PubMed · 11171944
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B M Dunn. 2001-02-13. The 2-A postdoc.. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.98.4.1319
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To investigate the intracellular transport mechanism of the vacuolar carboxypeptidase of Schizosaccharomyces pombe (SpCPY), SpCPY was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its biosynthesis and sorting were examined. When Sac. cerevisiae prc1Delta, devoid of intrinsic (Sc) CPY activity, was transformed with a plasmid carrying the Sch. pombe cpy1(+) gene, CPY activity was restored. Pulse-chase experiments revealed that SpCPY is initially synthesized in a pro-precursor form and then converted to a heterodimer, the mature form, in Sac. cerevisiae cells. SpCPY was not processed into intermediate or mature forms in pep4 mutant cells, indicating that SpCPY was proteolytically cleaved in a PEP4-dependent manner in Sac. cerevisiae. Several vps mutants, which are defective in vacuolar protein-sorting, exhibited a defect in the maturation of SpCPY. Moreover, the maturation of SpCPY was severely inhibited in a vps10 strain, although the pro- segment of SpCPY does not contain a QRPL-like sequence, which is the putative targeting signal of ScCPY. When SpCPY was expressed in a wild-type strain, more than 90% of ScCPY was normally sorted to the vacuole, indicating that SpCPY does not compete with ScCPY for vacuolar sorting. In contrast, expression of SpCPY resulted in a missorting of a ScCPY-invertase fusion protein to the cell surface. These results suggested that there are two different binding sites for SpCPY and ScCPY on Vps10p and that the binding of SpCPY to Vps10p interferes with the binding of a ScCPY-invertase fusion protein.
N-Sulfamoylphenylalanine and its derivatives having varied alkyl groups on the terminal amino group were designed rationally as transition state analogue inhibitors for carboxypeptidase A (CPA) and synthesized. In CPA inhibitory assays the parent compound having the (S)-configuration, i.e., (S)-1a, showed potent inhibitory activity with the K(i) value of 0.64 microM. Its enantiomer was shown to be much less potent (K(i) = 470 microM). Introduction of an alkyl group such as methyl or isopropyl group on the terminal amino group of (S)-1a lowered the inhibitory potency drastically. Introduction of a methyl group on the internal amino group of (S)-1a also caused a drastic reduction of the inhibitory activity. The structure of the CPA x(S)-1a complex determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals that the sulfamoyl moiety interacts with the zinc ion and functional groups at the active site of CPA, which is reminiscent of the postulated stabilization mode of a tetrahedral transition state in the CPA-catalyzed hydrolysis of a peptide substrate. On the basis of the design rationale and the binding mode of (S)-1a to CPA shown by X-ray crystallographic analysis, the present inhibitors are inferred to be a novel type of transition state analogue inhibitor for CPA.
Carboxypeptidases expressed in the aleurone layer participate in the mobilization of endosperm storage proteins during cereal grain germination. The genes encoding these proteins are also expressed in the scutellum of germinating grains, but their function in this organ is not yet clear. We have analyzed the expression of a carboxypeptidase III (CPIII) gene in germinating wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grains. CPIII transcripts accumulated transiently in the scutellum showing a maximum at 2-3 days after imbibition and were exclusively localized to the scutellar vascular tissue. The analysis of CPIII expression in developing shoots and roots from growing seedlings confirmed the localization of CPIII transcripts to differentiating vascular tissue. The TUNEL assay detected in situ nuclear DNA fragmentation in cells showing CPIII expression, indicating that they undergo programmed cell death. Relative RT-PCR analysis showed that the CPIII gene expressed at high level in aleurone cells is the one expressed in vegetative tissues, and allowed the use of this gene as a molecular marker of tracheary element differentiation in wheat seedlings. These results are indicative of the involvement of serine carboxypeptidases in programmed cell death during the development of the vascular tissue in wheat, a new role for these enzymes, besides the mobilization of starchy-endosperm proteins during germination.