Structure of rhodotorucine A, a peptidyl factor, inducing mating tube formation in Rhodosporidium toruloides.

Abstract

Rhodotorucine A, which induces mating tube formation in Rhodospridium toruloides, was found to be a novel peptide composed of eleven amino acid residues with a lipophilic group at the C-terminus. The amino acid sequence of the peptide was determined by Edman degradation and enzymatic hydrolyses. The C-terminus of rhodotorucine A was revealed to be S-farnesylcysteine by proton magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry and chemical synthesis. We proposed the following structure for rhodotorucine A. H-Tyr-Pro-Glu-Ile-Ser-Trp-Thr-Arg-Asn-Gly-Cys(S-farnesyl)-OH.