Rosa Lozano

Thioredoxin treatment increases digestibility and lowers allergenicity of milk

BACKGROUND By resisting digestion in the stomach, the major bovine milk allergen, beta-lactoglobulin, is believed to act as a transporter of vitamin A and retinol to the intestines. beta-Lactoglobulin has 2 intramolecular disulfide bonds that may be responsible for its allergic effects. OBJECTIVE This study was carried out to assess the importance of disulfide bonds to the allergenicity and digestibility of beta-lactoglobulin. METHODS beta-Lactoglobulin was subjected to reduction by the ubiquitous protein thioredoxin, which was itself reduced by the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate by means of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-thioredoxin reductase. Digestibility was measured with a simulated gastric fluid; results were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. Allergenicity was assessed with an inbred colony of high IgE-producing dogs sensitized to milk. RESULTS As found for other proteins with intramolecular disulfide bonds, beta-lactoglobulin was reduced specifically by the thioredoxin system. After reduction of one or both of its disulfide bonds, beta-lactoglobulin became strikingly sensitive to pepsin and lost allergenicity as determined by skin test responses and gastrointestinal symptoms in the dog model. CONCLUSION The results provide new evidence that thioredoxin can be applied to enhance digestibility and lower allergenicity of food proteins.

New evidence for a role for thioredoxin h in germination and seedling development

Thioredoxin of the h-type — earlier linked to the reduction of wheat (Triticum durum Desf. cv. Monroe) endosperm proteins — was converted from an oxidized to a partially reduced state during germination and seedling development. While the abundance of thioredoxin progressively decreased during this period, the availability of reducing equivalents, defined as the product of the relative abundance of thioredoxin and the percent reduction, increased. The amount of the enzyme catalyzing the reduction of thioredoxin h (NADP-thioredoxin reductase) remained constant. The activities of enzymes generating the NADPH needed for the reduction of thioredoxin (glucose 6-phosphate and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenases) increased. The level of thioredoxin h in the endosperm appeared to be controlled by the embryo via hormones. Gibberellic acid enhanced the disappearance of thioredoxin, whereas abscisic acid showed the opposite effect. Moreover, uniconazole, an inhibitor of gibberellic acid synthesis, slowed seedling growth and inhibited the disappearance of thioredoxin in a manner reversible by gibberellic acid. The results are consistent with a role for thioredoxin h in initiating the mobilization of nitrogen and carbon needed for germination and seedling development.