Academic literature on the topic 'Cysteine-rich peptide'

The plant Citrullus colocynthis, a member of the squash (Cucurbitaceae) family, has a long history in traditional medicine. Based on the ancient knowledge about the healing properties of herbal preparations, plant-derived small molecules, e.g., salicylic acid, or quinine, have been integral to modern drug discovery. Additionally, many plant families, such as Cucurbitaceae, are known as a rich source for cysteine-rich peptides, which are gaining importance as valuable pharmaceuticals. In this study, we characterized the C. colocynthis peptidome using chemical modification of cysteine residues, and mass shift analysis via matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. We identified the presence of at least 23 cysteine-rich peptides in this plant, and eight novel peptides, named citcol-1 to -8, with a molecular weight between ~3650 and 4160 Da, were purified using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and their amino acid sequences were determined by de novo assignment of b- and y-ion series of proteolytic peptide fragments. In silico analysis of citcol peptides revealed a high sequence similarity to trypsin inhibitor peptides from Cucumis sativus, Momordica cochinchinensis, Momordica macrophylla and Momordica sphaeroidea. Using genome/transcriptome mining it was possible to identify precursor sequences of this peptide family in related Cucurbitaceae species that cluster into trypsin inhibitor and antimicrobial peptides. Based on our analysis, the presence or absence of a crucial Arg/Lys residue at the putative P1 position may be used to classify these common cysteine-rich peptides by functional properties. Despite sequence homology and the common classification into the inhibitor cysteine knot family, these peptides appear to have diverse and additional bioactivities yet to be revealed.

Disulfide-rich peptide venoms from animals such as snakes, spiders, scorpions, and certain marine snails represent one of nature's great diversity libraries of bioactive molecules. The various species of marine cone shells have alone been estimated to produce >50,000 distinct peptide venoms. These peptides have stimulated considerable interest because of their ability to potently alter the function of specific ion channels. To date, only a small fraction of this immense resource has been characterized because of the difficulty in elucidating their primary structures, which range in size between 10 and 80 aa, include up to 5 disulfide bonds, and can contain extensive posttranslational modifications. The extraordinary complexity of crude venoms and the lack of DNA databases for many of the organisms of interest present major analytical challenges. Here, we describe a strategy that uses mass spectrometry for the elucidation of the mature peptide toxin components of crude venom samples. Key to this strategy is our use of electron transfer dissociation (ETD), a mass spectrometric fragmentation technique that can produce sequence information across the entire peptide backbone. However, because ETD only yields comprehensive sequence coverage when the charge state of the precursor peptide ion is sufficiently high and the m/z ratio is low, we combined ETD with a targeted chemical derivatization strategy to increase the charge state of cysteine-containing peptide toxins. Using this strategy, we obtained full sequences for 31 peptide toxins, using just 7% of the crude venom from the venom gland of a single cone snail (Conus textile).

Peptide biosynthesis is performed by ribosomes and several other classes of enzymes, but a simple chemical synthesis may have created the first peptides at the origins of life. α-Aminonitriles—prebiotic α–amino acid precursors—are generally produced by Strecker reactions. However, cysteine’s aminothiol is incompatible with nitriles. Consequently, cysteine nitrile is not stable, and cysteine has been proposed to be a product of evolution, not prebiotic chemistry. We now report a high-yielding, prebiotic synthesis of cysteine peptides. Our biomimetic pathway converts serine to cysteine by nitrile-activated dehydroalanine synthesis. We also demonstrate that N-acylcysteines catalyze peptide ligation, directly coupling kinetically stable—but energy-rich—α-amidonitriles to proteinogenic amines. This rare example of selective and efficient organocatalysis in water implicates cysteine as both catalyst and precursor in prebiotic peptide synthesis.

Conus venoms are rich sources of biologically active peptides that act specifically on ionic channels and metabotropic receptors present at the neuromuscular junction, efficiently paralyzing the prey. Each species of Conus may have 50 to 200 uncharacterized bioactive peptides with pharmacological interest. Conus regius is a vermivorous species that inhabits Northeastern Brazilian tropical waters. In this work, we characterized one peptide with activity on neuronal acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). Crude venom was purified by reverse-phase HPLC and selected fractions were screened and sequenced by mass spectrometry, MALDI-ToF, and ESI-Q-ToF, respectively. A new peptide was identified, bearing two disulfide bridges. The novel 2,701 Da peptide belongs to the cysteine framework I, corresponding to the cysteine pattern CC-C-C. The biological activity of the purified peptide was tested by intracranial injection in mice, and it was observed that high concentrations induced hyperactivity in the animals, whereas lower doses caused breathing difficulty. The activity of this peptide was assayed in patch-clamp experiments, on nAChR-rich cells, in whole-cell configuration. The peptide blocked slow rise-time neuronal receptors, probably α3β4 and/or α3β4α5 subtype. According to the nomenclature, the new peptide was designated as α-RgIB.

Most knowledge of spider venom concerns neurotoxins acting on ion channels, whereas proteins and their significance for the envenomation process are neglected. The here presented comprehensive analysis of the venom gland transcriptome and proteome of Cupiennius salei focusses on proteins and cysteine-containing peptides and offers new insight into the structure and function of spider venom, here described as the dual prey-inactivation strategy. After venom injection, many enzymes and proteins, dominated by α-amylase, angiotensin-converting enzyme, and cysteine-rich secretory proteins, interact with main metabolic pathways, leading to a major disturbance of the cellular homeostasis. Hyaluronidase and cytolytic peptides destroy tissue and membranes, thus supporting the spread of other venom compounds. We detected 81 transcripts of neurotoxins from 13 peptide families, whereof two families comprise 93.7% of all cysteine-containing peptides. This raises the question of the importance of the other low-expressed peptide families. The identification of a venom gland-specific defensin-like peptide and an aga-toxin-like peptide in the hemocytes offers an important clue on the recruitment and neofunctionalization of body proteins and peptides as the origin of toxins.

Insects belonging to the recent orders of the endopterygote clade (Lepidoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera) respond to bacterial challenge by the rapid and transient synthesis of a battery of potent antibacterial peptides which are secreted into their haemolymph. Here we present the first report on inducible antibacterial molecules in the sap-sucking bug Pyrrhocoris apterus, a representative species of the Hemiptera, which predated the Endoptergotes by at least 50 million years in evolution. We have isolated and characterized from immune blood of this species three novel peptides or polypeptides: (i) a 43-residue cysteine-rich anti-(Gram-positive bacteria) peptide which is a new member of the family of insect defensins; (ii) a 20-residue proline-rich peptide carrying an O-glycosylated substitution (N-acetylgalactosamine), active against Gram-negative bacteria; (iii) a 133-residue glycine-rich polypeptide also active against Gram-negative bacteria. The proline-rich peptide shows high sequence similarities with drosocin, an O-glycosylated antibacterial peptide from Drosophila, and also with the N-terminal domain of diptericin, an inducible 9 kDa antibacterial peptide from members of the order Diptera, whereas the glycine-rich peptide has similarities with the glycine-rich domain of diptericin. We discuss the evolutionary aspects of these findings.

Antimicrobial peptide structure has direct implications for the complexity of functions and mechanisms of action. The penaeidin antimicrobial peptide family from shrimp is divided into multiple class designations based on primary structure. The penaeidin classes are not only characterized by variability in primary sequence but also by variation in target specificity and effectiveness. Whereas class 4 exhibits low isoform diversity within species and is highly conserved between species, the primary sequence of penaeidin class 3 is less conserved between species and exhibits considerable isoform diversity within species. All penaeidins, regardless of class or species, are composed of two dramatically different domains: an unconstrained proline-rich domain and a disulfide bond-stabilized cysteine-rich domain. The proline-rich domain varies in length and is generally less conserved, whereas the spacing and specific residue content of the cysteine-rich domain is more conserved. The structure of the synthetic penaeidin class 4 (PEN4-1) fromLitopenaeus setiferuswas analyzed using several approaches, including chemical mapping of disulfide bonds, circular dichroism analysis of secondary structural characteristics, and complete characterization of the solution structure of the peptide by proton NMR.L. setiferusPEN4-1 was then compared with the previously characterized structure of penaeidin class 3 fromLitopenaeus vannamei. Moreover, the specificity of these antimicrobial peptides was examined through direct comparison of activity against a panel of microbes. The penaeidin classes differ in microbial target specificity, which correlates to variability in specific domain sequence. However, the tertiary structure of the cysteine-rich domain and indeed the overall structure of penaeidins are conserved across classes.

Granulins (epithelins) are cysteine rich polypeptides with pleiotropic effects on epithelial cell growth in vitro. The human granulin cDNA predicts a 593 amino acid glycoprotein precursor containing seven and one-half granulin-like repeats arranged in tandem. The rat granulin precursor cDNA predicts a 589 residue glycoprotein with an overall identity of 75% with human progranulin. The single copy human granulin gene is located on chromosome 17. The protein coding region of the granulin gene spans 4 kilobases and contains 12 exons with each repeat encoded by two exons. The 5$ sp prime$ flanking region of the human granulin gene lacks a TATA box but has several CCAAT boxes, and exhibits heterogeneity in transcription initiation sites. The granulin precursor is processed differently depending on cell type, and secretion of the granulin gene products is both constitutive and regulated. The granulin gene is expressed in a variety of adult and fetal tissues derived from all three embryonic germ layers. In vitro, the granulin gene is expressed in cell types of diverse lineages, including epithelial cells, lymphoid and myeloid cells, and fibroblasts, whereas its expression in situ is restricted to hematopoietic and some epithelial cells.

Long and short-range signaling systems in plants have previously been attributed to plant hormones. In animals, peptide signaling is the major mechanism in cell-cell communication, although little is known about this system in plants. The Cysteine-Rich Peptides (CRP) forms an emerging class of potential signaling ligands, which have been implicated in several signaling events during plant reproduction. However, little is known about their role during seed development. Recent studies have identified a significant number of CRP encoding genes in Arabidopsis thaliana of unknown function. A sub-class of MEG1-related CRPs were identified in seeds. These peptides contain 8 and 12 conserved cysteine residues, and undergo a rapid turnover by protein ubiquitination. A subgroup of these genes (AtMEG13/14/15) are expressed in the central cell and in the embryo-surrounding region of the endosperm during early seed development. Functional analysis of these peptides revealed seed abnormalities associated with defects in suspensor development and embryo patterning. Genetic analyses revealed that these genes are required before and after fertilization for correct embryo development. In addition, they also act in a parallel pathway to the SHORT SUSPENSOR to regulate early embryo development through the YODA mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascade. My findings highlight the novel existence of extra-embryonic factors that regulate early embryo development in plants.

Bien que la synthèse peptidique en phase solide (SPPS) soit maintenant une technique mature et très largement popularisée pour des peptides simples, certaines séquences restent encore compliquées à produire, comme les peptides riches en ponts disulfure (DRPs). Ces produits naturels, ligands sélectifs d’un grand nombre de cibles thérapeutiques, sont des outils pharmacologiques de premier ordre et sont considérés comme de bons candidats médicaments. La proportion importante de cystéines dans leur séquence (plus de 10%) leur confère des propriétés remarquables, mais limite aussi leur synthèse,conduisant à des purifications HPLC délicates, associées à des rendements faibles et une pureté médiocre.Dans l’optique de simplifier la production de DRPs par voie chimique, notre but est de proposer une méthode de purification non-chromatographique. Pour cela, nous avons développé un bras N-terminal conçu pour être complètement compatible avec les peptides riches en cystéines: Boc-Cys(Trt)-1-{6-[1,3-diméthyl-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)trioxopyrimidine-5-ylidène]hexyle}. A la fin de l’élongation sur support solide, ce bras est introduit sélectivement à l'extrémité N-terminale du peptide cible, sans réagir avec les peptides tronqués acétylés qui constituent les principales impuretés de la SPPS. Après coupure de la résine SPPS, le peptide cible est immobilisé sur un second support solide par le biais d’une réaction de ligation chimique native(NCL). Les peptides tronqués sont alors éliminés par simple filtration, puis le peptide cible est relargué en solution par coupure du bras N-terminal. Ayant comme objectif d’élargir par la suite notre stratégie à la synthèse de très longs DRPs via l’assemblage de multiples segments peptidiques par NCLs successives enphase solide, nous avons étudié en détail la stabilité et les conditions de coupure du bras.La méthode a été appliquée à la purification de deux séquences naturelles riches en cystéines et biologiquement pertinentes : AvBD2 (36 AA), un peptide antimicrobien appartenant à la famille des β défensines aviaires et Bv8 (77 AA) un peptide d’amphibien de la famille des prokinéticines
Although solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) is a mature and widely popularized technique for simple peptides, some sequences are still complicated to produce, such as disulfide-rich peptides (DRPs). These natural products are able to selectively bind a wide number of therapeutically relevant targets, hence they are considered as promising drug candidates and pharmacological tools. The large proportion of cysteines in their sequence (more than 10%) confers them remarkable properties, but also limits their synthesis, lead ingto delicate HPLC purifications associated with low yields and poor purity.With the aim to simplify the chemical production of DRPs, we have developed an N-terminal linker: Boc-Cys(Trt)-1-{6-[1,3-dimethyl-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)trioxopyrimidine-5-ylidene]hexyl}, which can be used for non chromatographiccatch-and-release purifications. It has been designed to be completely compatible with unprotected cysteine-containing peptides. Following solid phase elongation, this linker is selective lyintroduced at the N-terminus of the target peptide, leaving unreacted truncated acetylated peptides which are the main co-products of SPPS. After cleavage from the SPPS resin, the target peptide is immobilized on a second solid support through native chemical ligation (NCL). The truncated peptides are then removed by simple filtration. Cleavage of the linker finally releases the purified peptide into solution.Having in mind the future extension our strategy to the synthesis of very long DRPs through successive solid-supported NCLs of multiple peptide segments, we have studied in detail the stability and cleavage conditions of the N-terminal linker.To explore the scope and limitations of the method, it has been applied to the purification of two biologically-relevant cysteine-rich peptide sequences: chicken AvBD2 (36 AA), a β defensin antimicrobial peptide, and Bv8 (77 AA), a prokineticin-like peptide from yellow-bellied toad

La vie a émergé sur Terre il y a probablement 3,8 milliards d'années, sur une planète largement recouverte d'eau. Ce travail porte sur la synthèse prébiotique de peptides, en particulier de peptides riches en thiol. Nous avons étudié les réactions des aminonitriles (les premiers produits de la réaction de Strecker) avec la cystéine et l'homocystéine. Elles conduisent à la formation de cycles à 5 ou 6 chaînons qui sont ensuite hydrolysés pour donner les dipeptides correspondants (aa-Cys ou aa-Hcy). Les dipeptides contenant un thiol obtenus sont capables de favoriser la formation de chaînes peptidiques plus longues via des liaisons thioesters et de favoriser la formation de certains hétérocycles. L'homocystéine nitrile se cyclise dans l'eau pour former l'homocystéine thiolactone, qui présente une double réactivité, la thiolactone est ouverte par des amines puis on observe une condensation de l'aminothiol ainsi formé avec les nitriles. Le nitrile de cystéine et le thioester de S-éthyle de la cystéine conduisent à la formation de polycystéine, tandis que les molécules de type Cys-aa-CN donnent des polypeptides linéaires et cycliques. Nos résultats soutiennent l’hypothèse que des peptides contenant des thiols auraient joué un rôle important dans les premiers stades du développement de la vie
Life emerged on Earth probably about 3.8 billion years ago, on a planet that was largely covered by water. This work focuses on the prebiotic synthesis of peptides, especially thiol-rich ones. We studied the reactions of aminonitriles (the first products of the Strecker reaction) with cysteine and homocysteine. These reactions lead to the formation of 5- or 6-membered rings which are then hydrolysed to give the corresponding dipeptides (aa-Cys or aa-Hcy). The obtained thiol-containing dipeptides are able to promote the formation of longer peptide chains via thioesters bonds, and to promote the formation of some heterocycles. Homocysteine nitrile cyclizes in water to form homocysteine thiolactone, which shows a double reactivity, thiolactone opening by amines followed by aminothiol condensation reaction with nitriles. Cysteine nitrile and the S-ethyl thioester of cysteine lead to the formation of polycysteine, while Cys-aa-CN molecules gives linear and cyclic polypeptides. Our results support the hypothesis that thiol-containing peptides would have been important molecules in the early stages of life development

Peroxynitrite, a highly oxidative molecule, plays a role in neuronal cell death following traumatic brain injury (TBI). A peptide comprised of the HIV-1 tat transduction domain fused to nine cysteine residues (Tat-9c) was previously designed to act as an exogenous target for nitrosylation by peroxynitrite. The present study’s aim was to explore the efficacy of Tat-9c in maintaining neurological function following TBI. Rats treated with Tat-9c exhibited significant improvement in performance compared to controls 24 hrs following TBI in the Beam-Walk task but not in the Rota-Rod task. Injured animals, given the drug, show a recovery as indicated by similar performance on the Morris Water Maze task compared to sham controls. These findings suggest Tat-9c may constitute a potential therapy for improving motor and cognitive function following TBI.

Chez les plantes à fleurs, l’ovaire est l’organe reproducteur femelle et il interagit de façon importante avec les gamètes mâles durant la croissance, le guidage, la réception et la rupture du tube pollinique ainsi que la fusion des gamètes. Le processus débute lorsque de nombreux gènes de l’ovule sont activés à longue distance lors de la réception du pollen sur le stigmate. Afin d’explorer les signaux provenant de l’ovule ayant un impact important sur les interactions pollen–pistil, particulièrement les molécules sécrétées impliquées dans la signalisation espècespécifique, l’expression génique des ovules sous forme d’ARNm ainsi et la sécrétion protéique ont été étudiées chez Solanum chacoense, une espèce diploïde de pomme de terre sauvage. S. chacoense a subi beaucoup d’hybridation interspécifique avec d’autres espèces sympathiques de solanacées, facilitant ainsi grandement l’étude des interactions pollen–ovule de façon espècespécifique ainsi que leur évolution. Dans ce projet, des ovules provenant de trois conditions différentes ont été comparés: des ovules matures de type sauvage, des ovules légèrement immatures, récoltés deux jours avant l’anthèse et des ovules provenant du mutant frk1 pour lesquels le sac embryonnaire est absent. Un séquençage d’ARN à haut débit a d’abord été effectué sur les ovules de type sauvage de S. chacoense afin de générer un assemblage de référence comprenant 33852 séquences codantes. D’autres séquençages ont été effectués sur les trois conditions d’ovules et sur les feuilles afin de faire une analyse d’expression différentielle des gènes. En comparaison avec les ovules de type sauvage, 818 gènes sont réprimés dans les ovules du mutant frk1. Un sous-groupe de 284 gènes, étaient également sous-exprimés dans les ovules légèrement immatures, suggérant un rôle spécifique dans les stades tardifs de la maturation du sac embryonnaire (stade de développent FG6 à FG7) ainsi que du guidage du tube pollinique, puisque ni les ovules du mutant frk1 ni ceux légèrement immatures ne sont capables d’attirer les tubes polliniques lors d’essais de croissance semi in vivo. De plus, 21% de ces gènes sont des peptides riches en cystéines (CRPs). En utilisant un transcriptome assemblé de novo provenant de deux proches parents de S. chacoense, S. gandarillasii et S. tarijense, une analyse d’orthologie a été effectuée sur ces CRPs, révélant une grande variabilité et une évolution rapide chez les solanacées. De nouveaux motifs de cystéine uniques à cette famille ont également été découverts. En comparant avec des études similaires chez Arabidopsis, le sac embryonnaire de S. chacoense montre un transcriptome fortement divergent, particulièrement en en ce qui a trait à la catégorisation fonctionnelle des gènes et de la similarité entre les gènes orthologues. De plus,même si la glycosylation n’est pas requise lors du guidage mycropylaire du tube pollinique chez Arabidopsis, Torenia ou le maïs, des extraits d’ovules glycosylés de S. chacoense sont capables d’augmenter la capacité de guidage de 18%. Cette étude est donc la première à montrer une corrélation entre glycosylation et le guidage du tube pollinique par l’ovule. En complément à l’approche transcriptomique, une approche protéomique portant sur les protéine sécrétées par l’ovule (le secrétome) a été utilisée afin d’identifier des protéines impliquées dans l’interaction entre ovule et tube pollinique. Des exsudats d’ovules matures (capables d’attirer le tube pollinique) et d’ovules immatures (incapables d’attirer le tube pollinique) ont été récoltés en utilisant une nouvelle méthode d’extraction par gravité permettant de réduire efficacement les contaminants cytosoliques à moins de 1% de l’échantillon. Un total de 305 protéines sécrétées par les ovules (OSPs) ont été identifiées par spectrométrie de masse, parmi lesquelles 58% étaient spécifiques aux ovules lorsque comparées avec des données de protéines sécrétées par des tissus végétatifs. De plus, la sécrétion de 128 OSPs est augmentée dans les ovules matures par rapport aux ovules immatures. Ces 128 protéines sont donc considérées en tant que candidates potentiellement impliquées dans la maturation tardive de l’ovule et dans le guidage du tube pollinique. Cette étude a également montré que la maturation du sac embryonnaire du stade FG6 au stade FG7 influence le niveau de sécrétion de 44% du sécrétome total de l’ovule. De façon surprenante, la grande majorité (83%) de ces protéines n’est pas régulée au niveau de l’ARN, soulignant ainsi l’importance de cette approche dans l’étude du guidage du tube pollinique comme complément essentiel aux études transcriptomiques. Parmi tous les signaux sécrétés par l’ovule et reliés au guidage, obtenus à partir des approches transcriptomiques et protéomiques décrites ci-haut, nous avons spécifiquement évalué l’implication des CRPs dans le guidage du tube pollinique par l’ovule chez S. chacoense, vu l’implication de ce type de protéine dans les interactions pollen-pistil et le guidage du tube pollinique chez d’autres espèces. Au total, 28 CRPs étaient présentes dans les ovules capables d’attirer le tube pollinique tout en étant absentes dans les ovules incapables de l’attirer, et ce, soit au niveau de l’ARNm et/ou au niveau du sécrétome. De celles-ci, 17 CRPs ont été exprimées dans un système bactérien et purifiées en quantité suffisante pour tester le guidage. Alors que des exsudats d’ovules ont été utilisés avec succès pour attirer par chimiotactisme le tube pollinique, les candidats exprimés dans les bactéries n’ont quant à eux pas été capables d’attirer les tubes polliniques. Comme l’utilisation de systèmes d’expression hétérologue eucaryote peut permettre un meilleur repliement et une plus grande activité des protéines, les candidats restants seront de nouveau exprimés, cette fois dans un système de levure ainsi que dans un système végétal pour produire les peptides sécrétés. Ceux-ci seront ensuite utilisés lors d’essais fonctionnels pour évaluer leur capacité à guider les tubes polliniques et ainsi isoler les attractants chimiques responsable du guidage du tube pollinique chez les solanacées comme S. chacoense.
In flowering plants, the ovary is the female reproductive organ that interacts extensively with the male gametophyte during pollen tube (PT) growth, guidance, reception, discharge and gamete fusion. The process begins when numerous ovule-expressed genes are activated when pollen lands on the stigma. To explore the ovular signals that have a great impact on successful pollen–pistil interactions, especially the secreted molecules that mediate species-specific signalling events, ovule mRNA expression and protein secretion profiles were studied in Solanum chacoense, a wild diploid potato species. Solanum chacoense has undergone extensive interspecific hybridization with sympatric solanaceous species that greatly facilitates the study of species-specific pollen–ovule interactions and evolution. In this project, three ovule conditions were studied: wild-type mature ovules, slightly immature ovules at two days before anthesis (2DBA), and frk1 mutant ovules that lack an embryo sac (ES). RNA-seq was performed on S. chacoense ovules to provide a scaffold assembly comprising 33852 CDS-containing sequences, then to provide read counts for differential gene expression analyses on three ovule conditions as well as on leaf. Compared to wild-type ovules, 818 genes were downregulated in frk1 ovules. A subset of 284 genes was concurrently under-expressed in 2DBA ovules, suggestive of their specific involvement in late stages of ES maturation (female gametophyte (FG), FG6 to FG7 developmental stage), as well as in PT guidance processes, as neither frk1 nor 2DBA ovules attract semi in vivo-grown PTs. Of these 284, 21% encoded cysteine-rich peptides (CRPs). Using de novo assembled ovule transcriptomes of two close relatives, S. gandarillasii and S. tarijense, an orthology survey was conducted on these CRPs, revealing their highly polymorphic nature among species and rapid evolution. Interestingly, novel cysteine motifs unique to this family were also uncovered. As compared to parallel studies in Arabidopsis, S. chacoense was found to possess a highly divergent ES transcriptome, in terms of both functional categories and individual ortholog similarities. Although glycosylation is not required for micropylar guidance cues to attract PTs in Arabidopsis, Torenia or maize, glycosylated ovule extracts from S. chacoense showed enhanced PT guidance competency by 18%. This is the first time a positive regulation between glycosylation and ovular PT guidance has been observed. As a complement to the transcriptomic approach, a proteomic approach using secreted proteins from the ovule (secretome) was employed to identify proteins involved in pollen–pistil interactions. Ovule exudates were collected from mature ovules (PT attracting) and immature ovules at 2DBA (PT nonattracting), using a novel tissue free-gravity extraction method (tf-GEM), which efficiently reduced the cytosolic contamination to less than 1%. Through mass spectrometry analyses, a total of 305 ovule-secreted proteins (OSPs) were identified, of which 58% were considered ovule-specific when compared to secretome studies conducted in other plant tissues. The secretion of 128 OSPs was upregulated in mature ovules vs. immature ovules. These OSPs were considered as candidate proteins involved in late ovule maturation and PT guidance. This study demonstrated that the ES maturation from FG6 to FG7 stages influenced the secretion status of 44% of ovule secretome. Surprisingly, the majority (83%) of these proteins were not regulated at the RNA level, vindicating this novel approach in the study of PT guidance as a robust complement to transcriptomic studies. Among all identified guidance-related ovular signals from the transcriptomic and proteomic approaches described above, we focused on the evaluation of the involvement of CRPs in ovular PT guidance of S. chacoense, due to the implication of various CRPs in pollen–pistil interactions and, especially, in PT guidance. A total of 28 CRPs were present in PT attracting ovules while being low or absent in nonattracting ovules, at the mRNA and/or protein secretion levels. Of these, 17 CRPs were expressed in bacteria and purified in sufficient amount for PT guidance assays. However, while ovule exudates were shown to induce PT chemotropism in the bead assay, refolded candidates did not show guidance competency. Since the use of eukaryotic protein expression systems might lead to better refolding and higher protein activity, the remaining candidates will be expressed in both yeast and plant-based expression systems and tested for their ability to attract PTs in a semi in-vivo assay, in order to lead us toward the isolation of PT guidance chemoattractants in solanaceous species like S. chacoense.

Trigramin (Mr weight 10 kDa), an acidic, cysteine rich peptide purified into homogeneity from Trimeresurus gramineus snake venom contained a single protein chain with EAGE at the NH2 terminal end. It inhibited platelet aggregation induced by various agents without affecting release reaction. It blocked competitively the binding of 125I-fibrincgen to AEP stimulated and chymotrypsin treated platelets (Ki= 2 × 10−8). 125-I trigramin bound to intact and to AEP stimulated platelets in a saturable manner (approx. 16,000 sites per platelet). However, AEP increased 5 fold, the binding affinity of trigramin to platelets (to Kd = 4 × 10−8M) suggesting that AEP is changing the conformation of receptors associated with GPIIb/GPIIIa complex. The binding of trigramin to thran-basthenic platelets was markedly reduced. The binding to normal platelets was significantly inhibited by EDTA and by monoclonal antibodies directed against GPIIb/GPIIIa complex but not by the antibodies directed against GPIIb or GPIIIa molecules. The binding of 125I-trigramin to AEP-stimulated platelets was inhibited by RGES (IC50 = 125 μM) and by YHHLGGAKOAGDV (C-terminal fragment of fibrinogen gamma chain, IC50 = 250 μM) suggesting that these or similar peptide sequences are required for interactions of various ligands with GPIIb/GPIIIa complex