Two Drosophila metallothioneins (MT) have been reported: MTN, a 40 residue peptide including 10 Cys, and MTO, a 43 residue peptide including 12 Cys. However, neither functional nor evolutionary analyses for either of the Drosophila MT are available. Here, heterologous expression of Mtn in Escherichia coli is reported. The metal binding abilities of the Cu- and Zn-MTN complexes conformed in vivo, as well as the features of the Cd- and Cu-aggregates produced by metal replacement in vitro, have been determined by atomic emission spectrometry, circular dichroism and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Primary structure relationships with other MT have been examined. The results indicate a close resemblance of MTN to fungal copper-thioneins.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0014-5793(00)01149-2 | DOI Listing |
JACS Au
January 2025
Center for Biopharmaceuticals and Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 160, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Cysteine thioesters are involved in a myriad of central biological transformations due to their unique reactivity. Despite their well-studied properties, we discovered an unexpected transamidation reaction of cysteine thioesters that leads to peptide backbone cleavage. -Acylcysteine-containing peptides were found to spontaneously fragment by cleavage of the amide bond in the -1 position to the acylated cysteine residue at pH 8-10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomol Struct Dyn
January 2025
LIPPSO, Department of Chemistry, Campus Montilivi, Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain.
Antimicrobial and plant defence elicitor peptides have received attention on last decades as novel tools to combat bacterial plant diseases. We previously reported a library of peptide conjugates resulting from the combination of an antimicrobial peptide (, , or ) and a plant defence elicitor sequence (, , or ). From this library, we selected a set of 14 peptide conjugates including both highly and poorly active sequences and we performed a structure-activity relationship study by NMR and MD simulations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNPJ Sci Food
January 2025
Institute of Edible Fungi, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Engineering Research Center of Edible Fungi, Key Laboratory of Edible Fungi Resources and Utilization (South), Ministry of Agriculture, the People's Republic of China, Shanghai, 201403, China.
The ENaC receptor acts as a taste receptor to recognize and perceive salty substances. This study explored the mechanisms by which the ENaC taste receptor recognizes and binds mushroom-derived salty peptides using molecular interaction and molecular simulation. The three subunits α, β, and γ of the ENaC taste receptor (SCNN1α, SCNN1β, and SCNN1γ) showed different recognition characteristics for the salty peptide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Pharmacol
January 2025
The Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines. Electronic address:
Conusvenoms are composed of peptides that are commonly post-translationally modified, increasing their chemical diversity beyond what is encoded in the genome and enhancing their potency and selectivity. This study describes how PTMs alter an α-conotoxin's selectivity for specific nAChR subtypes. Venom from the cone snailConus(Asprella)neocostatuswas fractionated using high-performance liquid chromatography and tested using a behavioral intracranial mouse bioassay and a cholinergic calcium imaging assay using SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pharm Biomed Anal
January 2025
Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Münster, Corrensstraße 48, Münster 48149, Germany. Electronic address:
Minocycline is an antibiotic of the tetracycline family which is widely used to treat a range of medical conditions. Although it has been in use for more than 50 years, little information is available on its metabolism in the human body. In this study, we simulate the biotransformation of minocycline by means of electrochemistry coupled to mass spectrometry.
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