D-amino acid residue in a defensin-like peptide from platypus venom: effect on structure and chromatographic properties

Biochem J. 2005 Oct 15;391(Pt 2):215-20. doi: 10.1042/BJ20050900.

Abstract

The recent discovery that the natriuretic peptide OvCNPb (Ornithorhynchus venom C-type natriuretic peptide B) from platypus (Ornithorynchus anatinus) venom contains a D-amino acid residue suggested that other D-amino-acid-containing peptides might be present in the venom. In the present study, we show that DLP-2 (defensin-like peptide-2), a 42-amino-acid residue polypeptide in the platypus venom, also contains a D-amino acid residue, D-methionine, at position 2, while DLP-4, which has an identical amino acid sequence, has all amino acids in the L-form. These findings were supported further by the detection of isomerase activity in the platypus gland venom extract that converts DLP-4 into DLP-2. In the light of this new information, the tertiary structure of DLP-2 was recalculated using a new structural template with D-Met2. The structure of DLP-4 was also determined in order to evaluate the effect of a D-amino acid at position 2 on the structure and possibly to explain the large retention time difference observed for the two molecules in reverse-phase HPLC. The solution structures of the DLP-2 and DLP-4 are very similar to each other and to the earlier reported structure of DLP-2, which assumed that all amino acids were in the L-form. Our results suggest that the incorporation of the D-amino acid at position 2 has minimal effect on the overall fold in solution.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amino Acids / analysis*
  • Amino Acids / chemistry*
  • Amino Acids / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Defensins / chemistry*
  • Defensins / metabolism*
  • Isomerases / metabolism
  • Isomerism
  • Male
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Platypus*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Venoms / chemistry*

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Defensins
  • Venoms
  • Isomerases

Associated data

  • PDB/1ZUE
  • PDB/1ZUF