Speaker: Dr Johan Rosengren, School of Biomedical Sciences,
The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Seed storage albumins are degraded during germination to provide nutrients for the seedling. An unusual albumin precursor in the common sunflower Helianthus annuus contains a 14-residue sequence insert that during processing is cleaved out and head-
to-tail cyclized. The resultant peptide is known as Sunflower Trypsin Inhibitor-1, SFTI-1.
We have shown that SFTI-1 is part of a large family of diverse peptides that have hijacked the albumin gene and its processing machinery, creating a short cut for de novo protein evolution. NMR spectroscopy studies have provided novel insights into the
structural features of these unique peptides and their precursors.
