Crystal structures of a plant trypsin inhibitor from Enterolobium contortisiliquum (EcTI) and of its complex with bovine trypsin.

A serine protease inhibitor from Enterolobium contortisiliquum (EcTI) belongs to the Kunitz family of plant inhibitors, common in plant seeds. It was shown that EcTI inhibits the invasion of gastric cancer cells through alterations in integrin-dependent cell signaling pathway. We determined high-resolution crystal structures of free EcTI (at 1.75 Å) and complexed with bovine trypsin (at 2 Å). High quality of the resulting electron density maps and the redundancy of structural information indicated that the sequence of the crystallized isoform contained 176 residues and differed from the one published previously. The structure of the complex confirmed the standard inhibitory mechanism in which the reactive loop of the inhibitor is docked into trypsin active site with the side chains of Arg64 and Ile65 occupying the S1 and S1' pockets, respectively. The overall conformation of the reactive loop undergoes only minor adjustments upon binding to trypsin. Larger deviations are seen in the vicinity of Arg64, driven by the needs to satisfy specificity requirements. A comparison of the EcTI-trypsin complex with the complexes of related Kunitz inhibitors has shown that rigid body rotation of the inhibitors by as much as 15° is required for accurate juxtaposition of the reactive loop with the active site while preserving its conformation. Modeling of the putative complexes of EcTI with several serine proteases and a comparison with equivalent models for other Kunitz inhibitors elucidated the structural basis for the fine differences in their specificity, providing tools that might allow modification of their potency towards the individual enzymes.

Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from the salivary glands of the tick Amblyomma cajennense (Acari: Ixodidae).

The neotropical tick Amblyomma cajennense is a significant pest to domestic animals, the most frequently human-biting tick in South America and the main vector of Brazilian spotted fever (caused by Rickettsia rickettsii), a deadly human disease. The purpose of this study is to characterize the adult A. cajennense salivary gland transcriptome by expressed sequence tags (ESTs). We report the analysis of 1754 clones obtained from a cDNA library, which reveal mainly transcripts related to proteins involved in the hemostatic processes, especially proteases and their inhibitors. Remarkably, five types of possible serine protease inhibitors were found, including a molecule with a distinguished structure that contains repeats of the active motif of hirudin inhibitors. Besides, other components that may be active over the host immune system or acting as defensins against infecting microorganisms were also described, including a molecule similar to insect venom allergens. The conjunction of components from this transcriptome suggests a diverse strategy of A. cajennense tick during feeding, but emphasized in the coagulation system.

Characterization of a Kunitz trypsin inhibitor with one disulfide bridge purified from Swartzia pickellii.

Swartzia pickellii is a Leguminosae that belongs to the Caesalpinioideae sub-family the Swartzia pickellii Trypsin Inhibitor (SWTI), a serine proteinase inhibitor was isolated from its seeds. SWTI is a single polypeptide chain protein and it's structure has 174 amino acid residues, it homologous to other Kunitz plant inhibitors, however shows some major differences: it contains only one disulfide bridge, instead two which are usually found in plant Kunitz inhibitors, and the SWTI reactive site does not contain the usual Arg or Lys residues at the putative reactive site (position 65). A glycosylation site was detected at Asn38 with 1188 kDa carbohydrate portion. The primary structure micro heterogeneity was found combining the sequence determination and mass spectrometry. Three forms of SWTI were actually defined: two glycosylated forms a 20,204 kDa (Arg 165) and 20,185 kDa (His 165) and one deglycosylated form 19,016 kDa (Arg 165), all of them contain a Met residue at position 130.