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Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capricolum is both a pathogen of small ruminants and a model recipient organism for gene transplantation and synthetic biology. With the availability of the complete genome of the type strain California kid (released in 2005), a draft genome of strain GM508D was determined to investigate genomic variation in this subspecies. Differences in mobile genetic element location and complement, catabolic pathway genes, contingency loci, surface antigen genes and type II restriction-modification systems highlight the plasticity and diversity within this taxon., (© FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

There are clinical and experimental situations in which symptoms of mineralocorticoid excess are remediable with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist treatment, in spite of paradoxically low levels of plasma renin and aldosterone. Several decades ago, a factor isolated from the heart was described that had mineralocorticoid properties like those of aldosterone, but much more potent. It was thought to be similar to aldosterone-18-monoacetate or -21-monoacetate, acetyl derivatives of aldosterone that are very rapidly hydrolyzed in the circulation. In our efforts to confirm and extend these observations, we extracted rat hearts and plasma harvested in a manner that would minimize hydrolysis. The product was subjected to several forms of TLC and HPLC and compared to several acetylated derivatives of aldosterone standards. We found that 68% of the aldosterone extracted from fresh myocardium corresponded to an aldosterone derivative that migrates at the same rate as aldosterone-20-monoacetate. The identity of this compound awaits definitive analysis. Tritiated aldosterone-21-monoacetate hydrolyzed to form aldosterone very rapidly; negligible monoacetate remained in blood left at 37 degrees C for 5 min or in hearts left at room temperature for 30 min. Regulation of aldosterone production serves the requirements of fluid and electrolyte homeostasis provided by transport epithelia, primarily that of the kidney. Nonepithelial actions of aldosterone would be freed of these regulatory constraints if the formation of a more potent derivative of the parent compound to which it is almost immediately hydrolyzed in the circulation were regulated within the nonepithelial target tissues.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) for enzymes involved in adrenal steroid biosynthesis are expressed in the brain, and the coded enzymes have been shown to be active. The expression of mRNA for the cytochrome P-450 enzyme aldosterone synthase, crucial for the final step in the synthesis of aldosterone and the synthesis of aldosterone was studied in several anatomic areas of the rat brain. Expression of the mRNA for the aldosterone synthase was demonstrated by RT-PCR/Southern blot in adrenal, aorta, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, cerebrum, and cerebellum. Incubation of brain minces from intact and adrenalectomized rats demonstrated the synthesis of corticosterone and aldosterone from endogenous precursors. Incubations of brain minces with [1,2(3)H]-deoxycorticosterone, followed by extraction and three different successive TLCs, demonstrated the presence of labeled aldosterone, corticosterone, and 18-hydroxy-deoxycorticosterone. Incubation, in the presence of 10 microM cortisol or metyrapone, inhibited the synthesis of aldosterone or both aldosterone and corticosterone, respectively. These studies indicate that the rat brain has the enzymatic machinery for the synthesis of adrenal corticosteroids and is capable of synthesizing aldosterone. Aldosterone synthesized in the brain might play a paracrine role in the regulation of blood pressure.

The 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11 beta HSD-2) enzyme is thought to confer aldosterone specificity upon mineralocorticoid target tissues by protecting the mineralocorticoid receptor from binding by the more abundant glucocorticoids, corticosterone and cortisol. We have developed a Chinese hamster ovary cell line stably transfected with a plasmid containing the rat 11 beta HSD-2 complementary DNA. This cell line has expressed the enzyme consistently for many generations. The 11 beta HSD-2 was located primarily in the microsomes, but significant amounts also existed in the nuclei and mitochondria. The enzymatic reaction was unidirectional, oxidative, and inhibited by the product, 11-dehydrocorticosterone, with an IC50 of approximately 200 nM. The K(m) for corticosterone was 9.6 +/- 3.1 nM, and that for NAD+ was approximately 8 microM. The enzyme did not convert dexamethasone to 11-dehydrodexamethasone. Tunicamycin, an N-glycosylation inhibitor, had no effect on enzyme activity. 11 alpha-Hydroxyprogesterone (11 alpha OH-P) was an order of magnitude more potent a competitive inhibitor of the 11 beta HSD-2 than was glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) (approximate IC50 = 0.9 vs. 15 nM). 11 beta OH-P, progesterone, and GA were almost equipotent (IC50 = 10 and 6 nM, respectively), and 5 alpha-pregnandione and 5 beta-pregnandione were less potent (IC50 = 100 and 500 nM, respectively) inhibitors of the enzyme. When the inhibitory activities were examined with intact transfected cells, 11 alpha OH-P was more potent than GA (IC50 = 5 and 150 nM, respectively). 11 alpha OH-P was not metabolized by 11 beta HSD-2. We were unable to demonstrate the presence of 11 alpha OH-P in human urine. In conclusion, a cell line stably transfected with the rat 11 beta HSD-2 was created, and the enzyme kinetics, including inhibition, were characterized. 11 alpha OH-P was found to be a potent relatively specific inhibitor of the 11 beta HSD-2 enzyme. Its potential importance is that it is the most specific inhibitor of the 11 beta HSD-2 so far encountered and would aid in the study of the physiological importance of the isoenzyme.

The evidence is very strong for a circulating inhibitor of the sodium, potassium ATPase in volume-expanded hypertension. Recently, this inhibitor was isolated from human plasma and identified as ouabain. We are reporting our results using a very specific and sensitive immunoassay for ouabain with which we were unable to detect or able to detect only very low levels of circulating immunoreactive ouabain. Immunoassay of 5 mL of human and rat plasma, incubation fluid from bovine and human adrenal cell cultures extracted using a C-18 solid phase column, and HPLC separation did not detect a peak corresponding to ouabain. This procedure could easily detect authentic ouabain added to these extracts at a concentration slightly below that reported to be present by others. The extract from the adrenal cultures had clearly detectable sodium, potassium ATPase using an assay based on inhibition of tritiated ouabain binding to human red cells. Extraction of bovine adrenals detected a very small amount of immunoassayable ouabain which did not elute at a time corresponding to that of ouabain. This study indicates that the postulated sodium, potassium ATPase inhibitor that circulates in plasma is not ouabain, but it is likely to be structurally similar to ouabain, as it appears to cross-react with some antibodies against ouabain.

The urinary excretion of 18-hydroxycortisol was recently reported to be increased in patients with primary aldosteronism who have an adrenal adenoma and in those with glucocorticoid-suppressible aldosteronism. A direct RIA for 18-hydroxycortisol in urine and plasma has been described, and we here report our experience using a similar direct RIA and a more elaborate RIA which includes a preliminary high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) purification step. The urinary excretion of 18-hydroxycortisol was compared with that of other adrencorticoids. The urinary excretion of 18-hydroxycortisol in 37 normal subjects using the direct RIA was 112 +/- 49 (+/- SD) microgram/24 h, and that with the HPLC-RIA method was 63 +/- 36 micrograms/24 h. The accuracy and specificity of the HPLC-RIA assay method were confirmed by measuring the steroid after the HPLC step as the glycolic acid ester derivative. The urinary excretion of 18-hydroxycortisol correlated with that of cortisol (r = 0.36; P less than 0.01), 18-oxocortisol (r = 0.42; P less than 0.01), and 19-nordeoxycortisosterone (r = 0.71; P less than 0.001), but did not correlate with the excretion of aldosterone 18-oxoglucuronide (r = 0.25; P = 0.15942). Dexamethasone administration to five normal subjects significantly decreased 18-hydroxycortisol excretion from 81 +/- 47 to 23 +/- 8 micrograms/24 h. ACTH infusion in these subjects receiving dexamethasone significantly raised 18-hydroxycortisol excretion to 147 +/- 37 micrograms/24 h. Five days of a sodium-restricted diet (10 mmoles/day) resulted in a significant (P less than 0.02) increase in 18-hydroxycortisol excretion, but two of eight subjects had decreased excretion, although urinary aldosterone excretion increased, as expected. These studies demonstrate that the direct RIA significantly overestimates urinary 18-hydroxycortisol excretion. These studies also demonstrate that the major factor resulting 18-hydroxycortisol excretion is ACTH. However, since 18-hydroxycortisol excretion may increase during sodium depletion, angiotensin or other factors may also regulate its secretion.

It has been recently demonstrated that cortisol can be metabolized, producing 18-hydroxycortisol and 18-oxocortisol, following the same pathway by which corticosterone is transformed into 18-hydroxycorticosterone and aldosterone. The influence of a hydroxy group in the 17 alpha position of aldosterone or an aldehyde (actually 11-18 hemiacetal) in the 13-methyl of cortisol on the mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid activities were studied and compared with the parent steroids. The ability of 18-oxocortisol to complete with [3H]aldosterone for binding to the cytosol receptor of rat renal slices was 8.1% in comparison to unlabeled aldosterone. The addition of a specific glucocorticoid 11 beta, 17 beta-dihydroxy-17 alpha-pregnane-1,4,6- trien-20-yn-21-methyl-3-one decreased this binding to 5.6%. The ability of 18-oxocortisol to compete with [3H]dexamethasone for binding to the renal cytosol receptor was 0.2% that of unlabeled dexamethasone and in the HTC whole cell assay was 1.06% and 3.8% that of unlabeled dexamethasone and cortisol, respectively. The mineralocorticoid activity of 18-oxocortisol in the adrenalectomized rat bioassay was 0.6% that of aldosterone. The glucocorticoid activity in in vitro bioassays was 3.1% compared with that of a cortisol when the induction of tyrosine aminotransferase in HTC cells was measured and 4% when the inhibition of fibroblast L-929 growth was measured. The significance of 18-oxocortisol in the pathogenesis of the hypertension in patients with primary aldosteronism is still unclear.