In Planta Discovery and Chemical Synthesis of Bracelet Cystine Knot Peptides from Rinorea bengalensis

J Nat Prod. 2021 Feb 26;84(2):395-407. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.0c01065. Epub 2021 Feb 11.

Abstract

Cyclotides are plant-derived peptides that have attracted interest as biocides and scaffolds for the development of stable peptide therapeutics. Cyclotides are characterized by their cyclic backbone and cystine knot framework, which engenders them with remarkably high stability. This study reports the cystine knot-related peptidome of Rinorea bengalensis, a small rainforest tree in the Violaceae family that is distributed from Australia westward to India. Surprisingly, many more acyclic knotted peptides (acyclotides) were discovered than cyclic counterparts (cyclotides), with 32 acyclotides and 1 cyclotide sequenced using combined transcriptome and proteomic analyses. Nine acyclotides were isolated and screened against a panel of mammalian cell lines, showing they had the cytotoxic properties normally associated with cyclotide-like peptides. NMR analysis of the acyclotide ribes 21 and 22 and the cyclotide ribe 33 confirmed that these peptides contained the cystine knot structural motif. The bracelet-subfamily cyclotide ribe 33 was amenable to chemical synthesis in reasonable yield, an achievement that has long eluded previous attempts to synthetically produce bracelet cyclotides. Accordingly, ribe 33 represents an exciting new bracelet cyclotide scaffold that can be subject to chemical modification for future molecular engineering applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cyclotides / chemical synthesis*
  • Cyclotides / chemistry
  • Cystine / chemistry*
  • Erythrocytes / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry
  • Plant Proteins / chemistry
  • Proteomics
  • Queensland
  • Transcriptome
  • Violaceae / chemistry*

Substances

  • Cyclotides
  • Plant Extracts
  • Plant Proteins
  • Cystine