Calcium ions stabilize a protein structure of hemolytic lectin CEL-III from marine invertebrate Cucumaria echinata.

CEL-III, a galactose/N-acetylgalactosamine (Gal/GalNAc)-specific lectin purified from a marine invertebrate, Cucumaria echinata, has a strong hemolytic activity, especially toward human and rabbit erythrocytes in the presence of Ca2+. We evaluated the role of Ca2+ in hemagglutinating and hemolytic activities of CEL-III. We found that Ca2+ is closely associated with both activities of CEL-III. The fluorescence spectra of CEL-III upon binding to Ca2+ were measured. The result showed a structural change of CEL-III in the presence of Ca2+. The structural change of CEL-III upon Ca2+ binding was further demonstrated by stabilization against urea denaturation and by insusceptibility to protease digestions. CEL-III was completely unfolded at a low concentration of 2 M urea, while CEL-III complexed with Ca2+ was stable in 6 M urea. As for protease digestions, CEL-III monomer and oligomer were readily digested by trypsin, chymotrypsin, and papain in the absence of Ca2+, while they were insusceptible to the three proteases in the presence of Ca2+. The papain digestion of the decalcified oligomer produced a large C-terminal peptide, suggestting that the C-terminal region of CEL-III may participate in oligomerization of CEL-III as a core domain.

Molecular cloning and functional expression of cDNA encoding the cysteine proteinase inhibitor Sca from sunflower seeds.

Sunflower cystatin a (Sca) is distinguished from other phytocystatins by its lack of the N-terminal about 20 amino acids, resulting in the absence of the evolutionarily conserved Gly residue. The cDNA encoding Sca was amplified by PCR methods. The cDNA consists of 520 nucleotides and includes an open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 98 amino acids. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence with the Sca protein sequence indicated that the deduced sequence has an extra 15 amino acids and one amino acid at the N- and C-termini, respectively. This result suggests that Sca is synthesized as a preprotein (preSca) and proteolytic cleavages at peptide bonds may give rise to the mature Sca. To address this assumption and also to investigate the significance of the N-terminal extension sequence to Sca for inhibitory activity, a recombinant pre-Sca (rpre-Sca), in which the N-terminal extension was fused to the matured Sca, and a recombinant matured Sca (rSca) were overproduced in Escherichia coli cells. Incubation of the rpre-Sca with a seed extract resulted in a mobility by SDS-PAGE that was the same as rSca, demonstrating a proteolytic cleavage by endogenous proteinases. The rSca and rpre-Sca proteins were further characterized with respect to inhibitory activity and sensorgrams of the interaction with papain. The result showed that rpre-Sca had stronger inhibitory activity than rSca, and that the increased activity toward papain was due to a lower dissociation rate constant. This finding indicates that the N-terminal region of rpre-Sca increases the inhibitory activity by stabilizing the rpre-Sca and papain complex.

Protein engineering of novel proteinase inhibitors and their effects on the growth of Spodoptera exigua larvae.

Novel types of proteinase inhibitors with multi-inhibitory activities were generated by replacement of phytocystatin domains in sunflower multi-cystatin (SMC) by the serine proteinase inhibitor BGIT from bitter gourd seeds. Two chimeric inhibitors SMC-T3 and SMC-T23, in which the third domain in SMC and the second and third domains in SMC were replaced by BGIT, acquired trypsin inhibitory activity (Ki: 1.46 x 10(-7) M and 1.75 x 10(-7) M), retaining inhibitory activity toward papain (Ki: 4.5 x 10(-8) M and 1.52 x 10(-7) M), respectively. We compared the chimeric inhibitors and the recombinant SMC (r-SMC) in relation to their effects on the growth of larval Spodoptera exigua. When the second instar larvae were reared on a diet containing rSMC, SMC-T3, or SMC-T23 for ten days, a significant reduction in weight gain was observed. Mean weights for rSMC, SMC-T3, and SMC-T23 were 43 mg, 32 mg, and 43 mg, respectively, as compared with that (60 mg) for the absence of the inhibitor. In contrast, BGIT had little effect on the growth of the S. exigua larvae. This result indicated that the chimeric inhibitor SMC-T3 with two phytocystatin domains and one serine proteinase inhibitor domain is an efficient inhibitor of proteinases in the S. exigua larvae. Therefore, this novel type of proteinase inhibitor with multi-inhibitory activities may represent a promising protein for successful application to a transgenic plant with insect resistance.

Molecular cloning and functional expression of cDNA encoding the cysteine proteinase inhibitor with three cystatin domains from sunflower seeds.

Two cysteine proteinase inhibitors, cystatins Sca and Scb, were previously isolated from sunflower seeds [Kouzuma et al. J. Biochem. 119 (1996) 1106-1113]. A cDNA clone encoding a novel phytocystatin with three repetitive cystatin domains was isolated from a cDNA library of sunflower seeds using the Sca cDNA fragment as a hybridization probe. The cDNA insert comprises 1,093 bp and encodes 282 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequences of the domains are highly similar to each other (66-81%), sharing 65-90% identical residues with Sca. The cDNA was expressed in Escherichia coli cells, and then the recombinant sunflower multicystatin (SMC) was purified and its inhibitory activity toward papain was examined. SMC exhibited strong inhibitory activity toward papain, with a stoichiometry of 1:3, indicating that each cystatin domain independently functions as a potent cysteine proteinase inhibitor. Proteolysis of SMC with Asn-specific proteinase suggested that post-translational processing by an Asn-specific proteinase may give rise to mature Sca-like phytocystatins.

Primary structure of hemolytic lectin CEL-III from marine invertebrate Cucumaria echinata and its cDNA: structural similarity to the B-chain from plant lectin, ricin.

CEL-III, a galactose/N-acetylgalactosamine (Gal/GalNAc) specific lectin purified from a marine invertebrate Cucumaria echinata has a strong hemolytic activity especially toward human and rabbit erythrocytes. We determined the primary structure of the CEL-III by examining the amino acid sequences of the protein and the nucleotide sequence of the cDNA. The cDNA encoding CEL-III has 1823 nucleotides and an open reading frame of 1296 nucleotides. CEL-III is composed of 432 amino acid residues with a M(r) of 47¿ omitted¿457 and has six internal tandem repeats, each with of 40-50 amino acids, comprising the N-terminal two-thirds of the molecule. Similar repeats are found in the B-chains of cytotoxic plant lectins, such as ricin and abrin, where six repetitive sequences extend throughout the molecules. A hydropathy plot predicts hydrophobic segments in the C-terminal region of CEL-III. These findings suggest that the N-terminal region of CEL-III plays an important role in binding to carbohydrate receptors on the target cell membranes, an event which triggers an intermolecular hydrophobic interaction of the C-terminal region, the result being oligomerization of CEL-III to lead to pore-formation in erythrocyte membrane.

Conformation of the primary binding loop folded through an intramolecular interaction contributes to the strong chymotrypsin inhibitory activity of the chymotrypsin inhibitor from Erythrina variegata seeds.

We previously demonstrated that amino acid residues Gln62 (P3), Phe63 (P2), Leu64 (P1), and Phe67 (P3') in the primary binding loop of Erythrina variegata chymotrypsin inhibitor (ECI), a member of the Kunitz inhibitor family, are involved in its strong inhibitory activity toward chymotrypsin [Iwanaga et al. (1998) J. Biochem. 124, 663-669]. To determine whether or not these four amino acid residues predominantly contribute to the strong inhibitory activity of ECI, they were simultaneously replaced by Ala. The results showed that a quadruple mutant, Q62A/F63A/L64A/F67A, retained considerable inhibitory activity (Ki, 5.6 x 10(-7) M), indicating that in addition to the side chains of these four amino acid residues, the backbone structure of the primary binding loop in ECI is essential for the inhibitory activity toward chymotrypsin. Two chimeric proteins, in which the primary binding loops of ECI and ETIa were exchanged: an isoinhibitor from E. variegata with lower chymotrypsin inhibitory activity, were constructed to determine whether the backbone structure of the primary binding loop of ECI was formed by the amino acid residues therein, or through an interaction between the primary binding loop and the residual structure designated as the "scaffold." A chimeric protein, ECI/ETIa, composed of the primary binding loop of ECI and the scaffold of ETIa showed weaker inhibitory activity (Ki, 1.3 x 10(-6) M) than ECI (Ki, 9.8 x 10(-8) M). In contrast, a chimera, ETIa/ECI, comprising the primary binding loop of ETIa and the scaffold of ECI inhibited chymotrypsin more strongly (Ki, 5.7 x 10(-7) M) than ETIa (Ki, 1.3 x 10(-6) M). These results indicate that the intramolecular interaction between the primary binding loop and the scaffold of ECI plays an important role in the strong inhibitory activity toward chymotrypsin. Furthermore, surface plasmon resonance analysis revealed that the side chains on the primary binding loop of ECI contribute to both an increase in the association rate constant (kon) and a decrease in the dissociation rate constant (koff) for the ECI-chymotrypsin interaction, whereas the backbone structure of the primary binding loop mainly contributes to a decrease in the dissociation rate constant.

Molecular cloning, functional expression, and mutagenesis of cDNA encoding a cysteine proteinase inhibitor from sunflower seeds.

Sunflower cystatin Scb differs from other phytocystatins in that it is a highly basic protein with a pI value of 9.6 and includes six additional amino acids (Arg30-Leu-Gln-Arg-Thr34, Thr37) in the middle region as compared with other phytocystatins [Kouzuma et al. (1996) J. Biochem. 119, 1106-1113]. We identified and sequenced a complete cDNA encoding the Scb; the cDNA of Scb consists of 645 nucleotides and includes an open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 123 amino acids. On the basis of these findings, Scb appears to be synthesized as a prepeptide consisting of a signal sequence of 22 amino acids and a mature protein of 101 amino acids. A recombinant Scb (rScb) was produced by expression in Escherichia coli and purified by gel filtration on Sephacryl S-200 followed by ion-exchange column chromatography on a S-Sepharose column. rScb exhibited almost the same inhibitory activity toward papain as the authentic Scb did, but its inhibition profile toward cathepsins B, L, and H was slightly different. Scb mutant proteins, in which selected N-terminal residues or the additional amino acids were deleted, were subsequently constructed and characterized with respect to their inhibitory activities toward papain. The result revealed that the additional sequence (Arg30-Leu-Gln-Arg-Thr34) in Scb is not essential for papain-inhibitory activity, while the N-terminal amino acids (Ile1-Pro2) as well as the N-terminal glycine residues Gly3 and/or Gly4 play an important role in manifesting the inhibitory activity toward papain.

Cloning, expression, and mutagenesis of trypsin inhibitor ETIb from Erythrina variegata seeds.

Erythrina variegata trypsin inhibitors designated ETIa and ETIb belong to the Kunitz family trypsin inhibitor, but ETIa is unique in its ability to inhibit tissue-type plasminogen activator, while ETIb is not. The cDNA clone encoding ETIb was isolated from the seed cDNA library constructed in the lambda phage lambda gt11. The ETIb cDNA insert consists of 765 bp, including an open reading frame of 606 pb from ATG to TGA codons. The deduced amino acid sequence consists of 202 amino acids, having the signal peptides of 22 amino acids in the N-terminus and 2 amino acids in C-terminus. The cDNA fragment encoding the mature form of ETIb was introduced into an expression vector, pET-22b, and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (ED3) in a functional form. Furthermore, the ETIb mutant bP61R/F62L, in which Pro61 and Phe62 in ETIb were changed to the corresponding amino acid residues Arg and Leu, respectively, as in ETIa, was constructed, and its inhibitory potency toward tPA was assayed. This mutant showed significant tPA inhibitory activity, albeit less than ETIa. The result demonstrates that the Arg61 and Leu62 residues in ETIa are important in inhibiting tPA, and also suggest that beside these two residues, the other amino acid(s) or other structural element may be involved in interaction of ETIa with tPA.

The tissue-type plasminogen activator inhibitor ETIa from Erythrina variegata: structural basis for the inhibitory activity by cloning, expression, and mutagenesis of the cDNA encoding ETIa.

Erythrina variegata trypsin inhibitor ETIa belongs to the Kunitz inhibitor family, but is unique in its ability to bind and inhibit tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). A cDNA clone encoding ETIa was isolated from the lambda gt11 cDNA library using specific antiserum as a probe and characterized by nucleotide sequencing. The cloned ETIa cDNA consists of 762 nucleotides and includes an open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 198 amino acids. Comparison of the deduced protein sequence and the determined protein sequence indicated the presence of two signal peptides composed of 24 and 2 amino acids at the N- and C-termini, respectively. The cDNA encoding mature ETIa was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ligated into the expression vector pET-22b, and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The recombinant ETIa (rETIa) was expressed in E. coli as inclusion bodies; it was purified to homogeneity by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75. The rETIa exhibited almost the same inhibitory activity toward trypsin and tPA as ETIa. Six mutants, in which the amino acids Arg61, Leu62, Arg63, and Ala65 were replaced by Pro, Phe, Leu/Asp, and Tyr, respectively, were constructed by site-specific mutagenesis and expressed in E. coli. The site-specific mutation of Arg63 to Leu (aR63L) or Asp (aR63D) in ETIa resulted in abolition of the inhibitory activities toward both trypsin and tPA. The mutants aR61P and aL62F showed significantly reduced tPA-inhibitory activity, and furthermore the double mutant aR61P/L62F lacked tPA-inhibitory activity, despite retaining the trypsin-inhibitory activity. In contrast, the mutant aA65Y exhibited tPA-inhibitory activity to the same extent as rETIa. This result suggests that Arg61 and Leu62 in ETIa, in addition to Arg63, may play an important role in the interaction with tPA.

Inhibitory potency of Erythrina variegata proteinase inhibitors toward serine proteinases in the blood coagulation and fibrinolytic systems.

The Erythrina variegata Kunitz family trypsin inhibitors, ETIa and ETIb, prolonged the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and also the prothrombin time (PT) of human plasma, but the Kunitz family chymotrypsin inhibitor, ECI, and Bowman-Birk family inhibitor, EBI, from E. variegata hardly prolonged these times. Trypsin inhibitors ETIa and ETIb inhibited the amidolytic activity of factor Xa, and ETIb but not ETIA inhibited plasma kallikrein. Neither ETIa nor ETIb exhibited any inhibitory activity toward beta-factor XIIa and thrombin. Furthermore, trypsin inhibitors ETIa and ETIb inhibited plasmin, a serine proteinase in the fibrinolytic system, whereas ECI and EBI did not. These results indicate that Erythrina Kunitz proteinase inhibitors possess different potency toward serine proteinases in the blood coagulation and fibrinolytic systems, in spite of their high similarity in amino acid sequence.

Purification, characterization, and sequencing of two cysteine proteinase inhibitors, Sca and Scb, from sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seeds.

Two proteinaceous cysteine proteinase inhibitors (cystatins) referred to as Sca and Scb were purified to homogeneity from the seeds of sunflower (Heliantas annuus) by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 followed by a series of ion-exchange column chromatographies and reverse-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC). The isoelectric points (pI) of Sca and Scb were estimated to be 5.6 and 9.6, respectively. The inhibitory potencies of these two cystatins were examined with cysteine proteinases from various sources, such as plants, mammals, and bacteria. Papain was strongly inhibited by both Sca and Scb with Ki values of 5.6 x 10(-9) and 1.7 x 10(-10) M, respectively. Sca and Scb were also found to be potent inhibitors of ficin (Ki values of 1.9 x 10(-6) and 2.8 x 10(-9) M, respectively). Rat cathepsin H was inhibited strongly by Scb and slightly by Sca. Although rat cathepsins B and L were significantly inhibited by Scb, they were scarcely affected by Sca. Neither Sca nor Scb inhibited Arg-gingipain, an arginine-specific cysteine proteinase of Porphyromonas gingivalis. The complete amino acid sequences of the two inhibitors were determined by protein chemical methods. The proteins Sca and Scb consist of 83 and 101 amino acid residues with M(r) of 9,330 and 11,187, respectively, and there are identical residues at 34 positions in the two sequences, that is at 42% of the residues compared. Comparison of their sequences with those of other cystatins revealed that Sca shares 59-73% identical residues with other phytocystatins, while Scb shows less identity to other phytocystatins, sharing only 28-38% identical residues. Furthermore, only 20-27% of the residues of both cystatins, Sca and Scb, are identical to those of the animal cystatins.

On a Bowman-Birk family proteinase inhibitor from Erythrina variegata seeds.

A Bowman-Birk family proteinase inhibitor (EBI) was isolated from the seeds of Erythrina variegata. The protein was purified by ion-exchange column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose followed by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75. The stoichiometry with trypsin was estimated to be 1:1, while that with chymotrypsin was not obvious, as determined from the titration patterns of its inhibitory activities. The complete amino acid sequence of EBI was determined by sequencing tryptic and chymotryptic peptides. The EBI protein consists of 61 amino acid residues, which is the shortest among the Bowman-Birk family inhibitors sequenced to date, and has a M(r) of 6,689. Comparison of this sequence with those of other leguminous Bowman-Birk family inhibitors revealed that EBI could be classified as a group II inhibitor, showing the best homology (67%) to the Bowman-Birk proteinase inhibitor from soybeans.

Amino acid sequence of chymotrypsin inhibitor ECI from the seeds of Erythrina variegata (Linn.) var. Orientalis.

The amino acids of the chymotrypsin inhibitor (ECI) from the Erythrina variegata seeds have been sequenced. The sequence was solved by analysis of peptides derived from the protein by enzymatic digestions with trypsin and Staphylococcus aureus V8 proteinase, as well as by chemical cleavage with o-iodosobenzoic acid. The ECI consists of 179 amino acid residues with a pyroglutamic acid as the N-terminal residue and has a calculated molecular weight of 19,791. Comparison of this sequence with the sequences of the two trypsin inhibitors, ETIa and ETIb, from the E. variegata seeds shows that about 60% of the residues of ECI are identical to those of ETIa and ETIb and that the reactive sites, Arg63, in ETIa and ETIb change to Leu64 in ECI.

Isolation and primary structure of proteinase inhibitors from Erythrina variegata (Linn.) var. Orientalis seeds.

The Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitors, ETIa and ETIb, and chymotrypsin inhibitor ECI were isolated from the seeds of Erythrina variegata. The proteins were extracted from a defatted meal of seeds with 10 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, containing 0.15 M NaCl, and purified by DEAE-cellulose and Q-Sepharose column chromatographies. The stoichiometry of trypsin inhibitors with trypsin was estimated to be 1:1, while that of chymotrypsin inhibitor with chymotrypsin was 1:2, judging from the titration patterns of their inhibitory activities. The complete amino acids of the two trypsin inhibitors were sequenced by protein chemical methods. The proteins ETIa and ETIb consist of 172 and 176 amino acid residues and have M(r) 19,242 and M(r) 19,783, respectively, and share 112 identical amino acid residues, which is 65% identity. They show structural features characteristic of the Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitor (i.e., identical residues at about 45% with soybean trypsin inhibitor STI). Furthermore, the trypsin inhibitors show a significant homology to the storage proteins, sporamin, in sweet potato and the taste-modifying protein, miraculin, in miracle fruit, having about 30% identical residues.