A new role for PGRP-S (Tag7) in immune defense: lymphocyte migration is induced by a chemoattractant complex of Tag7 with Mts1

PGRP-S (Tag7) is an innate immunity protein involved in the antimicrobial defense systems, both in insects and in mammals. We have previously shown that Tag7 specifically interacts with several proteins, including Hsp70 and the calcium binding protein S100A4 (Mts1), providing a number of novel cellular functions. Here we show that Tag7–Mts1 complex causes chemotactic migration of lymphocytes, with NK cells being a preferred target. Cells of either innate immunity (neutrophils and monocytes) or acquired immunity (CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ lymphocytes) can produce this complex, which confirms the close connection between components of the 2 branches of immune response.     

Antimicrobial Activity of Kumazasa (Sasa albo-marginata)

The organic solvent extract of Kumazasa leaves (Sasa albo-marginata) showed antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi and yeast. Kumazasa at a concentration of 0.2-1.0% showed stronger antimicrobial activity than potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate at the same concentration. Both acidic and phenolic fractions of the extract showed strong antimicrobial activity. Thirty acidic and phenolic compounds were identified by GC and GC-MS analysis. Acetic, propionic, benzoic, phenylacetic, salicylic, 3-hydroxybenzoic and o-anisic acids, and guaiacol, phenol, 4-ethylphenol, xylenol and 4-vinylphenol were the main components. It was estimated that these components play an important role in the formation of the antimicrobial activity of Kumazasa extract.     

Studies on the Decarboxylation of Amino Acids with Glyoxal

Decarboxylation of about twenty kinds of α, β and γ-amino acids in the reaction with glyoxal or ninhydrin was investigated. The decarboxylation rate of amino acids proved that steric and polar effects had important roles in the reaction.

From the data of pK₂ values and decarboxylation rates of amino acids, it can be concluded that under a similar steric environment, the decarboxylation rate depends on the anion concentration of amino acids.

Besides carbon dioxide, acetaldehyde, 2-propanone and propionaldehyde were respectively detected from the reaction of β-alanine, β and γ-amino-n-butyric acids with glyoxal or ninhydrin. The decarboxylation mechanism of these amino acids seemed to take place through the corresponding β- or γ-keto acid.

Oxygen absorption was also observed from the reaction of amino acids with dicarbonyl compounds.     

Studies on the Strecker Degradation of Alanine with Glyoxal

The reaction of alanine with glyoxal was studied at both 50° and 100°C. Effects of reactant concentration, temperature, solvent, ionic strength and quinoline concentration on decarboxylation rate was investigated. From kinetic data, it was considered that decarboxylation took place through the unionized Schiff base. Experiments with reductones and 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol proved that generated reductone was one of the causative factors for oxygen absorption in the amino acid-dicarbonyl reaction.

Quantitative studies of reactants and products in the reaction showed that deamination reaction occurred to a small extent, and that the quantity of generated carbon dioxide was much smaller than that of decomposed alanine. Investigation with Ala-1-¹⁴C showed that about three ¹⁴C-products were produced. It was also concluded that in the degradation of alanine in the presence of glyoxal, decarboxylation, i.e. Strecker degradation, was not the main pathway at low temperature.     

Volatile Flavor Components of Kumazasa (Sasa albo-marginata)

The volatile flavor components of Kumazasa (Sasa albo-marginata) were studied by headspace and steam distillation analyses. Thirty nine and 90 components were identified in the headspace and steam distillation concentrate respectively by GC and GC-MS. The identified components include 7 hydrocarbons, 23 alcohols, 14 aldehydes, 8 ketones, 17 phenols and 14 acids.

The components which are believed to contribute to the characteristic flavor of Kumazasa are deduced to be: 1-penten-3-ol, trans-2-hexenal, 1-hexanol, cis-3-hexen-1-ol, cyclohexanol, α-ter-pineol, 4-octanolide and β-ionone.     

Studies on the Reaction of Dipeptides with Glyoxal

The reaction of various dipeptides with glyoxal at 100°C, pH 5.0 was studied. Carbon dioxide, ammonia, amino acids and aldehydes were detected from the reaction solutions. Besides, a series of new pyrazinones—2-(3′-alkyl-2′-oxo-pyrazin-1′-yl)alkyl acid—were isolated, and their chemical structures were confirmed by UV, IR, MS and NMR spectra. These pyrazinones seem to play a role in the browning of the reaction.

In the reaction with glyoxal, acetaldehyde and glucose, reactivity of peptides was proved to be much higher than that of amino acids.

The reaction mechanism of dipeptides with glyoxal was also proposed.     

AmylPepPred: Amyloidogenic Peptide Prediction tool

We present an efficient computational architecture designed using supervised machine learning model to predict amyloid fibril forming protein segments, named AmylPepPred. The proposed prediction model is based on bio-physio-chemical properties of primary sequences and auto-correlation function of their amino acid indices. AmylPepPred provides a user friendly web interface for the researchers to easily observe the fibril forming and non-fibril forming hexmers in a given protein sequence. We expect that this stratagem will be highly encouraging in discovering fibril forming regions in proteins thereby benefit in finding therapeutic agents that specifically aim these sequences for the inhibition and cure of amyloid illnesses.

Availability

AmylPepPred is available freely for academic use at www.zoommicro.in/amylpeppred