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Centrin, an EF-hand calcium-binding protein with high homology to calmodulin (CaM), is an essential component of microtubule-organizing center (MTOC). Lanthanide (Ln) ions can improve the stability, increase the amount and enhance the orderliness of microtubules, which are components of cytoskeleton. In order to investigate the structural basis of Ln ions on enhancing orderliness of microtubules, we characterized the binding properties of Ln ions with the isolated C-terminal domain of the Euplotes centrin (C-EoCen). Results suggested that Ln ions may occupy the canonical Ca(2+) binding sites on C-EoCen with middle affinity. Near- and far-UV CD spectra of C-EoCen displayed pronounced differences before and after additing Ln ions. The asymmetry of microenvironments of Phe on C-EoCen was changed. Using 2-p-toluidinylnaphthalene-6- sulfonate (TNS) as probe, Ln ions induced C-EoCen to undergo conformational changes from closed state to open state, resulting in exposing hydrophobic patches to external environments. Ln ions have more obvious effect on the conformation of centrin than Ca(2+). The differences found in the interactions of centrin binding with Ln ions/Ca(2+) maybe provide some insights for structural basis of centrin functions in vivo.

The C domain of eRF1 interacts with the C domain of eRF3, and the binding of both factors is essential for fast kinetics of the termination of protein translation. Analysis by computational simulation demonstrated that several peptides involved in Eo-eRF1/Eo-eRF3 interaction directly. Among these peptides, the two motifs GVEDT and GFGG were highly conserved, while the fragment aa338-346 of Eo-eRF1a/b was variable. In additional, I290 and D293 of Eo-eRF1 were also highly conserved. By the site-directed mutagenesis and pull-down analysis, the amino acid D293 in Eo-eRF1bC domain was conformed playing an important role in eRF1-eRF3 interaction. Eo-eRF1a and Eo-eRF1b may select different manners to interact with Eo-eRF3. These studies contribute to the better understanding the mode of eRF1-eRF3 interaction.

Ciliate Euplotes octocarinatus centrin (EoCen) is a member of the EF-hand superfamily of calcium-binding proteins. It has been proven, using Tb3+ as a fluorescence probe, that EoCen has four calcium-binding sites. The sensitized emission arises from nonradiative energy transfer between the three tyrosine residues (Tyr46, Tyr72, and Tyr79) of the N-terminal half and the bound Tb3+ ions. To determine the most critical of the three tyrosine residues for the process of fluorescence resonance energy transfer, six mutants of the N-terminal domain of EoCen, which contain one (N-Tyr46/N-Tyr72/N-Tyr79) or two (N-Y46F/N-Y72F/N-Y79F) tyrosine residues, were obtained by site-directed mutagenesis. The aromatic residue-sensitized Tb3+ fluorescence of N-Y79F was most affected, displaying a 50% reduction compared with wild-type N-EoCen. Among the tyrosines, Tyr79 is the shortest mean distance from the protein-bound Tb3+ (at sites I/II), as calculated via the Förster mechanism. The steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence parameters of the wild-type N-EoCen and the three double mutants suggest that Tyr79, which exists in a hydrophobic environment, has the highest quantum yield and a relatively long average lifetime. The decay of Tyr79 is the least heterogeneous among the three tyrosine residues. In addition, molecular modeling shows that a critical hydrogen bond is formed between the 4-hydroxyl group of Tyr79 and the oxygen from the side chains of the residue Asn39. Kinetic experiments on tyrosine and Tb3+ fluorescence demonstrate that tyrosine fluorescence quenching is largely due to the self-assembly of EoCen, and that the quenching degrees of the mutants differ. Resonance light scattering and crosslinking analysis carried out on the full-length single mutants (Y46F, Y72F, and Y79F) showed that Tyr79 also plays the most important role in the Tb3+-dependent self-assembly of EoCen among the three tyrosines.

Ciliate Euplotes octocarinatus centrin (EoCen) is a member of the EF-hand superfamily of calcium-binding proteins, which often associated with the centrosomes and basal bodies. To explore the possible structural role of EoCen, we initiated a physicochemical study of the self-assembly properties of the purified protein in vitro. The native PAGE results indicate that only the integral protein shows multimers in the presence of Lu(3+). The dependence of Lu(3+) induced self-assembly of EoCen on various chemical and physical factors, including temperature, protein concentration, ionic strength and pH, was characterized using resonance light scattering (RLS). Control experiments with different metal ions suggest that Ca(2+) and Lu(3+) bindings to the N-terminal domain of EoCen are all positive to the self-assembly of the protein, and Lu(3+) exhibits the stronger effect, however, Mg(2+) alone cannot take the same effect. The experiments of 2-ptoluidinylnaphthalene-6-sulfonate (TNS) binding and ionic strength demonstrate that the lutetium(III)-dependent self-assembly is closely related to the exposure of hydrophobic cavity. Control experiment on pH value with EoCen and the fragments of it, N-terminal domain of EoCen (N-EoCen), indicates that the electrostatic effect is of small tendency to be served as the main driving force in the self-assembly of EoCen. The specific oligomerization form of the protein was exhibited by cross-linking experiment.

In 10 mM N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N-2-ethanesulfonic acid (Hepes), pH 7.4, 25 degrees C, the conformational change of the truncated form of ciliate Euplotes Octocarinatus centrin (P23) induced by metal ions were investigated using 2-p-toluidinylnaphthalene-6-sulfonate (TNS) as a probe. The results show that upon metal ions binding, P23 undergo a conformational change and the contributions to the conformational change from the two EF-hands are different, and Tb3+ has more larger influence than Ca2+ with the same concentration metal ions, which provide possible the evidence that the different EF-hands play distinct biological functions. Meanwhile, the conditional binding constants of TNS and Ca2-loaded or Tb2-loaded P23 were obtained, K (Ca2-P23+TNS)=(7.49+/-0.88)x10(5) mol-1 L, K (Tb2-P23+TNS)=(8.24+/-0.49)x10(5) mol-1 L.

The expansion of trinucleotide repeats in genome is related to the phthogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases. A GARP (glutamic acid-rich protein) gene was isolated from the macronuclear plasmid mini library of Euplotes octocarinatus. A micronuclear version of the GARP gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction. The macronuclear DNA molecule carrying the GARP gene is 460 bp long and shows the characteristics of macronuclear chromosomes of hypotrichous ciliates. One of the three cysteines is encoded by the opal codon TGA(88-90). The predicted open reading frame encodes a 112-amino acid polypeptide, with a predicted molecular mass of 13 kDa and an isoelectric point of 3.82. Micronuclear version of the GARP gene contains two internal eliminated sequences (IES), IES1 and IES2. IES1 is 41 bp long and is flanked by 5'-GA-3' direct repeats. IES2 is 41 bp long and flanked by 5'-TA-3' direct repeats. Transcriptional activity of GARP gene was confirmed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Translation termination in eukaryotes is mediated by two polypeptide chain-release factors, eRF1 and eRF3. eRF1 recognizes stop signals, while eRF3 is a ribosome-dependent and eRF1-dependent GTPase. eRF1 forms a stable complex with eRF3 in vivo and in vitro. In the present study, a variety of truncated forms of Euplotes octocarinatus eRF3 were created, and systematic analysis of the interaction between E. octocarinatus eRF1a and these eRF3 mutants was performed by employing both in vivo a yeast two-hybrid assay and in vitro a pull-down assay. The results demonstrated that a short portion of the C-terminal domain of eRF3 is sufficient for eRF1a binding in E. octocarinatus. Specifically, the eRF1a-binding sites on eRF3 are located at a region containing amino acid residues 640-723 in E. octocarinatus eRF3. Amino acid sequence analysis of eRF3 from E. octocarinatus, humans and yeast showed that the eRF1a binding domain on E. octocarinatus eRF3 was similar to that of yeast eRF3 but different from that of human eRF3.

The polypeptide release factor gene, eRF1, of Blepharisma japonicum (Bj-eRF1) was cloned and sequenced. Its coding region was 1314 base pairs and encodes a protein of 437 amino acids. The cloned gene was expressed in Escherichia coli and the recombinant Bj-eRF1 polypeptide was purified by Ni2+-nitrilotriacetic acid agarose and Superose12 chromatography. Pull-down analysis showed that the recombinant Bj-eRF1 interacts with the heterologously-expressed release factor, eRF3C, of Euplotes octocarinatus.