A common protein that protects plants from fungal infection mimics the activity of a hormone in mammals that is linked to weight loss and is believed to play a role in mitigating heart disease, obesity and diabetes, according to a team of researchers at <<>> and several collaborating institutions.
The research has the potential to lead to a simple screening system for developing new drugs to treat these and several other human diseases, including some forms of cancer, said Ray Bressan, distinguished professor of horticulture and one of the study's authors.
The study also raises questions about the human health role of this type of plant protein, found in many fruits, seeds and vegetables such as grapes, oats and tomatoes.
The protein, called osmotin, belongs to a large, diverse family of proteins that defend plants from fungal pathogens. Bressan and his colleagues report in the current issue (Friday, Jan. 21) of atherosclerosis that a protein in mammal muscle cells called a receptor, which normally binds to the hormone adiponectin, also binds osmotin.
They also found that the plant-derived osmotin activates the receptors in mammals in the same manner as adiponectin.
"We've found that this plant protein mimics the behavior of adiponectin in muscle cells," Bressan said. "It's very possible that the plant protein could play a role in the prevention of diseases like diabetes as well, because it has the same target as adiponectin in mammal cells - the adiponectin receptor."
The binding of hormones and other proteins to receptors activates specific responses. For example, when the hormone oxytocin binds to cells in the uterus, contractions - and childbirth - begin.
When bound to its receptor, adiponectin regulates sugar uptake and, in mouse models, prevents the development of diabetes and atherosclerosis, or the hardening of the arteries associated with heart disease. Previous studies have shown that people with diabetes tend to have lower levels of adiponectin in their blood than non-diabetics. In addition, adiponectin levels tend to be lower in the obese and in patients with heart disease than in healthier individuals.
Whether the beneficial effects of adiponectin can be induced by osmotin is currently unknown.
"We've shown the connection between adiponectin and the plant protein osmotin," Bressan said. "That connection is that the same protein in animal cells recognizes both osmotin and adiponectin and responds to them in the same way. There's an inference that the plant protein very possibly could have a similar protective connection to those diseases, but we don't yet know that."
In the current study, researchers looked at how osmotin functions in yeast, a fungus often used as a model organism in molecular and biochemical experiments. They also assessed how osmotin acts in adiponectin receptors in a culture of mouse muscle cells.
The yeast system they developed hints at the possibility of using yeast to screen for new pharmaceutical products to target diabetes, heart disease and obesity, Bressan said. Running a screen in yeast is a highly efficient first step in looking for potentially therapeutic agents because yeast is easy to grow and is very well understood at the cellular and molecular genetic levels.
"It may be possible to expose different drug candidates to the receptor in yeast that recognizes osmotin and see which compounds activate this receptor," he said. "Another approach would be to take the gene for the animal receptor, insert it into yeast, and start asking those same questions - what other compounds does the receptor recognize?"
In their study, the researchers determined that activation of the osmotin receptor in yeast kills yeast cells by inducing a phenomenon called "apoptosis," or programmed cell death. Thus, a screen to look for compounds that activate this receptor could simply rely on finding out which compounds kill yeast cells by the same process.
This study also shows that we need to look more closely at the way our bodies use the foods we eat, especially plant-based foods such as fruits, nuts and vegetables.
"Proteins like osmotin are consumed by people all the time," Bressan said. "Yet no studies have been done to determine how the presence or absence of these proteins in the diet affects us."