A synthetic peptide fragment of thymosin beta-4, researched for wound healing and tissue repair.
Actin filaments are major dynamic components of the cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells. Assembly of filaments from monomeric actin occurs with expenditure of energy, the tightly bound ATP being irreversibly hydrolyzed during polymerization. This dissip…
Thymosin beta 4 forms a 1:1 complex with actin and thereby prevents polymerization. Rapid formation of filaments from this complex was observed, however, when actin trimers were added. Polymerization can likewise be initiated by the addition of one e…
Two rabbit polyclonal antisera, one directed against thymosin beta 4 and the other one against the peptide fragment thymosin beta 4 (1-14) were characterised by epitope mapping. Hexapeptides representing the whole sequence of the native peptide and o…
A large-scale method for the isolation of thymosin beta 4 (up to 120 mg) and thymosin beta 9 (up to 40 mg) from bovine lung (up to 2 kg) was developed. The isolation protocol included tissue homogenization in 0.4 M HClO4, centrifugation, solid-phase…
The mode of interaction of birch and bovine profilins with actin was compared using a number of techniques. Birch profilin was purified from pollen or as a recombinant protein from Escherichia coli, using poly(L-proline) affinity chromatography and a…
Chronic infection with HIV-1 has profound effects on host cell growth and function. We used subtractive hybridization cloning to identify genes whose expression is modulated by HIV-1 infection in the T leukemia cell line CEM. The gene encoding thymos…
Experiment 1 involved genetically lean and obese gilts and barrows injected for 42 d with 0, 2, or 4 mg/d of porcine somatotropin (pST; n = 96). Blood was collected at 0, 6, and 24 h after the initial pST injection and thereafter every 2 wk. Experime…
Thymosin beta 4 is able to form 1:1 complexes with monomeric (G) actin, thereby stabilizing the intracellular pool of unpolymerized actin. We have searched for factors that are able to induce the polymerization of actin from the actin:thymosin beta 4…
Thymosin beta 4 (T beta 4), a peptide of 43 amino acids, binds to actin monomers and inhibits filament formation. In preparations of T beta 4 from bovine lung tissue, the peptide is accompanied by a derivative in which the methionine residue in posit…
Thymosin beta 4, a polypeptide of 5 kDa, is known to have capacity to regulate actin polymerization by binding to an actin monomer. Distribution of Xenopus laevis thymosin beta 4 (XT beta 4) in the developing Xenopus larva was examined by means of in…
Thymosin beta 4 is a major actin sequestering peptide in vertebrate cells and plays a role in the regulation of actin monomer/polymer ratio. Thymosin beta 9 and thymosin beta met9 are minor variants of thymosin beta 4. The possible function of these…
In motile non-muscle cells, G-actin sequestering proteins, capping proteins and profilin regulate actin assembly in response to extracellular signals. The regulation of actin sequestration/assembly is performed via the control of the concentration of…
The recent elucidation of the three-dimensional structure of gelsolin segment 1 and profilin provides new insights on how these proteins recognize actin. Although the picture is still incomplete and not all biochemical data are consolidated, the resu…
The conformational preferences of a 43-amino-acid G-actin-binding peptide, thymosin beta 4, in water at 1, 4 and 14 degrees C, and at pH 3.0 and 6.5 were studied by NMR. NMR showed that thymosin beta 4 lacks a uniquely folded conformation in water. H…
The beta 4- and beta 10-thymosins, recently identified as actin monomer-sequestering proteins, are developmentally regulated in brain. Using specific mRNA and protein probes, we have used in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical techniques to in…
Thymosin fraction 5 (TF5) is a partially purified preparation of bovine thymus that affects the differentiation and function of T-cells in vitro. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine that induces terminal maturation of B-cells and T-cell ac…
By reacting trimethylammoniobromobimane bromide (TMB bromide) with rabbit muscle actin, a fluorescent reporter group was linked to cysteine at position 374. Fluorescence of TMB-actin decreased significantly on addition of thymosin beta 4 (T beta 4),…
When resting human blood platelets are stimulated with thrombin, 50 to 60% of the G-actin polymerizes to F-actin within 60 seconds. The increase in F-actin is correlated with a corresponding decrease in the complex of G-actin with T beta 4. Within 5…
Recent evidence supports a role for thymosin beta 4 (T beta 4) in the inhibition of murine hematopoietic stem cell proliferation. This supposition results from studies in which the N-terminal tetrapeptide derived from native T beta 4 was administered…