Intrinsic and extrinsic factors in protein antigenic structure

Recent advances in the preparation of synthetic peptide vaccines and the use of synthetic peptides as probes of antigenic structure and function have led to renewed interest in the prediction of antigenic sites recognized by antibodies and T cells. This review focuses on antibodies. Features intrinsic to the antigen, such as hydrophilicity and mobility, may be useful in the selection of amino acid sequences of the native protein that will elicit antibodies cross-reacting with peptides, or sequences which, as peptides, will be more likely to elicit antibodies cross-reactive with the native protein. Structural mobility may also contribute to protein-protein interactions in general. However, the entire accessible surface of a protein is likely to be detectable by a large enough panel of antibodies. Which of these antibodies are made in any individual depends on factors extrinsic to the antigen molecule, host factors such as self-tolerance, immune response genes, idiotype networks, and the immunoglobulin structural gene repertoire.     

蛋清源生物活性肽功能及其构效关系研究进展

禽蛋为人类提供了丰富的营养物质,如蛋白质、脂质和维生素等。蛋清蛋白不仅具有许多功能性质,通过酶法制备获得的蛋清肽还具有丰富的生物活性。然而,通过水解得到的蛋清源生物活性肽往往具有多种生物活性,且产量较低、结构差异较大,难以获得普适的活性-结构关系结论。本文以鸭蛋蛋清蛋白和鸡蛋蛋清蛋白为对象,综述了蛋清肽的主要生物学功能如降血压、抗氧化、促进矿物质吸收、降血糖、调节肠道健康等,探讨了其结构-活性关系,并对蛋清源生物活性肽的后续深入研究进行了展望,以期为蛋清蛋白的高值化利用提供参考。     

The glycosylation of hemoglobin: relevance to diabetes mellitus

Glucose reacts nonenzymatically with the NH2-terminal amino acid of the beta chain of human hemoglobin by way of a ketoamine linkage, resulting in the formation of hemoglobin AIc. Other minor components appear to be adducts of glucose 6-phosphate and fructose 1,6-diphosphate. These hemoglobins are formed slowly and continuously throughout the 120-day life-span of the red cell. There is a two- to threefold increase in hemoglobin AIc in the red cells of patients with diabetes mellitus. By providing an integrated measurement of blood glucose, hemoglobin AIc is useful in assessing the degree of diabetic control. Furthermore, this hemoglobin is a useful model of nonenzymatic glycosylation of other proteins that may be involved in the long-term complications of the disease.     

Hemoglobin: molecular changes during anuran metamorphosis

Anuran metamorphosis is accompanied by changes in the sedimentation patterns of the lysates of red blood cells of several species. Rana grylio and Rana catesbeiana tadpoles have hemoglobins that sediment at 4.3S (molecular weight, 68,000) and gradually produce a heavier 7.0S component (estimated molecular weight, 136,000) during metamorphosis to the adult frog. There is extensive change in the amino acid compositions of these hemoglobins; these changes may account for observed changes in electrophoretic mobility.     

Stimulation of gonadotropin release by a non-GnRH peptide sequence of the GnRH precursor

The human gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) precursor comprises the GnRH sequence followed by an extension of 59 amino acids. Basic amino acid residues in the carboxyl terminal extension may represent sites of processing to biologically active peptides. A synthetic peptide comprising the first 13 amino acids (H X Asp-Ala-Glu-Asn-Leu-Ile-Asp-Ser-Phe-Gln-Glu-Ile-Val X OH) of the 59-amino acid peptide was found to stimulate the release of gonadotropic hormones from human and baboon anterior pituitary cells in culture. The peptide did not affect thyrotropin or prolactin secretion. A GnRH antagonist did not inhibit gonadotropin stimulation by the peptide, and the peptide did not compete with GnRH for GnRH pituitary receptors, indicating that the action of the peptide is independent of the GnRH receptor. The GnRH precursor contains two distinct peptide sequences capable of stimulating gonadotropin release from human and baboon pituitary cells.     

杂合抗菌肽Cec Md-CheRc的分子设计及其克隆载体的构建

为了获得具有高抗菌活性和低溶血活性的抗菌肽,利用家蝇抗菌肽Cec Md和中国林蛙抗菌肽Chensirin,设计出杂合抗菌肽Cec Md-Che Rc,并构其克隆载体。选取Cec Md的N端和Chensirin的C端氨基酸序列组成杂合肽,通过互联网和计算机软件,分析比较杂合肽的特征参数并进行结构预测。采用重复序列PCR方法合成2条杂合肽Cec Md-Che Rc I和Cec Md-Che Rc IV的基因,并连接到克隆载体pMD18-T上。分析发现杂合抗菌肽中Cec Md-Che Rc I疏水性最强,Cec Md-Che Rc IV净正电荷数最高;两者N端为疏水性α螺旋结构,C端为亲水性α螺旋结构;两者疏水性氨基酸大体分布在螺旋轮的一侧,其余氨基酸分布在另一侧;带正电荷的氨基酸主要分布在亲水面上。2条杂合肽的基因大小分别为133 bp和124 bp;PCR、双酶切和测序鉴定表明成功地构建了克隆载体pMD18-T/Cec Md-Che Rc I和pMD18-T/Cec Md-Che Rc IV,为后续研究奠定了基础。     

Gelation of sickle cell hemoglobin: effects of hybrid tetramer formation in hemoglobin mixtures

The altered gelation behavior found in mixtures of sickle cell hemoglobin with other hemoglobins is due to the formation of hybrid hemoglobin tetramers from unlike dimers. The hemoglobins need not possess the deoxy quaternary structure for gelation to occur; liganded forms are also capable of participation in gelation.     

Hemoglobin interaction: modification of solid phase composition in the sickling phenomenon

Direct analyses of solid phase formed by deoxygenating solutions of sickle-cell hemoglobin (Hb S) in the presence of certain other hemoglobin species show that hemoglobins A and C can participate in the filamentous fine structure characteristic of the sickling phenomenon. In contrast, fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) is nearly completely excluded.     

Conserved sequence and structural elements in the HIV-1 principal neutralizing determinant

The principal neutralizing determinant (PND) of human immunodeficiency virus HIV-1 is part of a disulfide bridged loop in the third variable region of the external envelope protein, gp120. Analysis of the amino acid sequences of this domain from 245 different HIV-1 isolates revealed that the PND is less variable than thought originally. Conservation to better than 80 percent of the amino acids in 9 out of 14 positions in the central portion of the PND and the occurrence of particular oligopeptide sequences in a majority of the isolates suggest that there are constraints on PND variability. One constraining influence may be the structural motif (beta strand--type II beta turn--beta strand--alpha helix) predicted for the consensus PND sequence by a neural network approach. Isolates with a PND similar to the commonly investigated human T cell lymphoma virus IIIB (HTLV-IIIB) and LAV-1 (BRU) strains were rare, and only 14 percent of sera from 86 randomly selected HIV-1 seropositive donors contained antibodies that recognized the PND of these virus isolates. In contrast, over 65 percent of these sera reacted with peptides containing more common PND sequences. These results suggest that HIV vaccine immunogens chosen because of their similarity to the consensus PND sequence and structure are likely to induce antibodies that neutralize a majority of HIV-1 isolates.     

Structure, dynamics, and reactivity in hemoglobin

The static structure of hemoglobin and its functional properties are very well characterized. It is still not known how energy is stored and used within the structure of the protein to promote function and functional diversity. An essential part of this question is understanding the mechanism through which the overall protein structure (quaternary structure) couples to the local environment about the oxygen binding sites. Time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy has been used to probe the vibrational degrees of the freedom of the binding site as a function of protein structure. Comparison of the spectra from both equilibrium and transient forms of deoxy hemoglobin from a variety of mammalian, reptilian, and fish hemoglobins reveals that for each quaternary structure there exist two tertiary states stabilized by the presence or absence of an iron-bound ligand. Pulse-probe Raman experiments show that for photodissociated, ligated hemoglobins the local tertiary structure relaxes at a solution-dependent rate extending from tens of nanoseconds to microseconds. In this local environment, the linkage between the iron and the proximal histidine proves to be the single observed structural feature that responds in a systematic and substantial manner to structural changes in the protein. The additional finding of a correlation between the frequency of the iron-proximal histidine stretching motion (nu Fe-His) and various parameters of ligand reactivity, including geminate recombination, implicates the associated localized structural element in the mechanism of protein control of ligand binding. On the basis of these and related finds, a model is presented to account for both coarse and fine control of ligand binding by the protein structure.     

Silent hemoglobin alpha genes in apes: potential source of thalassemia

Small quantities of unusual hemoglobins were found in 1 of 37 chimpanzees and 2 of 6 gorillas. In each genus these hemoglobins contain unique alpha chains that differ from the ordinary by eight to nine scattered amino acid changes. The unusual chains arise from a hitherto undetected hemoglobin (3)alpha locus. No (3)alpha products are found in most apes; accordingly, (3)alpha is considered synthetically inactive in all but a few reversion mutants. Indirect evidence that the inactive (3)alpha locus is juxtaposed to an active alpha locus together with the supposition that (3)alpha exists in man provides a setting wherein thalassemia might be produced by nonhomologous recombination between two loci.     

Exon-intron organization in genes of earthworm and vertebrate globins

The structure of an invertebrate, intron-containing globin gene has been determined as part of a study of the evolution of hemoglobin. The gene encoding chain c of Lumbricus terrestris hemoglobin has the two-intron, three-exon structure characteristic of vertebrate globin genes, and the exact positions of the splice junctions are conserved. The two introns interrupting the coding sequence are longer than those of known hemoglobins but shorter than myoglobin introns. The gene encodes a secretory preglobin containing a 16-residue signal peptide, as expected for an extracellular hemoglobin. However, no intron separates the DNA encoding the signal sequence from that of the globin sequence. The 3' untranslated region of the Lumbricus gene is much longer than those of the genes for other hemoglobins and is similar to those found for myoglobins.     

小肽的吸收机制及营养功能

肽是分子结构介于氨基酸和蛋白质之间的一类化合物,含2或3个氨基酸残基的为小肽。小肽可能存在3种转运系统。反刍动物吸收肽的主要部位是瓣胃。小肽本身的理化性质、动物生理状态、日粮蛋白和采食水平等影响小肽的吸收。小肽可避免氨基酸间的吸收竞争,促进氨基酸的吸收,加速蛋白质的合成,促进肠道黏膜结构和功能发育,刺激消化酶的分泌和活性的提高,改善提高生产性能。对小肽的吸收机制及营养功能进行了综述。     

猪CD127流式单克隆抗体的研制

[目的]研制出猪CD127(调节因子IL-7受体α链)流式单克隆抗体,为研究分析猪淋巴细胞亚群,尤其是猪Treg细胞亚群提供流式细胞分析抗体,也为进一步探究猪抗病性状与免疫机制间的关系打下基础.[方法]克隆猪CD127基因片段,通过原核载体诱导表达出相应的融合蛋白,以纯化后的融合蛋白免疫Balb/c小鼠,然后取其脾细胞与SP2/0骨髓瘤细胞融合,综合ELISA和流式细胞仪检测筛选出亚克隆抗体,并采用Western blotting验证所得亚克隆抗体能否与猪淋巴细胞上的CD127特异性结合.[结果]猪CD127基因cDNA全长1999 bp,第49~1428 bp为开放阅读框(ORF),编码459个氨基酸,其中前21位氨基酸为信号肽,成熟肽N端第1~219位氨基酸为胞外蛋白,第220~242位氨基酸为跨膜蛋白,第243~459位氨基酸为胞内蛋白.以pET28a和pET32a原核载体诱导表达CD127胞外片段可获得大小介于34~43 kD的融合蛋白,经Ni亲和层析柱纯化后用于免疫Balb/c小鼠,6只免疫小鼠血清中的多克隆抗体均能对猪淋巴细胞中的CD3阳性细胞(CD3+)进行共标记,其中以M2和M4两只免疫小鼠抗血清对CD3+的共标记效果较优,分群清晰;但流式细胞仪检测发现,仅2.3%的CD3+能与M2混合池培养基上清液中的分泌抗体共标记,而67.0%的CD3+能与M4混合池培养基上清液中的分泌抗体共标记,且分群清晰.从M4混合池中筛选出6株效价稳定的亚克隆细胞株(1E2、1D8、2F3、2F8、3C6和4E1),且以1D8、2F3、2F8和3C6亚克隆抗体标记的CD3+较多,其培养基上清液中的分泌抗体在猪胸腺和肌肉样品中均能检测出大小约50 kD的单一目的条带.[结论]制备获得的猪CD127流式单克隆抗体可与T淋巴细胞表面的IL-7受体特异性结合,同时在流式细胞仪检测过程中可用于猪Treg细胞亚群检测.     

Alignment of rat cardionatrin sequences with the preprocardionatrin sequence from complementary DNA

Mammalian atria contain peptides that promote the excretion of salt and water from the kidney. When rat atrial tissue is extracted under conditions known to inhibit proteolysis, four natriuretic peptides, cardionatrins I to IV, are consistently isolated. These peptides derive from a common precursor, preprocardionatrin, of 152 amino acids, whose sequence was determined by DNA sequencing of a complementary DNA clone. Amino acid sequencing located the start points of cardionatrins I, III, and IV in the overall sequence. Cardionatrin IV most closely resembles procardionatrin because it begins immediately after the signal sequence at residue 25. Cardionatrin III begins at residue 73, and cardionatrin I, sequenced previously, begins at residue 123. Compositional analysis indicated that each of these cardionatrins extends up to tyrosine at position 150 but lacks the terminal two arginine residues.     

Simultaneous expression of globin genes for embryonic and adult hemoglobins during mammalian ontogeny

The dominant hemoglobin of the adult hamster was detected in yolk-sac erythroid cells, and its identity was confirmed by peptide mapping and by analysis of relevant peptides. Both the presence and active synthesis of two embryonic hemoglobins presumed to exist only in yolk-sac erythroid cells were detected in neonatal liver and spleen. Thus the time span of expression of both embryonic and adult globin genes during mammalian ontogeny may be considerably broader than presently believed.     

Cat hemoglobin: pH-dependent cooperativity of oxygen binding

Cat hemoglobin has a lower cooperativity and oxygen affinity than most mammalian hemoglobins. In contrast to the usual invariance of cooperativity with pH, a rise in cooperativity with pH is predicted by the allosteric model for low-affinity hemoglobins. Such a pH-dependent cooperativity for cat hemoglobin has been found.     

Sequence of the immunodominant epitope for the surface protein on sporozoites of Plasmodium vivax

Plasmodium vivax is one of the four malaria parasites that cause disease in humans. The structure of the immunodominant repeating peptide of the circumsporozoite (CS) protein of P. vivax was determined. A fragment of P. vivax DNA that encodes this tandemly repeating epitope was isolated by use of an oligonucleotide probe whose sequence is thought to be conserved in CS protein genes. DNA sequence analysis of the P. vivax clone indicates that the CS repeat is nine amino acids in length (Gly-Asp-Arg-Ala-Asp-Gly-Gln-Pro-Ala). The structure of the repeating region was confirmed with synthetic peptides and monoclonal antibodies directed against P. vivax sporozoites. This information should allow synthesis of a vaccine for P. vivax that is similar to the one being tested for P. falciparum.     

Antibody active sites and immunoglobulin molecules

In order to obtain detailed information about the relationship between structure and function in antibody molecules, a method called affinity labeling has been devised to attach chemical labels specifically to amino acid residues in the active sites of antibody molecules. With antibodies to three different haptens, highly specific labeling of the active sites has been achieved. Tyrosine residues on both heavy and light polypeptide chains have been labeled in a molar ratio close to 2:1, and labels on the two chains are equally specific to the active sites. Peptide fragmentation studies of the labeled chains of one antibody system have shown that: (i) within 25 amino acid residues of the labeled tyrosine on either chain, substantial chemical heterogeneity exists among different antibody molecules of the same specificity; and (ii) the labeled peptide fragments from both chains are very similar in physicochemical characteristics, including average size, heterogeneity, and unusual hydrophobicity. These experimental results have led us to the view that a particular region of the heavy chain and a particular region of the light chain are utilized to construct the active sites of the three different antibodies, differences in specificity arising from chemical perturbations in these two regions. Correlated structural studies of affinity-labeled antibodies and of the homogeneous light chains (Bence Jones proteins) and heavy chains produced in multiple myeloma may permit the identification of these special active-site regions. The view that active sites of different specificity are chemical perturbations of a particular region of the antibody molecule has a possible close analogue in enzyme systems, particularly among the esterases. The marked chemical similarities we have observed between the active site regions of heavy and light chains indicate to us that chemical homologies, but not identities, exist between the chains. This is reinforced by recently obtained amino acid sequence data which reveal homologies between the two chains near their carboxyl-terminals. These results indicate that the structural genes which code for the synthesis of heavy and light chains are related, presumably having arisen from some common ancestral gene during evolution. This conclusion strongly suggests that both heavy and light chains determine antibody specificity, and has important implications for the still-unknow mechanisms of antibody biosynthesis.     

Human CD4 binds immunoglobulins

T cell glycoprotein CD4 binds to class II major histocompatibility molecules and to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) envelope protein gp120. Recombinant CD4 (rCD4) bound to polyclonal immunoglobulin (Ig) and 39 of 50 (78%) human myeloma proteins. This binding depended on the Fab and not the Fc portion of Ig and was independent of the light chain. Soluble rCD4, HIV gp120, and sulfated dextrans inhibited the CD4-Ig interaction. With the use of a panel of synthetic peptides, the region critical for binding to Ig was localized to amino acids 21 to 38 of the first extracellular domain of CD4. CD4-bound antibody (Ab) complexed with antigen approximately 100 times better than Ab alone. This activity may contribute to the Ab-mediated enhancement of cellular HIV interaction that appears to depend on a trimolecular complex of HIV, antibodies to gp120, and CD4.