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The arginine and lysine residues of calf thymus histone H1 were modified with large molar excesses of 2,3-butanedione and O-methylisourea, respectively. Kinetic study of the modification reaction of the arginine residue revealed that the reaction is divided into the two pseudo-first-order processes. About a third (1 Arg) of the total arginine residues of the H1 molecule was rapidly modified without causing any detectable structural change of the molecule, and the slow modification of the remaining arginine residues (2 Arg) led to a loss of the folded structure of H1. In the case of lysine residue modification, 93% (56 Lys) of the total lysine residues of the H1 was modified with the same rate constant, while 7% (4 Lys) of lysine residue remained unmodified. When the reaction was performed in the presence of 6M guanidine-HCl, all of lysine residues were modified. It is concluded that the 2 arginine and 4 lysine residues resistant to modification are buried in interior regions of the H1 molecule and play an important role in the formation of the H1 globular structure, while the other 1 arginine and 56 lysine residues are exposed to solvent.

We have identified two distinctive regions of the repetitive unit nucleotide sequence of fibroin mRNA of Bombyx mori. The codon usage for the major amino acids, glycine, alanine and serine is distinctly different in these two regions, indicating that it is determined by the fibroin mRNA or gene structure but not by the tRNA population. Comparative computer analyses of nucleotide substitutions in the unit sequence suggest that selection has operated on the codon usage to optimize the secondary structure characteristic of the fibroin mRNA.

The interaction between DNA and ionen polymers, -[N+(CH3)2(CH2)mN+(CH3)2(CH2)n], with m-n of 3–3, 6–6, and 6–10 were examined in order to know how the binding behavior of cationic polymers with DNA depends on the charge density of polycation. The ionen polymer has no bulky side chain and the binding forces with DNA would be attributed mainly to electrostatic interaction. When 3–3 ionen polymers were added to DNA solution, precipitable complexes with the ratio of cationic residue to DNA phosphate (+/−) of 1/1 and the free DNA molecules were segregated, while 6–6 and 6–10 ionen polymers formed soluble complexes with DNA molecules up to (+/−) = 0.5. This suggests that 3–3 ionen polymers bind cooperatively with DNA while 6–6 and 6–10 ionen polymers bind noncooperatively. The cooperative binding of 3–3 ionen polymer and the noncooperative binding of 6–6 ionen polymer were also supported by the thermal melting and recooling profiles from the midpoint between first and second meltings. It was concluded that the charge density of DNA phosphate is a critical value determining whether the ionen polymers bind to DNA by a cooperative or by a noncooperative binding, since the distance between successive cationic charges of 3–3 ionen polymer is shorter than that between successive phosphate charges on DNA double helix and those of 6–6 and 6–10 ionen polymers are longer.

The posterior silk glands of Bombyx mori are highly differentiated to produce fibroin, the specific cocoon protein. We have now succeeded in isolating the nuclei from the posterior silk gland cells, and a giant arborescent nucleus with a strikingly complicated morphology was observed. Biochemical analysis of the composition of the nuclei confirmed the existence of the four core histones in equimolar quantities and H1 histone. The isolated nuclei obtained here might be prerequisite for the study of the structure of the giant polyploid nucleus and its relation to the tissue-specific fibroin gene expression.

The conformational transition of poly(L-agrignine) by binding with various mono-, di-, and polyvalent anions, especially with SO, was studied by CD measurements. The intramolecular random coil-to-α-helix conformational transition and the subsequent transition to the β-turn-like structure was caused by binding with SO. The binding data obtained from equilibrium dialysis experiments showed that the α-helical conformation of poly(L-arginine) is stabilized at a 1:3 stoichiometric ratio of bound SO to arginine residue; at higher free SO concentrations, the α-helix converts to the β-turn-like structure accompanied by a decrease in amount of bound SO. The same conformaitonal transition of poly(L-arginine) also occurred in the solutions of other divalent anions (SO, CO, and HPO) and polyvalent anions (P2O, P3O). Among the monovalent anions examined, CIO and dodecyl sulfate were effective in including α-helical conformation, while the other monovalent anions (OH−, Cl−, F−, H2PO, HCO and CIO) failed to induce poly(L-arginine) to assume the α-helical conformation. Thus, we noticed that, except for dodecyl sufate, the terahedral structure is common to the α-helix-forming anions. A well-defined model to the α-helical poly(L-arginine)/anion complex was proposed, in which both the binding stoichiometry of anions to the arginine residue and the tetrahedral structure of anions were taken into consideration. Based on these results, it was concluded that the tetrahedral-type anions stabilize the α-helical conformation of poly(L-arginine) by crosslinking between two guanidinium groups of nearby side chains on the same α-helix through the ringed structures stabilized by hydrogen bonds as well as by electrostatic interaction. Throughout the study it was noticed that the structural behavior of poly(L-arginine) toward anions is distinct from that of poly(L-lysine).

Poly(L-arginine) assumes the α-helix in the presence of the tetrahedral-type anions or some polyanions by forming the “ringed-structure bridge” between guanidinium groups and anions which is stabilized by a pair of hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interaction [Ichimura, S., Mita, K. & Zama, M. (1978) Biopolymers17, 2769–2782; Mita, K., Ichimura, S. & Zama, M. (1978) Biopolymers17, 2783–2798]. This paper describes the parallel CD studies on the conformational effects on poly (L-homoarginine) of various mono-, di-, polyvalent anions and some polyanions, as well as alcohol and sodium dodecylsulfate. The random coil to α-helix transition of poly(L-homoarginine) occurred only in NaClO4 solution or in the presence of high content of ethanol or methanol. The divalent and polyvalent anions of the tetrahedral type (SO, HPO, and P2O), which are strong α-helix-forming agents for poly(L-arginine), failed to induce the α-helical conformation of poly(L-homoarginine). By complexing with poly(L-glutamic acid) or with polyacrylate, which is also a strong α-helix-forming agent for poly(L-arginine), poly(L-homoarginine) only partially formed the α-helical conformation. Monovalent anions (OH−, Cl−, F−, and H2PO) did not change poly(L-homoarginine) to the α-helix, and in the range of pH 2–11, the polypeptide remained in an unordered conformation. In sodium dodecylsulfate, poly(L-homoarginine) exhibited the remarkably enlarged CD spectrum of an extended conformation, while poly(L-arginine) forms the α-helix by interacting with the agent. Thus poly(L-homoarginine), compared with poly(L-arginine), has a much lower ability to form the α-helical conformation by interacting with anions. The stronger hydrophobicity of homoarginine residue in comparison with the arginine residue would provide unfavorable conditions to maintain the α-helical conformation.

The structural behavior of the nucleosome core particles in the range of solvent Na+ concentration from 10.45 to 0.45 mM has been studied by small-angle neutron and synchroton radiation X-ray scattering, sedimentation, atomic absorption spectroscopy, density measurements, and circular dichroism. With decreasing salt concentration, the appearance of a scattering peak that is assignable to interparticle interactions, an intraparticle structural transition, a decrease in the sedimentation velocity of the particle, and a release of bound Na+ ions from the particle are all observed concurrently when the ratio of solvent Na+ ions per particle is below approximately 1000. These observations are interpreted to indicate that a release of bound Na+ ions from the particle brings about structural rearrangements and weakens the electrostatic shielding of the particle, and this introduces long-range repulsive ordering of the particle in low-salt solution. Analyses of the scattering data indicate that the rearrangement within the core particle in low-salt solution is slight, changing the particle's shape slightly from cylindrical to a more spherical form by moving the center of the mass of the DNA somewhat inward with accompanying small decreases in the radii of gyration of both the DNA and the histones.

Comparative studies on the conformational stability of histones H1 and H5 have been carried out by monitoring the pH-induced conformational transitions of the proteins by CD and 1H NMR spectroscopies. The transition point of H1 agrees with the pKa of the carboxyl groups of the acidic residues. In contrast, the transition of H5 is associated with the ionization of the histidine residues which exist exclusively in H5, as well as the deionization of the acidic residues. These observations, combined with the result of the deuterium exchange rates of the histidine C-2 protons, led us to conclude that His-25 and His-62, which are buried in the globular domain, play an important role in the conformational stability of histone H5.

Silk production has independently evolved in numerous arthropod lineages, such as Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Lepidopteran larvae (caterpillars) synthesize silk proteins in modified salivary glands and spin silk fibers into protective tunnels, escape lines, and pupation cocoons. Molecular sequence data for these proteins are necessary to determine critical features of their function and evolution. To this end, we constructed an expression library from the silk glands of the ghost moth, Hepialus californicus, and characterized light chain fibroin and heavy chain fibroin gene transcripts. The predicted H. californicus silk fibroins share many elements with other lepidopteran and trichopteran fibroins, such as conserved placements of cysteine, aromatic, and polar amino acid residues. Further comparative analyses were performed to determine site-specific signatures of selection and to assess whether fibroin genes are informative as phylogenetic markers. We found that purifying selection has constrained mutation within the fibroins and that light chain fibroin is a promising molecular marker. Thus, by characterizing the H. californicus fibroins, we identified key functional amino acids and gained insight into the evolutionary processes that have shaped these adaptive molecules.

Larvae of the sister orders Trichoptera and Lepidoptera are characterized by silk secretion from a pair of labial glands. In both orders the silk filament consists of heavy (H)- and light (L)-chain fibroins and in Lepidoptera it also includes a P25 glycoprotein. The L-fibroin and H-fibroin genes of Rhyacophila obliterata and Hydropsyche angustipennis caddisflies have exon/intron structuring (seven exons in L-fibroin and two in H-fibroin) similar to that in their counterparts in Lepidoptera. Fibroin cDNAs are also known in Limnephilus decipiens, representing the third caddisfly suborder. Amino acid sequences of deduced L-fibroin proteins and of the terminal H-fibroin regions are about 50% identical among the three caddisfly species but their similarity to lepidopteran fibroins is25%. Positions of some residues are conserved, including cysteines that were shown to link the L-fibroin and H-fibroin by a disulfide bridge in Lepidoptera. The long internal part of H-fibroins is composed of short motifs arranged in species-specific repeats. They are extremely uniform in R. obliterata. Motifs (SX)(n), GGX, and GPGXX occur in both Trichoptera and Lepidoptera. The trichopteran H-fibroins further contain charged amphiphilic motifs but lack the strings of alanines or alanine-glycine dipeptides that are typical lepidopteran motifs. On the other hand, sequences composed of a motif similar to ERIVAPTVITR surrounded by the (SX)(4-6) strings and modifications of the GRRGWGRRG motif occur in Trichoptera and not in Lepidoptera.

Nucleosome cores mixed with the high mobility group proteins, HMG1 and HMG2, in 2 M NaCl, 5 M urea, 0.2 mM EDTA and 10 mM Tris pH 7.0, have been reconstituted by salt gradient dialysis. The reconstituted material, in 10 mM Tris pH 7.0, had a sedimentation peak at the same position as that of control nucleosome cores in sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation. The SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the reconstituted nucleosome cores demonstrated that they contain H2B, H3, H4 and HMG2 and are selectively deficient in H2A. The circular dichroism of DNA of the reconstituted cores was indistinguishable from that of control nucleosome cores. The results suggest that HMG2 replaces H2A as a component of the nucleosome histone core during reconstitution.

The kinetic studies of chemical modifications of the lysine and arginine residues of the nucleosome core particle from chicken erythrocytes with large molar excesses of 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid and 2,3-butanedione, respectively, were performed over 20 mM-2.0 M NaCl. Each modification reaction was divided into the two, a rapid and an extremely slow, pseudo-first-order processes, and the numbers of the exposed and buried residues of the respective amino acids were determined. At very low ionic strength (20 mM boric buffer) all residues were inaccessible to the reagents. Between 0.3 and 0.6 M NaCl the basic amino acid residues in a nucleosome core particle were classified into the following three groups: (1) 42 arginine and 78 lysine residues in the N-terminal and C-terminal regions of the histones that are exposed to solvent, (2) a small number of arginine residues (approximately less than 14 Arg) that are strongly bound to the DNA phosphates, and (3) 48 arginine and 38 lysine residues buried in the globular region of the histone octamer. The results suggest that a small number of arginine residues play an essential role in the folding of DNA into a nucleosome core particle.

The nucleosome core binds more than two molecules of HMG17 at low ionic strength (8.9 mM Tris-HCl/8.9 mM boric acid/0.25 mM Na2EDTA, pH 8.3). Circular dichroism of the complexes showed only minor conformational changes of the nucleosome core DNA on binding of HMG17, with no detectable change in the histone secondary structure. The fluorescence of N-(3-pyrene) maleimide bound to -SH groups at Cys-110 of H3 histones in the core particle suggested that the structure of the histone octamer assembly changed little upon binding of HMG17 to the nucleosome. These observations support the idea that even a high level of HMG17 binding, e.g., four HMGs per nucleosome, alone, does not open up the core particle.

We have succeeded in growing Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast) on media containing 2H2O and isolating the core histones highly deuterated in the non-exchangeable positions. The deuterated histones obtained here are of great value for their possible widespread use for structural studies of chromatin.

Transference and conductance experiments have been carried out with aqueous solutions of tetra-alkylammonium polyacrylates [R4NPAA, R = methyl (Me), ethyl (Et), n-propyl (Pr) and n-butyl (Bu)] in the concentration range 0.005–0.1 mol dm–3 at 25 °C. The fraction of free gegenions (ƒ) was calculated, and it was found that (i)ƒ-values are between 0.4 and 1 and increase with increasing size of gegenion, (ii) the concentration dependence of the ƒ-values becomes great with increasing size of the gegenions, and (iii) the ƒ-concentration curves for Bu4NPAA and Pr4 NPAA have maxima. The ƒ-values of tetra-alkylammonium poly(styrene-sulphonate)(R4NPSt, R = Me and Bu) have also been measured for the concentration range 0.003–0.03 mol dm–3 at 25°C. The ƒ-values of Me4NPSt are larger than those of Bu4NPSt, in contrast with the R4NPAA case. For R4NPSt, non-electrostatic interactions between gegenions evidently become significant and lower the ƒ-values.

The sodium salts of partially sulphonated polystyrene (NaPSt) having different degrees of sulphonation (α) were obtained by reaction of polystyrene with chlorosulphonic acid in ethylene dichloride. Heats of dilution (ΔH) of aqueous solutions of NaPSt (α= 0.78 and 0.62) measured at 25°C became slightly smaller with decreasing α and did not agree with Manning's theory. The degrees of gegenion dissociation (ƒ) for NaPSt at 25°C measured by the transference and conductance method hardly changed with decreasing α. From these results, it may be concluded that the charge density of PSt ions did not change with decreasing α; PSt ions are believed not to become extended with sulphonation or ionization.

The heats of dilution (ΔH) of the hydrochlorides of polyethylenimine (PEI) and sodium polyphosphate (NaPP) and their low molecular weight analogues have been measured. Under the conditions employed, the ΔH values of the hydrochlorides of PEI and ethylenediamine (ED) are negative whereas those of hydrochlorides of diethylenetriamine (DT), triethylenetetramine (TT) and tetraethylenepentamine (TP) are positive. The positive ΔH values are largely due to the hydrolysis of the salts. Taking into account the degree of hydrolysis, the ΔH values for PEI·HCl, ED(HCl)2, DT(HCl)3, TT(HCl)4 and TP(HCl)5 can be explained by the Debye–Huckel theory and Manning's limiting law. On the other hand, the observed ΔH values of NaPP and its low molecular weight analogues were negative. Excellent agreement was observed for NaPP with Manning's theory and Lifson–Katchalsky's theory. For low molecular weight phosphates a discrepancy occurs between the Debye–Huckel theory and experiment.

The heats of dilution (ΔH) of aqueous solutions of sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC) having degrees of etherification of 0.75 and 1.4, were measured. Data for NaCMC at 25°C were in good agreement with Manning's limiting law, whereas this was not the case for sodium polyacrylate (NaPAA) at 25°C. The ΔH values of NaCMC and NaPAA at 40°C were in agreement with the theory. It was found that Manning's limiting law satisfactorily described the dependence of the ΔH of polyelectrolytes on the concentration, charge density, and temperature.

Background The insect cuticle is composed of various proteins and formed during the molt under hormonal regulation, although its precise composition and formation mechanism are largely unknown. The exhaustive catalogue of genes expressed in epidermis at the molt constitutes a massive amount of information from which to draw a complete picture of the molt and cuticle formation in insects. Therefore, we have catalogued a library of full-length cDNAs (designated epM) from epidermal cells during the last larval molt of Bombyx mori. Results Of the 10,368 sequences in the library, we isolated 6,653 usable expressed sequence tags (ESTs), which were categorized into 1,451 nonredundant gene clusters. Seventy-one clusters were considered to be isoforms or premature forms of other clusters. Therefore, we have identified 1,380 putative genes. Of the 6,653 expressed sequences, 48% were derived from 92 cuticular protein genes (RR-1, 24; RR-2, 17; glycine-rich, 29; other classes, 22). A comparison of epM with another epidermal EST data set, epV3 (feeding stage: fifth instar, day 3), showed marked differences in cuticular protein gene. Various types of cuticular proteins are expressed in epM but virtually only RR-1 proteins were expressed in epV3. Cuticular protein genes expressed specifically in epidermis, with several types of expression patterns during the molt, suggest different types of responses to the ecdysteroid pulse. Compared with other Bombyx EST libraries, 13 genes were preferentially included in epM data set. We isolated 290 genes for proteins other than cuticular proteins, whose amino acid sequences retain putative signal peptides, suggesting that they play some role in cuticle formation or in other molting events. Several gene groups were also included in this data set: hormone metabolism, P450, modifier of cuticular protein structure, small-ligand-binding protein, transcription factor, and pigmentation genes. Conclusion We have identified 1,380 genes in epM data set and 13 preferentially expressed genes in epidermis at the molt. The comparison of the epM and other EST libraries clarified the totally different gene expression patterns in epidermis between the molting and feeding stages and many novel tissue- and stage-specifically expressed epidermal genes. These data should further our understanding of cuticle formation and the insect molt.