Centro de Análises Proteômicas e Bioquímicas, Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil.
FEBS Lett. 2011 Apr 6;585(7):995-1000. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2011.03.008. Epub 2011 Mar 15.
The phenomenon of protein promiscuity, in which multiple functions are associated with a single peptide structure, has gained attention in several research fields, including the plant defense field. With this in mind, this report intends to link various plant defense peptides with common scaffolds (defensins, cyclotides and 2S albumins), and multiple activities with the processes of promiscuity generation and protein evolvability. This link seems to create an efficient system of plant defense against insect pests and pathogens, and is thus essential to plant survival and evolution. This review also identifies future possibilities for the use of peptide promiscuity in designing novel drugs and synthetic biotechnological products.
蛋白质混杂现象，即一种肽结构与多种功能相关联，已引起多个研究领域的关注，包括植物防御领域。有鉴于此，本报告旨在将各种植物防御肽与常见支架（防御素、环肽和 2S 白蛋白）联系起来，并将多种活性与混杂生成和蛋白质可进化性的过程联系起来。这种联系似乎为植物提供了一种有效的防御害虫和病原体的系统，因此对植物的生存和进化至关重要。本综述还确定了在设计新型药物和合成生物技术产品中利用肽混杂性的未来可能性。
