Antimicrobial Activity of a Cys-Rich Peptide Derived from a Centrosema virginianum Vicilin

Many antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been identified in plants. These peptides are highly divergent at the primary sequence level and vary in their hierarchical structures. Some common biochemical features include the ability to form disulfide bonds, tandemly repeated amino acid sequences and a net charge at pH 7. Unusual Cysteine containing repeats has been identified in several plant seed storage proteins that may act as AMPs. We identified a Cys repeat within a vicilin (seed storage protein) of a wild legume, Centrosema virginianum. Cleavage of the vicilin protein during germination would generate a vicilin derived Cys peptide (VDCP). We investigated the antimicrobial properties of this VDCP and compared its efficacy as an antimicrobial agent to VDCPs from other species. We developed transgenic tobacco plants that expressed cloned sequences encoding the Cysteine repeat unit from C. virginianum, Theobroma cacao and Gossypium hirsutum. Extracts from fully expanded leaves were tested for antimicrobial activity against a fungal pathogen, Botrytis cinerea. The Cys motif from C. virginianum was also expressed in two E. coli cell lines (reducing or oxidizing cytoplasm) and peptide fusion protein fractions were tested for antimicrobial activity against a battery of fungal strains. The unique Cysteine repeat single unit from C. virginianum exhibited antimicrobial properties greater than or equal to the antimicrobial activity associated with expression of the multiple Cys-repeat VDCPs from G. hirsutum or T. cacao in transgenic tobacco. When expressed in bacteria, a C. virginianum VDCP fusion protein exhibited antifungal activity against 3 of the 4 fungi tested. Although the primary role of seed storage proteins is to provide a pool of amino acids and nitrogen for germinating seeds and developing plantlets, it is likely that seed storage protein proteolytic products also provide beneficial antimicrobial properties during germination and young plantlet development.

芝麻过敏原及其致敏性消减技术研究进展

芝麻是新的“8大类”过敏食物之一,芝麻过敏反应由于其潜在危害性及其日益上升的发病率而越来越引起全世界的普遍重视,因此研究芝麻致敏性消减技术在保障食品安全方面具有重要意义。概述了芝麻主要过敏原(Ses i 1~Ses i 7)的结构和免疫特性,及其致敏性消减技术原理和研究进展;已报道的芝麻过敏原有7种,属于2S白蛋白、7S类豌豆球蛋白、油质蛋白和11S球蛋白,其中11S球蛋白和2S白蛋白是主要的过敏原蛋白。利用热加工技术消减芝麻致敏性,主要通过煮沸、微波、烘焙等工艺引起过敏原的解聚、变性进而破坏致敏表位;高压、辐照、发酵、酶解等非热加工技术通过氢键、疏水键等化学键的变化、多肽链的断裂引起蛋白结构变化,从而掩盖或直接降解致敏表位。另外,结合其他食品过敏原,对芝麻过敏原的潜在消减技术,包括脉冲电场、冷等离子体、超声波、脉冲光、糖基化改性和复合加工技术等进行了阐述分析。未来需要进一步研究芝麻不同过敏原的致敏表位、不同加工工艺对过敏原结构及致敏性影响、开展血清学、细胞和动物模型等致敏性评价等,以明确芝麻致敏性消减的主要机制,以期为生产低敏或脱敏芝麻产品奠定理论依据与科学指导。

小麦×豌豆后代种子麦谷蛋白的遗传变异

本研究采用SDS—PAGE方法,对小麦与豌豆远缘杂交后代种子麦谷蛋白的遗传变异行为进行了研究,探讨了在豌豆的豌豆球蛋白影响下麦谷蛋白的变异情况。 结果表明:小麦×豌豆后代麦谷蛋白亚基数目及组成麦谷蛋白的亚基成份,+与亲本小麦存在很大差异,豌豆球蛋白的个别亚基在后代中得到了充分的表达:(1)后代高分子量麦谷蛋白的亚基数目不变,但构成发生变异,且这种变异随着以豌豆作父本连续回交次数的不同而异;(2)后代高分子量麦谷蛋白亚基数目出现减少和新增;(3)后代低分子量麦谷蛋白遗传信息的翻译表达发生了与母本小麦不同的变异。

Optimization of Cowpea Dry Grain Yield through the Stimulation of the RNA Synthetic Activity of NADH-Glutamate Dehydrogenase

Several potentially practical biochemical processes in plant systems still remain hidden, especially the NADH-glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) synthesis of nongenetic code-based RNA that optimizes crop nutritious yield by degrading superfluous genetic code-based RNA. In continued characterization of the biochemistry of cowpea grain yield, GDH was purified by electrophoresis from seeds of cowpea treated with solutions of stoichiometric mixes of mineral salts. The GDH was made to synthesize RNAs in the amination (α-KG/NADH/) and then in the deamination (L-Glu/NAD+) direction. The initial product RNAs were captured and sequenced. The grand challenge was to discover the specific molecular roles of the redox enzyme in the optimization of cowpea grain yields. In the amination direction, the GDH hexamers synthesized plus-RNA, but in the deamination direction, they synthesized minus-RNA. The plus-RNAs and minus-RNAs were homologous to about the same numbers of different mRNAs encoding the key enzymes that regulate photosynthesis;saccharide biochemistry and glycolysis;phenylpropanoid biosynthesis;nodulation nitrogen fixing processes;dehydrin drought and glutathione environmental stress resistance processes;purine, pyrimidine, DNA, RNA and essential amino acid biosynthesis;storage protein vicilin accumulation;isoflavone earliness of cowpea maturity;peroxidase synthesis of lignin and sequestration of CO2 to enrich soil organic carbon contents;triglyceride physiology in the biosynthesis of bioactive compounds that render cowpea resistant to insects and fungi;etc., all of which constitute the GDH chemical pathways for discrimination of biochemical, physiological, metabolic, genetic reactions;and optimization of cowpea dry grain yields. Each stoichiometric mix of mineral salts produced optimally yielding biochemical variant of purple hull cowpea;the K + K + K mix was spectacular because it increased the grain yield to 7598 kg from the 3644 kg·ha-1 in the control cowpea. Optimized nutritious staple crop yield buttresses food security. The synthesis of plus-RNA in amination and minus-RNA in deamination is an economic tactical plan in biochemistry for the selection of superfluous mRNAs that would be degraded to assure the survival of cowpea growing under unfavorable environmental conditions.

Processing Pisum sativum seed storage protein precursors in vitro

The profile of polypeptides separated by SDS-PAGE from seed of major crop species such as pea (Pisum sativum) is complex, resulting from cleavage (processing) of precursors expressed from multiple copies of genes encoding vicilin and legumin, the major storage globulins. Translation in vitro of mRNAs hybrid-selected from mid-maturation pea seed RNAs by denned vicilin and legumin cDNA clones provided precursor molecules that were cleaved in vitro by a cell-free protease extract obtained from similar stage seed; the derived polypep tides were of comparable sizes to those observed in vivo. The feasibility of transcribing mENA in vitro from a cDNA clone and cleavage in vitro of the derived translation products was established for a legumin clone, providing a method for determining polypeptide products of an expressed sequence. This approach will also be useful for characterising cleavage site requirements since modifications an readily be introduced at the DNA level.

热诱导菜豆属7S球蛋白纤维聚集研究

研究了菜豆属球蛋白(芸豆和绿豆)在低pH低离子强度条件下热诱导形成的自组装纤维聚集机理。通过对制备的球蛋白进行热性质及临界形成凝胶浓度分析,选定85℃和0.5%作为自组装纤维化的参数。通过硫代黄色素T(ThT)荧光法,动态光散射(DLS)和原子力显微镜(AFM)表征蛋白纤维化聚集程度及形态。结果表明:芸豆和绿豆球蛋白的Th T最大荧光强度在1h之内剧烈增大(分别是765和1093),表明芸豆和绿豆球蛋白自组装纤维化的"构筑单元"主要产生于加热的起始阶段。DLS结果显示芸豆自组装纤维聚集的能力比绿豆强。但是二者的自组装机理有所不同。AFM图清晰地显示了芸豆球蛋白在加热12 h时自组装形成规则的高度有序的"念珠串状"长线性纤维,绿豆则形成无规则的短棒状纤维和大量碎片状纤维。这为研究进一步研究超低固形物下基于自组装技术的纤维型植物蛋白凝胶的制备提供参考。

豌豆球蛋白及其亚基的分离提纯

本文详细地叙述了提取、分离、提纯豌豆球蛋白及其亚基的方法:用硼酸钠缓冲液提取豌豆球蛋白,用85%饱和度硫酸铵沉淀除去其它蛋白质杂质,再用凝胶柱进一步提纯;提纯的豌豆球蛋白通过DE_(52)-纤维素阴离子树脂柱(8M尿素作为变性分离试剂)和S_(200)凝胶柱(70%甲酸作为变性分离试剂)则可分离出豌豆球蛋白的各个亚基;试验结果还表明:在pH8.5时,33,000的亚基携带少量负电荷;而12,000的亚基携带大量负电荷。