Glycosaminoglycans and proteins: different behaviours in high-performance size-exclusion chromatography

The influence of the conformation of globular proteins and glycosaminoglycans in high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) was studied. Glycosaminoglycans (heparin, chondroitin sulphate and dermatan sulphate) with different primary structures, sulphate-to-carboxyl ratios and physico-chemical properties were extracted and purified. Their physico-chemical properties and purity were evaluated by several analytical techniques. Glycosaminoglycans with different relative molecular masses (M_r) were prepared by a chemical depolymerization process. These heteropolysaccharides were evaluated by HPSEC and compared with globular proteins of known relative molecular mass. The two third-degree polynomial regression curves for proteins and glycosaminoglycans have different coefficients and the columns present different exclusion limits. In particular, under the experimental conditions, the M_r exclusion limits for high M_r are 44 000 for glycosaminoglycans and 240 000 for globular proteins. In contrast, the behaviours of these two classes of macromolecules are similar for lower M_r. In fact, the two third-degree polynomial curves show the same regression below about M_r = 1000. The behaviour in HPSEC is discussed in relation to the different steric conformations for proteins and glycosaminoglycans with different relative molecular masses.     

Determination of the number and relative molecular mass of subunits in an oligomeric protein by two-dimensional electrophoresis Application to the subunit structure analysis of rat liver amidophosphoribosyltransferase

To determine simultaneously the relative molecular mass (M_r) of a native oligomeric protein, and the number and M_r of its subunits, a method using two-dimensional electrophoresis was developed. To determine the M_r of a native oligomeric protein, pore gradient gel electrophoresis was performed for the first dimension. Native proteins were dissociated into their subunits by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) in a gel slice, then applied to SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for the second dimension to determine the M_r of subunits. The advantage, accuracy, limitations and application of the method are discussed.     

Enzymatic protein digest in chip-based nanovials with immobilized proteolytic enzymes

In the present work, protein digest reactions in silicon-based microchips, coated with immobilized proteolytic enzymes, have been carried out. The performance of such vials, modified with trypsin or chymotrypsin, was tested with myoglobin as a substrate. Capillary electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry were utilized for analysis of the digests, and the influence of different instrumentation setups, immobilization procedures and reaction conditions are discussed.     

An electrophoretic method for the detection of chymotrypsin and trypsin activity directly in whole blood

In biomedical research and clinical diagnostics, it is a major challenge to measure disease‐related degradative enzyme activity directly in whole blood. Present techniques for assaying degradative enzyme activity require sample preparation, which makes the assays time‐consuming and costly. This study now describes a simple and rapid electrophoretic method that allows detection of degradative enzyme activity directly in whole blood using charge‐changing fluorescent peptide substrates. Charge‐changing substrates eliminate the need for sample preparation by producing positively charged cleavage fragments that can be readily separated from the oppositely charged fluorescent substrate and blood components by electrophoresis. Two peptide substrates have been developed for pancreatic α‐chymotrypsin and trypsin. For the first substrate, a detection limit of 3 ng for both α‐chymotrypsin and trypsin was achieved in whole rat blood using a 4% agarose gel. This substrate had minimal cross‐reactivity with the trypsin‐like proteases thrombin, plasmin, and kallikrein. For the second substrate (trypsin‐specific), a detection limit of about 10–20 pg was achieved using thinner higher resolution 20 and 25% polyacrylamide gels. Thus, the new charge changing peptide substrates enable a simple electrophoretic assay format for the measurement of degradative enzyme activity, which is an important step toward the development of novel point‐of‐care diagnostics.     

Purification and partial characterization of the pancreatic proteolytic enzymes trypsin, chymotrypsin, and elastase from the chicken.

The purpose of this work was to isolate, purify and partially sequence trypsin, chymotrypsin and elastase from the chicken pancreas. The extraction of the pancreatic zymogens with 0.5 M CaCl2 at pH 7.5 for 9 h appeared to be most effective in obtaining maximum recovery of the three enzymes. The sequential Cucurbita maxima trypsin inhibitor I/bovine pancreas trypsin inhibitor/soybean trypsin inhibitor affinity chromatography gave the best result for the isolation of trypsin, chymotrypsin and elastase, respectively, from the same extract. For each proteinase, multiple form of enzymatic activity could be observed after gel electrophoresis and each form was further purified on an ion-exchange column. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of trypsin and chymotrypsin showed homologies with the bovine enzymes whereas elastase showed homologies with the porcine enzyme. The molecular mass of trypsin, chymotrypsin and elastase were estimated to be 23,500, 25,700 and 25,000, respectively, which are values close to those in mammalian species. Although some kinetic constants (Km and k(cat)/Km) appeared different from those observed in other species, the pH dependent enzymatic activities were similar to those reported in other animal species.     

Affinity purification of urinary trypsin inhibitor from human urine

Affinity protocols for the purification of urinary trypsin inhibitor (UTI) were developed. To imitate the substrate/inhibitor-binding domain (S1 domain) of trypsin and chymotrypsin, the key amino acid residues were composed to sorbents. The sorbents were then subjected to adsorption analysis with UTI. The purification process consisted of one step of affinity chromatography and another step of ultrafiltration. The purified enzyme was subjected to SDS-PAGE, trypsin inhibitor activity and peptide map fingerprinting analysis. As calculated, the theoretical maximum adsorption (Q(max)) of two affinity sorbents entitled as S-D-G and S-S-G were 31.7 and 30.1 mg/g, respectively; the desorption constants K(d) of the two sorbents were 8.9 and 18.6 μg/mL, respectively. After the separation of UTI with S-D-G and S-S-G, reducing SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the protein was a single polypeptide with the mass of ~66 kDa, and the purified proteins were ~95 and 97% pure, respectively; the band on gel was further confirmed with peptide map fingerprinting analysis. Protein and bioactivity recoveries were 1.3 and 75.9% with S-D-G, 1.0 and 70.2% with S-S-G, respectively.     

Assessing protease activity pattern by means of multiple substrate ESI-MS assays

The development of a simultaneous multiple substrate enzymatic assay based on electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) detection is described. This multiplexing assay scheme was employed in a parallel proteolytic enzyme activity screening. As model systems, the respective activities of trypsin, thrombin, chymotrypsin, bromelain, ficin and elastase towards seven different substrates were assessed. The resulting activity patterns were evaluated semi-quantitatively ranking the enzymatic activities in five classes of activity (very high, high, medium, low and no activity) with respect to the individual substrates. The validity of the MS-based multiplexing assay scheme was proved by comparison with the results obtained from single substrate assays detected by means of UV/vis absorption at 405 nm, showing good agreement of the resulting activity patterns and classifications.     

Rapid,sensitive fluorimetric assay for proteases using fluorescein-labelled albumin coupled to Fractogel activated with 2-fluoro-1-methylpyridinium salt in flow-injection analysis

A rapid and sensitive flow-injection method is described for the fluorimetric determination of the proteolytic activity of a number of enzymes. The substrate, fluorescein-labelled bovine serum albumin coupled to a 2-fluoro 1-methylpyridinium salt-activated Fractogel support, is packed in a small reactor (35 × 2 mm i.d.) and inserted into a flow manifold. Under the reaction conditions the amount of fluorescein released from enzymatic cleavage of the substrate is found to be directly proportional to the activity of the proteolytic enzyme. Sample throughput is 30–35 h^?1. The calibration range for trypsin is linear up to at least 0.35 μg ml^?1. Linear responses were also obtained for otherproteolytic enzymes such as papain, chymotrypsin, ficin and bromelain.     

India ink staining after sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and in conjunction with Western blots for peptide mapping by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

We present an approach that allows matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometric (MALDI-TOFMS) peptide mapping of proteins separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and electroblotted onto nitrocellulose (NC). After blocking the nitrocellulose membrane with polyvinylpyrrolidone-40 the immobilized proteins are visualized using India Ink staining which allows the detection of low nanogram amounts of protein. The utilization of a low concentration of Tween 20 (0.05%) in the India Ink staining solution does not negatively impair the quality of the mass spectra. Due to the virtual nondestructive nature of the stain proteolytic peptides could be recovered from the NC membrane. Taking into account minor precautions during the sample manipulation and concentration and by loading the sample onto a pre-crystallized matrix layer, high quality mass spectral data were obtained on <100 femtomoles of protein loaded onto the gel. Finally, the use of India Ink in conjunction with Western blot analysis is also demonstrated. A rat plasma protein, characterized by Western blot as a covalently modified protein-drug compound, was subjected to peptide mapping and post source decay (PSD) sequencing of peptides. The zomepirac-modified protein was identified as the alpha-subunit of fibrinogen.     

Limited Proteolysis of Luciferase as a Reporter in Nanosystem Biology: A Comparative Study

Firefly luciferase is a 62 kDa protein that produces a flash of light on the oxidation of luciferin in the presence of ATP, Oxygen and Mg²⁺. Luciferase has a broad range of applications for analytical purposes and in vivo imaging for nanosystem biology studies. However, the enzyme is highly susceptible to proteolytic degradation that reduces its half-life. Rate of proteolytic digestion between two members of luciferase family ( Photinus pyralis and Lampyris turkestanicus ) is compared. Proteolytic sensitivity of L. turkestanicus luciferase was found to be more than P. pyralis luciferase, due to higher rate of hydrolysis under identical conditions. Both luciferases showed more sensitivity to chymotrypsin than trypsin with different digestion pattern. Digestion of P. pyralis by trypsin produced some fragments which were found to be more resistant to further degradation, whereas in L. turkestanicus initial fragments subdigested by trypsin, like chymotrypsin effect on both luciferases. Furthermore, both luciferases become increasingly labile to proteolysis as the temperature increases. The rate of inactivation and the rate of degradation between luciferases were different in a specific time of incubation. Appearance of similar bands for both luciferases confirmed exposure of specific regions, in spite of structural differences.     

Strategies in protein sequencing and characterization: Multi-enzyme digestion coupled with alternate CID/ETD tandem mass spectrometry

A strategy based on a simultaneous multi-enzyme digestion coupled with electron transfer dissociation (ETD) and collision-induced dissociation (CID) was developed for protein sequencing and characterization, as a valid alternative platform in ion-trap based proteomics. The effect of different proteolytic procedures using chymotrypsin, trypsin, a combination of both, and Lys-C, was carefully evaluated in terms of number of identified peptides, protein coverage, and score distribution. A systematic comparison between CID and ETD is shown for the analysis of peptides originating from the in-solution digestion of standard caseins. The best results were achieved with a trypsin/chymotrypsin mix combined with CID and ETD operating in alternating mode. A post-database search validation of MS/MS dataset was performed, then, the matched peptides were cross checked by the evaluation of ion scores, rank, number of experimental product ions, and their relative abundances in the MS/MS spectrum. By integrated CID/ETD experiments, high quality-spectra have been obtained, thus allowing a confirmation of spectral information and an increase of accuracy in peptide sequence assignments. Overlapping peptides, produced throughout the proteins, reduce the ambiguity in mapping modifications between natural variants and animal species, and allow the characterization of post translational modifications. The advantages of using the enzymatic mix trypsin/chymotrypsin were confirmed by the nanoLC and CID/ETD tandem mass spectrometry of goat milk proteins, previously separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.     

High-performance liquid chromatography of casein hydrolysates phosphorylated and dephosphorylated. I. Peptide mapping

A mixture of small peptides of molecular weight averaging 1000 daltons, obtained by controlled hydrolysis of casein with proteases, chymotrypsin and trypsin, was separated by size-exclusion and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Peptides were identified and located in the known casein structures from their amino acid content and their N- and C-terminal amino acid analyses. The primary structure of peptides identified from casein hydrolysate phosphorylated and casein hydrolysate dephosphorylated is presented.     

Substrate turnover and inhibitor binding as selection parameters in directed evolution of blood coagulation factor Xa

A library of blood coagulation factor Xa (FXa)-trypsin hybrid proteases was generated and displayed on phage for selection of derivatives with the domain "architecture" of trypsin and the specificity of FXa. Selection based on binding to soybean trypsin inhibitor only provided enzymatically inactive derivatives, due to a specific mutation of serine 195 of the catalytic triad to a glycine, revealing a significant selection pressure for proteolytic inactive derivatives. By including a FXa peptide substrate in the selection mixture, the majority of the clones had retained serine at position 195 and were enzymatically active after selection. Further, with the inclusion of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor, in addition to the peptide substrate, the selected clones also retained FXa specificity after selection. This demonstrates that affinity selection combined with appropriate deselection provides a simple strategy for selection of enzyme derivatives that catalyse a specific reaction.     

Inhibition and labeling of enzymes and abzymes by phosphonate diesters

Reactive phosphonate diesters were designed and prepared as inhibitors of serine proteases and esterases. Inactivation of trypsin, chymotrypsin, and butyrylcholinesterase was determined by residual enzymaticactivity as well as by the release of a chromogenic or fluorogenic product of the inhibition reaction. Second-order rate constants were determined from rates of nitrophenol formation. Application of the reaction for active-site titration of enzyme preparations is demonstrated. A basic functional group present in the nitrophenyl tropane phosphonate diester was shown to confer selectivity for inactivation of try psin and chymotrypsin. Biotinylated derivatives of the phosphonate diesters were prepared to permitanalysis of proteins modified in the inhibition reaction. Labeled polypeptides were resolved by SDSPAGE, electroblotted, and detected by streptavidin-peroxidase staining. A detection limit of less than 4 ng, corresponding to 20 nM of trypsin, was demonstrated. Pretretment of enzymes with DFP or nonbiotinylated phosphonates specifically blocks the labeling. This technique permits identification of serine proteases in complex mixtures with good sensitivity and specificity.     

MS Analysis and Molecular Characterization of Botrytis cinerea Protease Prot-2. Use in Bioactive Peptides Production

Prot-2 protease previously purified to homogeneity from Botrytis cinerea showed potentiality to be used in detergency and for production of bioactive peptides. To extend the characterization of Prot-2 protease, antifungal and antibacterial assays were performed in vitro using protein hydrolysates prepared from muscle of mackerel (Scomber scomborus) treated with this enzyme. The most active hydrolysate (degree of hydrolysis of 8 %) exhibited inhibition effect towards bacteria and phytopathogenic fungi, demonstrating that Prot-2 proteolysis generated bioactive peptides. Biochemical and molecular characterization of the purified Prot-2, by SDS-PAGE/Tryptic in gel-digestion and LC-MS/MS analysis, was investigated. The peptide amino acid sequence alignment search in database revealed a moderate homology between the determined amino acid sequence of Prot-2 protease and the known fungal trypsin/chymotrypsin in particular from Glomerella, Metarhizium and Streptomyces. From peptide sequence data obtained by mass spectrometry and sequences homologies, primers were defined and a cDNA fragment of 786 bp was amplified by RT-PCR. The cDNA nucleotide sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame coding for 262 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of Prot-2 showed moderate identity with trypsin of Glomerella graminicola (74 %) and with chymotrypsin from Metarhizium anisopliae (71 %). Prot-2 exhibited a Ser protease homology and showed in addition the specific His motif of trypsin/chymotrypsin family.     

冬小麦麸皮抗冻蛋白一级结构的研究

冬小麦麸皮抗冻蛋白(TaAFP)的一级结构是研究其高级结构和功能的基础.本研究结合N-末端测序技术和肽指纹图谱技术,测定TaAFP的一级结构,并对其同源性进行分析.MALDI-TOF-MS质谱分析显示TaAFP的分子量为13637.711 Da.使用Trypsin(胰蛋白酶)、Hydroxylamine(羟胺)和Chymotrypsin(胰凝乳蛋白酶)分别对TaAFP酶解,并对各个酶解片段的肽指纹图谱进行解析和连接,最终确定TaAFP的一级结构为MARKVIALAFLLLLTISLSKSNAARVKYNGGESGGGGGGGGGGGGGGNGSG-SGSGYGYNYGKGGGQSGGGQGGGGGGGGGGGSNGSGSGSGYGYGYGQGNGGAQGQGSGGGGGGGGGGGGGGSGQGSGSGYGYGYGKGGGGGGGGGGDGGGGGGGGSAYVGRHE,测定覆盖度达到了100%.序列比对分析以及同源性分析结果显示,TaAFP是一种与植物细胞壁和抵抗寒冷相关的蛋白质.     

Determination of proteolytic hydrolysis of thyroglobulin

A method for the determination of the free thyronine- and tyrosine-like amino acids in the thyroidal protein thyroglobulin is presented. The compounds of interest are monoiodotyrosine, diiodotyrosine, thyronine, diiodothyronine, triiodothyronine and tetraiodothyronine. The extent of proteolysis was followed by high-performance liquid chromatographic monitoring of both the remaining peptides and the formation of the free thyroidal amino acids. Total hydrolysis was achieved by a combination of proteolytic enzymes. A number of enzymes were tested, such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, pronase, aminopeptidase-M, carboxypeptidase-A, carboxypeptidase-P and carboxypeptidase-Y. The best combination turned out to be pronase followed by aminopeptidase-M. The relative amounts of the enzymes, with respect to the substrate thyroglobulin, and the time of incubation were optimized to achieve total proteolysis in 4 h. The method was applied successfully to samples from a toxicological experiment with sodium bromide.     

Evaluation of the proteolysis degree with the o-phthalaldehyde/N-acetyl-L-cysteine reagent

Summary The o-phthalaldehyde/N-acetyl-L-cysteine (OPA-NAC) reagent is applied to the spectrophotometric evaluation of the proteolytic activity of enzymes. The high stability of the OPA-NAC isoindoles makes a strict control of the time of reaction unnecessary. A mathematical expression is proposed to calculate proteolysis degrees, where the absorbance decrease of the OPA-NAC derivative of the protein itself during the hydrolysis process is taken into account. The method is applied to bovine serum albumine, caseine, lysozyme, lactoglobuline and protamine sulphate as substrates, and pronase, papaine, trypsin and chymotrypsin as enzymes.     

Characterization of p-aminobenzamidine-based sorbent and its use for high-performance affinity chromatography of trypsin-like proteases

An affinity sorbent, hydrophilic polymer-based carrier of different pore size (Toyopearl) with immobilized p-aminobenzamidine (ABA), has been prepared. Its basic properties and some applications for protein purification were studied. ABA, which is a synthetic inhibitor for trypsin-like proteases, was covalently immobilized to Toyopearl by reductive amination. The ligand density and binding capacity for porcine trypsin varied depending on the pore size of Toyopearl. The maximum binding capacity of the immobilized p-aminobenzamidine Toyopearl (ABA-Toyopearl) for trypsin was more than 40 mg/ml gel. ABA-Toyopearl thus obtained was very stable below pH 8 and was successfully used for high-performance affinity chromatography of trypsin-like proteases such as trypsin, thrombin, tissue-type plasminogen activator or urokinase in a single step at 25 degrees C.     

THE CHEMICAL MODIFICATION OF E.Coli L—ASPARAGINASE WITH O—CARBOXYMETHYLATED CHITOSAN

Escherichia coli L-asparaginase was modified with O-car-boxymethylated chitosan using glutaraldehyde as a coupling agent.The resulting coujugate retained more than 50% of its original enzyme activity under the protection of its normal substrate or product and showed marked resistance to proteolysis by trypsin and chymotrypsin.