Kohidai László, Török Krisztina, Illyés Eszter, Tamási Judit, Sebestyén Ferenc, Láng Orsolya, Csaba György, Hudecz Ferenc
Department of Genetics, Cell and Immunobiology, Semmelweis University of Medicine, Nagyvarad ter 4 POB 370, 1445, Budapest, Hungary
Cell Biol Int. 2003;27(8):695-700. doi: 10.1016/s1065-6995(03)00126-4.
The chemotactic effects of six formylated, putatively bacterial peptides (fMLP, fMLPP, fMMM, fMP, fMV, and fMS) were studied. From the set of six peptides, only fMLP (one of the most effective chemoattractant peptides in mammals) elicited a significant positive chemotactic response in the eukaryotic ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis, while the other formylated ligands, e.g. fMMM (which is also effective in mammals), had neutral or antagonistic effects in Tetrahymena. A study of their amino acid sequences points to an, as yet obscure, interaction between C-terminal f-Met and N-terminal aromatic Phe. Some optimal physicochemical characteristics (e.g. solvent exposed area, solubility) of the molecule may be responsible for this special feature of f-MLP at such a low level of phylogeny. This means that the unicellular Tetrahymena is able to select between related molecules, giving high priority to the molecule that is the most chemoattractive in mammals. The results call attention to the possible presence of f-Met receptors at a unicellular level and to the evolutionary conservation of chemotaxis-activating processes.
研究了六种假定为细菌来源的甲酰化肽（fMLP、fMLPP、fMMM、fMP、fMV和fMS）的趋化作用。在这六种肽中，只有fMLP（哺乳动物中最有效的趋化肽之一）在真核纤毛虫梨形四膜虫中引发了显著的正向趋化反应，而其他甲酰化配体，如fMMM（在哺乳动物中也有效），在四膜虫中具有中性或拮抗作用。对它们氨基酸序列的研究表明，C末端的f - 甲硫氨酸和N末端的芳香族苯丙氨酸之间存在一种尚不清楚的相互作用。分子的一些最佳物理化学特性（如溶剂暴露面积、溶解度）可能是f - MLP在如此低的系统发育水平下具有这一特殊特征的原因。这意味着单细胞的梨形四膜虫能够在相关分子之间进行选择，优先选择在哺乳动物中最具趋化性的分子。这些结果提醒人们注意单细胞水平上可能存在f - 甲硫氨酸受体以及趋化激活过程的进化保守性。
