STRUCTURE/FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF INHIBIN

描述（改编自申请人描述）：抑制素和激活素 是相关的性腺蛋白激素，分别抑制或 通过垂体促性腺作用刺激FSH释放。 最近的研究表明 促性腺激素α和β亚基cDNA的串联融合赋予了 二聚体蛋白的有效分泌，而不影响它们的 生物活性 基于两种蛋白质之间的结构相似性， 促性腺激素，它是假设，融合的α和β的促性腺激素， 亚单位cDNA可能允许有效表达和分泌的 异二聚体。 初步数据表明， 通过合成白藜芦醇， 在β和α亚基cDNA融合后的二聚体。 拟 为了进一步表征通过该方法产生的Escherichia bin同种型， 通过分离已知的细胞系， 含有对前蛋白加工重要的蛋白水解酶。 的 突变体类胡萝卜素同工型生物活性和结构-功能 分析以阐明N-连接的碳水化合物侧链的重要性。 预计这些研究将导致更好的设计， 本发明提供了一种新的腺苷酸激动剂和拮抗剂， 临床应用的重组人胰蛋白酶。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicants description): Inhibins and activins are related gonadal protein hormones that, respectively, inhibit or stimulate FSH release by pituitary gonadotrophy. Recent studies suggest that tandem fusion of gonadotropin alpha and beta subunit cDNAs confers efficient secretion of the dimer proteins without affecting their bioactivities. Based on the structural similarity between inhibins and gonadotropins, it is hypothesized that fusion of the inhibin alpha and beta subunit cDNAs might allow efficient expression and secretion of the heterodimer. The preliminary data indicated that earlier difficulties in producing inhibin over activin can be overcome by synthesizing inhibin dimers following fusion of the beta and alpha subunit cDNAs. It is proposed to further characterize the inhibin isoforms produced by this method and to increase the processing of mature inhibins by transfecting cell lines known to contain proteolytic enzymes important for pro-protein processing. The bioactivity of mutant inhibin isoforms and perform structure-functional analysis to elucidate the importance of N-linked carbohydrate side chains. It is anticipated that these studies would lead to a better design of inhibin agonists and antagonists as well as efficient production of recombinant inhibins of clinical use.