A proline-rich peptide of 2733Da, isolated from pig parotid granule preparations was tested against different pathogenic fungi. It showed interesting antifungal activity towards a clinical isolate of Cryptococcus neoformans, with an EC(50) of 2.2μM. Neither cytotoxic nor haemolytic effects were observed towards mammalian cells. Circular dichroism and infrared spectroscopic studies showed that the peptide adopted a combination of polyproline type-II, β-turn and unordered conformations at physiological temperatures. Temperature dependent experiments evidenced a tendency to adopt a polyproline-II helix conformation. From experiments with lipid vesicles, Neutral Red Uptake (NRU), haemolytic assays, and confocal microscopy studies, it could be hypothesized that the peptide may exert its antifungal effect by interacting with an intracellular target rather than through membrane damage.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2012.12.013 | DOI Listing |
Nat Commun
January 2025
Institute of Bioanalytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
The proline-rich antimicrobial designer peptide Api137 inhibits protein expression in bacteria by binding simultaneously to the ribosomal polypeptide exit tunnel and the release factor (RF), depleting the cellular RF pool and leading to ribosomal arrest at stop codons. This study investigates the additional effect of Api137 on the assembly of ribosomes using an Escherichia coli reporter strain expressing one ribosomal protein per 30S and 50S subunit tagged with mCherry and EGFP, respectively. Separation of cellular extracts derived from cells exposed to Api137 in a sucrose gradient reveals elevated levels of partially assembled and not fully matured precursors of the 50S subunit (pre-50S).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecules
December 2024
Department of Immunobiology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Akademicka 19 St., 20-033 Lublin, Poland.
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) constitute a large and diverse group of molecules with antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiprotozoan, and anticancer activity. In animals, they are key components of innate immunity involved in fighting against various pathogens. Proline-rich (Pr) AMPs are characterized by a high content of proline (and arginine) residues that can be organized into Pro-Arg-Pro motifs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProtein Sci
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
The rapid identification of protein-protein interactions has been significantly enabled by mass spectrometry (MS) proteomics-based methods, including affinity purification-MS, crosslinking-MS, and proximity-labeling proteomics. While these methods can reveal networks of interacting proteins, they cannot reveal how specific protein-protein interactions alter protein function or cell signaling. For instance, when two proteins interact, there can be emergent signaling processes driven purely by the individual activities of those proteins being co-localized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Control Release
December 2024
College of Pharmacy, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
In recent years, polypeptides have been standing out as excellent candidates to replace polyethylene glycol (PEG) with adequate biocompatibility and biodegradability. In this study, we found that (VELPPP), an anionic γ-zein-based proline-rich peptide with a polyproline-II helical structure, was able to impart liposomes with considerable stability and significantly prolonged blood circulation in vivo. Furthermore, we have shown that (VELPPP)-modified liposomes induced negligible anti-peptide IgM production, and no noticeable accelerated blood clearance after repeated or multi-dose administration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Mol Biosci
December 2024
Department of Chemistry, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, United States.
Cellular signaling networks are modulated by multiple protein-protein interaction domains that coordinate extracellular inputs and processes to regulate cellular processes. Several of these domains recognize short linear motifs, or SLiMs, which are often highly conserved and are closely regulated. One such domain, the Src homology 3 (SH3) domain, typically recognizes proline-rich SLiMs and is one of the most abundant SLiM-binding domains in the human proteome.
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