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OBJECTIVE: The objective of this trial was to test whether probiotic-supplemented feeding to extremely low-birth-weight (ELBW) infants will improve growth as determined by decreasing the percentage of infants with weight below the 10th percentile at 34 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA). Other important outcome measures, such as improving feeding tolerance determined by tolerating larger volume of feeding per day and reducing antimicrobial treatment days during the first 28 days from the initiation of feeding supplementation were also evaluated. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a multicenter randomized controlled double-blinded clinical study. The probiotics-supplementation (PS) group received Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium infantis added to the first enteral feeding and continued once daily with feedings thereafter until discharge or until 34 weeks (PMA). The control (C) group received unsupplemented feedings. Infant weight and feeding volumes were recorded daily during the first 28 days of study period. Weights were also recorded at 34 weeks PMA. RESULT: A total of 101 infants were enrolled (PS 50 versus C 51). There was no difference between the two groups in the percentage of infants with weight below the 10th percentile at 34 weeks PMA (PS group 58% versus C group 60%, (P value 0.83)) or in the average volume of feeding during 28 days after study entry (PS group 59 ml kg(-1) versus C group 71 ml kg(-1), (P value 0.11)). Calculated growth velocity was higher in the PS group compared with the C group (14.9 versus 12.6 g per day, (P value 0.05)). Incidences of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), as well as mortality were similar between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Although probiotic-supplemented feedings improve growth velocity in ELBW infants, there was no improvement in the percentage of infants with growth delay at 34 weeks PMA. There were no probiotic-related adverse events reported.

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The contribution of induced fit to enzyme specificity has been much debated, although with little experimental data. Here we probe the effect of induced fit on enzyme specificity using the trypsin(ogen) system. BPTI is known to induce trypsinogen to assume a trypsinlike conformation. Correlations are observed between BPTI affinity and the values of k(cat)/K(m) for the hydrolysis of two substrates by eight trypsin(ogen) variants. The slope of both correlations is -1.8. The crystal structures of the BPTI complexes of four variant trypsinogens were also solved. Three of these enzymes, K15A, DeltaI16V17/D194N, and DeltaI16V17/Q156K trypsinogen, are 10- to 100-fold more active than trypsinogen. The fourth variant, DeltaI16V17 trypsinogen, is the lone outlier in the correlations; its activity is lower than expected based on its affinity for BPTI. The S1 site and oxyanion hole, formed by segments 184A-194 and 216-223, are trypsinlike in all of the enzymes. These structural and kinetic data confirm that BPTI induces an active conformation in the trypsin(ogen) variants. Thus, changes in BPTI affinity monitor changes in the energetic cost of inducing a trypsinlike conformation. Although the S1 site and oxyanion hole are similar in all four variants, the N-terminal and autolysis loop (residues 142-152) segments have different interactions for each variant. These results indicate that zymogen activity is controlled by a simple conformational equilibrium between active and inactive conformations, and that the autolysis loop and N-terminal segments control this equilibrium. Together, these data illustrate that induced fit does not generally contribute to enzyme specificity.

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The conversion of inosine 5'-monophosphate (IMP) to xanthosine 5'-monophosphate (XMP) is the committed and rate-limiting reaction in de novo guanine nucleotide biosynthesis. Inosine 5'- monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) is the enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of IMP to XMP with the concomitant reduction of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (from NAD(+) to NADH). Because of its critical role in purine biosynthesis, IMPDH is a drug design target for anticancer, antiinfective, and immunosuppressive chemotherapy. We have determined the crystal structure of IMPDH from Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterial spirochete that causes Lyme disease, with a sulfate ion bound in the IMP phosphate binding site. This is the first structure of IMPDH in the absence of substrate or cofactor where the active-site loop (loop 6), which contains the essential catalytic residue Cys 229, is clearly defined in the electron density. We report that a seven residue region of loop 6, including Cys229, is tilted more than 6 A away from its position in substrate- or substrate analogue-bound structures of IMPDH, suggestive of a conformational change. The location of this loop between beta6 and alpha6 links IMPDH to a family of beta/alpha barrel enzymes known to utilize this loop as a functional lid during catalysis. Least-squares minimization, root-mean-square deviation analysis, and inspection of the molecular surface of the loop 6 region in the substrate-free B. burgdorferi IMPDH and XMP-bound Chinese hamster IMPDH show that loop 6 follows a similar pattern of hinged rigid-body motion and indicates that IMPDH may be using loop 6 to bind and sequester substrate and to recruit an essential catalytic residue.

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Inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) catalyzes the oxidation of inosine 5'-monophosphate (IMP) to xanthosine 5'-monophosphate with the concomitant reduction of NAD to NADH. Escherichia coli IMPDH is activated by K(+), Rb(+), NH(+)(4), and Cs(+). K(+) activation is inhibited by Li(+), Na(+), Ca(2+), and Mg(2+). This inhibition is competitive versus K(+) at high K(+) concentrations, noncompetitive versus IMP, and competitive versus NAD. Thus monovalent cation activation is linked to the NAD site. K(+) increases the rate constant for the pre-steady-state burst of NADH production, possibly by increasing the affinity of NAD. Three mutant IMPDHs have been identified which increase the value of K(m) for K(+): Asp13Ala, Asp50Ala, and Glu469Ala. In contrast to wild type, both Asp13Ala and Glu469Ala are activated by all cations tested. Thus these mutations eliminate cation selectivity. Both Asp13 and Glu469 appear to interact with the K(+) binding site identified in Chinese hamster IMPDH. Like wild-type IMPDH, K(+) activation of Asp50Ala is inhibited by Li(+), Na(+), Ca(2+), and Mg(2+). However, this inhibition is noncompetitive with respect to K(+) and competitive with respect to both IMP and NAD. Asp50 interacts with residues that form a rigid wall in the IMP site; disruption of this wall would be expected to decrease IMP binding, and the defect could propagate to the proposed K(+) site. Alternatively, this mutation could uncover a second monovalent cation binding site.

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Inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) is the rate-limiting enzyme in de novo guanine nucleotide biosynthesis. IMPDH converts IMP to xanthosine 5'-monophosphate with concomitant conversion of NAD+ to NADH. All IMPDHs characterized to date contain a 130-residue "subdomain" that extends from an N-terminal loop of the alpha/beta barrel domain. The role of this subdomain is unknown. An IMPDH homolog has been cloned from Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease (Margolis, N., Hogan, D., Tilly, K., and Rosa, P. A. (1994) J. Bacteriol. 176, 6427-6432). This homolog has replaced the subdomain with a 50-residue segment of unrelated sequence. We have expressed and characterized the B. burgdorferi IMPDH homolog. This protein has IMPDH activity, which unequivocally demonstrates that the subdomain is not required for catalytic activity. The monovalent cation and dinucleotide binding sites of B. burgdorferi IMPDH are significantly different from those of human IMPDH. Therefore, these sites are targets for the design of specific inhibitors for B. burgdorferi IMPDH. Such inhibitors might be new treatments for Lyme disease.

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The S1 binding site of trypsin is cross-linked by the conserved Cys191-Cys220 disulfide bond. The substitution of Cys191 and Cys220 with Ala decreases the activity of trypsin by 20-200-fold as measured by kcat/K(m) for the hydrolysis of amide substrates; in contrast, ester hydrolysis is decreased by < 10-fold. Similar decreases are observed in the hydrolysis of oligopeptide and single amino acid substrates. This decrease in activity results from a decrease in the acylation rate. The substrate binding and deacylation rate are not affected by the loss of the disulfide bond. C191A/C220A binds BPTI with the same affinity as trypsin, although the affinity of benzamidine is decreased 10-fold and the affinity of leupeptin is decreased 1000-fold. The CD spectrum of C191A/C220A displays significant differences from that of trypsin; these differences most likely result from the loss of the disulfide chromophore, although perturbation of enzyme structure cannot be discounted. The loss of the Cys191-Cys220 disulfide has no effect on the stability of trypsin as measured by urea denaturation. Single and double substitutions of Ser at positions 191 and 220 have a similar activity to C191A/C220A. These results indicate that the Cys191-Cys220 disulfide bond is not essential for the function, structure or stability of trypsin.

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Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is a potent and specific inhibitor of mammalian inosine-monophosphate dehydrogenases (IMPDH); most microbial IMPDHs are not sensitive to MPA. MPA-resistant mutants of human IMPDH type II were isolated in order to identify the structural features that determine the species selectivity of MPA. Three mutant IMPDHs were identified with decreased affinity for MPA The mutation of Gln277 --> Arg causes a 9-fold increase in the Ki of MPA, a 5-6-fold increase in the Km values for IMP and NAD, and a 3-fold decrease in kcat relative to wild type. The mutation of Ala462 --> Thr causes a 3-fold increase in the Ki for MPA, a 2.5-fold increase in the Km for NAD, and a 1.5-fold increase in kcat. The combination of these two mutations does not increase the Ki for MPA, but does increase the Km for NAD 3-fold relative to Q277R and restores kcat to wild type levels. Q277R/A462T is the first human IMPDH mutant with increased Ki for MPA and wild type activity. The third mutant IMPDH contains two mutations, Phe465 --> Ser and Asp470 --> Gly. Ki for MPA is increased 3-fold in this mutant enzyme, and Km for IMP is also increased 3-fold, while the Km for NAD and kcat are unchanged. Thus increases in the Ki for MPA do not correlate with changes in Km for either IMP or NAD, nor to changes in kcat. All four of these mutations are in regions of the IMPDH that differ in mammalian and microbial enzymes, and thus can be structural determinants of MPA selectivity.

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Monoclonal antibodies to tobacco mosaic virus that bind only to one end of the viral rods have been shown to recognize the surface of the protein subunit designated as the bottom, which contains the right radial and left radial alpha-helices. The specificity of the antibody binding was established by immunoelectron microscopy of complexes in which the 5' end of the RNA had been exposed at the bottom of the helical virus particle. These antibodies have been shown to bind to both ends of the stacked disk aggregate of TMV protein, which is therefore bipolar. The observations on the bipolarity of this structure are inconsistent with the presumption that stacked disks are formed by aggregation of polar two-layer disks.

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Multilamellar stacking seen in negatively stained lipid vesicle-tubulin mixtures has been attributed to lipid-protein interactions (Caron, J. M., and R. D. Berlin, 1979, J. Cell Biol. 81:665-671). We show that this stacking is produced by the phosphotungstic acid used for staining, independent of the presence of tubulin in the sample. The morphology of negatively stained single bilayer vesicles obtained from dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine or egg lecithin is specifically dependent upon the choice of metal stain. Uranyl oxalate maintains the appearance of unilamellar vesicles. After staining with sodium tungstate, the lipids form a network of multilayered lamellae with a periodicity of approximately 55 A. Phosphotungstic acid produces stacks of flattened vesicles with a period of approximately 115 A as well as broader multilamellar structures having a 55 A repeat. The stain-determined morphology is not markedly altered by sample concentration, incubation time, or temperature, or by the presence of tubulin.

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