Biodegradation of elastin-like polypeptide nanoparticles

Protein polymers are repetitive polypeptides produced by ribosomal biosynthetic pathways; furthermore, they offer emerging opportunities in drug and biopharmaceutical delivery. As for any polymer, biodegradation is one of the most important determinants affecting how a protein polymer can be utilized in the body. This study was designed to characterize the proteolytic biodegradation for a library of protein polymers derived from the human tropoelastin, the Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs). ELPs are of particular interest for controlled drug delivery because they reversibly transition from soluble to insoluble above an inverse phase transition temperature (T(t)). More recently, ELP block copolymers have been developed that can assemble into micelles; however, it remains unclear if proteases can act on these ELP nanoparticles. For the first time, we demonstrate that ELP nanoparticles can be degraded by two model proteases and that comparable proteolysis occurs after cell uptake into a transformed culture of murine hepatocytes. Both elastase and collagenase endopeptidases can proteolytically degrade soluble ELPs. To our surprise, the ELP phase transition was protective against collagenase but not to elastase activity. These findings enhance our ability to predict how ELPs will biodegrade in different physiological microenvironments and are essential to develop protein polymers into biopharmaceuticals.     

液相色谱-电喷雾质谱法分析牛胰核糖核酸酶B酶解肽谱,糖基化位点及糖型

糖蛋白分析一直是蛋白质分析鉴定的难点, 为建立准确灵敏的糖蛋白分析方法。采用液相色谱电喷雾质谱法（ＬＣＥＳＩＭＳ） 对糖蛋白———牛胰核糖核酸酶Ｂ（ＲＮａｓｅ Ｂ）的酶解肽谱进行分析, 证实其一级结构。通过比较糖苷酶处理酶解肽段前后的肽谱, 确定糖基化位点, 并通过串联质谱（ ＭＳ／ＭＳ） 解析了Ａｓｎ 连接的糖型结构及去糖后肽段的氨基酸序列。糖型结构经α甘露糖苷酶处理和质谱分析确定为高甘露糖型。此外, 还对糖型不均一造成的几种糖肽进行了相对定量。这一方法在ｐｍｏｌ 水平上, 同时分析糖蛋白的一级结构和糖结合位点及糖型, 对含Ｎ糖链的糖蛋白的分析具有普遍意义。     

The effect of norflurazon on protein composition and chlorophyll organization in pigment–protein complex of Photosystem II

The pyridazinone-type herbicide norflurazon SAN 9789 inhibiting the biosynthesis of long-chain carotenoids results in significant decrease in PS II core complexes and content of light-harvesting complex (LHC) polypeptides in the 29.5–21 kDa region. The Chl a forms at 668, 676, and 690 nm that belong to LHC and antenna part of PS I disappear completely after treatment. The intensity of the Chl b form at 648 nm is sharply decreased in treated seedlings grown under 30 or 100 lx light intensity. The bands of carotenoid absorption at 421, 448 (Chl a), 452, 480, 492, 496 (β-carotene), and 508 nm also disappear. The band shift from 740 to 720 nm and decrease in its intensity relative to the 687 nm emission peak in the low-temperature fluorescence spectrum (77 K) suggests a disturbance of energy transfer from LHC to the Chla form at 710–712 nm.     

Optimization of elastin‐like polypeptide fusions for expression and purification of recombinant proteins in plants

The demand for recombinant proteins for medical and industrial use is expanding rapidly and plants are now recognized as an efficient, inexpensive means of production. Although the accumulation of recombinant proteins in transgenic plants can be low, we have previously demonstrated that fusions with an elastin‐like polypeptide (ELP) tag can significantly enhance the production yield of a range of different recombinant proteins in plant leaves. ELPs are biopolymers with a repeating pentapeptide sequence (VGVPG)_n that are valuable for bioseparation, acting as thermally responsive tags for the non‐chromatographic purification of recombinant proteins. To determine the optimal ELP size for the accumulation of recombinant proteins and their subsequent purification, various ELP tags were fused to green fluorescent protein, interleukin‐10, erythropoietin and a single chain antibody fragment and then transiently expressed in tobacco leaves. Our results indicated that ELP tags with 30 pentapeptide repeats provided the best compromise between the positive effects of small ELP tags (n = 5–40) on recombinant protein accumulation and the beneficial effects of larger ELP tags (n = 80–160) on recombinant protein recovery during inverse transition cycling (ITC) purification. In addition, the C‐terminal orientation of ELP fusion tags produced higher levels of target proteins, relative to N‐terminal ELP fusions. Importantly, the ELP tags had no adverse effect on the receptor binding affinity of erythropoietin, demonstrating the inert nature of these tags. The use of ELP fusion tags provides an approach for enhancing the production of recombinant proteins in plants, while simultaneously assisting in their purification. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009;103: 562–573. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

蜀柏毒蛾核型多角体病毒结构多肽及基因组酶切分析

对蜀伯毒蛾核型多角体病毒（Ｐａｒｏｃｎｅｒｉａ ｏｒｉｅｎｔａ Ｎｕｃｌｅａｒ ｐｏｌｙｈｅｄｒｏｖｉｒｕｓ,简称ＰａｏｒＮＰＶ）形态结构、结构多肽、限制内切酶图谱等特性进行了研究。采用不连续系统垂直板ＳＤＳ－ＰＡＧＥ分析了ＰａｏｒＮＰＶ的多角体蛋白、病毒粒子结构多肽。应用５种限制性内切酶对ＰａｏｒＮＰＶ基因组ＤＮＡ进行了酶切分析。结果表明：经热处理的多角体蛋白仅有一条带,分子量为３１．５ｋＤ,不     

An improved method for separation of low-molecular-weight polypeptides by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel

An improved system for SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, capable of analyzing polypeptides having molecular weights from 1500 to 100,000 (especially showing high resolving power in the 1500 to 25,000 molecular weight range) is described. The 10 to 18% linear gradient gel containing 7 M urea with an acrylamide:bisacrylamide ratio of 20:1 and the Laemmli discontinuous buffer was used. The use of the gel with a high crosslinkage ratio is shown to be effective in lowering the leakage of low-molecular-weight polypeptides from the gel. This method has facilitated rapid detection of small amounts of low-molecular-weight polypeptides in body fluids by the use of silver stain. A procedure is presented for the elimination of false bands on the gel frequently encountered during silver staining. The separation patterns of enzymatic cleavage products of proteins, uremic plasma, and urines from nephropathy patients are illustrated. This system is also applicable in the separation of lipopolysaccharides and also for the detection of phospholipids.     

聚肽在骨组织工程领域的研究进展

聚肽是20种α-氨基酸中的一种或者几种氨基酸通过酰胺键(肽键)联成的长链分子,此外还包含有其它非肽链结构的组成成分,具有和蛋白质类似的二级结构.由于其独特的结构和性能,近年来在组织工程领域聚肽被广泛地研究和应用,主要被用作生长因子、支架材料表面改性物以及支架材料.从以上3个方面介绍了近年来聚肽在骨组织工程领域的研究和应用情况,并对聚肽在骨组织工程研究领域的应用前景进行了展望.     

Alterations in chlorophyll a/b binding proteins in Solanaceae cybrids

In this study we have constructed a number of plants (cybrids), in which the nuclear genome of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia is combined with the plastome of Atropa belladonna, or the nuclear genome of N. tabacum with plastomes of Lycium barbarum, Scopolia carniolica, Physochlaine officinalis or Nolana paradoxa. Our biochemical and immunological analyses prove that in these cybrids the biogenesis of the chlorophyll a/b binding proteins (CAB) of the light harvesting complex II (LHCII) is altered. Besides normal sized CAB polypeptides of 27, 25.5 and 25 kDa, which become less abundant, the cybrids analyzed have additional polypeptides of 26, 24.5 and 24 kDa. Direct protein micro-sequencing showed that at least two truncated 26 kDa CAB polypeptides in plant cells containing a nucleus of N. plumbaginifolia and plastids of A. belladonna are encoded by the type 1 Lhcb genes. These polypeptides are 11–12 amino acids shorter at the N-terminus than the expected size. Based on the available data we conclude that the biogenesis of the LHCII in vivo may depend on plastome-encoded factor(s). These results suggest that plastome-encoded factors that cause specific protein degradation and/or abnormal processing might determine compartmental genetic incompatibility in plants.     

Alterations of gene expression in potato (Solanum commersonii) during cold acclimation

Plantlets of Solanum commersonii stem-culture were acclimated at 5°C day/night temperature for 14 days. Cold hardiness increased from – 3.5°C to – 8.6°C. During the course of acclimation, the synthesis of polypeptides was investigated and poly (A⁺) RNA was isolated. Translation products of poly(A⁺) RNA in a rabbit rcticulocyte lysate system were then analyzed. During the 14 days of acclimation, 23 cold-induced polypeptides were identified. Most of them disappeared following 1 day of de-acclimation at a 20/15°C day/night regime. The synthesis of one group of polypeptides is prominent and stable throughout the acclimation period. The other group is transient. The most prominent and stable polypeptides have molecular weights of 21, 22, 31 and 83 kDa.
Acclimation alters translatable mRNA population during the development of cold hardiness. Two mRNAs encoding in vitro translation products at 26 and 27 kDa were identified during the course of acclimation. These proteins may play important roles in the overall programming for the development of cold hardiness in tuber-bearing S. commersonii.     

Design of synthetic gene libraries encoding random sequence proteins with desired ensemble characteristics.

Libraries of random sequence polypeptides are useful as sources of unevolved proteins, novel ligands, and potential lead compounds for the development of vaccines and therapeutics. The expression of small random peptides has been achieved previously using DNA synthesized with equimolar mixtures of nucleotides. For many potential uses of random polypeptide libraries, concerns such as avoiding termination codons and matching target amino acid compositions make more complex designs necessary. In this study, three mixtures of nucleotides, corresponding to the three positions in the codon, were designed such that semirandom DNA synthesized by repeated cycles of the three mixtures created an open reading frame encoding random sequence polypeptides with desired ensemble characteristics. Two methods were used to design the nucleotide mixtures: the manual use of a spreadsheet and a refining grid search algorithm. Using design targets of less than or equal to 1% stop codons and an amino acid composition based on the average ratios observed in natural, globular proteins, the search methods yielded similar nucleotide ratios, Semirandom DNA, synthesized with a designed, three-residue repeat pattern, can encode libraries of very high diversity and represents an important tool for the construction of random polypeptide libraries.