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Protease OMA1 Activity is Measured by MCA Fluorescent Peptide

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– Fig. 1. Basis of the OMA1 activity using fluorescence-based peptide.
Fluorescence is released when OMA1 recognizes and cleaves the OPA1 8-mer
peptide (fluorescence reporter) presumably at the RA site, from the cited paper

The continual fission and fusion the Mitochondria undergoes to change its shape and function are a key trait of the organelle, one that is regulated by the enzyme OMA1. However, there is little known regarding OMA1 due to the lack of a consistent method to measure its activity. More information is needed to truly gauge the role of OMA1 as a therapeutic agent. This is where one group sought to measure this activity utilizing a fluorescence-based reporter cleavage assay, one where the protease OMA1 activity is measured by MCA fluorescent peptide.

OMA1 activity measured by (MCA-AFRATDHG-(lys)DNP) peptide

The group arrived at this specific sequence as it includes the specific point on protein OPA1 (between the arginine and alanine) that OMA1 cleaves. They would then be able to spectrofluorometrically measure the fluorescent MCA moiety after the cleavage takes place. The assay proved successful in measuring the activity of OMA1, and in an inexpensive manner. The work clearly lays out the foundation for future studies of OMA1, in both its normal and abnormal pathology.

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Julia Tobacyk, Nirmala Parajuli, Stephen Shrum, John P. Crow, Lee Ann MacMillan-Crow, The first direct activity assay for the mitochondrial protease OMA1, Mitochondrion, Volume 46, 2019, Pages 1-5, ISSN 1567-7249, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mito.2019.03.001.

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Antimicrobial Peptides Show Promise for Combatting Citrus Greening

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Citrus greening, or Huanglongbing (HLB), is a disease that devastates citrus production all over the world. The culprit behind HLB is the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter spp. (e.g., CLas), an unculturable pathogen that has proven very difficult to treat. Once a tree is infected, it becomes unproductive and dies within years, costing the global citrus market billions. While current attempts to combat HLB rely on controlling the insect vector, scientists have turned some attention towards the potential of peptides. Their work displayed how antimicrobial peptides show promise for combatting citrus greening, mainly by methods against CLas itself.

Antimicrobial peptides effective against CLas bacteria

With not many current effective options to fight HLB, scientists believe the next area of area of interest was targeting the CLas secretory pathway using antimicrobial peptides provided by LifeTein. Specifically, the antimicrobial peptides would be blocking the TolC efflux pump protein. The study found three peptides capable of doing this by binding tightly with the TolC receptors, and even the β barrel entrance of the protein as well. Treatment with peptides in this manner showed effective inhibition and even mortality in models closely resembling CLas.

The studies displayed using antimicrobial peptides show major promise for future treatment of HLB. With the chemical resistant bacteria CLas being nearly impossible to slow down, peptides just may have been holding the solution all along. There is hope that new therapies can be developed utilizing the strategies shown, and the global citrus production can rest easy after decades worth of HLB ravaging the farms.

Wang, Haoqi, Nirmitee Mulgaonkar, Samavath Mallawarachchi, Manikandan Ramasamy, Carmen S. Padilla, Sonia Irigoyen, Gitta Coaker, Kranthi K. Mandadi, and Sandun Fernando. 2022. “Evaluation of Candidatus Liberibacter Asiaticus Efflux Pump Inhibition by Antimicrobial Peptides” Molecules 27, no. 24: 8729. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27248729

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LPETG Peptide and SrtA Reaction allows Analysis of cell-cell Interactions both in vitro and in vivo

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-LIPTSTIC mechanism, from the cited paper.

Analyzing cell interactions was always vital for biological studies, but a simple approach from microscopy fails to provide any information on receptors and ligands involved in these interactions. Scientists have developed a method of bacterial sortase labeling involving a fluorescent LPXTG peptide motif and Staphylococcus aureus transpeptidase Sortase A (SrtA) that can be readily detected using flow cytometry. The group coined this approach as Labeling Immune Partnerships by SorTagging Intercellular Contacts, or LIPSTIC for short. LIPSTIC is even more useful in the fact that the LPETG peptide and SrtA reaction allows analysis of cell-cell interactions both in vitro and in vivo.

LPETG peptide and SrtA reaction to label receptor and ligand interactions.

LifeTein supplied the group with the necessary Biotin-ahx-LPETG peptide, where in the LIPSTIC method a ligand or receptor of note that is fused with a tag consisting of five N-terminal glycine residues (G5) has the fluorescent peptide donated to it by the SrtA. The acceptor cell can then be monitored via the label after separation. The group is confident that LIPSTIC is an efficient method to label receptor-ligand interactions both in vitro and in vivo, even able to detect rare or low-intensity interactions.

Pasqual G, Chudnovskiy A, Tas JMJ, Agudelo M, Schweitzer LD, Cui A, Hacohen N, Victora GD. Monitoring T cell-dendritic cell interactions in vivo by intercellular enzymatic labelling. Nature. 2018 Jan 25;553(7689):496-500. doi: 10.1038/nature25442. Epub 2018 Jan 17. PMID: 29342141; PMCID: PMC5853129.

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Biotin-Ahx-LPETG-NH2
Biotin-Ahx-LPETGS-NH2

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