• Title/Summary/Keyword: BioInformatics

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Solubilization of Pyrimethamine, Antibacterial Drug, by Low-Molecular-Weight Succinoglycan Dimers Isolated from Shinorhizobium meliloti

  • Kim, Hwan-Hee;Kim, Kyoung-Tea;Choi, Jae-Min;Tahir, Muhammad Nazir;Cho, Eun-Ae;Choi, Young-Jin;Lee, Im-Soon;Jung, Seun-Ho
    • Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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    • v.33 no.8
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    • pp.2731-2736
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    • 2012
  • The use of pyrimethamine as antibacterial drug is limited by the poor solubility. To enhance its solubility, we prepared complexes of pyrimethamine with low-molecular-weight succinoglycan isolated from Sinorhizobium meliloti. Low-molecular-weight succinoglycans are monomers, dimers, and trimers of the succinoglycan repeating unit. The monomers and dimers were separated into their three species (M1, M2, and M3) and four fractions (D1 to D4) using chromatographic techniques, which were shown to be nontoxic. The solubility of pyrimethamine was markedly increased up to 42 fold by succinoglycan D3, where the level of its solubility enhancement was even 8-20 fold higher comparing with cyclodextrin or its derivatives. The complex formation of succinoglycan D3 with pyrimethamine was confirmed by $^1H$ nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, and molecular modeling studies. Herein, we suggest that the low-molecular-weight succinoglycans may be utilized as highly effective solubilizers of pyrimethamine for pharmaceutical purposes.

Biotransformation of Flavonoids with O-Methyltransferase from Bacillus cereus

  • Lee Yoon-Jung;Kim Bong-Gyu;Park Young-Hee;Lim Yoong-Ho;Hur Hor-Gil;Ahn Joong-Hoon
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.16 no.7
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    • pp.1090-1096
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    • 2006
  • O-Methylation is a common modification reaction found in nature, and is mediated by an O-methyltransferase (OMT). OMTs have been mainly studied in plants, whereas only a few OMTs have been studied in microbes. When searching the Bacillus cereus genome, four putative small molecular OMTs were identified, among which BcOMT-1 was cloned and expressed in E. coli as a his-tag fusion protein. The whole cell expressing BcOMT-1 was used to methylate several flavonoids. Eriodictyol, luteolin, quercetin, and taxifolin, all of which contain 3' and 4' hydroxyl groups, served as methyl group acceptors for BcOMT-1, whereas naringenin, apigenin, 3,3'-dihydroxyflavone, and 3,4'-dihydroxyflavone did not function as substrates. Analysis of the reaction products using HPLC showed two different peaks, and NMR revealed that the methylation position was at the hydroxyl group of either carbon 3' or 4'. Therefore, this showed that BcOMT-1 used flavonoids containing ortho hydroxyl groups and transferred a methyl group to either of two hydroxyl groups.

Rapid Separation of Cellular Cyclosophoraoses Produced by Rhizobium Species

  • Seo, Dong-Hyuk;Lee, Sang-Hoo;Park, Hey-Lin;Kwon, Tae-Jong;Jung, Seun-Ho
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.522-525
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    • 2002
  • A very rapid and efficient separation technique for cellular rhizobial cyclosophoraoses was developed based on fractional precipitation and partition chromatography. Cyclosophoraoses are known to function in the osmotic regulation and root nodule formation of legumes during the nitrogen fixation process. Cyclosophoraoses are produced as unbranched cyclic (1longrightarrow12)-${\beta}$-D-glucans in Agrobacterium or Rhizobium species. Recent research has shown that cyclosophoraoses can form inclusion complexation with various unstable or insoluble guest chemicals, thereby implying great potential for industrial application. Typical separation of pure cellular cyclosophoraoses has been so far carried out by several time-consuming steps, including size exclusion, anion exchange, and desalting liquid chromatographies, with a relatively poor recovery. However, the proposed method demonstrated that the successive application of fractional ethanol precipitation and one step of silica gel-based flash column chromatography was enough to simultaneously purify neutral or anionic forms of cyclosophoraoses. This novel technique is very rapid and provides a high recovery.

O-Methyltransferases from Arabidopsis thaliana

  • Kim, Bong-Gyu;Kim, Dae-Hwan;Hur, Hor-Gil;Lim, Jun;Lim, Yoong-Ho;Ahn, Joong-Hoon
    • Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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    • v.48 no.3
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    • pp.113-119
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    • 2005
  • O-methylation mediated by O-methyltransferases (OMTs) is a common modification in natural product biosynthesis and contributes to diversity of secondary metabolites. OMTs use phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, other phenolics and alkaloids as substrates, and share common domains for S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet) and substrate binding. We searched Arabiposis genome and found 17 OMTs genes (AtOMTs). AdoMet- and substrate-binding sites were predicted. AdoMet binding domain of AtOMTs is highly conserved, while substrate-binding domain is diverse, indicating use of different substrates. In addition, expressions of six AtOMT genes in response to UV and in different tissues were investigated using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. All the AtOMTs investigated were expressed under normal growth condition and most, except AtOMT10, were induced after UV illumination. AtOMT1 and AtOMT8 were expressed in all the tissues, whereas AtOMT10 showed flower-specific expression. Analysis of these AtOMT gene expressions could provide some clues on AtOMT involvement in the cellular processes.

Characterization of flavone synthase I from rice

  • Lee, Yoon-Jung;Kim, Jeong-Ho;Kim, Bong-Gyu;Lim, Yoong-Ho;Ahn, Joong-Hoon
    • BMB Reports
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    • v.41 no.1
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    • pp.68-71
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    • 2008
  • Flavones are synthesized from flavanones through the action of flavone synthases (FNSs). There are two FNSs, FNS I and II. FNS I is a soluble dioxygenase present in members of the Apiaceae family and FNS II is a membrane bound cytochrome P450 enzyme that has been identified in numerous plant species. In this study, we cloned OsFNS I-1 from rice by RTPCR, expressed it in E. coli, and purified the recombinant protein. By NMR analysis, we found that OsFNS I-1 converted the flavanone (2S)-naringenin into the flavone, apigenin. Moreover, we found that the cofactors oxoglutarate, $FeSO_4$, ascorbate and catalase are required for this reaction. OsFNS I-1 encodes a flavone synthase I. This is the first type I FNS I found outside of the Apiaceae family.