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Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), the key enzyme of polyamine biosynthesis was highly purified from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus. The enzyme preparation showed a single band on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, a pH optimum of 7.5 and a temperature optimum at 60 degrees C. The native enzyme which is phosphorylated could, upon treatment with alkaline phosphatase, lose all activity. The inactive form could be reversibly activated by nucleotides in the order of NTP>NDP>NMP. When physiological polyamines were added to the purified enzyme in vitro, spermine or spermidine activated ODC by 140 or 40%, respectively, while putrescine caused a small inhibition. The basic amino acids lysine and arginine were competitive inhibitors of ODC, while histidine did not affect the enzyme activity. Among the phosphoamino acids tested, phosphoserine was the most effective activator of purified ODC. Polyamines added at high concentration to the medium resulted in a delay or in a complete inhibition of the growth of T. thermophilus, and in a decrease of the specific activity of ornithine decarboxylase. The decrease of ODC activity resulted from the appearance of a non-competitive inhibitor of ODC, the antizyme (Az). The T. thermophilus antizyme was purified by an ODC-Sepharose affinity column chromatography, as well as by immunoprecipitation using antibodies raised against the E. coli antizyme. The antizyme of E. coli inhibited the ODC of T. thermophilus, and vice versa. The fragment of amino acids 56-292 of the E. coli antizyme, produced as a fusion protein of glutathione S-transferase, did not inhibit the ODC of E. coli or T. thermophilus.

A protein kinase which phosphorylates in vitro the biosynthetic ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) was partially purified from Escherichia coli. In vivo phosphorylation of ODC occurs after incubation of E. coli with [32P]orthophosphate. When the recombinant ODC was incubated with calf intestine alkaline phosphatase it was inactivated and this inactive ODC could be reversibly activated allosterically only by guanyl or uracyl phosphate analogues at a concentration of 10(-4) or 10(-3) M. The pH optimum of the [8-3H]GTP binding was determined and it was shown that the GTP binding is proportional to the amount of ODC. The [8-3H]GTP binds specifically to ODC as was proved by the addition of cold GTP or ATP. High concentration of GTP can dissociate the ODC-antizyme complex and either reactivate or liberate the ODC. Therefore, a working hypothesis is suggested describing the regulation of ODC by phosphorylation-dephosphorylation reaction or by antizyme and nucleotide analogues interaction.

ODC was purified to homogeneity from E. coli K12 MG1655 strain transformed with a pBR322 plasmid carrying the ODC gene. This preparation was homogeneous as it was analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. From this preparation the amino-terminal sequence analysis was obtained. The native ODC of E. coli is activated by ATP, GTP, CTP and UTP at 10(-3) M concentration to around 170-300%. Our results indicate that the recombinant ODC is activated only by GTP and UTP at 10(-3) M 370% and 300%, respectively. When the recombinant ODC was incubated with calf intestine alkaline phosphatase, this inactive ODC can be reversibly activated allosterically only by GTP or UTP at a concentration of 10(-6) or 10(-5) M. That GTP or UTP can allosterically convert the inactive form of ODC to an active form suggests that these analogues may be the in vivo physiological regulators of ODC.

In Escherichia coli, the biosynthetic ornithine and arginine decarboxylases (EC 4.1.1.17 and 4.1.1.19, respectively) are responsible for the biosynthesis of polyamines from ornithine and arginine, respectively. When E. coli cells are grown in the presence of increasing amounts of polyamines, a progressive increase in the amount of antizyme 1 and antizyme 2 occurs. The amino acid compositions of antizymes 1 and 2 show them to be basic proteins; antizyme 1 has an amino acid composition similar to that of the E. coli histone-like protein HU and of the eukaryotic histone H2B; antizyme 2 is characterized by an unusually high arginine content. We find these proteins to be specific inhibitors of both the biosynthetic ornithine decarboxylase and the biosynthetic arginine decarboxylase. They do not inhibit the corresponding biodegradative ornithine and arginine decarboxylases, nor do they inhibit lysine decarboxylase or S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase. These properties of the antizymes favor their function in the regulation of polyamine biosynthesis in E. coli. The ability of the purified antizymes to inhibit the ornithine and arginine decarboxylases is stabilized in acidic buffers and is lost upon prolonged exposure to solutions at neutral or basic pH.

Two effectors of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC; L-ornithine carboxy-lyase, EC 4.1.1.17) have been extracted from an ODC- (speC-) mutant, Escherichia coli MA 255. One of these is an ODC inhibitor (Mr 15,000 +/- 2000) that is labile to trypsin; its activity increases 20-fold in response to increased polyamine levels in the growth medium. It has additional characteristics similar to those of the ODC antizyme of eukaryote cells: it is a noncompetitive inhibitor of ODC; the complex formed between ODC and the ODC inhibitor can be dissociated with salt to provide active ODC and active ODC inhibitor; furthermore, this E. coli ODC inhibitor is inhibitory to eukaryote ODC. A thermostable nondialyzable factor that activates ODC in vitro has also been extracted from MA255; increased polyamine levels in the growth medium caused a 1.6-fold increase in the activity of this ODC activator. Effectors with comparable activities have also been identified in the parent ODC+ (speC+) strain MA197. The fluctuations of the intracellular levels of these two ODC effectors during the growth of E. coli MA255 have been related to the temporal changes of the activity of ODC in the parent ODC+ MA197 strain. The mode of interaction of these three macromolecules, as reflected in the changes of the activity of ODC, appears to be complex. The results suggest that ODC activity may be controlled post-translationally by macromolecules that act as positive and negative effectors and whose levels fluctuate in response to the concentration of the end products of the reaction.

Agents such as dimethylsulfoxide, N,N'-dimethylformamide and bisacetyldiaminopentane that induce erythroid differentiation of Friend leukemia cells, cause a rapid increase in ornithine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.17) activity in intact cells during the 'latent' period preceding the accumulation of hemoglobin-containing cells. Blockage of erythroid differentiation with 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine did not prevent these alterations in enzyme activity. Addition of each chemical inducer in the extracts of these cells stimulate the basal levels of ornithine decarboxylase activity. These data indicate that the chemical inducers of differentiation modify the normal pattern of ornithine decarboxylase activity in this system.

Evidence is provided from Escherichia coli, from mammalian cells as well as from germinating barley seeds that there exist positive and negative macromolecular effectors of ODC (ornithine decarboxylase) that modify its activity. These effectors interact with ODC either by forming inactive complexes or by lowering its KmORN resulting in the activation of ODC. These facts, in addition to other evidence presented, argue for the existence of an equilibrium between: (Formula: see text) Such an equilibrium would result in the modulation of ODC activity independently of the net synthesis or degradation of ODC molecules.

A protein kinase and an acidic phosphoprotein phosphatase were purified from Tetrahymena pyriformis which phosphorylate and dephosphorylate the purified ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) of this microorganism. The protein kinase and the phosphoprotein phosphatase are copurified with ODC and can be separated in three distinct peaks only by a hydrophobic column of phenyl-Sepharose. The purified kinase is not dependent on cAMP, requires Mg2+ for its catalytic activity and has a molecule mass of 45 kDa. Incubation of [32P]ODC with the purified phosphoprotein phosphatase results in a complete loss of 32P and its catalytic activity. Phosphorylation of the inactive phosphatase-treated ODC by endogenous kinase or rat liver casein kinase-2 results in 100 or 40% reactivation of the initial untreated ODC activity, respectively.

The activity of the enzyme ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) is increased in confluent culture of two breast cancer cell lines (T47D and MCF-7) following a change of medium. The increase in activity is maximum at 12 hours and this level is reduced in cells treated with high concentrations of HuIFN-alpha. However, the increased level of ODC activity seen in the first few hours after medium change can be stimulated by low concentrations of interferon (10-100 units per ml). The activity of the acidic and alkaline phosphatase of the above cell lines are affected by HuIFN-alpha similar to ODC. In stimulating levels of ODC and phosphatases, interferon is acting similar to mitogens, and in T47D and MCF-7 cells this stimulatory effect precedes the inhibitory effect more commonly seen in interferon-treated cells.

In Tetrahymena pyriformis, ornithine decarboxylase (L-ornithine carboxy-lyase, EC 4.1.1.17) activities are present in the cytosolic and nuclear fractions and reach maximal values in the middle and late log phases of growth, respectively. The two activities have been purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation (20-45%), anion-exchange chromatography (DEAE-Bio-Gel A), gel-filtration (Sephadex G-150 and Sephadex G-100 superfine) and hydrophobic chromatography (Phenyl-Sepharose). Both the crude and the purified enzyme preparations are inactivated irreversibly by alpha-difluoromethylornithine, a suicide inhibitor of mammalian ornithine decarboxylase. The enzyme preparations from the nucleus and cytosol each showed a single band on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under native and denaturing conditions and on acrylamide gel electrofocusing. Both activities show the same pH optima (8.6) isoelectric point (5.3), molecular weight (64 000) and Kmorn (4.7 microM). The Km for L-lysine is 0.5 mM. The two activities also cross-react with acidic antizyme extracted from E. coli mutant MA 255. Based on the physicochemical properties, one can safely conclude that cytosolic and nuclear activities reside on the same protein molecule.

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) of Thermus thermophilus is associated with the nucleoid protein fraction. Analysis of this fraction by agarose gel electrophoresis and immunostaining revealed that ODC was bound to two groups of RNA-protein complexes. These two complexes of 1.5 and 0.6 kb in size disappeared from the gel by RNase A treatment or migrated to small molecular weight complexes by proteinase K treatment. Phenol extraction of either the nucleoid fraction or the eluted RNA-protein complexes from the agarose gel, shows that both contain the 0.56kb RNA. Both RNA-protein complexes contain the ODC protein (55 kDa) but their protein composition differs in at least six proteins. Extraction of the nucleoid fraction with H2SO4, indicates that ODC was present in the acid-soluble fraction, showing that it is a non-histone protein tightly bound to 0.56kb RNA. The purified ODC by various columns (∼140-fold), is close to homogeneity and still carries the 0.56kb RNA further explaining all the difficulties in the purification of this enzyme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]