scholarly journals Identification of 5-Fluoro-5-Deoxy-Ribulose as a Shunt Fluorometabolite in Streptomyces sp. MA37

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linrui Wu ◽  
Ming Him Tong ◽  
Kwaku Kyeremeh ◽  
Hai Deng

A fluorometabolite, 5-fluoro-5-deoxy-D-ribulose (5-FDRul), from the culture broth of the soil bacterium Streptomyces sp. MA37, was identified through a combination of genetic manipulation, chemo-enzymatic synthesis and NMR comparison. Although 5-FDRul has been chemically synthesized before, it was not an intermediate or a shunt product in previous studies of fluorometalism in S. cattleya. Our study of MA37 demonstrates that 5-FDRul is a naturally occurring fluorometabolite, rendering it a new addition to this rare collection of natural products. The genetic inactivation of key biosynthetic genes involved in the fluorometabolisms in MA37 resulted in the increased accumulation of unidentified fluorometabolites as observed from 19F-NMR spectral comparison among the wild type (WT) of MA37 and the mutated variants, providing evidence of the presence of other new biosynthetic enzymes involved in the fluorometabolite pathway in MA37.

1997 ◽  
Vol 35 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 451-453
Author(s):  
F. X. Abad ◽  
A. Bosch ◽  
J. Comas ◽  
D. Villalba ◽  
R. M. Pintó

A method has been developed for the detection of infectious human rotavirus (HRV), based on infection of MA104 and CaCo-2 cell monolayers and ulterior flow cytometry. The sensitivity of the flow cytometry procedure for the cell-adapted HRV enabled the detection of 200 and 2 MPNCU in MA104 and CaCo-2 cells, respectively. Flow cytometry performed five days after infection of CaCo-2 enabled the detection of naturally occurring wild-type HRV in faecal samples and concentrated water samples.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1637
Author(s):  
Solida Long ◽  
Joana B. Loureiro ◽  
Carla Carvalho ◽  
Luís Gales ◽  
Lucília Saraiva ◽  
...  

The tumor suppressor p53 is inactivated by mutation in approximately 50% of human cancers. Small molecules that bind and stabilize those mutants may represent effective anticancer drugs. Herein, we report the tumor cell growth inhibitory activity of carbazole alkaloids and amino derivatives, as well as their potential activation of p53. Twelve aminocarbazole alkaloids were semi-synthesized from heptaphylline (1), 7-methoxy heptaphylline (2), and 7-methoxymukonal (3), isolated from Clausena harmandiana, using a reductive amination protocol. Naturally-occurring carbazoles 1–3 and their amino derivatives were evaluated for their potential effect on wild-type and mutant p53 activity using a yeast screening assay and on human tumor cell lines. Naturally-occurring carbazoles 1–3 showed the most potent growth inhibitory effects on wild-type p53-expressing cells, being heptaphylline (1) the most promising in all the investigated cell lines. However, compound 1 also showed growth inhibition against non-tumor cells. Conversely, semi-synthetic aminocarbazole 1d showed an interesting growth inhibitory activity in tumor cells expressing both wild-type and mutant p53, exhibiting low growth inhibition on non-tumor cells. The yeast assay showed a potential reactivation of mutant p53 by heptaphylline derivatives, including compound 1d. The results obtained indicate that carbazole alkaloids may represent a promising starting point to search for new mutp53-reactivating agents with promising applications in cancer therapy.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 719
Author(s):  
Meri Yulvianti ◽  
Christian Zidorn

Cyanogenic glycosides are an important and widespread class of plant natural products, which are however structurally less diverse than many other classes of natural products. So far, 112 naturally occurring cyanogenic glycosides have been described in the phytochemical literature. Currently, these unique compounds have been reported from more than 2500 plant species. Natural cyanogenic glycosides show variations regarding both the aglycone and the sugar part of the molecules. The predominant sugar moiety is glucose but many substitution patterns of this glucose moiety exist in nature. Regarding the aglycone moiety, four different basic classes can be distinguished, aliphatic, cyclic, aromatic, and heterocyclic aglycones. Our overview covers all cyanogenic glycosides isolated from plants and includes 33 compounds with a non-cyclic aglycone, 20 cyclopentane derivatives, 55 natural products with an aromatic aglycone, and four dihydropyridone derivatives. In the following sections, we will provide an overview about the chemical diversity known so far and mention the first source from which the respective compounds had been isolated. This review will serve as a first reference for researchers trying to find new cyanogenic glycosides and highlights some gaps in the knowledge about the exact structures of already described compounds.


Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Mitsuzawa

Abstract The Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain P-28-24C, from which cAMP requiring mutants derived, responded to exogenously added cAMP. Upon the addition of cAMP, this strain showed phenotypes shared by mutants with elevated activity of the cAMP pathway. Genetic analysis involving serial crosses of this strain to a strain with another genetic background revealed that the responsiveness to cAMP results from naturally occurring loss-of-function alleles of PDE1 and PDE2, which encode low and high affinity cAMP phosphodiesterases, respectively. In addition, P-28-24C was found to carry a mutation conferring slow growth that lies in CYR1, which encodes adenylate cyclase, and the slow growth phenotype caused by the cyr1 mutation was suppressed by the pde2 mutation. Therefore P-28-24C is fortuitously a pde1 pde2 cyr1 triple mutant. Responsiveness to cAMP conferred by pde mutations suggests that S. cerevisiae cells are permeable to cAMP to some extent and that the apparent absence of effect of exogenously added cAMP on wild-type cells is due to immediate degradation by cAMP phosphodiesterases.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (8) ◽  
pp. 2410-2416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Areen Banerjee ◽  
Ching Leang ◽  
Toshiyuki Ueki ◽  
Kelly P. Nevin ◽  
Derek R. Lovley

ABSTRACTThe development of tools for genetic manipulation ofClostridium ljungdahliihas increased its attractiveness as a chassis for autotrophic production of organic commodities and biofuels from syngas and microbial electrosynthesis and established it as a model organism for the study of the basic physiology of acetogenesis. In an attempt to expand the genetic toolbox forC. ljungdahlii, the possibility of adapting a lactose-inducible system for gene expression, previously reported forClostridium perfringens, was investigated. The plasmid pAH2, originally developed forC. perfringenswith agusAreporter gene, functioned as an effective lactose-inducible system inC. ljungdahlii. Lactose induction ofC. ljungdahliicontaining pB1, in which the gene for the aldehyde/alcohol dehydrogenase AdhE1 was downstream of the lactose-inducible promoter, increased expression ofadhE130-fold over the wild-type level, increasing ethanol production 1.5-fold, with a corresponding decrease in acetate production. Lactose-inducible expression ofadhE1in a strain in whichadhE1and theadhE1homologadhE2had been deleted from the chromosome restored ethanol production to levels comparable to those in the wild-type strain. Inducing expression ofadhE2similarly failed to restore ethanol production, suggesting thatadhE1is the homolog responsible for ethanol production. Lactose-inducible expression of the four heterologous genes necessary to convert acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) to acetone diverted ca. 60% of carbon flow to acetone production during growth on fructose, and 25% of carbon flow went to acetone when carbon monoxide was the electron donor. These studies demonstrate that the lactose-inducible system described here will be useful for redirecting carbon and electron flow for the biosynthesis of products more valuable than acetate. Furthermore, this tool should aid in optimizing microbial electrosynthesis and for basic studies on the physiology of acetogenesis.


Author(s):  
Emily Shang ◽  
Paul Axelsen

SARS-CoV-2 attaches to the surface of susceptible cells through extensive interactions between the receptor binding domain (RBD) of its spike protein and angiotensin converting enzyme type 2 (ACE2) anchored in cell membranes. To investigate whether naturally occurring mutations in the spike protein are able to prevent antibody binding, yet while maintaining the ability to bind ACE2 and viral infectivity, mutations in the spike protein identified in cases of human infection were mapped to the crystallographically-determined interfaces between the spike protein and ACE2 (PDB entry 6M0J), antibody CC12.1 (PDB entry 6XC2), and antibody P2B-2F6 (PDB entry 7BWJ). Both antibody binding interfaces partially overlap with the ACE2 binding interface. Among 16 mutations that map to the RBD:CC12.1 interface, 11 are likely to disrupt CC12.1 binding but not ACE2 binding. Among 12 mutations that map to the RBD:P2B-2F6 interface, 8 are likely to disrupt P2B-2F6 binding but not ACE2 binding. As expected, none of the mutations observed to date appear likely to disrupt the RBD:ACE2 interface. We conclude that SARS-CoV-2 with mutated forms of the spike protein may retain the ability to bind ACE2 while evading recognition by antibodies that arise in response to the original wild-type form of the spike protein. It seems likely that immune evasion will be possible regardless of whether the spike protein was encountered in the form of infectious virus, or as the immunogen in a vaccine. Therefore, it also seems likely that reinfection with a variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 may occur among people who recover from Covid-19, and that vaccines with the ability to generate antibodies against multiple variant forms of the spike protein will be necessary to protect against variant forms of SARS-CoV-2 that are already circulating in the human population.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cuncai Guo ◽  
Dorothee Reuss ◽  
Jonathon Dean Coey ◽  
Swathi Sukumar ◽  
Benjamin Lang ◽  
...  

Interferon lambdas (IFNλ) (also known as type III IFNs) are critical cytokines that combat infection predominantly at barrier tissues, such as the lung, liver and gastrointestinal tract. Humans have four IFNλs (1-4) where IFNλ1-3 show ~80-95% homology and IFNλ4 is the most divergent displaying only ~30% sequence identity. Variants in IFNλ4 in humans are associated with the outcome of infection, such as with hepatitis C virus. However, how IFNλ4 variants impact cytokine signalling in other tissues and how well this is conserved is largely unknown. In this study we address whether differences in antiviral signalling exist between IFNλ4 variants in human hepatocyte and intestinal cells, comparing them to IFNλ3. We demonstrate that compared to IFNλ3, wild-type human IFNλ4 induces a signalling response with distinct magnitudes and kinetics, which is modified by naturally-occurring variants P70S and K154E in both cell types. IFNλ4s distinct antiviral response was more rapid yet transient compared to IFNλ1 and 3. Additionally, divergent antiviral kinetics were also observed using non-human primate IFNλs and cell lines. Furthermore, an IFNλ4-like receptor-interacting interface failed to alter IFNλ1s kinetics. Together our data provide further evidence that major functional differences exist within the IFNλ gene family. These results highlight the possible tissue specialisation of IFNλs and encourage further investigation of the divergent, non-redundant activities of IFNλ4 and other IFNλs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 267-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Branislava D. Kocic ◽  
Dobrila M. Stankovic Dordevic ◽  
Marija V. Dimitrijevic ◽  
Marija S. Markovic ◽  
Dragoljub L. Miladinovic

The susceptibility of Helicobacter pylori to three essential oils (EOs), 12 naturally occurring monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated and phenolic monoterpenes and three reference antibiotics were studied. Classification and comparison of essential oils and monoterpenes on the basis of their chemical composition and antibacterial activity were made by the utilization of principal component analyses (PCA) and agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC). The most abundant compound in the Thymus glabrescens Willd. and Thymus pulegioides L. EOs is geraniol (33.8% and 52.5%), while the main constituent in Satureja kitaibelii Wierzb. ex Heuff. EO is limonene (16,1%). The compound that was the most active against H. pylori was carvacrol. EOs of T. glabrescens and S. kitaibelii exhibit higher antibacterial ability in comparison with all monoterpenes, except carvacrol, probably based on the concept of synergistic activity of essential oil components. PCA separated essential oils based on chemical composition and explain 96.5% of the total variance in the first two principal components. Essential oils, phenolic monoterpenes and two antibiotics were classified in the same sub-cluster within AHC analyses. EOs of T. glabrescens and S. kitaibelii can be used to treat infections caused by H. pylori, as a potentially effective, cheap and safe natural products. Further research of antibacterial activity of selected monoterpenes, essential oils and standard antibiotic combinations, as well as clinical study are required.


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