Peptides carboxy terminus

The proteolytic digestion of j6-lactoglobulin was carried out with trypsin which, as indicated in Table 5.4 above, is expected to cleave the polypeptide backbone at the carboxy-terminus side of lysine (K) and arginine (R). On this basis, and from the known sequence of the protein, nineteen peptide fragments would be expected, as shown in Table 5.7. Only 13 components were detected after HPLC separation and, of these, ten were chosen for further study, as shown in Table 5.8. 

Other interesting examples of proteases that exhibit promiscuous behavior are proline dipeptidase from Alteromonas sp. JD6.5, whose original activity is to cleave a dipeptide bond with a prolyl residue at the carboxy terminus [121, 122] and aminopeptidase P (AMPP) from E. coli, which is a prohne-specific peptidase that catalyzes the hydrolysis of N-terminal peptide bonds containing a proline residue [123, 124]. Both enzymes exhibit phosphotriesterase activity. This means that they are capable of catalyzing the reaction that does not exist in nature. It is of particular importance, since they can hydrolyze unnatural substrates - triesters of phosphoric acid and diesters of phosphonic acids - such as organophosphorus pesticides or organophosphoms warfare agents (Scheme 5.25) [125]. 

CSS Churg-Strauss syndrome CT Computed tomography CTAP-III Connective tissueactivating peptide CTD Connective tissue diseases C terminus Carboxy terminus of peptide... 

Figure 7.5. Peptide array construction by SPOT-synthesis. fl-alanine groups (b-A) interact with the cellulose filter that serves as a planar support. Peptide synthesis then proceeds using Fmoc chemistries using the fl-alanine group as a starting point. The peptide is attached to the filter via its carboxy-terminus. In this case, lysine is added at the second position and various amino acids are present at the amino terminus of the peptide.

It was determined that the minimal peptide sequence required to stimulate pheromone biosynthesis was the C-terminal 5 amino acids, FXPRLamide, and that the carboxy terminus needs to be amidated [148,149]. This sequence was also established as the minimal sequence required for myotropic activity in cockroaches [ 150] and induction of embryonic diapause in B. mori [ 151 ]. Crossreactivity of peptides containing the FXPRLamide motif was also established for myotropic, diapause induction, and pheromone biosynthesis [152-154]. Therefore, the common C-terminal FXPRLamide defines this family of peptides. A partial listing of peptides identified to date is shown in Table 1. 

The translation of the sequence of the cDNA encoding deacetylvindoline 4-O-acetyltransferase compared to other putative plant acetyltransferases revealed a conserved region near the carboxy terminus of the proteins. This sequence was used to design a degenerate antisense oligodeoxynucleotide primer for PCR. The sense primer was based upon an internal peptide sequence of salutaridinol 7-0-acetyltransferase. This approach finally yielded a partial cDNA that encoded salutaridinol 7-O-acetyltransferase. The full-length clone was obtained by RACE-PCR and was functionally expressed in S. frugiperda Sf9 cells.28 The amino acid sequence of salutaridinol 7-O-acetyltransferase is most similar (37% identity) to that of deacetylvindoline acetyltransferase of C. roseus.27... 

Identification of carboxy-terminal amino acids was also attempted. Studies by Bergmann and his associates in the 1930s (see below) had characterized various peptidases with differing specificities. One of these was carboxypeptidase which required a free carboxy terminus adjacent to the peptide bond to be hydrolyzed. The specificity of the enzyme was limited but Lens in 1949 reported alanine to be at one end of insulin. Fromageot and his colleagues (1950) and Chibnall and Rees (1951) reduced the carboxy termini to B-aminoalcohols and showed glycine as well as alanine to be carboxy-terminal. Hydrazinolysis was also attempted the dry protein was treated with hydrazine at 100 °C for 6 h so that the carboxy-terminal amino acid was released as the free... 

Peptide chains have a direction and therefore two different ends. The amino terminus (N terminus) of a peptide has a free ammonium group, while the carboxy terminus (C terminus) is formed by the carboxylate group of the last amino acid. In peptides and proteins, the amino acid components are usually linked in linear fashion. To express the sequence of a peptide, it is therefore suf cient to combine the three-letter or single-letter abbreviations for the amino acid residues (see p. 60). This sequence always starts at the N terminus. For... 

AVK (one letter). The ends of a peptide are labelled as the amino end or amino terminus, and the earboxy end or carboxy terminus. 

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