Mechanism of the activation of proteinase inhibitor synthesis by systemin involves beta-sheet structure, a specific DNA-binding protein domain

Plant Polypeptide Hormone Systemin Prefers Polyproline II Conformation in Solution

Systemin, an 18 amino-acid-signaling peptide, was the first plant polypeptide hormone to be discovered. Earlier structural studies involving NMR spectroscopy indicated a lack of definite structure in solution while circular dichroism spectroscopy suggested the presence of left-handed polyproline II (PPII) conformation. Here, we report the results of molecular dynamics simulations of the peptide in explicit solvent with two different force fields, namely, ff99SBildn and ff99IDPs, both of which showed a large propensity for PPII-like conformations in spite of showing differing features for other conformational characteristics. More remarkably, the conformations with predicted chemical shifts that agreed better with the NMR observations had a larger than average PPII content, especially for the ff99IDPs force field. An independent docking calculation of the molecule with the putative receptor SR160 also retained this conformational preference for PPII structure. The results suggest PPII to be an important class of conformation for systemin which may have a role in its bioactivity.

Effect of Inactivating Mutations on Peptide Conformational Ensembles: The Plant Polypeptide Hormone Systemin

As part of their basal immune mechanism against insect/herbivore attacks, plants have evolved systemic response mechanisms. Such a systemic wound response in tomato was found to involve an 18 amino acid polypeptide called systemin, the first polypeptide hormone to be discovered in plants. Systematic alanine scanning and deletion studies showed differential modulation in its activity, particularly a major loss of function due to alanine substitution at positions 13 and 17 and less extentive loss of function due to substitution at position 12. We have studied the conformational ensembles of wild-type systemin along with its 17 variants by carrying out a total of 5.76 μs of replica-exchange molecular dynamics simulation in an implicit solvent environment. In our simulations, wild-type systemin showed a lack of α-helical and β-sheet structures, in conformity with earlier circular dichroism and NMR data. On the other hand, two regions containing diproline segments showed a tendency to adopt polyproline II structures. Examination of conformational ensembles of the 17 variants revealed a change in the population distributions, suggesting a less flexible structure for alanine substitutions at positions 12 and 13 but not for position 17. Combined with the experimental observations that positions 1-14 of systemin are important for the formation of the peptide-receptor complex, this leads to the hypothesis that loss of conformational flexibility may play a role in the loss of activity of systemin due to the P12A and P13A substitutions, while T17A deactivation probably occurs for a different reason, most likely the loss of the threonine phosphorylation site. We also indicate possible structural reasons why the substitution of the prolines at positions 12 and 13 leads to a loss of conformational freedom in the peptide.

G-quadruplex DNA aptamers generated for systemin

Ligands specific to bioactive molecules play important roles in biomedical researches and applications, such as biological assay, diagnosis and therapy. Systemin is a peptide hormone firstly identified in plant. In this paper we report the selection of a group of DNA aptamers that can specifically bind to systemin. Through comparing the predicted secondary structures of all the aptamers, a hairpin structure with G-rich loop was determined to be the binding motif of these aptamers. The G-rich loop region of this binding motif was further characterized to fold into an antiparallel G-quadruplex by truncation-mutation assay and CD spectrum. The apparent equilibrium dissociation constant (K(d)) of one strong binding sequence (S-5-1) was measured to be 0.5 μM. The specificity assay shows that S-5-1 strongly bind to whole systemin, weakly bind to truncated or mutated systemin and does not bind to the scrambled peptide with the same amino acid composition as systemin. The high affinity and specificity make S-5-1 hold potentials to serve as a molecular ligand applied in detection, separation and functional investigation of systemin in plants.

Plant signalling peptides: some recent developments

The subject of this review is plant signalling peptides, peptides of a new generation which regulate growth, differentiation, and other plant physiological functions. These peptides include systemin, the phytosulfokines (PSKs), ENOD40, CLAVATA3, Locus-S, POLARIS, IDA, and ROT4. On the basis of literature data and our own results we discuss their structure, biological properties, and structure/biological function relationship, especially for the more studied systemin and PSK-alpha.

Palindromes in proteins

Palindromes in DNA consist of nucleotides sequences that read the same from the 5'-end to the 3'-end, and its double helix is related by twofold axis. They occur in genomes of all organisms and have various functions. For example, restriction enzymes often recognize palindromic sequences of DNA. Palindromes in telomeres are crucial for initiation of replication. One can ask the questions, Do palindromes occur in protein, and if so, what function they play? We have searched the protein SWISSPROT database for palindromic sequences. A great number (26%) of different protein palindromes were found. One example of such protein is systemin, an 18-amino-acid-long peptide. It contains palindrome in its beta-sheet domain that interacts with palindromic fragment of DNA. The other palindrome containing protein is cellular human tumor suppressor p53. Oligonucleotide LTI-ITL has been observed in the crystal structure and is located close to a DNA recognizing domain. As the number of possible palindromic sequences of a given length is far much greater for proteins (20N) than for nucleic acids (4N), the study on their role seems to be an exciting challenge. Our results have clearly showed that palindromes are frequently occurring motives in proteins. Moreover, even very few examples that we have examined so far indicate the importance of further studies on protein palindromes.

Systemin: a polypeptide signal for plant defensive genes

Damage to leaves of several plant species by herbivores or by other mechanical wounding induces defense gene activation throughout the plants within hours. An 18-amino acid polypeptide, called systemin, has been isolated from tomato leaves that is a powerful inducer of over 15 defensive genes when supplied to the tomato plants at levels of fmol/plant. Systemin is readily transported from wound sites and is considered to be the primary systemic signal. The polypeptide is processed from a 200-amino acid precursor called prosystemin, analogous to polypeptide hormones in animals. However, the plant prohormone does not possess typical dibasic cleavage sites, nor does it contain a signal sequence or any typical membrane-spanning regions. The signal transduction pathway that mediates systemin signaling involves linolenic acid release from membranes and subsequent conversion to jasmonic acid, a potent activator of defense gene transcription. The pathway exhibits analogies to arachidonic acid/prostaglandin signaling in animals that leads to inflammatory and acute phase responses.