Radicals involved in photoallergen/protein interactions

Aqueous solutions (pH = 8) of both 3,3'-dimethyl and 4,4'-dimethyl substituted analogues of the photoallergen fentichlor (bis(2-hydroxy-5-chlorophenyl)sulphide) produced stable semiquinone radicals when irradiated with u.v. light (greater than 310 nm). These radicals have been characterised using electron spin resonance techniques: the results confirm the assignment of hyperfine coupling constants for the parent fentichlor radical. The binding of fentichlor to HSA was found to be partly oxygen dependent demonstrating a role for semiquinone type radicals in the binding mechanism. The stoichiometry and specificity of the binding of the dimethyl analogues to soluble proteins were found to be similar to that of fentichlor itself.     

Two ABA-responsive proteins from pea (Pisum sativum L.) are closely related to intracellular pathogenesis-related proteins

We report here the isolation of cDNAs encoding two abscisic acid-responsive pea (Pisum sativum L.) proteins, ABR17 and ABR18, which are synthesized during late seed development in vivo. Southern blot analyses suggest that ABR17 cDNA corresponds to a single-copy gene, but ABR18 is one member of a family of closely related sequences in the pea genome. The deduced amino acid sequences of ABR17 and ABR18 cDNAs showed similarity to those of the pea disease resistance response proteins, to pathogenesis-related and to stress-induced proteins in other species and to the major birch pollen allergen Betvl.