[Defense peptides of plant immune system].

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are natural antibiotics produced by all living organisms to combat pathogens. They are important effector molecules of the immune system both in animals and plants. AMPs are diverse in structure and mode of action. Based on homology of amino acid sequences and 3D structures several AMP families have been distinguished. They are defensins, thionins, lipid transfer proteins, hevein- and knottin-like peptides, and cyclotides. AMPs display broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and thus show promise for the development of disease- resistant crops by genetic engineering and for the production of new-generation drugs. In this paper, the properties of the main AMP families (defensins and hevein-like peptides) and of a new 4-Cys plant AMP family are reviewed.

[Heterologous expression of a synthetic gene encoding a novel hevein-type antimicrobial peptide of Leymus arenarius in Escherichia coli cells].

A novel antifungal peptide, LAMP-Ia, was isolated from sand-elymus (Leymus arenarius) seeds. Expression of a synthetic gene encoding this peptide in Escherichia coli cells was obtained. The target peptide was expressed as a fusion with thioredoxin. Identity of the recombinant peptide to native LAMP-Ia was confirmed by chromatography, mass spectrometry, and amino acid sequencing. LAMP-Ia displayed a high inhibitory activity in respect of a number of phytopathogenic fungi in in vitro assays, which opens up possibilities for the gene encoding it to be used for genetic transformation of plants and for engineering pathogen-resistant crops.

[Isolation of the lipid-transporting protein Ns-LTP1 from seeds of the garden fennel flower (Nigella sativa)].

A novel lipid-transporting protein (Ns-LTP1) has been isolated from seeds of the garden fennel flower Nigella sativa. The molecular mass, N-terminal amino acid sequence, and amino acid composition of the protein have been determined. Ns-LTP1 has a molecular mass of 9602 Da and contains eight cysteine residues which form four disulfide bridges. The protein is capable of suppressing the development of some phytopathogenic fungi and oomycetes.

[The purification and characterization of a novel lipid transfer protein from caryopsis of barnyard grass (Echinochloa crusgalli)].

A novel lipid transfer protein called Ec-LTP was isolated from resting caryopsis of weed barnyard grass Echinochloa crusgalli (L.) Beauv.; its molecular weight, amino acid content and N-terminal amino acid sequence were determined. Ec-LTP was a 9150 Da protein, containing eight cysteine residues, which formed four disulfide bonds. The isolated protein could significantly inhibit the development of pathogenic fungi Phytophthora infestans and Helminthosporium sativum, causing the late blight of potato and tomato and the root rot of herbs, respectively.

[Actinoporins from the Sea of Japan anemone Oulactis orientalis: isolation and partial characterization].

Two cytolytic toxins (cytolysins Or-A and Or-G) were isolated from the Sea of Japan anemone Oulactis orientalis and characterized. Their purification scheme involved a hydrophobic chromatography on Polychrom 1, a gel filtration on Akrilex P-4, a cation-exchange chromatography on CM-32 cellulose, and a reversed-phase HPLC on a Nucleosil C18 column. The molecular masses of Or-A and Or-G were determined by SDS-PAGE in 14% PAG to be ca. 18 kDa. The absence of Cys residues and a high content of basic amino acid residues are characteristic of their amino acid compositions. The hemolytic activities of Or-A and Or-G were found to be 295.86 and 322.58 HU/mg, respectively; these are by three orders of magnitude lower than those of sphingomyelin-inhibitable cytolysins from the tropic sea anemones. The amino acid sequences of the N-terminal fragments of Or-A and Or-G were determined to be ATFRVLAK and GAIIAGAA, respectively. Action of the cytolysins on the erythrocyte membrane is inhibited by exogenous sphingomyelin. They form ion channels in bilayer lipid membranes with the conductivity of 16, 32, and 40 pSm in 0.1 M NaCl and 168, 240, and 320 pSm in 1 M NaCl at pH 7.2. Therefore, they were attributed to the group of actinoporins.

[The use of monoclonal antibodies against insulin for isolation of proteins inhibiting the cell growth]. / Ispol'zovanie monoklonal'nykh antitel k insulinu dlia vydeleniia belkov, ingibiruiushchikh kletochnyi rost.

Extracts of pig kidneys or germinated soya beans after preliminary steps were affinity chromatographied on Sepharose containing cyanogen bromide immobilized monoclonal antibodies to pig insulin. The material bound to the affinity column was separated by HPLC resulting in one homogeneous protein from each source. Both proteins have been shown to inhibit DNA synthesis in cultured embryonic human fibroblasts and VERO fibroblasts. The effect of pig kidney protein was potentiated by insulin. Soya and pig proteins were characterized by the following parameters: molecular weights of 8.5 and 10.3 kD, apparent constants of dissociation with rat liver plasma membranes of 4.7 x 10(-8) M and 9.8 X 10(-8) M, respectively. The soya proteins competed for the binding sites on plasma membranes with insulin whereas the pig protein did not. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of 20 residues were determined for both proteins. Comparison of these sequences with known protein sequences was performed. A 30-40% primary structure homology of the studied fragment of soya bean protein with the fragments of some oncogenic viruses proteins and transforming proteins was revealed.

[Photooxidation of aspartate transaminase from chicken heart cytosol]. / Fotookislenie aspartat-transaminazy iz tsitozolia serdtsa kur.

Rose-bengal-sensitized photooxidation of aspartate transaminase from chicken heart cytosol results in a loss of enzymatic activity which follow first order kinetics down to 70--75% inactivation. 0.9 Histidine, 0.9 tryptophane residues and 1.5 SH groups per enzyme subunit were found to be modified in the photooxidized transaminase, which retained 26% residual activity. Photodestruction of the coenzyme was about 16%. The rate of enzyme photoinactivation is constant in the pH range 6--8, and drastically decreases with lowering pH from 6 to 4. alpha-Ketoglutarate partially protects the holoenzyme from inactivation. The apoenzyme undergoes photoinactivation at a rate almost twice as rapid as the holoenzyme. Photooxidized apotransaminase retains affinity to pyridoxal phosphate and binds as much coenzyme as the native apoenzyme. Photooxidation induces no significant alterations in the circular dichroism pattern of the enzyme in the 200 to 240 nm range. However, positive circular dichroism is markedly increased in the absorption bands of aromatic amino acids (260--300 nm). The affinity of photooxidized holoenzyme for glutarate and alpha-methyl aspartate is greatly decreased. On the other hand, photooxidized enzyme retains its ability to bind alpha-alanine and to catalize the transamination half-reaction between alpha-alanine and the bound coenzyme. These findings imply that photooxidation disturbs the binding of the distal carboxyl group of dicarboxylic substrates. This may be due to a localized conformational change induced by destruction of a photoreactive histidine residue at the active site. A role of the histidine residue in transamination reaction is discussed.

[Search for new products of gene expression in human cardiac muscle. Microsequencing of proteins after two-dimensional electrophoresis]. / Poisk novykh produktov gennoi ékspressii v serdechnoi myshtse cheloveka. Mikrosekvenirovanie belkov posle dvumernogo élektroforeza.

Proteins of the human heart muscle were studied using modified two-dimensional electrophoresis. After separation, proteins were electroblotted onto Immobilon P membranes and several protein spots were used for microsequencing analysis. In most cases the proteins analyzed have blocked N-terminal amino acids. In order to study the primary structure of these proteins, hydrolysis in situ by trypsin followed by reversed-phase HPLC and microsequencing of the resulting peptides were performed. Four protein were identified in 8 analyzed fractions, specifically myosin light chain 1 (MLCl-V/sB), fatty-acid binding protein (heart isoform), alpha (B)-crystallin and alpha-tropomyosin. Amino acid sequences of two proteins were not found among human amino acid sequences collected in SWISSPROT bank (v. 21).

[Primary structure of the "fast" component of avenin (Avena sativa L]. / Pervichnaia struktura "bystropodvizhnogo" komponenta avenina (Avena sativa L.).

A procedure for the isolation and sequence analysis of the "fast" avenin component (N9) from the oat (Avena sativa L., cv. Narymsky 943) is described. Component N9 was prepared by an ion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography on a strong cation exchange column type Mono S (Pharmacia, Sweden) in 4 M urea, pH 3.5, with a linear gradient of NaCl. A polypeptide chain of avenin N9 was reconstructed by the CNBr and tryptic peptides on a model 470A protein gas-phase sequencer (Applied Biosystems, USA). A good yield of tryptic peptides were obtained by an enzymatic hydrolysis of avenin N9 preliminary immobilized on Thiopropyl-Sepharose 6B (Pharmacia, Sweden) at cysteine residues. Avenin N9 consists of 182 amino acid residues end exhibits the features common for all the known prolamins.

[Isolation and characteristics of insulin-binding proteins from soybeans]. / Vydelenie i kharkteristika insulinsviazyvaiushchikh belkov iz soevykh bobov.

Two soybean insulin-binding proteins were isolated using affinity chromatography on insulin-Sepharose. Both proteins have molecular mass about 39 kDa and consist of two subunits linked by disulphide bonds. According to the amino acid composition and N-terminal sequences of the subunits, these proteins, characterized by the absence of free thiol groups and sugar residues, are variants of the previously described soybean basic 7S globulin. The blotted proteins as well as their subunits were shown to bind 125I-labelled bovine insulin. For one of the proteins and insulin, dissociation constant of 4.10(-9) M was measured. The existence of plant insulin-binding proteins suggests the insulin-like regulation in the plant metabolism.

[Identification of the N-terminal peptide of bovine tryptophanyl-tRNA-synthetase]. / Identifikatsiia N-kontsevogo peptida bych'ei triptofanil-tRNK-sintetazy.

By means of covalent chromatography on thiopropyl-sepharose 6B the N-terminal, as well as other tryptic cysteine-containing peptides of the bovine tryptophanyl-tRNA-synthetase (EC 6.1.1.2) were purified and characterized, their structures being determined by a combination of plasma desorption mass spectrometry and peptide sequencing. In total, six different peptides containing seven cysteine residues were analysed. The N-terminal amino acid (presumably, alanine) was shown to be acetylated in the nature enzyme amino acid sequences of some cysteine-containing peptides proved to differ from those deduced from the cDNA structure, thus indicating the presence of the enzyme's isoforms. The purification does not affect the peptides' sulfhydryl groups. The number of cysteine residues in the peptides could be determined with a high accuracy by measuring their masses before and after alkylation with 4-vinylpyridine.

[NAD-dependent formate dehydrogenase from methylotrophic bacteria Pseudomonas sp. 101. I. Amino acid sequence]. / NAD-zavisimaia formiatdegidrogenaza metilotrofnykh bakterii Pseudomonas sp. 101. I. Aminokislotnaia posledovatel'nost'.

The primary structure of NAD-dependent formate dehydrogenase from methylotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas sp. 101 is determined. The enzyme is composed of two identical subunits, each comprising 393 amino acid residues, and has a molecular weight of 43.1 kD. To elucidate the protein's amino acid sequence, four types of digestion were used: cyanogen bromide cleavage at methionine residues, endoproteinase Lys-C digestion at lysine residues, endoproteinase Glu-C cleavage at glutamic acid residues, and tryptic digestion. The peptides obtained were purified to homogeneity and characterized.

[NAD-dependent formate dehydrogenase of methylotrophic bacteria Pseudomonas sp. 101. III. Comparative analysis]. / NAD-zavisimaia formiatdegidrogenaza metilotrofnykh bakterii Pseudomonas sp. 101. III. Sravnitel'nyi analiz.

The comparative analysis of the primary and tertiary structures of NAD-dependent bacterial formate dehydrogenase (FDH) from methylotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas sp. 101 and a number of structurally characterized NAD-dependent dehydrogenases were performed. FDH has a highly conservative fold of the coenzyme binding domain. Position of the symmetry axis in the FDH molecule relative to the beta-sheets of its coenzyme binding domain with the respective sequences of the other NAD-dependent enzymes was performed on the basis of the spatial homology between these structures. Only one of the three amino acid residues previously thought to be conserved in the coenzyme binding domains of NAD-dependent dehydrogenases is preserved in the FDH molecule (Asp-221). Two glycine residues found in all previously studied dehydrogenases are substituted in FDH by Ala-198 and Pro-256, respectively. Position of the essential thiol of FDH (Cys-255) in the protein structure was established. It is suggested that Cys-255 is situated on or near polypeptide locus taking part in the conformational changes of the protein in the course of the catalysis.

[Identification of a fragment of ceruloplasmin, interacting with copper-transporting Menkes ATPase]. / Identifikatsiia uchastka tseruloplazmina, vzaimodeistvuiushchego s med'transportnoi ATP-azoi Menkesa.

The interaction was studied of ceruloplasmin (Cp, EC 1.16.3.1), a copper-containing plasma protein, with two synthetic peptides P15 and P16 whose structures correlate with those of the noncytosolic regions of the copper transfer P1 type ATPase (ATP7A), apparently encoded by the Menkes disease gene (Atp7a). Pentadecapeptide P15 and hexadecapeptide P16 were synthesized using the solid phase method. They correspond to fragments of two extracellular loops ATP7A, of which one loop is apparently involved in the copper ion transfer (P16) whereas the other is not (P15). The protein footprinting showed that P16 binds to a fragment of the ceruloplasmin domain 6. Kinetics of the ceruloplasmin-P16 binding was studied by affinity chromatography on P16 immobilized on a macroporous disk, and the Kd value (1.5 x 10(-6) M) of this interaction was determined. The ATP7A involvement in the copper ion transfer to nonhepatocyte cells is discussed.

[Primary structure of a short toxin from the venom of a vietnamese scorpion (Buthus sp.)]. / Pervichnaia struktura korotkogo toksina iz iada v'etnamskogo skorpiona Buthus sp.

The complete amino acid sequence of an important toxin (toxin 14) from the venom of a Vietnamese scorpion (Buthus occitanus sp.) has been determined, which includes 35 amino acid residues and three disulfide bridges (molecular weight, 3843 Da). The comparison of the sequence with sequences of short scorpion toxins led us to conclude that toxin 14 belongs to a novel group of toxins affecting the excitability of myelinated nerves.

Discovery of novel antimicrobial peptides with unusual cysteine motifs in dandelion Taraxacum officinale Wigg. flowers.

Three novel antimicrobial peptides designated ToAMP1, ToAMP2 and ToAMP3 were purified from Taraxacum officinale flowers. Their amino acid sequences were determined. The peptides are cationic and cysteine-rich and consist of 38, 44 and 42 amino acid residues for ToAMP1, ToAMP2 and ToAMP3, respectively. Importantly, according to cysteine motifs, the peptides are representatives of two novel previously unknown families of plant antimicrobial peptides. ToAMP1 and ToAMP2 share high sequence identity and belong to 6-Cys-containing antimicrobial peptides, while ToAMP3 is a member of a distinct 8-Cys family. The peptides were shown to display high antimicrobial activity both against fungal and bacterial pathogens, and therefore represent new promising molecules for biotechnological and medicinal applications.

[N-terminal sequence of omega-gliadins from Aegilops longissima. The origin of the genome of polyploid wheat]. / N-kontsevye posledovatel'nosti omega-gliadinov Aegilops longissima. K voprosu o proiskhozhdenii genomov poliploidnykh pshenits.

Using high-performance reversed phase liquid chromatography, the major components of omega-gliadins were isolated from four samples of Aegilops longissima. A high interspecific variability of Ae. longissima with regard to gliadin composition was demonstrated. The N-terminal sequences of omega-gliadins were determined. It was shown that omega-gliadins under study belong to the SRQ type earlier discovered in hexaploid wheat species and in Ae. squarrosa. It is supposed that this type of sequence is specific to the whole Aegilops genus. The N-terminal sequence of omega-gliadin of Ae. longissima was identified and its similarity to the alpha/beta-type sequence found in hexaploid wheat species was revealed. The data obtained are discussed in terms of the origin of polyploid wheat genomes.

[Isolation and characterization of gliadins from Aegilops squarrosa seeds]. / Vydelenie i kharakteristika gliadinov iz semian Aegilops squarrosa.

The major gliadin components were isolated from the seeds of the diploid species Aegilops squarrosa, a putative source of polyploid wheat D-genome. The isolation procedure included gel-filtration and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The purified proteins were characterized by electrophoretic mobility in polyacrylamide gel using acid Al-lactate system and a system containing sodium dodecyl sulfate. The amino acid composition of isolated omega-gliadins was determined. Using covalent chromatography on thiopropyl-Sepharose 6B it was found that omega-gliadins of A. squarrosa contain no SH-groups and/or S-S-bonds. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of A. squarrosa gliadins were determined. omega-Gliadins were found to contain three types of N-terminal amino acid sequences, one of which, SRQ, in hexaploid wheat is encoded by 1B chromosome. It was shown that some omega-gliadins of A. squarrosa have blocked N-terminal amino acids. The major component of the gamma-fraction was found to contain an N-terminal sequence of gamma 2 type encoded in polyploid wheat by 1D chromosome. Gliadins with electrophoretic mobility in the beta-zone of the spectrum possess the N-terminal sequence of alpha-type. The results obtained are discussed in terms of the origin of polyploid wheat genomes.