Flue gases emitted from industrial plants mainly contribute to global CO2 emissions. Sequestrations of CO2 from the flue gas could reduce the impact of CO2 on global warming. In this study, recombinant cyanobacterial strains with enhanced photosynthetic activity, cell growth, and ethanol production were generated by co-overexpressing ictB, ecaA, and groESL, along with a heterologous ethanol synthesis pathway (pdc adhII genes from Zymomonas mobilis) in S. elongatus PCC7942. The engineered S. elongatus PCC7942 exhibited a significant improvement in cell growth and ethanol production under a simulated flue gas consisted of 25% CO2, 80-90 ppm SO2, 90-100 ppm NO. The present work represents the first attempt of direct photoconversion of CO2 from flue gases to ethanol via expression of ictB, ecaA, groESL, and pdc-adhII in S. elongatus. The transgenic cyanobacterium becomes useful for sequestrations of CO2 directly from flue gases with the simultaneous production of bioethanol.

This study was undertaken to increase the biomass and carbohydrate productivities of a freshwater cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus under hot outdoor conditions through genetic manipulation to facilitate the application of using the cyanobacterial biomass as bio-refinery feedstocks. The stress tolerance genes (hspA, osmotin) were expressed in S. elongatus to improve their growth under various environment stresses of outdoor cultivation. The results revealed that over-expression of hspA and osmotin significantly improved temperature (45°C), high light intensity, and salt tolerances of S. elongatus cells, making it capable of efficiently growing in seawater under outdoor cultivation. The carbohydrate productivity of these stress tolerant strains was also 15-30-fold higher than that of the control strain, although the carbohydrate contents of the recombinant and control strains were similar. Our findings demonstrate that the genetic engineering for improved stresses tolerance in S. elongatus could facilitate the feasibility of using cyanobacteria as feedstock for bio-refinery industry.

The role of ascorbate (AsA) recycling via dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) in the tolerance of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to photo-oxidative stress was examined. The activity of DHAR and the abundance of the CrDHAR1 (Cre10.g456750) transcript increased after moderate light (ML; 750 µmol m-2 s-1) or high light (HL; 1,800 µmol m-2 s-1) illumination, accompanied by dehydroascorbate (DHA) accumulation, decreased AsA redox state, photo-inhibition, lipid peroxidation, H2O2 overaccumulation, growth inhibition and cell death. It suggests that DHAR and AsA recycling is limiting under high-intensity light stress. The CrDHAR1 gene was cloned and its recombinant CrDHAR1 protein was a monomer (25 kDa) detected by Western blot that exhibits an enzymatic activity of 965 µmol min-1 mg-1 protein. CrDHAR1 was overexpressed driven by a HSP70A:RBCS2 fusion promoter or down-regulated by artificial microRNA (amiRNA) to examine whether DHAR-mediated AsA recycling is critical for the tolerance of C. reinahartii cells to photo-oxidative stress. The overexpression of CrDHAR1 increased DHAR protein abundance and enzyme activity, AsA pool size, AsA:DHA ratio and the tolerance to ML-, HL-, methyl viologen- or H2O2-induced oxidative stress. The CrDHAR1-knockdown amiRNA lines that have lower DHAR expression and AsA recycling ability were sensitive to high-intensity illumination and oxidative stress. The glutathione pool size, glutathione:oxidized glutathione ratio and glutathione reductase and ascorbate peroxidase activities were increased in CrDHAR1-overexpressing cells and showed a further increase after high-intensity illumination but decreased in wild-type cells after light stress. The present results suggest that increasing AsA regeneration via enhanced DHAR activity modulates the ascorbate-glutathione cycle activity in C. reinhardtii against photo-oxidative stress.

Sweet potato sporamins are trypsin inhibitors and exhibit strong resistance to digestion by pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin. In addition, they constitute the major storage proteins in the sweet potato and, after degradation, provide nitrogen as a nutrient for seedling regrowth in sprouting storage roots. In this report, four cysteine proteases-one asparaginyl endopeptidase (SPAE), two papain-like cysteine proteases (SPCP1 and SPCP2), and one granulin-containing cysteine protease (SPCP3)-were studied to determine their association with sporamin degradation in sprouting storage roots. Sporamin degradation became significant in the flesh of storage roots starting from week 4 after sprouting and this correlated with expression levels of SPAE and SPCP2, but not of SPCP1 and SPCP3. In the outer flesh near the skin, sporamin degradation was more evident and occurred earlier than in the inner flesh of storage roots. Degradation of sporamins in the outer flesh was inversely correlated with the distance of the storage root from the sprout. Exogenous application of SPAE and SPCP2, but not SPCP3, fusion proteins to crude extracts of the outer flesh (i.e., extracted from a depth of 0.3cm and within 2cm of one-week-old sprouts) promoted in vitro sporamin degradation in a dose-dependent manner. Pre-treatment of SPAE and SPCP2 fusion proteins at 95°C for 5min prior to their application to the crude extracts reduced sporamin degradation. These data show that sweet potato asparaginyl endopeptidase SPAE and papain-like cysteine protease SPCP2 participate in sporamin degradation during storage root sprouting.

Plant aspartic proteases are generally divided into three categories: typical, nucellin-like, and atypical aspartic proteases based on their gene and protein structures. In this report, a full-length cDNA SPAP1 was cloned from sweet potato leaves, which contained 1515 nucleotides (504 amino acids) and exhibited high amino acid sequence identity (ca. 51-72%) with plant typical aspartic proteases, including tomato LeAspP, potato StAsp, and wheat WAP2. SPAP1 also contained conserved DTG and DSG amino acid residues within its catalytic domain and plant specific insert (PSI) at the C-terminus. The cDNA corresponding to the mature protein (starting from the 66th to 311th amino acid residues) without PSI domain was constructed with pET30a expression vector for fusion protein and antibody production. RT-PCR and protein blot hybridization showed that SPAP1 expression level was the highest in L3 mature leaves, then gradually declined until L5 completely yellow leaves. Ethephon, an ethylene-releasing compound, also enhanced SPAP1 expression at the time much earlier than the onset of leaf senescence. Exogenous application of SPAP1 fusion protein promoted ethephon-induced leaf senescence, which could be abolished by pre-treatment of SPAP1 fusion protein with (a) 95 °C for 5 min, (b) aspartic protease inhibitor pepstatin A, and (c) anti-SPAP1 antibody, respectively. Exogenous SPAP1 fusion protein, whereas, did not significantly affect leaf senescence under dark. These data conclude that sweet potato SPAP1 is a functional typical aspartic protease and participates in ethephon-mediated leaf senescence. The SPAP1-promoted leaf senescence and its activity are likely not associated with the PSI domain. Interaction of ethephon-inducible components for effective SPAP1 promotion on leaf senescence is also suggested.

Catalase (CAT) functions as one of the key enzymes in the scavenging of reactive oxygen species and affects the H2O2 homeostasis in plants. In sweet potato, a major catalase isoform was detected, and total catalase activity showed the highest level in mature leaves (L3) compared to immature (L1) and completely yellow, senescent leaves (L5). The major catalase isoform as well as total enzymatic activity were strongly suppressed by ethylene glycol-bis(2-aminoethylether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (EGTA). This inhibition could be specifically and significantly mitigated in mature L3 leaves by exogenous CaCl2, but not MgCl2 or CoCl2. EGTA also inhibited the activity of the catalase isoform in vitro. Furthermore, chlorpromazine (CPZ), a calmodulin (CAM) inhibitor, drastically suppressed the major catalase isoform as well as total enzymatic activity, and this suppression was alleviated by exogenous sweet potato calmodulin (SPCAM) fusion protein in L3 leaves. CPZ also inhibited the activity of the catalase isoform in vitro. Protein blot hybridization showed that both anti-catalase SPCAT1 and anti-calmodulin SPCAM antibodies detect a band at the same position, which corresponds to the activity of the major catalase isoform from unboiled, but not boiled crude protein extract of L3 leaves. An inverse correlation between the major catalase isoform/total enzymatic activity and the H2O2 level was also observed. These data suggest that sweet potato CAT activity is modulated by CaCl2 and SPCAM, and plays an important role in H2O2 homeostasis in mature leaves. Association of SPCAM with the major CAT isoform is required and regulates the in-gel CAT activity band.

BACKGROUND:Metallothionein (MT) characterized by their low molecular weight and high cysteine content.RESULTS:Two recombinant proteins of MT-I and MT-II overproduced in E. coli (M15) was purified by Ni2+-chelated affinity chromatography. The molecular mass of MT-I and MT-II are ca. 6,600 and 8,000 Da as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Total antioxidant status, DPPH radical scavenging activity, reducing power method, Fe2+-chelating ability, ferric thiocyanate (FTC) method, and protecting calf thymus DNA against hydroxyl radical-induced damage were studied. The MT-I and MT-II proteins with a concentration of 100 μg/mL exhibited the highest activity (expressed respectively as 61.72 ± 0.13 and 74.28 ± 1.15 μM Trolox equivalent antioxidative capacity, TEAC) in total antioxidant status test. Like total antioxidant status, DPPH radical scavenging activity, reducing power, Fe2+-chelating ability, FTC activity, and protecting calf thymus DNA against hydroxyl radical-induced damage all showed that MT-1 and MT-II proteins have antioxidant activities. In this study, we also found that antioxidant activities of MT-I and MT-II increased from 17% and 16% (0 h) to about 26% and 28% (24 h) after 24 h hydrolysis by trypsin. Smaller peptides increased the antioxidant activities. Four and three peptides, respectively, from MT-I and MT-II protein sequences for testing antioxidative activity were synthesized according to tryptic hydrolysis simulation. The obtained MSSGCK, CGSDCK, LTLEGSSEK, ATEGGHACK, CGNGCGGCK, and CDPCNCK showed IC50 values of 309.87, 1423.37, 3925.54, 561.32, 300.76, and 610.12 μM, respectively, when scavenging activity of DPPH radicals (%) was measured.CONCLUSIONS:These findings mean that a cysteine residue is most important in antiradical activities. It was suggested that MT-I and MT-II might contribute their antioxidant activities against hydroxyl and peroxyl radicals.

BACKGROUND:Metallothionein (MT) is a group of proteins with low molecular masses and high cysteine contents, and it is classified into different types, which generally contains two domains with typical amino acid sequences.RESULTS:In this report, two full-length cDNAs (MT-1 and MT-II) encoding MT-like proteins were isolated from the roots of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam. 'Tainong 57'). Their open reading frames contained 642 and 519 nucleotides (66 and 81 amino acids) for MT-1 and MT-II, respectively, and exhibited a relatively low amino acid sequence similarity. On the basis of the amino acid sequence similarity and conserved residues, it is suggested that MT-I is a member of the plant MT Type-I family, and MT-II is a member of the plant MT Type-II family. The corresponding mRNA levels of MT-1 and MT-II were the highest found in the storage roots. Recombinant MT-1 and MT-II protein overproduced in E. coli (M15) was purified by Ni2+-chelated affinity chromatography. MT-1 and MT-II reduced dehydroascorbate (DHA) in the presence of glutathione (GSH) to regenerate L-ascorbic acid (AsA). However, without GSH, MT-1 and MT-II has very low DHA reductase activity. And AsA was oxidized by AsA oxidase to generate monodehydroascorbate (MDA) free radical. MDA was also reduced by MT-1 and MT-II to AsA in the presence of NADH mimicking the MDA reductase catalyzed reaction.CONCLUSIONS:These data suggest that MT-1 and MT-II have both DHA reductase and MDA reductase activities. MT-1 and MT-II are apparently the first reported plant MTs exhibiting both DHA and MDA activities in vitro.

Ethephon, an ethylene releasing compound, promoted leaf senescence, H2O2 elevation, and senescence-associated gene expression in sweet potato. It also affected the glutathione and ascorbate levels, which in turn perturbed H2O2 homeostasis. The decrease of reduced glutathione and the accumulation of dehydroascorbate correlated with leaf senescence and H2O2 elevation at 72h in ethephon-treated leaves. Exogenous application of reduced glutathione caused quicker and significant increase of its intracellular level and resulted in the attenuation of leaf senescence and H2O2 elevation. A small H2O2 peak produced within the first 4h after ethephon application was also eliminated by reduced glutathione. Diphenyleneiodonium (DPI), an NADPH oxidase inhibitor, delayed leaf senescence and H2O2 elevation at 72h, and its influence was effective only within the first 4h after ethephon treatment. Ethephon-induced senescence-associated gene expression was repressed by DPI and reduced glutathione at 72h in pretreated leaves. Leaves treated with l-buthionine sulfoximine, an endogenous glutathione synthetase inhibitor, did enhance senescence-associated gene expression, and the activation was strongly repressed by reduced glutathione. In conclusion, ethephon-mediated leaf senescence, H2O2 elevation and senescence-associated gene expression are all alleviated by reduced glutathione and NADPH oxidase inhibitor DPI. The speed and the amount of intracellular reduced glutathione accumulation influence its effectiveness of protection against ethephon-mediated effects. Reactive oxygen species generated from NADPH oxidase likely serves as an oxidative stress signal and participates in ethephon signaling. The possible roles of NADPH oxidase and reduced glutathione in the regulation of oxidative stress signal in ethephon are discussed.

In this report sweet potato cysteine protease SPCP3 cDNAs, with or without the corresponding granulin-like domain, were overexpressed in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants with ectopic expression of full-length SPCP3 exhibited slight promotion of earlier floral transition from vegetative to reproductive growth and a higher percentage of yellowing siliques per plant. Transgenic progeny seeds showed similar patterns of germination rates and germination curves but lower germination percentages compared to those of wild-type control seeds. During drought treatment, photochemical F v/F m values and relative water content of transgenic plants were significantly reduced compared to those of wild-type controls. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants with ectopic expression of sweet potato SPCP3 with or without the corresponding C-terminal granulin-like domain exhibited similar drought-stress sensitivity patterns. Drought stress also enhanced SPCP3 gene expression, photochemical F v/F m reduction, and wilting in sweet potato detached leaves. Based on these data, we conclude that sweet potato granulin-containing cysteine protease SPCP3 is a functional gene, and its ectopic expression alters phenotypic traits and enhances drought-stress sensitivity in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. The presence of the C-terminal granulin-like domain has no significant influence on SPCP3-mediated drought-stress sensitivity in transgenic Arabidopsis plants.

In this report a full-length cDNA, SPCAT1, was isolated from ethephon-treated mature L3 leaves of sweet potato. SPCAT1 contained 1479 nucleotides (492 amino acids) in its open reading frame, and exhibited high amino acid sequence identities (ca. 71.2–80.9%) with several plant catalases, including Arabidopsis, eggplant, grey mangrove, pea, potato, tobacco and tomato. Gene structural analysis showed that SPCAT1 encoded a catalase and contained a putative conserved internal peroxisomal targeting signal PTS1 motif and calmodulin binding domain around its C-terminus. RT-PCR showed that SPCAT1 gene expression was enhanced significantly in mature L3 and early senescent L4 leaves and was much reduced in immature L1, L2 and completely yellowing senescent L5 leaves. In dark- and ethephon-treated L3 leaves, SPCAT1 expression was significantly enhanced temporarily from 0 to 24 h, then decreased gradually until 72 h after treatment. SPCAT1 gene expression levels also exhibited approximately inverse correlation with the qualitative and quantitative H2O2 amounts. Effector treatment showed that ethephon-enhanced SPCAT1 expression was repressed by antioxidant reduced glutathione, NADPH oxidase inhibitor diphenylene iodonium (DPI), calcium ion chelator EGTA and de novo protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide. These data suggest that elevated reactive oxygen species H2O2, NADPH oxidase, external calcium influx and de novo synthesized proteins are required and associated with ethephon-mediated enhancement of sweet potato catalase SPCAT1 expression. Exogenous application of expressed catalase SPCAT1 fusion protein delayed or alleviated ethephon-mediated leaf senescence and H2O2 elevation. Based on these data we conclude that sweet potato SPCAT1 is an ethephon-inducible peroxisomal catalase, and its expression is regulated by reduced glutathione, DPI, EGTA and cycloheximide. Sweet potato catalase SPCAT1 may play a physiological role or function in cope with H2O2 homeostasis in leaves caused by developmental cues and environmental stimuli.

This study was designed to investigate the antioxidant activities of sweet potato defensin (SPD1) in vitro and ex vivo. Antioxidant status [2,2'-azinobis[3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) assay], scavenging activity against DPPH (1,1-dipheny-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical method, reducing power method, Fe(2+)-chelating ability, FTC (ferric thiocyanate) method, and protection of calf thymus DNA against hydroxyl radical-induced damage were studied in vitro. The ex vivo experiments revealed that SPD1 could decrease the production of intracellular peroxide in HepG2 cells. Four peptides, namely GFR, GPCSR, CFCTKPC and MCESASSK for testing antioxidative activity, were synthesized according to tryptic hydrolysis simulation. In the TEAC assay CFCTKPC performed the best (13.5±0.3μmol TE/g dw), even better than reduced glutathione (7.3±0.2μmol TE/g dw). In the DPPH radical assay (%), [IC(50) (μM) (the concentration required for scavenging 50% activity)] CFCTKPC again had the highest antioxidant activity (IC(50) is 11.3±3.2μM) even better than reduced glutathione (IC(50) is 74.3±2.4μM). In the lipid peroxidation assay, once again CFCTKPC performed the best, with an IC(50) value of 0.5±0.0μM better than reduced glutathione (1.2±0.1μM). These findings mean that cysteine residue is most important in antioxidant activities. It was suggested that SPD1 might contribute its antioxidant activities against hydroxyl and peroxyl radicals.

The sweet potato calmodulin gene, SPCAM, was previously cloned and shown to participate in ethephon-mediated leaf senescence, H₂O₂ elevation and senescence-associated gene expression. In this report, an association of SPCAM with NaCl stress is reported. Expression of SPCAM was significantly enhanced by NaCl on days 1 and 2 after salt treatment in a dose-dependent manner and drastically decreased again on the third day. Starting on day 6, salt stress also remarkably promoted leaf senescence, H₂O₂ elevation and senescence-associated gene expression in a dose-dependent manner. These salt stress-mediated effects were strongly inhibited by chlorpromazine, a calmodulin inhibitor, and the chlorpromazine-induced repression could be reversed by exogenous application of purified calmodulin fusion protein. These data suggest an involvement of calmodulin in salt stress-mediated leaf senescence, H₂O₂ elevation and senescence-associated gene expression in sweet potato. Exogenous application of SPCAM fusion protein alone, however, did not significantly accelerate leaf senescence and senescence-associated gene expression, but only showed a slight effect 12 days after treatment. These data suggest that additional components are involved in salt stress-mediated leaf senescence in sweet potato, possibly induced by and coordinated with SPCAM. In conclusion, the sweet potato calmodulin gene is NaCl-inducible and participates in salt stress-mediated leaf senescence, H₂O₂ elevation and senescence-associated gene expression.

Recombinant SPLTI-a [sweet potato leaf trypsin inhibitor-a] overproduced in E. coli (M15) was purified by Ni2+-chelated affinity chromatography. The molecular mass of SPLTI-a is ca. 8000 Da as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). SPLTI-a was examined using different antioxidative models (Total antioxidant status, reducing power method, Fe2+-chelating ability, ferric thiocyanate (FTC) method, and protecting calf thymus DNA against hydroxyl radical-induced damage). The SPLTI-a protein with a concentration of 100 mu g/mL exhibited highest activity (expressed as 2.12 +/- 0.02 mM Trolox equivalent antioxidative value, TEAC) in total antioxidant status test. Like total antioxidant status, the reducing power, Fe2+-chelating ability, FTC activity and protecting calf thymus DNA against hydroxyl radical-induced damage all showed that SPLTI-a polypeptide has significant antioxidant activities. It was found that the antioxidant activity increased after 24 h hydrolysis of SPLTI-a by trypsin from 18% (0 h) to about 35% (24 h). Accumulation of shorter peptides increased along the longer trypsin incubation. The obtained VR, STIEK, ITDGK, and EYIFDR showed IC50 (concentration for 50% inhibition) values of 5.83, 3.75, 2.65, and 0.73 mM, respectively, when scavenging activity of DPPH radicals (%) was measured. These findings mean that tyrosine residue is most important in antiradical activities. It was suggested that SPLTI-a possess antioxidant activities.

An antioxidant protein of cyclophilin-type peptidylprolyl isomerase (SPPPI) from sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. 'Tainong 57') storage roots was isolated by differential display. The open reading frame of this cDNA encodes a pro-protein of 260 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 27,658 Da (pI 9.34). A comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence of SPPPI with precursor proteins indicates 65% identity to the Arabidopsis thaliana AraPPI sequence. Computer analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences of the conserved domain revealed that the protein belonged to the plant cyclophilin-type peptidylprolyl isomerase. Genomic Southern blot analyses using the full-length SPPPI cDNA probe revealed a multigene family in the sweet potato genome. Both the corresponding mRNA and protein level were found the highest in the storage roots, followed by that in sprout. Recombinant SPPPI overproduced in E. coli (M15) was purified by Ni2+-chelated affinity chromatography. Both the peptidylprolyl isomerase and antioxidantive activity of active recombinant SPPPI were investigated. SPPPI and CP (calf thymus cytophilin, a positive control) displayed the highest ABTS (2, 2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) scavenging ability (15.36 +/- 0.80 and 17.79 +/- 1.72%, respectively) at 100 mu g/mL. In the DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl) assay, SPPPI and CP were found to have the highest radical-scavenging activity (5.78 +/- 0.62 and 4.05 +/- 0.80%, respectively) at 100 mu g/mL. The Fe2+-chelating ability of SPPPI and CP was found to be the highest (12.47 +/- 2.37 and 14.57 +/- 0.96%) at 100 mu g/mL, respectively. It was suggested that SPPPI is an excellent candidate as a lead compound for the development of reductant agents.

In this study, the ability of thioredoxin h2 (TRX h2) expressed in Escherichia coli to scavenge ON and ONOO− were investigated. The data obtained show that TRX h2 generated a dose-dependent inhibition on production of nitrite and superoxide radicals. TRX h2 also caused a dose-dependent inhibition of the oxidation of dihydrorhodamine 123 (DHR) by peroxynitrite. Spectrophotometric analyses revealed that TRX h2 suppressed the formation of ONOO−-mediated tyrosine nitration through an electron donation mechanism. In further studies, TRX h2 also showed a significant ability of inhibiting the nitration of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in a dose-dependent manner. In vivo TRX h2 inhibited LPS-induced nitrite production in macrophage in a concentration-dependent manner. The present study suggested that TRX h2 had an efficient reactive nitrogen species scavenging ability. TRX h2 might be a potential effective NO and ONOO− scavenger useful for the prevention of the NO and ONOO− involved diseases.

In this report a full-length cDNA, SPCAM, was isolated from ethephon-treated mature leaves of sweet potato. SPCAM contained 450 nucleotides (149 amino acids) in its open reading frame, and exhibited high amino acid sequence identities (ca. 76–100%) with several plant calmodulins, including Arabidopsis, carrot, ghost needle weed, pea, potato, soybean, sweet chestnut, and tobacco. Sweet potato SPCAM also contained four putative conserved calmodulin EF-hand motifs, which responded for Ca2+ binding and cellular signalling. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that sweet potato SPCAM exhibited closely-related association with Arabidopsis AtCAM7, which functioned as a transcriptional regulator. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis showed that SPCAM gene expression was not significantly increased from L1 immature leaf to L3 mature leaf, however, was remarkably enhanced in L4 early senescent leaf, and then decreased in L5 late senescent leaf. In dark- and ethephon-treated mature leaves, SPCAM expression was significantly increased from 6 to 48 h, then decreased gradually until 72 h after treatment. Ethephon-mediated leaf senescence, H2O2 elevation, and senescence-associated gene expression, however, was remarkably inhibited by chlorpromazine, a calmodulin inhibitor. Exogenous application of purified calmodulin SPCAM fusion protein reversed the chlorpromazine repression of ethephon-mediated leaf senescence, H2O2 elevation and senescence-associated gene expression. Based on these data we conclude that sweet potato SPCAM is an ethephon-inducible calmodulin and its expression is enhanced in natural and induced senescent leaves. Calmodulin SPCAM may play a physiological role in ethephon-mediated leaf senescence, H2O2 elevation and senescence-associated gene expression in sweet potato leaves.

Asiatic acid (AA), a pentacyclic triterpene compound in the medicinal plant Centella asiatica, was evaluated for antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects. Treatment of male ICR mice with AA significantly inhibited the numbers of acetic acid-induced writhing responses and the formalin-induced pain in the late phase. In the anti-inflammatory test, AA decreased the paw edema at the 4th and 5th h after λ-carrageenan (Carr) administration and increased the activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in the liver tissue. AA decreased the nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) levels on serum level at the 5th h after Carr injection. Western blotting revealed that AA decreased Carr-induced inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase (COX-2), and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) expressions at the 5th h in the edema paw. An intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection treatment with AA also diminished neutrophil infiltration into sites of inflammation as did indomethacin (Indo). The anti-inflammatory mechanisms of AA might be related to the decrease in the level of MDA, iNOS, COX-2, and NF-κB in the edema paw via increasing the activities of CAT, SOD, and GPx in the liver.

Recombinant thioredoxin h (Trx h2) overproduced in E. coli (MI5) was purified by Ni2+-chelate affinity chromatography as previously reported (Huang et al., 2004a). The molecular mass of Trx h2 was ca. 14 kDa as determined by SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate)-PAGE (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis). Trx h2 had antioxidant (Huang et al., 2004b), dehydroascorbate reductase, and monodehydroascorbate reductase activities (Huang et al., 2008a). Trx h2 was shown by spectrophotometric methods to inhibit angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in a dose-dependent manner (50-200 mu g/mL, with 31.9 similar to 65.9% inhibition) using N-[3-(2-furyl) acryloyl]-Phe-Gly-Gly (FAPGG) as a substrate. A 50% inhibition (IC50) of ACE activity required 151.8 mu g/mL of Trx h2 and 10 nM (868 ng/mL) of Captopril. TLC data also showed Trx h2 as an ACE inhibitor. Trx h2 acted as a mixed type inhibitor against ACE using FAPGG as a substrate. When 200 mu g/mL Trx h2 were added, V-max and K-m were, respectively, 0.010 Delta A/min and 0.125 mM; without Trx h2 they were 0.0096 Delta A/min and 0.495 mM. Trypsin was used for Trx h2 hydrolysis over different time periods. ACE inhibitory activity was found to increase from 52% to about 72% after 16 h of hydrolysis. The results suggested that the ACE inhibitory capacity of small peptides increased through trypsin hydrolysis of Trx h2 up to 16 h and then decreased, which may have been due to the disappearance of some active ingredients. Four peptides, namely EVPK, VVGAK, FTDVDFIK and MMEPMVK, were synthesized based on the simulated trypsin digestion of Trx h2 and then tested for ACE inhibitory activity. The IC50 values of individual peptides were 1.73 +/- 0.24, 1.14 +/- 0.13, 0.42 +/- 0.02, and 1.03 +/- 0.58 mM, respectively, suggesting that FTDVDFIK might be the main active site of ACE inhibition. The results for Trx h2 and its hydrolysates might mean that consumption of sweet potato storage roots can aid in the control of hypertension and other diseases.