Inhibition of degreening in the peel of bananas ripened at tropical temperatures.

Changes in the plastid ultrastructure as revealed by thin-section electron-microscopy, chlorophyll a/b ratio, and the polypeptides of the thylakoid chlorophyll-protein complexes have been examined during the degreening of bananas (Musa AAA Group, Cavendish Subgroup) and plantains (Musa AAB Group, Plantain Subgroup) ripened at 20°C and 35°C. In bananas, where degreening is inhibited at temperatures above 24°C, ripening at the higher temperature results in a retention of thylakoid membranes, a relatively delayed breakdown in chlorophyll b, and a reduced dismantling of pigment-protein complexes. By contrast, in plantains, where degreening is complete within 4 days at both 20°C and 35°C, thylakoid membranes and their associated pigment-protein complexes are lost, and there is a rapid increase in chlorophyll a/b ratios at both ripening temperatures. It is suggested that the retention of thylakoid membranes is an important factor in the failure of Cavendish bananas to degreen when ripened at tropical temperatures, and that the degreening problem may be related to the comparatively high chlorophyll b content of the preclimacteric fruit.     

Protease inhibitors from Streptomyces violascens

Summary Production of protease inhibitors from Streptomyces violascens U 10 600 was studied in quiescent flasks, shake flasks, and fermentors. A starting pH in the medium between pH 6 and 7 was the most favourable for the process. Both trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors were produced. Maximum inhibitor activity was attained after 3 days of cultivation in a protein powder medium at 18°C with pH control to pH 5 during the latter part of the process.     

Protease inhibitors from Streptomyces violascens

Summary Two protease inhibitors from the culture fluid of Streptomyces violascens U 10600 have been purified with a method including freeze-drying, methanol extraction, dialysis, and ultrafiltration. By gel filtration on Sephadex G-15 a separation in two active inhibitors, one of trypsin and one of chymotrypsin, was made.The inhibitors were stable at 100°C, pH 5, for 20 min and at 24°C between pH 1.8 to 9.7. Both inhibitors were dialysable. They had no bacteriostatic or fungistatic effects. The trypsin inhibitor inhibited also papain and proteases from Aspergillus oryzae, Alternaria tenuissima, Entomophthora coronata, and to some extent Gibberella fujikuroi, but not chymotrypsin, kallikrein, ficin, or pepsin. The chymotrypsin inhibitor inhibited also papain and proteases from Aspergillus oryzae, Alternaria tenuissima, and Gibberella fujikuroi, but not trypsin, kallikrein, ficin, pepsin, or protease from Entomophthora coronata.     

Inhibition of degreening in the peel of bananas ripened at tropical temperatures

Bananas (Musa AAA Group, Cavendish Subgroup) were ripened over a range of temperatures from 15 to 35°C. The rate of ripening in both pulp and peel was accelerated with an increase in storage temperature up to about 24°C. Above this temperature the pulp softened and sweetened without the development of a fully yellow peel due to a decrease in the rate of chlorophyll breakdown. Peel carotenoid content was higher at 35°C than at 20°C.     

Protease inhibitors from Ecballium elaterium seeds

Several protease inhibitors were found in the seeds of a Cucurbitacea, Ecballium elaterium, and were separated from one another by affinity and molecular sieve chromatography. Three main trypsin isoinhibitors were purified by ion-exchange chromatography and the sequence of the major one, EETI II, was elucidated and compared with other inhibitors of the squash family. It is a peptide of M.W. 3020 of strong inhibitory activity (Ka = 8 x 10(11) M-1) against trypsin, showing high Gly content, six half-cystine residues, but devoid of histidine, threonine, tryptophan, and tyrosine residues.     

Protease inhibitors from broad bean isolation and purification

Four protease inhibitors were demonstrated and two, BBPI-1 and BBPI-2, were purified from broad bean seeds using a combination of (NH₄)₂SO₄ fractionation, ion-exchange chromatography on CM 52-cellulose and CM 50 Sephadex. BBPI-1 and 2 had broad specificity and inhibited trypsin, chymotrypsin, thrombin, pronase and papain. Both inhibitors were heat stable, had a wide pH tolerance, a MW of approximately 11 000 and contained 14·5% N. BBPI-1 and 2 had a pI of 8·5 and 7·5 respectively.     

Protease inhibitors from the parasitic worm Parascaris equorum

Two proteic inhibitors (I and II) of serine proteases have been purified from the parasitic worm Parascaris equorum by affinity chromatography on immobilized trypsin followed by preparative electrophoresis. They have an apparent relative molecular mass of 9000 and 7000 as determined by gel filtration, a slightly acid isoelectric point (5.5 and 6.1) and a similar amino acid composition. Both inhibitors lack serine, methionine and tyrosine. They bind bovine trypsin extremely strongly with an association constant, Ka, larger than 10(9) M-1, and form a 1:1 complex with this protease. The Ka values for the binding to bovine chymotrypsin are approximately 3.3 X 10(8) M-1 (inhibitor I) and approximately 2 X 10(6) M-1 (inhibitor II). Inhibitor I interacts also with porcine elastase (Ka approximately 5 X 10(7) M-1), while inhibitor II is inactive towards this enzyme.     

Protease inhibitors from jackfruit seed (Artocarpus integrifolia)

Protease inhibitory activity in jackfruit seed (Artocarpus integrifolia) could be separated into 5 fractions by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose at pH 7.6. A minor fraction (I) that did not bind to the matrix, had antitryptic, antichymotryptic and antielastase activity in the ratio 24:1.9:1.0. Fraction II bound least tightly to the ion exchanger eluting with 0.05 M NaCl and could be resolved into an elastase/chymotrypsin inhibitor and a chymotrypsin/trypsin inhibitor by chromatography on either immobilized trypsin or phenyl Sepharose CL-4B. Fractions III and IV eluted successively with 0.10 M NaCl and 0.15 M NaCl from DEAE-cellulose, inhibited elastase, chymotrypsin and trypsin in the ratio 1.0: 0.53:0.55 and 1.0:8.9:9.8 respectively. Fraction V, most strongly bound to the matrix eluting with 0.3 M NaCl and was a trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitor accounting for 74% of total antitryptic activity. This inhibitor was purified further. The inhibitor with a molecular weight of 26 kd was found to be a glycoprotein. Galactose, glucose, mannose, fucose, xylose, glucosamine and uronic acid were identified as constitutent units of the inhibitor. Dansylation and electrophoresis in the presence of mercaptoethanol indicated that the inhibitor is made up of more than one polypeptide chain. The inhibitor combined with bovine trypsin and bovine α-chymotrypsin in a stoichiometric manner as indicated by gel chromatography. It had very poor action on subtilisin BPN′, porcine elastase, pronase,Streptomyces caespitosus protease andAspergillus oryzae protease. It powerfully inhibited the caseinolytic activities of rabbit and horse pancreatic preparations and was least effective on human and pig pancreatic extracts. Modification of amino groups, guanido groups and sulphydryl groups of the inhibitor resulted in loss of inhibitory activity. Reduction of disulphide bridges, reduction with sodium borohydride and periodate oxidation also decreased the inhibitory activity.     

Protease inhibitors in porcine serum and their immunological relationships to human protease inhibitors.

A close molecular relationship exists between the protease inhibitors of porcine serum and those of human serum as shown by studying their immunological cross-reactivities with gel diffusion and immunoelectrophoretic methods. On studying seven different antisera to human protease inhibitors, five were found to cross-react with porcine serum, and on this bisis it was possible to identify alpha 2 -macroglobulin f, alpha 2 -macroglobulin s, alpha 1 -protease inhibitor, inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor, antithrombin and alpha 2 -antiplasmin in porcine serum. Antisera to four of these porcine serum inhibitors (alpha 2 -macroglobulin f, alpha 2 -macroglobulin s, alpha 1 -protease inhibitor and inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor) were produced and were shown to react immunologically with their human serum protease inhibitor counterparts.     

Protease inhibitors from several classes work synergistically against Callosobruchus maculatus

Targeting multiple digestive proteases may be more effective in insect pest control than inhibition of a single enzyme class. We therefore explored possible interactions of three antimetabolic protease inhibitors fed to cowpea bruchids in artificial diets, using a recombinant soybean cysteine protease inhibitor scN, an aspartic protease inhibitor pepstatin A, and soybean Kunitz trypsin inhibitor KI. scN and pepstatin, inhibiting major digestive cysteine and aspartic proteases, respectively, significantly prolonged the developmental time of cowpea bruchids individually. When combined, the anti-insect effect was synergistic, i.e., the toxicity of the mixture was markedly greater than that of scN or pepstatin alone. KI alone did not impact insect development even at relatively high concentrations, but its anti-insect properties became apparent when acting jointly with scN or scN plus pepstatin. Incubating KI with bruchid midgut extract showed that it was partially degraded. This instability may explain its lack of anti-insect activity. However, this proteolytic degradation was inhibited by scN and/or pepstatin. Protection of KI from proteolysis in the insect digestive tract thus could be the basis for the synergistic effect. These observations support the concept that cowpea bruchid gut proteases play a dual role; digesting protein for nutrient needs and protecting insects by inactivating dietary proteins that may otherwise be toxic. Our results also suggest that transgenic resistance strategies that involve multigene products are likely to have enhanced efficacy and durability.     

Protease inhibitors: A panacea?

With the increasing evidence of protease involvement in several diseases, novel strategies for drug development involve the use of protease inhibitors (PIs). The local balance between protease inhibitors and proteases is an important determinant of the occurrence and progression of a particular disease. Hence, enzymes and their cognate inhibitors are finding their applications as diagnostic and prognostic markers. PIs are widely implicated for their use in host defense against infection, tissue repair and matrix production, blood coagulation, cancer, and they are, therefore, the current focus as therapeutic alternatives for major diseases such as AIDS and Alzheimer's diseases. This review is a brief summary of the varied role of protein protease inhibitors in controlling the activity of aberrant enzymes in several diseases afflicting mankind today. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 24:270–277, 2010; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com . DOI 10.1002/jbt.20335     

Effects of hydrolase inhibitors on fertilization of sea urchins: I. Protease inhibitors

To search the spermatozoa of sea urchins for their lysins, the eggs were inseminated in the presence of various protease inhibitors. Among them, two chymotrypsin-specific inhibitors, chymostatin and N-tosyl-L-phenylalanyl-chloro-methane, as well as p-nitrophenyl p′-guanidinobenzoate, inhibit fertilization of the sea urchins, Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus and Strongylocentrotus intermedius. A chymotrypsin-like protease is presumed to be a lysin of the sea urchins, since the inhibition of fertilization by chymostatin is remarkably diminished if the eggs are pretreated with trypsin or chymotrypsin to break the vitelline coat before insemination, and since N-tosyl-L-phenylalanyl-chloromethane, and p-nitrophenyl p′-guanidinobenzoate, as well as chymostatin, inhibit the fertilization. In all the sea urchins so far studied, elevation of fertilization envelopes is inhibited by leupeptin, antipain, soybean trypsin inhibitor, and p-nitrophenyl p′-guanidinobenzoate, all of which are potent trypsin inhibitors. Synthetic inhibitors have cytotoxic side effects on the eggs, but the microbial and plant inhibitors have no such effects.     

Protease inhibitors generate cytotoxic fragments from Alzheimer amyloid protein precursor in cDNA-transfected glioma cells.

A human glioma cell line (Bu-17) was stably transfected with full-length cDNA encoding beta/A4 amyloid protein precursor (APP). When the transfectants were treated with protease inhibitors (leupeptin, E-64, and antipain) and the lysosomotropic agent chloroquine, aberrantly processed fragments of APP having molecular sizes of 8-30 kDa were detected with an antibody against the carboxyl-terminal sequence of APP. Immunocytochemistry revealed that these fragments were localized in the lysosome-like organelles. Treatment of the APP cDNA transfectants with chloroquine for 3 days caused cellular degeneration, and leupeptin and E-64 enhanced chloroquine-induced cytotoxicity. These results suggest that inhibition of lysosomal hydrolases impairs intracellular APP metabolism to generate aberrantly processed fragments that induce cytotoxicity.