Purification and characterization of a serine protease from the fruit of Ficus carica cultivar Masui Dauphine.

Ficus carica produces, in addition to the cysteine protease ficin, a serine protease (FSP). Here, we purified FSP to homogeneity from the fruit of F. carica cultivar Masui Dauphine. An 81-fold enrichment in specific activity of FSP with 2.1% recovery was attained. Three protein bands (70, 62, and 60 kDa) were identified on SDS-PAGE. Each band was identified as a subtilisin-like protease (661 amino acids) by trypsin digestion, LC-MS/MS analysis, and the partial N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis. Gelatin zymography revealed that the active FSP exists as a dimer. The optimum hydrolysis pH of FSP was 7.5, and the pHs at which the enzyme retained its initial activity by 70% in 24 h were 8.0-11.0. The optimum hydrolysis temperature of FSP was 50-60 °C, and the temperature required to reduce the initial activity by 50% in 15 min was 70 °C. These results will inform the industrial use of FSP.

Insight into the collagen-degrading activity of a serine protease in the latex of Ficus carica cultivar Masui Dauphine.

Ficus carica produces, in addition to the cysteine protease ficin, a serine protease. Earlier study on a serine protease from F. carica cultivar Brown Turkey showed that it specifically degraded collagen. In this study, we characterized the collagenolytic activity of a serine protease in the latex of F. carica cultivar Masui Dauphine. The serine protease degraded denatured, but not undenatured, acid-solubilized type I collagen. It also degraded bovine serum albumin, while the collagenase from Clostridium histolyticum did not. These results indicated that the serine protease in Masui Dauphine is not collagen-specific. The protease was purified to homogeneity by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, and its partial amino acid sequence was determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. BLAST searches against the Viridiplantae (green plants) genome database revealed that the serine protease was a subtilisin-like protease. Our results contrast with the results of the earlier study stating that the serine protease from F. carica is collagen-specific.

Preparation and characterization of the RNase H domain of Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase.

Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase (MMLV RT) contains fingers, palm, thumb, and connection subdomains as well as an RNase H domain. The DNA polymerase active site resides in the palm subdomain, and the RNase H active site is located in the RNase H domain. The RNase H domain contains a positively charged α-helix called the C helix (H(594)GEIYRRR(601)), that is thought to be involved in substrate recognition. In this study, we expressed three versions of the RNase H domain in Escherichia coli, the wild-type domain (WT) (residues Ile498-Leu671) and two variants that lack the regions containing the C helix (Ile593-Leu603 and Gly595-Thr605, which we called ΔC1 and ΔC2, respectively) with a strep-tag at the N-terminus and a deca-histidine tag at the C-terminus. These peptides were purified from the cells by anion-exchange, Ni(2+) affinity, and Strep-Tactin affinity column chromatography, and then the tags were removed by proteolysis. In an RNase H assay using a 25-bp RNA-DNA heteroduplex, WT, ΔC1, and ΔC2 produced RNA fragments ranging from 7 to 16 nucleotides (nt) whereas the full-length MMLV RT (Thr24-Leu671) produced 14-20-nt RNA fragments, suggesting that elimination of the fingers, palm, thumb, and connection subdomains affects the binding of the RNase H domain to the RNA-DNA heteroduplex. The activity levels of WT, ΔC1, and ΔC2 were estimated to be 1%, 0.01%, and 0.01% of full-length MMLV RT activity, indicating that the C helix is important, but not critical, for the activity of the isolated RNase H domain.

Stabilization of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase by site-directed mutagenesis.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) is a heterodimer containing 66 kDa p66 and 51 kDa p51 subunits. We previously showed that HIV-1 group M (HIV-1 M) RT and HIV-1 group O (HIV-1 O) RT have higher affinities for dTTP and template-primer (T/P) than Moloney murine leukemia virus RT, which is currently used for cDNA synthesis, suggesting that they might also be useful for cDNA synthesis (Konishi et al. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 2013, 169:77-87). Here, we have increased the thermostability of both HIV-1 M RT and HIV-1 O RT by site-directed mutagenesis. The Asp443 → Ala mutation, which abolishes RNase H activity, was introduced into the p66 subunits of HIV-1 M RT and HIV-1 O RT. The temperatures that reduced the initial activity by 50 % of the resulting mutants, HIV-1 M p66D443A/p51 and HIV-1 O p66D443A/p51, were 44 and 52 °C, respectively, which were higher than those of wild-type HIV-1 M p66/p51 (42 °C) and HIV-1 O p66/p51 (48 °C). The highest temperature at which both HIV-1 M p66D443A/p51 and HIV-1 O p66D443A/p51 exhibited cDNA synthesis activity was 68 °C, which was higher than for the wild-type enzymes (62 and 66 °C, respectively).

Efficacy and Safety of Fig (Ficus carica L.) Leaf Tea in Adults with Mild Atopic Dermatitis: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Preliminary Trial.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, recurrent pruritic skin disease with repeated remissions and exacerbations. Various factors, such as allergies, skin conditions and lifestyle, combine to cause AD, making it difficult to cure completely. Although AD symptoms are suppressed with medications, this is a long-term effort and burden on patients. Thus, safer drugs and alternatives are needed. We previously found that consumption of tea prepared from fig (Ficus carica L.) leaves alleviated allergy and AD symptoms in cultured cells and animals. Therefore, here, we conducted a double-blind, randomized, controlled study in patients with mild AD to evaluate the safety and AD-relieving effects of prolonged consumption of fig leaf tea. Positive effects of fig leaf tea consumption were confirmed in 14 of 15 participants. Eczema Area and Severity Index values were significantly lowered in the fig leaf tea-treated group than in the placebo-treated group. The effect weakened 4 weeks after the end of the intervention, suggesting that continued intake of fig leaf tea was effective. Further assessments confirmed the safety of fig leaf tea consumption and revealed no variations that might pose a health hazard. Therefore, we postulate that fig leaf tea is a natural and safe therapeutic option for AD.

Characterization of proteases activities in Ficus carica cultivars.

In this study, we characterized protease activities of 23 Ficus carica cultivars. Extracts of fruit, branch, and leaf of Masui Dauphine, one of the most representative F. carica cultivars in Japan, exhibited gelatin-hydrolyzing activity, both in the absence and presence of a cysteine protease-specific inhibitor, E-64, suggesting that not only ficin (classified as cysteine protease) but also collagenase (classified as serine protease) were involved in the digestion of gelatin. In the hydrolysis of (7-methoxycoumarin-4-yl)acetyl-l-Lys-l-Pro-l-Leu-Gly-l-Leu-[N3 -(2,4-dinitrophenyl)-l-2,3-diaminopropionyl]-l-Ala-l-Arg-NH2 , all branch extracts of 23 F. carica cultivars exhibited the activity both in the absence and presence of cysteine protease-specific inhibitor E-64, indicating that they contain ficin and collagenase. During digestion of acid-solubilized type I collagen by the branch extract of Masui Dauphine at 40-55 °C, collagen was completely digested in the absence of E-64, while it was partially digested in the presence of the inhibitor, indicating that the manner of digestion differed between ficin and collagenase contained in the extract. These results suggest that F. carica is attractive for industrial use to digest collagen. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The industrial use of F. carica might be enhanced by efficiently utilizing these proteases and/or selecting the appropriate F. carica cultivar. Collagen is one of the targets to which our results might be applied. It is widely accepted today that collagen and its digestion products could be useful as functional food. F. carica is a potential candidate for use in not only complete but also partial digestion of collagen.