AC-AMP2

The conformation in water of antimicrobial protein 2 from Amaranthus caudatus (Ac-AMP2) was determined using 1H NMR, DIANA and restrained molecular modeling. Ac-AMP2 is a 30 amino acid residue, lectin-like protein that specifically binds to chitin, a polymer of beta-1,4-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. After sequence specific resonance assignments, a total of 198 distance restraints were collected from 2D NOESY buildup spectra at 500 MHz at pH 2, supplemented by a 2D NOESY spectrum at 600 MHz. The location of the three previously unassigned disulfide bridges was determined from preliminary DIANA structures, using a statistical analysis of intercystinyl distances. The solution structure of Ac-AMP2 is presented as a set of 26 DIANA structures, further refined by restrained molecular dynamics using a simulated annealing protocol in the AMBER force field, with a backbone r.m.s.d. for the well defined Glu3-Cys28 segment of 0.69(+/-0.12) angstroms. The main structural element is an antiparallel beta-sheet from Met13 to Lys23 including a betaI-turn over Gln17-Phel8 with a beta bulge at Gly19. In addition, a beta'I turn over Arg6-Gly7, a beta'III turn over Ser11-Gly12 and a helical turn from Gly24 to Cys28 are identified. This structure is very similar to the equivalent regions of the X-ray structure of wheat germ agglutinin and the NMR structure of hevein.

The interaction between Ac-AMP2, a lectin-like small protein with antimicrobial and antifungal activity isolated from Amaranthus caudatus, and N,N',N"-triacetyl chitotriose was studied using 1H NMR spectroscopy. Changes in chemical shift and line width upon increasing concentration of N,N',N"-triacetyl chitotriose to Ac-AMP2 solutions at pH 6.9 and 2.4 were used to determine the interaction site and the association constant Ka. The most pronounced shifts occur mainly in the C-terminal half of the sequence. They involve the aromatic residues Phe18, Tyr20 and Tyr27 together with their surrounding residues, as well as the N-terminal Val-Gly-Glu segment. Several NOEs between Ac-AMP2 and the N,N',N"-triacetyl chitotriose resonances are reported.

The cDNAs encoding the seed antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from Mirabilis jalapa (Mj-AMP2) and Amaranthus caudatus (Ac-AMP2) have previously been characterized and it was found that Mj-AMP2 and Ac-AMP2 are processed from a precursor preprotein and preproprotein, respectively [De Bolle et al., Plant Mol Biol 28:713-721 (1995) and 22:1187-1190 (1993), respectively]. In order to study the processing, sorting and biological activity of these antimicrobial peptides in transgenic tobacco, four different gene constructs were made: a Mj-AMP2 wild-type gene construct, a Mj-AMP2 mutant gene construct which was extended by a sequence encoding the barley lectin carboxyl-terminal propeptide, a known vacuolar targeting signal [Bednarek and Raikhel, Plant Cell 3: 1195-1206 (1991)]; an Ac-AMP2 wild-type gene construct; and finally, an Ac-AMP2 mutant gene construct which was truncated in order to delete the sequence encoding the genuine carboxyl-terminal propeptide. Processing and localization analysis indicated that an isoform of Ac-AMP2 with a cleaved-off carboxyl-terminal arginine was localized in the intercellular fluid fraction of plants expressing either wild-type or mutant gene constructs. Mj-AMP2 was recovered extracellularly in plants transformed with Mj-AMP2 wild-type gene construct, whereas an Mj-AMP2 isoform with a cleaved-off carboxyl-terminal arginine accumulated intracellularly in plants expressing the mutant precursor protein with the barley lectin propeptide. The in vitro antifungal activity of the AMPs purified from transgenic tobacco expressing any of the four different precursor proteins was similar to that of the authentic proteins. However, none of the transgenic plants showed enhanced resistance against infection with either Botrytis cinerea or Alternaria longipes.