Endothelial cell growth factor (ECGF), an anionic polypeptide mitogen, binds to immobilized heparin. The interaction between the acidic polypeptide and the anionic carbohydrate suggests a mechanism that is independent of ion exchange. Monoclonal antibodies to purified bovine ECGF inhibited the biological activity of ECGF in crude preparations of bovine brain. These data indicate that ECGF is the principal mitogen for endothelial cells from bovine brain, that heparin affinity chromatography may be used to purify and concentrate ECGF, and that the affinity of ECGF for heparin may have structural and perhaps biological significance.
Protein stability, assembly, localization, and regulation often depend on formation of disulfide cross-links between cysteine side chains. Enzymes known as sulfhydryl oxidases catalyze de novo disulfide formation and initiate intra- and intermolecular dithiol/disulfide relays to deliver the disulfides to substrate proteins1,2. Quiescin sulfhydryl oxidase (QSOX) is a unique, multi-domain disulfide catalyst that is localized primarily to the Golgi apparatus and secreted fluids3 and has attracted attention due to its over-production in tumors4,5. In addition to its physiological importance, QSOX is a mechanistically intriguing enzyme, encompassing functions typically carried out by a series of proteins in other disulfide formation pathways. How disulfides are relayed through the multiple redox-active sites of QSOX and whether there is a functional benefit to concatenating these sites on a single polypeptide are open questions. We determined the first crystal structure of an intact QSOX enzyme, derived from a trypanosome parasite. Notably, sequential sites in the disulfide relay were found more than 40 Å apart in this structure, too far for direct disulfide transfer. To resolve this puzzle, we trapped and crystallized an intermediate in the disulfide hand-off, which showed a 165° domain rotation relative to the original structure, bringing the two active sites within disulfide bonding distance. The comparable structure of a mammalian QSOX enzyme, also presented herein, reveals additional biochemical features that facilitate disulfide transfer in metazoan orthologs. Finally, we quantified the contribution of concatenation to QSOX activity, providing general lessons for the understanding of multi-domain enzymes and the design of novel catalytic relays.
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