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Publication Abstract from PubMed

Growth-blocking peptide (GBP) is a hormone-like peptide that suppresses the growth of the host armyworm. Although the 23-amino acid GBP (1-23 GBP) is expressed in nonparasitized armyworm plasma, the parasitization by wasp produces the 28-amino acid GBP (1-28 GBP) through an elongation of the C-terminal amino acid sequence. In this study, we characterized the GBP variants, which consist of various lengths of the C-terminal region, by comparing their biological activities and three-dimensional structures. The results of an injection study indicate that 1-28 GBP most strongly suppresses larval growth. NMR analysis shows that these peptides have basically the same tertiary structures and that the extension of the C-terminal region is disordered. However, the C-terminal region of 1-28 GBP undergoes a conformational transition from a random coiled state to an alpha-helical state in the presence of dodecylphosphocholine micelles. This suggests that binding of the C-terminal region would affect larval growth activity.

C-terminal elongation of growth-blocking peptide enhances its biological activity and micelle binding affinity.,Umetsu Y, Aizawa T, Muto K, Yamamoto H, Kamiya M, Kumaki Y, Mizuguchi M, Demura M, Hayakawa Y, Kawano K J Biol Chem. 2009 Oct 23;284(43):29625-34. Epub 2009 Aug 26. PMID:19710009^[4]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.