The peculiar structural features of kiwi fruit pectin methylesterase: amino acid sequence, oligosaccharides structure, and modeling of the interaction with its natural proteinaceous inhibitor

Pectin methylesterase (PME) from kiwi fruit (Actinidia deliciosa) is a glycoprotein, showing an apparent molecular mass of 50 kDa upon size exclusion chromatography and SDS-PAGE. The primary structure, elucidated by direct sequencing of the protein, comprises 321 amino acid residues providing a molecular mass of 35 kDa. The protein has an acetylated Thr residue at the amino terminus and five N-glycosylation consensus sequences, four of which are actually glycosylated. A careful investigation of the oligosaccharide structures demonstrated that PME glycans belong to complex type oligosaccharides essentially consisting of xylosylated polyfucosylated biantennary structures. Alignment with known mature plant PME sequences indicates that the postulated active site residues are conserved. Kiwi PME activity is inhibited following the interaction with the proteinaceous inhibitor PMEI, isolated from the same source. Gel-filtration experiments show that kiwi PME/PMEI complex is stable in a large pH range and dissociates only at pH 10.0. Modeling of the interaction with the inhibitor was performed by using the crystal structure of the complex between kiwi PMEI and tomato PME as a template. The model shows that the binding site is the same reported for tomato PME. However, additional salt link interactions are found to connect the external loops of kiwi PME to PMEI. This finding may explain the higher pH stability of the complex formed by the two kiwi proteins respect to that formed by PMEI and tomato PME

Allergenic Lipid Transfer Proteins from Plant-Derived Foods Do Not Immunologically and Clinically Behave Homogeneously: The Kiwifruit LTP as a Model

BACKGROUND: Food allergy is increasingly common worldwide. Tools for allergy diagnosis measuring IgE improved much since allergenic molecules and microarrays started to be used. IgE response toward allergens belonging to the same group of molecules has not been comprehensively explored using such approach yet. OBJECTIVE: Using the model of lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) from plants as allergens, including two new structures, we sought to define how heterogeneous is the behavior of homologous proteins. METHODS: Two new allergenic LTPs, Act d 10 and Act c 10, have been identified in green (Actinidia deliciosa) and gold (Actinidia chinensis) kiwifruit (KF), respectively, using clinically characterized allergic patients, and their biochemical features comparatively evaluated by means of amino acid sequence alignments. Along with other five LTPs from peach, mulberry, hazelnut, peanut, mugwort, KF LTPs, preliminary tested positive for IgE, have been immobilized on a microarray, used for IgE testing 1,003 allergic subjects. Comparative analysis has been carried out. RESULTS: Alignment of Act d 10 primary structure with the other allergenic LTPs shows amino acid identities to be in a narrow range between 40 and 55%, with a number of substitutions making the sequences quite different from each other. Although peach LTP dominates the IgE immune response in terms of prevalence, epitope recognition driven by sequence heterogeneity has been recorded to be distributed in a wide range of behaviors. KF LTPs IgE positive results were obtained in a patient subset IgE positive for the peach LTP. Anyhow, the negative results on homologous molecules allowed us to reintroduce KF in patients' diet. CONCLUSION: The biochemical nature of allergenic molecule belonging to a group of homologous ones should not be taken as proof of immunological recognition as well. The availability of panels of homologous molecules to be tested using microarrays is valuable to address the therapeutic intervention

Airborne Signals from a Wounded Leaf Facilitate Viral Spreading and Induce Antibacterial Resistance in Neighboring Plants

Many plants release airborne volatile compounds in response to wounding due to pathogenic assault. These compounds serve as plant defenses and are involved in plant signaling. Here, we study the effects of pectin methylesterase (PME)-generated methanol release from wounded plants (“emitters”) on the defensive reactions of neighboring “receiver” plants. Plant leaf wounding resulted in the synthesis of PME and a spike in methanol released into the air. Gaseous methanol or vapors from wounded PME-transgenic plants induced resistance to the bacterial pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum in the leaves of non-wounded neighboring “receiver” plants. In experiments with different volatile organic compounds, gaseous methanol was the only airborne factor that could induce antibacterial resistance in neighboring plants. In an effort to understand the mechanisms by which methanol stimulates the antibacterial resistance of “receiver” plants, we constructed forward and reverse suppression subtractive hybridization cDNA libraries from Nicotiana benthamiana plants exposed to methanol. We identified multiple methanol-inducible genes (MIGs), most of which are involved in defense or cell-to-cell trafficking. We then isolated the most affected genes for further analysis: β-1,3-glucanase (BG), a previously unidentified gene (MIG-21), and non-cell-autonomous pathway protein (NCAPP). Experiments with Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and a vector encoding two tandem copies of green fluorescent protein as a tracer of cell-to-cell movement showed the increased gating capacity of plasmodesmata in the presence of BG, MIG-21, and NCAPP. The increased gating capacity is accompanied by enhanced TMV reproduction in the “receivers”. Overall, our data indicate that methanol emitted by a wounded plant acts as a signal that enhances antibacterial resistance and facilitates viral spread in neighboring plants

Pepper pectin methylesterase inhibitor protein CaPMEI1 is required for antifungal activity, basal disease resistance and abiotic stress tolerance

Pectin is one of the main components of the plant cell wall that functions as the primary barrier against pathogens. Among the extracellular pectinolytic enzymes, pectin methylesterase (PME) demethylesterifies pectin, which is secreted into the cell wall in a highly methylesterified form. Here, we isolated and functionally characterized the pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) gene CaPMEI1, which encodes a pectin methylesterase inhibitor protein (PMEI), in pepper leaves infected by Xanthomonascampestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv). CaPMEI1 transcripts are localized in the xylem of vascular bundles in leaf tissues, and pathogens and abiotic stresses can induce differential expression of this gene. Purified recombinant CaPMEI1 protein not only inhibits PME, but also exhibits antifungal activity against some plant pathogenic fungi. Virus-induced gene silencing of CaPMEI1 in pepper confers enhanced susceptibility to Xcv, accompanied by suppressed expression of some defense-related genes. Transgenic ArabidopsisCaPMEI1-overexpression lines exhibit enhanced resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, mannitol and methyl viologen, but not to the biotrophic pathogen Hyaloperonospora parasitica. Together, these results suggest that CaPMEI1, an antifungal protein, may be involved in basal disease resistance, as well as in drought and oxidative stress tolerance in plants

Indagini sul ruolo della poligalatturonasi nella rizottoniosi del cavolfiore.

Nel corso di un censimento delle malattie del cavolfiore in Campania, la Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn è stata isolata con frequenza piuttosto elevata da piante presentanti gravi alterazioni dei tessuti corticali a livello del colletto. La gravità della malattia, riscontrata fra l'altro in tutte le principali pIaghe orticole della regione, ci ha indotti da una parte a studiare la resistenza varietale del cavolfiore alla R. solani e dall'altra a intraprendere una ricerca sull'attività enzimatica del fungo. Già alcuni Autori hanno dedicato la loro attenzione a questo ultimo argomento. Bateman, studiando l'attività cellulosolitica (7) e pectolitica (4) della R. Solani, ha evidenziato sia in vitro che in vivo una poligalatturonasi che ritiene responsabile dell'azione macerante (5). Altri Autori hanno mostrato che la R. solani produce anche poligalatturonico e pectina transcliminasi (3, 22). La capacità della R. solani di sintetizzare poligalatturonasi e cellulasi in coltura è stata messa in relazione con la grandezza dei propaguli del fungo (15); la produzione di questi enzimi inoltre è stata studiata in rapporto allo sviluppo delle lesioni su ipocotili di fagiolo durante i primi stadi della malattia (24). Tuttora però non è stato considerato il ruolo degli enzimi pectolitici e cellulosolitici nella patogenesi della rizottoniosi del cavolfiore, né è stato approfondito lo studio delle proprietà chimico-fisiche di questi enzimi