Contribution of the C30/C75 disulfide bond to the biological properties of onconase

2008 ◽  
Vol 389 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Torrent ◽  
Antoni Benito ◽  
Jessica Castro ◽  
Marc Ribó ◽  
Maria Vilanova

Abstract Onconase, a member of the pancreatic type ribonuclease family, is currently used as a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of different types of cancer. It is widely accepted that one of the properties that renders this enzyme cytotoxic is its ability to evade the cytosolic ribonuclease inhibitor (RI). In the present work, we produced and characterized an onconase variant that lacks the disulfide bond C30/C75. This variant mimics the stable unfolding intermediate des(30–75) produced in the reductive unfolding pathway of onconase. We found that the reduction of the C30/C75 disulfide bond does not significantly alter the cytotoxic properties of onconase, although the variant possesses a notably reduced conformational stability. Interestingly, both its catalytic activity and its ability to evade RI are comparable to wild-type onconase under mild reductive conditions in which the three disulfide containing intermediate des(30–75) is present. These results suggest that the C30/C75 disulfide bond could easily be reduced under physiological redox conditions.

1995 ◽  
Vol 308 (2) ◽  
pp. 547-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
J S Kim ◽  
J Soucek ◽  
J Matousek ◽  
R T Raines

Bovine seminal ribonuclease (BS-RNase) is a homologue of RNase A with special biological properties, including potent immunosuppressive activity. A mutant BS-RNase was created in which His-119, the active-site residue that acts as a general acid during catalysis, was changed to an aspartic acid. H119D BS-RNase formed a dimer with quaternary structure similar to that of the wild-type enzyme but with values of kcat. and kcat./Km for the cleavage of UpA [uridylyl(3′-->5′)adenosine] that were 4 x 10(3)-fold lower. The mutant protein also demonstrated dramatically decreased immunosuppressive, anti-tumour, aspermatogenic, and embryotoxic activities. The catalytic activity of BS-RNase is therefore necessary for its special biological properties.


2000 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 890-894 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Kwang Song ◽  
Joon Shick Rhee

ABSTRACT The thermal stability and catalytic activity of phospholipase A1 from Serratia sp. strain MK1 were improved by evolutionary molecular engineering. Two thermostable mutants were isolated after sequential rounds of error-prone PCR performed to introduce random mutations and filter-based screening of the resultant mutant library; we determined that these mutants had six (mutant TA3) and seven (mutant TA13) amino acid substitutions. Different types of substitutions were found in the two mutants, and these substitutions resulted in an increase in nonploar residues (mutant TA3) or in differences between side chains for polar or charged residues (mutant TA13). The wild-type and mutant enzymes were purified, and the effect of temperature on the stability and catalytic activity of the enzymes was investigated. The melting temperatures of the TA3 and TA13 enzymes were increased by 7 and 11°C, respectively, compared with the melting temperature of the wild-type enzyme. Thus, we found that evolutionary molecular engineering was an effective and efficient approach for increasing thermostability without compromising enzyme activity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1387-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karishma Biswas ◽  
Humaira Ilyas ◽  
Aritreyee Datta ◽  
Anirban Bhunia

Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs), within their realm incorporate a diverse group of structurally and functionally varied peptides, playing crucial roles in innate immunity. Over the last few decades, the field of AMP has seen a huge upsurge, mainly owing to the generation of the so-called drug resistant ‘superbugs’ as well as limitations associated with the existing antimicrobial agents. Due to their resilient biological properties, AMPs can very well form the sustainable alternative for nextgeneration therapeutic agents. Certain drawbacks associated with existing AMPs are, however, issues of major concern, circumventing which are imperative. These limitations mainly include proteolytic cleavage and hence poor stability inside the biological systems, reduced activity due to inadequate interaction with the microbial membrane, and ineffectiveness because of inappropriate delivery among others. In this context, the application of naturally occurring AMPs as an efficient prototype for generating various synthetic and designed counterparts has evolved as a new avenue in peptide-based therapy. Such designing approaches help to overcome the drawbacks of the parent AMPs while retaining the inherent activity. In this review, we summarize some of the basic NMR structure based approaches and techniques which aid in improving the activity of AMPs, using the example of a 16-residue dengue virus fusion protein derived peptide, VG16KRKP. Using first principle based designing technique and high resolution NMR-based structure characterization we validate different types of modifications of VG16KRKP, highlighting key motifs, which optimize its activity. The approaches and designing techniques presented can support our peers in their drug development work.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Casciaro ◽  
Francesca Ghirga ◽  
Deborah Quaglio ◽  
Maria Luisa Mangoni

Cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are an interesting class of gene-encoded molecules endowed with a broad-spectrum of anti-infective activity and immunomodulatory properties. They represent promising candidates for the development of new antibiotics, mainly due to their membraneperturbing mechanism of action that very rarely induces microbial resistance. However, bringing AMPs into the clinical field is hampered by some intrinsic limitations, encompassing low peptide bioavailability at the target site and high peptide susceptibility to proteolytic degradation. In this regard, nanotechnologies represent an innovative strategy to circumvent these issues. According to the literature, a large variety of nanoparticulate systems have been employed for drug-delivery, bioimaging, biosensors or nanoantibiotics. The possibility of conjugating different types of molecules, including AMPs, to these systems, allows the production of nanoformulations able to enhance the biological profile of the compound while reducing its cytotoxicity and prolonging its residence time. In this minireview, inorganic gold nanoparticles (NPs) and biodegradable polymeric NPs made of poly(lactide-coglycolide) are described with particular emphasis on examples of the conjugation of AMPs to them, to highlight the great potential of such nanoformulations as alternative antimicrobials.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Navone ◽  
Thomas Vogl ◽  
Pawarisa Luangthongkam ◽  
Jo-Anne Blinco ◽  
Carlos H. Luna-Flores ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Phytases are widely used commercially as dietary supplements for swine and poultry to increase the digestibility of phytic acid. Enzyme development has focused on increasing thermostability to withstand the high temperatures during industrial steam pelleting. Increasing thermostability often reduces activity at gut temperatures and there remains a demand for improved phyases for a growing market. Results In this work, we present a thermostable variant of the E. coli AppA phytase, ApV1, that contains an extra non-consecutive disulfide bond. Detailed biochemical characterisation of ApV1 showed similar activity to the wild type, with no statistical differences in kcat and KM for phytic acid or in the pH and temperature activity optima. Yet, it retained approximately 50% activity after incubations for 20 min at 65, 75 and 85 °C compared to almost full inactivation of the wild-type enzyme. Production of ApV1 in Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffi) was much lower than the wild-type enzyme due to the presence of the extra non-consecutive disulfide bond. Production bottlenecks were explored using bidirectional promoters for co-expression of folding chaperones. Co-expression of protein disulfide bond isomerase (Pdi) increased production of ApV1 by ~ 12-fold compared to expression without this folding catalyst and restored yields to similar levels seen with the wild-type enzyme. Conclusions Overall, the results show that protein engineering for enhanced enzymatic properties like thermostability may result in folding complexity and decreased production in microbial systems. Hence parallel development of improved production strains is imperative to achieve the desirable levels of recombinant protein for industrial processes.


Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 154 (1) ◽  
pp. 437-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Girard ◽  
Michael Freeling

Abstract Insertions of Mutator transposons into maize genes can generate suppressible alleles. Mu suppression is when, in the absence of Mu activity, the phenotype of a mutant allele reverts to that of its progenitor. Here we present the characterization of five dominant Mu-suppressible alleles of the knox (knotted1-like homeobox) genes liguleless3 and rough sheath1, which exhibit neomorphic phenotypes in the leaves. RNA blot analysis suggests that Mu suppression affects only the neomorphic aspect of the allele, not the wild-type aspect. Additionally, Mu suppression appears to be exerting its effects at the level of transcription or transcript accumulation. We show that truncated transcripts are produced by three alleles, implying a mechanism for Mu suppression of 5′ untranslated region insertion alleles distinct from that which has been described previously. Additionally, it is found that Mu suppression can be caused by at least three different types of Mutator elements. Evidence presented here suggests that whether an allele is suppressible or not may depend upon the site of insertion. We cite previous work on the knox gene kn1, and discuss our results in the context of interactions between Mu-encoded products and the inherently negative regulation of neomorphic liguleless3 and rough sheath1 transcription.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nattaphop Noothuan ◽  
Kantamas Apitanyasai ◽  
Somsak Panha ◽  
Anchalee Tassanakajon

Abstract Objective Snails secrete different types of mucus that serve several functions, and are increasingly being exploited for medical and cosmetic applications. In this study, we explored the protein pattern and compared the biological properties of the mucus secreted from the mantle collar and foot of two snail species, Lissachatina fulica and Hemiplecta distincta. Result Protein profile showed a different pattern between the two species and between the two secretory parts. The mantle-specific protein bands were further characterized and among them was an antibacterial protein, achacin. Accordingly, the mucus from the mantle exhibited the higher antibacterial activity than that from the foot in both snail species. The mucus from H. distincta, first reported here, also showed antibacterial properties, but with a lower activity compared to that for L. fulica. Snail mucus also exhibited anti-tyrosinase activity and antioxidant activity but with no significant difference between the foot and mantle mucus. These results indicate some different protein compositions and biological activities of snail slime from the mantle and foot, which might be associated with their specific functions in the animal and are useful for medical applications.


Author(s):  
Sajid Hussain ◽  
Eleonora Aneggi ◽  
Daniele Goi

AbstractInnovations in water technology are needed to solve challenges of climate change, resource shortages, emerging contaminants, urbanization, sustainable development and demographic changes. In particular, conventional techniques of wastewater treatment are limited by the presence of poorly biodegradable organic matter. Alternatively, recent Fenton, Fenton-like and hybrid processes appear successful for cleaning of different types of liquid wastewaters. Here, we review the application of metallic catalyst-H2O2 systems in the heterogeneous Fenton process. Each metallic catalyst-H2O2 system has unique redox properties due to metal oxidation state. Solution pH is a major influencing factor. Catalysts made of iron and cerium form stable complexes with oxidation products and H2O2, thus resulting in reduced activities. Copper forms transitory complexes with oxidation products, but copper catalytic activity is restored during the reaction. Silver and manganese do not form complexes. The catalyst performance for degradation and mineralization decreases in the order: manganese, copper, iron, silver, cerium, yet the easiness of practical application decreases in the order: copper, manganese, iron, silver, cerium.


Planta Medica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerald J. Nair ◽  
Johannes van Staden

AbstractOver 600 alkaloids have to date been identified in the plant family Amaryllidaceae. These have been arranged into as many as 15 different groups based on their characteristic structural features. The vast majority of studies on the biological properties of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids have probed their anticancer potential. While most efforts have focused on the major alkaloid groups, the volume and diversity afforded by the minor alkaloid groups have promoted their usefulness as targets for cancer cell line screening purposes. This survey is an in-depth review of such activities described for around 90 representatives from 10 minor alkaloid groups of the Amaryllidaceae. These have been evaluated against over 60 cell lines categorized into 18 different types of cancer. The montanine and cripowellin groups were identified as the most potent, with some in the latter demonstrating low nanomolar level antiproliferative activities. Despite their challenging molecular architectures, the minor alkaloid groups have allowed for facile adjustments to be made to their structures, thereby altering the size, geometry, and electronics of the targets available for structure-activity relationship studies. Nevertheless, it was seen with a regular frequency that the parent alkaloids were better cytotoxic agents than the corresponding semisynthetic derivatives. There has also been significant interest in how the minor alkaloid groups manifest their effects in cancer cells. Among the various targets and pathways in which they were seen to mediate, their ability to induce apoptosis in cancer cells is most appealing.


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