Overexpression in Catharanthus roseus hairy roots of a truncated hamster 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase gene

Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don hairy roots harboring hamster 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) (EC 1.1.1.88) cDNA without membrane-binding domain were evaluated by quantifying the levels of sterols and some indol-alkaloids. Clone 236, with the highest hybridization signal, had the lowest soluble and microsomal HMGR activity and produced more ajmalicine and catharanthine than the control but had reduced campesterol concentration. Clone 19, with low hybridization signal, had high soluble HMGR activity and produced high levels of campesterol and five to seven times more serpentine than the control but a low level of ajmalicine and no accumulation of catharanthine. These results suggest a possible role for HMGR in indole alkaloid biosynthesis and a possible cosuppression of both the endogenous and foreign HMGR genes in clone 236.     

Theoretical study of ribonucleotide reductase mechanism-based inhibition by 2'-azido-2'-deoxyribonucleoside 5'-diphosphates

2'-azido-2'-deoxyribonucleoside 5'-diphosphates are mechanism-based inhibitors of Ribonucleotide Reductase. Considerable effort has been made to elucidate their mechanism of inhibition, which is still controversial and not fully understood. Previous studies have detected the formation of a radical intermediate when the inhibitors interact with the enzyme, and several authors have proposed possible structures for this radical. We have conducted a theoretical study of the possible reactions involved, which allowed us to identify the structure of the new radical among the several proposals. A new reactional path is also proposed that is the most kinetically favored to yield this radical and ultimately inactivate the enzyme. The energetic involved in this mechanism, both for radical formation and radical decay, as well as the calculated Hyperfine Coupling Constants for the radical intermediate, are in agreement with the correspondent experimental values. This mechanistic alternative is fully coherent with remaining experimental data.     

Synthesis of phosphonocinnamic thioesters, substrate analogues of cinnamoyl-CoA reductase, a key enzyme in the lignification process

The one-pot transesterification of diethylarylvinylphosphonates with N-acetylcysteamine has been achieved using phosphonochloridates as intermediates. Reaction of phosphonodiesters with (COCl)₂ gave the corresponding chlorinated compounds, which were coupled with N-acetylcysteamine in presence of Et₃N.     

Peptide prefractionation is essential for proteomic approaches employing multiple‐reaction monitoring of fruit proteomic research

Off‐gel? IEF has become a popular tool in proteomics research to fractionate peptides or proteins. We conducted a detailed investigation on the fruit proteomics of apple, banana, and strawberry fruit employing Off‐gel? electrophoresis (OGE) as a crucial step to improve the proteome coverage and quantitative proteomic workflows including multiple‐reaction monitoring (MRM). We provide technical details concerning the application of Off‐gel?IEF, nano‐LC–MS detection, and MRM optimization and analysis. Our results demonstrated that the application of OGE is an effective method for peptide fractionation and increased significantly the number of proteins identified by at least ten times, with more total peptides detected and collected. Furthermore, we developed a protocol combining OGE and MRM studies to identify and quantitatively investigate monodehydroascorbate reductase, a key enzyme in the redox and antioxidant system of apple fruit during fruit ripening. Using this method, the quantitative changes in this protein during ripening and in response to ethylene treatment was investigated. Our results provide direct and comprehensive evidence demonstrating the benefits of OGE and its application for both shotgun and quantitative proteomics research.     

Enzymatic Conversion of Flavonoids using Bacterial Chalcone Isomerase and Enoate Reductase

Flavonoids are a large group of plant secondary metabolites with a variety of biological properties and are therefore of interest to many scientists, as they can lead to industrially interesting intermediates. The anaerobic gut bacterium Eubacterium ramulus can catabolize flavonoids, but until now, the pathway has not been experimentally confirmed. In the present work, a chalcone isomerase (CHI) and an enoate reductase (ERED) could be identified through whole genome sequencing and gene motif search. These two enzymes were successfully cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli in their active form, even under aerobic conditions. The catabolic pathway of E. ramulus was confirmed by biotransformations of flavanones into dihydrochalcones. The engineered E. coli strain that expresses both enzymes was used for the conversion of several flavanones, underlining the applicability of this biocatalytic cascade reaction.     

芳香噻嗪类衍生物作为选择性醛糖还原酶抑制剂的分子对接和基于受体的三维定量构效关系研究

芳香噻嗪类衍生物被证明是一类选择性较好的高活性醛糖还原酶抑制剂(ARIs).本文对44个芳香噻嗪类化合物进行了分子对接(docking)和三维定量构效关系(3D-QSAR)研究,并探索了此类化合物与醛糖还原酶(ALr²)的作用机理.醛糖还原酶与醛还原酶(ALR1)活性位点的叠加结果显示, ALr²中残基Leu 300和Cys298的存在是化合物1m具有高选择性的原因.分别建立了比较分子场分析方法(CoMFA, q² = 0.649, r² =0.934; q²:交叉验证相关系数, r²:非交叉验证相关系数)和比较分子相似性指数分析方法(CoMSIA, q² = 0.746, r² = 0.971)模型,并对影响此类化合物生物活性的结构进行了鉴定.结果显示,两个模型均具有较高预测能力,并通过测试集中的7个化合物进行了验证,其中CoMFA模型和CoMSIA模型的预测相关系数(r_Pred²)分别为0.748和0.828. 3D-QSAR模型中的三维等值线图表明,在化合物1m的苄基环上C3和C4位置以及苯并噻嗪母核上C5和C7位置进行改进可能对生物活性的提高有利,此预测与我们前期报道的苯并噻嗪母核C7位改进结果一致.本文所建3D-QSAR模型能够在理性设计具有更高生物活性的新型ARIs中发挥重要作用.     

Determination of triapine,a ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor,in human plasma by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Triapine is an inhibitor of ribonucleotide reductase (RNR). Studies have shown that triapine significantly decreases the activity of RNR and enhanced the radiation‐mediated cytotoxicity in cervical and colon cancer. In this work, we have developed and validated a selective and sensitive LC‐MS/MS method for the determination of triapine in human plasma. In this method, 2‐[(3‐fluoro‐2‐pyridinyl)methylene] hydrazinecarbothioamide (NSC 266749) was used as the internal standard (IS); plasma samples were prepared by deproteinization with acetonitrile; tripaine and the IS were separated on a Waters Xbridge Shield RP₁₈ column (3.5 µm; 2.1 × 50 mm) using a mobile phase containing 25.0% methanol and 75.0% ammonium bicarbonate buffer (10.0 mm , pH 8.50; v/v); column eluate was monitored by positive turbo‐ionspray tandem mass spectrometry; and quantitation of triapine was carried out in multiple‐reaction‐monitoring mode. The method developed had a linear calibration range of 0.250–50.0 ng/mL with correlation coefficient of 0.999 for triapine in human plasma. The IS‐normalized recovery and the IS‐normalized matrix factor of triapine were 101–104% and 0.89–1.05, respectively. The accuracy expressed as percentage error and precision expressed as coefficient of variation were ≤±6 and ≤8%, respectively. The validated LC‐MS/MS method was applied to the measurement of triapine in patient samples from a phase I clinical trial. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

胆绿素还原酶电极及电位法测定胆红素的研究

本文研制了胆绿素还原酶电极,采用电位法测定胆红素。胆绿素还原酶以牛血清白蛋白和戊二醛固定化制成酶膜,覆盖在石墨电极上在辅酶Ⅰ存在下进行测定,铁氰离子作为电子传递介质。胆红素在空气存在下氧化为胆绿素,再以胆绿素还原酶电极进行检测。线性响应范围为1×10~(-6)-1×10~(-4)mol/L胆绿素(胆红素),酶膜寿命约60h。本法可在水溶液中测定胆红素。     

Transcriptional targeting of gene expression in breast cancer by the promoters of protein regulator of cytokinesis 1 and ribonuclease reductase 2

For cancer gene therapy, cancer-specific over- expression of a therapeutic gene is required to reduce side effects derived from expression of the gene in normal cells. To develop such an expression vector, we searched for genes over-expressed and/or specifically expressed in cancer cells using bioinformatics and have selected genes coding for protein regulator of cytokinesis 1 (PRC1) and ribonuclease reductase 2 (RRM2) as candidates. Their cancer-specific expressions were confirmed in both breast cancer cell lines and patient tissues. We compared each promoter's cancer-specific activity in the breast normal and cancer cell lines using the luciferase gene as a reporter and confirmed cancer-specific expression of both PRC1 and RRM2 promoters. To test activities of these promoters in viral vectors, the promoters were also cloned into an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector containing green fluorescence protein (GFP) as the reporter. The GFP expression levels by these promoters were various depending on cell lines tested and, in MDA-MB-231 cells, GFP activities derived from the PRC1 and RRM2 promoters were as strong as that from the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter. Our result showed that a vector containing the PRC1 or RRM2 promoter could be used for breast cancer specific overexpression in gene therapy.