Gerlach Samantha L, Göransson Ulf, Kaas Quentin, Craik David J, Mondal Debasis, Gruber Christian W
Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tulane University, 1430 Tulane Ave, New Orleans, LA, 70112.
Biopolymers. 2013 Sep;100(5):433-7. doi: 10.1002/bip.22258.
Cyclotides are a large family of plant peptides characterized by their cyclic cystine knot composed of a circular backbone and three disulfide bonds that impart exceptional stability. They, and several acyclic variants, have been isolated from plants within the Rubiaceae, Violaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, Solanaceae, and Poaceae families. A variety of chemical and genetic approaches have been applied for the discovery and characterization of cyclotides. As investigations of cyclotide expression, distribution, and phylogeny rapidly increase, the authors have proposed the inclusion of information pertaining to plant species that have been analyzed but do not appear to express cyclotides into the CyBase database. CyBase is dedicated to providing web tools and information about cyclic peptides and proteins to the scientific community. Including detailed information about sampling and analysis parameters of plant species that have been investigated but not published elsewhere should assist in the process of selecting species for establishing new cyclotide discovery projects, as well as for detailed reanalysis using alternative technical approaches. In summary, the collection and deposition of all plant species that have been examined (whether cyclotides have been found or not) would help to impart a deeper understanding of cyclotide discovery, evolution, and physiological function.
环肽是一大类植物肽，其特征是具有由环状主链和三个二硫键组成的环胱氨酸结，赋予其非凡的稳定性。它们以及几种无环变体已从茜草科、堇菜科、葫芦科、豆科、茄科和禾本科的植物中分离出来。已应用多种化学和遗传学方法来发现和表征环肽。随着对环肽表达、分布和系统发育的研究迅速增加，作者提议将已分析但似乎不表达环肽的植物物种的相关信息纳入CyBase数据库。CyBase致力于为科学界提供有关环肽和蛋白质的网络工具及信息。纳入已研究但未在其他地方发表的植物物种的采样和分析参数的详细信息，应有助于选择物种以建立新的环肽发现项目，以及使用替代技术方法进行详细的重新分析。总之，收集和保存所有已检测的植物物种（无论是否发现环肽）将有助于更深入地了解环肽的发现、进化和生理功能。
