QM/MM Study on Enzymatic Mechanism in Sinigrin Biosynthesis

As the major and abundant type of glucosinolates (GL) in plants, sinigrin has potential functions in promoting health and insect defense. The final step in the biosynthesis of sinigrin core structure is highly representative in GL compounds, which corresponds to the process from 3-methylthiopropyl ds-GL to 3-methylthiopropyl GL catalyzed by sulfotransferase (SOT). However, due to the lack of the crystallographic structure of SOT complexed with the 3-methylthiopropyl GL, little is known about this sulfonation process. Fortunately, the crystal structure of SOT 18 from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtSOT18) containing the substance (sinigrin) similar to 3-methylthiopropyl GL has been determined. To understand the enzymatic mechanism, we employed molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and quantum mechanics combined with molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods to study the conversion from ds-sinigrin to sinigrin catalyzed by AtSOT18. The calculated results demonstrate that the reaction occurs through a concerted dissociative mechanism. Moreover, Lys93, Thr96, Thr97, Tyr130, His155, and two enzyme peptide chains (Pro92-Lys93 and Gln95-Thr96-Thr97) play a role in positioning the substrates and promoting the catalytic reaction by stabilizing the transition state geometry. Particularly, His155 acts as a catalytic base while Lys93 acts as a catalytic acid in the reaction process. The presently proposed concerted dissociative mechanism explains the role of AtSOT18 in sinigrin biosynthesis, and could be instructive for the study of GL biosynthesis catalyzed by other SOTs.     

近红外漫反射光谱法测定川藏道地药材菥蓂子中黑芥子苷含量

提出了用近红外光谱技术快速测定川藏道地药材菥蓂子中指标成分黑芥子苷含量的方法。对黑芥子苷含量在1.962%～3.917%范围的不同来源的菥蓂子,根据其在12 500～3 600 cm-1的近红外吸收光谱,采用偏最小二乘法(PLS)建立了校正模型,比较了光谱不同预处理方法对校正结果的影响。当采用最大最小归一化法时能最有效地提取光谱的信息,此时校正集相关系数(r)为0.989 8,校正集标准偏差(SEC)为0.023 3, 预测集标准偏差(SPE)为0.111 2。该方法快速简便,适合于重要指标成分的快速分析。     

Determination of two intact glucosinolates in vegetables and Chinese herbs

A reversed-phase HPLC method was developed for analyzing sinigrin and gluconasturtiin in six vegetable and two Chinese herb samples. A gradient program and mobile phases using methanol and 0.05% trifluoroacetic acid containing 20 mM ammonium acetate allowed sufficient retention and separation of the glucosinolates in the sample extracts. Quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry in negative ion electrospray ionization was used to analyze the fractions collected from the HPLC elution to confirm the identification of the glucosinolates. The levels of sinigrin and gluconasturtiin in the vegetables and Chinese herbs were determined by using an external calibration method. Concentrations of gluconasturtiin in the Chinese herbs were more than 15 times higher than those of sinigrin. Detection limits were 18 nmol g^–1 for sinigrin and 4 nmol g^–1 for gluconasturtiin when 50 g of fresh vegetable was analyzed.     

黑芥子苷生物合成中酶催化机理的QM/MM研究

黑芥子苷作为植物中硫代葡萄糖苷最为主要且丰富的类型,在促进健康和昆虫防御方面具有潜在的功能. 黑芥子苷核心结构生物合成的最后一步在硫代葡萄糖苷化合物中具有高度的代表性. 这一步是在硫转移酶的催化作用下,从3-(甲基硫代)丙基脱硫葡萄糖苷转化为3-(甲基硫代)丙基葡萄糖苷的过程. 由于硫转移酶与3-(甲基硫代)丙基葡萄糖苷复合物的晶体结构还未见报道,因此一直以来人们对该磺化反应的细节知之甚少. 幸运的是,黑芥子苷与3-(甲基硫代)丙基葡萄糖苷的结构十分相似,而且结合有黑芥子苷的拟南芥硫转移酶18的晶体结构已经确定. 为了了解此酶的作用机理,本文采用分子动力学模拟以及组合的量子力学和分子力学方法研究了拟南芥硫转移酶18催化脱硫-黑芥子苷转化为黑芥子苷的过程. 计算结果表明,该反应是通过协同解离机理发生的,而且在反应过程中,赖氨酸93、苏氨酸96、苏氨酸97、酪氨酸130、组氨酸155和酶的两条肽链(脯氨酸92-赖氨酸93肽链和谷氨酰胺95-苏氨酸96-苏氨酸97肽链)稳定了过渡态的结构,在定位底物和促进催化反应中发挥了重要的作用,其中,组氨酸155在反应过程中充当催化碱,赖氨酸93充当催化酸. 目前提出的协同解离机理解释了拟南芥硫转移酶18在黑芥子苷生物合成中的作用,并对其他硫转移酶催化葡萄糖苷生物合成的研究具有指导意义.     

Crown Ethers for Chemical Analysis: A Review

Abstract

Natural macrocvclic compounds, such as valinomycin, are attractive to analysts who have interest in the high selectivity of potassium ion as compared to sodium ion. This selectivity in alkali metal ions was not found in other ligands. Pedersen synthesized many crown ethers [1] and published his result that dibenzo-18-crown-6 (DB18C6) had a larger affinity to potassium than other alkali metals. Since then, these ligands and related compounds have held great interest for physical, inorganic and biochemists.