PubMed · 14704449
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Peter Højrup. 2004. Proteolytic peptide mapping.. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-742-4%3A227
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Elucidation of the principal targets of the action of the antimalarial drug artemisinin is an ongoing pursuit that is important for understanding the action of this drug and for the development of more potent analogues. We have examined the chemical reaction of Hb with artemisinin. The protein-bound haem in Hb has been found to react with artemisinin much faster than is the case with free haem. It appears that the uptake of Hb and the accumulation of artemisinin into the food vacuole, together with the preferred reactivity of artemisinin with haem in Hb, may make Hb the primary target of artemisinin's antimalarial action. Both monoalkylated (HA) and dialkylated (HAA) haem derivatives of artemisinin have been isolated. These 'haemarts' bind to PfHRP II (Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein II), inhibiting haemozoin formation, and possess a significantly decreased ability to oxidize ascorbic acid. The accelerated formation of HAA from Hb is expected to decrease the ratio of haem to its alkylated derivatives. The haemarts that are generated from 'haemartoglobins' may bring about the death of malaria parasite by a two-pronged effect of stalling the formation of haemozoin by the competitive inhibition of haem binding to its templates and creating a more reducing environment that is not conducive to the formation of haemozoin.
Antibacterial peptide acylation, which mimics the structure of the natural lipopeptide polymyxin B, increases antimicrobial and endotoxin-neutralizing activities. The interaction of the lactoferricin-derived peptide LF11 and its N-terminally acylated analogue, lauryl-LF11, with different chemotypes of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS Re, Ra and smooth S form) was investigated by biophysical means and was related to the peptides' biological activities. Both peptides exhibit high antibacterial activity against the three strains of Salmonella enterica differing in the LPS chemotype. Lauryl-LF11 has one order of magnitude higher activity against Re-type, but activity against Ra- and S-type bacteria is comparable with that of LF11. The alkyl derivative peptide lauryl-LF11 shows a much stronger inhibition of the LPS-induced cytokine induction in human mononuclear cells than LF11. Although peptide-LPS interaction is essentially of electrostatic nature, the lauryl-modified peptide displays a strong hydrophobic component. Such a feature might then explain the fact that saturation of the peptide binding takes place at a much lower peptide/LPS ratio for LF11 than for lauryl-LF11, and that an overcompensation of the negative LPS backbone charges is observed for lauryl-LF11. The influence of LF11 on the gel-to-liquid-crystalline phase-transition of LPS is negligible for LPS Re, but clearly fluidizing for LPS Ra. In contrast, lauryl-LF11 causes a cholesterol-like effect in the two chemotypes, fluidizing in the gel and rigidifying of the hydrocarbon chains in the liquid-crystalline phase. Both peptides convert the mixed unilamellar/non-lamellar aggregate structure of lipid A, the 'endotoxic principle' of LPS, into a multilamellar one. These data contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of the peptide-mediated neutralization of endotoxin and effect of lipid modification of peptides.
The 15N NMR spectra of three N-alkyl-delta-carbomethoxyvalerothiohydroxamic acids (2) and six synthesized N-isopropylbenzothiohydroxamic acids (3) were measured and compared with appropriate spectra of structurally similar hydroxylamines (1), benzohydroxamic acids (4), benzamides (5) and thiobenzamides (6). The analysis of the chemical shifts of the thiohydroxamic acids under investigation indicates that the inductive effect of the hydroxyl group rather than steric hindrance is responsible for non-additivity of the effect of substituents. Additionally, N-hydroxyl diminishes the effect of aromatic ring substituents on the 15N chemical shifts in the thiohydroxamic acids 3 which is approximately half that in the respective thiobenzamides 6. The chemical shift values correlate best with Brown's sigma+ parameter.