植物营养贮存蛋白及其生物学功能研究进展

植物营养贮存蛋白（vegetative storage proteins）是广泛存在于植物营养组织且含量丰富的蛋白,最初是作为植物氮源的临时贮存形式而被人们认识。然而,不同植物中的营养贮存蛋白的生化来源和生物学特性并不相同,并且除了营养贮存功能外,更重要的是这类蛋白在植物防御中也承担着多种多样的重要角色,或具有抗虫活性,或能够抑制病原细菌和病原真菌的生长,或参与植物防御过程中的信号转导等。对植物营养贮存蛋白在植物防御中作用机制的深入研究将使这类蛋白在新型生物农药的开发和植物抗病基因工程中具有广阔的应用前景。     

植物营养贮存蛋白及其生物学功能研究进展

植物营养贮存蛋白(vegetative storage proteins )是广泛存在于植物营养组织且含量丰富的蛋白, 最初是作为植物氮源的临时贮存形式而被人们认识。然而, 不同植物中的营养贮存蛋白的生化来源和生物学特性并不相同, 并且除了营养贮存功能外, 更重要的是这类蛋白在植物防御中也承担着多种多样的重要角色, 或具有抗虫活性, 或能够抑制病原细菌和病原真菌的生长, 或参与植物防御过程中的信号转导等。对植物营养贮存蛋白在植物防御中作用机制的深入研究将使这类蛋白在新型生物农药的开发和植物抗病基因工程中具有广阔的应用前景。     

植物防御素结构与功能及其抗真菌机制研究进展

植物防御素是一类分子量约为5 kD的阳离子肽,是植物内免疫系统的主要成分之一,参与了多种植物生理生化活动。植物防御素含8个保守半胱氨酸,形成4对链内二硫键来稳定其3条反向平行的β折叠片和1个α螺旋,构成所谓的Csαβ模体结构。植物防御素具有抑制真菌和细菌生长、抑制酶的活性、抑制癌细胞增殖和作为离子通道阻断剂等功能。植物防御素抗真菌机制比较复杂,但它可能首先必须和真菌细胞质膜外侧的鞘脂等复杂脂类结合,引起真菌细胞发生一系列的反应,包括细胞膜通透性增强、胞内活性氧水平增高和诱导真菌细胞凋亡等。但是植物防御素详细的抗真菌机制及其在真菌细胞内作用靶点等有待于深入研究。综述了近年来植物防御素结构、功能及其抗真菌机制等方面的最新研究进展。     

小G蛋白在植物抗病性中的作用

小G蛋白一类是低分子量GTP结合蛋白,其分子量大约20～30 kDa.小G蛋白作为重要的分子开关参与了细胞许多重要生理信号途径的调控.近几年在植物中的研究、尤其是对模式植物水稻杭病分子机制的研究发现,Rho家族的小G蛋白在植物抗病信号传导途径的调控中起了关健的作用.本文对植物特有的Rho家族小G蛋白在植物免疫反应中的最...     

小G蛋白在植物抗病性中的作用(英文)

小G蛋白一类是低分子量GTP结合蛋白,其分子量大约20～30 kDa。小G蛋白作为重要的分子开关参与了细胞许多重要生理信号途径的调控。近几年在植物中的研究、尤其是对模式植物水稻抗病分子机制的研究发现,Rho家族的小G蛋白在植物抗病信号传导途径的调控中起了关键的作用。本文对植物特有的Rho家族小G蛋白在植物免疫反应中的最新研究进展进行了综述。     

植物膜联蛋白(Annexin)的研究进展

植物膜联蛋白属于D类膜联蛋白是在植物中的一类钙和磷脂结合蛋白。植物膜联蛋白约占植物总蛋白含量的0.1%,与动物膜联蛋白在分子量、氨基酸序列及Ca~(2+)与磷脂结合的能力上,都拥有较高的同源性。植物膜联蛋白的亚细胞定位具有多样性,与胞质Ca~(2+)浓度、细胞所处pH、植物组织及外界环境有关。植物膜联蛋白的表达具有组织特异性,且受到各种生物及非生物因子在转录及翻译后水平的调控。植物膜联蛋白具有与植物肌动蛋白结合、参与钙离子通道形成、膜动力学功能、具有ATPase/GTPase及过氧化物酶活性等生物功能,在植物生长发育及响应逆境胁迫过程中起重要作用。本综述从植物膜联蛋白的进化、结构、亚细胞定位、表达调控和生物学功能方面进行综述,旨在为深入研究植物膜联蛋白的功能及其应用提供参考。     

植物HKT蛋白耐盐机制研究进展

盐害是限制植物生长发育的重要环境因素, 对植物造成渗透胁迫和离子毒害。维持细胞及整株水平的Na⁺/K⁺平衡是植物重要的耐盐机制。目前, 已报道的高亲和性钾离子转运蛋白(HKT)具有钠、钾离子转运特性, 在植物体钠、钾离子长距离运输及分配过程中发挥重要作用。该文重点总结了淡土植物和盐土植物HKT蛋白的结构、功能及耐盐机理, 并对其在植物耐盐改良育种中的前景做出了展望。     

防御素的生物学特性及其抗病基因工程

防御素是一种富含半胱氨酸的小分子多肽,对细菌等微生物具有广谱抗性,且作用机制特殊。迄今为止,国内外在防御素方面进行了大量的研究,已经从各类生物体中分离出不同种类的防御素,并在基因工程和医药领域呈现广泛的应用前景。文章对防御素的分类、生物学特性,包括哺乳动物α-、β-、θ-防御素、昆虫以及植物防御素的分子结构及抗菌活性进行了综述,阐述了防御素的膜作用及与细胞内复合物结合的作用机制。总结和归纳了防御素基因的分离、表达研究进展及动、植物防御素基因在抗病基因工程领域的应用,并对防御素在未来的生物制药和植物抗病基因工程方面的应用前景进行了展望。     

类甜蛋白的结构特征以及功能研究进展

类甜蛋白是一种具有多种生物学活性及重要功能的植物防御蛋白,属于病程相关蛋白。近年来关于类甜蛋白具有抗真菌活性的研究较多。类甜蛋白具有葡聚糖酶活性,能结合并降解真菌细胞壁的组成成分—β-1,3葡聚糖酶。在三维晶体结构中类甜蛋白表面的一个酸性“V”字形裂缝对其抗真菌活性起着至关重要的作用。对类甜蛋白结构与功能的关系,不同植物中类甜蛋白的生物学特性,以及国内外基因工程中类甜蛋白基因的应用研究进展进行了综述。     

植物凝集素的功能

植物凝集素是来源于植物的一类能凝集细胞和沉淀单糖或多糖复合物的非免疫来源的非酶蛋白质。由于其对于单糖或糖复合物特异性结合的能力,使得其在如信号转导、免疫反应、植物防御等诸多信号过程中均具有重要作用。同时植物凝集素具有细胞凝集、抗病毒、抗真菌及诱导细胞凋亡或自噬等多种能力,因此在生命科学、医学及农业方面均有较好的研究价值和应用前景。综述了植物凝集素的研究历史和凝集素的主要功能,并对现阶段凝集素的重点应用做简要介绍。     

Antimicrobial Peptides from Plants

Peptides with antimicrobial properties are present in most if not all plant species. All plant antimicrobial peptides isolated so far contain even numbers of cysteines (4, 6, or 8), which are all pairwise connected by disulfide bridges, thus providing high stability to the peptides. Based on homologies at the primary structure level, plant antimicrobial peptides can be classified into distinct families including thionins, plant defensins, lipid transfer proteins, and he vein- and knottin-type antimicrobial peptides. Detailed three-dimensional structure information has been obtained for one or more members of these peptide families. All antimicrobial peptides studied thus far appear to exert their antimicrobial effect at the level of the plasma membrane of the target microorganism, but the different peptide types are likely to act via different mechanisms. Antimicrobial peptides can occur in all plant organs. In unstressed organs, antimicrobial peptides are usually most abundant in the outer cell layer lining the organ, which is consistent with a role for the antimicrobial peptides in constitutive host defense against microbial invaders attacking from the outside. Thionins are predominantly located intracellularly but are also found in the extracellular space, whereas most plant defensins and lipid transfer proteins are deposited exclusively in the extracellular space. In a number of plant species, a strong induction of genes expressing either thionins, plant defensins, or lipid transfer proteins has been observed on infection of the leaves by microbial pathogens. Hence, antimicrobial peptides can also take part in the inducible defense response of plants. Constitutive expression in transgenic plants of heterologous antimicrobial peptide genes has been achieved, which in some cases has led to enhanced resistance to particular microbial plant pathogens.     

Defense peptides of plant immune system

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are natural antibiotics produced by all living organisms to combat pathogens. They are important effector molecules of the immune system both in animals and plants. AMPs are diverse in structure and mode of action. Based on homology of amino acid sequences and 3D structures several AMP families have been distinguished. They are defensins, thionins, lipid transfer proteins, hevein- and knottin-like peptides, and cyclotides. AMPs display broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and thus show promise for the development of disease- resistant crops by genetic engineering and for the production of new-generation drugs. In this paper, the properties of the main AMP families (defensins and hevein-like peptides) and of a new 4-Cys plant AMP family are reviewed.     

Leishmania donovani: Thionins, plant antimicrobial peptides with leishmanicidal activity

The leishmanicidal activity of plant antibiotic peptides (PAPs) from the principal families, such wheat thionins, a barley lipid transfer protein and potato defensins and snakins were tested in vitro against Leishmania donovani. Only thionins and defensins were active against this human pathogen at a low micromolar range of concentrations. Thionins resulted as the most active peptides tested until now. They collapsed ionic and pH gradients across the parasite plasma membrane together with a rapid depletion of intracellular ATP without affecting mitochondrial potential. Hence the lethal effect of thionins was mostly associated to permeabilization of the plasma membrane leading to an immediate death of the parasite. The present work is the first evidence for leishmanicidal activity in plant peptides. Future prospects for their development as new antiparasite agents on human diseases are considered.     

Defense peptides of plant immunity

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are natural antibiotics produced by all living organisms to fight pathogens. They are important effector molecules of the immune system both in animals and plants. AMPs are diverse in structure and mode of action. Based on the homology of amino acid sequences and 3D structures several AMP families have been distinguished. They are defensins, thionins, lipid transfer proteins, hevein- and knottin-like peptides, and cyclotides. AMPs display broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and thus show promise for the development of disease-resistant crops by genetic engineering and for the production of new-generation drugs. In this paper, the properties of the main AMP families (defensins and hevein-like peptides) and of new 4-Cys plant AMP family are reviewed.     

Plant defense and antimicrobial peptides

Plants are constantly exposed to a large array of pathogenic organisms and the survival in these conditions demands quick defense responses which include the synthesis of defense peptides and proteins with antimicrobial properties. The main groups of antimicrobial peptides found in plants are thionins, defensins and lipid transfer proteins. They constitute interesting candidates to engineer disease resistance in plants.     

Leaf thionins, a novel class of putative defence factors

Leaf thionins of barley have been identified as a novel class of highly abundant polypeptides with antifungal activity, which are present in walls and vacuoles of barley leaf cells. Similar thionins occur not only in monocotyledonous but also in various dicotyledonous plants. The leaf thionins of barley are encoded by a complex multigene family, which consists of at least 50–100 members per haploid genome. The toxicity of these thionins for plant pathogenic fungi and the fact that their synthesis can also be triggered by pathogens strongly suggest that leaf thionins are involved in the mechanism of plant defence against microbiol infection.     

植物多肽抗生素研究进展

植物多肽抗生素是一类对细菌、真菌等微生物及某些昆虫和动植物细胞具有抑制或杀灭作用的小分子多肽. 根据多肽抗生素的氨基酸序列及二级结构,可将植物多肽抗生素分为9类,包括硫素（thionins）、植物防御素（plant defensins）、转脂蛋白（lipid transfer proteins, LTPs）、橡胶素（heveins）、打结素（knottins）、凤仙花素(1b-AMPs)和新近发现的荠菜素（shepherdins）、蜕皮素（snakins）、环肽（cyclotides）. 对近年来植物多肽抗生素的分类、抗菌机理、生物活性及基因工程等方面的研究情况作一介绍,希望有助于我国在这一领域的研究与开发.     

Leaf-specific thionins of barley-a novel class of cell wall proteins toxic to plant-pathogenic fungi and possibly involved in the defence mechanism of plants

A novel class of highly abundant polypeptides with antifungal activity has been detected in cell walls of barley leaves. Similar polypeptides known as thionins occur not only in monocotyledonous but also in various dictoyledonous plants. The leaf-specific thionins of barley are encoded by a complex multigene family, which consists of at least 50-100 members per haploid genome. All of these genes are confined to chromosome 6. The toxicity of these thionins for plant pathogenic fungi and the fact that their synthesis can also be triggered by pathogens strongly suggest that thionins are a naturally occurring, inducible plant protein possibly involved in the mechanism of plant defence against microbial infections.     

Intracellular thionins of barley. A second group of leaf thionins closely related to but distinct from cell wall-bound thionins

Leaf thionins of barley have been identified as a novel class of cell wall proteins, toxic to plant pathogenic fungi, and possibly involved in the defense mechanism of plants (Bohlmann, H., Clausen, S., Behnke, S., Giese, H., Hiller, C., Reimann-Philipp, U., Schrader, G., Barkholt, V., and Apel, K., (1988) EMBO J. 7, 1559-1565). In the present work a second subfraction of thionins has been detected within the leaf cell, mainly in the vacuole. Thionins of both groups are closely related to each other. They are toxic to phytopathogenic fungi as well as to plant protoplasts, they share similar amino acid sequences, and their synthesis in etiolated seedlings of barley is down-regulated by light. Despite these similarities each of the two subfractions of thionins could be clearly distinguished by its subcellular distribution. In ultrathin sections of embedded etiolated leaf material, cell wall thionins could be immunogold labeled specifically by an antiserum raised against a fusion protein of Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase and the 15,000 Mr precursor polypeptide of thionins. This antiserum did not react with intracellular thionins. Inversely, intracellular thionins were recognized specifically by an anti-serum raised against soluble leaf thionins. The possible function of intracellular thionins as part of a defense mechanism has been discussed.     

Small cysteine-rich peptides resembling antimicrobial peptides have been under-predicted in plants

Multicellular organisms produce small cysteine-rich antimicrobial peptides as an innate defense against pathogens. While defensins, a well-known class of such peptides, are common among eukaryotes, there are other classes restricted to the plant kingdom. These include thionins, lipid transfer proteins and snakins. In earlier work, we identified several divergent classes of small putatively secreted cysteine-rich peptides (CRPs) in legumes [Graham et al. (2004)Plant Physiol. 135, 1179-97]. Here, we built sequence motif models for each of these classes of peptides, and iteratively searched for related sequences within the comprehensive UniProt protein dataset, the Institute for Genomic Research's 33 plant gene indices, and the entire genomes of the model dicot, Arabidopsis thaliana, and the model monocot and crop species, Oryza sativa (rice). Using this search strategy, we identified approximately 13,000 plant genes encoding peptides with common features: (i) an N-terminal signal peptide, (ii) a small divergent charged or polar mature peptide with conserved cysteines, (iii) a similar intron/exon structure, (iv) spatial clustering in the genomes studied, and (v) overrepresentation in expressed sequences from reproductive structures of specific taxa. The identified genes include classes of defensins, thionins, lipid transfer proteins, and snakins, plus other protease inhibitors, pollen allergens, and uncharacterized gene families. We estimate that these classes of genes account for approximately 2-3% of the gene repertoire of each model species. Although 24% of the genes identified were not annotated in the latest Arabidopsis genome releases (TIGR5, TAIR6), we confirmed expression via RT-PCR for 59% of the sequences attempted. These findings highlight limitations in current annotation procedures for small divergent peptide classes.