Protease inhibitors have been proposed as potential defense molecules for increased insect resistance in crop plants. Compensatory over-production of insensitive proteases in the insect, however, has limited suitability of these proteins in plant protection, with very high levels of inhibitor required for increased plant resistance. In this study we have examined whether combined used of two inhibitors is effective to prevent this compensatory response. We show that leaf-specific over-expression of the potato PI-II and carboxypeptidase inhibitors (PCI) results in increased resistance to Heliothis obsoleta and Liriomyza trifolii larvae in homozygote tomato lines expressing high levels (>1% the total soluble proteins) of the transgenes. Leaf damage in hemizygous lines for these transformants was, however, more severe than in the controls, thus evidencing a compensation response of the larvae to the lower PI concentrations in these plants. Development of comparable adaptive responses in both insects suggests that insect adaptation does not entail specific recognition of the transgene, but rather represents a general adaptive mechanism triggered in response to the nutritional stress imposed by sub-lethal concentrations of the inhibitors. Combined expression of defense genes with different mechanisms of action rather than combinations of inhibitors may then offer a better strategy in pest management as it should be more effective in overcoming this general adaptive response in the insect.

From unripe fruits of Bromelia hieronymi Mez (Bromeliaceae), a partially purified protease preparation was obtained by acetone fractionation of the crude extract. Purification was achieved by anionic exchange chromatography (FPLC) on Q-Sepharose HP followed by cationic exchange chromatography (SP-Sepharose HP). Homogeneity of the new enzyme, named hieronymain II, was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and mass spectroscopy (MALDI-TOF-TOF). The molecular mass of was 23,411 Da, and maximum proteolytic activity (more than 90% of maximum activity) was achieved at pH 7.5-9.0 on casein and at pH 7.30-8.3 on Z-Phe-Arg-p-nitroanilide. The enzyme was completely inhibited by E-64 and iodoacetic acid and activated by the addition of cysteine. The N-terminal sequence of hieronymain II (AVPQSIDWRVYGAV) was compared with those of 12 plant cysteine proteases which showed more than 70% of identity. Kinetic enzymatic assays were made on Z-Phe-Arg-p-nitroanilide (Km = 0.72mM, kcat = 1.82 seg(-1) , kcat/ Km = 2.54seg(-1) mM(-l)). No detectable activity could be found on PFLNA or Z-Arg-Arg-p-nitroanilide.

The activation process of porcine pancreatic procarboxypeptidase B (pro-CPB) has been studied in detail by a number of complementary methodologies, and a description of the molecular events that lead to the generation of active carboxypeptidase B (CPB) has been deduced. The generated CPB participates in the degradation of its own activation segment by excising C-terminal residues from fragments produced by tryptic proteolysis. The trimming action of CPB is, however, not essential for the release of a fully functional enzyme, in contrast to what was previously reported for porcine procarboxypeptidase A (pro-CPA). In the model presented here, the activation process is solely dependent on the first tryptic cleavage, at the limit between the activation segment and the enzyme region, and the former piece loses all of its inhibitory capacity once severed from the proenzyme. The use of heterologous inhibitors of CPB activity during the study of the tryptic activation process of pro-CPB has been required for the capture of short-lived, otherwise nondetectable, intermediates. This has allowed a complete description of the process and shown that the first proteolytic action of trypsin can also take place on a second target bond. Structural considerations that take into account the three-dimensional structures of the A and B forms of the proenzymes lead us to propose that the differences in conformation at the region that connects the globular activation domain to the enzyme are the main responsible elements for the differences observed in the activation processes of both proenzymes.Keywords: activation domain; activation segment; inhibition mechanism; limited proteolysis; procarboxypeptidase; zymogen Porcine pancreatic secretion contains considerable amounts of the precursor forms of the two major pancreatic carboxypeptidases: AI and B. Procarboxypeptidase A1 (pro-CPA1) is found in the monomeric state and as a member of a binary complex with proproteinase E, whereas procarboxypeptidase B (pro-CPB) is found only in the monomeric state (Aviles et al., 1993). The oligomeric association is the most common occurrence of pro-CPAs (Yamasaki et al., 1963;Uren & Neurath, 1972;Kobayashi et al., 1978;Oppezzo et al., 1994), and it has been observed that the quaternary structure affects their activation behavior (Puigserver & Desnuelle, 1977;Kobayashi et al., 1981; Puigserver et al., 1986;Chapus et al., 1987). No complex with proteinase precursors has yet been described for the B form. The Reprint requests to: Francesc X. Aviles, Departament de Bioquimica i Biologia Molecular, Unitat de Ciencies and lnstitut de Biologia Fonamental, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.Abbreviations: BZS, benzylsuccinic acid; CP, carboxypeptidase; PCI, potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor; MMGETP, 2-mercaptomethyl-3-guanidinethylthiopropanoic acid.-~ ~-~-~-presence of the two monomeric zymogens in porcine pancreas makes this system suitable for comparison studies on their activation processes. The activation process of pancr...

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