title: Purification and characterization of an antitumor protein with deoxyribonuclease activity from edible mushroom Agrocybe aegerita.
abstract: METHODS
  Mushrooms are well known for their nutritional and medicinal value. Agrocybe aegerita has been used as a nutritious food around the world and for its herbal medicinal properties in Asia. In recent years, several antitumor proteins have been identified from A. aegerita. The objective of this study was to purify a novel antitumor protein from A. aegerita.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A novel antitumor protein A. aegerita deoxyribonuclease (AAD) was purified through a two-step chromatographic procedure and was shown to possess antitumor activity against different cancer cell lines. Cells treated with AAD produced typical apoptotic morphological changes, which include chromatin condensation, the accumulation of sub-G1 cells and caspase-8 cleavage. Biochemical characterization of AAD showed that it was a member of the DNase I family and that it possessed divalent metal ion-dependent endonuclease activity. The optimal temperature for AAD activity was 50°C and its optimal pH was 8.5. The MS-identified peptides of AAD were found to match to Unigene3821, which has 97% homology with Aa-Pri1, in our A. aegerita transcriptome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have identified a novel antitumor protein from A. aegerita. This fuller understanding of A. aegerita would help us to enhance its use in nutritional and medical applications.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, P R China.
authors.forename: Yijie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yanxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Yalin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Guojun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xianqing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Mingyao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Barry Hon Cheung
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D055362:Agrocybe / Q000737:chemistry*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D053181:Caspase 8 / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002614:Chelating Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D003851:Deoxyribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism; D003902:Detergents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006367:HeLa Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D002614:Chelating Agents; D003902:Detergents; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D003851:Deoxyribonucleases; D053181:Caspase 8