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Bioengineered Apr 2022Owing to various undesirable health effects of sugar overconsumption, joint efforts are being made by industrial sectors and regulatory authorities to reduce sugar... (Review)
Review
Owing to various undesirable health effects of sugar overconsumption, joint efforts are being made by industrial sectors and regulatory authorities to reduce sugar consumption practices, worldwide. Artificial sweeteners are considered potential substitutes in several products, e.g., sugar alcohols (polyols), high-fructose corn syrup, powdered drink mixes, and other beverages. Nevertheless, their long-standing health effects continue to be debatable. Consequently, growing interest has been shifted in producing non-caloric sweetenersfrom renewable resources to meet consumers' dietary requirements. Except for the lysozyme protein, various sweet proteins including thaumatin, mabinlin, brazzein, monellin, miraculin, pentadin, and curculin have been identified in tropical plants. Given the high cost and challenging extortion of natural resources, producing these sweet proteins using engineered microbial hosts, such as and represents an appealing choice. Engineering techniques can be applied for large-scale biosynthesis of proteins, which can be used in biopharmaceutical, food, diagnostic, and medicine industries. Nevertheless, extensive work needs to be undertaken to address technical challenges in microbial production of sweet-tasting proteins in bulk. This review spotlights historical aspects, physicochemical properties (taste, safety, stability, solubility, and cost), and recombinant biosynthesis of sweet proteins. Moreover, future opportunities for process improvement based on metabolic engineering strategies are also discussed.
Topics: Bioprospecting; Biotechnology; Plant Proteins; Recombinant Proteins; Sweetening Agents; Taste
PubMed: 35435127
DOI: 10.1080/21655979.2022.2061147 -
Nature Communications Sep 2023Adapted plant pathogens from various microbial kingdoms produce hundreds of unrelated small secreted proteins (SSPs) with elusive roles. Here, we used AlphaFold-Multimer...
Adapted plant pathogens from various microbial kingdoms produce hundreds of unrelated small secreted proteins (SSPs) with elusive roles. Here, we used AlphaFold-Multimer (AFM) to screen 1879 SSPs of seven tomato pathogens for interacting with six defence-related hydrolases of tomato. This screen of 11,274 protein pairs identified 15 non-annotated SSPs that are predicted to obstruct the active site of chitinases and proteases with an intrinsic fold. Four SSPs were experimentally verified to be inhibitors of pathogenesis-related subtilase P69B, including extracellular protein-36 (Ecp36) and secreted-into-xylem-15 (Six15) of the fungal pathogens Cladosporium fulvum and Fusarium oxysporum, respectively. Together with a P69B inhibitor from the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas perforans and Kazal-like inhibitors of the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans, P69B emerges as an effector hub targeted by different microbial kingdoms, consistent with a diversification of P69B orthologs and paralogs. This study demonstrates the power of artificial intelligence to predict cross-kingdom interactions at the plant-pathogen interface.
Topics: Artificial Intelligence; Peptide Hydrolases; Endopeptidases; Solanum lycopersicum; Plant Proteins; Plant Diseases
PubMed: 37758696
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41721-9 -
International Journal of Molecular... Feb 2020Lipid-derived plant hormone jasmonates are implicated in plant growth, reproductive performance, senescence, secondary metabolite productions, and defense against both... (Review)
Review
Lipid-derived plant hormone jasmonates are implicated in plant growth, reproductive performance, senescence, secondary metabolite productions, and defense against both necrotrophic pathogens and feeding insects. A major jasmonate is (+)-7--jasmonoyl-l-isoleucine (JA-Ile), which is perceived by the unique COI1-JAZ coreceptor system. Recent advances in plant chemical biology have greatly informed the bioscience of jasmonate, including the development of chemical tools such as the antagonist COR-MO; the agonist NOPh; and newly developed jasmonates, including JA-Ile-macrolactone and 12-OH-JA-Ile. This review article summarizes the current status of plant chemical biology as it pertains to jasmonates, and offers some perspectives for the future.
Topics: Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Proteins; Cyclopentanes; Oxylipins; Plant Proteins; Protein Binding; Receptors, Cell Surface; Repressor Proteins
PubMed: 32046227
DOI: 10.3390/ijms21031124 -
International Journal of Molecular... Mar 2021Studies implicating an important role for apyrase (NTPDase) enzymes in plant growth and development began appearing in the literature more than three decades ago. After... (Review)
Review
Studies implicating an important role for apyrase (NTPDase) enzymes in plant growth and development began appearing in the literature more than three decades ago. After early studies primarily in potato, and legumes, especially important discoveries that advanced an understanding of the biochemistry, structure and function of these enzymes have been published in the last half-dozen years, revealing that they carry out key functions in diverse other plants. These recent discoveries about plant apyrases include, among others, novel findings on its crystal structures, its biochemistry, its roles in plant stress responses and its induction of major changes in gene expression when its expression is suppressed or enhanced. This review will describe and discuss these recent advances and the major questions about plant apyrases that remain unanswered.
Topics: Apyrase; Catalytic Domain; Chemical Phenomena; Drug Discovery; Enzyme Inhibitors; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Models, Molecular; Plant Proteins; Protein Conformation; Structure-Activity Relationship
PubMed: 33807069
DOI: 10.3390/ijms22063283 -
Plant Communications Jul 2020Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are central to the modulation of protein activity, stability, subcellular localization, and interaction with partners. They... (Review)
Review
Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are central to the modulation of protein activity, stability, subcellular localization, and interaction with partners. They greatly expand the diversity and functionality of the proteome and have taken the center stage as key players in regulating numerous cellular and physiological processes. Increasing evidence indicates that in addition to a single regulatory PTM, many proteins are modified by multiple different types of PTMs in an orchestrated manner to collectively modulate the biological outcome. Such PTM crosstalk creates a combinatorial explosion in the number of proteoforms in a cell and greatly improves the ability of plants to rapidly mount and fine-tune responses to different external and internal cues. While PTM crosstalk has been investigated in depth in humans, animals, and yeast, the study of interplay between different PTMs in plants is still at its infant stage. In the past decade, investigations showed that PTMs are widely involved and play critical roles in the regulation of interactions between plants and pathogens. In particular, ubiquitination has emerged as a key regulator of plant immunity. This review discusses recent studies of the crosstalk between ubiquitination and six other PTMs, i.e., phosphorylation, SUMOylation, poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation, acetylation, redox modification, and glycosylation, in the regulation of plant immunity. The two basic ways by which PTMs communicate as well as the underlying mechanisms and diverse outcomes of the PTM crosstalk in plant immunity are highlighted.
Topics: Acetylation; Glycosylation; Oxidation-Reduction; Phosphorylation; Plant Immunity; Plant Proteins; Plants; Poly ADP Ribosylation; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Sumoylation; Ubiquitination
PubMed: 33367245
DOI: 10.1016/j.xplc.2020.100041 -
Plant, Cell & Environment Jun 2021Salicylic acid (SA) plays pivotal role in plant defense against biotrophic and hemibiotrophic pathogens. Tremendous progress has been made in the field of SA... (Review)
Review
Salicylic acid (SA) plays pivotal role in plant defense against biotrophic and hemibiotrophic pathogens. Tremendous progress has been made in the field of SA biosynthesis and SA signaling pathways over the past three decades. Among the key immune players in SA signaling pathway, NONEXPRESSOR OF PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENES1 (NPR1) functions as a master regulator of SA-mediated plant defense. The function of NPR1 as an SA receptor has been controversial; however, after years of arguments among several laboratories, NPR1 has finally been proven as one of the SA receptors. The function of NPR1 is strictly regulated via post-translational modifications and transcriptional regulation that were recently found. More recent advances in NPR1 biology, including novel functions of NPR1 and the structure of SA receptor proteins, have brought this field forward immensely. Therefore, based on these recent discoveries, this review acts to provide a full picture of how NPR1 functions in plant immunity and how NPR1 gene and NPR1 protein are regulated at multiple levels. Finally, we also discuss potential challenges in future studies of SA signaling pathway.
Topics: Arabidopsis Proteins; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Phosphorylation; Plant Immunity; Plant Proteins; Salicylic Acid; Sumoylation; Ubiquitination
PubMed: 33495996
DOI: 10.1111/pce.14003 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Sep 2022Nowadays, a growing offering of plant-based meat alternatives is available in the food market. Technologically, these products are produced through high-moisture shear... (Review)
Review
Nowadays, a growing offering of plant-based meat alternatives is available in the food market. Technologically, these products are produced through high-moisture shear technology. Process settings and material composition have a significant impact on the physicochemical characteristics of the final products. Throughout the process, the unfolded protein chains may be reduced, or associate in larger structures, creating rearrangement and cross-linking during the cooling stage. Generally, soy and pea proteins are the most used ingredients in plant-based meat analogues. Nevertheless, these proteins have shown poorer results with respect to the typical fibrousness and juiciness found in real meat. To address this limitation, wheat gluten is often incorporated into the formulations. This literature review highlights the key role of wheat gluten in creating products with higher anisotropy. The generation of new disulfide bonds after the addition of wheat gluten is critical to achieve the sought-after fibrous texture, whereas its incompatibility with the other protein phase present in the system is critical for the structuring process. However, allergenicity problems related to wheat gluten require alternatives, hence an evaluation of underutilized plant-based proteins has been carried out to identify those that potentially can imitate wheat gluten behavior during high-moisture shear processing.
Topics: Disulfides; Glutens; Meat; Pea Proteins; Plant Proteins; Triticum
PubMed: 36144595
DOI: 10.3390/molecules27185855 -
Trends in Plant Science Oct 2021SENSITIVE TO PROTON RHIZOTOXICITY 1 (STOP1) is a master transcription factor (TF) that regulates genes encoding proteins critical for cellular pH homeostasis. STOP1 also... (Review)
Review
SENSITIVE TO PROTON RHIZOTOXICITY 1 (STOP1) is a master transcription factor (TF) that regulates genes encoding proteins critical for cellular pH homeostasis. STOP1 also causes pleiotropic effects in both roots and shoots associated with various stress tolerances. STOP1-regulated genes in roots synergistically confer tolerance to coexisting stress factors in acid soil, and root-architecture remodeling for superior phosphorus acquisition. Additionally, STOP1 confers salt tolerance to roots under low-potassium conditions. By contrast, STOP1 antagonistically functions in shoots to promote hypoxia tolerance but to suppress drought tolerance. In this review, we discuss how these synergetic- and antagonistic-pleiotropic effects indicate that STOP1 is a central hub of stress regulation and that the harmonization of STOP1-regulated traits is essential for plant adaptation to various environments.
Topics: Aluminum; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Proteins; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Plant Proteins; Plant Roots; Stress, Physiological; Transcription Factors
PubMed: 34253485
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2021.06.011 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jun 2021Plant abiotic stress responses are tightly regulated by different players at multiple levels. At transcriptional or post-transcriptional levels, several RNA binding... (Review)
Review
Plant abiotic stress responses are tightly regulated by different players at multiple levels. At transcriptional or post-transcriptional levels, several RNA binding proteins (RBPs) regulate stress response genes through RNA metabolism. They are increasingly recognized as critical modulators of a myriad of biological processes, including stress responses. Plant RBPs are heterogeneous with one or more conservative RNA motifs that constitute canonical/novel RNA binding domains (RBDs), which can bind to target RNAs to determine their regulation as per the plant requirements at given environmental conditions. Given its biological significance and possible consideration as a potential tool in genetic manipulation programs to improve key agronomic traits amidst frequent episodes of climate anomalies, studies concerning the identification and functional characterization of RBP candidate genes are steadily mounting. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of canonical and novel RBPs and their functions in major abiotic stresses including drought, heat, salt, and cold stress conditions. To some extent, we also briefly describe the basic motif structure of RBPs that would be useful in forthcoming studies. Additionally, we also collected RBP genes that were modulated by stress, but that lacked functional characterization, providing an impetus to conduct further research.
Topics: Cold-Shock Response; Droughts; Heat-Shock Response; Plant Proteins; Protein Domains; RNA-Binding Proteins; Salinity; Salt Stress; Stress, Physiological
PubMed: 34201749
DOI: 10.3390/ijms22136731 -
The New Phytologist Jan 2020Strigolactones are an important class of plant signalling molecule with both external rhizospheric and internal hormonal functions in flowering plants. The past decade... (Review)
Review
Strigolactones are an important class of plant signalling molecule with both external rhizospheric and internal hormonal functions in flowering plants. The past decade has seen staggering progress in strigolactone biology, permitting highly detailed understanding of their signalling, synthesis and biological roles - or so it seems. However, phylogenetic analyses show that strigolactone signalling mediated by the D14-SCF -SMXL7 complex is only one of a number of closely related signalling pathways, and is much less ubiquitous in land plants than might be expected. The existence of closely related pathways, such as the KAI2-SMAX1 module, challenges many of our assumptions about strigolactones, and in particular emphasises how little we understand about the specificity of strigolactone signalling with respect to related signalling pathways. In this review, we examine recent advances in strigolactone signalling, taking a holistic evolutionary view to identify the ambiguities and uncertainties in our understanding. We highlight that while we now have highly detailed molecular models for the core mechanism of D14-SMXL7 signalling, we still do not understand the ligand specificity of D14, the specificity of its interaction with SMXL7, nor the specificity of SMXL7 function. Our analysis therefore identifies key areas requiring further study.
Topics: Lactones; Phylogeny; Plant Development; Plant Proteins; Receptors, Cell Surface; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 31442309
DOI: 10.1111/nph.16135