Paolo Fattori

Mare's Colostrum Globules Stimulate Fibroblast Growth In Vitro: A Biochemical Study

The wound repair function of mares milk and colostrum was investigated. Mares colostrum improved wound healing in vivo; thus fibroblast growth activation by mares milk and colostrum was examined. As expected, colostrum was more effective than milk. To establish the biochemical nature of the bioactive molecules involved, colostrum was fractionated into whey, casein, and fat globules, and the efficacy of these fractions on fibroblast proliferation was studied. The fat globule fraction provided the strongest stimulation; its composition was studied and compared with the less-active milk fat globule fraction. The lipid pattern highlighted several differences between mares colostrum and milk; in particular, total lipid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, ganglioside, and glycolipid contents were higher in colostrum. A proteomic investigation revealed some differences between the protein composition of colostrum and milk fat globules. Adipophylin and lactadherin were significantly overexpressed in colostrum fat globules. The role of specific lipids on skin wound repair and that of the epidermal growth factor-like domain, embedded within the lactadherin molecule and probably released in conditions stimulating proteolysis, are discussed.

ADI pathway and histidine decarboxylation are reciprocally regulated in Lactobacillus hilgardii ISE 5211: proteomic evidence

Amine production by amino acid decarboxylation is a common feature that is used by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to complement lactic fermentation, since it is coupled with a proton-extruding antiport system which leads to both metabolic energy production and the attenuation of intracellular acidity. Analogous roles are played in LAB by both malolactic fermentation (MLF) and the arginine deiminase (ADI) pathway. The present investigation was aimed at establishing reciprocal interactions between amino acid decarboxylation and the two above mentioned routes. The analyses were carried out on a Lactobacillus hilgardii strain (ISE 5211) that is able to decarboxylate histidine to histamine, which had previously been isolated from wine and whose complete genome is still unknown. The 2DE proteomic approach, followed by MALDI TOF–TOF and De Novo Sequencing, was used to study the protein expression levels. The experimental evidence has indicated that malate does not influence histidine decarboxylase (HDC) biosynthesis and that histidine does not affect the malolactic enzyme level. However, the expression of the ADI route enzymes, arginine deiminase and ornithine transcarbamylase, is down-regulated by histidine: this biosynthetic repression is more important (4-fold) in cultures that are not supplemented with arginine, but is also significant (2-fold) in an arginine supplemented medium that normally induces the ADI pathway. On the other hand, arginine partially represses HDC expression, but only when histidine and arginine are both present in the culture medium. This proteomic study has also pointed out a down-regulation exerted by histidine over sugar metabolism enzymes and a GroEL stress protein. These data, together with the reciprocal antagonism between arginine deimination and histidine decarboxylation, offer clue keys to the understanding of the accumulation of lactate, amine, ammonia and ethylcarbamate in wine, with consequent implications on different health risk controls.

Enantioselective lactic acid production by an Enterococcus faecium strain showing potential in agro-industrial waste bioconversion: Physiological and proteomic studies

The growing demand of biodegradable plastic polymers is increasing the industrial need of enantiospecific l-lactic acid (l-LA), the building block to produce polylactides. The most suitable industrial strategy to obtain high amounts of LA is the microbial fermentation of fruit and vegetable wastes by lactic acid bacteria (LAB). In this paper seven LAB strains from our laboratory collection, were screened for their ability to produce the highest amount of pure l-LA. A strain of Enterococcus faecium (LLAA-1) was selected and retained for further investigations. E. faecium LLAA-1 was grown in different culture media supplemented with the most abundant sugars present in agricultural wastes (i.e., glucose, fructose, cellobiose and xylose) and its ability to metabolize them to l-LA was evaluated. All tested sugars proved to be good carbon sources for the selected strain, except for xylose, which resulted in unsatisfactory biomass and LA production. Growth under aerobic conditions further stimulated l-LA production in fructose supplemented cultures with respect to anoxic-grown cultures. Proteomic profiles of E. faecium LLAA-1 grown in aerobiosis and anoxia were compared by means of two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Seventeen proteins belonging to three main functional groups were differentially expressed: the biosynthesis of 6 proteins was up-regulated in aerobic-grown cultures while 11 proteins were biosynthesized in higher amounts in anoxia. The de novo biosynthesis of the f-subunit of alkyl hydroperoxide reductase involved in the re-oxidation of NADH seems the key element of the global re-arrangement of E. faecium LLAA-1 metabolism under aerobic conditions. An improved oxidative catabolism of proteinaceous substrates (i.e., protein hydrolisates) seems the main phenomenon allowing both higher biomass growth and improved LA production under these conditions.

Arachidonic acid and calcium signals in human breast tumor-derived endothelial cells: a proteomic study

Intracellular calcium signals activated by growth factors in endothelial cells during angiogenesis regulate cytosolic and nuclear events involved in survival, proliferation and motility. Among the intracellular messengers released upon proangiogenic stimulation, arachidonic acid (AA) and its metabolites play a key role, and their effects are strictly related to calcium homeostasis. In human breast tumor-derived endothelial cells (B-TECs) AA stimulates proliferation and tubulogenesis in a calcium-dependent way. Here, to characterize the proteins whose expression is regulated by AA-induced calcium entry, we used a proteomic approach (two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry, 2-DE and MALDI-MS) and we compared the proteomes of B-TECs stimulated with AA in presence or in absence of calcium entry (with addition to the culture medium of the calcium chelator EGTA, which completely prevents calcium fluxes throughout the plasma membrane). We found that six proteins increased their levels of expression, all higher when AA-induced calcium entry was abolished. These proteins have been identified by mass spectrometry and database search, and their potential roles in AA-stimulated pathway and in angiogenesis are discussed.

Combining LC-MS/MS, PMF and N-terminal amino acid sequencing for multiplexed characterization of a bacterial surfactant glycoprotein biosynthesized by Acinetobacter radioresistens S13

Surfactants of biological origin are in demand both in the food industry and for cosmetic applications. In the present paper the glycosylated nature of a surfactant protein, previously identified in the Acinetobacter radioresistens S13 proteome, was demonstrated. A multiplexed analysis was performed to establish its amino acid sequence homology degree with AlnA, a previously characterized surfactant from A. radioresistens KA53. The amino acid sequence coverage study (N-terminal amino acid sequencing, peptide mass fingerprinting and LC-MS/MS experiments) revealed a 99.97% identity, that is the substitution of one amino acid only. Gly25 of A. radioresistens KA53 AlnA is replaced by Thr in the protein identified in A. radioresistens S13. Such change gives rise to Asn-Asp-Thr N-glycosylation consensus sequon, which is absent in A. radioresistens KA53 AlnA. Actually, Asn23 of the A. radioresistens S13 protein could be identified after N-glycosyl hydrolase treatment only. Asn-Asp-Thr is a peculiar glycosylation consensus sequence since Asp in the central position was shown to decrease the protein glycosylation efficiency in eukaryotes. Our findings provide additional support that glycosylation mechanisms in bacteria differ from those observed in eukaryotic cells. The emulsifying activity of the extracellular protein extracts of A. radioresistens S13 (containing the AlnA-like protein) and a commercial solubilizer widely used in cosmetic preparations, i.e. ethoxylated hydrogenated castor oil (EHCO), were compared. A. radioresistens S13 extracellular protein extracts showed greater emulsifying activity on every tested molecule, especially on peppermint essential oil, with respect to EHCO.