Production of recombinant bleaching enzymes from thermophilic microorganisms in fungal hosts

Cost-effective production of enzymes for industrial processes makes the appropriate selection of the host-vector expression system critical. We have developed two systems for the bulk production of bleaching enzymes from thermophiles. Kluyveromyces lactis has been developed as a secretion host employing expression vectors based on the 2μ-like plasmid pKD1 of Kluyveromyces drosophilarium. Our second system involves the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei. Fusion and nonfusion vectors have been constructed using the strong cellobiohydrolase 1 (cbh1) promoter. The KEX2 protease cleavage site and a 6 × HIS-tag have been incorporated to facilitate both cleavage and purification of the mature foreign proteins.     

Analysis of similarity of electrophoretic patterns in mRNA differential display

We present a novel method of statistical analysis for the comparison of electrophoretic data. The method is based on the squared Euclidian distance of normalized signal data vectors of electrophoretic lanes. The differences in the electrophoretic patterns are evaluated by a statistical test based on Hubert's statistics which measures the significance of the signal grouping. We demonstrate the validity and applicability of the method in a large data set derived from automated fluorescent mRNA differential display analysis of the expression of acute-phase proteins during experimental Escherichia coli infection in mice. The current testing method is capable of finding theoretically similar natural groupings to be similar in a statistically significant way whereas theoretically dissimilar or random groupings can be recognized to be artifactual. We also show how the calculated pairwise signal distances can be utilized in methodological problem solving. These analytical methods can be applied to the study of other related problems of similarity analysis of electrophoretic patterns, and also provide useful tools for the development of automated recognition of differentially expressed mRNAs.     

Antibacterial activity of methylated chitosan and chitooligomer derivatives: Synthesis and structure activity relationships

The purpose of this study was to synthesize series of methylated chitosaccharide derivatives, possessing various degree of methylation, and to determine their structure activity relationship (SAR) with regard to their antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus. Chitosan polymer and chitooligomers were used as starting materials and were methylated by reaction with methyl iodide. Depending on the reaction conditions the degree of N-quaternization ranged from 0% to 74%, with varying degree of N,N-dimethylation, N-monomethylation and O-methylation. More selective N-quaternization could be obtained with protection group strategy. At pH 5.5 the chitosaccharide polymers and their methylated derivatives were active against S. aureus with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 16 to 512 μg/mL. At pH 7.2 the non-quaternized derivatives were inactive but their highly N-quaternized derivatives showed MIC as low as 8 μg/mL. The chitooligomers, as well as their derivatives, were inactive at both pH’s. The SAR studies revealed that N-quaternization was mainly responsible for the antibacterial effects at pH 7.2, whereas it did not contribute to the antibacterial activity under acidic conditions.     

The identification of vicinally substituted cyclohexane isomers in their mixtures by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy

The radical addition reactions of organobromine compounds, XBr (X = CH2COOMe, PhCH2, CHBr2 and CCl3) with cyclohexene afforded mixtures of cis/trans isomer pairs of 1-X-2-Br-cyclohexanes. In addition to benzyl benzoyloxy derivatives are formed also, when benzoyl peroxide is used as an initiator. Owing to the great difficulties in separating these cis/trans isomer pairs, they are identified directly in their mixtures by NMR spectroscopy. In addition to one-dimensional (ID) 1H, proton decoupled 13C and DEPT-135, also two-dimensional (2D) 13C-13C INADEQUATE as well as 1H-13C HMQC experiments have been used in assigning the signals of each compound in their mixtures. The identification of each isomer was based on comparison of experimental 3J(H,H) coupling constants with theoretical ones based on the well-known Karplus type relationship. The more stable conformation for each isomer was estimated using the semiempirical AM1 molecular orbital method. The calculations support the isomer pair elucidations.     

URB754 has no effect on the hydrolysis or signaling capacity of 2-AG in the rat brain

Previous studies indicate that in brain tissue the endocannabinoid 2-AG is inactivated by monoglyceride lipase (MGL)-catalyzed hydrolysis, and a recent report has indicated that MGL activity could be specifically inhibited by URB754 . In the present study, URB754 failed to inhibit 2-AG hydrolysis in rat brain preparations. In addition, brain cryosections were employed to assess whether URB754 could facilitate the detection of 2-AG-stimulated G protein activity. Nevertheless, whereas pretreatment with PMSF readily allowed detection of 2-AG-stimulated G protein activity, URB754 was ineffective. In contrast to previous claims, brain FAAH activity was also resistant to URB754. Thus, in our hands URB754 was not able to block the endocannabinoid-hydrolyzing enzymes and cannot serve as a lead structure for future development of MGL-specific inhibitors.     

Electron impact induced fragmentations of some 2,2-disubstituted 1,3-oxathiolanes

The electron impact induced fragmentations of nine 2,2-disubstituted 1,3-oxathiolanes have been studied by means of exact mass measurement and metastable ion analysis. The ring cleavage almost always takes place so that the C(2)? S and C(5)? O bonds are broken, leading to the most stable products. The nature of the substituents determines the primary fragmentations of molecular ions. Ring cleavage is important only if both substituents are alkyl groups or if the carbon attaching to the ring has an alkyl character. The loss of the substituent becomes the most favourable process if it is attached to the ring through the electron-deficient carbon atom.     

Antibacterial activity of N-quaternary chitosan derivatives: Synthesis, characterization and structure activity relationship (SAR) investigations

Quaternary N-(2-(N,N,N-tri-alkyl ammoniumyl and 2-pyridiniumyl) acetyl) derivatives of chitosan polymer, chitooligomer, and glucosamine (monomer) were synthesized for the purpose of investigating the structure activity relationship (SAR) for the antibacterial effect. Novel methods were used in the synthesis. The final chitosan and chitooligomer derivatives could thus be obtained in two steps without prior protection of the hydroxyl groups. However, in order to obtain chitosan derivatives with the bulky N,N-dimethyl-N-dodecyl- and N,N-dimethyl-N-butyl side chains three steps were needed, starting from 3,6-O-di-tert-butyldimethylsilyl chitosan (3,6-O-di-TBDMS chitosan) as the key intermediate. The quaternary ammoniumyl acetyl derivatives of glucosamine were synthesized from glucosamine or tetra-O-acetylglucosamine. N,N,N-trimethyl chitosan (TMC) was used as reference compound for investigation of antibacterial activity. Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) protocols were used to determine MIC and MLC for activity against clinically important Gram-positive strains Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), and S. aureus (MRSA) (ATCC 43300), and Gram-negative strains of Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), P. aeriginosa (ATCC 27853) and Enterococcus facialis (ATCC 29212). The MIC values for the compounds ranged from 8 to ?8192 mg/L. In general the N-(2-(N,N-dimethyl-N-dodecyl ammoniumyl) acetyl) derivatives of chitooligomer and glucosamine monomer were more active against bacteria than derivatives with shorter alkyl chains. In contrast the N-(2-(N,N-dimethyl-N-dodecyl ammoniumyl) acetyl) derivatives of chitosan were less active than derivatives with N-(2-N,N,N-trimetylammoniumyl) acetyl or N-(2-(N-pyridiniumyl) acetyl) quaternary moiety. N,N,N-trimethyl chitosan (TMC) was the most active compound in this study.