• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제26권11호
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• pp.1918-1923
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• 2016

Two baicalein derivatives, baicalin and oroxylin A, were synthesized in this study. These derivatives exhibit diverse biological activities, such as anxiolytic and anticancer activities as well as memory enhancement. In order to synthesize baicalin from aglycon baicalein using Escherichia coli, we utilized a glycosyltransferase that regioselectively transfers glucuronic acid from UDP-glucuronic acid to the 7-hydroxy group of baicalein. To increase baicalin productivity, an araA deletion E. coli mutant, which accumulates UDP-glucuronic acid, was used, and ugd, which converts UDP-glucose to UDP-glucuronic acid, was overexpressed. Using these strategies, approximately $720.3{\mu}M$ baicalin was synthesized from $1,000{\mu}M$ baicalein. Oroxylin A was then synthesized from baicalein. Two O-methyltransferases (OMTs), ROMT-15 and POMT-9, were tested to examine the production of oroxylin A from baicalein. E. coli harboring ROMT-15 and E. coli harboring POMT-9 produced reaction products that had different retention times, indicating that they are methylated at different positions; the structure of the reaction product from POMT-9 was consistent with oroxylin A, whereas that from ROMT-15 was 7-O-methyl baicalein. Using E. coli harboring POMT-9, approximately 50.3 mg/l of oroxylin A ($177{\mu}M$) was synthesized from 54 mg/l baicalein ($200{\mu}M$).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제17권12호
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• pp.1991-1995
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• 2007

O-Methylation is a common substitution reaction found in microbes as well as in mammalians. Some of the O-methyltransferases (OMTs) have broad substrate specificity and could be used to methylate various compounds. DnrK from Streptomyces peucetius encodes an anthracycline 4-O-methyltransferase, which uses carminomycin as a substrate, and its crystal structure has been determined. Molecular docking experiments with DnrK using various flavonoids were successfully conducted, and some of the flavonoids such as apigenin and genistein were predicted to serve as substrates. Based on these results, O-methylations of various flavonoids with the DnrK were successfully carried out. The methylation position was determined to be at the hydroxyl group of C7. Important amino acid residues for the enzymatic reaction of DnrK with apigenin could be identified using site-directed mutagenesis. Molecular docking could be useful to predict the substrate specificity ranges of other OMTs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제20권9호
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• pp.1359-1366
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• 2010

A search of the Streptomyces avermitilis genome reveals that its closest homologs are several O-methyltransferases. Among them, one gene (viz., saomt5) was cloned into the pET-15b expression vector by polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific oligonucleotide primers. Biochemical characterization with the recombinant protein showed that SaOMT5 was S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent Omethyltransferase. Several compounds were tested as substrates of SaOMT5. As a result, SaOMT5 catalyzed O-methylation of flavonoids such as 6,7-dihydroxyflavone, 2',3'-dihydroxyflavone, 3',4'-dihydroxyflavone, quercetin, and 7,8-dihydroxyflavone, and phenolic compounds such as caffeic acid and caffeoyl Co-A. These reaction products were analyzed by TLC, HPLC, LC/MS, and NMR spectroscopy. In addition, SaOMT5 could convert phenolic compounds containing ortho-dihydroxy groups into O-methylated compounds, and 6,7-dihydroxyflavone was known to be the best substrate. SaOMT5 converted 6,7-dihydroxyflavone into 6-hydroxy-7-methoxyflavone and 7-hydroxy-6-methoxyflavone, and caffeic acid into ferulic acid and isoferulic acid, respectively. Moreover, SaOMT5 turned out to be a $Mg^{2+}$-dependent OMT, and the effect of $Mg^{2+}$ ion on its activity was five times greater than those of $Ca^{2+}$, $Fe^{2+}$, and $Cu^{2+}$ ions, EDTA, and metal-free medium.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.439-446
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• 2009

The biosynthesis study of antibiotics saframycin (SFM) in Streptomyces lavendulae and safracin (SAC) in Pseudomonas fluorescens demonstrated that 3-hydroxy-S-methyl-O-methyltyrosine (3hSmOmTyr), a nonproteinogenic amino acid, is the precursor of the tetrahydroisoquinoline molecular core. In the biosynthetic gene cluster of SAC/SFM, sacD/sfmD encodes a protein with high homology to each other but no sequence similarity to other known enzymes; sacF/sfmM2 and sacG/sfmM3 encode methyltransferases for C-methylation and O-methylation; and sacE/sfinF encodes a small protein with significant sequence similarity to the MbtH-like proteins, which are frequently found in the biosynthetic pathways of non ribosomal peptide antibiotics and siderophores. To address their function, the biosynthetic cassette of 3h5mOmTyr was heterologously expressed in S. coelicolor and P. putida, and an in-frame deletion and complementation in trans were carried out. The results revealed that (i) SfmD catalyzes the hydroxylation of aromatic rings; (ii) sacD/sacF/sacG in the SAC gene cluster and sfmD/sfmM2/sfmM3 in the SFM cluster are sufficient for the biosynthesis of 3h5mOmTyr; and (iii) the mbtH-like gene is not required for the biosynthesis of the 3h5mOmTyr precursor.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.522-528
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• 2007

본 연구에서 사용한 coffee에 다량 함유된 caffeic acid와 chlorogenic acid, 녹차에 함유된 EGCG 성분은 암세포의 증식을 억제하는데 중요한 기능을 담당하는 세포주기 조절인자인 p16 유전자의 DNA methylation 패턴을 유방암 T-47D 세포에서 유의하게 변화시켰다. MSP를 이용하여 p16 유전자의 promoter 지역에서의 methylation상태의 변화를 살펴본 결과 caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, EGCG는 유전자의 hypermethylation을 감소시켰으며, 이로 인해 demethylation된 p16 유전자가 증가하는 경향을 보였다. 이러한 연구 결과는 coffee 폴리페놀인 caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid와 녹차 폴리페놀인 EGCG는 세포내의 DNA methylation을 억제하는 기능을 가지는데, 이는 coffee폴리페놀과 같이 COMT 효소에 의한 methylation 부산물인 SAH의 증가에 의한 DNMT의 억제이거나, EGCG와 같이 DNMT와 직접적으로 결합하여 methylation 반응을 억제하는 mechanism에 의한 것으로 사료된다. 따라서 앞으로 이미 개발된 항암제뿐만 아니라, 부작용과 독성이 적은 식이성분에 대한 연구가 좀 더 심도 있게 이루어 져야 할 것이며, 이러한 연구들은 암이 발생되고 난 후 치료 요법으로 사용됨은 물론, 암이 발생하기 전에 사전 예방법으로도 널리 적용하는데 있어 중요한 이론적 토대를 마련할 것으로 사료된다.