1. Antigenic specificity of a rabbit antiserum raised against the 15-28 segment of thymosin alpha 1
K Ishimura, G S Incefy, J G Wang, T Komiyama, E P Heimer, A M Felix, C G Unson, S A Khan, B W Erickson Mol Immunol. 1986 Jul;23(7):701-7. doi: 10.1016/0161-5890(86)90080-5.
Thymosin alpha 1, an acidic 28-residue peptide, enhances immune function. We have described a radioimmunoassay for this thymic factor based on a rabbit antiserum raised against a thymosin alpha 1-(15-28) conjugate (Incefy et al., J. Immun. Meth. 1986, in press). The detailed antigenic specificity of this antiserum was determined by measuring the ability of synthetic segments and analogues of thymosin alpha 1 and related peptides to compete with radioiodinated Ac-Tyr-thymosin alpha 1-(15-28) in this radioimmunoassay. The antiserum bound segments Ac-(1-28), (15-28), (20-28) and (21-28) with nearly equal efficiency but failed to bind segments Ac-(1-10), (11-20), (19-24) and (22-28). Thus, the major immunoreactive site seen by the antiserum is the COOH-terminal segment (21-28) (Glu-Val-Val-Glu-Glu-Ala-Glu-Asn-OH). Immunoreactivity of (21-28) was nearly abolished when the carboxylate groups of Glu-21, Glu-27 and Asn-28 were omitted separately. The antiserum bound to prothymosin alpha and thymosin alpha 11, which lack the alpha-carboxylate group of Asn-28, with 0.9 and 0.2%, respectively, of the efficiency of thymosin alpha 1. But it bound nonspecifically to parathymosin alpha, which contains the internal segment . . . -Glu-Val-Val-Glu-Glu-Glu-Glu-Asn- . . . . Residues Glu-21, Glu-27 and Asn-28 of thymosin alpha 1 may be important features of the antigenic site through their ability to induce helical structure, through the ability of their negatively charged carboxylate groups to bind to specific sites on the antibody or both.
2. The primary structure of chicken muscle acylphosphatase isozyme Ch1
O Minowa, Y Ohba, Y Mizuno, H Shiokawa J Biochem. 1987 Nov;102(5):1213-20. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jbchem.a122160.
The amino acid sequence of chicken muscle acylphosphatase isozyme Ch1 was determined. The protein consists of 102 amino acid residues, does not contain histidine, and the NH2-terminus is acetylated: Ac-Ser-Ala-Leu-Thr-Lys-Ala-Ser-Gly-Ser- Leu-Lys-Ser-Val-Asp-Tyr-Glu-Val-Phe-Gly-Arg-Val-Gln-Gly-Val-Cys-Phe-Arg- Met- Tyr-Thr-Glu-Glu-Glu-Ala-Arg-Lys-Leu-Gly-Val-Val-Gly-Trp-Val-Lys-Asn- Thr- Ser-Gln-Gly-Thr-Val-Thr-Gly-Gln-Val-Gln-Gly-Pro-Glu-Asp-Lys-Val-Asn-Ala- Met- Lys-Ser-Trp-Leu-Ser-Lys-Val-Gly-Ser-Pro-Ser-Ser-Arg-Ile-Asp-Arg-Thr-Lys- Phe-Ser- Asn-Glu-Lys-Glu-Ile-Ser-Lys-Leu-Asp-Phe-Ser-Gly-Phe-Ser-Thr-Arg-Tyr-OH. This sequence differs in 44% of the total positions from the other isozyme (Ch2) of chicken muscle acylphosphatase (Ohba et al., the accompanying paper). The sequence of Ch1 has three substitutions from that of turkey muscle acylphosphatase; these are Ser from Ala at position 9, Ser from Arg at 47, and Lys from Asn at 83. The sequence has about 80% homology with those mammalian muscle acylphosphatases.
3. Synthesis of acyclic and dehydroaspartic acid analogues of Ac-Asp-Glu-OH and their inhibition of rat brain N-acetylated alpha-linked acidic dipeptidase (NAALA dipeptidase)
N Subasinghe, M Schulte, M Y Chan, R J Roon, J F Koerner, R L Johnson J Med Chem. 1990 Oct;33(10):2734-44. doi: 10.1021/jm00172a009.
The following structural and conformationally constrained analogues of Ac-Asp-Glu-OH (1) were synthesized: Ac-Glu-Glu-OH (2), Ac-D-Asp-Glu-OH (3), Ac-Glu-Asp-OH (4), Ac-Asp-Asp-OH (5), Ac-Asp-3-aminohexanedioic acid (6), Ac-3-amino-3-(carboxymethyl)propanoyl-Glu-OH (7), N-succinyl-Glu-OH (8), N-maleyl-Glu-OH (9), N-fumaryl-Glu-OH (10), and Ac-delta ZAsp-Glu-OH (11). These analogues were evaluated for their ability to inhibit the hydrolysis of Ac-Asp-[3,4-3H]-Glu-OH by N-acetylated alpha-linked acidic dipeptidase (NAALA dipeptidase) in order to gain some insight into the structural requirements for the inhibition of this enzyme. Analogues 4-6 and 9 were very weak inhibitors of NAALA dipeptidase (Ki greater than 40 microM), while 2, 3, and 7 with Ki values ranging from 3.2-8.5 microM showed intermediate inhibitory activity. The most active inhibitors of NAALA dipeptidase were compounds 8, 10, and 11 with Ki values of 0.9, 0.4, and 1.4 microM, respectively. These results suggest that the relative spacing between the side chain carboxyl and the alpha-carboxyl group of the C-terminal residue may be important for binding to the active site of the enzyme. They also indicate that the chi 1 torsional angle for the aspartyl residue is in the vicinity of 0 degrees.
