Circulin C

Four new macrocyclic polypeptides were isolated and identified from an extract of the tropical tree Chassalia parvifolia. Circulins C-F are 29-30 amino acid cyclic peptides in which the entire primary amino acid chain is covalently cyclized via peptide bonds. Their structures were deduced from a combination of FABMS analyses, N-terminal Edman degradation, endoproteinase digestion, and amino acid analyses. All the peptides share a high degree of sequence homology and contain six cysteine residues forming three intramolecular disulfide bridges. Circulins C-F inhibited the cytopathic effects of in vitro HIV-1 infection with EC(50) values of 50-275 nM.

Improvements were made in the high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method to obtain baseline separation of chromatographic peaks of structurally similar polypeptide components in bacitracin. The improved method uses a 30-cm-long stainless-stell column packed with muBondapak C18. The theoretical plates of the column are approximately 140,000 per meter for the bacitracin A peak. The resolution function between bacitracins B1 and B2 and that between bacitracins A and B2 have been improved 418 and 225%, respectively. The components of bacitracin, bacitracins A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, were fractionated by the countercurrent distribution technique. These components, together with Compound X, a compound separated on a carboxymethylcellulose column, and bacitracin F, obtained by degrading bacitracin A sample at neutral pH, were used to identify peaks in the HPLC chromatogram. Effects of processing methods used to reduce microbial contamination levels in bacitracin powders were evaluated. Heat treatment caused a significant loss of antimicrobial activity (35% reduction), bacitracins A, B1, and B2 were reduced by 37, 22, and 21%, respectively. A significant increase (2.8 times) of bacitracin F, an oxidative degradation compound, was show. Irradiation by 60Co at 1.8 Mrad caused no loss of potency nor change in any of the bacitracin components. Ethylene oxide treatment, on the other hand, caused considerable (46%) reduction of potency. Substantial reduction of areas under the peak of bacitracins A, B1, and B2 (50, 24 and 37%, respectively) were noted. The chromatograms showed numerous unresolved peaks around bacitracins A, B1 and B2,; however, no significant increase in the bacitracin F peak, nor appearance of non-UV absorbing peaks were observed. Peptide antibiotics of the polymyxin group, circulin, colistin, and polymyxin, were also analyzed using the muBondapak C18 column with a linear-gradient elution. A UV monitor was used for polymyxin. A moving-wire flame ionization detector was used to monitor circulin and colistin. A sample of polymyxin, circulin, and colistin may be analyzed in less than 20 min of chromatographic time.

The "knottin" fold is a stable cysteine-rich scaffold, in which one disulfide crosses the macrocycle made by two other disulfides and the connecting backbone segments. This scaffold is found in several protein families with no evolutionary relationships. In the past few years, several homologous peptides from the Rubiaceae and Violaceae families were shown to define a new structural family based on macrocyclic knottin fold. We recently isolated from Momordica cochinchinensis seeds the first known macrocyclic squash trypsin inhibitors. These compounds are the first members of a new family of cyclic knottins. In this paper, we present NMR structural studies of one of them, MCoTI-II, and of a beta-Asp rearranged form, MCoTI-IIb. Both compounds display similar and well-defined conformations. These cyclic squash inhibitors share a similar conformation with noncyclic squash inhibitors such as CPTI-II, and it is postulated that the main effect of the cyclization is a reduced sensitivity to exo-proteases. On the contrary, clear differences were detected with the three-dimensional structures of other known cyclic knottins, i.e., kalata B1 or circulin A. The two-disulfide cystine-stabilized beta-sheet motif [Heitz et al. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 10615-10625] is conserved in the two families, whereas in the C-to-N linker, one disulfide bridge and one loop are differently located. The molecular surface of MCoTI-II is almost entirely charged in contrast to circulin A that displays a well-marked amphiphilic character. These differences might explain why the isolated macrocyclic squash inhibitors from M. cochinchinensis display no significant antibacterial activity, whereas circulins and kalata B1 do.