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Publications - Molecular Signal Processing

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Publications

Kahsay, B. N.; Ziegler, J.; Imming, P.; Gebre-Mariam, T.; Neubert, R. H. H.; Moeller, L.; Free amino acid contents of selected Ethiopian plant and fungi species: a search for alternative natural free amino acid sources for cosmeceutical applications Amino Acids 53, 1105-1122, (2021) DOI: 10.1007/s00726-021-03008-5

Free amino acids (FAAs), the major constituents of the natural moisturizing factor (NMF), are very important for maintaining the moisture balance of human skin and their deficiency results in dry skin conditions. There is a great interest in the identification and use of nature-based sources of these molecules for such cosmeceutical applications. The objective of the present study was, therefore, to investigate the FAA contents of selected Ethiopian plant and fungi species; and select the best sources so as to use them for the stated purpose. About 59 different plant species and oyster mushroom were included in the study and the concentrations of 27 FAAs were analyzed. Each sample was collected, lyophilized, extracted using aqueous solvent, derivatized with Fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl chloride (Fmoc-Cl) prior to solid-phase extraction and quantified using Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometric (LC-ESI–MS/MS) system. All the 27 FAAs were detected in most of the samples. The dominant FAAs that are part of the NMF were found at sufficiently high concentration in the mushroom and some of the plants. This indicates that FAAs that could be included in the preparations for the management of dry skin condition can be obtained from a single natural resource and the use of these resources for the specified purpose have both economic and therapeutic advantage in addition to fulfilling customer needs.
Publications

Ziegler, J.; Abel, S.; Analysis of amino acids by HPLC/electrospray negative ion tandem mass spectrometry using 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl chloride (Fmoc-Cl) derivatization Amino Acids 46, 2799-2808, (2014) DOI: 10.1007/s00726-014-1837-5

A new method for the determination of amino acids is presented. It combines established methods for the derivatization of primary and secondary amino groups with 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl chloride (Fmoc-Cl) with the subsequent amino acid specific detection of the derivatives by LC–ESI–MS/MS using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The derivatization proceeds within 5 min, and the resulting amino acid derivatives can be rapidly purified from matrix by solid-phase extraction (SPE) on HR-X resin and separated by reversed-phase HPLC. The Fmoc derivatives yield several amino acid specific fragment ions which opened the possibility to select amino acid specific MRM transitions. The method was applied to all 20 proteinogenic amino acids, and the quantification was performed using l-norvaline as standard. A limit of detection as low as 1 fmol/µl with a linear range of up to 125 pmol/µl could be obtained. Intraday and interday precisions were lower than 10 % relative standard deviations for most of the amino acids. Quantification using l-norvaline as internal standard gave very similar results compared to the quantification using deuterated amino acid as internal standards. Using this protocol, it was possible to record the amino acid profiles of only a single root from Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and to compare it with the amino acid profiles of 20 dissected root meristems (200 μm).
Publications

Guranowski, A.; Miersch, O.; Staswick, P. E.; Suza, W.; Wasternack, C.; Substrate specificity and products of side-reactions catalyzed by jasmonate:amino acid synthetase (JAR1) FEBS Lett. 581, 815-820, (2007) DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2007.01.049

Jasmonate:amino acid synthetase (JAR1) is involved in the function of jasmonic acid (JA) as a plant hormone. It catalyzes the synthesis of several JA‐amido conjugates, the most important of which appears to be JA‐Ile. Structurally, JAR1 is a member of the firefly luciferase superfamily that comprises enzymes that adenylate various organic acids. This study analyzed the substrate specificity of recombinant JAR1 and determined whether it catalyzes the synthesis of mono‐ and dinucleoside polyphosphates, which are side‐reaction products of many enzymes forming acyl ∼ adenylates. Among different oxylipins tested as mixed stereoisomers for substrate activity with JAR1, the highest rate of conversion to Ile‐conjugates was observed for (±)‐JA and 9,10‐dihydro‐JA, while the rate of conjugation with 12‐hydroxy‐JA and OPC‐4 (3‐oxo‐2‐(2Z ‐pentenyl)cyclopentane‐1‐butyric acid) was only about 1–2% that for (±)‐JA. Of the two stereoisomers of JA, (−)‐JA and (+)‐JA, rate of synthesis of the former was about 100‐fold faster than for (+)‐JA. Finally, we have demonstrated that (1) in the presence of ATP, Mg2+, (−)‐JA and tripolyphosphate the ligase produces adenosine 5′‐tetraphosphate (p4A); (2) addition of isoleucine to that mixture halts the p4A synthesis; (3) the enzyme produces neither diadenosine triphosphate (Ap3A) nor diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A) and (4) Ap4A cannot substitute ATP as a source of adenylate in the complete reaction that yields JA‐Ile.
Publications

Calderon-Villalobos, L. I. A.; Nill, C.; Marrocco, K.; Kretsch, T.; Schwechheimer, C.; The evolutionarily conserved Arabidopsis thaliana F-box protein AtFBP7 is required for efficient translation during temperature stress Gene 392, 106-116, (2007) DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2006.11.016

In eukaryotes, E3 ubiquitin ligases (E3s) mediate the ubiquitylation of proteins that are destined for degradation by the ubiquitin–proteasome system. In SKP1/CDC53/F-box protein (SCF)-type E3 complexes, the interchangeable F-box protein confers specificity to the E3 ligase through direct physical interactions with the degradation substrate. The vast majority of the approximately 700 F-box proteins from the plant model organism Arabidopsis thaliana remain to be characterized. Here, we investigate the previously uncharacterized and evolutionarily conserved Arabidopsis F-box protein 7 (AtFBP7), which is encoded by a unique gene in Arabidopsis (At1g21760). Several apparent fbp7 loss-of-function alleles do not have an obvious phenotype. AtFBP7 is ubiquitously expressed and its expression is induced after cold and heat stress. When following up on a reported co-purification of the eukaryotic elongation factor-2 (eEF-2) with YLR097c, the apparent budding yeast orthologue of AtFBP7, we discovered a general defect in protein biosynthesis after cold and heat stress in fbp7 mutants. Thus, our findings suggest that AtFBP7 is required for protein synthesis during temperature stress.
Publications

Biondi, E.; Branciamore, S.; Fusi, L.; Gago, S.; Gallori, E.; Catalytic activity of hammerhead ribozymes in a clay mineral environment: Implications for the RNA world Gene 389, 10-18, (2007) DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2006.09.002

The hypothesized RNA-based world would have required the presence of a protected environment in which RNA, or an RNA-like molecule, could originate and express its biological activity.Recent studies have indicated that RNA molecules adsorbed/bound on clay minerals are able to persist in the presence of degrading agents, to interact with surrounding molecules, and to transmit the information contained in their nucleotide sequences.In this study, we assessed the ability of RNA molecules with catalytic activity to perform a specific reaction in a mineral environment. For this purpose, we investigated the self-cleavage reaction of the hammerhead ribozyme of the Avocado Sun Blotch Viroid (ASBVd), both in the monomeric and in dimeric forms. The monomeric transcript was tightly bound on the clay mineral montmorillonite to form a stable complex, while the behaviour of the dimeric transcript was studied in the presence of the clay particles in the reaction mixture.The results indicated that the hammerhead ribozyme was still active when the monomeric transcript was adsorbed on the clay surface, even though its efficiency was reduced to about 20% of that in solution. Moreover, the self-cleavage of clay-adsorbed molecule was significantly enhanced (∼ four times) by the presence of the 5′ reaction product.The self-cleavage reaction of the dimeric transcript in the presence of montmorillonite indicated that the mineral particles protected the RNA molecules against aspecific degradation and increased the rate of cleavage kinetics by about one order of magnitude.These findings corroborate the hypothesis that clay-rich environments would have been a good habitat in which RNA or RNA-like molecules could originate, accumulate and undergo Darwinian evolutionary processes, leading to the first living cells on Earth.
Publications

Schüler, G.; Mithöfer, A.; Baldwin, I. T.; BERGER, S.; Ebel, J.; Santos, J. G.; Herrmann, G.; Hölscher, D.; Kramell, R.; Kutchan, T. M.; Maucher, H.; Schneider, B.; Stenzel, I.; Wasternack, C.; Boland, W.; Coronalon: a powerful tool in plant stress physiology FEBS Lett. 563, 17-22, (2004) DOI: 10.1016/S0014-5793(04)00239-X

Coronalon, a synthetic 6‐ethyl indanoyl isoleucine conjugate, has been designed as a highly active mimic of octadecanoid phytohormones that are involved in insect and disease resistance. The spectrum of biological activities that is affected by coronalon was investigated in nine different plant systems specifically responding to jasmonates and/or 12‐oxo‐phytodienoic acid. In all bioassays analyzed, coronalon demonstrated a general strong activity at low micromolar concentrations. The results obtained showed the induction of (i) defense‐related secondary metabolite accumulation in both cell cultures and plant tissues, (ii) specific abiotic and biotic stress‐related gene expression, and (iii) root growth retardation. The general activity of coronalon in the induction of plant stress responses together with its simple and efficient synthesis suggests that this compound might serve as a valuable tool in the examination of various aspects in plant stress physiology. Moreover, coronalon might become employed in agriculture to elicit plant resistance against various aggressors.
Publications

Flores, R.; Delgado, S.; Gas, M.-E.; Carbonell, A.; Molina, D.; Gago, S.; De la Peña, M.; Viroids: the minimal non-coding RNAs with autonomous replication FEBS Lett. 567, 42-48, (2004) DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2004.03.118

Viroids are small (246–401 nucleotides), non‐coding, circular RNAs able to replicate autonomously in certain plants. Viroids are classified into the families Pospiviroidae and Avsunviroidae , whose members replicate in the nucleus and chloroplast, respectively. Replication occurs by an RNA‐based rolling‐circle mechanism in three steps: (1) synthesis of longer‐than‐unit strands catalyzed by host DNA‐dependent RNA polymerases forced to transcribe RNA templates, (2) processing to unit‐length, which in family Avsunviroidae is mediated by hammerhead ribozymes, and (3) circularization either through an RNA ligase or autocatalytically. Disease induction might result from the accumulation of viroid‐specific small interfering RNAs that, via RNA silencing, could interfere with normal developmental pathways.
Publications

Bücking, H.; Förster, H.; Stenzel, I.; Miersch, O.; Hause, B.; Applied jasmonates accumulate extracellularly in tomato, but intracellularly in barley FEBS Lett. 562, 45-50, (2004) DOI: 10.1016/S0014-5793(04)00178-4

Jasmonic acid (JA) and its derivatives are well‐characterized signaling molecules in plant defense and development, but the site of their localization within plant tissue is entirely unknown. To address the question whether applied JA accumulates extracellularly or intracellularly, leaves of tomato and barley were fed with 14C‐labeled JA and the label was localized in cryofixed and lyophilized leaf tissues by microautoradiography. In tomato the radioactivity was detectable within the apoplast, but no label was found within the mesophyll cells. By contrast, in barley leaf tissues, radioactivity was detected within the mesophyll cells suggesting a cellular uptake of exogenously applied JA. JA, applied to leaves of both plants as in the labeling experiments, led in all leaf cells to the expression of JA‐inducible genes indicating that the perception is completed by JA signal transduction.
Publications

Morgan, K. E.; Zarembinski, T. I.; Theologis, A.; Abel, S.; Biochemical characterization of recombinant polypeptides corresponding to the predicted βαα fold in Aux/IAA proteins FEBS Lett. 454, 283-287, (1999) DOI: 10.1016/S0014-5793(99)00819-4

The plant hormone indoleacetic acid (IAA or auxin) transcriptionally activates a select set of early genes. The Auxl IAA class of early auxin-responsive genes encodes a large family of short-lived, nuclear proteins. Aux/IAA polypeptides homo-and heterodimerize, and interact with auxin-response transcription factors (ARFs) via C-terminal regions conserved in both protein families. This shared region contains a predicted βαα motif similar to the prokaryotic β-Ribbon DNA binding domain, which mediates both protein dimerization and DNA recognition. Here, we show by circular dichroism spectroscopy and by chemical cross-linking experiments that recombinant peptides corresponding to the predicted βαα region of three Aux/IAA proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana contain substantial α-helical secondary structure and undergo homo- and heterotypic interactions in vitro. Our results indicate a similar biochemical function of the plant βαα domain and suggest that the βαα fold plays an important role in mediating combinatorial interactions of Aux/IAA and ARF proteins to specifically regulate secondary gene expression in response to auxin.
Publications

Churin, J.; Hause, B.; Feussner, I.; Maucher, H. P.; Feussner, K.; Börner, T.; Wasternack, C.; Cloning and expression of a new cDNA from monocotyledonous plants coding for a diadenosine 5′,5′′′-P1,P4-tetraphosphate hydrolase from barley (Hordeum vulgare) FEBS Lett. 431, 481-485, (1998) DOI: 10.1016/S0014-5793(98)00819-9

From a cDNA library generated from mRNA of white leaf tissues of the ribosome‐deficient mutant ‘albostrians' of barley (Hordeum vulgare cv. Haisa) a cDNA was isolated carrying 54.2% identity to a recently published cDNA which codes for the diadenosine‐5′,5′′′‐P1,P4‐tetraphosphate (Ap4A) hydrolase of Lupinus angustifolius (Maksel et al. (1998) Biochem. J. 329, 313–319), and 69% identity to four partial peptide sequences of Ap4A hydrolase of tomato. Overexpression in Escherichia coli revealed a protein of about 19 kDa, which exhibited Ap4A hydrolase activity and cross‐reactivity with an antibody raised against a purified tomato Ap4A hydrolase (Feussner et al. (1996) Z. Naturforsch. 51c, 477–486). Expression studies showed an mRNA accumulation in all organs of a barley seedling. Possible functions of Ap4A hydrolase in plants will be discussed.
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