Enzymatic digestion of luminescent albumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters under anaerobic conditions: clues to the quenching mechanism

Many of the potential applications of albumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters (AuNC) arise from the sensitivity of their luminescence to the presence of various ions and albumin-degrading proteases. However, the underlying photophysics and the mechanisms responsible for protease-induced quenching of AuNC luminescence are not fully understood. Here, we study proteinase K-induced digestion of bovine serum albumin (BSA)-AuNC conjugate under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. To this end, we adapt a Co(II)-catalyzed sulfite-based protocol enabling effective in situ deoxidization without deactivation of the enzyme. In the absence of proteinase K, the anaerobic conditions facilitate luminescence of BSA-AuNC reflected by a moderate increase in the red luminescence intensity. However, in the presence of proteinase K, we have observed a steeper decrease of emission intensity irrespective of whether the digestion was carried out under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. In both cases, the diminishing fluorescence occurred in phase with shifting of the emission maximum to longer wavelengths. These results contradict the previous hypothesis that protease-induced quenching of BSA-AuNC luminescence is a consequence of enhanced diffusion of oxygen to bare AuNC. Instead, aggregation of unprotected AuNCs and separation of nanoclusters from albumin’s side chains involved in energy transfers and luminescence-promoting electron donors may underlie the observed sensitivity of BSA-AuNC to protease treatment. Our findings are discussed in the context of mechanisms of formation and photophysics of BSA-AuNC conjugates.

Effect of protease in diets containing winged bean seeds (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) on growth performance of broiler chickens

This study aims to determine the effect of adding protease enzyme in diets that contains different levels of winged bean seeds on the growth performance of broiler chickens. In this study, a total of 240 one-day-old chicks were randomly grouped within six treatments and four replicates in a 3×2 factorial arrangements. The first factor was the level of winged bean seeds at 0%, 2.5%, and 5%, while the second was the enzyme treatment with and without protease. The results showed that the additive protease interaction and level of winged bean seeds on the diet had a significant effect on the feed conversion ratio value (P<0.05). Meanwhile, on the feed inateke, final, and body weight gain had no significant effect (p>0.05). Furthermore, the protease treatment significantly decreased feed intake in 35-day old broilers. (P<0.05). Based on these results, the addition of protease enzyme at the levels has the potential to offset the effect of winged bean seeds on growth performance of broiler chickens.

The Human NUP58 Nucleoporin Can Form Amyloids In Vitro and In Vivo

Amyloids are fibrillar protein aggregates with a cross-β structure and unusual features, including high resistance to detergent or protease treatment. More than two hundred different proteins with amyloid or amyloid-like properties are already known. Several examples of nucleoporins (e.g., yeast Nup49, Nup100, Nup116, and human NUP153) are supposed to form amyloid fibrils. In this study, we demonstrated an ability of the human NUP58 nucleoporin to form amyloid aggregates in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, we found two forms of NUP58 aggregates: oligomers and polymers stabilized by disulfide bonds. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that all known orthologs of this protein are potential amyloids which possess several regions with conserved ability to aggregation. The biological role of nucleoporin amyloid formation is debatable. We suggest that it is a rather abnormal process, which is characteristic for many proteins implicated in phase separation.

Treatment with Exogenous Trypsin Expands In Vitro Cellular Tropism of the Avian Coronavirus Infectious Bronchitis Virus

The Gammacoronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) causes a highly contagious and economically important respiratory disease in poultry. In the laboratory, most IBV strains are restricted to replication in ex vivo organ cultures or in ovo and do not replicate in cell culture, making the study of their basic virology difficult. Entry of IBV into cells is facilitated by the large glycoprotein on the surface of the virion, the spike (S) protein, comprised of S1 and S2 subunits. Previous research showed that the S2′ cleavage site is responsible for the extended tropism of the IBV Beaudette strain. This study aims to investigate whether protease treatment can extend the tropism of other IBV strains. Here we demonstrate that the addition of exogenous trypsin during IBV propagation in cell culture results in significantly increased viral titres. Using a panel of IBV strains, exhibiting varied tropisms, the effects of spike cleavage on entry and replication were assessed by serial passage cell culture in the presence of trypsin. Replication could be maintained over serial passages, indicating that the addition of exogenous protease is sufficient to overcome the barrier to infection. Mutations were identified in both S1 and S2 subunits following serial passage in cell culture. This work provides a proof of concept that exogenous proteases can remove the barrier to IBV replication in otherwise non-permissive cells, providing a platform for further study of elusive field strains and enabling sustainable vaccine production in vitro.

Impacts of Protease Treatment on the Contents of Tocopherols and B Vitamins in Peanuts

This study investigated the changes of tocopherols and B vitamins in raw peanuts as a result of protease treatment which was used to reduce peanut allergens. Raw peanut kernels were treated with Alcalase, bromelain, Neutrase and papain separately at different concentrations, vacuum dried, and then ground into paste. The paste was defatted using hexane containing 0.02% BHT to obtained crude oil and defatted peanut flour which were used for tocopherol and B-vitamin analysis, respectively. The protease treatment significantly reduced the contents of all tocopherols and B-vitamins in the peanuts in enzyme concentration-dependent manner (P&lt;0.0001). The highest losses of &alpha;-, &gamma;-, and &delta;-tocopherols were 60.87 %, 40.60 % and 36.89 %, respectively, while the maximum losses of vitamins B1, B2, B3 and B6 were 63.29 %, 44.83 %, 40.56 % and 49.59 %, respectively. Among tocopherols, &alpha;-tocopherol was the most affected while &delta;-tocopherol was the least affected. Among B-vitamins, B1 was the most affected and B3 the least affected. This study demonstrated that although the protease treatment approach (including enzyme treatment and drying) for peanut allergen reduction resulted in different degrees of losses in tocopherols and B vitamins in raw peanuts, the enzyme treated peanuts is still a good source of tocopherols and vitamin B3 comparing to most cooked legumes and vegetable.

Rotaviruses Associate with Distinct Types of Extracellular Vesicles

Rotaviruses are the leading cause of viral gastroenteritis among children under five years of age. Rotavirus cell entry has been extensively studied; however, rotavirus cell release is still poorly understood. Specifically, the mechanism by which rotaviruses leave the cell before cell lysis is not known. Previous works have found rotavirus proteins and viral particles associated with extracellular vesicles secreted by cells. These vesicles have been shown to contain markers of exosomes; however, in a recent work they presented characteristics more typical of microparticles, and they were associated with an increase in the infectivity of the virus. In this work, we purified different types of vesicles from rotavirus-infected cells. We analyzed the association of virus with these vesicles and their possible role in promotion of rotavirus infection. We confirmed a non-lytic rotavirus release from the two cell lines tested, and observed a notable stimulation of vesicle secretion following rotavirus infection. A fraction of the secreted viral particles present in the cell supernatant was protected from protease treatment, possibly through its association with membranous vesicles; the more pronounced association of the virus was with fractions corresponding to cell membrane generated microvesicles. Using electron microscopy, we found different size vesicles with particles resembling rotaviruses associated from both- the outside and the inside. The viral particles inside the vesicles were refractory to neutralization with a potent rotavirus neutralizing monoclonal antibody, and were able to infect cells even without trypsin activation. The association of rotavirus particles with extracellular vesicles suggests these might have a role in virus spread.

Helicobacter pylori Biofilm Confers Antibiotic Tolerance in Part via A Protein-Dependent Mechanism

Helicobacter pylori, a WHO class I carcinogen, is one of the most successful human pathogens colonizing the stomach of over 4.4 billion of the world’s population. Antibiotic therapy represents the best solution but poor response rates have hampered the elimination of H. pylori. A growing body of evidence suggests that H. pylori forms biofilms, but the role of this growth mode in infection remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that H. pylori cells within a biofilm are tolerant to multiple antibiotics in a manner that depends partially on extracellular proteins. Biofilm-forming cells were tolerant to multiple antibiotics that target distinct pathways, including amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and tetracycline. Furthermore, this tolerance was significantly dampened following proteinase K treatment. These data suggest that H. pylori adapts its phenotype during biofilm growth resulting in decreased antibiotic susceptibility but this tolerance can be partially ameliorated by extracellular protease treatment.

Oxidative Stability of Protease Treated Peanut with Reduced Allergenicity

Oxidative stability and allergenicity are two major concerns of peanuts. This study evaluated the impact of protease treatment of peanuts on its oxidative stability during storage. The raw and dry-roasted peanut kernels were hydrolyzed with Alcalase solution at pH 7.5 for 3 h. The contents of Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 6 in peanuts were determined before and after enzyme treatment by a sandwich ELISA. After drying, the samples were packed in eight amber glass jars and stored at 37 °C for 1–8 weeks. Controls are untreated raw and dry-roasted peanuts packed and stored in the same way as their treated counterparts. Samples were taken biweekly to determine peroxide value (PV) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) as indicators of oxidation (n = 3), and to determine antioxidant activity. Alcalase treatment reduced intact major allergens Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 6 by 100%, 99.8%, and 85%, respectively. The PVs of Alcalase-treated raw and roasted peanuts was lower than those of untreated (p < 0.05) over the 8-week storage. The TBARS of Alcalase-treated raw peanuts were slightly higher than that of untreated (p < 0.05), but the TBARS of Alcalase-treated dry-roasted peanuts were slightly but significantly lower than that of untreated (p < 0.05). The protease treatment increased the antioxidant activities including reducing power, DPPH free radical scavenging capacity, and metal chelating capacity of peanuts.

Intein-mediated intracellular production of active microbial transglutaminase in Corynebacterium glutamicum

Background The microbial transglutaminase (mTGase) from Streptomyces mobaraense has been widely used in the food industry. Recombinant production of mTGase is tricky because the mTGase is synthesized as an inactive zymogen, which needs to be activated by proteolytic processing. Self-cleaving inteins have been applied to activate the zymogen in a simple and highly specific manner as compared with proteolytic processing. However, self-cleaving inteins suffer from the inherent problem of premature cleavage. Moreover, self-cleaving inteins normally require an additional step of long time incubation to induce the cleavage. These two inherent problems limit self-cleaving inteins for their potential application in the production of mTGase.Results In this study, the premature cleavage of intein Ssp DnaB was observed in Corynebacterium glutamicum when the Ssp DnaB was used to activate mTGase precursor protein. Rather than suppressing it, the premature cleavage was applied to produce active mTGase in C. glutamicum. The SDS-PAGE analysis and the mTGase activity assay indicated that the premature cleavage of intein Ssp DnaB was successfully applied to activate the mTGase intracellularly in C. glutamicum. The subsequent N-terminal amino acid sequencing and site-directed mutagenesis studies demonstrated that the premature cleavage activated the mTGase intracellularly in a highly specific manner. Finally, in a jar fermentor, the intracellular mTGase activity was up to 49 U/mL, which was the highest intracellular mTGase activity ever reported.Conclusions An efficient and simple approach with great potential for large-scale industrial production of active mTGase was presented in this study. This approach employed premature cleavage of intein Ssp DnaB to activate mTGase in C. glutamicum, resulting in high-level intracellular production of active mTGase. Moreover, this approach did not require any further processing steps such as protease treatment or long time incubation, greatly simplifying the production of active mTGase.

Application of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging for Evaluating the Quality of Fish Fillets

Consumption of fish is rapidly increasing worldwide. It is important to evaluate fish fillet quality because fish undergoes physical and chemical changes during frozen storage. Fish fillets exhibit formaldehyde (FA) accumulation from the decomposition of trimethylamine N-oxide. FA is a powerful protein denaturant; thus, it is important to avoid FA buildup during fish processing to preserve fish quality, especially texture. To determine where FA accumulates, in order to maintain the quality of fish fillets, we performed matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging, aiming to identify muscle-derived peptides, which reflect conditions such as denaturation and/or aggregation. We used frozen sections from which lipophilic molecules were washed out and detected various peptide peaks. Furthermore, we tried to identify indices to represent fish fillet softening by protease treatment. We could detect characteristic peaks owing to FA and protease treatment; the findings were consistent with the results of texture profiles showing fish fillet’s real solidity. These molecules might thus serve as effective markers to evaluate fish fillet quality.