Barnacle cement: a polymerization model based on evolutionary concepts.
Contribuinte(s) |
Rittschof, Daniel |
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Data(s) |
01/11/2009
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Resumo |
Enzymes and biochemical mechanisms essential to survival are under extreme selective pressure and are highly conserved through evolutionary time. We applied this evolutionary concept to barnacle cement polymerization, a process critical to barnacle fitness that involves aggregation and cross-linking of proteins. The biochemical mechanisms of cement polymerization remain largely unknown. We hypothesized that this process is biochemically similar to blood clotting, a critical physiological response that is also based on aggregation and cross-linking of proteins. Like key elements of vertebrate and invertebrate blood clotting, barnacle cement polymerization was shown to involve proteolytic activation of enzymes and structural precursors, transglutaminase cross-linking and assembly of fibrous proteins. Proteolytic activation of structural proteins maximizes the potential for bonding interactions with other proteins and with the surface. Transglutaminase cross-linking reinforces cement integrity. Remarkably, epitopes and sequences homologous to bovine trypsin and human transglutaminase were identified in barnacle cement with tandem mass spectrometry and/or western blotting. Akin to blood clotting, the peptides generated during proteolytic activation functioned as signal molecules, linking a molecular level event (protein aggregation) to a behavioral response (barnacle larval settlement). Our results draw attention to a highly conserved protein polymerization mechanism and shed light on a long-standing biochemical puzzle. We suggest that barnacle cement polymerization is a specialized form of wound healing. The polymerization mechanism common between barnacle cement and blood may be a theme for many marine animal glues. Dissertation |
Formato |
3499 - 3510 application/pdf |
Identificador |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19837892 212/21/3499 J Exp Biol, 2009, 212 (Pt 21), pp. 3499 - 3510 http://hdl.handle.net/10161/653 1477-9145 |
Idioma(s) |
ENG en_US |
Relação |
J Exp Biol 10.1242/jeb.029884 |
Palavras-Chave | #Amino Acid Sequence #Animals #Biological Evolution #Calcium #Cattle #Humans #Microscopy, Atomic Force #Models, Biological #Molecular Sequence Data #Polymers #Proteins #Tandem Mass Spectrometry #Thoracica #Transglutaminases #Trypsin |
Tipo |
Journal Article |
Cobertura |
England |