1. Isolation and characterization of four novel bioactive peptides from a polychaete annelid, Perinereis vancaurica
T Takahashi, Y Furukawa, Y Muneoka, O Matsushima, T Ikeda, T Fujita, H Minakata, K Nomoto Comp Biochem Physiol C Pharmacol Toxicol Endocrinol. 1995 Mar;110(3):297-304. doi: 10.1016/0742-8413(94)00100-o.
Four bioactive peptides were purified from an extract of the polycheate annelid Perinereis vancaurica using an HPLC system for fractionation of the extract and the esophagus of the worm as bioassay system. The sequences of the peptides were determined to be H-Trp-Val-Val-Gly-Asp-Val-Gln-OH, H-Ala-Thr-Trp-Leu-Asp-Thr-OH, H-Trp-Met-Val-Gly-Asp-Val-Gln-OH and H-Phe-Tyr-Glu-Gly-Asp-Val-Pro-Tyr-OH. These peptides showed an excitatory activity on the esophagus of P. vancaurica. The excitatory effect of the second and fourth peptides was marked. They may be neuropeptides involved in regulation of the esophagus.
2. Amino-acid sequence of the coeliac active gliadin peptide B 3142
H Wieser, H D Belitz, A Ashkenazi Z Lebensm Unters Forsch. 1984 Nov;179(5):371-6. doi: 10.1007/BF01043432.
Peptide B 3142, which has been isolated from a peptic tryptic digest of whole gliadin by several separation steps [1], was examined for coeliac activity in an immunological test and in an organ-culture test, comparing enlarged groups of coeliac patients and control persons. In both test systems the peptide shows a coeliac specific effect. The N-terminal sequence analysis (EDMAN degradation), the C-terminal sequence analysis (incubation with carboxypeptidase Y) and the sequence determination of peptides, obtained from B 3142 by digestion with papain and chymotrypsin, result in the following total amino-acid sequence: H-Val-Pro-Val-Pro-Gln-Leu-Gln-Pro-Gln-Asn-Pro-Ser-Gln-Gln- Gln-Pro-Gln-Glu-Gln-Val-Pro-Leu-Val-Gln-Gln-Gln-Gln-Phe-Pro-Gly-Gln-Gln- Gln-Pro-Phe-Pro-Pro-Gln-Gln-Pro-Tyr-Pro-Gln-Pro-Gln-Pro-Phe-Pro-Ser-Gln- Gln-Pro-Tyr-OH. The 53 amino-acid residues correspond to a molecular mass of 6,129 g/mol.
3. 1H- and 13C-NMR investigations on cis-trans isomerization of proline peptide bonds and conformation of aromatic side chains in H-Trp-(Pro)n-Tyr-OH peptides
J Poznański, A Ejchart, K L Wierzchowski, M Ciurak Biopolymers. 1993 May;33(5):781-95. doi: 10.1002/bip.360330507.
1H and 13C high-resolution nmr spectra of cationic, zwitterionic, and anionic forms of the peptides: H-Trp-(Pro)n-Tyr-OH, n = 0-5, and H-Trp-Pro-OCH3 were obtained in D2O solution. Analysis of H alpha (Pro1), H alpha (Trp), C gamma (Pro), H epsilon (Tyr), and H delta (Trp) resonances provided evidence for the presence of two predominant backbone isomers: the all-trans one and another with the Trp-Pro peptide bond in cis conformation; the latter constituted about 0.8 molar fraction of the total peptide (n > 1) concentration. Relative content of these isomers varied in a characteristic way with the number of Pro residues and the ionization state of the peptides. The highest content of the cis (Trp-Pro) isomer, 0.74, was found in the anionic form of H-Trp-Pro-Tyr-OH; it decreased in the order of: anion >> zwitterion approximately cation, and with the number of Pro residues to reach the value of 0.42 in the cationic form of H-Trp-(Pro)5-Tyr-OH. Isomerization equilibria about Pro-Pro bond(s) were found to be shifted far (> or = 0.9) in favor of the trans conformation. Interpretation of the measured vicinal coupling constants J alpha-beta' and J alpha-beta" for C alpha H-C beta H2 proton systems of Trp and Tyr side chains in terms of relative populations of g+, g-, and t staggered rotamers around the chi 1 dihedral angle indicated that in all the peptides studied (a) rotation of Trp indole ring in cis (Trp-Pro) isomers is strongly restricted, and (b) rotation of Tyr phenol ring is relatively free. The most preferred chi 1 rotamer of Trp (0.8-0.9 molar fraction) was assigned as the t one on the basis of a large value of the vicinal coupling constant between the high-field H beta and carbonyl carbon atoms of Trp, estimated for the cis (Pro1) form of H-Trp-Pro-Tyr-OH from a 1H, 13C correlated spectroscopy 1H-detected multiple quantum experiment. This indicates that cis<-->trans equilibrium in the Trp-Pro fragment is governed by nonbonding interactions between the pyrrolidine (Pro) and indole (Trp) rings. A molecular model of the terminal cis Trp-Pro dipeptide fragment is proposed, based on the presented nmr data and the results of our molecular mechanics modeling of low-energy conformers of the peptides, reported elsewhere.
