Conjugation of Benzylvanillin and Benzimidazole Structure Improves DNA Binding with Enhanced Antileukemic Properties

Benzyl-o-vanillin and benzimidazole nucleus serve as important pharmacophore in drug discovery. The benzyl vanillin (2-(benzyloxy)-3-methoxybenzaldehyde) compound shows anti-proliferative activity in HL60 leukemia cancer cells and can effect cell cycle progression at G2/M phase. Its apoptosis activity was due to disruption of mitochondrial functioning. In this study, we have studied a series of compounds consisting of benzyl vanillin and benzimidazole structures. We hypothesize that by fusing these two structures we can produce compounds that have better anticancer activity with improved specificity particularly towards the leukemia cell line. Here we explored the anticancer activity of three compounds namely 2-(2-benzyloxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1H-benzimidazole, 2MP, N-1-(2-benzyloxy-3-methoxybenzyl)-2-(2-benzyloxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1H-benzimidazole, 2XP, and (R) and (S)-1-(2-benzyloxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2, 2, 2-trichloroethyl benzenesulfonate, 3BS and compared their activity to 2-benzyloxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, (Bn1), the parent compound. 2XP and 3BS induces cell death of U937 leukemic cell line through DNA fragmentation that lead to the intrinsic caspase 9 activation. DNA binding study primarily by the equilibrium binding titration assay followed by the Viscosity study reveal the DNA binding through groove region with intrinsic binding constant 7.39 µM/bp and 6.86 µM/bp for 3BS and 2XP respectively. 2XP and 3BS showed strong DNA binding activity by the UV titration method with the computational drug modeling showed that both 2XP and 3BS failed to form any electrostatic linkages except via hydrophobic interaction through the minor groove region of the nucleic acid. The benzylvanillin alone (Bn1) has weak anticancer activity even after it was combined with the benzimidazole (2MP), but after addition of another benzylvanillin structure (2XP), stronger activity was observed. Also, the combination of benzylvanillin with benzenesulfonate (3BS) significantly improved the anticancer activity of Bn1. The present study provides a new insight of benzyl vanillin derivatives as potential anti-leukemic agent.     

Dynamics of mitochondrial inheritance in the evolution of binary mating types and two sexes

The uniparental inheritance (UPI) of mitochondria is thought to explain the evolution of two mating types or even true sexes with anisogametes. However, the exact role of UPI is not clearly understood. Here, we develop a new model, which considers the spread of UPI mutants within a biparental inheritance (BPI) population. Our model explicitly considers mitochondrial mutation and selection in parallel with the spread of UPI mutants and self-incompatible mating types. In line with earlier work, we find that UPI improves fitness under mitochondrial mutation accumulation, selfish conflict and mitonuclear coadaptation. However, we find that as UPI increases in the population its relative fitness advantage diminishes in a frequency-dependent manner. The fitness benefits of UPI ‘leak’ into the biparentally reproducing part of the population through successive matings, limiting the spread of UPI. Critically, while this process favours some degree of UPI, it neither leads to the establishment of linked mating types nor the collapse of multiple mating types to two. Only when two mating types exist beforehand can associated UPI mutants spread to fixation under the pressure of high mitochondrial mutation rate, large mitochondrial population size and selfish mutants. Variation in these parameters could account for the range of UPI actually observed in nature, from strict UPI in some Chlamydomonas species to BPI in yeast. We conclude that UPI of mitochondria alone is unlikely to have driven the evolution of two mating types in unicellular eukaryotes.     

Adaptive divergence in experimental populations of Pseudomonas fluorescens. III. Mutational origins of wrinkly spreader diversity

Understanding the connections among genotype, phenotype, and fitness through evolutionary time is a central goal of evolutionary genetics. Wrinkly spreader (WS) genotypes evolve repeatedly in model Pseudomonas populations and show substantial morphological and fitness differences. Previous work identified genes contributing to the evolutionary success of WS, in particular the di-guanylate cyclase response regulator, WspR. Here we scrutinize the Wsp signal transduction pathway of which WspR is the primary output component. The pathway has the hallmarks of a chemosensory pathway and genetic analyses show that regulation and function of Wsp is analogous to the Che chemotaxis pathway from Escherichia coli. Of significance is the methyltransferase (WspC) and methylesterase (WspF) whose opposing activities form an integral feedback loop that controls the activity of the kinase (WspE). Deductions based on the regulatory model suggested that mutations within wspF were a likely cause of WS. Analyses of independent WS genotypes revealed numerous simple mutations in this single open reading frame. Remarkably, different mutations have different phenotypic and fitness effects. We suggest that the negative feedback loop inherent in Wsp regulation allows the pathway to be tuned by mutation in a rheostat-like manner.     

Shedding light on sheddases: role in growth and development.

The extracellular domains of several integral membrane proteins are released from the cell surface by a group of enzymes known as "sheddases" through a process called "ectodomain shedding". Because many transmembrane growth and differentiation factors, including members of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family that play a crucial role in development, require ectodomain shedding for proper action in vivo, proteolysis is now viewed as a regulatory mechanism in the developing embryos. Two recent reports by Zhao et al. provide evidence for the role of cell surface proteolysis by an ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) in the development of murine lung. Inhibition of tumor necrosis factor-alpha converting enzyme (TACE, ADAM17) by the hydroxamic acid-based metalloprotease inhibitor (TAPI), or a targeted mutation in Zn(2+)-binding domain of TACE, disrupts two essential epithelial functions in lung development: branching morphogenesis and cytodifferentiation. Evidence for the role of ADAMs as sheddases in development and growth factor signaling is discussed.     

Cloning and characterization of two extracellular heparin-degrading endosulfatases in mice and humans

Here we report the cloning of a full-length cDNA encoding the human ortholog (HSulf-1) of the developmentally regulated putative sulfatases QSulf-1 (Dhoot, G. K., Gustafsson, M. K., Ai, X., Sun, W., Standiford, D. M., and Emerson, C. P., Jr. (2001) Science 293, 1663-1666) and RSulfFP1 (Ohto, T., Uchida, H., Yamazaki, H., Keino-Masu, K., Matsui, A., and Masu, M. (2002) Genes Cells 7, 173-185) as well as a cDNA encoding a closely related protein, designated HSulf-2. We have also obtained cDNAs for the mouse orthologs of both Sulfs. We demonstrate that the proteins encoded by both classes of cDNAs are endoproteolytically processed in the secretory pathway and are released into conditioned medium of transfected CHO cells. We demonstrate that the mammalian Sulfs exhibit arylsulfatase activity with a pH optimum in the neutral range; moreover, they can remove sulfate from the C-6 position of glucosamine within specific subregions of intact heparin. Taken together, our results establish that the mammalian Sulfs are extracellular endosulfatases with strong potential for modulating the interactions of heparan sulfate proteoglycans in the extracellular microenvironment.     

The metalloprotease Kuzbanian (ADAM10) mediates the transactivation of EGF receptor by G protein-coupled receptors

Communication between different signaling pathways enables cells to coordinate the responses to diverse environmental signals. Activation of the transmembrane growth factor precursors plays a critical role in this communication and often involves metalloprotease-mediated proteolysis. Stimulation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) transactivates the EGF receptors (EGFRs), which occurs via a metalloprotease-dependent cleavage of heparin-binding EGF (HB-EGF). However, the metalloprotease mediating the transactivation remains elusive. We show that the integral membrane metalloprotease Kuzbanian (KUZ; ADAM10), which controls Notch signaling in Drosophila, stimulates GPCR transactivation of EGFR. Upon stimulation of the bombesin receptors, KUZ increases the docking and activation of adaptors Src homology 2 domain-containing protein and Gab1 on the EGFR, and activation of Ras and Erk. In contrast, transfection of a protease domain-deleted KUZ, or blocking endogenous KUZ by morpholino antisense oligonucleotides, suppresses the transactivation. The effect of KUZ on shedding of HB-EGF and consequent transactivation of the EGFR depends on its metalloprotease activity. GPCR activation enhances the association of KUZ and its substrate HB-EGF with tetraspanin CD9. Thus, KUZ regulates the relay between the GPCR and EGFR signaling pathways.     

A novel role for catalase B in the maintenance of fungal cell-wall integrity during host invasion in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea

Asexual spores of the rice blast fungus germinate to produce a specialized and melanized infection structure, the appressorium, which is pivotal to successful plant penetration. To investigate whether Magnaporthe grisea counteracts the toxic burst of H2O2 localized beneath the site of attempted invasion, we examined the temporal expression of five candidate antioxidant genes. Of these, the putatively secreted large subunit catalase CATB gene was 600-fold up-regulated in vivo, coincident with penetration, and moderately up-regulated in vitro, in response to exogenous H2O2. Targeted gene replacement of CATB led to compromised pathogen fitness; the catB mutant displayed paler pigmentation and accelerated hyphal growth but lower biomass, poorer sporulation, fragile conidia and appressoria, and impaired melanization. The catB mutant was severely less pathogenic than Guy 11 on barley and rice, and its infectivity was further reduced on exposure to H2O2. The wild-type phenotype was restored by the reintroduction of CATB into the catB mutant We found no evidence to support a role for CATB in detoxification of the host-derived H2O2 at the site of penetration. Instead, we demonstrated that CATB plays a part in strengthening the fungal wall, a role of particular importance during forceful entry into the host.