• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2002

The bark of P. alba × glandulosa, P. euramericana and P. nigra × maximounczii F₁, several Populus trees, were collected, extracted with acetone-H₂O(7:3, v/v), fractionated with hexane, chloroform and ethylacetate, and freeze dried to give some dark brown powder. Each fraction of the powder was chromatographed on a Sephadex LH-20 column using a series of aqueous methanol and ethanol-hexane mixture as eluents and then identified by thin layer chromatography using TBA and 6% acetic acid as developing solvents. The structures of the isolated compounds were characterized by ¹H, ¹³C and 2D-NMR tools including mass spectrometry. Most of the compounds were flavonoids and salicin derivatives as follows: (+)-catechin, taxifolin, aromadendrin, eriodictyol, naringenin, sakuranetin, sakuranetin-5-O-𝛽-D-glucopyranoside, neosaturanin, salireposide, p-coumaric acid, and aesculin from P. alba × glandulosa, (+)-catechin, salireposide, populoside and salicortin from P. euramericana and (+)-catechin, quercetin, padmatin, salireposide, populoside and salicortin from P. nigra × maximounczii F₁.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.901-907
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• 2008

Thermotoga neapolitana $\beta$-glucosidase (BglA) was subjected to site-directed mutagenesis in an effort to increase its ability to synthesize arbutin derivatives by transglycosylation. The transglycosylation reaction of the wild-type enzyme displays major ${\beta}(1,6)$ and minor ${\beta}(1,3)$ or ${\beta}(1,4)$ regioselectivity. The three mutants, N291T, F412S, and N291T/F412S, increased the ratio of transglycosylation/hydrolysis compared with the wild-type enzyme when pNPG and arbutin were used as a substrate and an acceptor, respectively. N291T and N219T/F412S had transglycosylation/hydrolysis ratios about 3- and 8-fold higher, respectively, than that of the wild-type enzyme. This is due to the decreased hydrolytic activity of the mutant rather than increased transglycosylation activity. Interestingly, N291T showed altered regioselectivity, as well as increased transglycosylation products. TLC analysis of the transglycosylation products indicated that N291T retained its ${\beta}(1,3)$ regioselectivity, but lost its ${\beta}(1,4)$ and ${\beta}(1,6)$ regioselectivity. The altered regioselectivity of N291T using two other acceptors, esculin and salicin, was also confirmed by TLC. The major transglycosylation products of the wild type and N291T mutant were clearly different. This result suggests that Asn-291 is highly involved in the catalytic mechanism by controlling the transglycosylation reaction.