Purification and structural characterization of LTP1 polypeptides from beer

We report on the purification of lipid transfer proteins (LTP) from barley seeds and beer with the aim of investigating the chemical modifications that occur during the brewing process. In seeds, the well-known LTP of 9 kDa (LTP1) has been found together with a second form named LTPb that displays comparable amino acid composition but was not fully sequenced. These two forms have been recovered in beer with marked chemical modifications including disulfide bond reduction and rearrangement and especially glycation by Maillard reaction. The glycation is heterogeneous with variable amounts of hexose units bound to LTPs. Circular dichroism shows that glycated LTP1 having all their disulfide bridges reduced are totally unfolded. These results provide a first basis for understanding how barley LTPs become foam-promoting agents during the malting and brewing process.     

十字花科植物LTP基因BcMF15同源序列克隆与进化分析

为获取LTP在物种间的演化和分类信息,并为验证该基因在花粉发育过程中的生物学功能提供前期证据,根据白菜雄性不育相关的LTP基因BcMF15全长序列设计引物,运用PCR技术分别从十字花科6属10种材料中克隆了LTP基因BcMF15的同源序列。经比较分析表明,这些同源序列的相似性达80%以上,所推导的氨基酸序列相似性达53%以上,且两者种间差异分别为0~1.1%、0~4.0%,除’圆白’萝卜和其他属的差异较大外,属间差异分别是0.1%~23.4%、0.9%~5.0%。LTP基因的氨基酸序列在N端的跨膜疏水结构域高度保守,而在C端则存在一定程度的变异。这些结果表明该基因具有较好的保守性,可能在十字花科植物的花粉发育中行使重要的功能。由核酸序列构建的分子系统树可知,在亲缘进化关系上芸薹属与萝卜属较近,其他依次为荠菜属、拟南芥属和山芥属,而与诸葛菜属最远,可见在十字花科BcMF15序列差异属间较种间大。     

马铃薯水通道蛋白基因cDNA克隆、序列分析及蛋白质结构预测

摘要：以干旱胁迫处理的马铃薯（Solarium tuberosum L.）普通栽培种“GannongShu No.2”叶片为材料，提取总RNA，采用RT-PCR方法，扩增出一个编码288个氨基酸序列的水通道蛋白基因StPIP1( Solarium tuberosum L. plasma membrane intrinsic protein gene) cDNA，GenBank登录号为DQ999080，用生物软件对StPIP1分析表明，StPIP1含有6个跨膜区，具有MIP家族的特征信号序列SGXHXNPAVT，还具有质膜水通道蛋白家族的特征信号序列GGGANXXXXGY和TGI/TNPARSL/FGAAI/VI/VF/YN。聚类分析表明和其他14个物种PIP1类同源性在92％以上，应属于质膜水通道蛋白PIP1类。用运同源建模的思想预测StPIP1蛋白质三级结构，Swiss-Model反馈结果表明和菠菜(2B5F)水通道蛋白结构相似，单体由5个短环相连的6个亲水的跨膜螺旋，N末端、C末端以及B、D环位于细胞内，A环、C环及E环在细胞外，一般以四聚体的形式存在。     

Evaluation of the Impact of Sequential Microwave/Ultrasound Processing on the IgE Binding Properties of Pru p 3 in Treated Peach Juice

Peach lipid transfer protein (LTP) can cause severe allergic reactions to peach-allergic patients. It belongs to the nonspecific LTPs family, a class of proteins extremely resistant both to proteolytic digestion and to high temperatures. Food processing can either drop or increase the allergenicity, depending on the process and on the food. As far as peach-derived products (pulp, juice) are concerned, it has been previously shown how thermal treatment performed in an autoclave does not decrease LTP allergenicity. In this work, it was attempted to investigate whether sequential microwave and ultrasound processing could affect the allergenicity of peach juice. Incubation with specific anti-Pru p 3 serum showed how treating peach peel with microwave at 140 °C and with ultrasound does not eliminate Pru p 3 IgE binding properties. The application of MW/US protocol on peach pulp appeared to be insufficient for the reduction of IgE binding to Pru p 3.     

Purification and partial characterization of a second cysteine proteinase inhibitor from ungerminated barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

It was previously shown that ungerminated barley contains inhibitors that suppress the activities of green malt cysteine proteinases. This paper reports the purification and partial characterization of a second barley cysteine endoproteinase inhibitor, a protein called lipid transfer protein 2 (LTP2). The chromatographically purified inhibitor had a molecular mass of 7112. The amino acid composition and sequence data of the purified inhibitor indicated that it was a protein whose gene, but not the protein itself, was isolated earlier from barley aleurone tissue. The purified protein inhibited the activities of electrophoretically separated green malt cysteine proteinases but not the activities of the serine- or metalloproteinases. The purified LTP2 inhibited the same proteases as the LTP1 that was characterized previously but was present in the mature seed in much smaller amounts. Neither LTP1 nor LTP2 has been proven to transport lipids in vivo, and it seems possible that both serve to keep cysteine endoproteinases that are synthesized during barley seed development inactive until the plant needs them. The small amount of LTP2 in the seed made it impossible to determine whether it, like LTP1, is involved in beer foam formation. Because of its proteinase-inhibiting ability and its resistance to heat inactivation, some of the LTP2 may persist in beer.     

Globulin Expression in Grain of Australian Hard Wheat Cultivars Is Affected by Growth Environment

Our aim was to study changes in wheat proteomes across different growth locations as the first step in linking protein composition with functional changes in grains produced with commercial production systems. Soluble and insoluble proteins were extracted sequentially from grain of three commercial wheat cultivars grown at four locations in New South Wales, Australia, during a single season. Bands were separated with SDS‐PAGE and identified by peptide mass fingerprinting. Quantitative changes in the electrophoretic patterns were observed mainly in the insoluble polypeptides of molecular mass 40,000–70,000 for all three cultivars grown at two of the four locations. These proteins were identified as mainly globulin and serpin isoforms, as well as triticin. Other proteins with changed expression included disease‐resistance proteins, class III peroxidase, starch branching enzyme I, β‐amylase, and storage proteins. Two‐dimensional electrophoretic analysis was performed on two of the same wheat cultivars grown at one of the locations during two consecutive seasons. Protein spots that varied between seasons consisted of globulin and serpin isoforms, triticin, HMW glutenin, γ‐gliadin, starch branching enzyme IIb, and α‐amylase. The implications of the upregulation of globulin and triticin on whole meal flour quality, through their participation in polymerization of the gluten network, are considered.     

Evidence of the glycation and denaturation of LTP1 during the malting and brewing process

The influence of malting and brewing processes on the chemical and structural modifications occurring on LTP1 was investigated by mass spectrometry and circular dichroism. Proteins were first purified from malt, and samples were collected at various steps of beer processing performed on two barley cultivars. The levels of LTP1 found in malt were not significantly different from the amounts in barley seed. However, in malt, both LTP1b, a post-translational form of LTP1, and a third isoform named LTP1c were isolated. Moreover, both of these proteins were found to be heterogeneously glycated but still exhibited an alpha-helix structure. Both glycated LTP1 and LTP1b were recovered during mashing. It was also shown that glycated LTP1 was unfolded during heat treatment of wort boiling, which is in agreement with the denatured form previously isolated from beer.     

Characterization of the soluble allergenic proteins of cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale L.)

The allergens associated with cashew food allergy have not been well-characterized. We sought to identify the major allergens in cashew nut by performing IgE immunoblots to dissociated and reduced or nonreduced cashew protein extracts, followed by sequencing of the peptides of interest. Sera from 15 subjects with life-threatening reactions to cashews and 8 subjects who tolerate cashews but have life-threatening reactions to other tree nuts were compared. An aqueous cashew protein extract containing albumin/globulin was separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and subjected to IgE immunoblotting using patient sera. Selected IgE reactive bands were subjected to N-terminal amino acid sequencing. Each of the 15 sera from cashew-allergic subjects showed IgE binding to the cashew protein extract. The dominant IgE-binding antigens in the reduced preparations included peptides in the 31-35 kD range, consistent with the large subunits of the major storage 13S globulin (legumin-like protein). Low-molecular-weight polypeptides of the 2S albumin family, with similarity to the major walnut allergen Jug r 1, also bound IgE. The sera from eight patients who tolerate cashew but displayed allergies to other tree nuts showed only minimal or no IgE binding to cashew. Cashew food allergy is associated with the presence of IgE directed against the major seed storage proteins in cashew, including the 13S globulin (legumin group) and 2S albumins, both of which represent major allergen classes in several plant seeds. Thus, the legumin-group proteins and 2S albumins are again identified as major food allergens, which will help further research into seed protein allergenicity.     

Proteomic analysis of wheat flour allergens

Wheat can cause severe IgE-mediated systematic reactions, but knowledge on relevant wheat allergens at the molecular level is scanty. The aim of the present study was to achieve a more detailed and comprehensive characterization of the wheat allergens involved in food allergy to wheat using proteomic strategies, referred to as "allergenomics". Whole flour proteins were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis with isoelectric focusing and lithium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Then, IgE-binding proteins were detected by immunoblotting with sera of patients with a food allergy to wheat. After tryptic digestion, the peptides of IgE-binding proteins were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry. In this study, we identified four previously reported wheat allergens or their sequentially homologous proteins [serpin, alpha-amylase inhibitor, gamma-gliadin, and low molecular weight (LMW) glutenin] by a database search. As a result of the high resolution of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, nine subunits of LMW glutenins were identified as the most predominant IgE-binding antigens. The two-dimensional allergen map can be beneficial in many ways. It could be used, for example, for precise diagnosis of wheat-allergic patients and assessment of wheat allergens in food. Additionally, we compared allergenomics to conventional biochemical methods and evaluated the usefulness of a proteomic strategy for identifying putative allergens to wheat allergy.     

Protein components of low-density lipoproteins purified from hen egg yolk

To identify apoproteins present in purified low-density lipoproteins from hen egg yolk in relation with their emulsifying properties, they have been separated by SDS-PAGE. We identified two different proteins by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of the peptides obtained by the trypsin digestion of protein gel bands. Apovitellenin I was identified as a monomer and a dimer. Its amino acid sequence was totally confirmed, and molecular mass determination by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry showed that it did not present post-translational modifications but only a slight heterogeneity by the loss of one or two amino acids at the C-terminal part of the protein. Apolipoprotein B was identified into seven bands corresponding to fragments resulting of a processing of the hen blood apo-B protein. The identity of the fragments was determined by the observation of the sequence coverage by trypsin peptides and the sequence alignment with homologous human blood apolipoprotein B-100.     

山东石榴品种对枝条干腐病的抗性评价及其病原菌鉴定

为明确山东省主要石榴品种对枝条干腐病的抗性及引起枝条干腐病的病原菌种类,本研究对山东省枣庄市的20个主要石榴品种进行田间抗性评价。通过组织分离法对病原菌进行分离,利用柯赫氏法则验证其致病性,并通过显微形态特征观察及分子生物学分析开展病原菌鉴定。结合形态学、致病性测定和分子生物学分析结果,将石榴枝条干腐病病原菌鉴定为单间座壳菌(Diaporthe eres)。抗性评价结果显示,白皮酸、碧榴表现为近免疫;大青皮、秋艳、岗榴1号、大马牙、峄城三白、冰糖籽、黑美人表现为抗病;枣庄玛瑙、墨石榴、九洲红、青皮软籽、黄金榴、枣庄软仁表现为中抗;冠榴、谢花甜、红皮马牙表现为感病;大红袍和泰山红表现为高感。筛选得到的近免疫、抗病品种可作为石榴抗性育种和种质资源改良提供研究材料。本研究结果为山东石榴枝条干腐病的抗病机理研究和系统性防控提供了参考。     

Heat-Induced Fragmentation of the Maize Waxy Protein During Protein Extraction from Starch Granules

The starch granule of maize contains a characteristic set of tightly bound polypeptides. Granule-associated polypeptides are typically extracted from starch granules by heating starch granule suspensions at 90–100°C in a detergent such as SDS. Solubilized proteins are recovered by centrifugation and analyzed by gel electrophoresis. Previously identified tightly bound granule intrinsic proteins consist of the 85-kDa starch-branching enzyme IIb, the 76-kDa starch synthase I, and the 60-kD waxy (Wx) protein, also known as granule-bound starch synthase I. However, SDS extracts from starch granules of maize also contain a cluster of proteins ranging in mass between 47 and 32 kDa In this study, we analyzed this group of granule-associated proteins and found that each was recognized by the Wx antibody. A 15 amino acid N-terminal sequence from the 47-kDa polypeptide was identical to the predicted N-terminus of the Wx protein. Further analysis revealed that each immunoreactive polypeptide between 47 and 32 kDa was a heat-induced fragmentation product of the Wx protein. Conditions for the extraction of granule proteins were evaluated. Our results demonstrate that granule proteins are effectively released by mild extraction (10-min incubation at 72°C). Relative to the Wx protein, starch synthase I and starch branching enzyme IIb were less susceptible to thermal fragmentation. These results demonstrate that the 85-, 76-, and 60-kDa polypeptides are authentic granule-intrinsic proteins, and that the majority of polypeptides between 47 and 32 kDa are artifacts of high-temperature granule extraction procedures.     

植物细菌天山根瘤菌调控基因mrtR在群体感应中的作用

在许多种类的细菌中均发现了luxR/luxI类型的群体感应调控系统,其中luxR是调节基因,对luxI合成自体诱导物(AI,autoinducer)起着正调控作用。通过建库筛选后,测序比对发现天山根瘤菌中存在mrtR/mrtI系统。通过基因敲除和转录水平基因表达对mrtR进行研究,发现mrtR严格调控着mrtI的表达,同时mrtR的表达也受到AI影响,这表明mrtR表达的调控是一种自调控,同时根毛吸附实验显示该基因对根瘤菌与宿主间相互作用密切相关。     

Biochemical characterization and cellular localization of 11S type storage proteins in olive (Olea europaea L.) seeds

The composition of seed storage proteins (SSPs) in olive endosperm and cotyledon has been analyzed. Precursor forms of these proteins are made up of individual proteins, which have been purified to homogeneity and further named p1-p5 (20.5, 21.5, 25.5, 27.5, and 30 kDa, respectively). N-terminal sequences of p1 and p2 proteins displayed relevant homology to the basic subunit of the 11S family of plant SSPs (legumins). Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis experiments allowed us to verify the basic character of p1 and p2 and the acidic character of p3, p4, and p5 proteins. In addition, the putative presence of highly similar isoforms or posttranslational modifications of these polypeptides was detected. As a result, a model describing the putative association of p1-p5 proteins into subunits of alpha(acidic)/beta(basic) type has been proposed. Solubility experiments have shown that the majority of these olive seed proteins from the 11S storage protein family are extracted with aqueous alcohol and only partially with water and diluted saline solutions, therefore suggesting their similarity to prolamines. Moreover, no visible differences were found in either subunit composition or 11S proteins mass among six olive cultivars examined. This result suggests that the synthesis of storage proteins is highly conserved in this plant species. By using a rabbit antiserum raised to p1 protein, the proteins have also been immunolocalized in olive seed tissues, showing that they accumulate in conspicuous protein bodies present in both the endosperm and the cotyledon.     

Identification of a new form of lipid transfer protein (LTP1) in wheat seeds

Recently, this laboratory has isolated from barley and beer extract an isoform of lipid transfer protein (LTP1), which was not fully sequenced (Jégou, S.; Douliez, J. P.; Mollé, D.; Boivin, P.; Marion, D. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2000, 48, 5023--5029). It was named LTP1b and exhibited a molecular weight 294 Da higher than that of the known LTP1. This paper reports the finding of an LTP1 isoform in wheat that also exhibits an excess of 294 Da compared to the native protein. Amino acid sequencing, reduction and alkylation, and mass spectrometry showed that this new LTP1b possesses the same N-terminal sequence as the native LTP1, suggesting that the difference resides in the binding of an adduct which has a molecular weight of 294 Da. The aim of the present paper is to highlight various biophysical techniques that afford the identification of such an isoform-like LTP1 and to correlate this finding with other isoforms of LTP1 that were isolated from other plants but not fully sequenced.     

The wide diversity of structurally similar wine proteins

In the present work, single grape variety wines, Moscatel and Arinto, were used. Analysis by denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the wine proteins revealed the presence of only a few polypeptides ranging in molecular mass from 15 to 30 kDa. However, a more detailed examination of the whole protein fraction, by a combination of techniques, showed that these wines contain a very large number (many tens and, possibly, many more) of distinct polypeptides, exhibiting similar molecular masses but different electrical charges. The results obtained using highly specific antibodies and N-terminal sequencing indicate that there is structural similarity among most of the wine polypeptides. These observations can be explained by the existence of a common precursor to most or all of the wine proteins, which could generate all of the detected polypeptides by limited proteolysis. Comparison of the N-terminal sequences of the polypeptides isolated from Moscatel wine with proteins from other sources revealed a high degree of homology to pathogenesis-related proteins.     

谷子脂转移蛋白cDNA的克隆及特性研究

摘要：首次报道了从谷子(Stetaria italica )未成熟种子cDNA文库中克隆到1个与其它物种脂转移蛋白（LTP）具有较高同源性的脂转移蛋白基因Siltp。将核苷酸序列和推断的氨基酸序列在GenBank中进行比较，发现Siltp与大麦脂转移蛋白LTP7a2b和LTPcw-19,玉米脂转移蛋白，欧洲油菜的脂转移蛋白基因的核苷酸序列的同源性分别为72%,70%,60%,54%；氨基酸序列的同源性分别为79%,73%，65%，57%。序列分析表明，编码区含363个碱基 ，编码121个氨基酸，其中包括26个氨基酸的信号肽序列，分子量为9.3 kD。基因组Southern杂交结果表明，Siltp在基因组中以单拷贝存在。Northern杂交研究Siltp的时空表达特异性，发现Siltp仅在茎、叶、穗中表达。利用软件PAUP对17种植物的LTP进行进化分析，从进化系统树可以看出LTP有4个分支，其中，小麦发生分化较早，其它几种单子叶植物如玉米、谷子、大麦和水稻分化较晚，说明发生了早期的基因复制事件。在整个系统图中，双子叶比较分散，说明LTP基因的进化是个复杂的过程；禾本科作物的脂转移蛋白基因是由一个原始基因分化而产生的不同分支，Siltp与大麦LTP亲缘关系最近。     

2S albumin from buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum moench) seeds

Sucrose density gradient centrifugation showed that approximately 30% of total buckwheat proteins migrated with a 2S sedimentation coefficient. The main part of that fraction, polypeptides in the range of molecular mass from 8 to 16 kDa, were water soluble and represented albumins. SDS-PAGE analysis in nonreducing and reducing conditions showed that these polypeptides were not linked by disulfide bonds. The albumins make 25% of total salt soluble proteins, but that content is dramatically reduced under S-deficiency conditions. Determination of amino acid composition showed high methionine (9.2%) and lysine (5.6%) contents. That characteristic offers the possibility of transfer of the genes for individual albumin polypeptides to legumes and cereals limited in those essential amino acids to improve their nutritional quality.     

NsLTP1 and NsLTP2 isoforms in soft wheat (Triticum aestivum Cv. Centauro) and farro (Triticum dicoccon Schrank) bran

Isoforms of nonspecific lipid-transfer protein 1 (nsLTP1) and nonspecific lipid-transfer protein 2 (nsLTP2) were investigated in bran tissues isolated from caryopses of two cereal crops quite relevant for the Italian market, the cultivar Centauro of soft wheat (Triticum aestivum) and Italian emmer or farro (Triticum dicoccon Schrank). By sequential separation of the bran extracts on cation-exchange and gel filtration chromatographies, fractions containing only proteins belonging to the nsLTP1 and nsLTP2 classes were obtained. The proteins were roughly identified by SDS-PAGE and by immunoreactions in Western blotting experiments. By MALDI-MS and RP-HPLC/ESI-MS analyses we were able to show the presence of several LTP1 and LTP2 isoforms in the investigated species. Bioinformatic searches based on the determined Mr indicated that (i) two nsLTP1s already identified in T. aestivum have Mr and number of Cys residues identical to that of a 9.6 kDa protein present both in soft wheat cv. Centauro and in farro; (ii) two isoforms of nsLTP2 detected in T. aestivum have the same Mr and number of Cys residues of two 7 kDa proteins found in Centauro; and (iii) a nsLTP1 detected in Ambrosia artemisiifolia has Mr and number of Cys residues coincident to that of a 9.9 kDa protein found both in soft wheat cv. Centauro and in farro.     

Detecting potential IgE-reactive sites on food proteins using a sequence and structure database, SDAP-food

The high incidence of food allergies, including oral allergy syndrome, represent major considerations when introducing new crops and foods. A new structural database of allergenic proteins, SDAP-Food, http://fermi.utmb.edu/SDAP/, has been developed to aid in predicting the IgE-binding potential of novel food proteins and cross-reactivities among known allergens. The site is designed to facilitate the first steps of a decision tree approach to determine the allergenicity of a given protein, based on the sequence and structural similarity to known allergens and their IgE binding sites. Immunological tests can then be used to confirm the predictions. A hierarchical procedure for identifying potential allergens, using a physical property-based sequence similarity index, has been designed to identify regions that resemble known IgE binding sites. As an example, SDAP tools were used to find food allergen sequences similar to an IgE binding site of the Jun a 3 allergen from mountain cedar pollen. The SDAP sequence similarity search matched the Jun a 3 epitope to regions in several food allergens, including cherry (Pru av 2), apple (Mal d 2) and pepper (Cap a 1), which are, like Jun a 3, members of the plant pathogenesis-related (PR-5) protein family. Homology modeling, using our EXDIS/DIAMOD/FANTOM program suite, indicated a similar surface location and structure for the potential epitope region on all of these allergens. The quantitative approach presented here can be used as part of a screening process for potential allergenicity of recombinant food products.