Probing the intestinal α-glucosidase enzyme specificities of starch-digesting maltase-glucoamylase and sucrase-isomaltase: synthesis and inhibitory properties of 3'- and 5'-maltose-extended de-O-sulfonated ponkoranol

The synthesis and glucosidase inhibitory activities of two C-3'- and C-5'-β-maltose-extended analogues of the naturally occurring sulfonium-ion inhibitor, de-O-sulfonated ponkoranol, are described. The compounds are designed to test the specificity towards four intestinal glycoside hydrolase family 31 (GH31) enzyme activities, responsible for the hydrolysis of terminal starch products and sugars into glucose, in humans. The target sulfonium-ion compounds were synthesized by means of nucleophilic attack of benzyl protected 1,4-anhydro-4-thio-D-arabinitol at the C-6 position of 6-O-trifluoromethanesulfonyl trisaccharides as alkylating agents. The alkylating agents were synthesized from D-glucose by glycosylation at C-4 or C-2 with maltosyl trichloroacetimidate. Deprotection of the coupled products by using a two-step sequence, followed by reduction afforded the final compounds. Evaluation of the target compounds for inhibition of the four glucosidase activities indicated that selective inhibition of one enzyme over the others is possible.     

A HPLC method for specific determination ofα-amylase and glucoamylase in complex enzymatic preparations

Summary In the hydrolysis of soluble starch by mixtures of α-amylase and glucoamylase, the ratios maltose/glucose and maltoriose/glucose linearly depend, over a wide range, on the relation between both enzymes and are independent on the activity level of the enzymatic preparation. HPLC determination of hydrolysis products (glucose, maltose and maltotriose) of soluble starch by mixtures of these enzymes, after incubation under controlled conditions, is a rapid method for the evaluation of the relative levels of each enzyme in the mixtures. The method, first developed using pure commercial amylases, is applied, with consistent results, to cell free media ofAspergillus niger cultures on a glycogen-rich effluent.     

QM/MM distortion energies in di‐ and oligosaccharides complexed with proteins*

To investigate whether linkages between monosaccharide residues are unusually distorted by their interactions with proteins, ? and ψ values for fragments of cellulose and starch were taken from the Protein Data Bank. These experimental conformations were then plotted on energy surfaces that were calculated with a hybrid of HF/6‐31G* and MM3(96) energies. Energy values corresponding to each crystallographic conformation were then pooled. Nearly 70% of the 210 structures had energies of 1 kcal mol^?1 or less. A cumulative frequency analysis showed that most points fell on a curve that had an exponential decrease in the number of observed structures as the energy increased. This is analogous to a Boltzmann distribution but at higher temperature. This analysis showed that more than 90% of the linkages were not unusually distorted, and the distribution was similar to that found for small‐molecule crystals of carbohydrates. However, above 2 kcal mol^?1, the observed points deviated from the curve. Most of these high‐energy observations were from linkages being broken by enzymatic attack, but others were not, and some scissile linkages were not unusually distorted. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 84: 416–425, 2001 *     

半胱氨酸基麦芽糖修饰亲水硅胶的制备及其对糖肽的富集

糖蛋白与糖肽在复杂生物体系中丰度一般较低,为了在糖蛋白质组学研究中深入和全面分析鉴定糖基化位点与糖链,通常需要进行富集前处理操作。该文设计并合成了一种半胱氨酸基麦芽糖修饰亲水硅胶分离介质(Cys-Mal@SiO_2),将其装填入固相萃取柱中制备新型亲水固相萃取柱。在以人免疫球蛋白G酶解液为样品进行富集鉴定时,Cys-Mal@SiO_2鉴定糖肽的质谱信号强度和信噪比比半胱氨酸修饰硅胶(Cys@SiO_2)、麦芽糖修饰硅胶(Mal@SiO_2)和商品化ZIC-HILIC更高。在复杂的鼠肝蛋白质提取物的糖蛋白质组学分析中,Cys-Mal@SiO_2共鉴定出1 551条糖肽,属于466个糖蛋白的906个N-糖基化位点,比Cys@SiO_2和Mal@SiO_2鉴定糖肽数、蛋白质数和N-糖基化位点数分别多211、67、127个和289、76、193个。将Cys-Mal@SiO_2成功应用于低丰度糖肽的选择性富集与鉴定,在糖蛋白质组学研究中体现出良好的应用潜力。     

The role of intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds in the formation of β-cyclodextrin head-to-head and head-to-tail dimers. The results of ab initio and semiempirical quantum-chemical calculations

The conformation of a free -cyclodextrin molecule optimized by the MNDO/PM3 quantum-chemical calculations has C₇ symmetry. The right orientation of the interglucose hydrogen bonds in -cyclodextrin, in which the 2-OH groups act as the proton donors and the O atoms of the nearby 3"-OH groups function as the proton acceptors, is advantageous for thermodynamic reasons. The ring of seven H bonds thus formed stabilizes the symmetrical form of -cyclodextrin. The -cyclodextrin head-to-head dimer has D ₇ symmetry and consists of molecules whose 2-OH groups partcipate as proton donors in the formation of fourteen complementary intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The energy of H bonds in the -cyclodextrin monomer and dimer was estimated to be 1.0--1.4 kcal mol^–1. Of the two possible -cyclodextrin dimers, the head-to-tail dimer is more thermodynamically stable. The thermodynamic preference of the right orientation of the inter-glucose H bonds in -cyclodextrin was confirmed by the MP2/6-31G(d,p)//6-31G(d,p) ab initio calculations for maltose (-glucodioside). The maltose molecule with inter-glucose H bonds of the type 2-OHO(3")-H is more stable than the structure with the H-(2)OH-O(3") orientation of H bonds with a difference of 2.7 kcal mol^–1. According to the MNDO/PM3 method, the maltose structure with the right H bond orientation is more stable by 3.1 kcal mol^–1.     

Water structure about the dimer and hexamer repeat units of amylose from molecular dynamics computer simulations

We have analyzed a set of molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories of maltose in vacuum and water for solute imposed structuring on the solvent. To do this, we used a novel technique to calculate water probability densities to locate the areas in which the solvent is most populated in the maltose solution. We found that only the layer of water within the first maltose hydration shell has a probability density 50% and greater than that of bulk water. On investigating this water layer using Voronoi polyhedra (VP) analysis it was seen that only the waters adjacent to the hydrophobic (CH and CH₂) groups are more structured than bulk water. We found that in a maltose solution of approximately 1.0 g/cm³ the solute does not disrupt the structure of the surrounding water beyond the first hydration shell. Next we performed a 700‐ps MD simulation of a maltohexaose strand in a box of 4096 SPC/E waters. The water probability density calculations and the VP analysis of the maltohexaose solution show that the larger amylose repeat unit decreases the solvent configurational entropy of the water beyond the first hydration shell. Analysis of this trajectory reveals that the helical conformation of the maltohexaose strand is preserved via bridging intermolecular water hydrogen bonds, indicating that a single amylose helical turn in water is preserved by hydrophilic and not hydrophobic interactions. Using VP analysis we present a method to accurately determine the number of water molecules in the first hydration shell of dissolved solutes. In the case of maltose, there are 40 water molecules in this shell, while for maltohexaose the number is 98. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 22: 445–456, 2001     

Role of Mono- and Disaccharide Combination in Cryoprotective Medium for Rooster Semen to Ensure Cryoresistance of Spermatozoa

The combination of saccharides in the composition of a cryopreservation medium may represent a promising method for the preservation of the reproductive cells of male birds. In the current study, cryoprotective media with a combined composition of mono- and di-saccharides were developed. The degree of penetration of reducing saccharide molecules (maltose—Mal20 medium) and non-reducing disaccharide molecules (trehalose—Treh20 medium) from the cryoprotective medium into the cytosol of rooster spermatozoa was studied. LCM control media without disaccharides were used as the control. The number of maltose molecules penetrating from the outside into the cytosol of the spermatozoon was 1.06 × 10⁴, and the number of trehalose molecules was 3.98 × 10⁴. Using a combination of maltose and fructose, the progressive motility of frozen/thawed semen and the fertility rates of eggs were significantly higher ((p < 0.05) 40.2% and 68.5%, respectively) than when using a combination of trehalose and fructose in a cryoprotective diluent (33.4% and 62.4%, respectively). A higher rate of chromatin integrity at the level of 92.4% was obtained when using Treh20 versus 74.5% Mal20 (p < 0.05). Maltose positively affected the preservation of frozen/thawed sperm in the genital tract of hens. On the seventh day from the last insemination when using Mal20, the fertilization of eggs was 42.6% and only 27.3% when using Treh20. Despite the same molecular weight, maltose and trehalose have different physicochemical and biological properties that determine their function and effectiveness as components of cryoprotective media.     

Enzymatic glycosylation of indoxyglycosides catalyzed by a novel maltose phosphorylase from Emticicia oligotrophica

Maltose phosphorylases (EC 2.4.1.8) catalyze the reversible conversion of maltose to glucose and glucose-1-phosphate in the presence of inorganic phosphate. Herein, we describe for the first time the use of a maltose phosphorylase for the synthesis of various anomerically modified diglycosides. The maltose phosphorylase used was isolated from the bacterium Emticicia oligotrophica and showed a high selectivity towards the phosphorolysis of maltose, whereas no phosphorolysis was observed using other glucose-containing disaccharides such as cellobiose, melibiose, sucrose and trehalose. The addition of glucose to various 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-glycosides (X-sugars) was used to evaluate the promiscuity of the maltose phosphorylase, and product formation was verified by LC-ESI-MS and MALDI-TOF-MS. The simple expression and purification protocol and the use of maltose as an inexpensive starting material make this maltose phosphorylase from Emticicia oligotrophica a valuable novel biocatalyst for the synthesis of glucose-containing glycosides.     

Cholesteric star-shaped liquid crystals induced by a maltose core: synthesis and characteristics

Three esters of maltose (A1–A3) with 4–(4–(alkoxybenzoyloxy)phenoxy) –6–oxohexanoic acid (b1–b3) side-arms have been synthesised. All the maltose derivatives were laevo-rotationary, unlike their parent cores. The side arm b1 did not display liquid crystalline (LC) properties, and b2 and b3 displayed thermotropic nematic LC properties. The star-shaped compound (SSC) A1 with b1 side-arms did not display a mesomorphic phase. Unlike the nematic schlieren texture provided by side-arms b2 and b3, the star-shaped liquid crystals (SSLC) A2 and A3 displayed Grandjean and oily texture in the cholesteric phase. The results suggest that the LC properties of the side-arms have an important influence on the formation of LC properties in an SSC, and that the maltose core is important in determining the mesomorphic phase type. In other words, the SSC displayed LC properties only when the side-arms were also LC, and the maltose core induced a cholesteric phase in the SSLC with nematic side-arms. The mesomorphic regions for A2 and A3 were 39.1 and 53.7°C during the heating cycle and 63.8 and 107.0°C during the cooling cycle, respectively. The longer terminal chain rendered the mesomorphic region broader.     

Computational studies on carbohydrates: I. Density functional ab initio geometry optimization on maltose conformations

Ab initio geometry optimization was carried out on 10 selected conformations of maltose and two 2‐methoxytetrahydropyran conformations using the density functional denoted B3LYP combined with two basis sets. The 6‐31G* and 6‐311++G** basis sets make up the B3LYP/6‐31G* and B3LYP/6‐311++G** procedures. Internal coordinates were fully relaxed, and structures were gradient optimized at both levels of theory. Ten conformations were studied at the B3LYP/6‐31G* level, and five of these were continued with full gradient optimization at the B3LYP/6‐311++G** level of theory. The details of the ab initio optimized geometries are presented here, with particular attention given to the positions of the atoms around the anomeric center and the effect of the particular anomer and hydrogen bonding pattern on the maltose ring structures and relative conformational energies. The size and complexity of the hydrogen‐bonding network prevented a rigorous search of conformational space by ab initio calculations. However, using empirical force fields, low‐energy conformers of maltose were found that were subsequently gradient optimized at the two ab initio levels of theory. Three classes of conformations were studied, as defined by the clockwise or counterclockwise direction of the hydroxyl groups, or a flipped conformer in which the ψ‐dihedral is rotated by ∼180°. Different combinations of ω side‐chain rotations gave energy differences of more than 6 kcal/mol above the lowest energy structure found. The lowest energy structures bear remarkably close resemblance to the neutron and X‐ray diffraction crystal structures. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. * J Comput Chem 21: 1204–1219, 2000