Molecular Models of Acidic PePtides From Pea Bud Chromatin And Seminal Plasma. Divalent Cations-Mediated Interaction With Dna

Abstract

Small acidic peptides have been isolated from biological fluids (blood and seminal plasma) and from chromatin of several tissues. Their biological activity is related to the control of cell growth and gene expression. This work is an approach to the study of peptide structure-function relationship. Purified fractions from seminal plasma and pea bud chromatin were subjected to fast ion bombardment mass spectrometry. The results obtained were analyzed according to biochemical characteristics of the peptides studied and some possible molecular models have been designed. Two of the proposed sequences were synthesized and their biological activity assayed in cells and cell-free systems. The results demonstrate that the synthetic peptides are able to bind to DNA in the presence of divalent cations (Mg2+, Fe2+, Cu2+) with consequent inhibition of DNA transcription.

Aging Reversibility: from Thymus Graft to Vegetable Extract Treatment – Application to Cure an Age-associated Pathology

“…These acidic peptides associate the action of the thymus and its extracts to WESPRE on recovering aging altered parameters. Acidic proteins with similar characteristics of regulation, such as inhibition of DNA transcription ''in vitro'' and of fast growing cancer cell proliferation, can be isolated from both the chromatin of thymus gland and from several vegetal tissues and in particular in wheat sprout extracts (WESPRE) (Gianfranceschi et al 1976a;Gianfranceschi et al 1976b;Mancinelli et al 1992;Mancinelli et al 1998;Mancinelli et al 1999). Thymus acts with other proteins that influence hormonal balance through the mediation of other endocrine glands (Fabris and Piantanelli 1982;Dardenne and Savino 1990).…”

“…Secondly, results on TME-derived acid peptidic factors, show a direct action on DNA transcription (Gianfranceschi et al 1974). Peptides with similar characteristics of regulation extracted from the chromatin of thymus gland are present in several vegetal tissues and in particular in wheat sprout extracts (WESPRE) (Gianfranceschi et al 1976a;Mancinelli et al 1992;Mancinelli et al 1999). It is not known whether WESPRE can act on the neuroendocrine system like thymus but we hypothesize that WESPRE has the capacity of recovering aging altered parameters for the presence of nuclear acidic peptides like those present in TME and for a remarkable level of antioxidant activity (Falcioni et al 2002;Calzuola et al 2004;Marsili et al 2004).…”

On peptidede novo sequencing: a new approach

“…Each peak of weight w in the spectrum can be due to the presence of one of the various "classical" types of fragment (a-ion, b-ion, c-ion, x-ion, y-ion, z-ion) having weight w, or to the presence of "additional" fragmentation (losses of small neutral molecules such as water, ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, or breaking of a lateral chain; see also [24]) of one of the above types of fragments having weight greater than w, or to the presence of a multicharged fragment having weight of a multiple of w, or even to the presence of some spurious component having weight w. One should also consider the presence of some noise peaks, even if they generally have low intensity values. Altogether, therefore, the scenario is tricky.…”

“…The constraint securing compatibility with the overall weight of the complex has the following structure (see e.g. [24,25]). …”

Nutritional Relevance of Wheat Sprouts Containing High Levels of Organic Phosphates and Antioxidant Compounds

“…The peptide fraction isolated from the chromatin of several vegetable and animal tissues exerts a homeostatic regulation demonstrated as inhibition of DNA transcription in vitro, and fast-growing cancer cell proliferation, and reactivation of some metabolic pathways decreased during senescence. [1][2][3][4] Recently we observed that wheat sprouts are a good source of chromatin phosphopeptides. Accordingly, wheat seeds show a very strong activity of many kinases (eg, CKII kinase) from 1 to 4 days of germination.…”