Biased signaling favoring gi over β-arrestin promoted by an apelin fragment lacking the C-terminal phenylalanine

Apelin plays a prominent role in body fluid and cardiovascular homeostasis. We previously showed that the C-terminal Phe of apelin 17 (K17F) is crucial for triggering apelin receptor internalization and decreasing blood pressure (BP) but is not required for apelin binding or Gi protein coupling. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that the important role of the C-terminal Phe in BP decrease may be as a Gi-independent but β-arrestin-dependent signaling pathway that could involve MAPKs. For this purpose, we have used apelin fragments K17F and K16P (K17F with the C-terminal Phe deleted), which exhibit opposite profiles on apelin receptor internalization and BP. Using BRET-based biosensors, we showed that whereas K17F activates Gi and promotes β-arrestin recruitment to the receptor, K16P had a much reduced ability to promote β-arrestin recruitment while maintaining its Gi activating property, revealing the biased agonist character of K16P. We further show that both β-arrestin recruitment and apelin receptor internalization contribute to the K17F-stimulated ERK1/2 activity, whereas the K16P-promoted ERK1/2 activity is entirely Gi-dependent. In addition to providing new insights on the structural basis underlying the functional selectivity of apelin peptides, our study indicates that the β-arrestin-dependent ERK1/2 activation and not the Gi-dependent signaling may participate in K17F-induced BP decrease.

Apelin in the control of body fluid homeostasis and cardiovascular functions

The discovery of apelin, an endogenous ligand of the orphan APJ receptor is an important advance for fundamental research and clinical medicine. Apelin and its receptor have a wide tissue distribution not only in the brain but also in peripheral organs including kidney, heart, vessels, and adipose tissue. Apelin is implicated in many physiological and pathophysiological processes such as the regulation of body fluid homeostasis, cardiovascular functions, glucose homeostasis, cell proliferation, and angiogenesis. This review focuses on, i) the various signaling cascades evoked upon stimulation of the apelin receptor by the different molecular forms of apelin found in vivo, ii) the distribution of apelin and its receptor in the brain and the cardiovascular system, iii) the opposing actions of vasopressin and apelin in the regulation of water balance at the central and kidney levels, and on the cardiovascular system regarding regulation of arterial blood pressure, vascular tone, and cardiac function.

Dermaseptins as models for the elucidation of membrane-acting helical amphipathic antimicrobial peptides

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) produced by a wide variety of organisms are major actors of the host defense systems against invading pathogenic microorganisms. These peptides exhibit a broad spectrum of action against bacteria, yeasts, fungi, protozoa and viruses. It is widely believed that a large part of their antimicrobial effect derives from direct interactions with the lipid membrane surrounding the target cells, causing its permeabilization and cell lysis. However, the exact nature of these interactions is presently unclear. The skin of the amphibians has proved to be a remarkably rich storehouse of AMPs that encompass a wide variety of structural motifs. This natural AMP bank is used in combined approaches, based on biophysical and cellular biology methods, to elucidate how these peptides perturb the membrane and whether such membrane perturbations are related to the antimicrobial activity of these peptides. Here we review our current knowledge about the structure and the mechanism of action of the dermaseptin super-family, α-helical amphipathic AMPs isolated from the skin of frogs of the Phyllomedusa genus. Dermaseptins are genetically related, with a remarkable identity in signal sequences and acidic propieces of their preproforms but have clearly diverged to yield several families of microbicidal cationic peptides that are structurally distinct. Particularly, we focused on the orthologous peptides dermaseptin S and B of which the shortening from the carboxy terminal extremity causes a drastic change in their membrane disruption activity. These peptides could be good models to study the membrane-peptide interactions discussed in this review.

Antitumor and angiostatic peptides from frog skin secretions

The discovery of new molecules with potential antitumor activity continues to be of great importance in cancer research. In this respect, natural antimicrobial peptides isolated from various animal species including humans and amphibians have been found to be of particular interest. Here, we report the presence of two anti-proliferative peptides active against cancer cells in the skin secretions of the South American tree frog, Phyllomedusa bicolor. The crude skin exudate was fractioned by size exclusion gel followed by reverse-phase HPLC chromatography. After these two purification steps, we identified two fractions that exhibited anti-proliferative activity. Sequence analysis indicated that this activity was due to two antimicrobial α-helical cationic peptides of the dermaseptin family (dermaseptins B2 and B3). This result was confirmed using synthetic dermaseptins. When tested in vitro, synthetic B2 and B3 dermaseptins inhibited the proliferation of the human prostatic adenocarcinoma PC-3 cell line by more than 90%, with an EC(50) of around 2-3 μM. No effect was observed on the growth of the NIH-3T3 non-tumor mouse cell line with Drs B2, whereas a slight inhibiting effect was observed with Drs B3 at high dose. In addition, the two fractions obtained after size exclusion chromatography also inhibited PC-3 cell colony formation in soft agar. Interestingly, inhibition of the proliferation and differentiation of activated adult bovine aortic endothelial cells was observed in cells treated with these two fractions. Dermaseptins B2 and B3 could, therefore, represent interesting new pharmacological molecules with antitumor and angiostatic properties for the development of a new class of anticancer drugs.

D-amino acid detection in peptides by MALDI-TOF-TOF

Detection of a D-amino acid residue in natural peptides by mass spectrometry remains a challenging task, as this post-translational modification does not induce any change in molecular mass. To our knowledge, the present article is the first report using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) for the discrimination and the quantification of peptide isomers. In this work, we used synthetic hepta- and decapeptides of biological relevance and their isomers. All-L sequences and some isomers containing a D-residue in various positions were analyzed.

Mechanism of antibacterial action of dermaseptin B2: interplay between helix-hinge-helix structure and membrane curvature strain

Dermaseptin B2 (Drs B2) is a 33-residue-long cationic, alpha-helical antimicrobial peptide endowed with membrane-damaging activity against a broad spectrum of microorganisms, including bacteria, yeasts, fungi, and protozoa, but its precise mechanism of action remained ill-defined. A detailed characterization of peptide-membrane interactions of Drs B2 was undertaken in comparison with a C-terminal truncated analogue, [1-23]-Drs B2, that was virtually inactive on bacteria despite retaining the cationic charge of the full-length peptide. Both peptides were tested on living cells using membrane permeabilization assays and on large unilamellar and multilamellar phospholipid vesicles composed of binary lipid mixtures by dye leakage assay, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism, and differential scanning calorimetry and also on SDS micelles using NMR spectroscopy. The results indicate that Drs B2 induces a strong perturbation of anionic lipid bilayers, resides at the hydrocarbon core-water interface, parallel to the plane of the membrane, and interacts preferentially with the polar head groups and glycerol backbone region of the anionic phospholipids, as well as the region of the lipid acyl chain near the bilayer surface. The interfacial location of Drs B2 induces a positive curvature of the bilayer and clustering of anionic lipids, consistent with a carpet mechanism, that may lead to the formation of mixed peptide-phospholipid toroidal, transient pores and membrane permeation/disruption once a threshold peptide accumulation is reached. In constrast, the truncated [1-23]-Drs B2 analogue interacts at the head group level without penetrating and perturbing the hydrophobic core of the bilayer. NMR study in SDS micelles showed that [1-23]-Drs B2 adopts a well-defined helix encompassing residues 2-20, whereas Drs B2 was previously found to adopt helical structures interrupted around the Val(9)-Gly(10) segment. Thus the antibacterial activity of Drs B2 depends markedly on a threshold number of hydrophobic residues to be present on both extremities of the helix. In a membrane environment with a strong positive curvature strain, Drs B2 can adopt a flexible helix-hinge-helix structure that facilitates the concomitant insertion of the strongly hydrophobic N- and C-termini of the peptide into the acyl core of the membrane.

Solution structure and model membrane interactions of temporins-SH, antimicrobial peptides from amphibian skin. A NMR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry study

Temporin-SHa and temporin-SHc are 13 residue long antimicrobial peptides from frog skin that have similar sequences but differ markedly in their membrane-damaging properties. Temporin-SHa contains a single basic lysine residue and has a unique antimicrobial spectrum of action among temporins, being very potent against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts, fungi, and protozoa. Temporin-SHc, which contains a single basic histidine residue, is inactive against Gram-negative bacteria, has a reduced efficacy against Gram-positive bacteria, but is still active against yeasts and fungi. Temporin-SHb, with no basic residue, has no antimicrobial activity. The three-dimensional structures of the peptides bound to SDS micelles were analyzed by CD and NMR spectroscopy combined with restrained molecular dynamics calculations. The peptides adopt well-defined amphipathic alpha-helical structures extending from residue 3 to residue 12, when bound to SDS micelles. The structures are stabilized by extensive interactions between aliphatic and aromatic side chains on the nonpolar face. Relaxation enhancements caused by paramagnetic probes showed that the peptides adopt nearly parallel orientations to the micelle surface and do not deeply penetrate into the micelle. The interaction of the peptides with model membranes was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry on anionic and zwitterionic multilamellar vesicles and membrane-permeabilization assays on calcein-loaded large unilamellar vesicles. Calorimetric data indicated that both temporin-SHa and -SHc reside at the hydrocarbon core-water interface of the anionic lipid bilayer but interact with anionic bilayers in a very different manner. This suggests that the charge-induced activity of temporins-SH for bacterial cells is due to changes in the membrane-disturbing mechanism of the bound peptides.

Membrane interaction and perturbation mechanisms induced by two cationic cell penetrating peptides with distinct charge distribution

Independently from the cell penetrating peptide uptake mechanism (endocytic or not), the interaction of the peptide with the lipid bilayer remains a common issue that needs further investigation. The cell penetrating or antimicrobial properties of exogenous peptides require probably different preliminary interactions with the plasma membrane. Herein, we have employed (31)P NMR, differential scanning calorimetry and CD to study the membrane interaction and perturbation mechanisms of two basic peptides with similar length but distinct charge distribution, penetratin (non-amphipathic) and RL16, a secondary amphipathic peptide. The peptide effects on the thermotropic phase behavior of large multilamellar vesicles of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC), dimyristoylphosphatidylglycerol (DMPG) and dipalmitoleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DiPoPE) were investigated. We have found that, even though both peptides are cationic, their interaction with zwitterionic versus anionic lipids is markedly distinct. Penetratin greatly affects the temperature, enthalpy and cooperativity of DMPG main phase transition but does not affect those of DMPC while RL16 presents opposite effects. Additionally, it was found that penetratin induces a negative curvature whereas RL16 induces a positive one, since a decrease in the fluid lamellar to inverted hexagonal phase transition temperature of DiPoPE (T(H)) was observed for penetratin and an increase for RL16. Contrary to penetratin, (31)P NMR of samples containing DMPC MLVs and RL16 shows an isotropic signal indicative of the formation of small vesicles, concomitant with a great decrease in sample turbidity both below and at the phase transition temperature. Opposite effects were also observed on DMPG where both peptides provoke strong aggregation and precipitation. Both CPPs adopt helical structures when contacting with anionic lipids, and possess a dual behavior by either presenting their cationic or hydrophobic domains towards the phospholipid face, depending on the lipid nature (anionic vs zwitterionic, respectively). Surprisingly, the increase of electrostatic interactions at the water membrane interface prevents the insertion of RL16 hydrophobic region in the bilayer, but is essential for the interaction of penetratin. Modulation of amphipathic profiles and charge distribution of CPPs can alter the balance of hydrophobic and electrostatic membrane interaction leading to translocation or and membrane permeabilisation. Penetratin has a relative pure CPP behavior whereas RL16 presents mixed CPP/AMP properties. A better understanding of those processes is essential to unveil their cell translocation mechanism.