-
Current Protein & Peptide Science 2019We discuss the diverse biological activities, therapeutic potential, and clinical applications of peptides and proteins isolated from various yams species including... (Review)
Review
We discuss the diverse biological activities, therapeutic potential, and clinical applications of peptides and proteins isolated from various yams species including Dioscorea opposita Thunb (Chinese yam), D alata, D japonica (Japanese yam), D pseudojaponica, D batatas (Korea yam), and D cayenensis. Yam peptides and proteins have many pharmacological activities including immunomodulatory, antioxidant, estrogen-stimulating, osteogenic, angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibiting, carbonic anhydrase and trypsin inhibiting, chitinase, anti-insect, anti-dust mite, lectin, and anti-proliferative activities. Yam peptides and proteins have therapeutic potential for treating cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, cancers, aging disorders, menopause, and osteoporosis.
Topics: Animals; Dioscorea; Humans; Peptides; Phytotherapy; Plant Proteins
PubMed: 29932033
DOI: 10.2174/1389203719666180622094356 -
International Review of Cell and... 2017Eukaryotic organisms are defined by their endomembrane system and various organelles. The membranes that define these organelles require complex protein sorting and... (Review)
Review
Eukaryotic organisms are defined by their endomembrane system and various organelles. The membranes that define these organelles require complex protein sorting and molecular machines that selectively mediate the import of proteins from the cytosol to their functional location inside the organelle. The plastid possibly represents the most complex system of protein sorting, requiring many different translocons located in the three membranes found in this organelle. Despite having a small genome of its own, the vast majority of plastid-localized proteins is nuclear encoded and must be posttranslationally imported from the cytosol. These proteins are encoded as a larger molecular weight precursor that contains a special "zip code," a targeting sequence specific to the intended final destination of a given protein. The "zip code" is located at the precursor N-terminus, appropriately called a transit peptide (TP). We aim to provide an overview of plastid trafficking with a focus on the mechanism and regulation of the general import pathway, which serves as a central import hub for thousands of proteins that function in the plastid. We extend comparative analysis of plant proteomes to develop a better understanding of the evolution of TPs and differential TP recognition. We also review alternate import pathways, including vesicle-mediated trafficking, dual targeting, and import of signal-anchored and tail-anchored proteins.
Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Models, Biological; Plant Proteins; Plastids; Protein Transport; Symbiosis
PubMed: 28215533
DOI: 10.1016/bs.ircmb.2016.09.006 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jan 2022Cold stress limits plant geographical distribution and influences plant growth, development, and yields. Plants as sessile organisms have evolved complex biochemical and... (Review)
Review
Cold stress limits plant geographical distribution and influences plant growth, development, and yields. Plants as sessile organisms have evolved complex biochemical and physiological mechanisms to adapt to cold stress. These mechanisms are regulated by a series of transcription factors and proteins for efficient cold stress acclimation. It has been established that the signaling pathway in plants regulates how plants acclimatize to cold stress. Cold stress is perceived by receptor proteins, triggering signal transduction, and () genes are activated and regulated, consequently upregulating the transcription and expression of the () genes. The protein binds to the (), a homeopathic element of the genes ( gene) promoter, activating their transcription. Transcriptional regulations and post-translational modifications regulate and modify these entities at different response levels by altering their expression or activities in the signaling cascade. These activities then lead to efficient cold stress tolerance. This paper contains a concise summary of the pathway elucidating on the cross interconnections with other repressors, inhibitors, and activators to induce cold stress acclimation in plants.
Topics: Cold-Shock Response; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Plant Physiological Phenomena; Plant Proteins; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Signal Transduction; Trans-Activators; Transcriptional Activation
PubMed: 35163471
DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031549 -
The Protein Journal Aug 2020Antifungal proteins and peptides have drawn the attention of numerous plant biologists and Clinicians, owing to their potential value in protecting commercial crops as...
Antifungal proteins and peptides have drawn the attention of numerous plant biologists and Clinicians, owing to their potential value in protecting commercial crops as well as preventing fungal infections in humans. Various proteins and peptides, such as glucanases, chitinases, chitinase-like proteins, lectins, peroxidases, defensins, and lipid transfer proteins have antifungal activities. Thaumatin is a protein from a West African plant Thaumatococcus danielli that is sweet in taste but does not exhibit antifungal activities. Despite the structural similarities between thaumatins and thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs), TLPs are not sweet in taste, unlike thaumatins. We developed a thaumatin-like protein database of various organisms. TLPs are pathogenesis-related proteins (PR) with molecular masses of 20-26 kDa. The amino acid residues of TLPs involved in an antifungal activity remain obscure and make it hard to receive comprehensive information on TLPs. The biggest problem in the wine industry is white haze, an undesirable feature of high-quality wine. Hence, the problem may be figured out with the easy accessibility of amino acid sequences and to generate infest resistant crops. Overall, we aimed to produce a freely accessible TLP database ( https://tlpdb.cftri.com ) that would provide substantive information in understanding the mechanistic facet of TLPs. Briefly, TLPdb contains sequences, structures, and amino acid compositions of validated, published TLP protein sequences (from the plant, fungal as well as animal sources). Thus, this work may yield valuable information that may be useful in understanding the mechanistic aspects of TLP activity and in the evolution of antifungal proteins and fungal resistant crops. TLPdb is a comprehensive thaumatin-like protein resource database of various organisms. The database can serve as a unique Bioinformatics tool for understanding the TLPs. This further may help in understanding and the development of fungal resistant crops. TLPdb is freely available at https://tlpdb.cftri.com .
Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Databases, Protein; Plant Proteins; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
PubMed: 32696292
DOI: 10.1007/s10930-020-09909-w -
Current Opinion in Plant Biology Feb 2017Phytochromes are red and far-red light photoreceptors that regulate the responses of plants to light throughout their life cycles. Phytochromes do this in part by... (Review)
Review
Phytochromes are red and far-red light photoreceptors that regulate the responses of plants to light throughout their life cycles. Phytochromes do this in part by inhibiting the function of a group of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors called phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs). Arabidopsis has eight PIFs that function sometimes redundantly and sometimes distinctively depending on their expression patterns and protein stability, as well as on variations in the promoters they target in vivo. PIF-like proteins exist in other seed plants and non-vascular plants where they also regulate light responses. The mechanism by which phytochrome regulates light responses by promoting the degradation of the PIFs is conserved in liverwort, suggesting it must have evolved some time before the last common ancestor shared by seed plants and non-vascular plants.
Topics: Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Proteins; Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Hepatophyta; Phytochrome; Plant Proteins
PubMed: 27875778
DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2016.11.004 -
International Journal of Molecular... Mar 2020Lateral organ boundaries (LOB) domain () genes, a gene family encoding plant-specific transcription factors, play important roles in plant growth and development. At... (Review)
Review
Lateral organ boundaries (LOB) domain () genes, a gene family encoding plant-specific transcription factors, play important roles in plant growth and development. At present, though there have been a number of genome-wide analyses on gene families and functional studies on individual LBD proteins, the diverse functions of LBD family members still confuse researchers and an effective strategy is required to summarize their functional diversity. To further integrate and improve our understanding of the phylogenetic classification, functional characteristics and regulatory mechanisms of LBD proteins, we review and discuss the functional characteristics of LBD proteins according to their classifications under a phylogenetic framework. It is proved that this strategy is effective in the anatomy of diverse functions of LBD family members. Additionally, by phylogenetic analysis, one monocot-specific and one eudicot-specific subclade of LBD proteins were found and their biological significance in monocot and eudicot development were also discussed separately. The review will help us better understand the functional diversity of LBD proteins and facilitate further studies on this plant-specific transcription factor family.
Topics: Conserved Sequence; Phylogeny; Plant Proteins; Protein Domains; Transcription Factors
PubMed: 32224847
DOI: 10.3390/ijms21072278 -
Trends in Plant Science Oct 2017The members of the pathogenesis-related protein 1 (PR-1) family are among the most abundantly produced proteins in plants on pathogen attack, and PR-1 gene expression... (Review)
Review
The members of the pathogenesis-related protein 1 (PR-1) family are among the most abundantly produced proteins in plants on pathogen attack, and PR-1 gene expression has long been used as a marker for salicylic acid-mediated disease resistance. However, despite considerable interest over several decades, their requirement and role in plant defence remains poorly understood. Recent reports have emerged demonstrating that PR-1 proteins possess sterol-binding activity, harbour an embedded defence signalling peptide, and are targeted by plant pathogens during host infection. These studies have re-energised the field and provided long-awaited insights into a possible PR-1 function. Here we review the current status of PR-1 proteins and discuss how these recent advances shed light on putative roles for these enigmatic proteins.
Topics: Disease Resistance; Plant Proteins; Plants
PubMed: 28743380
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2017.06.013 -
Current Protein & Peptide Science 2019The genus Panax consists of a group of prized medicinal herbs. Major members of the Panax genus include P. ginseng, P. notoginseng, P. quinquefolius, and P.... (Review)
Review
The genus Panax consists of a group of prized medicinal herbs. Major members of the Panax genus include P. ginseng, P. notoginseng, P. quinquefolius, and P. vietnamensis. They possess various bioactive constituents such as ginsenosides, saponins, polysaccharides and proteins. Many of them were reported to show beneficial effects on human health. Ginsenosides and saponins of ginsengs caught the sight of most researchers. Precise investigations revealed their roles on improvement of the functioning of the nervous system, cardiovascular system, and other functions. In contrast, our knowledge of the bioactive Panax proteins is relatively limited. A number of proteins from P. ginseng, the most valuable member of Panax species, have been investigated and proved to be beneficial to our body. Meanwhile, a few bioactive P. notoginseng proteins, such as ribonucleases and antifungal proteins, have been characterized and reported. We summarize herein the proteins present in P. notoginseng that have been identified, and try to compare them with those from other Panax species with a similar structure or bioactivity, and conclude whether the proteins in P. notoginseng have any distinctive features.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Panax notoginseng; Plant Proteins; Plant Roots
PubMed: 29895241
DOI: 10.2174/1389203719666180612083650 -
Current Opinion in Plant Biology Apr 2016Fifteen years into sequencing entire plant genomes, more than 30 paleopolyploidy events could be mapped on the tree of flowering plants (and many more when also... (Review)
Review
Fifteen years into sequencing entire plant genomes, more than 30 paleopolyploidy events could be mapped on the tree of flowering plants (and many more when also transcriptome data sets are considered). While some genome duplications are very old and have occurred early in the evolution of dicots and monocots, or even before, others are more recent and seem to have occurred independently in many different plant lineages. Strikingly, a majority of these duplications date somewhere between 55 and 75 million years ago (mya), and thus likely correlate with the K/Pg boundary. If true, this would suggest that plants that had their genome duplicated at that time, had an increased chance to survive the most recent mass extinction event, at 66mya, which wiped out a majority of plant and animal life, including all non-avian dinosaurs. Here, we review several processes, both neutral and adaptive, that might explain the establishment of polyploid plants, following the K/Pg mass extinction.
Topics: Biological Evolution; Evolution, Molecular; Genome, Plant; Phylogeny; Plant Proteins; Polyploidy
PubMed: 26894611
DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2016.01.006 -
Molecular Plant Jan 2021The endoplasmic reticulum, chloroplasts, and mitochondria are major plant organelles for protein synthesis, photosynthesis, metabolism, and energy production. Protein... (Review)
Review
The endoplasmic reticulum, chloroplasts, and mitochondria are major plant organelles for protein synthesis, photosynthesis, metabolism, and energy production. Protein homeostasis in these organelles, maintained by a balance between protein synthesis and degradation, is essential for cell functions during plant growth, development, and stress resistance. Nucleus-encoded chloroplast- and mitochondrion-targeted proteins and ER-resident proteins are imported from the cytosol and undergo modification and maturation within their respective organelles. Protein folding is an error-prone process that is influenced by both developmental signals and environmental cues; a number of mechanisms have evolved to ensure efficient import and proper folding and maturation of proteins in plant organelles. Misfolded or damaged proteins with nonnative conformations are subject to degradation via complementary or competing pathways: intraorganelle proteases, the organelle-associated ubiquitin-proteasome system, and the selective autophagy of partial or entire organelles. When proteins in nonnative conformations accumulate, the organelle-specific unfolded protein response operates to restore protein homeostasis by reducing protein folding demand, increasing protein folding capacity, and enhancing components involved in proteasome-associated protein degradation and autophagy. This review summarizes recent progress on the understanding of protein quality control in the ER, chloroplasts, and mitochondria in plants, with a focus on common mechanisms shared by these organelles during protein homeostasis.
Topics: Homeostasis; Organelles; Plant Proteins; Protein Folding; Proteolysis; Unfolded Protein Response
PubMed: 33137518
DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2020.10.011