转氨酶催化不对称合成芳香族L-氨基酸

芳香族L-氨基酸是合成许多药物、农药、精细化学品和食品添加剂的重要手性砌块(Chiral buildingblocks)。利用酶催化具有高活性和高立体选择性的特点合成手性砌块是目前不对称合成领域重要的研究方向。通过对不同来源转氨酶的进化分析,选择分别源自原核生物大肠杆菌Escherichia coli和真核生物酿酒酵母Saccharomyces cerevisia中的两种具有代表性Ⅰ型芳香族转氨酶TyrB和Aro8,比较研究了两种转氨酶通过平衡逆转不对称氨化催化合成芳香族L-氨基酸的反应过程和催化效率。重组转氨酶TyrB和Aro8都能有效地合成天然芳香族氨基酸苯丙氨酸和酪氨酸以及非天然氨基酸苯甘氨酸。手性HPLC分析表明,合成的氨基酸都是L-构型的,e.e值等于100%。L-丙氨酸是适宜的氨基供体,转氨酶TyrB和Aro8都不能利用D-型氨基酸作为氨基供体。反应体系中氨基供体L-丙氨酸和氨基受体芳香族α-酮酸的最适摩尔比为4∶1。底物芳香族α-酮酸分子结构中芳香环上的取代基以及脂肪酸碳链部分的长度都对酶催化的转氨效率有显著的影响。在制备规模试验中,TyrB催化不对称转氨反应合成L-苯甘氨酸、L-苯丙氨酸和L-酪氨酸的比生产速率为0.28 g/(g.h)、0.31 g/(g.h)和0.60 g/(g.h),Aro8催化上述反应的比生产速率分别为0.61 g/(g.h)、0.48 g/(g.h)和0.59 g/(g.h)。研究结果对利用转氨酶通过平衡逆转不对称催化合成芳香族L-氨基酸的工业化应用具有指导意义。     

酪氨酸羟化酶和左旋芳香族氨基酸脱羧酶基因的细胞表达及活性检测

由于在帕金森病中合成多巴胺所需的酪氨酸羟化酶(tyrosine hydroxylase,TH)和左旋芳香族氨基酸脱羧酶(aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase,AADC)活性明显降低,所以补充多巴胺合成酶成为基因治疗帕金森病研究的主要手段。我们分别构建了重组逆转录病毒载体pLHCX／TH及pLNCX2／AADC,通过脂质体介导将带有目的基因的载体分别转到包装细胞PA317中,经筛选得到产病毒的细胞PA317／TH和PA317／AADC,采用免疫组化、原位杂交方法检测目的基因表达;细胞经裂解后进行的酶促反应产物多巴胺以高压液相电化学方法检测证明所克隆的T‘H及AADC基因具有功能活性;这两种基因工程改造细胞可以完成酶促动力学的功能,使L-dopa及多巴胺产生明显增加。本研究为用TH和AADC双基因对帕金森病进行基因治疗提供了一定的依据。     

芳香族氨基酸脱羧酶研究进展

芳香族氨基酸脱羧酶(aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylases, AADCs)在生物体内的作用是将芳香族氨基酸脱羧转化为芳香族单胺(aromatic monoamines),磷酸吡哆醛(pyridoxal 5′-phosphate, PLP)是其行使催化功能时必不可少的辅酶。AADCs催化芳香族氨基酸产生的芳香族单胺,主要包括多巴胺、血清素、酪胺、色胺等,这些芳香族单胺在生物体内是维持正常生理功能的神经递质,也是参与合成某些化合物的重要前体,还可作为药物中的活性成分参与治疗多种人类疾病,具有广阔的应用前景。作为生物合成芳香族单胺所必需的酶,有关AADCs的研究也越来越深入,基于AADCs的芳香族单胺生物合成也取得了长足进步。对几种主要AADCs进行综述,为AADCs更好应用于芳香族单胺的生物合成提供参考。     

芳香族氨基酸生物合成和苯丙氨酸发酵

<正> 苯丙氨酸(Phemylalanine,Phe)、酪氨酸(Tyrosine,Tyr)和色氨酸(Tyrptophan,Trp),即所谓芳香族氨基酸(aromatic amino acid),不仅本身结构较谷氨酸复杂(表1),而且合成机制亦较多采,特别是其用途的日益广泛,也使人们开始注意其生产技术。大家都知道,苯丙氨酸和色氨酸是人体必需氨基酸,酪氨酸可由苯丙氨酸转换、而提供人体。芳香族     

通过N端引入芳香族氨基酸提高木聚糖酶的热稳定性

耐热的木聚糖酶具有用于造纸、麻类脱胶和饲料生产等工业领域的巨大潜力,为了提高11家族碱性木聚糖酶Xyn11A-LC的热稳定性,通过理性设计在N-末端引入了芳香族氨基酸(T9Y和D14F)。测定野生型和突变体的性质表明,突变体的最适反应温度和热稳定性均获得了提高。突变体的最适反应温度比野生型提高了5℃。野生型在65℃的Tris/HCl缓冲液(pH 8.0)中的半衰期为22 min,而突变体在此条件下的半衰期为106 min。圆二色光谱测定结果显示野生型和突变体的Tm分别为55.3℃和67.9℃。因此,通过在N-末端引入芳香族氨基酸可以提高11家族木聚糖酶的热稳定性和在高温下的活性。     

头状轮生链霉菌芳香族氨基酸合成途径的调节

对头状轮生链霉菌(Streptoverticillium caespitosus)芳香氨基酸合成途径的研究表明,第一个酶即3—脱氧—α—阿拉伯庚酮糖-7-磷酸(DAHP)合成酶无同工酶,不被L-色氨酸阻遏,比活力可被硝酸盐促进。L-色氨酸强烈地反馈抑制此酶,L-酪氨酸和L-苯丙氨酸无作用。L-色氨酸的反馈抑制对磷酸烯醇式丙酮酸(PEP)是非竞争性的,K_I为373μmol/L。酶对PEP和4-磷酸亦藓糖(E4P)的K_m值分别为50和100μmol/L。PEP和C0²⁺对酶有稳定作用。邻氨基苯甲酸合成酶活力可被1mmol/L L-色氨酸完全抑制,此酶也受L-色氨酸的阻遏,但是色氨酸支路上其余4个酶不被阻遏。分支酸变位酶被L-酪氨酸抑制。L-苯丙氨酸抑制预苯酸脱水酶,并更强地抑制预苯酸脱氢酶。     

催化RNA的结构与功能

在核酶被发现以前,RNA就因为可以像蛋白质一样折叠成高度有序的结构而被预测可能具有催化的功能.该猜想在20世纪80年代得到了证明,四膜虫的Ⅰ型内含子RNA与负责tRNA成熟的核糖核酸酶RNaseP的RNA组分被发现具有催化功能.近年来,在核酶的结构和功能研究方面取得了很大进展,包括核糖体在内的多个核酶的高分辨率晶体结构被解析出来.本文介绍了这方面的最新研究成果.     

Ⅱ型抗癌晶体蛋白抗肝癌作用的关键芳香族氨基酸

为探讨Ⅱ型抗癌晶体蛋白(Parasporin-2)上与抗肝癌作用相关的关键氨基酸,利用5-BU对Parasporin-2活性区编码DNA(P2Y)进行PCR诱变,之后在大肠杆菌中表达,产物纯化后经MTT法检测其对肝癌细胞系和正常肝细胞系的作用。获得的9个突变体其抗肝癌活性差异极大,其中P2M1和P2M8对两种肝癌细胞系SMMC7721和Bel7402均有较强的细胞毒杀作用而不影响正常肝细胞系Chang-liver。比较了P2M1、P2M8和P2Y的二级结构与三级结构,发现二级结构上的变化如β折叠变长或α螺旋增加影响着Ⅱ型抗癌晶体蛋白的抗肝癌活性。基于突变体间氨基酸序列比对、突变体与受体间分子对接以及模拟突变等研究的结果表明,位点52、56、58和208上的氨基酸残基特别是芳香族氨基酸在Parasporin-2与受体间的互作中可能起着重要作用。     

Inhibitory Activities of Aromatic Amino Acid Esters and Peptides against Ovalbumin Permeation through Caco-2 Cell Monolayers

Trp, Phe, and Tyr ethyl esters and their dipeptides with Gly at the C-terminals inhibited ovalbumin (OVA) permeation through Caco-2 monolayers. The inhibitory activity of Trp ethyl ester was the highest at near the concentration of 10^-6 M. It was suggested that Trp ethyl ester inhibited transcellular permeation of OVA.     

Prevention of UVB-Induced Production of the Inflammatory Mediator in Human Keratinocytes by Lactic Acid Derivatives Generated from Aromatic Amino Acids

The anti-inflammatory effects of lactic acid derivatives were investigated on ultraviolet B (UVB)-irradiated HaCaT human keratinocytes. A pretreatment with indole-3-lactic acid (ILA) and 4-hydroxyphenyllactic acid (HPLA) inhibited the UVB-induced production of interlekin-6 (IL-6). The inhibitory effect of L-HPLA was equivalent to that of a corresponding racemic mixture (DL-HPLA), suggesting that optical isomerism did not affect the anti-inflammatory activity of HPLA.     

Strong Enrichment of Aromatic Residues in Binding Sites from a Charge-neutralized Hyperthermostable Sso7d Scaffold Library

The Sso7d protein from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus is an attractive binding scaffold because of its small size (7 kDa), high thermal stability (T_m of 98 °C), and absence of cysteines and glycosylation sites. However, as a DNA-binding protein, Sso7d is highly positively charged, introducing a strong specificity constraint for binding epitopes and leading to nonspecific interaction with mammalian cell membranes. In the present study, we report charge-neutralized variants of Sso7d that maintain high thermal stability. Yeast-displayed libraries that were based on this reduced charge Sso7d (rcSso7d) scaffold yielded binders with low nanomolar affinities against mouse serum albumin and several epitopes on human epidermal growth factor receptor. Importantly, starting from a charge-neutralized scaffold facilitated evolutionary adaptation of binders to differentially charged epitopes on mouse serum albumin and human epidermal growth factor receptor, respectively. Interestingly, the distribution of amino acids in the small and rigid binding surface of enriched rcSso7d-based binders is very different from that generally found in more flexible antibody complementarity-determining region loops but resembles the composition of antibody-binding energetic hot spots. Particularly striking was a strong enrichment of the aromatic residues Trp, Tyr, and Phe in rcSso7d-based binders. This suggests that the rigidity and small size of this scaffold determines the unusual amino acid composition of its binding sites, mimicking the energetic core of antibody paratopes. Despite the high frequency of aromatic residues, these rcSso7d-based binders are highly expressed, thermostable, and monomeric, suggesting that the hyperstability of the starting scaffold and the rigidness of the binding surface confer a high tolerance to mutation.     

Predicted Amino Acid Sequence of Bovine Tyrosine Hydroxylase and Its Similarity to Tyrosine Hydroxylases from Other Species

The previously obtained cDNAs coding for bovine tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) mRNA (mRNATH) were further analyzed, and the entire nucleotide sequence was determined. The mRNATH consists of 1,706 nucleotides with an open reading frame for 491 amino acids, which corresponds to a calculated molecular weight of 55,011. The predicted amino acid sequence of bovine TH is compared with that of rat TH and shows a similarity of 66% in the amino terminal (amino acids 1-157) and 91% in the carboxy terminal (amino acids 158-491) region of the TH protein molecule. The carboxy terminal region has been shown to make up the catalytic site of TH and, therefore, is conserved to a greater extent in different species than the amino terminal region, which has been shown to be mainly responsible for the regulation of the catalytic activity of TH. Three of the four serine residues (Ser 8, 19, and 40) that have been shown to be substrates for various protein kinases in rat TH are also present in bovine TH and are located near the amino terminal end of the molecule. The amino acids from position 60 to position 66 of rat TH are not present in bovine TH, resulting in the absence of a predicted hydrophobic region as compared with rat TH. This difference could result in an altered degree of regulation by posttranslational phosphorylation and also association to cell organelle membranes of bovine TH as compared with rat TH.     

Evolution of Amino Acid Propensities under Stability-Mediated Epistasis

Site-specific amino acid preferences are influenced by the genetic background of the protein. The preferences for resident amino acids are expected to, on average, increase over time because of replacements at other sites—a nonadaptive phenomenon referred to as the “evolutionary Stokes shift.” Alternatively, decreases in resident amino acid propensity have recently been viewed as evidence of adaptations to external environmental changes. Using population genetics theory and thermodynamic stability constraints, we show that nonadaptive evolution can lead to both positive and negative shifts in propensities following the fixation of an amino acid, emphasizing that the detection of negative shifts is not conclusive evidence of adaptation. By examining propensity shifts from when an amino acid is first accepted at a site until it is subsequently replaced, we find that ≈50% of sites show a decrease in the propensity for the newly resident amino acid while the remaining sites show an increase. Furthermore, the distributions of the magnitudes of positive and negative shifts were comparable. Preferences were often conserved via a significant negative autocorrelation in propensity changes—increases in propensities often followed by decreases, and vice versa. Lastly, we explore the underlying mechanisms that lead propensities to fluctuate. We observe that stabilizing replacements increase the mutational tolerance at a site and in doing so decrease the propensity for the resident amino acid. In contrast, destabilizing substitutions result in more rugged fitness landscapes that tend to favor the resident amino acid. In summary, our results characterize propensity trajectories under nonadaptive stability-constrained evolution against which evidence of adaptations should be calibrated.     

蛋白质氨基酸网络研究进展

氨基酸网络是运用复杂网络工具对蛋白质结构-功能关系研究的新方法。本文回顾了氨基酸网络中常用网络参量的计算方法,如：度分布,聚集系数,平均最短路径等。结合本研究小组的工作,介绍了常用的网络构建和分析方法,并总结了氨基酸网络在蛋白质折叠以及蛋白质分子对接问题中的应用。最后,分析了氨基酸网络研究目前存在的主要问题,并对未来的工作进行了展望。     

Cloning of Quail Tyrosine Hydroxylase: Amino Acid Homology with Other Hydroxylases Discloses Functional Domains

A cDNA clone containing the entire coding region of quail tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) has been isolated and analyzed. Comparison with rat and human THs and phenylalanine hydroxylases reveals several highly conserved domains. Two of them, shared by all these hydroxylases, are localized in the central and C-terminal parts of the molecules, and most probably include the active site. Two others are found only in the TH molecules. One contains putative sites of phosphorylation and is implicated in the posttranslational regulation of the enzyme. The second highly preserved domain, consisting of a stretch of 21 amino acids, is presumably associated with an important feature of the enzyme that remains to be identified.     

蛋白质氨基酸网络研究进展

氨基酸网络是运用复杂网络工具对蛋白质结构-功能关系研究的新方法。本文回顾了氨基酸网络中常用网络参量的计算方法,如:度分布,聚集系数,平均最短路径等。结合本研究小组的工作,介绍了常用的网络构建和分析方法,并总结了氨基酸网络在蛋白质折叠以及蛋白质分子对接问题中的应用。最后,分析了氨基酸网络研究目前存在的主要问题,并对未来的工作进行了展望。     

氨基酸分析法快速测定梭曼中毒后大鼠脑组织中兴奋性氨基酸的含量

建立一种快速、准确、可靠的脑内兴奋性氨基酸定量检测方法 ,并观察梭曼惊厥后大鼠脑组织中兴奋性氨基酸(EAAs)含量变化。采用 6 30 0黄金系统氨基酸分析仪 ,在锂柱 130min程序生理体液分析方法基础上 ,根据兴奋性氨基酸(EAAs)的特性 ,建立了EAAs的快速测定方法 ,并用此方法对梭曼惊厥后不同时相大鼠的新鲜脑组织进行定位检测。梭曼诱发惊厥后大脑皮质和海马内谷氨酸和天冬门氨酸水平显著下降。惊厥 30min时谷氨酸下降最明显 ,分别是正常组的 5 3.2 %和 5 2 .8%。天门冬氨酸更易受梭曼中毒的影响 ,惊厥后 5、30、90min 3个时相点测定值均显著下降。此方法完成谷氨酸和天门冬氨酸分析的时间是 2 0min ,比原方法缩短了 110min ;且有较好的重现性 (GluCV :日内 1.86 % ,日间 2 .32 % ;AspCV :日内 1.42 ,日间 2 .48% )和回收率 (Glu 97.7% ;Asp97.3% )。兴奋性氨基酸参与了梭曼中毒性惊厥的病理生理过程。本方法定量检测兴奋性氨基酸快速、准确 ,并利于大批量样品的快速测定