2.3 10.4 0.0 oxidations and to fatty acid oxidation is present in purified mitochondria, such oxidations were carried out in the presence of inorganic phosphate labeled with P32. At the completion of the incubation, the carrier-diluted inorganic phosphate was removed from the neutralized trichloroacetic acid filtrates by repeated magnesia precipitation (21) and the radioactivity of the esterified phosphorus fractions determined. The data are presented in Table VI. It can be seenfrom these data that both Krebs cycle oxidations and octanoate oxidation in the suspensionsof mitochondria cause extensive incorporation of the P32into the esterified fraction. Phosphorus Distribution in Purified Mitochondria-Previous workers in describing the chemical constitution of the mitochondria (4, 23) have emphasized the high content of phospholipide in these structures and the fact that they contain nucleic acid of the pentose nucleic acid type. The distribution of phosphorus in a typical preparation of mitochondria made Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 of catalyzing the condensation of oxalacetate and pyruvate to yield citrate. The experiment summarized in Table V shows aerobic citrate formation from pyruvate when malate served as a source of oxalacetate. Ester$.cation of Phosphate Coupled to Oxidation in Mitochmdrial Preparations-The oxidation of fatty acids and of the intermediate compounds of the Krebs cycle proceeds with the release of considerable amounts of energy. It is now well known that energy released during oxidations over the Krebs cycle may be recovered in part by coupled esterification of inorganic phosphate. More recently it has been shown that oxidation of octanoate by particulate rat liver preparations also caused coupled esterification of inorganic phosphate (11). In order to determine whether the enzymatic equipment necessary for esterification of phosphate coupled to Krebs cycle 966 OXIDATION OF FA’ITY ACIDS by the standard method of Hogeboom et al. (5) is presented in Column I of Table VII. Characteristically high values of phospholipide phosphorus, VI Ozidations in Mitochondria The conditions of Experiment 1 (Krebs cycle oxidations) were exactly aa described for experiments summarized in Table IV. In Experiment 2 (fatty acid oxidation) vessels contained 0.005 M MgClr, 0.01 M glycylglycine buffer, pH 7.4, 1 X lo+ M cytochrome c, 0.001 M adenosine triphosphate, 0.0001 M malate, 0.05 M KCl, 0.001 M octanoate, and inorganic orthophosphate labeled with 157,000 counts per minute of Pn. Octanoate was omitted in the control vessel. The time of incubation was 20 minutes at 30”. TABLE Esterijication of Phosphaie Coupled to 1 1 2 / None Citrate a-Ketoglutarate Pyruvate + oxalacetate None (0.0001 M malate present) Octanoate TABLE Distribulion of Phosphorus in Mitochondria of Rat EstePed Pm esterflied CM ‘I per CnJ 0.18 7.1 6.3 7.1 0.5 4.5 24.2 106 113 113 37 121 0.67 31.3 39.3 32.6 3.2 27.8 OJ uptske VII Derived Livers from 0.88 kr Sucrose Homogenates Total nucleic acid phosphorus was determined by the method of Schneider (19). Pentose nucleic acid was differentiated from desoxypentose nucleic acid by the method of Schmidt and Thannhauser (20). In Column 1 are listed values obtained for mitochondria isolated by the original method of Hogeboom et al. (6). In Column 2, values are given for such mitochondria which had been freed of erythrocytes and other extraneous elements by the modification described in the test. Per cent of totar P FW3iO!J Acid-soluble P.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lipide P.................................... Total nucleic acid P. . . . . . . . .‘. . . . . . . . . “Protein”P................................ Desoxypentose nucleic acid P. . . . . . . . . . . . . Pentose nucleic acid P.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PNA-P:DNA-P . . ... ... ... ... ... .. .... ... .. Methode~f~ogeboom - (1)’ Modified method (2) 21.3 56 19.3 6.0 1.6 17.8 11.8 15 66 21.3 7.2 0.5 20.8 41.6 and the predominance of pentose nucleic acid, with only small amounts of desoxypentose nucleic acid, are to be noted. These figures are in fair Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 Suhstrste E. P. KENXEDY AEiD A. L. LEHNINGER 967 Fatty Acid Ox&se Activity of Mitochmdria Obtained by Other Procedures- It was found in the course of this work that the choice of solvents in which the rat liver was homogenized prior to fractionation was of critical importance in the distribution of the fatty acid oxidase activity. When distilled water or distilled water made slightly alkaline by the addition of NaOH (“neutral water”) was used as the medium for the preparation of mitochondria and other particulate fractions according to the procedure of Schneider (9), no activity in the oxidation of fatty acid could be detected in any fraction. Hogeboom et at. (6) have stated that “large granules” obtained by the use of water as the dispersing medium do not possess the characteristic morphology and vital staining reactions exhibited by these structures in the intact liver cell. Our inability to find activity in such preparations supports the view of Hogeboom et al. that “large granules” obtained in this manner may have undergone irreversible structural changes due to the hypotonic conditions, which may have caused rupture or leaching out of necessary components of the enzyme system. When homogenates of rat liver in isotonic saline solutions are fractionated according to the technique described by Claude (4), the distribution of activity in the oxidation of fatty acids is far different from that observed in fractions of 0.88 M sucrose homogenates. Data of such an experiment are given in Table VIII. It is seen that the fatty acid oxidase activity is concenI DNA, deeoxypentoee nucleic acid; PNA, pentose nucleic acid. Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 agreement with those published by Hogeboom et al. (6) and Schneider (9). Their data did not include direct measurement of both nucleic acids on the mitochondrial fraction but did show that almost all of the desoxypentose nucleic acid was in the first nuclear precipitate. Our direct analysis of the mitochondria shows the presence of appreciable amounts of DNA,’ which may be due to contamination by other morphological elements. In Column 2 is given the phosphorus distribution in another preparation of mitochondria which had been subjected to more extensive removal of extraneous elements by repeated centrifugation at low speed prior to the resedimentation of the washed particles at high speed as already described. It can be seen that this procedure has reduced the amount of DNA and raised the ratio of PNA:DNA from 11.8 to 41.6. This ratio represents the analytical limit of the methods of Schneider and Schmidt and Thannhauser for measuring pentose nucleic acid and DXU’A in our hands. Preparations with very low DNA values thus obtained were found to be active in the oxidation of fatty acids. It is difficult to determine whether the last trace of DNA phosphorus in the preparations studied is analytically significant. It is of course conceivable that trace amounts of DNA are present normally in the mitochondria. 968 OXIDATION OF FATTY ACIDS TABLE Distn%ution VIII of Fatty Acid Oxidaae Activity in Subcellular Fractions Zsotonic Saline Homogenates of Rat Liver Derived from The test conditions were the same as those described in Table I, except that the final volume was 3.0 ml. Incubation was for 30 minutes at 30”. - FraCtiOn “Large Egrr’&N granules” w. 1.1 ppt.” 2.2 “Nuclear Supernatant 2.3 o%Ete +++ 01 uptake PJf - 1.6 1.25 1.6 11.0 0.0 0.5 PJf 0.60 0.31 0.6 3.4 0.60 0.49 The fact that the lesseasily sedimentable fraction called “large gra.nules” by Claude (4), obtained upon more prolonged centrifugation of saline homogenates in the experiment summarized in Table VIII, is inactive in the oxidation of fatty acids may possesssome significance. Apparently the “large granules” derived from saline homogenates are not identical with those prepared by the hypertonic sucrose method, or they may be partially disorganized mitochondria of different sedimentation and enzymatic properties. Results of a similar nature reported by Chantrenne (23) lend some support to this view-point. These findings point to the possibility that the fatty acid oxidase activity may be used as an enzymatic indicator for the detection of liver mitochondria in more or less the native condition, in conjunction with microscopic examination and staining techniques. Intracellular Distribution of Some Glycolytic Enzymes--The finding that highly organized respiratory systems are localized in the mitochondria Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 trated in the “nuclear precipitate,” containing nuclei, ddbris, and whole cells, and that the “large granule” fraction is without activity. It has been pointed out by Hogeboom et al. (6) that this first fraction of nuclei and debris may actually contain a large proportion of the mitochondria of the homogenate, since these particles are very largely agglutinated by contact with isotonic saline solutions and are therefore sedimented with the nuclear As a matter of fact, it is this fraction which has been used in fraction. this laboratory in the past for preparation of the fatty acid oxidase system. When this fraction is suspended in 0.88 M sucrose, a large part of the mitochondria is redispersed, and is sedimentable only at higher speeds, as the experiment in Table III indicates. E. P. KENNEDY AND A. L. 969 LEHNINQER Activity of Some TABLE IX Glycolytic Enzymes in Liver Fractions In the oxidation-reduction system assay the Warburg vessels contained 0.03 M fructose-1,6-diphosphate, 0.092 M arsenate, 0.02 M sodium fluoride, 0.02 M sodium pyruvate, 0.048 M NaHCOa, 0.02 M nicotinamide, and 0.001 M diphosphopyridine nucleotide. The liver fractions in amounts specified were tipped in from the side arm after temperature equilibration. Total volume, 2.0 ml.; gas phase, 95 per cent N1-5 per cent CO*; temperature, 30”; time of incubation, 1 hour. co2 liberated Nuclear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mitochondria.. .. ... .,. ... ... . Supernatant. . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . Whole homogenate. . . . . . . . . . . . w. c.mm. 60 60 20 20 18 10 90 110 Oxidationreduction activity* +or ted AIdolase activityt of faw 5.4 3.0 81.7 WV * The && (30”) of the whole liver homogenate under these conditions t &rmp (24) at 38” of whole liver homogenate was 56. was 27.5. Fluoride was added to inhibit enolase and the end-point measured manometrically indicated the formation of 3-phosphoglyceric acid, which causes CO9 liberation from a bicarbonate buffer. The conditions used were found to give approximately linear results with varying concentrations of an extract of rabbit muscle. When the different fractions were assayed for the presence of the three enzymes involved in the reaction, the mitochondria and the nuclear precipitate contained only a very small fraction of the activity, whereas the supernatant, containing all the soluble material of rat liver as well as difficultly sedimentable particles (“microsomes,” etc.), contained 82 per cent of the activity shown by the original unfractionated homogenate (see Table IX). Also shown in Table IX is the distribution of aldolase in the different fractions, measured by the method of Sibley and I&ringer (24). It is seen that the particulate fractions con- Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 raises the question of the intracellular location of other organized enzyme systems. In contrast to the respiratory systems, which are associated with particulate matter, the glycolytic enzymes all appear to be readily soluble and several have been crystallized. It was therefore of interest to examine the different fractions of rat liver for their ability to catalyze the oxidation-reduction reactions of glycolysis. The system studied involved fructose-l ,6-diphosphateassubstrate, aldolase, triose phosphatedehydrogenase, diphosphopyridine nucleotide, and arsenate to “decouple” the phosphorylation step, and lactic dehydrogenase and pyruvate as hydrogen acceptors. 970 OXIDATIOE; OF FATTY ACIDS DISCUSSION The data reported in this paper show that the complex enzyme systems responsible for the oxidation of fatty acids and Krebs cycle intermediates and esterification of phosphate coupled to these oxidations are localized in that fraction of rat liver which consists of morphologically intact mitochondria or “large granules,” almost completely free of other formed elements. As has been pointed out, it is not possible with our present knowledge of these complex systems to assay individual enzymes of these systems quantitatively and it is therefore conceivable that other elements such as the nuclei, “microsomes,” or soluble material may be capable of many of the enzymatic transformations involved in the over-all reactions studied. The striking fact is that all the individual enzymes concerned in these complex systems should be found in one species of morphological element. These findings in some measure justify the early views of Altmann (27) that these bodies are fundamental biological units and possess a certain degree of autonomy and certainly, together with the considerable work already done on their enzymatic and chemical composition by the Rockefeller school, Schneider, and others, provide considerable basis for the apt designation “intracellular power plants” conferred on the mitochondria by Claude. Although the mitochondria appear to be the major site of these activities, it would appear from our examination in vitro that these bodies are not completely autonomous with respect to their respiratory behavior, since they must be supplemented with certain cofactors such as adenosine tri- Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 tain only a very small fraction of the total aldolase of rat liver, 96 per cent being present in the soluble fraction. Although assay of all the individual enzymes of glycolysis in these fractions may eventually show that one or more of these enzymes are present in the mitochondria, it appears certain that the mitochondria do not possess the complete enzymatic machinery for the conversion of glycogen or glucose to lactic acid at a rate comparable to the rate of respiration of these bodies. LePage and Schn >:der have recently shown that particulate fractions of rat tumors or r&&t liver have little or no ability to glycolyze glucose, most of the activity being in the soluble fraction (25). In addition to these data, it has been found by Friedkin in this laboratory (cf. (26)) that isolated mitochondria a.re capable of incorporating inorganic phosphate labeled with PE into pentose nucleic acid, phospholipide, and an unidentified acid-insoluble “phosphoprotein” fraction coupled to the oxidation df substrates of the Krebs tricarboxylic acid cycle. It would therefore appear that these bodies are also capable of at least one type of reaction leading to synthesis of these intracellular materials. E. P. KENNEDY AND A. L. LEHNINGEB 971 Morphologically homogeneous mitochondria (“large granules”) separated from rat liver dispersions by the hypertonic sucrose method of Hogeboom, Schneider, and Pallade contain essentially all the measurable activity of the liver in the oxidation of fatty acids. Likewise, the integrated reactions of the Krebs tricarboxylic acid cycle are found in this fraction. Esterification of inorganic phosphate accompanies these oxidations in purified preparations of mitochondria. These bodies have insignificant glycolytic activity. “Mitochondria” prepared by other methods involving saline or water as the dispersing media are inactive in these reactions, possibly because of osmotic damage. Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 phosphate and Mg++. It appears likely that in the cell there is a rapid interchange of these factors, substrates, and inorganic phosphate between the cytoplasm and the mitochondria. It also would appear that these bodies are dependent on the cytoplasm for certain preparatory metabolic activities such as glycolysis, since, as our data show, they are almost completely lacking in glycolytic activity. Claude has found that isolated mitochondria are quite sensitive to changes in osmotic pressure (4). Adverse osm(i:;j’n conditions may therefore be responsible for the inactivity of the mitochondria in catalyzing fatty acid oxidation in hypotonic reaction media; when the concentration of neutral salts or non-electrolytes approximates isotonicity, the system shows maximum activity. No attempts have been made to determine whether the mitochondria are morphologically intact in all stages of the enzymatic reaction. It is also of some interest that mitochondria are capable of causing oxidation-coupled incorporation of labeled inorganic phosphate into nucleic acids and phospholipides of these structures (cf. (26)). The work of Hill and Scarisbrick (28) and Warburg and Liittgens (29) on the photochemical activity of isolated chloroplaats or granules derived therefrom provides some indication that highly organized enzyme systems are localized in analogous structures of plant cells. The localization of organized respiratory activity in mitochondria poses some problems in connection with the separation and purification of the individual enzymes involved. The difficulties in rendering such enzymes as cytochrome oxidase and succinoxidase soluble are well known (30, 31). Recent work in this laboratory indicates that the separation from mitochondrial preparations in soluble form of simple dehydrogenase proteins which might be expected to be readily soluble is also quite difficult and a variety of drastic procedures has failed to release any signif&nt amount of such proteins into soluble form. 972 OXIDATIOlU OF FATTY ACIDS BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Downloaded from www.jbc.org at Boston University Medical Library on March 20, 2008 7. Warburg, O., Arch. ges. Physiol., 164, 599 (1913). Bensley, R. R., and Hoerr, N. L., Anat. Rec., 60, 251 (1934). Claude, A., Proc. Sot. Exp. Biol. and Med., 59, 398 (1938). Claude, A., J. Ezp. Med., 64. 51, 61 (1946). Hogeboom, G. H., Schneider, W. C., and Pallade, G. E., Proc. Sot. Ezp. Biol. and Med., 66, 320 (1947). Hogeboom, G. H., Schneider, W. C., and Pallade, G. E., J. Biol. Chem., 173, 619 (1948). Hogeboom, G. 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Chem., 114, 495 (1936). Chantrenne, H., Biochim. et biophys. acta, 1, 437 (1947). Sibley, J. A., and Lehninger, A. L., J. Biol. Chem., 177, 859 (1949). LePage, G. A., and Schneider, W. C., J. Biol. Chem., 176, 1021 (1949). Friedkin, M., and Lehninger, A. L., J. Biol. Chem., 177, 775 (1949). Altmann, R., Elementarorganismen, Leipzig (1890). Hill, R., and Scarisbrick, R., Nature, 146, 61 (1940). Warburg, O., and Lattgens, W., Natunuissenschujten, 32, 161, 301 (1944). Wainio, W. W., Cooperstein, S. J., Kollen, S., and Eichel, B., J. Biot. Chem., 173, 145 (1948). Hogeboom, G. H., J. Biol. Chem., lSa, 739 (1946). Enzyme and Microbial Technology 49 (2011) 485–491 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Enzyme and Microbial Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/emt Cloning of novel cellulases from cellulolytic fungi: Heterologous expression of a family 5 glycoside hydrolase from Trametes versicolor in Pichia pastoris Alejandro Salinas a , Marcela Vega a , María Elena Lienqueo a , Alejandro Garcia b , Rene Carmona b , Oriana Salazar a,∗ a b Centre for Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Chile, Beauchef 850, Santiago P.O. 8370448, Chile Department of Wood Engineering and their Biomaterials, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Nature Conservation, University of Chile, Santa Rosa 11315, Santiago Box 9206, Chile a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 15 February 2011 Received in revised form 15 September 2011 Accepted 11 October 2011 Keywords: Endoglucanase Heterologous expression Lignocellulose hydrolysis Pichia pastoris Trametes versicolor White rot fungi a b s t r a c t Total cDNA isolated from cellulolytic fungi cultured in cellulose was examined for the presence of sequences encoding for endoglucanases. Novel sequences encoding for glycoside hydrolases (GHs) were identified in Fusarium oxysporum, Ganoderma applanatum and Trametes versicolor. The cDNA encoding for partial sequences of GH family 61 cellulases from F. oxysporum and G. applanatum shares 58 and 68% identity with endoglucanases from Glomerella graminicola and Laccaria bicolor, respectively. A new GH family 5 endoglucanase from T. versicolor was also identified. The cDNA encoding for the mature protein was completely sequenced. This enzyme shares 96% identity with Trametes hirsuta endoglucanase and 22% with Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase II (EGII). The enzyme, named TvEG, has N-terminal family 1 carbohydrate binding module (CBM1). The full length cDNA was cloned into the pPICZ␣B vector and expressed as an active, extracellular enzyme in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. Preliminary studies suggest that T. versicolor could be useful for lignocellulose degradation. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The study of microbial cellulases has recovered attention in the last years, mainly because of the increased interest in the optimization of processes of manufacture of bio-products derived from lignocellulosic residues, e.g. bioethanol [1]. The cellulosic bioethanol process requires basically three steps: pretreatment to loosen up the lignin-cellulose fiber entanglement, hydrolysis of cellulose and fermentation to ethanol. The cellulose hydrolysis is a complex and expensive process, due mainly to the lignocellulose structure and recalcitrance. Developments in the field are still necessary in order to decrease the impact of this stage in the whole process’s economy. Cellulose hydrolysis is carried out mostly by the action of cellulases, enzymes acting in concert to release soluble sugars from cellulose [2]. These enzymes are glycoside hydrolases breaking -1,4-linkages in cellulose with different specificities. Abbreviations: CBM, carbohydrate binding module; cDNA, complementary deoxyribonucleic acid; CMC, carboxymethyl cellulose; DNS, dinitrosalicylic acid; GH, glycoside hydrolase; RT-PCR, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +56 2 9784711; fax: +56 2 6991084. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. Salinas), [email protected] (M. Vega), [email protected] (M.E. Lienqueo), [email protected] (A. Garcia), [email protected] (R. Carmona), [email protected], [email protected] (O. Salazar). 0141-0229/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enzmictec.2011.10.003 Endo--1,4-glucanase (EG; EC 3.2.1.4) hydrolyzes internal glycosidic bonds in cellulose, while exo--1,4-glucanase, or cellobiohydrolase (CBH; EC 3.2.1.91), releases cellobiose from the reducing or non-reducing ends of the cellulose chain; finally, cellobiase (EC 3.2.1.21) hydrolyzes cellobiose to glucose, which can be consumed by fermenting microorganisms. Cellulases are typically multidomain proteins consisting of a catalytic core domain linked to a carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) via a flexible linker region [3]. Catalytic domains of glycoside hydrolases (GHs) are classified according to their sequence in more than 120 families [4], while 61 CBMs families have been described up to now (CarbohydrateActive enZYmes Database, http://www.cazy.org/) [5]. Now it is well understood that other enzymes are also necessary components to complete and efficient hydrolysis of lignocellulose [6]. Cellulases are produced by many different microorganisms in nature. Lignocellulolytic enzyme-producing fungi are widespread, and include species from phylum Ascomycota (e.g. Trichoderma reesei), Basidiomycota including white-rot fungi (e.g. Phanerochaete chrysosporium), brown-rot fungi (e.g. Fomitopsis palustris) and other anaerobic species. Historically cellulases have been derived from Trichoderma species, due to the great capacity of production of this fungus. T. reesei produces two major cellobiohydrolases belonging to GH families 6 and 7 (Cel6A and Cel7A, or CBHI and CBHII, respectively) and at least five endoglucanases classified as GH families 7, 5, 12, 61 and 45 (Cel7B, Cel5A, Cel12A, Cel61A, and Cel45A or EGI, EGII, EGIII, EGIV, and EGV) [7]; these enzymes, which 486 A. Salinas et al. / Enzyme and Microbial Technology 49 (2011) 485–491 are produced exclusively when cellulose is available as carbon source [8], act synergistically to hydrolyze the cellulose [9,10]. Investigations addressed the search and characterization of novel and more efficient cellulases have driven scientists toward fungi responsible of white rot in woods, specifically basidiomycetous fungi [6]. In this group, Trametes versicolor has been studied largely because its ligninolytic properties, which have potential applications in bioremediation of pulp and paper mill effluents. Activities of selected wood-degrading enzymes such as cellobiase and cellulase have been monitored in T. versicolor [9,10]. The existence of an endoglucanase activity in the supernatant of a T. versicolor culture was reported some years ago [11] but no cloning or recombinant expression of the enzyme has been informed yet. Also, a cellobiohydrolase-encoding cDNA from T. versicolor has been cloned and expressed in Aspergillus niger [9]. In summary, the potential of T. versicolor as producer of cellulolytic enzymes is widely recognized, but a systematic study of the functionality of the T. versicolor cellulases is still incomplete. The aim of this study was the identification and cloning of novel endoglucanase genes from native Chilean cellulolytic fungi. In particular, a new T. versicolor endoglucanase was expressed as a recombinant protein in Pichia pastoris, a first step addressed to the enzyme overproduction and future characterization of the cellulolytic properties of this enzyme. The long term purpose is the isolation of cellulases having efficient hydrolytic action on wood chips of trees that are abundant in Chile. In this work we have used Nothofagus pumilio (Lenga beech or Lenga) as lignocellulosic substrate. Lenga, a native hardwood tree belonging to the family Nothofagaceae, comprises about 25% of native forest surface and is an important source of lignocellulosic waste in Chile. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Nucleic acid manipulations DNA manipulations were carried out as described [12]. PCR products were purified from agarose gel after electrophoresis using the QIAEXII kit (QIAGEN). PCR products were cloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector (Promega) and transformed into Escherichia coli DH5␣ cells. Plasmid DNA was isolated using the QIAprep Spin Miniprep kit (QIAGEN). Primers, restriction enzymes and Taq DNA polymerase were supplied by Integrated DNA Technologies, New England Biolabs and Promega, respectively. 2.2. Fungal growth conditions A battery of seven Chilean native cellulolytic fungi was supplied by the Laboratory of Biodegradation and Wood Preservation of the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Nature Conservation of the University of Chile. Cultures of T. versicolor, G. applanatum, Poria placenta, Fusarium oxysporum, Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinus edodes and Peniophora gigantea were maintained on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 4 ◦ C. For RNA isolation, the fungi were cultured in agar plates at 28 ◦ C for 10 days on induction media [13] including 0.5% (w/v) carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC; Megazyme) or Avicel (Merck). For induction in liquid medium the same medium was used without agar. 2.3. Evaluation of the cellulase production by cellulolytic fungi The production of carboxymethycellulase activity (CMCase) in liquid medium supplemented with cellulose was evaluated by measuring reducing sugars released from CMC, after six days inoculation with 1 cm2 PDA culture. The enzymatic reaction was performed as follow: a mixture of 50 L of fungal culture supernatant and 100 L of 1% (w/v) CMC in 50 mM sodium citrate pH 4.8 was incubated for 30 min at 37 ◦ C; reducing sugars were quantified by reaction with dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) [14]. Absorbance at 550 nm was measured in a microplate reader (Asys UVM 340, Eugendorf, Austria) and values were converted to enzyme units by use of a glucose calibration curve. One enzyme unit was defined as the amount of enzyme that releases 1 mol of glucose equivalent per minute. 2.4. Hydrolysis of N. pumilio wood chips Supernatant of fungi cultured in induction medium was concentrated by ammonium sulfate precipitation at 80% saturation. Pellets were suspended in 50 mM sodium acetate buffer pH 6 and dialyzed over night against the same buffer. The hydrolysis assays were conducted in 50 mM sodium acetate pH 5, using 50 mg mL−1 ionic liquid-pretreated N. pumilio wood chips (0.1–0.2 mm) [15], 0.25 paper filter units (FPU) per mL of concentrated fungal cellulase or Celluclast (Novozyme), equivalent to 5 FPU g−1 substrate, and 2.5 g L−1 Tween 20. Hydrolysis was conducted at 50 ◦ C with orbital agitation (300 rpm) for 1.5, 25 or 50 h. Reducing sugars were measured as indicated in point 2.3. FPU activity was measured as described [16]. 2.5. Primers design and bioinformatic analyses cDNA sequences of fungal GH family 5, 7 and 61 endoglucanase (EC 3.2.1.4) were obtained from EMBL-EBI database and aligned using ClustalX 2.0.9 [17]. The accession numbers of the sequences used to design the degenerated primers were Q75UV6, Q5W7K4, Q9C3Z8, O74706, Q4WN62, O59951, Q5TKT6, Q2VRK9, Q8WZD7, Q12638, Q12624, Q12637 and Q04469 for GH family 5; P07981, Q12714, Q4WCM9, O13455, Q8NK01, Q4WAJ6, Q12622, P56680, P46237 and Q9HGT3 for GH family 7 and O14405, Q4WF08, A2QJX0, Q6MYM8, Q7Z9M7 and A2R5N0 for GH family 61. For identification of the partial cellulase sequences, consensus-degenerate primers were designed based on these alignments, using the CODEHOP strategy [18]. Specific primers were designed by hand in order to complete the TvEG cDNA sequence. The primer sequences are shown in Table 1. Homology analysis was carried out using the BLAST software [19] from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI); putative functional domains identification was carried out by search the Conserved Domain Database (CDD) [20]. 2.6. RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis Total RNA was isolated from fungal mycelium grown in solid induction media. The mycelium was harvested from the plate and lysed with TRI reagent (Ambion) in liquid nitrogen using a mortar and pestle, according to the manufacturer’s directions. Single strand cDNA (sscDNA) was synthesized with the Oligo(dT)15 primer using the Reverse Transcription System kit (Promega) according to the manufacturer’s directions. PCR was performed in a reaction mixture containing: 1.4 mM MgCl2 , 0.2 mM dNTPs, 1 M reverse primer, 1 M forward primer, buffer Taq 1×, 1 U Taq DNA polymerase and 0.5 L of template sscDNA in a final volume of 25 L. Reactions were carried out in an Eppendorf Master Cycler Gradient; gel-purified PCR products were cloned into pGEM-T Easy vector, and sequenced by Macrogen (Korea). 2.7. Phylogenetic analysis Multiple alignments of sequences of glycoside hydrolases from families 5, 7 and 61 obtained from the EMBL-EBI data base were performed using ClustalX 2.0.9. Information on the accession number of the sequences used as templates are available in Supplementary Material 1. Construction and visualization of a radial neighborjoining phylogenetic tree were done with the TreeView version 1.6.6 program [21]. 2.8. Expression of the endoglucanase gene in P. pastoris X-33 The cloning and recombinant expression of the full length T. versicolor endoglucanase gene was carried out using the Easy-Select Pichia expression kit (Invitrogen). Specific primers TvEGPP1 For and TvEGPP1 Rev (Table 1) were designed in order to add XhoI and XbaI restriction sites at the ends of the endoglucanase gene. The PCR product was digested with these enzymes and the fragment was cloned into the pPICZ␣B vector. The forward primer contained a XhoI recognition site, a Kex2 signal cleavage and the sequence encoding for the five first amino acids of the mature TvEG enzyme. The reverse primer contained the sequence encoding for the last four amino acids of the protein, followed by six histidine codons and a stop codon. Recombinant plasmid was introduced into P. pastoris X-33 by electroporation, following the supplier recommendations. Transformants were selected in YPD plates supplemented with 1 M sorbitol and 100 g mL−1 Zeocin. Clones having multiple insertions in the yeast genome were selected in YPD plates supplemented with 500 g mL−1 Zeocin. The correct sequence of the construction was confirmed by automatic sequencing at Macrogen. Recombinant protein production was carried out according to the kit provider directions. The confirmed clone was cultured in BMGY (Buffered complex medium containing glycerol) until OD600 4. For the induction phase, cells were transferred to BMMY medium (Buffered complex medium with 0.5% (v/v) methanol), repeating the addition of methanol every 24 h. Recombinant expression was monitored every 24 h in aliquots of the culture supernatant by measuring activity on CMC and by electrophoresis. For this, a four mL aliquot of each supernatant was concentrated by ultracentrifugation using a Centricon centrifugal device YM-3 (Millipore). The concentrated fractions were analyzed by SDS–PAGE and CMC-zymogram. For the CMCase activity assays, aliquots of supernatant were analyzed directly, while the electrophoretic analysis was carried out using the concentrated fractions. SDS–PAGE was carried out in 12.5% polyacrylamide gel in Miniprotean II (BioRad), as recommended. For the zymogram analysis the protein separation was carried out in a similar protocol except that the gel contained 0.2% (w/v) CMC and the protein samples were not heated before the electrophoresis. SDS removal for protein renaturation in the gel was carried out by incubating with 0.25% (v/v) Triton X-100 for one hour at room temperature, and then the gel was incubated for one hour at 37 ◦ C in 50 mM sodium acetate pH 5.0. The activity bands were revealed by staining with 0.1% (w/v) Congo Red and distaining with 1 M NaCl. In all the experiments P. pastoris X-33 transformed with the vector pPICZ␣B was analyzed in parallel and used as control. A. Salinas et al. / Enzyme and Microbial Technology 49 (2011) 485–491 487 Table 1 PCR primers used for cDNA amplification and plasmid construction. Primer name Sequence (5 → 3 )a Target/use F5fwd F5rev F7fwd F7rev F61fwd F61rev 106EN5For 106EN5Rev TvEGPP1 For TvEGPP1 Rev TGATCTTCGACATCATGAACGARYMHCAYRA CCCCCACCAGGAGCCDKYDKCCCA CGACGAGGAGACCTGCGSNVANAAYTG CACGTAGCACTGGGCGTCRCARTANCC TGGACAAGACCACCAACAAGTKBKTNAARAT ACTTCTAGATGTTGATGAAGATGCCNGSRTCNGT GGACCCGAACAACAACATTGCTA GCGAGGATGAGCTGGCTGGT CTCGAGAAAAGAGTCTGGCGGCAGTG TCTAGATCAATGATGATGATGATGATGCTGGAACGCCTTG GH family 5 GH family 5 GH family 7 GH family 7 GH family 61 GH family 61 Specific primer for TvEG cDNA cloning Specific primer for TvEG cDNA cloning Cloning full length TvEG in pPICZ␣B Cloning full length TvEG in pPICZ␣B a The IUPAC nomenclature for degenerate primers is used. 3. Results and discussion 3.2. Cloning of the fungal cellulase genes 3.1. Evaluation of the cellulase activity produced by fungi Total RNA was obtained from the fungi cultured in solid medium supplemented with CMC. Afterward cDNA was amplified by PCR with degenerate primers designed for targeting GH families 5, 7 and 61. These primers were designed based on the alignment of cellulases belonging to the IUBMB classification EC 3.2.1.4, which contains most of the fungal endo--1,4-glucanases (see Supplementary Material 1 for details on the accession number of the sequences used as templates). Five fragments were identified (see Supplementary Material 2 for details of the cDNA sequences), and the BLAST homology analysis revealed that the amino acid sequence of these fragments effectively shares important identity with cellulases from families 5, 7 and 61, respectively (Table 2). One of the fragments isolated from F. oxysporum resulted to be identical to the gene encoding for the EG I already described by Sheppard et al. [22]. The endoglucanase I (EG I) from the F. oxysporum consists of a 411 amino acid catalytic core and it lacks a CBM. The enzyme belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 7, which also includes the cellobiohydrolase I from T. reesei. The second fragment from F. oxysporum resulted to be a non described sequence; the highest alignment was to a putative, uncharacterized GH family 61 cellulase from G. graminicola. Analysis of the cDNA isolated from G. applanatum revealed a non-described GH with 58% identity in 86 amino acids to the GH family 61 of the fungus Laccaria bicolor, specifically the sequence comprising the catalytic domain of the enzyme. This is the first description of a GH61 from G. applanatum. GH61 are enigmatic The production of cellulase activity by native Chilean strains of T. versicolor, G. applanatum, P. placenta, F. oxysporum, P. ostreatus, L. edodes and P. gigantea was evaluated. P. placenta, P. ostreatus, L. edodes and P. gigantea did not produce any significant activity of CMC hydrolysis (data not shown). T. versicolor, G. applanatum and F. oxysporum were selected based on the cellulase activity produced under conditions of induction with CMC, microcrystalline cellulose and N. pumilio lignocellulose. As shown in Fig. 1, regardless of the type of inducer present in the medium, production of the enzymes needed for CMC hydrolysis was highest in G. applanatum, followed by T. versicolor and F. oxysporum. Considering that the polymer substrate must be previously hydrolyzed to be used a carbon source and also to be effective for cellulase gene induction, the growth in lignocellulose can be a good marker of the cellulases functionality on lignocellulose. This notion was confirmed by results in Fig. 2, where the hydrolysis of N. pumilio wood chips by the crude cellulase from T. versicolor and G. applanatum is shown. These fungi exhibit significant hydrolyzing activity on lignocellulose. Despite in both cases the hydrolytic activity is lower than the activity exhibited by the commercial preparation of T. reesei, these results are helpful as they indicate that these white rot fungi are good producers of competent enzymes for lignocellulose hydrolysis. Fig. 1. Production of CMCase activity by Trametes versicolor, Fusarium oxysporum and Ganoderma applanatum. The fungi were cultured for 6 days at 28 ◦ C using CMC (hatched bars); Avicel (white bars); N. pumilio (black bars) as carbon sources. CMCase activity was measured in fungi culture supernatants using 1% (w/v) CMC as substrate, at 37 ◦ C for 60 min. All points represent averages of at least three experimental values. Standard deviation was always less of 10%. Fig. 2. Hydrolysis of N. pumilio lignocellulose by T. versicolor, G. applanatum and T. reesei cellulases. The crude enzymes from the fungal culture supernatant, concentrated by ammonium sulfate precipitation, were incubated with 5% N. pumilio wood chips at 50 ◦ C for 1.5 h (hatched bars), 25 h (white bars) or 50 h (black bars) and reducing sugars were determined by the DNS method. All points represent averages of at least three experimental values. Standard deviation was always less of 10%. 488 A. Salinas et al. / Enzyme and Microbial Technology 49 (2011) 485–491 Table 2 Analysis of the cDNA sequences encoding for the cellulases identified in this work. Fungus Fusarium oxysporum Fusarium oxysporum Ganoderma applanatum Trametes versicolor Trametes versicolor a b c d Highest alignmentb cDNA a GH family (CDD e-value)d c Code Fraction sequenced (%) Microorganism Accession code Identity (%) Fof7 Fof61 Gaf61 TvEG Tvf7 23 28 26 95 22 Fusarium oxysporum Glomerella graminicola Laccaria bicolor Trametes hirsuta Polyporus arcularius AAG09047 EFQ31130 XP 001883194 BAD01163 BAF80326 100 68 58 96 82 7 (10−38 ) 61 (10−30 ) 61 (10−27 ) 5 (10−14 ) 7 (10−44 ) Assuming as 100% the size of the enzyme with the highest alignment in the BLASTX analysis [19]. According to the results of the BLASTX analysis. EMBL database. Results of the Conserved Domain Database search [20]. proteins that lack measurable hydrolytic activity by themselves, but can accomplish an auxiliary role during the hydrolysis catalyzed by classical cellulases [23]. As an example, Harris et al. were able to reduce by 2-fold the total protein loading required to hydrolyze lignocellulosic biomass by incorporating the gene for one GH61 protein into a commercial T. reesei strain producing high levels of cellulolytic enzymes [24]. In consequence, these GH61 proteins are attractive enzymes to be considered at the moment of producing optimized cellulolytic mixtures. Analysis of the cDNA obtained from T. versicolor allowed the isolation of sequences encoding for putative GH family 7 and 5. cDNA cloning of a GH family 7 cellobiohydrolase from T. versicolor 52P was recently reported [25], but the sequence is not available in public data bases; in consequence, is not possible to know if the sequence identified in this work corresponds to cel7A present in T. versicolor 52P. Similitude analysis of the second fragment from T. versicolor, Tvf5, suggests that the gene encodes for a novel GH family 5 endoglucanase [4]. The complete cDNA for the mature protein was reconstructed using RT-PCR with specific primers and the protein was named TvEG. The sequence of a GH family 5 endoglucanase from T. versicolor has not been reported so far. An endoglucanase from this fungus was described in 1963 by Pettersson [11] but the molecular weight reported was significantly lower (11 kDa) than the 38.6 kDa estimated for TvEG, suggesting that the enzyme described by Pettersson is either a different enzyme or a proteolytic fragment of TvEG. Similarly, Idogaki and Kitamoto reported the purification and brief characterization of an endoglucanase from a culture of Coriolus versicolor (formerly T. versicolor) strain TD-7 [26]; comparison of the molecular weight estimated for that CMCase (29 kDa) suggests that TvEG and the endoglucanase from strain TD7 could be the same enzyme. Information regarding the amino acid sequence of this or any other endoglucanase from T. versicolor is not available so far. Comparison of the biochemical and molecular properties should be very useful to clearly identify these enzymes and to define the complete set of T. versicolor endocellulases. A phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the alignment of the amino acid sequences of fungal known endoglucanases from GHs families 5, 7 and 61. Three main branches were obtained, each one corresponding to each GH family. As shown in Fig. 3, the cellulase sequences identified in this work are distributed in the tree according to the primers used in the cDNA screen. From these results is clear that the use of degenerate primers designed based on homology regions is a strong strategy to identify novel enzymes, being highly specific for the targeted glycoside hydrolase family. 3.3. Analysis of the TvEG amino acid sequence TvEG full length cDNA encoded a 364 amino acid protein, with a predicted molecular weight of 38.6 kDa. The BLAST homology analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence of TvEG in Fig. 4 showed the highest overall identity with endoglucanases from Fig. 3. Phylogenetic analysis of the new cellulases. The alignments were constructed using CLUSTAL X program [17]. The tree was visualized by TREEVIEW [21]. Glycoside hydrolase families are surrounded by ellipses. Arrows highlight the sequences identified in this work. Sequences were obtained from the Europe Bioinformatics Institute database. The length of the braches indicates the divergence among the amino acid sequences. Bar, 0.1 substitutions per site. The accession numbers and species used to generate the tree are available in Supplementary Material 1. Trametes hirsuta ThEG (96% identity, accession Q75UV6) [27], Irpex lacteus En-1 (65%, Q5W7K4) [28], Volvariella volvacea EGI (57%, Q9C3Z8) [29], Humicola insolens EGL2 (58%, Q12624) [30] and T. reesei EG II (22%, P079829) [31]. All these sequences are members of the GH family 5 and have a family 1 CBM. TvEG has a multi-domain structure composed of a N-terminal CBM, a Ser-/Thr-rich linker, and a catalytic domain (Fig. 4). The CBM of T. versicolor EG belongs to the CBM family 1, which is characteristic of fungi [32]. It contains four cysteines which form two disulfide bridges (Cys31-Cys48 and Cys42-Cys58, according to numbering in Fig. 4), four aromatic amino acid residues (Trp28, Phe36, Tyr54 and Tyr55), and two glutamines (Gln30 and Gln57); all these amino acid residues are highly conserved in this family and are essential for the adsorption capacity [33]. In the catalytic domain is possible to distinguish the conserved motifs Asn-Glu-Pro and Glu-X-Gly, corresponding to the acid catalyst (Glu229) and stabilizing anion/nucleophile (Glu339), respectively [34]. Also, Glu229 and Glu339 are the only Glu residues that are conserved throughout the catalytic domain, suggesting that they are involved in the catalysis. The BLAST analysis showed that the T. hirsuta and I. lacteus endoglucanases are the most similar to TvEG (Fig. 4). It is A. Salinas et al. / Enzyme and Microbial Technology 49 (2011) 485–491 489 Fig. 4. Sequence alignment of T. versicolor EG and other fungal endoglucanases. Black and grey boxes indicate identical and similar amino acid, respectively. Brackets A and B define the CBM and the catalytic domain, respectively. The black circles indicate residues that are predicted to participate in disulfide bridges. The black triangles indicate the residues that are predicted to be critical in the catalysis. Abbreviations: T.v., T. versicolor; T.h., T. hirsuta; I.l., I. lacteus; V.v., V. volvacea; and H.i., H. insolens; T.r., T. reesei. interesting that T. hirsuta endoglucanase activity ratio CMC/Avicel is significantly lower than the same index for I. lacteus endoglucanase [26,37]. This effect was attributed by the authors to a higher accessibility of the T. hirsuta catalytic domain to the substrate, facilitated by a shorter linker [27]. As shown in the alignment in Fig. 4, this structural characteristic is also present in TvEG; the conservation of this feature and the high identity level between TvEG and ThEG suggest that TvEG also could be highly reactive on microcrystalline cellulose. Considering that this is a desirable characteristic in endoglucanases used for lignocellulosic biomass conversion, this possibility must be investigated by extensive characterization and study of the real potential of TvEG for application in insoluble cellulose breakdown. 3.4. Recombinant expression of TvEG in P. pastoris The sequence corresponding to the mature TvEG (from amino acid 27 to 405, Fig. 4), was cloned into the expression vector pPICZ␣B and transformed into P. pastoris X-33. The TvEG gene was cloned downstream the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ␣ factor signal sequence and the Kex2 cleavage sequence. The Kex2 signal cleavage was conveniently introduced in the forward primer TvEGPP1 For, 490 A. Salinas et al. / Enzyme and Microbial Technology 49 (2011) 485–491 in order to promote the correct N-terminal processing of TvEG and reduce the possibility of non-native amino acids in the enzyme. For the same reason, a sequence encoding for six histidine codons was included in the reverse primer, TvEGPP1 Rev, just after the 3 end of the gene and before the stop codon. This design should avoid the presence of the C-myc epitope at the C-terminal of TvEG, still permitting the purification by affinity to the polyhistidine tail. Consequently, TvEG should be secreted to the extracellular space, with a native N-terminal and a six-histidine tag at the C-terminal. The kinetic of the recombinant enzyme production was studied following the appearance of the CMCase activity in the culture broth and in extracts of the intracellular fraction. Only the results of the extracellular content are shown. Estimates showed that more that the 95% of the activity was released to the extracellular space (data not shown), suggesting that the secretion signal from the S. cerevisiae ␣-factor correctly signaled the exportation of TvEG. The CMCase activity increased consistently in the supernatant until the third day (72 h), reaching a plateau after that. The production of CMCase activity was 18 U L−1 at the end of the monitoring experiment. SDS–PAGE analysis of the extracellular proteins produced by the control (P. pastoris X-33/pPICZ␣B) and the recombinant culture (P. pastoris X-33/pPICZ␣B-TvEG) during the induction with methanol revealed in P. pastoris X-33/pPICZ␣B-TvEG, the appearance of a faint band around 35 kDa, consistent with the 38.6 kDa estimated for the recombinant TvEG (Fig. 5B); the zymographic analysis (Fig. 5C) showed an activity signal consistent con this protein, demonstrating the functional expression of TvEG in P. pastoris. The activity gel also showed a high molecular weight protein having activity on CMC, present in both cultures. This activity is probably responsible of the background observed in supernatants of the control culture in Fig. 5A. Genomic sequences encoding for glycoside hydrolases have been described in P. pastoris GS115, a close variant of the X-33 strain. These sequences belong to families 2, 3, 10, 20, 45, 53 and 88 [35]; among them, families 20 and 45 have members with putative hydrolytic activity on endo-1,4-glycosidic bonds (EC 3.2.1.4), that could be responsible of the background activity observed in our experiments. Not enough experimental information is available in literature for clearly identify the origin of these bands. The zymogram in Fig. 5C shows that TvEG in the supernatant is not a homogeneous population of protein molecules; several bands around the expected molecular weight are visible. The origin of this heterogeneity in the protein size could be on potential proteolytic cleavage of the endoglucanase in the linker region, which, by separating the CBD could create active forms of the enzyme slightly smaller. A second possibility is the modification of the enzyme by addition of a variable number of carbohydrate molecules (glycosylation). It is recognized that P. pastoris is capable of adding both Oand N-linked carbohydrate moieties to secreted proteins [36]. At this point is not possible to discard any of these possibilities. Preliminary evaluation of the endoglucanase activity on CMC in the IMAC-purified recombinant TvEG (not shown) gave a specific activity of 35–40 U mg−1 . Using this value a simple estimate gives approximately 0.5 mg of recombinant TvEG per L of culture broth. This production level is significantly lower than the expression level of V. volvacea and A. niger endoglucanases [37,38] in P. pastoris; these enzymes were produced at 65 and 40 mg L−1 , respectively. We are currently studying experimental alternatives for improvement of the TvEG expression level by optimization of the fermentation conditions. 4. Conclusions Fig. 5. Time course of recombinant full length TvEG production by P. pastoris X-33. Cells were induced in BMMY (buffered methanol-complex medium) for the times indicated. (A) CMCase activity measured in culture broth of P. pastoris X-33 transformed with pPICZ␣B-TvEG (white circles) or pPICZ␣B (black circles). The Optical Density at 600 nm (OD600 ) of the recombinant culture during the induction is shown (black diamonds). SDS–PAGE (B) and zymogram (C) of the extracellular fractions concentrated by ultrafiltration from the experiment shown in A. Induction times (h) are indicated on top of the wells; lane M, molecular mass markers (kDa). The arrow head indicates the recombinant enzyme. 1. This study demonstrates that the Chilean native strains of G. applanatum and T. versicolor analyzed in this work produce enzymes able of degrading the cellulose present in lignocellulose from N. pumilio. 2. The screening of cellulolytic fungi carried out by reverse transcription and PCR with degenerate primers resulted to be a fruitful strategy. Despite the primers were designed based on consensus sequences, results reported in this work indicate that is possible to identify sequences that diverge of the established consensus and still maintain the targeted specificity. 3. TvEG, an endoglucanase from T. versicolor, has been cloned and expressed as a functional recombinant enzyme. The enzyme shares high identity with ThEG, an endoglucanase from T. hirsuta with high activity on crystalline cellulose. This fact and the presence of a CBM in the enzyme suggest that TvEG could have interesting applications for hydrolysis of insoluble cellulosic substrates. 4. The yeast P. pastoris produces the fungal endoglucanase as an active enzyme, but with low yield. The system needs to be optimized in order to improve the production of recombinant TvEG. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Domeyko Research Programme, University of Chile; CONICYT through its Bicentennial Programme A. Salinas et al. / Enzyme and Microbial Technology 49 (2011) 485–491 CCF05 and The Institute for Cell Dynamics and Biotechnology (ICDB). We thank the Vice Presidency of Research and Development, University of Chile and the Academy Direction of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Mathematics for travel support for attending to the 14th IBS Congress. Appendix A. Supplementary data Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.enzmictec.2011.10.003. References [1] Dashtban M, Schraft H, Qin W. Fungal bioconversion of lignocellulosic residues; opportunities & perspectives. Int J Biol Sci 2009;5:578–95. [2] Bhat MK, Bhat S. Cellulose degrading enzymes and their potential industrial applications. Biotechnol Adv 1997;15:583–620. [3] Gilkes NR, Henrissat B, Kilburn DG, Miller Jr RC, Warren RA. Domains in microbial beta-1,4-glycanases: sequence conservation, function, and enzyme families. Microbiol Rev 1991;55:303–15. 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As a result of diffusion and the nature of the network formed at various steps of polymerization, the threshold voltage for switching in various regions becomes different. In this way, complicated patterns can be recorded into such a gel and made visible upon application of an electric field. We have used this technique in the production of a switchable binaryphase planar Fresnel lens7. A cell containing the monomeric mixture was irradiated through a mask containing concentric rings defining the zones of the lens placed above the cell. Subsequently the mask was removed and the cell was exposed to ultraviolet light. As a result, the structure became transferred into the gel in the form of regions with high and low switching voltages. Applying a voltage activated the lens function, as neighbouring regions with high and low refracting indices are formed within the cell. Upon application of an electric field, a beam of light could be focused to a point. In the same way, more complicated recordings could be made. Figure 4 shows a recording made into a gel by illumination through a photo negative: before application of an electric field no recording is visible, but application of an electric field switches the areas with 䡺 low threshold voltage, making the image visible. Received 17 November 1997; accepted 21 January 1998. 1. Gray, G. W. in Thermotropic Liquid Crystals 74 (Wiley, Chichester, 1987). 2. Gerber, P. R. Voltage induced cholesteric structure transformation in thin layers. Z. Naturforsch. 36, 718–726 (1981). 3. Schadt, M. & Gerber, P. Dielectric electro-optical and phase change properties of liquid crystal guest host displays. Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 65, 241–263 (1981). 4. Hikmet, R. A. M. & Lub, J. Anisotropic networks and gels obtained by photopolymerisation in the liquid crystalline state. Prog. Polym. Sci. 21, 1165–1209 (1996). 5. Kelker, H. & Hatz, R. in Handbook of Liquid Crystals 172 (Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, 1980). 6. Broer, D. J., Lub, J. & Mol, G. N. Wide-band reflective polarizers from cholesteric polymer networks with a pitch gradient. Nature 378, 467–469 (1995). 7. Patel, J. S. & Rastani, K. Electrically controlled polarisation independent liquid crystal Fresnel lens arrays. Optics Lett. 16, 532–534 (1991). centres, or intrinsically spontaneous, such as those of oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria. Transmembrane proteins (such as the cytochromes and complexes I, III and IV in the electron-transport chain in the inner mitochondrial membrane) couple the redox reactions to proton translocation, thereby conserving a fraction of the redox chemical potential as p.m.f. Many transducer proteins couple p.m.f. to the performance of biochemical work, such as biochemical synthesis and mechanical and transport processes. Recently, an artificial photosynthetic membrane was reported in which a photocyclic process was used to transport protons across a liposomal membrane, resulting in acidification of the liposome’s internal volume1. If significant p.m.f. is generated in this system, then incorporating an appropriate transducer into the liposomal bilayer should make it possible to drive a non-spontaneous chemical process. Here we report the incorporation of FOF1-ATP synthase into liposomes containing the components of the proton-pumping photocycle. Irradiation of this artificial membrane with visible light results in the uncoupler- and inhibitor-sensitive synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) against an ATP chemical potential of ⬃12 kcal mol−1, with a quantum yield of more than 7%. This system mimics the process by which photosynthetic bacteria convert light energy into ATP chemical potential. The artificial photosynthetic membrane is shown schematically in Fig. 1, which illustrates a portion of the liposomal bilayer, the proton-pumping photocycle, and the F-type ATP synthase enzyme—the bulbous structure, top right. The proton pump is driven by vectorial photoinduced electron transfer in a carotene– porphyrin–naphthoquinone molecular triad (1, C–P–Q), which generates the species C.+ –P–Q.− on excitation by visible light1,2. The 8 Acknowledgements. We thank L. Poels for technical assistance and J. Lub for synthesis of the reactive molecules. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.A.M.H. (e-mail: [email protected]). Light-driven production of ATP catalysed by F0F1-ATP synthase in an artificial photosynthetic membrane Gali Steinberg-Yfrach*, Jean-Louis Rigaud†, Edgardo N. Durantini*, Ana L. Moore*, Devens Gust* & Thomas A. Moore* Figure 1 Diagram of a liposome-based artificial photosynthetic membrane. Included in this diagram is the photocycle that pumps protons into the interior of * Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Center for the Study of Early Events in Photosynthesis, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA † Institut Curie, Section de Recherche, UMR-CNRS 168 and LCR-CEA 8, 11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France the liposome and the CFOF1-ATP synthase enzyme. Triad 1 and Qs were as ......................................................................................................................... to a final concentration of 0.1 M and valinomycin to the external solution resulted Energy-transducing membranes of living organisms couple spontaneous to non-spontaneous processes through the intermediacy of protonmotive force (p.m.f.)—an imbalance in electrochemical potential of protons across the membrane. In most organisms, p.m.f. is generated by redox reactions that are either photochemically driven, such as those in photosynthetic reaction NATURE | VOL 392 | 2 APRIL 1998 reported previously1. For most of the experiments reported here, the triad used consisted of a mixture of isomers in which the carboxylate group was in the 2 and 3 positions. Experimental details are given in the Methods section. Experiments in which a diffusion potential was established before irradiation by adding K2SO4 in no change in the rate of ATP synthesis, within experimental error. This is consistent with electrogenic proton import as proposed herein in which the necessary p.m.f. is established by the proton pump. The ATP synthase was activated by addition of 10 M thioredoxin. Oxygen was removed from the cuvette by flow argon. The ATP synthase was activated by addition of 10 m thioredoxin. Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1998 479 letters to nature intramolecular redox potential represented by the carotenoid radical cation and the naphthoquinone radical anion is coupled to proton translocation by a lipophilic quinone (Qs) which alternates between reduced and oxidized states. Reduction occurs near the external bilayer–water interface when Qs accepts an electron from the naphthoquinone radical anion of 1 to form Qs.−. After protonation of Qs.− near the external aqueous interface, the semiquinone HQs., either by diffusion or self-exchange reactions among the Qs molecules, delivers the proton and electron to the site of oxidation potential (C.+ –P–Q) located near the inner membrane surface. Oxidation of HQs. near the internal aqueous interface results in proton ejection to the intraliposomal volume and the generation of p.m.f. (These steps only outline the photocycle. Other species could be involved, including a mixture of oxidation states of Qs, provided that the mixture includes protonated species.) On accumulation of sufficient p.m.f., proton flow through the coupling factor with the concomitant formation of ATP from adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate (Pi) is thermodynamically allowed. Proteoliposomes were prepared by incorporation of CFOF1-ATP synthase and the proton pump into liposomes. The solutions were illuminated with laser light at a wavelength of 633 nm for a period of time and then assayed for ATP. The synthesis of ATP was measured by the luciferin/luciferase assay3. Figure 2 shows the oxyluciferin luminescence spectrum, recorded as a function of irradiation time, for a sample of proteoliposomes containing the components shown in Fig. 1, including ADP and Pi in the external solution. The increase in luminescence with exposure to actinic light is clear evidence of an increase in ATP concentration with irradiation. To establish that this increase was due to p.m.f.-linked synthesis of ATP, a number of control experiments were carried out. Samples containing an uncoupler (1 M carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone (FCCP), which renders the membrane permeable to protons and thereby prevents the build-up of p.m.f.) or an inhibitor (2 M tentoxin, which is a specific inhibitor of CFOF1-ATP synthase) evidenced no ATP production4. Other control experiments included deletion of either Qs, ADP, Pi, triad 1 or ATP synthase. In each case the luminescence spectrum after irradiation was superimposable on that of the spectrum of an unirradiated control sample, within experimental error. Therefore, ATP synthesis was observed only in the presence of all of the components indicated in Fig. 1 and is ascribed to light-generated p.m.f. coupled to ATP synthesis by CFOF1-ATP synthase. The efficacy of the artificial energy-transducing membrane can be defined by three parameters: the quantum yield of ATP production, the thermodynamic potential of the newly synthesized ATP, and the turnover number of the enzyme. Experiments to measure the turnover number and the thermodynamic factors were carried out under light-saturated conditions, whereas the quantum yield of ATP was measured under light-limited, linear conditions. Linear and saturated conditions were operationally defined by the data shown in Fig. 3, which shows the results of a series of experiments in which the rate of ATP synthesis was measured as a function of actinic light intensity. The linear region is shown on the left-hand side of the graph and the saturated region on the right-hand side. From the light-limited rate of ATP synthesis shown on the lefthand side of Fig. 3, it is calculated that one ATP molecule is produced per 14 photons incident on the sample. Because of light scattering by the liposome solution, there is uncertainty in measuring the fraction of the actinic light absorbed. Spectroscopic determinations suggest that ⬃50% of the incident light was absorbed, so the actual quantum yield of ATP synthesis is probably near 0.15. Assuming that four protons are required per ATP synthesized, the yield of the proton pump must be near 0.6. Therefore, both the quantum yield of redox equivalents from photoinduced electron transfer in 1 and the efficiency of proton shuttling by Qs must be quite high. The high yield of redox equivalents from the photoinduced electron transfer step could arise in part from the slowing of energy-wasting charge recombination due to migration of the electrons and holes among the ⬃1,000 molecules of 1 and the ⬃500 molecules of Qs in a proteoliposome. This would require some form of aggregation involving 1 and possibly Qs, as rapid intermolecular charge migration requires relatively strong intermolecular electronic interactions. Indeed, the absorption spectrum of 1 in proteoliposomes shows significant broadening of the Figure 2 The [ATP]-dependent steady-state luminescence of oxyluciferin3 Figure 3 The rate of ATP synthesis as a function of actinic light intensity. Initial measured as a function of liposome irradiation times. Shown are data for conditions are [ATP] ¼ [ADP] ¼ 0:2 mM and [Pi ] ¼ 5 mM. Full saturation was irradiation times of 0 min (short dashes), 3 min (dash-dot-dot), 6 min (long reached at actinic light levels of 0.1 mW cm−2. The ATP concentration was dashes), 12 min (dots), 35 min (medium dashes) and 66 min (solid line). The determined by the luciferin/luciferase assay shown in Fig. 2. In a typical experi- irradiation source was a 5 mW beam of 633-nm light from a HeNe laser, and the ment, aliquots of irradiated solution in which ATP had been formed were with- sample volume was 250 l (c.p.s., counts per second). The laser beam diameter drawn as a function of irradiation time and added to an assay solution containing was expanded to ⬃10 mm, but no effort was made to provide uniform intensity luciferin, luciferase and buffer. The luminescence spectrum was measured across the cuvette (as discussed in the text, this level of actinic light saturated the immediately and the [ATP] determined from a standard curve which was pre- rate of synthesis of ATP). In this experiment, the ATP concentration before pared for each experimental run by measuring the steady-state luminescence irradiation was ⬃2 ⫻ 10 ⫺ 7 M (⬃10−3 times the level of ADP), and was due to from preparations having known ATP concentrations. In all cases the steady- ATP contamination in the commercially available ADP. Oxygen was removed from state luminescence intensity was constant for at least 20 min. the cuvette by flowing argon. 480 Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1998 NATURE | VOL 392 | 2 APRIL 1998 8 letters to nature porphyrin Soret band which is indicative of aggregate formation. Because the quantum yield is high and the aggregated form of 1 is predominant, electron transfer processes between the various oxidation states of Qs and reducing/oxidizing equivalents in aggregates of 1 must drive the proton pump. Turning to thermodynamic considerations, the chemical potential of ATP synthesized at constant temperature and pressure, under conditions of 0.2 mM ATP, 0.02 mM ADP and 5 mM Pi, is ⬃12 kcal mol−1 (using concentration as activity in the Gibbs equation). As shown in Fig. 4, synthesis proceeds readily under these conditions. Thus ATP synthesis occurs against a substantial ATP potential. The slightly lower rate of formation of ATP at ½ATPÿ=½ADPÿ ¼ 10 compared to that at ½ATPÿ=½ADPÿ ¼ 1 could be due to the lower concentration of ADP in the former rather than the higher [ATP]/[ADP]. That is, the enzyme may not have been saturated with respect to ADP. The synthesis of ATP at high ATP potential demonstrates that significant p.m.f. is being generated by the proton pumping photocycle. In fact, ATP synthesis against similar ATP potentials has been reported in isolated chloroplast lamellae5. Detailed experiments to measure the maximum p.m.f. available from this system are under way. To determine the turnover number, conditions were selected such that the enzyme was saturated with ADP (0.2 mM) and Pi (5 mM)6. The light-saturated rate of ATP synthesis (right side of Fig. 3) was used for the calculation. For maximum activity, non-catalytic ATP binding sites on the F-type ATPases must be occupied7–10. To ensure this, experiments were carried out with 0.2 mM ATP added before irradiation. Under these conditions 3:5 ⫻ 10 ⫺ 8 mol of ATP were synthesized per hour. As there are ⬃9 ⫻ 1011 liposomes in the irradiated volume and one enzyme molecule per liposome, the turnover number is 7 ⫾ 1 ATP per CFOF1 per s. This number is higher than has been reported in hybrid systems using natural photosystem I preparations as the proton pump, and is similar to that observed in bacteriorhodopsin/ATPase constructs10,11. In order to identify factors that control the CFOF1 turnover number in this system, pH-jump-induced ATP synthesis in proteoliposome preparations containing all of the components of the proton pump was compared to that in proteoliposomes prepared without 1 and Qs. Both types of liposomes gave turnover numbers of ⬃100 s−1. This level of activity under comparable pH-jump conditions has been reported for similar proteoliposomes, which indicates that neither 1 nor Qs inhibits the enzyme10. Therefore, because the pH-jump experiment illustrates that the enzyme is capable of higher turnover, and the synthesis of ATP against high ATP potential illustrates that the p.m.f. is high, the light saturation of ATP synthesis (⬃0.1 mW cm−2; right side of Fig. 3) at a relatively low turnover number probably arises from kinetic constraints in the photocyclic proton pump. The dynamics of the photocyclic proton pump have not been investigated, but saturation effects could be due to electron–hole annihilation in the aggregated arrays of 1 in the membrane or to diffusion-limited transport processes. We note that the photocyclic system operates efficiently over a timescale of hours. Figure 4 shows ATP synthesis as a function of irradiation time under conditions of maximum enzyme turnover. A single ATP synthase turns over more than 25,000 times per hour. Also shown are the data for control experiments carried out at high initial [ATP]. As was the case when ATP was not added before irradiation, ATP synthesis is uncoupler- and inhibitor-sensitive and only observed when all of the components indicated in Fig. 1 are present. Based on the ATP potential, the quantum yield of formation, and the energy of 633-nm photons we estimate that up to 4% of the absorbed light energy is conserved in this system. The steps in the energy transduction process in the artificial membrane mimic those by which photosynthetic bacteria convert light energy into redox potential, p.m.f. and ultimately chemical energy available as ATP. The assembly of an artificial photosynthetic membrane that demonstrates net energy conservation opens the door to the design of systems in which energy-requiring biological and biomimetic processes in cellular-like constructs could be driven from a photo䡺 cyclic energy source. 8 ......................................................................................................................... Methods Proteoliposomes containing CFOF1-ATPase isolated from spinach chloroplasts were prepared by adding liposomes to detergent-solubilized protein and slowly removing the detergent with Biobeads12. This procedure results in the incorporation of an average of one enzyme molecule per liposome, with the F1 subunit having the indicated preferred orientation extending into the bulk aqueous phase12. The liposomes were prepared from a mixture of egg phosphatidylcholine and egg phosphatidic acid (10:1 by weight) plus cholesterol (20 mol%)12. For experiments where ATP synthesis was observed, Qs was added to the phospholipid mixture before liposome formation. Triad 1 was added to the proteoliposomes by injection of 10 l of a 3.8 mM solution of 1 in tetrahydrofuran into 250 l of a solution containing proteoliposomes followed by column chromatography (Sephadex G-100) to remove excess triad. Approximately 800 l of solution was collected from the column. Analysis of light-scattering experiments on similar liposome preparations that contained chlorophyll rather than Qs or 1 yielded a most probable diameter of 150 nm (ref. 10). Total phosphate analysis of 250 l of a proteoliposome preparation containing triad 1 and Qs prepared for a typical photochemical experiment yielded ⬃9 ⫻ 1011 liposomes (assuming 150-nm diameter liposomes and an area of 58 Å2 for phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidic acid and 38 Å2 for cholesterol)13. Extraction and spectrophotometric assay yielded ⬃1 ⫻ 103 molecules of 1 per liposome, which is many more than the ⬃40 per liposome previously found in liposomes formed from other phospholipids and lacking the protein component1. Based on the amount of Qs added before forming the liposomes, there were no more than 500 Qs molecules per liposome. The bulk aqueous phase contained 16 mM Na2SO4, 2.5 mM MgSO4 and was buffered by 16 mM tricine and 5 mM KH2PO4 to a pH of 8. The intraliposomal volume contained 2 mM tricine and 40 mM Na2SO4 with the pH adjusted to 8 before liposome formation. Received 13 November 1997; accepted 16 February 1998. Figure 4 The synthesis of ATP as a function of irradiation time at different ratios of [ATP]/[ADP]. Open triangles, [ATP] ¼ [ADP] ¼ 0:2 mM and [Pi ] ¼ 5 mM; filled circles, [ATP] ¼ 0:2 mM, [ADP] ¼ 0:02 mM and [Pi ] ¼ 5 mM. Also shown are results for control experiments showing that ATP was not synthesized; open circles,1 M FCCP; filled triangles, 2 M tentoxin; filled diamonds, [Qs] ¼ 0; open squares, [ADP] ¼ 0. NATURE | VOL 392 | 2 APRIL 1998 1. Steinberg-Yfrach, G. et al. Conversion of light energy to proton potential in liposomes by artificial photosynthetic reactions centres. Nature 385, 239–241 (1997). 2. Gust, D., Moore, T. A. & Moore, A. L. Molecular mimicry of photosynthetic energy and electron transfer. Acc. Chem. Res. 26, 198–205 (1993). 3. Schmidt, G. & Gräber, P. The rate of ATP synthesis by reconstituted CF0F1 liposomes. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 808, 46–51 (1985). 4. Sigalat, C., Pitard, B. & Haraux, F. Proton coupling is preserved in membrane-bound chloroplast ATPase activated by high concentrations of tentoxin. FEBS Lett. 368, 253–256 (1995). 5. Hangarter, R. P. & Good, N. E. Energy thresholds for ATP synthesis in chloroplasts. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 681, 397–404 (1982). Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1998 481 letters to nature 6. Richard, P. & Gräber, P. Kinetics of ATP synthesis catalyzed by the H+-ATPase from chloroplasts (CF0F1) reconstituted into liposomes and coreconstituted with bacteriorhodopsin. Eur. J. Biochem. 210, 287–291 (1992). 7. Richard, P., Pitard, B. & Rigaud, J.-L. ATP synthesis by the F0F1-ATPase from the thermophilic Bacillus PS3 co-reconstituted with bacteriorhodopsin into liposomes. J. Biol. Chem. 270, 21571–21578 (1995). 8. Fromme, P. & Gräber, P. Activatin/inactivation and uni-site catalysis by the reconstituted ATPsynthase from chloroplasts. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1016, 29–42 (1990). 9. Girault, G., Berger, G., Galmiche, J.-M. & Andre, F. Characterization of six nucleotide-binding sites on chloroplast coupling factor 1 and one site on its purified b subunit. J. Biol. Chem. 263, 14690–14695 (1988). 10. Cladera, J. et al. Functional reconstitution of photosystem I reaction center from cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp PCC6803 into liposomes using a new reconstitution procedure. J. Bioenerg. Biomembr. 28, 503–515 (1996). 11. Pitard, B., Richard, P., Duñach, M. & Rigaud, J.-L. ATP synthesis by the F0F1 ATP synthase from thermophilic Bacillus PS3 reconstituted into liposomes with bacteriorhodopsin. Eur. J. Biochem. 235, 779–788 (1996). 12. Richard, P., Rigaud, J.-L. & Gräber, P. Reconstitution of CF0F1 into liposomes using a new reconstitution procedure. Eur. J. Biochem. 193, 921–925 (1990). 13. Petitou, M., Tuy, F. & Rosenfeld, C. A simplified procedure for organic phosphorus determination from phospholipids. Anal. Biochem. 91, 350–353 (1978). Acknowledgements. We thank F. Haraux for the gift of purified CF0F1, and both F. Haraux and W. Frasch for discussions. This work was supported by the US DOE. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to T.A.M. (e-mail: [email protected]). Ocean margins as a significant source of organic matter to the deep open ocean James E. Bauer* & Ellen R. M. Druffel† * School of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062, USA † Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA ......................................................................................................................... Continental shelves and slopes comprise less than 20% of the world ocean area, yet they are proposed to be quantitatively important sources of the organic matter that fuels respiration in the open ocean’s interior1,2. At least certain regions of the coastal ocean produce more organic carbon than they respire3, suggesting that some fraction of this non-respired, unburied organic carbon is available for export from the coastal to the open ocean4. Previous studies of carbon fluxes in ocean margins1,5,6 have not considered the potential roles of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and suspended particulate organic carbon (POCsusp), even though both pools are quantitatively far larger than sinking POC. Here we report natural radiocarbon (14C) abundance measurements that reveal continental slope and rise waters to contain both DOC and POCsusp that are concurrently older and in higher concentrations than DOC and POCsusp from the adjacent North Atlantic and North Pacific central gyres. Mass-balance calculations suggest that DOC and POCsusp inputs from ocean margins to the open ocean interior may be more than an order of magnitude greater than inputs of recently produced organic carbon derived from the surface ocean. Inputs from ocean margins may thus be one of the factors contributing to the old apparent age of organic carbon observed in the deep North Atlantic and Pacific central gyres7–9. The radioisotopic form of carbon, 14C (half-life, 5,730 yr), can be used as an indicator of the average age of bulk marine organic carbon pools such as DOC and POC. In addition to natural cosomogenically produced 14C, the increase in the global inventory of 14C as a result of nuclear weapons testing during the late 1950s and early 1960s also allows us to use bomb-produced 14C to constrain the age of more recently formed (over the past ⬃40 years) organic carbon pools10. The D14C (defined as the deviation in parts per thousand (‰) from the 14C activity of nineteenth century wood) values of natural marine organic carbon have been found to range from as low as around −525‰ (14C age of ⬃6,000 yr BP) for 482 deep ocean DOC8 to as high as about +140‰ for suspended POC samples containing bomb 14C in the mid- to late 1980s (ref. 9). Samples for 14C isotope analysis of DOC and POCsusp were collected from the western North Atlantic (WNA) and eastern North Pacific (ENP) continental margins. In April 1994, samples were collected from 4 depths at each of three WNA sites located over the continental slope in the Middle Atlantic Bight region between eastern Long Island, New York, and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The Bight is characterized by a permanent thermohaline front between continental shelf and slope waters and a net southwestward flow of slope water, of which ⬃50% is entrained across the front into slope waters and the remainder is advected offshore near Cape Hatteras5. The depth of the WNA mid-slope sites ranged from ⬃1,100–1,500 m. Samples were also collected from the eastern North Pacific from 1991 to 1993 at a time-series site located at the base of the continental rise (⬃4,100 m depth) at 34⬚ 50⬘ N, 123⬚ 00⬘ W11,12, and previously in 1985 at a site in the Santa Monica basin of the California continental borderland13. The ENP site is located ⬃220 km off the coast of central California within the California current system and is influenced by spring–summer maxima in primary productivity and sinking POC fluxes as a result of seasonal upwelling14. The D14C values of DOC from shallow surface waters (5 m depth) of the WNA continental slope were highly variable, ranging over ⬃200‰ (Fig. 1a). In mid-depth slope waters (⬃300 m and 750 m; Fig. 1a), D14C-DOC values were significantly lower (that is, more negative in D14C) by 75 to 150‰ relative to DOC from similar depths in the central north Atlantic gyre (−276 to −260‰ in the Sargasso Sea (SS)8,9. By 1,000 m depth, the D14C-DOC profiles of WNA slope water and those of SS water converged towards similar values. These data indicate the presence of 14C-depleted DOC at mesopelagic depths in WNA slope waters. On the basis of its ␦13C values (␦13C range: −21.3 to −22.4‰; J.E.B., unpublished data), this DOC appears to be predominantly marine in origin (fully marine DOC has ␦13C values ranging from about −22 to −18‰). The D14C values of POCsusp from the WNA ranged from −190 to +80‰ and were significantly lower than D14C of POCsusp from the SS9 (Fig. 1b). D14C values more positive than about −70 to −40‰ are considered to be post-bomb (that is, later than early 1950s to early 1960s thermonuclear weapons testing) because the pre-bomb D14C of the temperate and tropical surface ocean was in this range15. The ␦13C values in POCsusp (range: −22.9 to −24.9‰; J.E.B., unpublished data) suggest that terrestrial carbon (with an assumed average ␦13 C ⬇ ⫺ 27‰) may have contributed slightly more to POCsusp than to DOC in WNA slope waters. The similar offsets in D14C for both DOC and POCsusp between the WNA and the SS (Fig. 1a, b) suggest that the same or related mechanisms may control inputs of 14 C-depleted DOC and POCsusp to WNA slope waters. Similar to the WNA, profiles from the ENP also indicate a net depletion in 14C (that is, more negative D14C values) of both DOC and POCsusp relative to the central North Pacific (CNP) gyre7,9 (Fig. 1c, d). The lowest D14C-DOC values in the ENP occurred, also like the WNA, at shallow to intermediate depths (0–700 m), and D14CDOC values in the ENP were lower than in the CNP at all depths samples (Fig. 1c). The D14C-DOC values in Santa Monica basin were also, with the exception of the single 850-m sample, lower than values in the CNP (Fig. 1c). Significantly lower D14C values of POCsusp were likewise observed at all depths in both the ENP and Santa Monica Basin13 relative to the CNP gyre (Fig. 1d). The average difference in D14C-DOC between WNA and SS waters was greater than the corresponding margin-central gyre difference in the North Pacific (compare Fig 1a, c); the margin-central gyre offset in D14C of POCsusp was also greater overall in the North Atlantic (compare Fig. 1b, d). The corresponding d13C values for DOC (range: −20.5 to − 21.7 (ref. 12)) and POCsusp (range: −20.0 to −22.9‰ (ref. 11)) in ENP waters were greater (more positive) as a whole than for DOC and POCsusp from the WNA. 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