[Keratinase of an anaerobic thermophilic bacterium Thermoanaerobacter sp. strain 1004-09 isolated from a hot spring in the Baikal Rift zone].

A thermophilic anaerobic bacterial strain 1004-09 belonging to the genus Thermoanaerobacter and capable of growth on protein substrates such as albumin, gelatin, casein, and alpha and beta-keratins was isolated from the Urinskii hot spring (Barguzin river valley, Republic of Buryatia, Russia). A 150-kDa serine proteinase was revealed in the strain supernatant; it exhibited optimal activity at 60 degrees C and pH 9.3 and was capable of keratin hydrolysis.

[Proteolysis coupled with ATP. Regulation of activity of proteolytic centers of Escherichia coli lon protease].

Regulation of activity of the proteolytic sites of Lon protease was studied. It was found that ATP-Mg has the properties of a noncompetitive activator of peptidase sites. The processive mechanism of the hydrolysis of protein substrates by Lon protease was experimentally confirmed under the conditions of ATP hydrolysis.

[Catalytic dyad Ser-Lys at the active site of Escherichia coli ATP-dependent Lon-proteinase].

Two subfamilies of Lon proteases that differ in the structure of the fragments containing the catalytically active Ser residue were revealed by the comparison of more than sixty sequences of Lon proteases from various sources. The absence of the classic catalytic triad in the active site of Lon proteases was confirmed. The catalytic site of Lon proteases was shown to be represented by the Ser-Lys dyad.

[Coupling of proteolysis and hydrolysis of ATP upon functioning of Lon proteinase of Escherichia coli. II. Hydrolysis of ATP and activity of peptide hydrolase sites of the enzyme].

The absence of direct correlation between the efficiency of functioning of ATPase and peptidehydrolase sites of Lon protease was revealed. It was shown that Lon protease is an allosteric enzyme, in which the catalytic activity of peptidehydrolase sites is determined by the binding of nucleotides, their magnesium complexes, and free magnesium ions in the enzyme's ATPase sites. It was revealed that complex ADP-Mg, an inhibitor of the native enzyme, is an activator of the Lon-K362Q form of the Lon protease mutant in the ATPase site.

[Coupling of proteolysis with ATP hydrolysis by Escherichia coli Lon proteinase. I. Kinetic aspects of ATP hydrolysis].

Some aspects of the ATPase function of the Escherichia coli Lon protease were studied around the optimum pH value. It was revealed that, in the absence of the protein substrate, the maximum ATPase activity of the enzyme is observed at an equimolar ratio of ATP and Mg2+ ions in the area of their millimolar concentrations. Free components of the substrate complex (ATP-Mg)2- inhibit the enzyme ATPase activity.

[A test system based on the lux-regulon from Vibrio fischeri for studying the functional activity of mutant forms of Escherichia coli lon-proteinase].

The possibility of application of the bioluminescence method (Lux-test) for studying in vivo functional activity of Escherichia coli protease Lon and its mutants was demonstrated. This assay is based on the capacity of protease Lon and its mutant forms for specific degradation of the LuxR protein, a positive transcriptional activator of the right operon luxICDABE from the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri, and thus to affect the level of AB luciferase in the cells. A correlation between in vitro activity of the protease Lon mutants and the intensity of bioluminescence measured by the Lux-test was revealed.

[Suc-Phe-Leu-Phe-SBzl--a new substrate for functional study of Escherichia coli ATP-dependent Lon-proteinase and its modified forms].

A new efficient substrate, Suc-Phe-Leu-Phe-SBzl, was proposed for studying the function of the Escherichia coli ATP-dependent Lon protease and its modified forms. The kinetic parameters of hydrolysis of the substrate were determined. The esterase activity of protease Lon was found to be nucleotide-regulated.

[In vitro coupling of ATP hydrolysis to proteolysis of ATP site mutant forms of Lon-proteinase from E.coli].

In order to identify amino acid residues involved in ATP hydrolysis by Escherichia coli protease Lon or participating in the signal transduction from the ATPase domain to the proteolytic one, potentially important residues of the ATPase domain were substituted using site-directed mutagenesis, and the properties of the resulting mutant enzymes were studied. It was found that residues K362, T363 (Walker's motif A), and D423 (motif B) are involved in the catalysis of ATP hydrolysis. K362 and T363 also participate in the system of domain-domain coupling, whereas D423 does not play a significant role in this process.