Hydrolysis pattern of procasomorphin by gut proteases from plant parasite Heliothis zea, determined by sequence analyses performed on the unfractionated digestion mixtures.
The digestion pattern of procasomorphin, a putative precursor of beta-casomorphins (beta-casein-derived opioid peptides), by gut proteases from the plant parasite insect Heliothis zea has been determined to evaluate the possibility of introducing in plants the gene encoding for this peptide in order to confer resistance to damage by the insect. The method we used is based on the possibility of deducing the sequence of the fragments produced by proteases at different times of digestion by means of automatic Edman degradation performed on the fragment mixtures without any purification steps. This approach can be considered of general utility in studying the digestion of peptides by a mixture of proteases.
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Agricultural Industries Institute, University of Naples, Portici, Italy.
Caporale
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Caruso
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004064:Digestive System / Q000201:enzymology*; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007301:Insect Hormones / Q000378:metabolism*; D019476:Insect Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000201:enzymology*; D010944:Plants / Q000469:parasitology; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000378:metabolism*; D017421:Sequence Analysis
D007301:Insect Hormones; D019476:Insect Proteins; D011498:Protein Precursors; C087528:procasomorphin protein, Heliothis zea; D010450:Endopeptidases