scholarly journals Divergent receptor proteins confer responses to different karrikins in two ephemeral weeds

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yueming Kelly Sun ◽  
Jiaren Yao ◽  
Adrian Scaffidi ◽  
Kim T. Melville ◽  
Sabrina F Davies ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWildfires can encourage the establishment of invasive plants by releasing potent germination stimulants, such as karrikins. Seed germination of Brassica tournefortii, a noxious weed of Mediterranean climates, is strongly stimulated by KAR1, which is the archetypal karrikin produced from burning vegetation. In contrast, the closely-related yet non-fire-associated ephemeral Arabidopsis thaliana is unusual because it responds preferentially to KAR2. The α/β-hydrolase KARRIKIN INSENSITIVE2 (KAI2) is the putative karrikin receptor identified in Arabidopsis. Here we show that B. tournefortii differentially expresses three KAI2 homologues, and the most highly-expressed homologue is sufficient to confer enhanced responses to KAR1 relative to KAR2 when expressed in Arabidopsis. We further identify two variant amino acid residues near the KAI2 active site that explain the ligand selectivity, and show that this combination has arisen independently multiple times within dicots. Our results suggest that duplication and diversification of KAI2 proteins could confer upon weedy ephemerals and potentially other angiosperms differential responses to chemical cues produced by environmental disturbance, including fire.

Biochemistry ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 37 (41) ◽  
pp. 14605-14612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina J. Mancini-Samuelson ◽  
Volker Kieweg ◽  
Kim Marie Sabaj ◽  
Sandro Ghisla ◽  
Marian T. Stankovich

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Senger ◽  
Viktor Eichmann ◽  
Konstantin Laun ◽  
Jifu Duan ◽  
Florian Wittkamp ◽  
...  

Hydrogenases are metalloenzymes that catalyse the interconversion of protons and molecular hydrogen, H2. [FeFe]-hydrogenases show particularly high rates of hydrogen turnover and have inspired numerous compounds for biomimetic H2 production. Two decades of research on the active site cofactor of [FeFe]-hydrogenases have put forward multiple models of the catalytic proceedings. In comparison, understanding of the catalytic proton transfer is poor. We were able to identify the amino acid residues forming a proton transfer pathway between active site cofactor and bulk solvent; however, the exact mechanism of catalytic proton transfer remained inconclusive. Here, we employ in situ IR difference spectroscopy on the [FeFe]-hydrogenase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii evaluating dynamic changes in the hydrogen-bonding network upon catalytic proton transfer. Our analysis allows for a direct, molecular unique assignment to individual amino acid residues. We found that transient protonation changes of arginine and glutamic acid residues facilitate bidirectional proton transfer in [FeFe]-hydrogenases.<br>


BIOEDUKASI ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Boni Herdiawan ◽  
Dwi Rulitasari ◽  
Ella Triana Aprilianty ◽  
Huzaimatul Khalisah ◽  
Nur Fatichah Choirudiniyah ◽  
...  

Indonesia is a tropical country that has a variety of endemic infectious diseases, one of these diseases is typhoid fever. Salmonella typhi is a bacterium that causes typhoid fever. Antibiotic treatment is often used but fails due to bacterial resistance to antibiotics. An alternative treatment is required to gradually substitute synthetic antibiotic. One of this potential is given by turmeric (Curcuma longa).The purpose of this research was to know the potential of turmeric as in silico antibacterial agent for Salmonella typhi using docking method. Docking result showed that the five compounds produced different values ​​on the affinity and rmsd binding parameters. The highest affinity binding value was the Ciprofloxacin compound, the lowest was Bisdemethoxycurcumin compound. The highest rmsd value was Demethoxycurcumin, while the lowest was Xanthorrhizol, and the result revealed that all compounds have bioaffinity properties. Based on the results, three compounds derived from turmeric (demethoxycurcumin, bisdemethoxy curcumin and xanthorrizol) are still not effectively used as antibacterial agent for Salmonella typhi due to the absence of equality of amino acid residues between alternative compounds turmeric with compounds which has been clinically tested as a drug and ineffective use of receptor proteins that result in less optimal alternative compounds.   Keywords: Turmeric, Antibacterial, Salmonella typhi, In Silico


2019 ◽  
Vol 123 (23) ◽  
pp. 4878-4887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timofey E. Tyugashev ◽  
Yury N. Vorobjev ◽  
Alexandra A. Kuznetsova ◽  
Maria V. Lukina ◽  
Nikita A. Kuznetsov ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (17) ◽  
pp. 6189
Author(s):  
Kuntarat Arunrungvichian ◽  
Sumet Chongruchiroj ◽  
Jiradanai Sarasamkan ◽  
Gerrit Schüürmann ◽  
Peter Brust ◽  
...  

The selective binding of six (S)-quinuclidine-triazoles and their (R)-enantiomers to nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes α3β4 and α7, respectively, were analyzed by in silico docking to provide the insight into the molecular basis for the observed stereospecific subtype discrimination. Homology modeling followed by molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations revealed that unique amino acid residues in the complementary subunits of the nAChR subtypes are involved in subtype-specific selectivity profiles. In the complementary β4-subunit of the α3β4 nAChR binding pocket, non-conserved AspB173 through a salt bridge was found to be the key determinant for the α3β4 selectivity of the quinuclidine-triazole chemotype, explaining the 47–327-fold affinity of the (S)-enantiomers as compared to their (R)-enantiomer counterparts. Regarding the α7 nAChR subtype, the amino acids promoting a however significantly lower preference for the (R)-enantiomers were the conserved TyrA93, TrpA149 and TrpB55 residues. The non-conserved amino acid residue in the complementary subunit of nAChR subtypes appeared to play a significant role for the nAChR subtype-selective binding, particularly at the heteropentameric subtype, whereas the conserved amino acid residues in both principal and complementary subunits are essential for ligand potency and efficacy.


1995 ◽  
Vol 308 (3) ◽  
pp. 955-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
A M Kachurin ◽  
A M Golubev ◽  
M M Geisow ◽  
O S Veselkina ◽  
L S Isaeva-Ivanova ◽  
...  

alpha-Galactosidase from Trichoderma reesei when treated with H2O2 shows a 12-fold increase in activity towards p-nitrophenyl alpha-D-galactopyranoside. A similar effect is produced by the treatment of alpha-galactosidase with other non-specific oxidants: NaIO4, KMnO4 and K4S4O8. In addition to the increase in activity, the Michaelis constant rises from 0.2 to 1.4 mM, the temperature coefficient decreases by a factor of 1.5 and the pH-activity curve falls off sharply with increasing pH. Galactose (a competitive inhibitor of alpha-galactosidase; Ki 0.09 mM for the native enzyme at pH 4.4) effectively inhibits oxidative activation of the enzyme, because the observed activity changes are related to oxidation of the catalytically important methionine in the active site. NMR measurements and amino acid analysis show that oxidation to methionine sulphoxide of one of five methionines is sufficient to activate alpha-galactosidase. Binding of galactose prevents this. Oxidative activation does not lead to conversion of other H2O2-sensitive amino acid residues, such as histidine, tyrosine, tryptophan and cysteine. The catalytically important cysteine thiol group is quantitatively titrated after protein oxidative activation. Further oxidation of methionines (up to four of five residues) can be achieved by increasing the oxidation time and/or by prior denaturation of the protein. Obviously, a methionine located in the active site of alpha-galactosidase is more accessible. The oxidative-activation phenomenon can be explained by a conformational change in the active site as a result of conversion of non-polar methionine into polar methionine sulphoxide.


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