This study has assessed the effects of pulse type and processing (soaking and cooking) on antinutritional factors (α-amylase inhibitor, trypsin inhibitor, chymotrypsin inhibitor, lectins, phytic acid and oxalates) in a wide range of Canadian pulses, using soybean as a control. The contents of these antinutrients in Canadian pulses varied widely, but the levels were generally lower than those found in soybean. Analysis of variance indicated that both pulse type and processing had significant effects (P < 0.0001) on the investigated seeds. Soaking markedly decreased the contents of α-amylase inhibitor, trypsin inhibitor, chymotrypsin inhibitor, lectins and oxalates, but had no impact on phytic acid. Cooking of presoaked seeds appeared to be more effective; all proteinaceous antinutrients (α-amylase inhibitor, trypsin inhibitor, chymotrypsin inhibitor and lectins) were decreased by 80 – 100%, and significant reductions in phytic acid content (11 – 39%) were observed for all pulses, except common beans and soybean. / February 2016

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the digestive enzyme activity and the centesimal composition of the contents of the gastrointestinal tract and food habits of four teleost two food habits in summer and winter. Two omnivorous species Pimelodus maculatus and R. quelen and two detritivorous species Hypostomus commersoni and Loricariichthys anus were chosen. Fish were collected with the aid of the trawl during March and July 2013 in São Gonçalo channel, Pelotas - RS. The digestive tract was divided into stomach, anterior and posterior intestine. Stomach was assayed the activity of pepsin and the two portions of the intestine were assayed the activities of trypsin, chymotrypsin and lipase. The protein and lipid content of the contents of each portion of the digestive tract was determined. Digestive enzyme activity is not related to the feeding habits and the centesimal composition of the contents of the gastrointestinal tract. Detritivorous species showed higher activity of alkaline proteases, which may be an adaptation to better utilize the low protein content found in the gastrointestinal tract of these species. / O objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar a relação entre a atividade enzimática digestiva e a composição centesimal do conteúdo do trato gastrintestinal e hábitos alimentares de quatro teleósteos de dois hábitos alimentares no verão e no inverno. Foram escolhidas duas espécies onívoras Rhamdia quelen e Pimelodus maculatus e duas espécies detritívoras Hypostomus commersoni e Loricariichthys anus. Os peixes foram coletados com o auxílio de rede de arrasto nos meses de março e julho de 2013, no canal São Gonçalo, Pelotas RS. O trato digestório foi dividido em estômago, intestino anterior e posterior. No estômago foi ensaiada a atividade da pepsina e nas duas porções do intestino foram ensaiadas as atividades da tripsina, quimotripsina e lipase. Foi determinado o teor proteico e lipídico do conteúdo de cada porção do trato digestório. A atividade enzimática digestiva não está relacionada com o hábito alimentar e a composição centesimal do conteúdo do trato gastrintestinal. Espécies detritívoras apresentaram maior atividade das proteases alcalinas, o que pode ser uma adaptação para utilizar melhor o baixo teor proteico encontrado no conteúdo gastrintestinal dessas espécies.

Tripsinas e quimotripsinas, enzimas pertencentes à classe das serina proteinases, são as principais enzimas proteolíticas digestivas presentes no intestino médio de insetos de diversas ordens. Entretanto, enzimas de diferentes insetos possuem propriedades cinéticas distintas, sendo os motivos dessas diferenças especulados. Precipitações por sulfato de amônio das tripsinas de Tenebrio molitor, Diatraea saccharalis e Spodoptera frugiperda mostram que insetos Lepidópteros possuem serina proteinases mais hidrofóbicas, que foi confirmado através de cromatografias de interação hidrofóbica e da análise de acesso do solvente às superfícies protéicas em modelagens tridimensionais de seqüências. Tal fato está relacionado à formação de oligômeros e resistência a defesas de plantas. Inativações por TPCK mostram que quimotripsinas digestivas de S. frugiperda, inseto polífago, reagem duas ordens de grandeza mais lentamente e possui um deslocamento do pH ótimo de modificação em mais de uma unidade quando comparada com dos outros dois organismos, fato relacionado à resistência a cetonas presentes em diversas plantas. A tripsina digestiva de Periplaneta americana foi purificada e microsseqüenciada, resultando na seqüência VSPAFSYGTG e associada a um alérgeno (denominado PaTry), expresso nos cecos e na região anterior do ventrículo. O anticorpo anti-tripsina de M. domestica reconheceu apenas uma banda no intestino de P. americana e foi utilizado para imunocitolocalizar tripsinas nos tecidos epiteliais, demonstrando que esta é secretada por exocitose nos cecos e na região anterior do ventrículo, como esperado. Por último, a atividade majoritária de quimotripsina se localiza surpreendentemente na região posterior do ventrículo de M. domestica. Apesar disso, apenas 28% dessa atividade é perdida através das fezes, pois 31% da atividade enzimática se encontra firmemente aderida à membrana, e 41% na fração celular solúvel (associada ao glicocálice), sendo a atividade solúvel luminal correspondente a apenas 12%, indicando a existência de pelo menos duas espécies moleculares distintas, uma solúvel e uma aderida à membrana, comprovado inativações térmicas das duas atividades (solúvel e aderida à membrana) na presença e na ausência de Triton X-100, sendo que a atividade aderida à membrana apresentou uma maior meia vida com uma cinética de primeira ordem nos dois casos. Ensaio em gel demonstrou que o homogeneizado possui apenas uma banda de atividade quimotríptica de 30 kDa. A atividade solúvel majoritária foi purificada até a homogeneidade, apresentando uma banda de 30 kDa em SDS-PAGE, pH ótimo de 7,4 e é 90% inativada por TPCK 0,1 mM em pH 8,5 em 15 min. Ela prefere substratos contendo Phe em P1, apesar clivar substratos contendo Tyr e Leu. Uma seqüência contígua similar a quimotripsina foi obtida a partir de uma biblioteca de cDNA de intestino médio de M. domestica, formada por 71 ESTs (de 826 seqüências obtidas ao acaso), indicando que esta deve corresponder à atividade majoritária. Essa seqüência, denominada MdChy1, prediz uma proteína madura de 28.639,2 Da e foi clonada e expressa de maneira recombinante em E. coli BL21 (DE-3) Star, sendo utilizada para produção de anticorpos policlonais em coelhos, que reconheceram uma banda de 30 kDa no ventrículo anterior e posterior, mas não no médio. Esses anticorpos foram utilizados para imunomarcações e reconheceram proteínas no lúmem, nas microvilosidades e em pequenas vesículas do epitélio, demonstrando que a quimotripsina é secretada ao lúmem por exocitose e indicando que o MdChy1 corresponde à atividade majoritária de quimotripsina. Análises de expressão em M. domestica indicam a existência de dois conjuntos de serina proteinases digestivas, um expresso na região anterior e um segundo na região posterior do ventrículo. O MdChy1 é expresso na região posterior, local em que se encontra a atividade majoritária de quimotripsina. Uma reconstrução filogenética dos genes similares a quimotripsinas de Drosophila melanogaster e de M. domestica demonstram que a MdChy1 se agrupa com genes expressos no intestino médio, portanto, com função digestiva. / Trypsins and chymotrypsins, serine proteinases enzymes, are the major proteolytic activities present in the midgut of insects. However, enzymes obtained from different insects present different kinetic properties, and the reason for the differences are speculated. Trypsin precipitation of Tenebrio molitor, Diatraea saccharalis and Spodoptera frugiperda with ammonium sulfate showed that Lepidopteran insects possess serine proteinases with a higher superficial hydrophobicity than insects belonging to other orders, which may be associated to oligomerization of enzymes and resistance to inhibitors present in the food. This was confirmed by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and analysis of solvent access to serine proteinases surface. Moreover, inactivations of chymotrypsins by TPCK showed that S. frugiperda chymotrypsins react one order slower and has an optimum pH of modification more than 1 unit higher than chymotrypsins of D. saccharalis and T. molitor, which was related with the resistance of the enzyme to the presence of plant ketones, since S. frugiperda is a polyphagous organism. The digestive trypsin from Periplaneta americana midgut was purified microssequenced, resulting in the sequence VSPAFSYGTG, coincident to the MPA3 allergen (named PaTry), which is expressed in the caeca and anterior ventriculus. Western blot using M. domestica trypsin antisera recognized a single band, and immunohistochemical assays using this antisera showed that the P. americana trypsin is secreted by exocitosys in caeca and anterior ventriculus, which is coincident to the expression data. Although the major M. domestica chymotrypsin activity is present in the posterior ventriculus, only 28% of the activity is lost in feces, because 31% of activity is membrane-bound, and 41% is in the cellular soluble fraction (glycocalix-associated), and only 12% of total activity is soluble in the lumen, indicating the existence of at least two molecular species of chymotrypsins. Thermal inactivations of both activities (soluble and membrane-bound) showed that they may represent two different molecular enzymes, since the membrane-bound activity has a higher half-life than the soluble both in the presence and in the absence of Triton X-100. Both activities presented a linear first-order inactivation kinetic. In gel assays showed the presence of only one activity band in the midgut of 30 kDa. The major soluble activity was purified through one affinitychromatography, and active fractions presented a single 30 kDa band, a optimum pH of 7.4 and was 90% modified by TPCK 0.1 mM at pH 8.5 during 15 min. This enzyme preferentially cleaves substrates containing Phe residues in P1, although it cleaves substrates containing Tyr and Leu. A contig of a chymotrypsin-like sequence was randomly obtained from a cDNA library of M. domestica midguts from 71 ESTs (a total of 826 sequences), indicating that this sequence corresponds to the major activity present in the lumen. This sequence, named MdChy1, predicted a protein with 28639.2 Da which was cloned, recombinantly expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE-3) Star, this recombinant MdChy1 was used to raise polyclonal antibodies in rabbit. A western blot using this antisera recognised a single band in the anterior and posterior ventriculus, but not in the middle. Imunno-gold labeling of epithelium marked proteins in the lumen, at the microvilli and inside small vesicles, demonstrating that chymotrypsin is secreted through exocytosis in M. domestica and reinforcing that MdChy1 corresponds to the major chymotryptic activity found in the midgut. A semi-quantitative RT-PCR of M. domestica serine proteinase-like genes demonstrated that there are two set of genes, one expressed in the anterior and another in the posterior ventriculus, as visualized in western blot. MdChy1 is expressed in the posterior ventriculus, where the major chymotryptic activity is found. A phylogenetic reconstruction of Drosophila melanogaster chymotrypsin-like sequences and M. domestica chymotrypsins showed that MdChy1 branched with sequences expressed in midgut, thus coding proteins involved in digestion.

Tripsinas e quimotripsinas são classes de serina peptidases amplamente estudadas e fortemente responsáveis pela digestão proteica, pela clivagem de ligações peptídicas no lado carboxila de L-aminoácidos de cadeia lateral básica e hidrofóbica, respectivamente. Três processos regulam finamente a ação dessas peptidases: secreção, ativação do precursor (zimogênio) e o sítio de reconhecimento do substrato. No presente trabalho é apresentada uma análise filogenética detalhada das tripsinas e quimotripsinas de três ordens de insetos holometábolos, revelando características divergentes nas enzimas de Lepidóptera em relação a Coleóptera e Díptera. Em particular, o sub-sítio S1 das tripsinas foi observado como mais hidrofílico em Lepidóptera do que em Coleóptera e Díptera, enquanto os sub-sítios S2-S4 parecem mais hidrofóbicos, sugerindo diferente preferências pelo substrato. Além disso, Lepidóptera mostrou um grupo de tripsinas bastante específico a um grupo taxonômico, compreendendo somente proteínas de espécies da família Noctuidae. Evidências de eventos de auto-ativação facilitada foram também observadas em todas as ordens de insetos estudadas, com as características do motivo de ativação do zimogênio complementárias ao sítio ativo das tripsinas. Em contraste, as quimotripsinas de insetos não parecem ter uma história evolutiva peculiar com respeito a, por exemplo, seus homólogos em mamíferos. Em geral, os presentes resultados sugerem que a necessidade de uma rápida taxa de autoativação fez os insetos holometábolos selecionarem grupos especializados de tripsinas com altas taxas de auto-ativação e também destacam que a evolução das tripsinas culminou em um grupo especializado de enzimas em Lepidóptera. / Trypsins and chymotrypsins are well-studied classes of serine peptidases largely responsible for the digestion of proteins by cleavage of the peptide bond at the carboxyl side of basic and hydrophobic L-amino acids, respectively. Three processes mainly regulate the action of these peptidases: secretion, precursor (zymogen) activation and substrate-binding site recognition. In the present work is presented a detailed phylogenetic analysis of trypsins and chymotrypsins in three orders of holometabolous insects revealing divergent characteristics in the Lepidoptera enzymes in relation to Coleoptera and Diptera. In particular, trypsin subsite S1 was observed to be more hydrophilic in Lepidoptera than in Coleoptera and Diptera, whereas subsites S2-S4 appeared more hydrophobic, suggesting different substrate preferences. Furthermore, Lepidoptera displayed a very specific taxonomic trypsin group, only encompassing proteins from the Noctuidae family. Evidences for facilitated trypsin auto-activation events were also observed in all the insect orders at hand, with the characteristic zymogen activation motif complementary to the trypsin active site. In contrast, insect chymotrypsins did not seem to have a peculiar evolutionary history with respect to e.g. their mammal counterparts. Overall, the present findings suggest that the need for fast digestion made holometabolous insects evolve specialized groups of trypsins with high autoactivation rates and highlight that the evolution of trypsins culminated in a specialized group of enzymes in Lepidoptera.

No description available.

Serina endopeptidases de insetos, principalmente tripsinas e quimotripsinas, estão envolvidas na digestão inicial de proteínas. Genes codificadores para estas enzimas estão organizados em famílias multigênicas tendo expressão diferencial de acordo com a dieta do inseto, estando envolvidos no desenvolvimento de resistência a diferentes metabólitos secundários vegetais. Para uma melhor compreensão desta interação, fez-se necessário o isolamento destas enzimas para insetos de diferentes ordens, bem como a caracterização de suas especificidades por duas abordagens: (a) caracterização cinética dos subsítios componentes do sítio de ligação de tripsinas e quimotripsinas, utilizando diferentes substratos, modificadores químicos e inibidores e (b) estudos estruturais por modelagem molecular, clonagem, expressão e cristalização destas enzimas de insetos. Além disso, estudos evolutivos por análise de distância possibilitaram uma caracterização inicial da interação insetoplanta. Estas determinações permitiram verificar que tripsinas de insetos apresentam diferenças de especificidade tanto dentre as diferentes ordens de insetos quanto em relação às tripsinas de vertebrados, sendo que as tripsinas da ordem Lepidóptera apresentam troca de especificidade primária hidrolisando preferencialmente substratos P1 Lys. Foram também observadas diferenças de hidrofobicidade para os subsítios caracterizados sendo que estes apresentam hidrofobicidades crescentes segundo o grau de complexidade dos insetos na sua escala evolutiva. A troca de especificidade e o aumento da hidrofobicidade podem permitir a hidrólise dos inibidores vegetais protéicos. A análise das sequências de tripsinas de insetos por Neighbor Joining (NJ) compõe uma árvore de distâncias topologicamente semelhante à árvore de relações filogenéticas determinadas por morfologia. A sobreposição de estruturas pré -determinadas de tripsina complexada a diferentes inibidores permite a identificação de posições de interação enzima-inibidor que justificam a classificação em grupos distintos de enzimas sensíveis ou resistentes a presença de inibidores na dieta de insetos. Da mesma forma: a caracterização da especificidade das quimotripsinas de insetos permitiu a separação de grupos distintos de quimotripsinas. Estes grupos são sustentados pela substituição do resíduo 59 em insetos polífagos que alimentam-se de plantas que contêm cetonas naturais reativas. Estas caracterizações demonstram a importância de um estudo detalhado da especificidade de serina endopeptidases possibilitando o desenho de moléculas apropriadas para inibição destas e desenvolvimento de estratégias de controle de insetos. / Insect serine endopeptidases, mairily trypsin and chymotrypsin are involved in initial protein digestion. Genes that encode these proteins are members of complex multigene families and are differentially expressed according to insects diet , thus being involved with resistance to plant metabolites. Purification of trypsins from different insect orders and chymotrypsins, as well as, characterization of their specificity are essential to a better understanding of this interaction. Characterization relied on two approaches: (a) kinetic characterization of the binding subsities of trypsins and chymotrypsins using different substrates, chemical modification and inhibition assays and (b) study of protein structure by molecular modelling and cloning, expression and crystallization of these enzymes. Besides that, evolutionary studies performed through distance analysis, permitted the investigation of plantinsect interaction. These characterizations showed that insect trypsins, in terms of specificity, are quite different from vertebrate trypsins and among insect orders. Lepidopterans trypsins have a distinct primary specificity, since they hydrolyses preferentially P1 Lys substrates, and present a crescent subsite hydrophobicity, which is directly correlated with the evolutionary scale. Both, the specificity exchange and the crescent hydrophobicity can allow the hydrolysis of vegetal proteic inhibitors. The analysis of trypsin sequences in Neighbor-Joining (NJ) algorithm yield a distance tree that is coherent with morphological phylogenetic relationships. The superposition of predicted structures of trypsins-inhibitors complexes permits to observe amino acid residues of interaction between enzyme-inhibitor, which support the distinction of different groups between sensitive and insensitive trypsins to the presence of inhibitors on insect diet. Similarly, characterization of insect chymotrypsins according to their specificity allowed us to classify these enzymes into different groups. These groups are supported by residue 59 replacements in polyphagous insects, which feed on plants bearing natural reactive ketones. These studies show the irnportance of a detailed study of serine endopeptidases, which may help in the development of better insect control strategies.

Diploma thesis was aimed to deal with evaluation of microrheology method in the research of biopolymer-protein. Used biopolymer was sodium hyaluronate and proteins were trypsin and chymotrypsin. For measuring of microrheology were used particles with different radius (0,5 m and 1 m). It was found, that both substances have viscous charakter. Passive microrheology is suitable for measuring the viscoelastic properties of biopolymers.

No description available.

Nous étudions la migration et la protéolyse de la matrice extracellulaire dans le cancer du sein. Pour cela, nous avons mis en place deux systèmes modèles. Le premier, se base sur une lame basale reconstituée et permet d'évaluer le potentiel invasif de lignées cellulaires tumorales. Nous montrons que les cellules cancéreuses migrent différemment à travers un gel pour former des amas de taille variable directement corrélé à leur pouvoir invasif. Dans notre système, seule la migration de type mésenchymateuse est utilisée par les cellules. Ce type de mouvement est directement dépendant de protéases sécrétées par les cellules. Nous avons, donc mesurée la synthèse au niveau transcriptionnel de la classe d'enzyme majoritairement impliquée dans la dissémination tumorale, les matrice métalloprotéases (MMPs). Nous avons ainsi pu montrer que l'expression de 3 MMPs est corrélée aux capacités migratoires des cellules donc à leur potentiel invasif. Le processus physique par lequel les enzymes dégradent les matrices est très peu étudié au niveau expérimental. Le second système que nous utilisons se base sur un modèle de matrice conjonctive majoritairement composer de collagène de type I. Nous utilisons la gélatine, pour étudier la protéolyse de gels protéiques par différentes classes de protéases. A partirdes études sur la solubilisation enzymatique des gels par l'-chymotrypsine, la protéinase K et la papaïne, nous montrons qu'il existe des mécanismes de dégradation distincts. Le premier est un mécanisme anormal dont la cinétique est limitée par la diffusion de l'enzyme, le second est brownien et la cinétique est limitée par la réaction. Ce second mécanisme dépend directement d'interactions eléctrostatiques entre l'enzyme et le gel. Nous observons pour deux des enzymes que l'évolution des temps de dégradation mais également la cinétique dépendent de la concentration en protéine dans les gels. / We study the migration and proteolysis of the extracellular matrix in breast cancer. For this, we set up two model systems. The first is based on a reconstituted basement membrane and allows the evaluation of invasive potential tumor cell lines. We show that cancer cells migrate differently across the gel to form clusters of variable size directly correlates with their invasiveness. In our system, only the migration of mesenchymal type is used by the cells. This type of movement is directly dependent proteases secreted by the cells. We therefore measured the synthesis at the transcriptional level of the enzyme class mainly involved in tumor dissemination, the matrix metalloproteases (MMPs). We were able to show that the expression of 3 MMPs is correlated with migratory capacity of cells, therefore their invasive potential. The physical process by which enzymes degrade the matrix is very little studied at the experimental level. The second system we use is based on a model of connective matrix mainly composed of collagen type I. We use gelatin for the study of protein gels proteolysis by different classes of proteases. Based on the study of gels enzymatic solubilization by a- chymotrypsin, proteinase K and papain, we show that there are distinct mechanisms of degradation. The first mechanism is abnormal whose kinetic is limited by enzyme diffusion, and the second is Brownian and the kinetic is reaction limited. The second mechanism depends directly on electrostatic interactions between enzyme and gel. We observe for two enzymes that the evolution of degradation time but also the degradation kinetics depend on the concentration of protein in gels.

ABSTRACT PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CYTOPLASMIC AND PROTEASOME ASSOCIATED CHYMOTRYPSIN-LIKE PROTEASES FROM THERMOPLASMA VOLCANIUM &Ouml / zdemir, F.inci Ph.D., Department of Biology Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Semra Kocabiyik September, 147 pages In this study, two novel cytoplasmic serine proteases were isolated and characterized from thermophilic archaea Thermoplasma volcanium. The first protease was purified by ion exchange and affinity chromatographies and identified as a chymotrypsin-like serine protease mainly based on its substrate profile and inhibition pattern. The presence of protease activity was analyzed by gelatin zymography which was detected as a single band (35 kDa). Optimum temperature was found to be 60oC for azocasein hydrolysis and 50oC for N-Suc-Phe-pNA hydrolysis. Optimum activity was observed in the pH range of 6.0-8.0 with a maximum value at pH 7.0. The Km and Vmax values for the purified protease were calculated to be 2.2 mM and 40 &micro / moles of p-nitroanilide released min-1.ml-1, respectively, for N-Suc-Phe-PNA as substrate. Ca2+ and Mg2+ at 4 mM concentrations were the most effective divalent cations in activating the enzyme. In the second stage of this study, 20S proteasome of Tp. volcanium with substantial chymotrypsin-like activity was purified and characterized. This enzyme complex was purified with 19.1 U/mg specific activities from cell free extract by a four-step procedure. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed two strong bands with relative molecular masses of 26 kDa (&amp / #945 / -subunit) and 21.9 kDa (&amp / #946 / -subunit). Tp. volcanium 20S proteasome predominantly catalyzed cleavage of peptide bonds carboxyl to the acidic residue Glu (postglutamyl activity) and the hydrophobic residue Phe (chymotrypsin-like activity) in short chromogenic peptides. Low-level hydrolyzing activity was also detected carboxyl to basic residue Arg (trypsin-like activity). Chymotrypsin-like activity of Tp. volcanium 20S proteasome was significantly inhibited by chymotrypsin specific serine protease inhibitor chymostatin. When N-CBZ-Arg was used which is a substrate for trypsin, 20S proteasome was strongly inhibited by TLCK. The optimum temperature for Ala-Ala-Phe-pNA hydrolysis by the Tp. volcanium 20S proteasome was 55oC and the optimum pH was 7.5. The chymotryptic activity was significantly enhanced by divalent cations such as Ca+2 and Mg2+ at high concentrations, i.e. 125-250 mM. Keywords:Serine protease, 20S proteasome, archaea, thermophilic protease, Thermoplasma volcanium, chymotrypsin-like serine protease.