Title: Cellulosilyticum ruminicola, a newly described rumen bacterium that possesses redundant fibrolytic-protein-encoding genes and degrades lignocellulose with multiple carbohydrate- borne fibrolytic enzymes Cai S, Li J, Hu FZ, Zhang K, Luo Y, Janto B, Boissy R, Ehrlich G, Dong X Ref: Applied Environmental Microbiology, 76:3818, 2010 : PubMed
Cellulosilyticum ruminicola H1 is a newly described bacterium isolated from yak (Bos grunniens) rumen and is characterized by its ability to grow on a variety of hemicelluloses and degrade cellulosic materials. In this study, we performed the whole-genome sequencing of C. ruminicola H1 and observed a comprehensive set of genes encoding the enzymes essential for hydrolyzing plant cell wall. The corresponding enzymatic activities were also determined in strain H1; these included endoglucanases, cellobiohydrolases, xylanases, mannanase, pectinases, and feruloyl esterases and acetyl esterases to break the interbridge cross-link, as well as the enzymes that degrade the glycosidic bonds. This bacterium appears to produce polymer hydrolases that act on both soluble and crystal celluloses. Approximately half of the cellulytic activities, including cellobiohydrolase (50%), feruloyl esterase (45%), and one third of xylanase (31%) and endoglucanase (36%) activities were bound to cellulosic fibers. However, only a minority of mannase (6.78%) and pectinase (1.76%) activities were fiber associated. Strain H1 seems to degrade the plant-derived polysaccharides by producing individual fibrolytic enzymes, whereas the majority of polysaccharide hydrolases contain carbohydrate-binding module. Cellulosome or cellulosomelike protein complex was never isolated from this bacterium. Thus, the fibrolytic enzyme production of strain H1 may represent a different strategy in cellulase organization used by most of other ruminal microbes, but it applies the fungal mode of cellulose production.
Tumorigenic roles were variably suggested for HER-2 and INT-2 oncogene amplifications and the "atypical" aspartate to glycine mutability in the butyrylcholinesterase (BCHE) gene in ovarian adenocarcinomas. To examine this notion we searched for correlations between these three phenomena and ovarian tumor classification and aggressiveness, using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), and direct PCR sequencing. Our findings revealed no alleles carrying the atypical BCHE mutability in 30 European-originated patients with ovarian tumors compared with 11% (2/18) such alleles in Israeli patients with malignant ovarian tumors. This apparently reflected population diversity rather than disease relationship. INT-2 amplification was observed in 14/94 (15%) of the European patients; however, there was no correlation between this phenomenon and clinicopathological indices in the corresponding patients. In contrast, in 94 tumor samples we found that 40% (38/94) of the cases had HER-2 amplification. Moreover, there was a highly significant correlation (P < 0.008) between the over fivefold HER-2 amplification and ovarian tumor severity. These findings demonstrate an informative value for HER-2 amplification tests in tumor DNA, but not for INT-2 amplification or BCHE mutability, for the assessment of treatment.
Title: Antisense Oligonucleotides Suppressing Expression of Cholinesterase Genes Modulate Hematopoiesis in Vivo and ex Vivo Soreq H, Lev-Lehman E, Patinkin D, Grifman M, Ehrlich G, Ginzberg D, Eckstein F, Zakut H Ref: In Enzyme of the Cholinesterase Family - Proceedings of Fifth International Meeting on Cholinesterases, (Quinn, D.M., Balasubramanian, A.S., Doctor, B.P., Taylor, P., Eds) Plenum Publishing Corp.:1, 1995 : PubMed
Title: Use of partially phosphorothioated antisense oligodeoxynucleotides for sequence-dependent modulation of hematopoiesis in culture Ehrlich G, Patinkin D, Ginzberg D, Zakut H, Eckstein F, Soreq H Ref: Antisense Research Development, 4:173, 1994 : PubMed
To distinguish between sequence-dependent effects and non-specific cytotoxicity of phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotides (AS-oligos), we introduced AS-oligos blocking expression of 2Hs, the Homo sapiens cell division controller cdc2 kinase, its hematopoietically expressed homolog CHED, and the acetylcholine-hydrolyzing enzyme butyrylcholinesterase (BCHE) into primary murine bone marrow (BM) culture. Antisense oligonucleotides were fully phosphorothioated (Ts) or prepared with three phosphorothioate groups at their 3' termini (S3). Each of these oligos could cause reductions in colony counts either as a result of its sequence-dependent biological capacity or due to sequence-independent cytotoxicity. The Ts and S3 forms of the matching sense oligo, S-BCHE, served for comparison. The S3 forms of AS-2Hs, AS-BCHE, and S-BCHE caused more limited drops in colony counts than their Ts counterparts, reflecting lower cytotoxicity. When incubated with electroblotted BM proteins, Ts but not S3 oligos intensively labeled two protein bands. Moreover, 5'-end 32P-labeled (Ts) S-BCHE labeled nuclear proteins in situ in small, mitotic cells, suggesting correlation between oligo-protein interactions and the sequence-independent cytotoxicity of Ts AS-oligos. Extension of the apparently nontoxic AS-CHED by two adenosine residues at the 3' end, creating a potential for intramolecular hydrogen bond formation, resulted in increased toxicity. These findings recommend the use of nonlooped, partially phosphorothioated oligos for the modulation of hematopoiesis.
Variant alleles of the butyrylcholinesterase gene, BCHE, have often been used to trace the genetic histories of populations. The D70G substitution in BCHE causes prolonged postanesthesia apnea ("atypical" phenotype); H322N substitution in the closely related acetylcholinesterase gene, ACHE, is the basis of the mutually incompatible Yt blood groups. In both genes, additional point mutations were reported to be linked to these phenotypically evident ones. To examine whether the intragenic linkage reported for the ACHE and BCHE mutations in Americans is universal, we studied frequencies of these mutations in trans-Caucasian Georgian Jews, a population that has remained relatively isolated for 1500 years. To this end we employed PCR amplification followed by DNA sequencing and enzymatic restriction and compared the frequencies we found to corresponding reported phenotype data. Georgian Jews' N322 ACHE was a rather low 7.0% and was totally linked to a P446 mutation, in agreement with a recent report. In BCHE, however, G70 was a relatively high 5.8%, and the V497 and T539 mutations were not found, either in Georgian or in Ashkenazi Jews, in contrast to reported findings in Americans. Our findings reveal distinct displays of ACHE and BCHE haplotypes in Georgian Jews and suggest different founder effects, genetic drifts, and/or selection pressures in the evolution of each of these genes.
To study the molecular mechanisms underlying the intensive expression of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in different tumor types, we characterized levels and composition of its messenger RNA (mRNA) sequences in heterologous tumor cell lines, primary tumor biopsies, and normal fetal and adult tissues and determined their exon-intron origin within the corresponding ACHE gene. Reverse transcription followed by polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) revealed three alternatively spliced ACHE mRNAs in NT2/D1 teratocarcinoma, NCI-N-592 small cell lung carcinoma, TE671 medulloblastoma, K-562 erythroleukemia, and 293 transformed embryonal kidney cells. The three ACHE mRNAs include the principal species expressed in brain and muscle and two additional transcripts containing insertions of 751 or 829 residues downstream from the exon 4 domain. The inserted region, which represents an intron in brain and muscle, is expressed in the tumor cell lines either as a "readthrough" form or with 78 residues deleted from its 5' end. A major band of 2.5 kb was labeled with ACHE cDNA in poly(A)+ RNA blots from medulloblastoma cells or brain tissue, whereas a PCR-amplified probe from the inserted domain labeled a 3.4-kb band but not the 2.5-kb band in poly(A)+ RNA from small cell lung carcinoma. The ACHE mRNAs including the alternative insertions were found only in cell lines with levels of the principal ACHE mRNA species equal to or higher than those in brain (1-10 molecules/cell), determined by following the kinetics of mRNA PCR amplification. Genomic DNA sequencing revealed that the inserted domains in the ACHE mRNAs expressed in the tumor cell lines encode C-terminal peptides of 40 and 14 residues. These include a free cysteine, terminate with the consensus HG element, and continue by a 29-residue-long C-terminal hydrophobic cleavable peptide, properties characteristic of precursors to phosphoinositide (PI)-linked proteins. In extension of the reported expression of PI-linked AChE in hemopoietic cells including K-562, our findings demonstrate the existence of ACHE mRNAs with the potential to encode one hydrophilic and two PI-linked forms of AChE in tumor cells from both hemopoietic and nonhemopoietic origins.
Hematopoietic acetylcholinesterase (ACHE) gene expression and its implication for development were studied by in vivo administration to mice of an antisense phosphorothioate oligonucleotide targetted toward ACHE (AS-ACHE). Hematopoietic alterations were observed by differential cell counts and ACHE mRNA levels determined by quantified RNA polymerase chain reaction (RNA-PCR) and in situ hybridization analyses. In control mice, injected with phosphate-buffered saline and untreated, ACHE mRNA labeling with ACHE [35S]cRNA was about 10-fold higher on megakaryocytes (MK) compared with all other bone marrow cells and increased by 20-fold during MK development, similar to reports for MK actin mRNA. Drastic reductions occurred in the bone marrow lymphocyte and erythroid fractions 12 days following intraperitoneal injection of AS-ACHE (5 micrograms/g weight) into groups of four mice. RNA-PCR revealed over 1000-fold decreases in ACHE mRNA levels in lymph nodes and bone marrow at this time, while actin mRNA levels dropped by 10 and 100-fold in lymph nodes and bone marrow of AS-ACHE treated mice compared with controls. In view of the developmental increase in MK actin, this suggested arrest in MK development as well. By 20 days postinjection, bone marrow actin mRNA was fully restored and the sensitive in situ hybridization technique revealed that ACHE mRNA levels were also restored and reached levels only 2-3-fold lower than in controls in all bone marrow cells of AS-ACHE treated mice. Moreover, lymphocytes and erythroid cells repopulated to levels 25% above normal, and promegakaryocyte and mature MK fractions of the total MK were 3 and 2-fold higher, respectively, than in controls.
The acetylcholine hydrolysing cholinesterases control the termination of cholinergic signalling in multiple tissues and are targets for a variety of drugs, natural and man-made poisons and common insecticides. Molecular cloning and gene mapping studies revealed the primary structure of human acetyl- and butyrylcholinesterase and localized the corresponding ACHE and BCHE genes to the chromosomal positions 3q26-ter and 7q22, respectively. Several different point mutations in the coding region of BCHE were found to be particularly abundant in the Israeli population. Analytical expression studies in microinjected Xenopus oocytes have demonstrated that the biochemical properties of cholinesterases may be modified by rationalized site-directed mutagenesis and in chimeric ACHE/BCHE constructs. These properties are differently altered in the various allelic BCHE variants, conferring resistance to several anti-cholinesterases, which may explain the evolutionary emergence of these multiple alleles. At the clinical level, abnormal expression of both ACHE and BCHE and the in vivo amplification of the ACHE and BCHE genes has been variously associated with abnormal megakaryocytopoiesis, leukemias and brain and ovarian tumors. Moreover, antisense oligonucleotides blocking the expression of these genes were shown to interfere with hemocytopoiesis in culture, implicating these genes in cholinergic influence on cell growth and proliferation.
Title: Mapping the human acetylcholinesterase gene to chromosome 7q22 by fluorescent in situ hybridization coupled with selective PCR amplification from a somatic hybrid cell panel and chromosome-sorted DNA libraries Ehrlich G, Viegas-Pequignot E, Ginzberg D, Sindel L, Soreq H, Zakut H Ref: Genomics, 13:1192, 1992 : PubMed
To establish the chromosomal location of the human ACHE gene encoding the acetylcholine hydrolyzing enzyme acetylcholinesterase (ACHE, acetylcholine acetylhydrolase, E.C. 3.1.1.7), a human-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure that supports the selective amplification of ACHE DNA fragments from human genomic DNA was employed with 19 human-hamster somatic cell hybrids carrying one or more human chromosomes. Informative ACHE-specific PCR fragments were produced from two cell lines, both of which include human chromosome 7, but not with DNA from 17 cell hybrids carrying various combinations of all human chromosomes other than 7. Fluorescent in situ hybridization of biotinylated ACHE DNA with metaphase chromosomes from human peripheral blood lymphocytes revealed prominent labeling on the 7q22 position. Therefore, further tests were performed to confirm the chromosome 7 location. DNA samples from the two cell lines including chromosome 7 and the ACHE gene were positive with PCR primers informative for the human cystic fibrosis CFTR gene, known to reside at the 7q31.1 position, but negative for the ACHE-related butyrylcholinesterase (BCHE, acylcholine acylhydrolase, E.C. 3.1.1.8) gene, mapped at the 3q26-ter position, confirming that these lines contain chromosome 7 but not chromosome 3. In contrast, three other cell lines including chromosome 3, but not 7, were BCHE-positive and ACHE-negative. In addition, genomic DNA from a sorted chromosome 7 library supported the production of ACHE- but not BCHE-specific PCR products, whereas with DNA from a sorted chromosome 3 library, the BCHE but not the ACHE fragment was amplified.
Mechanisms triggering the commitment of pluripotent bone marrow stem cells to differentiated lineages such as mononuclear macrophages or multinucleated megakaryocytes are still unknown, although several lines of evidence suggested correlation between cholinergic signaling and hematopoietic differentiation. We now present cloning of a cDNA coding for CHED (cholinesterase-related cell division controller), a human homolog of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe cell division cycle 2 (cdc2)-like kinases, universal controllers of the mitotic cell cycle. Library screening, RNA blot hybridization, and direct PCR amplification of cDNA reverse-transcribed from cellular mRNA revealed that CHED mRNA is expressed in multiple tissues, including bone marrow. The CHED protein includes the consensus ATP binding and phosphorylation domains characteristic of kinases, displays 34-42% identically aligned amino acid residues with other cdc2-related kinases, and is considerably longer at its amino and carboxyl termini. An antisense oligodeoxynucleotide designed to interrupt CHED's expression (AS-CHED) significantly reduced the ratio between CHED mRNA and actin mRNA within 1 hr of its addition to cultures, a reduction that persisted for 4 days. AS-CHED treatment selectively inhibited megakaryocyte development in murine bone marrow cultures but did not prevent other hematopoietic pathways, as evidenced by increasing numbers of mononuclear cells. An oligodeoxynucleotide blocking production of the acetylcholine-hydrolyzing enzyme, butyrylcholinesterase, displayed a similar inhibition of megakaryocytopoiesis. In contrast, an oligodeoxynucleotide blocking production of the human 2Hs cdc2 homolog interfered with production of the human 2Hs cdc2 homolog interfered with cellular proliferation without altering the cell-type composition of these cultures. Therefore, these findings strengthen the link between cholinergic signaling and cell division control in hematopoiesis and implicate both CHED and cholinesterases in this differentiation process.
Title: Intramolecular relationships in cholinesterases revealed by oocyte expression of site-directed and natural variants of human BCHE Neville LF, Gnatt A, Loewenstein Y, Seidman S, Ehrlich G, Soreq H Ref: EMBO Journal, 11:1641, 1992 : PubMed
Structure-function relationships of cholinesterases (CHEs) were studied by expressing site-directed and naturally occurring mutants of human butyrylcholinesterase (BCHE) in microinjected Xenopus oocytes. Site-directed mutagenesis of the conserved electronegative Glu441,Ile442,Glu443 domain to Gly441,Ile442,Gln443 drastically reduced the rate of butyrylthiocholine (BTCh) hydrolysis and caused pronounced resistance to dibucaine binding. These findings implicate the charged Glu441,Ile442,Glu443 domain as necessary for a functional CHE catalytic triad as well as for binding quinoline derivatives. Asp70 to Gly substitution characteristic of 'atypical' BCHE, failed to alter its Km towards BTCh or dibucaine binding but reduced hydrolytic activity to 25% of control. Normal hydrolytic activity was restored to Gly70 BCHE by additional His114 or Tyr561 mutations, both of which co-appear with Gly70 in natural BCHE variants, which implies a likely selection advantage for these double BCHE mutants over the single Gly70 BCHE variant. Gly70 BCHE variants also displayed lower binding as compared with Asp70 BCHE to cholinergic drugs, certain choline esters and solanidine. These effects were ameliorated in part by additional mutations or in binding solanidine complexed with sugar residues. These observations indicate that structural interactions exist between N' and C' terminal domains in CHEs which contribute to substrate and inhibitor binding and suggest a crucial involvement of both electrostatic and hydrophobic domains in the build-up of the CHE active center.
The genes for acetylcholinesterase (ACHE) and butyrylcholinesterase (CHE) are expressed in multiple tumor tissues, including ovarian carcinomas. Both CHE and ACHE genes coamplify in leukemias. To examine the relationship of gene amplification to the expression of these genes in tumors, ACHE and CHE genes and their expression were studied in primary ovarian carcinomas. DNA blot hybridization demonstrated a significant amplification and mutagenesis of both genes in 6 of 11 malignant tumors studied. This was greater or of the same order of magnitude as the amplification of the oncogenes c-rafi, v-sis, and c-fes in these tumors. No amplification was found in normal ovarian tissues or benign ovarian cysts. Xenopus oocyte microinjections, blot and in situ hybridizations, and immuno- and cytochemical staining revealed translatable CHEmRNA and its active protein product in discrete tumor foci. The frequent coamplification in ovarian carcinomas of ACHE and CHE genes implicates cholinesterases in neoplastic growth and/or proliferation.
