L. Mancinelli et al., Molecular models of acidic peptides from pea bud chromatin and seminal plasma. Divalent cations-mediated interaction with DNA, BIOL CHEM, 380(1), 1999, pp. 31-40
Small acidic peptides have been isolated from biological fluids (blood and
seminal plasma) and from chromatin of several tissues. Their biological act
ivity is related to the control of cell growth and gene expression.
This work is an approach to the study of peptide structure-function relatio
nship. Purified fractions from seminal plasma and pea bud chromatin were su
bjected to fast ion bombardment mass spectrometry. The results obtained wer
e analyzed according to biochemical characteristics of the peptides studied
and some possible molecular models have been designed. Two of the proposed
sequences were synthesized and their biological activity assayed in cells
and cell-free systems. The results demonstrate that the synthetic peptides
are able to bind to DNA in the presence of divalent cations (Mg2+, Fe2+, Cu
2+) with consequent inhibition of DNA transcription.