Inhibition of Insulin Amyloid Fibrillation by a Novel Amphipathic Heptapeptide: MECHANISTIC DETAILS STUDIED BY SPECTROSCOPY IN COMBINATION WITH MICROSCOPY.

The aggregation of insulin into amyloid fibers has been a limiting factor in the development of fast acting insulin analogues, creating a demand for excipients that limit aggregation. Despite the potential demand, inhibitors specifically targeting insulin have been few in number. Here we report a non-toxic and serum stable-designed heptapeptide, KR7 (KPWWPRR-NH2), that differs significantly from the primarily hydrophobic sequences that have been previously used to interfere with insulin amyloid fibrillation. Thioflavin T fluorescence assays, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and one-dimensional proton NMR experiments suggest KR7 primarily targets the fiber elongation step with little effect on the early oligomerization steps in the lag time period. From confocal fluorescence and atomic force microscopy experiments, the net result appears to be the arrest of aggregation in an early, non-fibrillar aggregation stage. This mechanism is noticeably different from previous peptide-based inhibitors, which have primarily shifted the lag time with little effect on later stages of aggregation. As insulin is an important model system for understanding protein aggregation, the new peptide may be an important tool for understanding peptide-based inhibition of amyloid formation.

Biotechnological approaches to develop bacterial chitinases as a bioshield against fungal diseases of plants.

Fungal diseases of plants continue to contribute to heavy crop losses in spite of the best control efforts of plant pathologists. Breeding for disease-resistant varieties and the application of synthetic chemical fungicides are the most widely accepted approaches in plant disease management. An alternative approach to avoid the undesired effects of chemical control could be biological control using antifungal bacteria that exhibit a direct action against fungal pathogens. Several biocontrol agents, with specific fungal targets, have been registered and released in the commercial market with different fungal pathogens as targets. However, these have not yet achieved their full commercial potential due to the inherent limitations in the use of living organisms, such as relatively short shelf life of the products and inconsistent performance in the field. Different mechanisms of action have been identified in microbial biocontrol of fungal plant diseases including competition for space or nutrients, production of antifungal metabolites, and secretion of hydrolytic enzymes such as chitinases and glucanases. This review focuses on the bacterial chitinases that hydrolyze the chitinous fungal cell wall, which is the most important targeted structural component of fungal pathogens. The application of the hydrolytic enzyme preparations, devoid of live bacteria, could be more efficacious in fungal control strategies. This approach, however, is still in its infancy, due to prohibitive production costs. Here, we critically examine available sources of bacterial chitinases and the approaches to improve enzymatic properties using biotechnological tools. We project that the combination of microbial and recombinant DNA technologies will yield more effective environment-friendly products of bacterial chitinases to control fungal diseases of crops.

Bacterial chitin binding proteins show differential substrate binding and synergy with chitinases.

Glycosyl hydrolase (GH) family 18 chitinases (Chi) and family 33 chitin binding proteins (CBPs) from Bacillus thuringiensis serovar kurstaki (BtChi and BtCBP), B. licheniformis DSM13 (BliChi and BliCBP) and Serratia proteamaculans 568 (SpChiB and SpCBP21) were used to study the efficiency and synergistic action of BtChi, BliChi and SpChiB individually with BtCBP, BliCBP or SpCBP21. Chitinase assay revealed that only BtChi and SpChiB showed synergism in hydrolysis of chitin, while there was no increase in products generated by BliChi, in the presence of the three above mentioned CBPs. This suggests that some (specific) CBPs are able to exert a synergistic effect on (specific) chitinases. A mutant of BliChi, designated as BliGH, was constructed by deleting the C-terminal fibronectin III (FnIII) and carbohydrate binding module 5 (CBM5) to assess the contribution of FnIII and CBM5 domains in the synergistic interactions of GH18 chitinases with CBPs. Chitinase assay with BliGH revealed that the accessory domains play a major role in making BliChi an efficient enzyme. We studied binding of BtCBP and BliCBP to α- and ß-chitin. The BtCBP, BliCBP or SpCBP21 did not act synergistically with chitinases in hydrolysis of the chitin, interspersed with other polymers, present in fungal cell walls.

Fusion of cellulose binding domain to the catalytic domain improves the activity and conformational stability of chitinase in Bacilluslicheniformis DSM13.

Chitinase from Bacilluslicheniformis DSM13 consists of an N-terminal catalytic domain (GH) and a C-terminal chitin binding domain (ChBD). A deletion mutant BliGH and a hybrid chitinase BliGH-CeBD were developed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to study the role of substrate-binding domain. Both recombinant chitinases retained their ability to bind to glycol-chitin (GC). BliGH was more effective on colloidal chitin (CC) than BliGH-CeBD as evident from the increased V(max) and k(cat) values. The fusion of CeBD improved the affinity to colloidal chitin, activity and conformational stability in BliGH-CeBD when compared with deletion mutant BliGH.

Swapping the chitin-binding domain in Bacillus chitinases improves the substrate binding affinity and conformational stability.

Chitinase from Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus licheniformis consisting of an N-terminal catalytic domain (GH18) and a C-terminal chitin-binding domain (ChBD), were cloned and characterised. In order to study the importance of individual domains, chimeric chitinases (BtGH-BliChBD and BliGH-BtChBD) were constructed using domain swapping as a strategy to exchange the CBD of BtGH-ChBD with that of BliGH-ChBD and vice versa. Both chimeric chitinases showed increased affinity to colloidal chitin. BtGH-BliChBD was different from the three other chitinases studied concerning optimum temperature and pH. Additionally, BtGH-BliChBD and BliGH-BtChBD showed significant improvement in functional stability, conformational stability, and binding ability towards insoluble chitinous substrates compared to those of the native chitinases.