A DNA duplex coding for the 53 amino acids of human beta-urogastrone has been synthesised. Computer assisted design of the gene included restriction endonuclease sites for plasmid insertion, a termination codon and two triplets coding for lysine at the 5'-end of the structural gene. The synthesis involved preparation of 23 oligodeoxyribonucleotides by phosphotriester procedures coupled to rapid HPLC techniques. The gene was constructed in two halves by enzymatic ligation of the oligonucleotides and cloned into a specially constructed chimeric plasmid vector. Escherichia coli K12 MRC8 was transformed by the plasmid and clones containing the full gene sequence were isolated and characterised.
During the course of screening plants for novel antifungal activity, we found that a high-molecular-mass fraction of an extract from leaves of Engelmannia pinnatifida exhibited potent and broad-spectrum antifungal activity. In this study a 30 kDa protein from E. pinnatifida leaves was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulphate precipitation, gel filtration, Mono-Q and C18 reverse-phase column chromatographies. The purified protein showed potent antifungal activity against various plant pathogens with as little as 50 ng. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified protein was determined as XXTKFDFFTLALQXPAXF, where X indicates an unidentified residue. This sequence showed 35-50% sequence identity with purified style glycoproteins associated with self-incompatibility from wild tomato, tobacco and petunia, a phosphate-starvation-induced ribonuclease from cultured tomato cells and the SIR 63.4 kDa protein from yeast.
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