Rutin as promising drug for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease: an assessment of MAO-B inhibitory potential by docking,molecular dynamics and DFT studies

ABSTRACT

Inhibitors of monoamine oxidase (MAO)-B have been used for many years in the therapy of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Owing to the safety concerns of the currently used agents, the discovery of novel scaffolds is of considerable interest. MAO-B inhibitory potential of rutin, a flavonoid derived from natural sources, has been established in experimental findings. Hence, the current study seeks to examine the interactions between rutin and crystal structure of human MAO-B enzyme. Molecular docking calculations, as well as molecular dynamics simulations, were employed to investigate the binding mode and the stability of the rutin/MAO-B complex. Energies of highest occupied/lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals were computed through DFT studies and used to calculate electron affinity, hardness, chemical potential, electronegativity, and electrophilicity index in order to investigate the capability of these parameters to influence the ligand–receptor interactions. It was found that rutin traverses both the entrance cavity and the substrate cavity, forcing the Ile-199 ‘gate’ to rotate into its open conformation. It results in the fusion of the two cavities of the MAO-B binding site and directly leads to better binding interactions. Results of the current study can be used for lead modification and development of novel drugs for the treatment of PD.     

Identification of Pseudomonas syringae type III effectors that can suppress programmed cell death in plants and yeast

The Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 type III secretion system (TTSS) is required for bacterial pathogenicity on plants and elicitation of the hypersensitive response (HR), a programmed cell death (PCD) that occurs on resistant plants. Cosmid pHIR11 enables non-pathogens to elicit an HR dependent upon the TTSS and the effector HopPsyA. We used pHIR11 to determine that effectors HopPtoE, avirulence AvrPphEPto, AvrPpiB1Pto, AvrPtoB, and HopPtoF could suppress a HopPsyA-dependent HR on tobacco and Arabidopsis. Mixed inoculum and Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression experiments confirmed that suppressor action occurred within plant cells. These suppressors, with the exception of AvrPpiB1Pto, inhibited the expression of the tobacco pathogenesis-related (PR) gene PR1a. DC3000 suppressor mutants elicited an enhanced HR consistent with these mutants lacking an HR suppressor. Additionally, HopPtoG was identified as a suppressor on the basis of an enhanced HR produced by a hopPtoG mutant. Remarkably, these proteins functioned to inhibit the ability of the pro-apoptotic protein, Bax to induce PCD in plants and yeast, indicating that these effectors function as anti-PCD proteins in a trans-kingdom manner. The high proportion of effectors that suppress PCD suggests that suppressing plant immunity is one of the primary roles for DC3000 effectors and a central requirement for P. syringae pathogenesis.     

Gene network reconstruction identifies the authentic trans-prenyl diphosphate synthase that makes the solanesyl moiety of ubiquinone-9 in Arabidopsis

Ubiquinone (coenzyme Q) is the generic name of a class of lipid-soluble electron carriers formed of a redox active benzoquinone ring attached to a prenyl side chain. The length of the latter varies among species, and depends upon the product specificity of a trans-long-chain prenyl diphosphate synthase that elongates an allylic diphosphate precursor. In Arabidopsis, this enzyme is assumed to correspond to an endoplasmic reticulum-located solanesyl diphosphate synthase, although direct genetic evidence was lacking. In this study, the reconstruction of the functional network of Arabidopsis genes linked to ubiquinone biosynthesis singled out an unsuspected solanesyl diphosphate synthase candidate--product of gene At2g34630--that, extraordinarily, had been shown previously to be targeted to plastids and to contribute to the biosynthesis of gibberellins. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion experiments in tobacco and Arabidopsis, and complementation of a yeast coq1 knockout lacking mitochondrial hexaprenyl diphosphate synthase demonstrated that At2g34630 is also targeted to mitochondria. At2g34630 is the main--if not sole--contributor to solanesyl diphosphate synthase activity required for the biosynthesis of ubiquinone, as demonstrated by the dramatic (75-80%) reduction of the ubiquinone pool size in corresponding RNAi lines. Overexpression of At2g34630 gave up to a 40% increase in ubiquinone content compared to wild-type plants. None of the silenced or overexpressing lines, in contrast, displayed altered levels of plastoquinone. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that At2g34630 is the only Arabidopsis trans-long-chain prenyl diphosphate synthase that clusters with the Coq1 orthologs involved in the biosynthesis of ubiquinone in other eukaryotes.     

Novel genomic locus with atypical G+C content that is required for extracellular polysaccharide production and virulence in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.

Three exopolysaccharide (EPS)- and virulence-deficient mutants of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, the causal agent of bacterial leaf blight of rice, were isolated by Tn5 mutagenesis. These insertions are not located within the gum gene cluster. A 40-kb cosmid clone that restored EPS production and virulence to all three mutants was isolated, and the three transposon insertions were localized to contiguous 4.3- and 3.5-kb EcoRI fragments that are included in this clone. Sequence data indicate that two of the transposon insertions are in genes that encode a putative sugar nucleotide epimerase and a putative glycosyl transferase, respectively; the third insertion is located between the glycosyl transferase gene and a novel open reading frame (ORF). A 5.5-kb genomic region in which these three ORFs are located has a G+C content of 5-1.7%, quite different from the G+C content of approximately 65.0% that is typical of X. oryzae pv. oryzae. Homologues of this locus have not yet been reported in any other xanthomonad.     

Functional Modeling Identifies Paralogous Solanesyl-diphosphate Synthases That Assemble the Side Chain of Plastoquinone-9 in Plastids

It is a little known fact that plastoquinone-9, a vital redox cofactor of photosynthesis, doubles as a precursor for the biosynthesis of a vitamin E analog called plastochromanol-8, the physiological significance of which has remained elusive. Gene network reconstruction, GFP fusion experiments, and targeted metabolite profiling of insertion mutants indicated that Arabidopsis possesses two paralogous solanesyl-diphosphate synthases, AtSPS1 (At1g78510) and AtSPS2 (At1g17050), that assemble the side chain of plastoquinone-9 in plastids. Similar paralogous pairs were detected throughout terrestrial plant lineages but were not distinguished in the literature and genomic databases from mitochondrial homologs involved in the biosynthesis of ubiquinone. The leaves of the atsps2 knock-out were devoid of plastochromanol-8 and displayed severe losses of both non-photoactive and photoactive plastoquinone-9, resulting in near complete photoinhibition at high light intensity. Such a photoinhibition was paralleled by significant damage to photosystem II but not to photosystem I. In contrast, in the atsps1 knock-out, a small loss of plastoquinone-9, restricted to the non-photoactive pool, was sufficient to eliminate half of the plastochromanol-8 content of the leaves. Taken together, these results demonstrate that plastochromanol-8 originates from a subfraction of the non-photoactive pool of plastoquinone-9. In contrast to other plastochromanol-8 biosynthetic mutants, neither the single atsps knock-outs nor the atsps1 atsps2 double knock-out displayed any defects in tocopherols accumulation or germination.     

Pseudomonas syringae type III secretion system targeting signals and novel effectors studied with a Cya translocation reporter

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato strain DC3000 is a pathogen of tomato and Arabidopsis: The hrp-hrc-encoded type III secretion system (TTSS), which injects bacterial effector proteins (primarily called Hop or Avr proteins) into plant cells, is required for pathogenicity. In addition to being regulated by the HrpL alternative sigma factor, most avr or hop genes encode proteins with N termini that have several characteristic features, including (i) a high percentage of Ser residues, (ii) an aliphatic amino acid (Ile, Leu, or Val) or Pro at the third or fourth position, and (iii) a lack of negatively charged amino acids within the first 12 residues. Here, the well-studied effector AvrPto was used to optimize a calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase (Cya) reporter system for Hrp-mediated translocation of P. syringae TTSS effectors into plant cells. This system includes a cloned P. syringae hrp gene cluster and the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana. Analyses of truncated AvrPto proteins fused to Cya revealed that the N-terminal 16 amino acids and/or codons of AvrPto are sufficient to direct weak translocation into plant cells and that longer N-terminal fragments direct progressively stronger translocation. AvrB, tested because it is poorly secreted in cultures by the P. syringae Hrp system, was translocated into plant cells as effectively as AvrPto. The translocation of several DC3000 candidate Hop proteins was also examined by using Cya as a reporter, which led to identification of three new intact Hop proteins, designated HopPtoQ, HopPtoT1, and HopPtoV, as well as two truncated Hop proteins encoded by the naturally disrupted genes hopPtoS4::tnpA and hopPtoAG::tnpA. We also confirmed that HopPtoK, HopPtoC, and AvrPphE(Pto) are translocated into plant cells. These results increased the number of Hrp system-secreted proteins in DC3000 to 40. Although most of the newly identified Hop proteins possess N termini that have the same features as the N termini of previously described Hop proteins, HopPtoV has none of these characteristics. Our results indicate that Cya should be a useful reporter for exploring multiple aspects of the Hrp system in P. syringae.     

Loss of biodiversity and shifts in aboveground biomass drivers in tropical rainforests with different disturbance histories

Tropical forests account for more than half of the global carbon forest stock and much of the biological diversity on Earth. However, disturbances such as deforestation and forest degradation threaten the maintenance of these ecosystem services. This study aimed to understand how different disturbance histories affect the forest stand biomass, as well as species and functional diversity, and to what extent these differences can change the relationships between biomass and their drivers. We used data from forests with clear-cut and selectively logged disturbance histories, and from old-growth forests, situated in the Brazilian Atlantic forest. Forests with logging disturbances showed significant losses in their aboveground biomass compared to those of old-growth forests (50% loss in selectively logged forests and 80% loss in clear-cut forests). Interestingly, only clear-cut secondary forests showed differences in species and functional diversity, and were dominated by species with acquisitive trait values, commonly found early in succession. Shifts in stand biomass drivers were observed in selectively logged forests. The mass-ratio hypothesis (mainly through the functional trait of maximum height) was the most important biomass driver in clear-cut secondary and old-growth forests, whereas the importance of the niche complementarity hypothesis (through functional richness and dispersion) was higher in selectively logged forests. Our study highlights that disturbance histories can affect forest aboveground biomass and its drivers. Moreover, our results reinforce the need for conservation of intact forests but highlight the importance of including degraded forests in conservation mechanisms based in carbon stocks, as these forests retain high values of species and functional diversities that are crucial to biomass and consequently carbon stock acquisition.     

Yeast Nkp2 is required for accurate chromosome segregation and interacts with several components of the central kinetochore

Kinetochores are macromolecular proteinaceous assemblies that are assembled on centromeres and attach chromosomes to the spindle fibres and regulate the accurate transmission of genetic material to daughter cells. Multiple protein sub-complexes within this supramolecular assembly are hierarchically assembled and contribute to the different aspects of kinetochore function. In this work we show that one of the components of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae kinetochore, Nkp2, plays an important role in ensuring accurate segregation of chromosomes. Although this protein is not conserved in higher organisms, we show that it interacts with highly conserved components of the kinetochore genetically and regulates chromosome segregation. We show that in kinetochore mutants like ctf19 and mcm21 the protein is mislocalized. Furthermore, removal of Nkp2 in these mutants restores normal levels of segregation.     

Water availability drives gradients of tree diversity,structure and functional traits in the Atlantic–Cerrado–Caatinga transition,Brazil

Aims Climate and soil are among the most important factors determining variation in tree communities, but their effects have not been thoroughly elucidated to date for many vegetation features. In this study, we evaluate how climate and soil gradients affect gradients of vegetation composition, species diversity and dominance, structure and functional traits (seed mass and wood density) using over 327 000 trees in 158 sites distributed along environmental gradients in the transitions among the Atlantic forest, Cerrado and Caatinga in Minas Gerais State (MG), Brazil (nearly 600 000 km2).