Oxidative and reductive cleavage of folates--a critical appraisal.

A critical analysis has been made of the oxidative and reductive techniques employedfor cleavage of the C⁹-N¹⁰ bond of folic acid and its derivaatives. The assumption has previously been made that these cleavage reactions reduce folates to a common family of p-aminobenzoylglutamate derivatives varying only in the lengths of γ-polyglutamyl peptide side chains which are readily subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis. This assumption is incorrect. Oxidation by potassium permanganate effectively cleaved folic acid, dihydrofolic acid, tetrahydrofolic acid, and 5-formyltetrahydrofolic acid to yield p-aminobenzoylglutamate. 5-Methyltetrahydrofolic acid was merely oxidized to 5-methyldihydrofolic acid while 5,10-methenyltetrahydrofolic acid and 10-formyltetrahydrofolic acid were oxidized to 10-formylfolate which was stable to further attack. Of all the folate derivatives tested only folic acid and dihydrofolic acid were cleaved to p-aminobenzoylglutamate by the zinc-hydrochloric acid reduction method. Both tetrahydrofolic acid and 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid were stable under fully reducing conditions. 5,10-Methenyl-,10-formyl-, and 5-formyltetrahydrofolic acid yielded N-methyl-p-aminobenzoylglutamate. It is evident, therefore, that not only is the dominant mammalian tissue folate derivative, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, resistant to cleavage by either method, but that a common family of p-aminobenzoylglutamate derivatives is not the end product of those folate compounds that are susceptible. While this may not invalidate the reports of the relative polyglutamate chain lengths of tissue folates such data should be regarded with some caution.     

Mannic acid,a new ent-kaurane dimer diterpenoid and other chemical constituents from different parts of Diospyros mannii

A new dimeric ent-kaurane diterpene, mannic acid (1), and 19 known compounds were isolated from the methanol extract of the stems, roots and leaves of Diospyros mannii Hiern (Ebenaceae). Their structures were established by NMR and MS data. This is the first report of asperglaucide from the family Ebenaceae, while mannic acid (1) and xylopic acid (2) are the first ent-kaurane diterpenes isolated from this family. Their chemotaxonomic value is discussed.     

PcMtr, an aromatic and neutral aliphatic amino acid permease of Penicillium chrysogenum

The gene encoding an aromatic and neutral aliphatic amino acid permease of Penicillium chrysogenum was cloned, functionally expressed and characterized in Saccharomyces cerevisiae M4276. The permease, designated PcMtr, is structurally and functionally homologous to Mtr of Neurospora crassa, and unrelated to the Amino Acid Permease (AAP) family which includes most amino acid permeases in fungi. Database searches of completed fungal genome sequences reveal that Mtr type permeases are not widely distributed among fungi, suggesting a specialized function.     

The chemotaxonomic and medicinal significance of phenolic acids in Arctopus and Alepidea (Apiaceae subfamily Saniculoideae)

The occurrence of (R)-3′-O-β-d-glucopyranosylrosmarinic acid, rosmarinic acid and caffeic acid in two important South African medicinal plants is reported for the first time. (R)-3′-O-β-d-Glucopyranosylrosmarinic acid and rosmarinic acid were isolated and identified in several samples from three species of the genus Arctopus L. (sieketroos) and three species of the genus Alepidea F. Delaroche (ikhathazo), both recently shown to be members of the subfamily Saniculoideae of the family Apiaceae. The compounds occur in high concentrations (up to 15.3 mg of (R)-3′-O-β-d-glucopyranosylrosmarinic acid per g dry wt) in roots of Arctopus. Our results provide a rationale for the traditional uses of these plants, as the identified compounds are all known for their antioxidant activity, with rosmarinic acid further contributing to a wide range of biological activities. Furthermore, we confirm the idea that (R)-3′-O-β-d-glucopyranosylrosmarinic acid is a useful chemotaxonomic marker for the subfamily Saniculoideae.     

Plantamajoside — A current review

Plantamajoside is a bioactive caffeic acid derivative, a dihydroxyphenethyl glucoside in the group of polyphenolic compounds. It is one of the principal caffeic acid glycoside in the Plantago Digitalis, Hemiphragma, Lagotis, Picrorhiza, Rehmannia, Veronica, Wulfeniopsis and Wulfenia genera within the Plantaginaceae family. This compound is also present in the genera Aeschynanthus and Chirita of the Gesneriaceae family and the genus Boschniakia of the Orobanchaceae family. Plantamajoside is present in the greatest concentrations in roots of young plants, but it is also found in seeds, flower stalks, stems, leaves, in vivo cultivated plant cells and transgenic root cultures. Plantamajoside is used as a biomarker in chemotaxonomical studies, and is a compound with numerous biological applications and considerable pharmacological potential. It is a protective agent against ultra-violet light in plants and acts as antioxidant agent with very low toxicity. In addition, plantamajoside can also be industrially synthesized. This review aims to give an overview of plantamajoside in various plantago species as well as its potential as a biomarker and as a new drug compound.     

Development of Full-Length cDNAs from Chinese Cabbage (Brassica rapa Subsp. pekinensis) and Identification of Marker Genes for Defence Response

Arabidopsis belongs to the Brassicaceae family and plays an important role as a model plant for which researchers have developed fine-tuned genome resources. Genome sequencing projects have been initiated for other members of the Brassicaceae family. Among these projects, research on Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis) started early because of strong interest in this species. Here, we report the development of a library of Chinese cabbage full-length cDNA clones, the RIKEN BRC B. rapa full-length cDNA (BBRAF) resource, to accelerate research on Brassica species. We sequenced 10 000 BBRAF clones and confirmed 5476 independent clones. Most of these cDNAs showed high homology to Arabidopsis genes, but we also obtained more than 200 cDNA clones that lacked any sequence homology to Arabidopsis genes. We also successfully identified several possible candidate marker genes for plant defence responses from our analysis of the expression of the Brassica counterparts of Arabidopsis marker genes in response to salicylic acid and jasmonic acid. We compared gene expression of these markers in several Chinese cabbage cultivars. Our BBRAF cDNA resource will be publicly available from the RIKEN Bioresource Center and will help researchers to transfer Arabidopsis-related knowledge to Brassica crops.     

A fatty acid elongase ELO with novel activity from Dictyostelium discoideum

Fatty acid elongation was examined in the cellular slime mold, Dictyostelium discoideum. Profiling of the total fatty acid content of D. discoideum indicated that fatty acid elongation is active. Orthologs of the fatty acid elongase ELO family were identified in the D. discoideum genome and the cDNA for one, eloA, was cloned and functionally characterized by expression in yeast. EloA is a highly active ELO with strict substrate specificity for monounsaturated fatty acids, in particular 16:1^Δ9 to produce the unusual 18:1^Δ11 fatty acid. This is the first report on fatty acid elongation in a cellular slime mold.     

Drosophila melanogaster as a model system to study long-chain fatty acid amide metabolism

Long-chain fatty acid amides are cell-signaling lipids identified in mammals and, recently, in invertebrates, as well. Many details regarding fatty acid amide metabolism remain unclear. Herein, we demonstrate that Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent model system for the study long-chain fatty acid amide metabolism as we have quantified the endogenous levels of N-acylglycines, N-acyldopamines, N-acylethanolamines, and primary fatty acid amides by LC/QTOF-MS. Growth of D. melanogaster on media supplemented with [1-¹³C]-palmitate lead to a family of ¹³C-palmitate-labeled fatty acid amides in the fly heads. The [1-¹³C]-palmitate feeding studies provide insight into the biosynthesis of the fatty acid amides.     

Triterpene acids from Salvia and Teucrium species

The pentacyclic triterpene acids ursolic acid, oleanolic acid, micromeric acid, maslinic acid and 3-epi-maslinic acid have been isolated from several Salvia and Teucrium species.     

Analysis of thermal adaptation in the HSL enzyme family

The recently solved three-dimensional (3D) structures of two thermostable members of the carboxylesterase/lipase HSL family, namely the Alicyclobacillus (formerly Bacillus) acidocaldarius and Archaeoglobus fulgidus carboxylesterases (EST2 and AFEST, respectively) were compared with that of the mesophilic homologous counterpart Brefeldine A esterase from Bacillus subtilis. Since the 3D homology models of other members of the HSL family were also available, we performed a structural alignment with all these sequences. The resulting alignment was used to assess the amino acid “traffic rule” in the HSL family. Quite surprisingly, the data were in very good agreement with those recently reported from two independent groups and based on the comparison of a huge number of homologous sequences from the genus Bacillus, Methanococcus and Deinococcus/Thermus. Taken as a whole, the data point to the statistical meaning of defined amino acid conversions going from psychrophilic to hyperthermophilic sequences. We identified and mapped several such changes onto the EST2 structure and observed that such mutations were localized mostly in loops regions or α-helices and were mostly excluded from the active site. A site-directed mutagenesis of two of the identified residues confirmed they were involved in thermal stability.     

Unusually high quantity of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid accumulation in cell wall of palm mesocarps

Presence of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid in the mesocarp walls of 22 genera of Arecaceae (Palmae) was investigated using a TLC/UV spectra analysis method and confirmed by HPLC and ESI-MS. The genera collected mainly belong to the Copryphoideae and Arecoideae subfamilies. All the investigated genera possess an unusually high amount of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, which varied from 5.6 mg/g dry wt cell wall material (CWM) (Areca catechu) to 1.0 mg/g dry wt CWM (Roystonea regia). Apart from 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, ferulic acid is also found in all the genera studied along with some traces of 4-coumarate. This work presents an overview of the major wall-bound phenolics found in the mesocarp of different palms, and on the basis of this occurrence, a possible hypothesis for considering 4-hydroxybenzoic acid as a chemotaxonomic marker of this particular family can be drawn.     

Synthesis and biological activity of hydroxylated derivatives of linoleic acid and conjugated linoleic acids

Allylic hydroxylated derivatives of the C18 unsaturated fatty acids were prepared from linoleic acid (LA) and conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs). The reaction of LA methyl ester with selenium dioxide (SeO₂) gave mono-hydroxylated derivatives, 13-hydroxy-9Z,11E-octadecadienoic acid, 13-hydroxy-9E,11E-octadecadienoic acid, 9-hydroxy-10E,12Z-octadecadienoic acid and 9-hydroxy-10E,12E-octadecadienoic acid methyl esters. In contrast, the reaction of CLA methyl ester with SeO₂ gave di-hydroxylated derivatives as novel products including, erythro-12,13-dihydroxy-10E-octadecenoic acid, erythro-11,12-dihydroxy-9E-octadecenoic acid, erythro-10,11-dihydroxy-12E-octadecenoic acid and erythro-9,10-dihydroxy-11E-octadecenoic acid methyl esters. These products were purified by normal-phase short column vacuum chromatography followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Their chemical structures were characterized by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The allylic hydroxylated derivatives of LA and CLA exhibited moderate in vitro cytotoxicity against a panel of human cancer cell lines including chronic myelogenous leukemia K562, myeloma RPMI8226, hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 and breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells (IC₅₀ 10-75 μM). The allylic hydroxylated derivatives of LA and CLA also showed toxicity to brine shrimp with LD₅₀ values in the range of 2.30-13.8 μM. However these compounds showed insignificant toxicity to honeybee at doses up to 100 μg/bee.     

Discovery and fine-mapping of loci associated with MUFAs through trans-ethnic meta-analysis in Chinese and European populations

MUFAs are unsaturated FAs with one double bond and are derived from endogenous synthesis and dietary intake. Accumulating evidence has suggested that plasma and erythrocyte MUFA levels are associated with cardiometabolic disorders, including CVD, T2D, and metabolic syndrome (MS). Previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified seven loci for plasma and erythrocyte palmitoleic and oleic acid levels in populations of European origin. To identify additional MUFA-associated loci and the potential functional variant at each locus, we performed ethnic-specific GWAS meta-analyses and trans-ethnic meta-analyses in more than 15,000 participants of Chinese and European ancestry. We identified novel genome-wide significant associations for vaccenic acid at FADS1/2 and PKD2L1 [log₁₀(Bayes factor) ≥ 8.07] and for gondoic acid at FADS1/2 and GCKR [log₁₀(Bayes factor) ≥ 6.22], and also observed improved fine-mapping resolutions at FADS1/2 and GCKR loci. The greatest improvement was observed at GCKR, where the number of variants in the 99% credible set was reduced from 16 (covering 94.8 kb) to 5 (covering 19.6 kb, including a missense variant rs1260326) after trans-ethnic meta-analysis. We also confirmed the previously reported associations of PKD2L1, FADS1/2, GCKR, and HIF1AN with palmitoleic acid and of FADS1/2 and LPCAT3 with oleic acid in the Chinese-specific GWAS and the trans-ethnic meta-analyses. Pathway-based analyses suggested that the identified loci were in unsaturated FA metabolism and signaling pathways. Our findings provide novel insight into the genetic basis relevant to MUFA metabolism and biology.     

Malonyl-acyl carrier protein decarboxylase activity promotes fatty acid and cell envelope biosynthesis in Proteobacteria

Bacterial fatty acid synthesis in Escherichia coli is initiated by the condensation of an acetyl-CoA with a malonyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) by the β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase III enzyme, FabH. E. coli ΔfabH knockout strains are viable because of the yiiD gene that allows FabH-independent fatty acid synthesis initiation. However, the molecular function of the yiiD gene product is not known. Here, we show the yiiD gene product is a malonyl-ACP decarboxylase (MadA). MadA has two independently folded domains: an amino-terminal N-acetyl transferase (GNAT) domain (MadA^N) and a carboxy-terminal hot dog dimerization domain (MadA^C) that encodes the malonyl-ACP decarboxylase function. Members of the proteobacterial Mad protein family are either two domain MadA (GNAT-hot dog) or standalone MadB (hot dog) decarboxylases. Using structure-guided, site-directed mutagenesis of MadB from Shewanella oneidensis, we identified Asn45 on a conserved catalytic loop as critical for decarboxylase activity. We also found that MadA, MadA^C, or MadB expression all restored normal cell size and growth rates to an E. coli ΔfabH strain, whereas the expression of MadA^N did not. Finally, we verified that GlmU, a bifunctional glucosamine-1-phosphate N-acetyl transferase/N-acetyl-glucosamine-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase that synthesizes the key intermediate UDP-GlcNAc, is an ACP binding protein. Acetyl-ACP is the preferred glucosamine-1-phosphate N-acetyl transferase/N-acetyl-glucosamine-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase substrate, in addition to being the substrate for the elongation-condensing enzymes FabB and FabF. Thus, we conclude that the Mad family of malonyl-ACP decarboxylases supplies acetyl-ACP to support the initiation of fatty acid, lipopolysaccharide, peptidoglycan, and enterobacterial common antigen biosynthesis in Proteobacteria.     

Two new quinic acid derivatives from the fruits of Chaenomeles speciosa

Two new quinic acid derivatives (1, 2), together containing eighteen (3–20) known compounds, were isolated from the fruits of Chaenomeles speciosa. Spectroscopic methods and previous data retrieved from the literature were used to determine the chemical structures of the compounds. Among the compounds, quinic acid derivatives (3, 4, 6, 7), phenolic acid compounds (8, 10, 11) and catechin derivatives (18, 19, 20) were isolated for the first time from the family Chaenomeles. The chemotaxonomic significance of the compounds was also discussed.     

Genomic structure and expression of a gene coding for a new fatty acid binding protein from Echinococcus granulosus

This work describes a new gene coding for a fatty acid binding protein (FABP) in the parasite Echinococcus granulosus, named EgFABP2. The complete gene structure, including the promoter sequence, is reported. The genomic coding domain organisation of the previously reported E. granulosus FABP gene (EgFABP1) has been also determined. The corresponding polypeptide chains share 76% of identical residues and an overall 96% of similarity. The two EgFABPs present the highest amino acid homologies with the mammalian FABP subfamily containing heart-FABPs (H-FABPs). The coding sequences of both genes are interrupted by a single intron located in the position of the third intron reported for vertebrate FABP genes. Both genes are expressed in the protoscolex stage of the parasite. The promoter region of EgFABP2 presents several consensus putative cis-acting elements found in other members of the family, suggesting interesting possible mechanisms involved in the host–parasite adaptation.     

Chemotaxonomic evaluation of Turkish species of Salvia: Fatty acid compositions of seed oils

Fatty acid composition of nine species of Salvia, naturally growing in Turkey was determined: Salvia syriaca, Salvia potentillifolia, Salvia candidissima ssp. occidentalis, Salvia macrochlamys, Salvia poculata, Salvia tomentosa, Salvia recognita, Salvia virgata and Salvia ceratophylla. The main compounds were found to be linoleic acid (18:2; 24.3–69.2%), linolenic acid (18:3; 0.6–40.8%), oleic acid (18:1; 8.3–31.0%), palmitic acid (16:0; 3.8–21.0%) and stearic acid (18:0; 1.8–5.2%). Fatty acid composition of Salvia seed oils could be used as a chemotaxonomical marker.     

Diterpene acids from Helianthus species and their microbiological conversion by Gibberella fujikuroi, mutant B1-41a

The diterpene acid content in 10 species of Helianthus has been investigated. Ent-12,16-cyclokauranoic acid, isolated from H. annuus, is converted into a series of 12,16-cyclogibberellins by cultures of Gibberella fujikuroi, mutant B1-41a, and 12,16-cyclogibberellins A₉, and A₁₂ have been isolated. Ent-12β-acetoxykaurenoic acid and ent-13(S)-angeloxyatisenoic acid have been isolated from H. decapetalus; the metabolism of ent-13(S)-hydroxyatisenoic acid and atisenoic acid by B1-41a is also described.     

Generation of fad2 transgenic mice that produce omega-6 fatty acids

Fatty acid desaturase-2 (FAD2) introduces a double bond in position Δ12 in oleic acid (18︰1) to form linoleic acid (18︰2 n-6) in higher plants and microbes. A new transgenic expression cassette, containing CMV promoter/fad2 cDNA/SV40 polyA, was constructedto produce transgenic mice. Among 63 healthy offspring, 10 founders (15.9%) integrated the cotton fad2 transgene into their genomes, as demonstrated by PCR and Southern blotting analysis. All founder mice were fertile and heterozygous fad2 female and nontransgenic littermates were used for fatty acid analysis using gas chromatography. One fad2 transgenic line showed substantial differences in the fatty acid profiles and the level of linoleic acid was increased 19% (P<0.05) in transgenic muscles compared to their nontransgenic littermates. Moreover, it exhibited an 87% and a 9% increase (P<0.05) in arachidonic acid (20︰4 n-6) in muscles and liver, compared to their nontransgenic littermates. The results indicate that the plant fad2 gene can be functionally expressed in transgenic mice and may playan active role in conversion of oleic acid into linoleic acid.