Cardosin A is an abundant aspartic proteinase from pistils of Cynara cardunculus L. whose milk-clotting activity has been exploited for the manufacture of cheese. Here we report the cloning and characterization of cardosin A cDNA. The deduced amino acid sequence contains the conserved features of plant aspartic proteinases, including the plant-specific insertion (PSI), and revealed the presence of an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif, which is known to function in cell surface receptor binding by extracellular proteins. Cardosin A mRNA was detected predominantly in young flower buds but not in mature or senescent pistils, suggesting that its expression is likely to be developmentally regulated. Procardosin A, the single chain precursor, was found associated with microsomal membranes of flower buds, whereas the active two-chain enzyme generated upon removal of PSI is soluble. This result implies a role for PSI in promoting the association of plant aspartic proteinase precursors to cell membranes. To get further insights about cardosin A, the functional relevance of the RGD motif was also investigated. A 100-kDa protein that interacts specifically with the RGD sequence was isolated from octyl glucoside pollen extracts by affinity chromatography on cardosin A-Sepharose. This result suggests that the 100-kDa protein is a cardosin A receptor and indicates that the interaction between these two proteins is apparently mediated through RGD recognition. It is possible therefore that cardosin A may have a role in adhesion-mediated proteolytic mechanisms involved in pollen recognition and growth.

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RESUMOEste artigo inaugura uma reflexão sobre o modelo de pensamento que origina a categoria "indumentária indígena" na história da indumentária no Brasil e sobre o modo como a formação dessa tipologia de coleções nos museus pode interferir na construção de valores éticos e estéticos dos modos de vestir. Apresentam-se aqui alguns desafios para uma história da indumentária a partir de estudos de coleções classificadas de étnicas, como as de indumentária indígena. Essa proposta baseia-se em análise da indumentária indígena nas bonecas karajá, as ritxoko, registradas como patrimônio imaterial brasileiro pelo Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico -IPHAN, em 2012. A partir desse estudo seminal, discuto certos percursos metodológicos de pesquisa visando a construção de uma história da indumentária brasileira que considere a cultura material e as visualidades aspectos importantes de investigação. Concluo que essa indumentária indígena está apenas parcialmente indicada nos museus em suas coleções etnográficas, motivo pelo qual sugiro que o historiador considere conflitos sociais atuais quando incluir esse patrimônio cultural no corpus de sua pesquisa.

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She writes on Brazilian fashion and dress history. From 2000 to 2002, she initiated a translation project that brought Fashion Theory to Brazil and which opened a forum through which to engage Brazilian fashion studies. Her current research examines museum dress collections.