Iris lactea var. chinensis (Fisch.) cysteine-rich gene llCDT1 enhances cadmium tolerance in yeast cells and Arabidopsis thaliana

IlCDT1, a cysteine-rich protein, was isolated from Iris lactea var. chinensis (Fisch.) (I. lactea var. chinensis). Its transcription was up-regulated by the exogenous application of Cd. The truncated IlCDT1 (25-54) containing 14 Cys residues confers Cd tolerance to yeast as the intact IlCDT1, indicating that Cys residues are required for Cd tolerance presumably by chelating Cd. When the gene was constitutively expressed in A. thaliana, root length of transgenic lines was longer than that of wild-type under 100 μM or 200 μM Cd stress. However, Cd absorption in wild-type was more than in two trangenic lines under 100 μM Cd exposure. IlCDT1 may directly bind Cd, through chelating Cd and avoiding the Cd uptake into the cells. Together, IlCDT1 may be a promising gene for the Cd tolerance improvement.

SUMMARY

Cysteine-rich gene llCDT1 enhances cadmium tolerance in yeast cells and Arabidopsis thaliana.

An inter-subunit disulfide bond of artemin acts as a redox switch for its chaperone-like activity

Encysted embryos of Artemia are among the most stress-resistant eukaryotes partly due to the massive amount of a cysteine-rich protein termed artemin. High number of cysteine residues in artemin and their intramolecular spatial positions motivated us to investigate the role of the cysteine residues in the chaperone-like activity of artemin. According to the result of Ellman's assay, there are nine free thiols (seven buried and two exposed) and one disulfide bond per monomer of artemin. Subsequent theoretical analysis of the predicted 3D structure of artemin confirmed the data obtained by the spectroscopic study. Native and reduced/modified forms of artemin were also compared with respect to their efficiency in chaperoning activity, tertiary structure, and stability. Since the alkylation and reduction of artemin diminished its chaperone activity, it appears that its chaperoning potential depends on the formation of intermolecular disulfide bond and the presence of cysteine residues. Comparative fluorescence studies on the structure and stability of the native and reduced protein revealed some differences between them. Due to the redox-dependent functional switching of artemin from the less to more active form, it can be finally suggested as a redox-dependent chaperone.

The disulfide-rich Metridia luciferase refolded from E. coli inclusion bodies reveals the properties of a native folded enzyme produced in insect cells

The bioluminescence of a marine copepod Metridia longa is determined by a small secreted coelenterazine-dependent luciferase that uses coelenterazine as a substrate of enzymatic reaction to generate light (λ_max=480nm). To date, four different isoforms of the luciferase differing in size, sequences, and properties have been cloned by functional screening. All of them contain ten conserved Cys residues that suggests up to five SS intramolecular bonds per luciferase molecule. Whereas the use of copepod luciferases as bioluminescent reporters in biomedical research in vivo is growing from year to year, their application for in vitro assays is still limited by the difficulty in obtaining significant amounts of luciferase. The most cost-effective host for producing recombinant proteins is Escherichia coli. However, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells maintain the reductive environment in cytoplasm that hinders the disulfide bond formation and consequently the proper folding of luciferase. Here we report the expression of the MLuc7 isoform of M. longa luciferase in E. coli cells and the efficient procedure for refolding from inclusion bodies yielding a high-active monomeric protein. Furthermore, in a set of identical experiments we demonstrate that bioluminescent and structural features of MLuc7 produced in bacterial cells are identical to those of MLuc7 isoform produced from culture medium of insect cells. Although the yield of high-purity protein is only 6mg/L, the application of E. coli cells to produce the luciferase is simpler and more cost-effective than the use of insect cells. We expect that the suggested technology of Metridia luciferase production allows obtaining of sufficient amounts of protein both for the development of novel in vitro analytical assays with the use of MLuc7 as a label and for structural studies.

Metagenomics analysis reveals a new metallothionein family: Sequence and metal-binding features of new environmental cysteine-rich proteins

Metallothioneins are cysteine-rich proteins, which function as (i) metal carriers in basal cell metabolism and (ii) protective metal chelators in conditions of metal excess. Metallothioneins have been characterized from different eukaryotic model and cultivable species. Presently, they are categorized in 15 families but evolutionary relationships between these metallothionein families remain unresolved. Several cysteine-rich protein encoding genes that conferred Cd-tolerance in Cd-sensitive yeast mutants have previously been isolated from soil eukaryotic metatranscriptomes. They were called CRPs for "cysteine-rich proteins". These proteins, of unknown taxonomic origins, share conserved cysteine motifs and could be considered as metallothioneins. In the present work, we analyzed these CRPs with respect to their amino acid sequence features and their metal-binding abilities towards Cd, Zn and Cu metal ions. Sequence analysis revealed that they share common features with different known metallothionein families, but also exhibit unique specific features. Noticeably, CRPs display two separate cysteine-rich domains which, when expressed separately in yeast, confer Cd-tolerance. The N-terminal domain contains some conserved atypical Cys motifs, such as one CCC and two CXCC ones. Five CRPs were expressed and purified as recombinant proteins and their metal-binding characteristics were studied. All these CRPs chelated Cd(II), Zn(II) and Cu(I), although displaying a better capacity for Zn(II) coordination. All CRPs are able to confer Cd-tolerance, and four of them confer Zn-tolerance in the Zn-sensitive zrc1Δ yeast mutant. We designated these CRPs as environmental metallothioneins belonging to a new formerly undescribed metallothionein family.

Peptide signalling during angiosperm seed development

Cell-cell communication is pivotal for the coordination of various features of plant development. Recent studies in plants have revealed that, as in animals, secreted signal peptides play critical roles during reproduction. However, the precise signalling mechanisms in plants are not well understood. In this review, we discuss the known and putative roles of secreted peptides present in the seeds of angiosperms as key signalling factors involved in coordinating different aspects of seed development.