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The role of subunit III in the function of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase is not clearly understood. Previous work has shown that chemical modification of subunit III with N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD) reduced the proton-pumping efficiency of the enzyme by an unknown mechanism. In the current work, we have employed biochemical approaches to determine if a conformational change is occurring within subunit III after DCCD modification. Control and DCCD modified beef heart enzyme were subjected to limited proteolysis in nondenaturing detergent solution. Subunit III in DCCD treated enzyme was more susceptible to chymotrypsin digestion than subunit III in the control enzyme. We also labeled control and DCCD-modified enzyme with iodoacetyl-biotin, a sulfhydryl reagent, and found that subunit III of the DCCD-modified enzyme was more reactive when compared to subunit III of the control enzyme, indicating an increase in reactivity of subunit III upon DCCD binding. The cross linking of subunit III of the enzyme induced by the heterobifunctional reagent, N-succinimidyl(4-azidophenyl -1,3'-dithio)-propionate (SADP), was inhibited by DCCD modification, suggesting that DCCD binding prevents the intersubunit cross linking of subunit III. Our results suggest that DCCD modification of subunit III causes a conformational change, which most likely disrupts critical hydrogen bonds within the subunit and also those at the interface between subunits III and I in the enzyme. The conformational change induced in subunit III by covalent DCCD binding is the most likely mechanism for the previously observed inhibition of proton-pumping activity.

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The activity of the insulin-degrading enzyme neutral cysteine proteinase (EC 3.4.22.11, insulinase) was studied in adipose tissue and in liver of nondiabetic, streptozotocin-diabetic, and insulin-treated diabetic rats. Proteinase activity was found to be significantly decreased during diabetes and was restored to near normal levels in both tissues following insulin treatment. The insulin-mediated increase of proteinase activity in both tissues was partially or completely blocked by actinomycin D (an inhibitor of RNA synthesis) and by cyclohexamide (an inhibitor of protein synthesis). Kinetic analysis showed that the changes in proteinase activity of both liver and adipose tissues were accompanied by a change in Vmax (i.e., maximal enzyme activity) without a change in Km (i.e., substrate affinity). These data indicate that insulin functions as an inducer for neutral cysteine proteinase in both tissues. These alterations in the proteinase activity paralleled the alterations in the activity of a second insulin-degrading enzyme, glutathione-insulin transhydrogenase in adipose tissue (this paper) and in liver (previously published papers) under the same physiological conditions.

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Previous studies have shown that neutral thiopeptidase (E.C.3.4.22.11, insulinase) degrades (processes) insulin with a high affinity (Km = 30 X 10(-9) M). In the current studies, insulin was subjected to digestion with a highly purified rat liver neutral thiopeptidase and the peptides generated were separated by HPLC using a C8 column. With the use of structural analysis (which included the determination of amino terminal residues and amino acid composition), the major product was identified as a peptide containing portions of both chains of insulin, A1 to A13 and B1 to B9 having two disulfide bonds, an interchain disulfide bond and presumably the intra-A chain disulfide bond as well. Examination of insulin-like biological activity using a primary cultured hepatocyte test system showed that the fragment promoted neither short-term (alpha-aminoisobutyric acid uptake) nor long-term (glycogen synthesis) bioactivities of insulin.

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A thiol peptidase that catalyzes at near neutral pH the hydrolysis of insulin, the isolated A and B chains of insulin, and glucagon was purified from rat liver cytosol by fractionation on Sephadex G-200, Affi-Gel Blue, and Spherogel TSK-G 3000 SW. The purified enzyme showed a single component by chromatography on a Spherogel TSK column and by gel filtration on a Sephadex G-200 column. The native enzyme has a molecular weight of approximately 180,000 and consists of two subunits having pI's of 5.9 and 6.3. Studies on its substrate specificity showed that the purified enzyme degrades glucagon, insulin, insulin B chain, and insulin A chain, but it does not degrade proinsulin, ACTH, or denatured hemoglobin. Kinetic analyses were performed on three substrates. The Km values were: 34 nM for insulin, 276 nM for insulin B chain, and 3.5 microM for glucagon. The kcat and Vm/Km values were glucagon greater than B chain greater than insulin. Thus, the enzyme has the highest affinity/lowest efficiency for insulin, an intermediate affinity/intermediate efficiency for B chain of insulin and the lowest affinity/highest efficiency for glucagon. The effect of several potential activators and inhibitors on the enzyme's activity was investigated. The enzyme activity was markedly inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide, p-chloromercuribenzoic acid, iodoacetamide, and Np-tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone (TPCK), and was partially inhibited by dithiothreitol, by the chelating agents EDTA and EGTA, and by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF). Bacitracin inhibited the activity of the enzyme, but the protease inhibitors aprotinin, leupeptin, pepstatin, and phosphoramidon had little or no effect. Reduced glutathione, iodoacetate, and N alpha,p-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone (TLCK) also had little or no effect on the enzyme activity.

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Previous studies have shown that a neutral metallo-endopeptidase purified from rat kidney degrades the B chain of insulin, glucagon, ACTH and, at a markedly slower rate, the A chain of insulin. In contrast the enzyme does not attack native insulin, oxytocin, vasopressin, ribonuclease, albumin or denatured hemoglobin. The current studies demonstrate that the neutral peptidase also degrades the isolated C-peptide of proinsulin and cleaves certain peptide bonds in and near the C-peptide moiety of native proinsulin. Time courses of the formation of fluorescamine-reactive material during digestion of proinsulin and isolated C-peptide with the peptidase were identical. However, structural analysis of the peptidase-digested proinsulin showed that the enzyme does not convert proinsulin to insulin but that the peptidase cleaves one bond, Tyr26-Thr27, in the B chain moiety and five bonds in the C-peptide moiety, producing four split proinsulins. One of the split proinsulins is des-octacosa-peptide (27-54) porcine proinsulin or des-tetracosapeptide (27-50) bovine proinsulin. Each is a derivative of the insulin molecule having an extension of nine residues (ten residues in the case of the derivative from bovine proinsulin) at the N-terminus of A chain and lacking four residues at the C-terminus of B chain. This two chain derivative retains full immunoreactivity with insulin antibodies and exhibits 2.4-times more biological activity (promotion of glycogenesis in primary cultured hepatocytes) than proinsulin and about two-thirds the activity of insulin.

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Insulin was incubated with rat liver homogenate in the presence of glutathione. The products formed were examined by chromatography on a Sephadex G-75 column, with 50% acetic acid as eluent. The results show that insulin is degraded by rat liver homogenates in sequential order: first, a splitting of insulin into A and B chains by glutathione-insulin transhydrogenase, followed by proteolysis of the resulting polypeptides to small molecular weight components.

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