David Lesur

The Arabidopsis sweetie mutant is affected in carbohydrate metabolism and defective in the control of growth, development and senescence

SUMMARY Sugars modulate many vital metabolic and developmental processes in plants, from seed germination to flowering, senescence and protection against diverse abiotic and biotic stresses. However, the exact mechanisms involved in morphogenesis, developmental signalling and stress tolerance remain largely unknown. Here we report the characterization of a novel Arabidopsis thaliana mutant, sweetie, with drastically altered morphogenesis, and a strongly modified carbohydrate metabolism leading to elevated levels of trehalose, trehalose-6-phosphate and starch. We additionally show that the disruption of SWEETIE causes significant growth and developmental alterations, such as severe dwarfism, lancet-shaped leaves, early senescence and flower sterility. Genes implicated in sugar metabolism, senescence, ethylene biosynthesis and abiotic stress were found to be upregulated in sweetie. Our physiological, biochemical, genetic and molecular data indicate that the mutation in sweetie was nuclear, single and recessive. The effects of metabolizable sugars and osmolytes on sweetie morphogenesis were distinct; in light, sweetie was hypersensitive to sucrose and glucose during vegetative growth and a partial phenotypic reversion took place in the presence of high sorbitol concentrations. However, SWEETIE encodes a protein that is unrelated to any known enzyme involved in sugar metabolism. We suggest that SWEETIE plays an important regulatory function that influences multiple metabolic, hormonal and stress-related pathways, leading to altered gene expression and pronounced changes in the accumulation of sugar, starch and ethylene.

A click procedure with heterogeneous copper to tether technetium-99m chelating agents and rhenium complexes. Evaluation of the chelating properties and biodistribution of the new radiolabelled glucose conjugates.

An efficient protocol was developed to tether chelating agents and rhenium complexes onto a glucoside scaffold with a heterogeneous copper catalyst via click chemistry. The supported catalyst avoids the formation of unwanted copper complexes during the cyclisation step. The possibility to graft a pre-chelated M(CO)(3) core by click chemistry onto a biomolecule was highlighted for the first time. (99m)Tc(CO)(3)-glucoconjugates displayed excellent in vitro stability, a fast in vivo blood clearance and a low specific organ uptake or long-term retention in spleen and stomach.

The effect of room temperature ionic liquids on the selective biocatalytic hydrolysis of chitin via sequential or simultaneous strategies

An efficient conversion of chitin, the second most abundant renewable polymer on the Earth, into N-acetylglucosamine and N,N′-diacetylchitobiose, using room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) and commercially available chitinases is described for the first time. The sequential strategy consists of the use of RTILs to pretreat chitin under mild conditions as a first step before enzymatic hydrolysis. [C2mim][OAc] (1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium) pretreatment provides an efficient production of N-acetylglucosamine (185.0 ± 4.0 mg per g chitin) or N,N′-diacetylchitobiose (667.60 ± 20.71 mg per g chitin) catalyzed by chitinase from Trichoderma viride or Streptomyces griseus, respectively. A thorough investigation of the structural changes of chitin induced by RTIL pretreatment suggested an increase in enzymes’ accessibility to the chitin substrate. Alternatively, a one-pot enzymatic hydrolysis of chitin in [C2mim][OAc]-aqueous medium constitutes a promising simultaneous route to selectively generate N-acetylglucosamine or N,N′-diacetylchitobiose by decreasing the required [C2mim][OAc] amount and the number of steps. Finally, the combination of the two chitinases from T. viride and S. griseus was shown to be very relevant to considerably increase the production of N-acetylglucosamine up to 760.0 ± 0.1 mg per g chitin.

Efficient regioselective chemical modifications of maltotriose: an easy access to oligosaccharidic scaffold

Regioselective chlorination of fully unprotected maltotriose has given in high yield 1(I),2(I-III),3(I-III),4(III)-octa-O-acetyl-6(I-III)-trichloro-6(I-III)-trideoxymaltotriose. Moreover, regioselective ditritylation of methyl β-maltotrioside has provided the two regioselectively C(6)-disubstituted trisaccharides. Selective deprotection of these new compounds gives the corresponding diol and halogenated analogues, respectively, in good yield. All compounds have been completely characterized and the substitution pattern in the oligosaccharidic sequence has been elucidated. A new family of amphiphilic carbohydrates, namely the 6-deoxy-6-alkylthiomaltotriose derivatives, bearing either two or three thioalkyl hydrophobic chains, respectively, has been synthesized. Critical micellar concentration (CMC) values as well as the antimicrobial properties have been evaluated for amphiphilic compounds.

Arylnaphthalene and aryltetralin-type lignans in hairy root cultures of Linum perenne, and the stereochemistry of 6-methoxypodophyllotoxin and one diastereoisomer by HPLC-MS and NMR spectroscopy.

INTRODUCTION Hairy root cultures of Linum sp. are an alternative for the high production of lignans. Linum perenne is known to produce arylnaphthalene-type lignans such as justicidin B, isojusticidin and diphyllin. OBJECTIVE To elucidate the presence of aryltetralin-type lignan diastereoisomers, besides the known arylnaphthalene-type lignans, in hairy roots of Linum perenne, and to determine the configurations of one diastereoisomer of 6-methoxypodophyllotoxin (6-MPTOX). METHODS Lignans from hairy root cultures of Linum perenne were extracted and separated by HPLC. Arylnaphthalene-type lignans were identified by LC-MS, according to the literature. Two diastereoisomers of aryltetralin-type lignans were analysed by mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. RESULTS Numerous arylnaphthalene-type lignans (diphyllin-2-hexose-pentose, diphyllin-3-pentose and diphyllin-hexose) were identified in hairy root cultures. Methoxypodophyllotoxin, an aryltetralin-type lignan, was also identified, as well as one diastereoisomer. This aryltetralin-type lignan could be derived via 7-hydroxymatairesinol as a hypothetical biosynthetic pathway. The stereochemical configurations of aryltetralin isomers were determined. CONCLUSION Arylnaphthalene and two diastereoisomers of aryltetralin-type lignans are produced in Linum perenne hairy root cultures. Matairesinol, the precursor of justicidin B, also seems to be converted into 6-MPTOX via 7-hydroxymatairesinol. This is the first report of the stereochemical configurations of an aryltetralin-type lignan other than podophyllotoxin (PTOX).

Preparative separation of glycoalkaloids α-solanine and α-chaconine by centrifugal partition chromatography

The main glycoalkaloids of a commercial potato cultivar, α-chaconine and α-solanine, were extracted from sprouts of Solanum tuberosum cv. Pompadour by a mixture of MeOH/H(2)O/CH(3)COOH (400/100/50, v/v/v). In these conditions, 2.8±0.62g of crude extract were obtained from 50g of fresh sprouts and the total glycoalkaloid content was determined by analytical HPLC at 216.5mg/100g. α-Chaconine and α-solanine were separated in a preparative scale using centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC). In a solvent system composed of a mixture of ethyl acetate/butanol/water (15/35/50, v/v/v), α-chaconine (54mg) and α-solanine (15mg) were successfully isolated from the crude extract in one step of purification. The purity of isolated compounds was determined to be higher than 92% by HPLC analysis.

Efficient purification of small unsaturated oligoglucuronides by reversed-phase chromatography.

Ion-exchange chromatography has been applied to purification of unsaturated oligoglucuronans. After an isocratic elution on a strong anion-exchange column, the collected fractions were desalted by low pressure size exclusion chromatography. However, this efficient separation was limited by the time required to desalt. So, we developed a reversed-phase chromatography method using back ionization of oligomers. Two C18 columns were tested with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA 0.7%) as eluent. Different selectivities and column stabilities were observed in this acidic condition. The scale up for semi-preparative applications enabled us to recover pure unsaturated oligoglucuronans without desalting step.

Chirality inversion, supramolecular hydrogelation and lectin binding of two thiolactose amphiphiles constructed on a di-lauroyl-L-tartaric acid scaffold

Herein we report the synthesis, characterization and self-assembly properties of two new thiolactose based amphiphiles constructed on a di-lauroyl-L-tartaric acid scaffold that only differ in the length of the spacer by an ethylene glycol unit. Upon dissolution in hot water the amphiphiles give rise to different colloidal systems at 25 °C: the one with the shorter linker forms a supramolecular thermoreversible hydrogel at a concentration of 0.1 w/v% while the other renders a colloidal system at high dilution (0.005 w/v%). Dynamic Light Scattering, Electron Microscopy (TEM, SEM and E-SEM), fluorescence CMC determination, SAXS and Circular Dichroism experiments were used to characterize both systems. The experiments indicate that only the amphiphile carrying the shorter linker is able to form a crossed-linked network of micellar fibers and thus, a stable hydrogel is observed. The difference of an ethylene glycol unit in the spacer also causes the adoption of a different molecular assembly evidenced by the inversion of the self-assembled chiral arrangement. In addition, the amphiphiles were evaluated for their ability to bind to the PNA lectin using a turbidimetric method. Agglutination was observed in both cases, a process that was disrupted upon the addition of an excess of the disaccharide lactose.