Molecular Cloning and Bacterial Expression of Germacrene A Synthase cDNA from Crepidiastrum sonchifolium

Crepidiastrum sonchifolium(Bunge),whose activeingredients are sesquiterpenes,triterpene,flavone,andlignanoid,has been used as a folk medicine in Asiancountries because of its digestive,diuretic,and anti-in-flammatory activities[1,2].It is interesting to k…     

Synthesis of amino-silane modified magnetic silica adsorbents and application for adsorption of flavonoids from Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch

Magnetic separation technology was applied in the separation of flavonoids from the licorice root in this work. Licorice flavonoids (LF) displayed a remarkable array of biological and pharmacological activities. The magnetic adsorbents with functional -NH2 groups were synthesized by immobilization of amino-silane on the surface of the magnetic silica supports, which were prepared by co-precipitation method. The adsorption and desorption characteristics of the magnetic adsorbents for the separation of LF have been evaluated. The purity of an enriched extract with this method was 16.7% while the crude extract only had about 6.8% purity. Therefore, it can be concluded that these kinds of magnetic adsorbents have selectivity to the flavonoids to some extent. The affinity selectivity of the adsorbents is based on the formation of hydrogen bonding between the -NH2 on the magnetic adsorbents and -OH,-CO on the flavonoids.     

Tracking antiangiogenic components from Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. based on zebrafish assays using high-speed countercurrent chromatography

Natural products are some of the most important sources of lead compounds for drug discovery. The advanced isolation technique of lead compounds of natural origin using therapeutically relevant bioassays is capable of enhancing work efficiency from complex multiconstituent extracts. In the present study, a bioassay-guided isolation strategy combined with bioactivity screening was used to identify novel angiogenesis inhibitors from licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.) based on the zebrafish model and rapid preparative separation by high-speed countercurrent chromatography. Zebrafish embryos at 24 h postfertilization were chosen as the angiogenesis inhibition model for bioactivity screening. A solvent system (n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water) with different ratios was optimized and applied in the high-speed countercurrent chromatography separation of two fractions, Fr5 and Fr6, from the ethyl acetate extract of licorice. Blood circulation and vascular outgrowth in intersegmental vessels were found to be simultaneously inhibited by isoliquiritigenin and isolicoflavonol in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, these two compounds were identified and considered as active inhibitors against angiogenesis. These experimental results indicate that zebrafish bioassays combined with high-speed countercurrent chromatography may provide an alternative pathway for the rapid isolation of bioactive natural products.     

Preparative separation of liquiritigenin and glycyrrhetic acid from Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch using hydrolytic extraction combined with high-speed countercurrent chromatography

The objective of this paper was to develop a preparative method for the isolation and purification of liquiritigenin and glycyrrhetic acid from Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch using hydrolytic extraction combined with high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC). Liquiritigenin and glycyrrhetic acid were well hydrolyzed from liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid by hydrochloric acid, respectively. The optimal extraction conditions were obtained by single-factor and orthogonal experiments, which were 100% ethanol, 1.5 mol/L hydrochloric acid, 1:25 ratio of solid to liquid, and extracted 2 h for one time. Using the two-phase solvent system of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol–water (4:5:4:5, v/v), 2.1 mg liquiritigenin (the purity was 96.5% with a recovery of 87.6%) and 12.3 mg glycyrrhetic acid (the purity was 97.1% with a recovery of 74.4%) were obtained from 315-mg crude extraction by HSCCC. The retention ratio of stationary phase was 47.2%. Their structures were identified by HPLC, melting points, UV, Fourier-transform infrared, Electrospray ionization-MS, ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and ¹³C NMR spectra. According to the antioxidant activity assays, liquiritigenin and glycyrrhetic acid had some scavenging abilities on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radicals; liquiritigenin had stronger scavenging ability on hydroxyl radicals.     

乌拉尔甘草叶中氨基酸的反相高效液相色谱快速测定

用邻苯二甲醛柱前荧光衍生梯度洗脱的方法分析了乌拉尔甘草叶中14种氨基酸的含量，为利用甘草叶作为饲料提供了科学参考；该法操作简单，衍生反应迅速，灵敏度高，重复性好。     

Studies on Triterpenoids and Flavones in Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. By HPLC-ESI-MSn and FT-ICR-MSn

应用高效液相色谱质谱联用方法(HPLC-ESI-MSn)研究了甘草提取物中的七种化合物,四种三萜类化合物和三种黄酮类化合物。通过多极串联质谱(ESI-MSn)和多极串联傅里叶变换回旋共振质谱(FT-ICR-MSn)法研究了它们的碎裂规律。通过比较保留时间和质谱数据对上述七种化合物进行了归属,并阐述了其可能的质谱裂解途径。以上结果显示ESI-MSn和FT-ICR-MSn是非常有效的分析三萜类化合物和黄酮类化合物结构的工具。     

Molecular Cloning of a Glycyrrhiza uralensis F. Aquaporin GuPIP1 Up-regulated in Response to Drought, Salt and ABA Stress

IntroductionWater is an ubiquitous and indispensable moleculefor plant growth and development[1]. According to thecomposite water flux model[2], water is transported intoplant tissues by three pathways: apoplastic, symplas-tic, and transcellular. The latt…     

Simultaneous separation of triterpenoid saponins and flavonoid glycosides from the roots of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch by pH‐zone‐refining counter‐current chromatography

Glycosides including triterpenoid saponins and flavonoid glycosides are the main constituents of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch (licorice) and exhibit prominent pharmacological activities. However, conventional methods for the separation of glycosides always cause irreversible adsorption and unavoidable loss of sample due to their high hydrophilicities. The present paper describes a convenient method for the simultaneous separation of triterpenoid saponins and flavonoid glycosides from licorice by pH‐zone‐refining counter‐current chromatography. Ethyl acetate/n‐butanol/water (2:3:5, v/v) with 10 mM TFA in the upper organic stationary phase and 10 mM ammonia in the lower aqueous mobile phase was used as the biphasic solvent system. Three triterpenoid saponins and two flavonoid glycosides including licorice‐saponin A3 (63.3 mg), glycyrrhizic acid (342.2 mg), 3‐O‐[β‐d ‐glucuronopyranosyl‐(1 → 2)‐β‐d ‐galactopyranosyl]glycyrrhetic acid (56.0 mg), liquiritin apioside (232.6 mg), and liquiritin (386.5 mg) were successfully obtained from licorice ethanol extract (2 g) in one step. This method subtly takes advantage of the common acidic properties of triterpenoid saponins and flavonoid glycosides, and obviously is much more efficient and convenient than the previous methods. It is also the first time that the separation of acidic triterpenoid saponins by using pH‐zone‐refining counter‐current chromatography has been reported.     

乌拉尔甘草种子油挥发性成分的超临界二氧化碳/气相色谱-质谱分析

采用超临界二氧化碳萃取法(SFE—CO2)提取的乌拉尔甘草种子油,用气相色谱-质谱(GC—MS)联用技术对其挥发性成分进行了分析,首次分离得到52个峰,确定了其中的16种化合物;采用峰面积归一化法计算各成分相对百分含量,所鉴定成分占总馏出峰面积的80．85％。主要成分邻苯二甲酸二丁酯和β-谷甾醇乙酸酯具有较多的生理活性,为进一步开发甘草种子油新药研究提供了依据。     

Molecular Cloning,Expression, and Functional Analysis of Glycosyltransferase (TbUGGT) Gene from Trapa bispinosa Roxb.

Trapa bispinosa Roxb. is an economical crop for medicine and food. Its roots, stems, leaves, and pulp have medicinal applications, and its shell is rich in active ingredients and is considered to have a high medicinal value. One of the main functional components of the Trapa bispinosa Roxb. shell is 1-galloyl-beta-D-glucose (βG), which can be used in medical treatment and is also an essential substrate for synthesizing the anticancer drug beta-penta-o-Galloyl-glucosen (PGG). Furthermore, gallate 1-beta-glucosyltransferase (EC 2.4.1.136) has been found to catalyze gallic acid (GA) and uridine diphosphate glucose (UDPG) to synthesize βG. In our previous study, significant differences in βG content were observed in different tissues of Trapa bispinosa Roxb. In this study, Trapa bispinosa Roxb. was used to clone 1500 bp of the UGGT gene, which was named TbUGGT, to encode 499 amino acids. According to the specificity of the endogenous expression of foreign genes in Escherichia coli, the adaptation codon of the cloned original genes was optimized for improved expression. Bioinformatic and phylogenetic tree analyses revealed the high homology of TbUGGT with squalene synthases from other plants. The TbUGGT gene was constructed into a PET-28a expression vector and then transferred into Escherichia coli Transsetta (DE3) for expression. The recombinant protein had a molecular weight of 55 kDa and was detected using SDS-PAGE. The proteins were purified using multiple fermentation cultures to simulate the intracellular environment, and a substrate was added for in vitro reaction. After the enzymatic reaction, the levels of βG in the product were analyzed using HPLC and LC-MS, indicating the catalytic activity of TbUGGT. The cloning and functional analysis of TbUGGT may lay the foundation for further study on the complete synthesis of βG in E. coli.     

Synthesis and characterization of superparamagnetic poly(urea-formaldehyde) adsorbents and their use for adsorption of flavonoids from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Glycyrrhiza uralensis</Emphasis> Fisch

Superparamagnetic spherical poly(urea-formaldehyde) (PUF) adsorbents were synthesized and their selective adsorption for licorice flavonoids was investigated in this paper. The magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation of ferrous and ferric salts. Then the magnetic adsorbents with PUF shell were synthesized by reversed phase suspension polymerization. The spherical adsorbents have an average diameter of 50 μm and exhibit superparamagnetic characteristics. The saturation magnetization of the adsorbents was 15.1 emu/g. The sorption and desorption properties of licorice flavonoids on the adsorbents were studied. The result shows that the adsorbents have high adsorption capacity (about 16.7 mg/g (adsorbent)). The adsorption data of flavonoids generally obeys the Langmuir isotherm equation. The adsorption can reach equilibrium rapidly and depends strongly on the pH of the feed solution. The concentration of licorice flavonoids after desorption can reach 25.12% in the desorbed fraction with 75% ethanol solution, which is higher than the 21.9% of commercial macroporous resin XDA-1. HPLC showed that liquiritin, one of main flavonoids in the licorice, was retained in this fraction, while glycyrrhizic acid (GA) can be almost removed from this fraction.