Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 18, Issue 11, 2011

Hemoglobin is a tetrameric protein with two alpha and two beta subunits binds oxygen in a cooperative manner. In dominant tetrameric form of fish hemoglobin carry more than 90 percent of oxygen from gill to tissues at 20° C. The tetrameric form of fish hemoglobin is changed to monomeric form at low oxygen pressure in order to increase its oxygen affinity. This is one of adaptive mechanisms used by different ki Read More

Moringa oleifera Lam. is a perennial multipurpose tree that has been successfully used in folk medicine to cure several inflammatory processes. The aim of this study was to purify and characterize a chitin-binding protein from Moringa oleifera seeds, named Mo-CBP4, and evaluate its antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects in vivo. The protein was purified by affinity chromatography on chitin followed by ion exch Read More

The function of the protein is closely correlated with its subcellular localization. Probing into the mechanism of protein sorting and predicting protein subcellular location can provide important clues or insights for understanding the function of proteins. In this paper, we introduce a new PseAAC approach to encode the protein sequence based on the physicochemical properties of amino acid residues. Each of the protein samples Read More

Synthesis of Nα-protected amino acyl azides starting from corresponding acids via the carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) activation is described. The protocol is extended for a one-pot preparation of ureido peptides that circumvents the isolation of acyl azide and isocyanate intermediates. The reaction was accomplished without using any additives and base. The protocol is simple, clean, high yielding and free from racemization.

Single-chain Fv fragment (scFv) of anti-rabies glycoprotein (G protein) has been recommended as a new agent for detecting and neutralizing lethal rabies virus. In this study, we constructed scFv that corresponded to the FV fragment of CR57, a monoclonal antibody against rabies virus, and called it FV57. Despite its virus neutralization activity, FV57 may or may not recognize the same epitope as that recognized by CR57. To r Read More

The vasorelaxant effect of the lectin of Pisum arvense (PAL) seeds was investigated in rat aorta. PAL (10-100 µ g/ml) was applied on aorta rings, with or without endothelium, pre-contracted with phenylephrine (Phe; 0.1 µ M). Participation of endothelium derived relaxant factors was evaluated incubating the tissue with indomethacin (10 µ M), L-nitro arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 100 µ M) and tetraethylammonium (TEA, 5 mM) Read More

In this study, the peptides were designed to compare the effect of multiple Leu or Val residues as the hydrophobic side of an α-helical model on their structure, function, and interaction with model membranes. The Leu-rich peptides displayed 4- to 16-fold stronger antimicrobial activity than Val-rich peptides, while Val-containing peptides showed no haemolysis and weak cytotoxicity. The peptides LR and VR showed an α-helic Read More

The metalloproteinase from Thermoactinomyces sp. 27a (Mpr) represents secretory thermolysin-like metalloproteinases of the M4 family. The Thermoactinomyces enzyme is synthesized as a precursor consisting of a signal peptide, N-terminal propeptide, mature region, and C-terminal propeptide. The functional molecule lacks the signal peptide, Nterminal propeptide, and C-terminal propeptide, which indicates the proc Read More

Human β-defensin 3 (DEFB103) is a recently identified small cysteine-rich cationic peptide expressed ubiquitously upon local microbial invasion. A number of accumulating evidences indicate that this peptide is involved in many biological processes, including microbicidal activities, chemoattraction, and immunomodulation. In this article, we describe a novel approach through which we performed the expression and Read More

A new secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) isoform from Bothrops jararacussu venom (BjVIII) has been characterized by causing platelet aggregation, an absent activity in BthTx-I, Prtx-I and PrTx-II sPLA2s. According to our results, BjVIII also enhances insulin release by the pancreatic beta cells. The complete amino acid sequence of the new isoform was determined by Edman degradation and de novo peptide sequenci Read More

A lectin (designated as KRL) was purified from the extracts of Kaempferia rotunda Linn. tuberous rhizome by glucose-sepharose affinity chromatography. KRL was determined to be a 29.0± 1.0 kDa polypeptide by SDS-PAGE under both reducing and non-reducing conditions. KRL was a divalent ion dependent glycoprotein with 4% neutral sugar which agglutinated different groups of human blood cells. Methyl-α-D-mann Read More

Ganoderma lucidum is known for its high medicinal value, clinically used in treatment for various diseases. We have selected this mushroom for isolation of novel bioactive lectin. The isolation procedure comprised of ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE- cellulose and affinity chromatography on Affi-gel blue gel. Purified lectin was monomer with a molecular mass of 15 kDa, determined by SDS-PAGE, Gel filtrat Read More

A number of monocyclic SFTI-1 analogues modified in the conserved inhibitor P1' position by Pro, its L-hydroxyproline (Hyp) derivative as well as mimetics with different ring size were synthesized by the solid-phase method. Replacement of Ser6 by Pro, Hyp, and a four-member ring, L-azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (Aze), retained trypsin or chymotrypsin inhibitory activity. The determined association equilibrium constants o Read More

(2S,4aR,8aS)-Cis,cis-, (2R,4aS,8aR)-cis,cis-, rac-cis,cis-, and rac-trans,cis-decahydro-2-naphthyl-N-n-butylcarbamates are synthesized from condensation of (2S,4aR,8aS)-cis,cis-, (2R,4aS,8aR)-cis,cis-, rac-cis,cis-, and rac-trans,cisdecahydro- 2-naphthols, respectively, with n-butyl isocyanate in the presence of triethylamine in dichloromethane. Optically pure (2S,4aR,8aS)-(-)- and (2R,4aS,8aR)-(+)-cis,cis-decahydro- Read More