Thin stillage contains organic and inorganic compounds, some of which may be valuable fermentation coproducts. This study describes a thorough analysis of the major solutes present in thin stillage as revealed by NMR and HPLC. The concentration of charged and neutral organic compounds in thin stillage was determined by excitation sculpting NMR methods (double pulse field gradient spin echo). Compounds identified by NMR included isopropanol, ethanol, lactic acid, 1,3-propanediol, acetic acid, succinic acid, glycerophosphorylcholine, betaine, glycerol, and 2-phenylethanol. The concentrations of lactic and acetic acid determined with NMR were comparable to those determined using HPLC. HPLC and NMR were complementary, as more compounds were identified using both methods. NMR analysis revealed that stillage contained the nitrogenous organic compounds betaine and glycerophosphorylcholine, which contributed as much as 24% of the nitrogen present in the stillage. These compounds were not observed by HPLC analysis.

Homoaconitase enzymes catalyze hydrolyase reactions in the ␣-aminoadipate pathway for lysine biosynthesis or the 2-oxosuberate pathway for methanogenic coenzyme B biosynthesis. Despite the homology of this iron-sulfur protein to aconitase, previously studied homoaconitases catalyze only the hydration of cis-homoaconitate to form homoisocitrate rather than the complete isomerization of homocitrate to homoisocitrate. The MJ1003 and MJ1271 proteins from the methanogen Methanocaldococcus jannaschii formed the first homoaconitase shown to catalyze both the dehydration of (R)-homocitrate to form cishomoaconitate, and its hydration is shown to produce homoisocitrate. This heterotetrameric enzyme also used the analogous longer chain substrates cis-(homo) 2 aconitate, cis-(homo) 3 aconitate, and cis-(homo) 4 aconitate, all with similar specificities. A combination of the homoaconitase with the M. jannaschii homoisocitrate dehydrogenase catalyzed all of the isomerization and oxidative decarboxylation reactions required to form 2-oxoadipate, 2-oxopimelate, and 2-oxosuberate, completing three iterations of the 2-oxoacid elongation pathway. Methanogenic archaeal homoaconitases and fungal homoaconitases evolved in parallel in the aconitase superfamily. The archaeal homoaconitases share a common ancestor with isopropylmalate isomerases, and both enzymes catalyzed the hydration of the minimal substrate maleate to form D-malate. The variation in substrate specificity among these enzymes correlated with the amino acid sequences of a flexible loop in the small subunits.

We have determined the human male specific lethal 3 (hMSL3) chromo-barrel domain structure by x-ray crystallography to a resolution of 2.5 Å (r ‫؍‬ 0.226, R free ‫؍‬ 0.270). hMSL3 contains a canonical methyllysine binding pocket made up of residues Tyr-31, Phe-56, Trp-59, and Trp-63. A six-residue insertion between strands ␤ 1 and ␤ 2 of the hMSL3 chromobarrel domain directs the side chain of Glu-21 into the methyllysine binding pocket where it hydrogen bonds to the NH group of a bound cyclohexylamino ethanesulfonate buffer molecule, likely mimicking interactions with a histone tail dimethyllysine residue. In vitro binding studies revealed that both the human and Drosophila MSL3 chromo-barrel domains bind preferentially to peptides representing the mono or dimethyl isoform of lysine 20 on the histone H4 N-terminal tail (H4K20Me 1 or H4K20Me 2 ). Mutation of Tyr-31 to Ala in the hMSL3 methyllysine-binding cage resulted in weaker in vitro binding to H4K20Me 1 . The same mutation in the msl3 gene compromised male survival in Drosophila. Combined mutation of Glu-21 and Pro-22 to Ala in hMSL3 resulted in slightly weaker in vitro binding to H4K20Me 1 , but the corresponding msl3 mutation had no effect on male survival in Drosophila. We propose MSL3 plays an important role in targeting the male specific lethal complex to chromatin in both humans and flies by binding to H4K20Me 1 . Binding studies on the related dMRG15 chromo-barrel domain revealed that MRG15 prefers binding to H4K20Me 3 . Nuclear histone acetyltransferase (HAT)3 enzymes are found in multiprotein complexes that acetylate specific lysine residues on the N-terminal tails of histone proteins, thereby regulating nucleosome structure, chromatin packaging, and gene expression (1-15). MOF, a conserved member of the MYST (Moz, Ysb2, Sas2, Tip60) family of HAT enzymes, functions as the catalytic subunit in a number of distinct HAT complexes that target gene promoters (8), large contiguous domains of chromatin (3, 4, 14, 15), or non-histone proteins such as p53 (5-7). The precise targeting and substrate specificity of MOF relies on the presence of components distinct from the catalytic subunit (3,4,7,8). Specifically, in the MOFcontaining Drosophila male specific lethal (MSL) complex, the MSL3 protein is required for chromatin targeting, nucleosome binding, histone tail substrate recognition, and maximal MOF HAT activity (16 -20).The most well studied MOF-containing complex is the Drosophila melanogaster male specific lethal or MSL complex that binds selectively to large regions of the X-chromosome in male flies (14,15,(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26) where it is enriched at the 3Ј ends of actively transcribed genes (27-30) and acetylates lysine 16 on histone H4 (H4K16Ac) (22, 31), thereby balancing male Xchromosomal gene expression. The Drosophila MSL complex contains the dMSL1, dMSL2, and dMSL3 proteins, the RNA/ DNA helicase MLE, the HAT enzyme MOF, and one of two apparently functionally redundant non-coding RNAs (roX1 and roX2) (reviewed in Refs. 14, 15, and 21). The...

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HACN (homoaconitase) is a member of a family of [4Fe-4S] cluster-dependent enzymes that catalyse hydration/dehydration reactions. The best characterized example of this family is the ubiquitous ACN (aconitase), which catalyses the dehydration of citrate to cis-aconitate, and the subsequent hydration of cis-aconitate to isocitrate. HACN is an enzyme from the alpha-aminoadipate pathway of lysine biosynthesis, and has been identified in higher fungi and several archaea and one thermophilic species of bacteria, Thermus thermophilus. HACN catalyses the hydration of cis-homoaconitate to (2R,3S)-homoisocitrate, but the HACN-catalysed dehydration of (R)-homocitrate to cis-homoaconitate has not been observed in vitro. We have synthesized the substrates and putative substrates for this enzyme, and in the present study report the first steady-state kinetic data for recombinant HACN from T. thermophilus using a (2R,3S)-homoisocitrate dehydrogenase-coupled assay. We have also examined the products of the reaction using HPLC. We do not observe HACN-catalysed 'homocitrate dehydratase' activity; however, we have observed that ACN can catalyse the dehydration of (R)-homocitrate to cis-homoaconitate, but HACN is required for subsequent conversion of cis-homoaconitate into homoisocitrate. This suggests that the in vivo process for conversion of homocitrate into homoisocitrate requires two enzymes, in simile with the propionate utilization pathway from Escherichia coli. Surprisingly, HACN does not show any activity when cis-aconitate is substituted for the substrate, even though other enzymes from the alpha-aminoadipate pathway can accept analogous tricarboxylic acid-cycle substrates. The enzyme shows no apparent feedback inhibition by L-lysine.