Virtual screening,docking, and dynamics of potential new inhibitors of dihydrofolate reductase from Yersinia pestis

In the present work, we propose to design drugs that target the enzyme dihydrofolate redutase (DHFR) as a means of a novel drug therapy against plague. Potential inhibitors of DHFR from Yersinia pestis (YpDHFR) were selected by virtual screening and subjected to docking, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and Poisson–Boltzmann surface area method, in order to evaluate their interactions in the active sites of YpDHFR and human DHFR (HssDHFR). The results suggested selectivity for three compounds that were further used to propose the structures of six new potential selective inhibitors for YpDHFR.     

Effect of surface-screening parameter of the Yukawa potential model on vapour–liquid phase coexistence and critical-point properties of confined Yukawa fluid

We report the effect of surface-screening parameter of Yukawa potential model on vapour–liquid phase coexistence and critical-point properties of slit–pore-confined Yukawa fluid, using grand canonical transition-matrix Monte Carlo along with the histogram reweighting method. The effect of surface-screening parameter on the vapour–phase coexistence density is insignificant for the studied system. On the other hand, significant effect of surface-screening parameter is observed on liquid phase coexistence density. With increasing surface-screening parameter, liquid phase coexistence density decreases. Critical-point properties have shown monotonic decreasing trends with increase in surface-screening parameter. Moreover, the effect of change of surface-screening parameter is least on critical temperature changes as compared to critical density and critical pressure changes for the studied Yukawa system in this work.     

高产莫纳可林K低产桔霉素红曲霉菌株的筛选和发酵条件初步优化

采集全国各地红曲霉制品中的红曲霉资源,经分离获278株红曲霉菌株。高效液相色谱(HPLC)法测定各菌株发酵液中莫纳可林K(Monacolin K)和桔霉素含量,筛选获1株Monacolin K产量较高、桔霉素含量较低的红曲霉菌株编号为M-22。依据形态特征和ITS基因序列,参照红曲霉属分类检索表,鉴定M-22菌株为紫色红曲霉(Monascus purpureus)。通过摇瓶发酵对温度、初始pH、碳源、氮源、碳氮比(C/N)等因素进行优化,确定M-22菌株摇瓶发酵产Monacolin K适宜条件为发酵温度26℃、初始pH 5.0、转速160 r/min,甘油为碳源、蛋白胨为氮源、碳氮比(C/N)为5:1,Monacolin K产量显著提高,最高为107.16 mg/L。以优化的发酵条件对M-22菌株进行5 L发酵罐发酵,发酵液中Monacolin K产量最高为189.83 mg/L,桔霉素含量32.53μg/L,红曲色素色价为16.38 U/m L。     

A potent and selective inhibitor targeting human and murine 12/15-LOX

Human reticulocyte 12/15-lipoxygenase (h12/15-LOX) is a lipid-oxidizing enzyme that can directly oxidize lipid membranes in the absence of a phospholipase, leading to a direct attack on organelles, such as the mitochondria. This cytotoxic activity of h12/15-LOX is up-regulated in neurons and endothelial cells after a stroke and thought to contribute to both neuronal cell death and blood–brain barrier leakage. The discovery of inhibitors that selectively target recombinant h12/15-LOX in vitro, as well as possessing activity against the murine ortholog ex vivo, could potentially support a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of stroke. Herein, we report a new family of inhibitors discovered in a High Throughput Screen (HTS) that are selective and potent against recombinant h12/15-LOX and cellular mouse 12/15-LOX (m12/15-LOX). MLS000099089 (compound 99089), the parent molecule, exhibits an IC₅₀ potency of 3.4 ± 0.5 μM against h12/15-LOX in vitro and an ex vivo IC₅₀ potency of approximately 10 μM in a mouse neuronal cell line, HT-22. Compound 99089 displays greater than 30-fold selectivity versus h5-LOX and COX-2, 15-fold versus h15-LOX-2 and 10-fold versus h12-LOX, when tested at 20 μM inhibitor concentration. Steady-state inhibition kinetics reveals that the mode of inhibition of 99089 against h12/15-LOX is that of a mixed inhibitor with a K_ic of 1.0 ± 0.08 μM and a K_iu of 6.0 ± 3.3 μM. These data indicate that 99089 and related derivatives may serve as a starting point for the development of anti-stroke therapeutics due to their ability to selectively target h12/15-LOX in vitro and m12/15-LOX ex vivo.     

Synthesis,anticancer activity,and SAR analyses of compounds containing the 5:7-fused 4,6,8-triaminoimidazo[4,5-e][1,3]diazepine ring system

Described herein are our limited structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies on a 5:7-fused heterocycle (1), containing the 4,6,8-triaminoimidazo[4,5-e][1,3]diazepine ring system, whose synthesis and potent broad-spectrum anticancer activity we reported a few years ago. Our SAR efforts in this study are mainly focused on judicial attachment of substituents at N-1 and N⁶-positions of the heterocyclic ring. Our results suggest that there is some subtle correlation between the substituents attached at the N-1 position and those attached at the N⁶-position of the heterocycle. It is likely that there is a common hydrophobic binding pocket on the target protein that is occupied by the substituents attached at the N-1 and N⁶-positions of the heterocyclic ligand. This pocket appears to be large enough to hold either a C-18 alkyl chain of N⁶ and no attachment at N-1, or a combined C-10 at N⁶ and a CH₂Ph at N-1. Any alkyl chain shorter or longer than C-10 at N⁶ with a CH₂Ph attached at N-1, would result in decrease of biological activity.     

Discovery and antiparasitic activity of AZ960 as a Trypanosoma brucei ERK8 inhibitor

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a lethal, vector-borne disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Therapeutic strategies for this neglected tropical disease suffer from disadvantages such as toxicity, high cost, and emerging resistance. Therefore, new drugs with novel modes of action are needed. We screened cultured T. brucei against a focused kinase inhibitor library to identify promising bioactive compounds. Among the ten hits identified from the phenotypic screen, AZ960 emerged as the most promising compound with potent antiparasitic activity (IC₅₀ = 120 nM) and was shown to be a selective inhibitor of an essential gene product, T. brucei extracellular signal-regulated kinase 8 (TbERK8). We report that AZ960 has a K_i of 1.25 μM for TbERK8 and demonstrate its utility in establishing TbERK8 as a potentially druggable target in T. brucei.     

5例前列腺癌T细胞受体β链CDR3的多样性分析

T淋巴细胞受体(TCRs)在抗原识别免疫应答中作用重要,其多样性与宿主免疫反应及肿瘤预后判断密切相关。目的:采用高通量测序技术研究前列腺癌组织和癌旁组织中T细胞受体(TCR)克隆多样性及其克隆序列。方法:收集5例PC患者的癌组织和癌旁组织,提取DNA后经多重PCR技术对TCRβ链CDR3区进行扩增。用Illumina MiSeq进行测序,经过数据处理和比对分析,比较前列腺癌组织TCR CDR3组库的组成特征。结果:前列腺癌组织具有更高程度的克隆百分比和较高的高度扩增克隆比HEC(HEC:频率样本总读数的0. 5%的TCR克隆),并获得了24对在癌组织样本中差异表达的V-J基因组合、16对在癌旁组织样本中差异表达的V-J基因组合。结论:前列腺癌组织与癌旁组织均存在差异性的V-J基因组合以及高克隆表达的HEC,其中癌组织样品具有更高的HEC。PC发生发展对免疫学研究提供了新的数据,对PC免疫监视、T细胞受体变异标志等研究提供了参考,对以后继续研究打下了基础。     

Plant cell packs: a scalable platform for recombinant protein production and metabolic engineering

Industrial plant biotechnology applications include the production of sustainable fuels, complex metabolites and recombinant proteins, but process development can be impaired by a lack of reliable and scalable screening methods. Here, we describe a rapid and versatile expression system which involves the infusion of Agrobacterium tumefaciens into three‐dimensional, porous plant cell aggregates deprived of cultivation medium, which we have termed plant cell packs (PCPs). This approach is compatible with different plant species such as Nicotiana tabacum BY2, Nicotiana benthamiana or Daucus carota and 10‐times more effective than transient expression in liquid plant cell culture. We found that the expression of several proteins was similar in PCPs and intact plants, for example, 47 and 55 mg/kg for antibody 2G12 expressed in BY2 PCPs and N. tabacum plants respectively. Additionally, the expression of specific enzymes can either increase the content of natural plant metabolites or be used to synthesize novel small molecules in the PCPs. The PCP method is currently scalable from a microtiter plate format suitable for high‐throughput screening to 150‐mL columns suitable for initial product preparation. It therefore combined the speed of transient expression in plants with the throughput of microbial screening systems. Plant cell packs therefore provide a convenient new platform for synthetic biology approaches, metabolic engineering and conventional recombinant protein expression techniques that require the multiplex analysis of several dozen up to hundreds of constructs for efficient product and process development.     

Kallikrein 5 inhibitors identified through structure based drug design in search for a treatment for Netherton Syndrome

Netherton syndrome (NS) is a rare and debilitating severe autosomal recessive genetic skin disease with high mortality rates particularly in neonates. NS is caused by loss-of-function SPINK5 mutations leading to unregulated kallikrein 5 (KLK5) and kallikrein 7 (KLK7) activity. Furthermore, KLK5 inhibition has been proposed as a potential therapeutic treatment for NS. Identification of potent and selective KLK5 inhibitors would enable further exploration of the disease biology and could ultimately lead to a treatment for NS. This publication describes how fragmentation of known trypsin-like serine protease (TLSP) inhibitors resulted in the identification of a series of phenolic amidine-based KLK5 inhibitors 1. X-ray crystallography was used to find alternatives to the phenol interaction leading to identification of carbonyl analogues such as lactam 13 and benzimidazole 15. These reversible inhibitors, with selectivity over KLK1 (10–100 fold), provided novel starting points for the guided growth towards suitable tool molecules for the exploration of KLK5 biology.     

离体诱变定向培育高油花生新品种宇花9号

笔者前期研究发现经干旱胁迫处理后的花生叶片水势与其籽仁含油率呈显著正相关。文中对羟脯氨酸作为水势(渗透压)调节物质用于离体定向筛选花生高油突变体及培育花生新品种进行了研究。以花生品种花育20号胚小叶作为外植体,平阳霉素作为诱变剂添加于体胚诱导培养基上进行离体诱变培养。形成的体胚转移到添加6 mmol/L羟脯氨酸(培养基水势为-2.079 MPa)的体胚萌发和再生培养基上诱导体胚萌发成苗,同时进行高油突变体定向筛选。再生小苗经嫁接移栽田间,从再生植株后代中获得了132份含油率55%以上的高油突变体,其中27份含油率超过58%,2份超过60%。再生植株后代结合系谱育种法育成了高产高油花生新品种宇花9号,在辽宁省花生新品种备案试验中,籽仁产量比对照品种增产14.0%,并通过了国家非主要农作物品种登记。宇花9号含油率达61.05%,比亲本花育20号高11.55个百分点,是目前国际上含油率最高的花生品种。本研究结果表明,利用离体诱变、培养基低水势定向筛选及其再生植株后代结合常规育种法选择是定向培育高油花生品种的有效方法。