Proteinase of germinated cotton seeds

A scheme has been developed to isolate and purify proteinase D from 3-day germinated cotton seeds. The physicochemical properties and substrate specificity were studied. It is found that cysteinic proteinase D cleaves auxiliary proteins to low-molecular-weight peptides and free amino acids.S. Yu. Yunusov Institute of the Chemistry of Plant Substances. Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Tashkent, fax (99871) 120 64 75. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 249–251, May–June, 2000.     

Discussion of the catalytic pathway of cysteine proteases based on AM1 calculations

The deacylation reaction of the cysteine protease papain was examined by AM1 reaction-coordinate calculations. The transition-state (TS) structure was extracted from the reaction pathway as corresponding to the maximum point along this minimum-energy pathway. Consistent with experimental kinetic data revealing that deacylation is about 60 times faster for thioester (---C(O)---S---) than dithioester (---C(S)---S---) intermediates, calculated E_a values are about 10 kcal mol⁻¹ lower for the former than the latter. The calculated partial atomic charges indicate that the C=O carbon in the thioester is a good site for nucleophilic attack whereas the corresponding C=S carbon in the dithioester is a poor site. The present calculations reveal that the enzyme's oxyanion hole contributes about 9 kcal mol⁻¹ toward reducing E_a for the anionic tetrahedral intermediate and TS structure. On the other hand, the presence of Asn in the putative Asn-His-Cys catalytic triad contributes only about l kcal mol⁻¹ toward reducing their E_a value. The presence of this Asn, however, did appear to stabilize His in its protonated form (ImH⁺) over its unprotonated form (Im). Two novel mechanisms are introduced to explain the unusual effect of a remote X substituent on the deacylation kinetics of the substrate family under consideration. The first mechanism invokes a “field effect” while the second mechanism embodies the concepts of induction and homoconjugation. The unique feature of these two mechanisms is that, unlike other proposed models, they circumvent the requirement for a close N…S interaction which has stimulated controversy.     

Temperature effects on the IR spectra of crystalline amino acids,dipeptides, and polyamino acids. II. L-and DL-serines

The IR spectra of L-and DL-serines H ₃ ⁺ -CH(CH₂OH)-COO^? (without diluents) were investigated in the temperature range 93–413 K; the changes in the IR spectra due to temperature variations were correlated with previously obtained diffraction data on anisotropic compression of structure and changes in the geometrical parameters of the hydrogen bonds.     

Purification and biochemical properties of SDS-stable low molecular weight alkaline serine protease from Citrullus colocynthis

A low molecular weight serine protease from seeds of Citrullus colocynthis was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity with high level of catalytic efficiency (22,945 M^?1 S^?1). The enzyme was a monomer with molecular mass of 25 kDa estimated by SDS–PAGE. The enzyme was highly active over a pH range of 6.5–9.0 and temperature range of 20–80 °C, with maximum activity at pH 7.5 and at 50 °C. The K_m and K_cat were 73 μg/mL and 67/s, respectively. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by PMSF, moderately by soybean trypsin inhibitor, indicating that the enzyme was a serine protease. The enzyme retained 86 and 73% of its activity in the presence of urea and DTT, respectively, and its activity was slightly enhanced in the presence of anionic detergent (SDS). Thus, the enzyme is a novel SDS-stable protease with high catalytic efficiency over wide ranges of pH and temperature which is commercially promising for various industrial applications.