Janthima Jaresitthikunchai

Garvieacin Q, a Novel Class II Bacteriocin from Lactococcus garvieae BCC 43578

ABSTRACT Lactococcus garvieae BCC 43578 produces a novel class II bacteriocin, garvieacin Q (GarQ), 70 amino acids in length and containing a 20-amino-acid N-terminal leader peptide. It is cleaved at the Gly-Gly site to generate the mature GarQ (5,339 Da), which is especially inhibitory against Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19115 and other L. garvieae strains.

Source-identifying biomarker ions between environmental and clinical Burkholderia pseudomallei using whole-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS).

Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, which is an endemic disease in Northeast Thailand and Northern Australia. Environmental reservoirs, including wet soils and muddy water, serve as the major sources for contributing bacterial infection to both humans and animals. The whole-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (whole-cell MALDI-TOF MS) has recently been applied as a rapid, accurate, and high-throughput tool for clinical diagnosis and microbiological research. In this present study, we employed a whole-cell MALDI-TOF MS approach for assessing its potency in clustering a total of 11 different B. pseudomallei isolates (consisting of 5 environmental and 6 clinical isolates) with respect to their origins and to further investigate the source-identifying biomarker ions belonging to each bacterial group. The cluster analysis demonstrated that six out of eleven isolates were grouped correctly to their sources. Our results revealed a total of ten source-identifying biomarker ions, which exhibited statistically significant differences in peak intensity between average environmental and clinical mass spectra using ClinProTools software. Six out of ten mass ions were assigned as environmental-identifying biomarker ions (EIBIs), including, m/z 4,056, 4,214, 5,814, 7,545, 7,895, and 8,112, whereas the remaining four mass ions were defined as clinical-identifying biomarker ions (CIBIs) consisting of m/z 3,658, 6,322, 7,035, and 7,984. Hence, our findings represented, for the first time, the source-specific biomarkers of environmental and clinical B. pseudomallei.

Potent and rapid antigonococcal activity of the venom peptide BmKn2 and its derivatives against different Maldi biotype of multidrug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae

The emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae constitutes a serious threat to public health and necessitates the discovery of new types of antimicrobial agents. Among the 18 clinical isolates of N. gonorrhoeae with susceptible to spectinomycin, ceftriaxone and cefixime, 14 isolates were resistance to penicillin, tetracycline and ciprofloxacin, while 2 isolates were susceptible to tetracycline and another was penicillin intermediate isolate. Significant differences between laboratory strain and multidrug resistant strains were revealed by means of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry profiling and bioinformatics examination using the MALDI BioTyper software. However, Maldi Biotyper was not successfully separated ciprofloxacin-penicillin resistance and ciprofloxacin-tetracycline resistance from ciprofloxacin-penicillin-tetracycline resistant N. gonorrhoeae isolates. BmKn2 is a basic, alpha-helical peptide with no disulfide-bridge venom peptides that was first isolated from Buthus martensii Kasch. A panel of BmKn2 scorpion venom peptide and its derivatives of varying length and characteristics were synthesized chemically and evaluated for their ability to inhibit the growth of clinical N. gonorrhoeae isolates. Synthetic BmKn2 displayed potent activity against 18 clinical isolates of N. gonorrhoeae with MIC50 values of 6.9-27.6 μM. BmKn2 exerted its antibacterial activity via a bactericidal mechanism. Cyclic BmKn1 did not show antigonococcal activity. Decreasing the cationicity and helix percentage at the C-terminus of BmKn2 reduced the potency against N. gonorrhoeae. Taken together, the BmKn1 peptide can be developed as a topical therapeutic agent for treating multidrug-resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae infections.

Evidence of plasticity in the dengue virus: Host cell interaction

Dengue virus (DENV) is the most important mosquito transmitted human viral pathogen. There are four different dengue viruses (DENV 1 to DENV 4) with multiple genotypes and strains. Whether there are significant differences in how these DENVs interact with and modulate the host cell proteome remains unclear. Using a panel of 12 DENVs representative of one isolate for each DENV from three different origins (lab adapted, low passage isolates from dengue fever patients, low passage isolates from dengue hemorrhagic fever patients) LLC-MK2 cells were equally infected and proteomic alterations compared by MALDI-TOF and principal component analysis and a sub-10 kDa peptidome analysis. There was no clear segregation of data with respect to either virus origin or serotype in either the MALDI-TOF or the peptidome analysis. The two isolates with the greatest variation from the other isolates in the MALDI-TOF analysis were a low passage DENV 3 dengue fever isolate and a low passage DENV 4 dengue hemorrhagic fever isolate. Analysis of the sub-10 kda protein fraction by LC-MS/MS identified 128 proteins of which only 28 (20%) were constantly expressed in all infections, while 80% showed variable expression, with no clear relationship with either serotype or virus origin. These results suggest that the interaction between DENV and the host cell is characterized by a degree of plasticity, whereby the end biological processes are not rigorously determined by specific proteome alterations, and that virus strain plays a role in determining the specific proteome changes.

Culture degeneration in conidia of Beauveria bassiana and virulence determinants by proteomics

The quality of Beauveria bassiana conidia directly affects the virulence against insects. In this study, continuous subculturing of B. bassiana on both rice grains and potato dextrose agar (PDA) resulted in 55 and 49 % conidial yield reduction after 12 passages and 68 and 60 % virulence reduction after 20 and 12 passages at four d post-inoculation, respectively. The passage through Tenebrio molitor and Spodoptera exigua restored the virulence of rice and PDA subcultures, respectively. To explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the conidial quality and the decline of virulence after multiple subculturing, we investigated the conidial proteomic changes. Successive subculturing markedly increased the protein levels in oxidative stress response, autophagy, amino acid homeostasis, and apoptosis, but decreased the protein levels in DNA repair, ribosome biogenesis, energy metabolism, and virulence. The nitro blue tetrazolium assay verified that the late subcultures colony and conidia had a higher oxidative stress level than the early subculture. A 2A-type protein phosphatase and a Pleckstrin homology domain protein Slm1, effector proteins of the target of rapamycin (TOR) complex 1 and 2, respectively, were dramatically increased in the late subculture. These results suggest that TOR signalling might be associated with ageing in B. bassiana late subculture, in turn affecting its physiological characteristics and virulence.

Proteomic analysis of canine oral tumor tissues using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and in-gel digestion coupled with mass spectrometry (GeLC MS/MS) approaches

Oral tumors, including highly invasive and metastatic oral melanoma (OM), non-tonsillar oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and benign tumors (BN), are common neoplasms in dogs. Although these tumors behave differently, limited data of their protein expression profiles have been exhibited, particularly at the proteome level. The present study aimed to i.) characterize peptide-mass fingerprints (PMFs) and identify potential protein candidates of OM, OSCC, BN and normal control subjects, using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), ii.) identify potential protein candidates associated with the diseases, using in-gel digestion coupled with mass spectrometric analysis (GeLC-MS/MS) and iii.) search for relationships between chemotherapy drugs and disease-perturbed proteins. A distinct cluster of each sample group and unique PMFs with identified protein candidates were revealed. The unique peptide fragment at 2,274 Da of sacsin molecular chaperone (SACS) was observed in early-stage OM whereas the fragment at 1,958 Da of sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 10 (SCN10A) was presented in early- and late-stage OM. The peptide mass at 2,316 Da of Notch1 appeared in early-stage OM and benign oral tumors while the peptide mass at 2,505 Da of glutamate ionotropic receptor N-methyl-D-aspartate type subunit 3A (GRIN3A) was identified in all groups. Markedly expressed proteins from GeLC-MS/MS included Jumonji domain containing 1C (JMJD1C) in benign tumors, inversin (INVS) and rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 28 (ARHGEF28) in OM, BTB domain-containing 16 (BTBD16) in OSCC, and protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 1 (PTPN1), BRCA2, DNA repair associated (BRCA2), WW domain binding protein 2 (WBP2), purinergic receptor P2Y1 and proteasome activator subunit 4 (PSME4) in all cancerous groups. The network connections between these proteins and chemotherapy drugs, cisplatin and doxorubicin, were also demonstrated. In conclusion, this study unveiled the unique PMFs and novel candidate protein markers of canine oral tumors.

A Novel Anti-cancer Peptide Extracted from Gynura pseudochina Rhizome: Cytotoxicity Dependent on Disulfide Bond Formation

As current anticancer drugs have limitations, researchers have sought novel anti-cancer agents with high specificity and fewer side effects to normal cells. Bioactive peptides isolated from plants are of interest for their therapeutic potential and pharmaceutical development. In this study, a novel anticancer peptide, Gynurin (monomeric sequence: LNCCNLLL) was isolated and identified for the first time from the protein hydrolysate of Gynura pseudochina rhizomes. The presence of homodimeric Gynurin drastically inhibited human gastric cancer cells (KATO-III) with a greater inhibitory effect than 5-flurouracil without significant cytotoxicity of normal cells (Vero). By performing structural analysis using circular dichroism, Gynurin could form a random coil conformation with a partial helical structure in a mimic membrane model environment of 50% trifluoroethanol. However, in the presence of a reducing agent (DTT), treated Gynurin completely lost its cytotoxicity against KATO-III cells and adopted a random coil structure. Taken altogether, this study suggested that disulfide bond formation and peptide dimerization were crucial parameters for the anti-cancer activity of Gynurin. Consequently, dimeric Gynurin peptide could potentially be an effective therapeutic component for pharmaceutical development in the treatment of gastric cancer.

Proteolytic effects of gingipains on trefoil factor family peptides

ObjectivesThe present study was aimed to determine whether trefoil factor family (TFF) peptides which were generally considered to be resistant to proteolysis could be digested by gingipains, a major proteinases produced by Porphyromonas gingivalis.Materials and methodsRecombinant human TFF1, TFF2, and TFF3 peptides were used as substrates. Gingipains including arginine gingipain (RgpB) and lysine gingipain (Kgp) were used as enzymes. Trypsin was used as a control protease. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization with time-of-flight/time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF/TOF) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) were used for analyzing peptide mass signals and amino acid sequences of digested TFF peptides.ResultsMALDI-TOF/TOF analyses demonstrated that Kgp, RgpB, and trypsin were able to cleave TFF1 and TFF2 peptides, resulting in different patterns of digested fragments. However, impurity in recombinant TFF3 peptide substrates affected the interpretations of enzymatic reaction by MALDI-TOF/TOF. LC-MS analyses demonstrated that identified fragments of TFF1, TFF2, and TFF3 from digestion by gingipains were similar to those by trypsin.ConclusionsUsing MALDI-TOF/TOF and LC-MS, the present study provides new information that gingipains containing trypsin-like activities are able to digest TFF peptides.Clinical relevanceThe proteolytic effects of gingipains on TFF peptides may be responsible for reduction of salivary TFF peptides in chronic periodontitis patients. Further investigations to determine the pathological effects of gingipains on TFF peptides in saliva and periodontal tissues of patients with chronic periodontitis would be of interest.