Zhenzhong Wang

Overexpression and characterization of a Ca 2+ activated thermostable β-glucosidase with high ginsenoside Rb1 to ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 bioconversion productivity

The thermostable β-glucosidase gene from Thermotoga petrophila DSM 13995 was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The activity of the recombinant β-glucosidase was 21xa0U/mL in the LB medium. Recombinant β-glucosidase was purified, and its molecular weight was approximately 81xa0kDa. The optimal activity was at pH 5.0 and 90xa0°C, and the thermostability of the enzyme was improved by Ca2+. The β-glucosidase had high selectivity for cleaving the outer and inner glucopyranosyl moieties at the C-20 carbon of ginsenoside Rb1, which produced the pharmacologically active minor ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3. In a reaction at 90xa0°C and pH 5.0, 10xa0g/L of ginsenoside Rb1 was transformed into 6.93xa0g/L of Rg3 within 90xa0min, with a corresponding molar conversion of 97.9xa0%, and Rg3 productivity of 4620xa0mg/L/h. This study is the first report of a GH3-family enzyme that used Ca2+ to improve its thermostability, and it is the first report on the high substrate concentration bioconversion of ginsenoside Rb1 to ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 by using thermostable β-glucosidase under high temperature.

Enhancing the thermostability of α-L-rhamnosidase from Aspergillus terreus and the enzymatic conversion of rutin to isoquercitrin by adding sorbitol

BackgroundThermally stable α-L-rhamnosidase with cleaving terminal α-L-rhamnose activity has great potential in industrial application. Therefore, it is necessary to find a proper method to improve the thermal stability of α-L-rhamnosidase.ResultsIn this study, addition of sorbitol has been found to increase the thermostability of α-L-rhamnosidase from Aspergillus terreus at temperatures ranging from 65xa0°C to 80xa0°C. Half-life and activation free energy with addition of 2.0xa0M sorbitol at 70xa0°C were increased by 17.2-fold, 8.2xa0kJ/mol, respectively. The analyses of the results of fluorescence spectroscopy and CD have indicated that sorbitol helped to protect the tertiary and secondary structure of α-L-rhamnosidase. Moreover, the isoquercitrin yield increased from 60.01 to 96.43% with the addition of 1.5xa0M of sorbitol at 70xa0°C.ConclusionOur findings provide an effective approach for enhancing the thermostability of α-L-rhamnosidase from Aspergillus terreus, which makes it a good candidate for industrial processes of isoquercitrin preparation.

Characterization of a novel arabinose-tolerant α-L-arabinofuranosidase with high ginsenoside Rc to ginsenoside Rd bioconversion productivity.

(i) To investigate the enzymatic characterization of α‐l‐arabinofuranosidase from Thermotoga thermarum DSM5069. (ii) To evaluate the performance of its excellent properties on converting ginsenoside Rc to ginsenoside Rd.

Consensus Scoring Model for the Molecular Docking Study of mTOR Kinase Inhibitor

The discovery of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase inhibitors has always been a research hotspot of antitumor drugs. Consensus scoring used in the docking study of mTOR kinase inhibitors usually improves hit rate of virtual screening. Herein, we attempt to build a series of consensus scoring models based on a set of the common scoring functions. In this paper, twenty-five kinds of mTOR inhibitors (16 clinical candidate compounds and 9 promising preclinical compounds) are carefully collected, and selected for the molecular docking study used by the Glide docking programs within the standard precise (SP) mode. The predicted poses of these ligands are saved, and revaluated by twenty-six available scoring functions, respectively. Subsequently, consensus scoring models are trained based on the obtained rescoring results by the partial least squares (PLS) method, and validated by Leave-one-out (LOO) method. In addition, three kinds of ligand efficiency indices (BEI, SEI, and LLE) instead of pIC50 as the activity could greatly improve the statistical quality of build models. Two best calculated models 10 and 22 using the same BEI indice have following statistical parameters, respectively: for model 10, training set R2=0.767, Q2=0.647, RMSE=0.024, and for test set R2=0.932, RMSE=0.026; for model 22, raining set R2=0.790, Q2=0.627, RMSE=0.023, and for test set R2=0.955, RMSE=0.020. These two consensus scoring model would be used for the docking virtual screening of novel mTOR inhibitors.

Enrichment and Purification of Total Ginkgo Flavonoid O-Glycosides from Ginkgo Biloba Extract with Macroporous Resin and Evaluation of Anti-Inflammation Activities In Vitro

In the present study, the performance and separation characteristics of six macroporous resins for the enrichment and purification of total ginkgo flavonoid O-glycosides (TGFs) (quercetin (I), kaempferol (II), isorhamnetin (III)) from Ginkgo Biloba extracts (EGB) are evaluated. The adsorption and desorption properties of TGFs are studied on macroporous resins, including D101, D201, AB-8, HPD400, D301, and D311. Along with the results, AB-8 resin exhibits the best adsorption and desorption capacity for these three ginkgo flavonoid O-glycosides among the six resins. Adsorption isotherms are created on AB-8 resin and fit well to the Langmuir (R2 > 0.96) and Freundlich (R2 > 0.92, 0.3 < 1/n < 0.7) models. After the treatment with gradient elution on AB-8 resin packed chromatography column, the contents of the three main ginkgo flavonoid O-glycosides (I, II, and III) increase from 8.93%, 9.88%, and 6.11% in the extracts to 30.12%, 35.21%, and 14.14%, respectively, in the product. The recoveries of compounds I, II, and III are 88.76%, 93.78%, and 60.90%, respectively. Additionally, the anti-inflammatory effects of TGFs are evaluated in LPS-treated RAW 264.7 macrophages, and the result demonstrates that TGFs could significantly inhibit LPS-induced NO release in vitro in a dose-dependent manner compared with the control group. These findings suggest that TGFs could potentially be natural antioxidants and anti-inflammatory ingredients that could be used in pharmaceutical products and functional food additives.

High-level expression of recombinant thermostable β-glucosidase in Escherichia coli by regulating acetic acid

In the fermentation progress, fermentation parameters including the feed rate, induction temperature, and induction pH evidently regulate the accumulation of acetic acid generated by recombinant E. coli in the medium. The production of thermostable β-glucosidase (Tpebgl3) was increased by optimizing the parameters mentioned step by step. The optimal conditions were obtained with the highest enzyme expression (560.4U/mL) and the maximum DCW (65g/L) at the pre-induction specific growth rate of 0.2h-1 followed by a post-induction specific growth rate (0.18h-1); induction temperature is 39°C; the pH is 7.2; the concentration of acetic acid was maintained all along below 0.9g/L. Results show it is necessary for the synthesis of Tpebgl3 to regulate the accumulation of acetic acid at the premise of feeding to meet the normal growth of E. coli. The production of Tpebgl3 by recombinant E. coli is the highest reported to date.

Seasonal variation of pheophorbide a and flavonoid in different organs of two Carpinus species and its correlation with immunosuppressive activity

The genus Carpinus of Betulaceae is the most widely distributed in the European landscape. This study reports a comparative study based on the pheophorbide a and flavonoid content from the two main species of the genus Carpinus, Carpinus betulus and Carpinus turczaninowii, respectively, in Nanjing, China. The pheophorbide a and flavonoid content depends on the organ, species, and season. HPLC analysis showed that the pheophorbide a and flavonoid levels were the highest in May and June, respectively, from the leaves of C. betulus ‘Fastigiata.’ In contrast, the content of pheophorbide a and flavonoid in the stems of C. betulus ‘Fastigiata’ or in other species was low. The immunosuppressive effects of the ethyl acetate extracts and methanol extracts from the two Carpinus species were also evaluated. The ethyl acetate extracts of C. betulus ‘Fastigiata’ in May and the methanol extracts of C. betulus ‘Fastigiata’ in June showed better immunosuppressive activity than in other seasons, which coincided with the content of pheophorbide a and flavonoid, respectively. Our findings indicated that C. betulus ‘Fastigiata’ can serve as a medicinal plant against inflammation because of its pheophorbide a and flavonoid content.

Antitumor, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of kaempferol and its corresponding glycosides and the enzymatic preparation of kaempferol

Kaempferol (kae) and its glycosides are widely distributed in nature and show multiple bioactivities, yet few reports have compared them. In this paper, we report the antitumor, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity differences of kae, kae-7-O-glucoside (kae-7-O-glu), kae-3-O-rhamnoside (kae-3-O-rha) and kae-3-O-rutinoside (kae-3-O-rut). Kae showed the highest antiproliferation effect on the human hepatoma cell line HepG2, mouse colon cancer cell line CT26 and mouse melanoma cell line B16F1. Kae also significantly inhibited AKT phosphorylation and cleaved caspase-9, caspase-7, caspase-3 and PARP in HepG2 cells. A kae-induced increase in DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity, inhibition of concanavalin A (Con A)-induced activation of T cell proliferation and NO or ROS production in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophage cells were also seen. Kae glycosides were used to produce kae via environment-friendly enzymatic hydrolysis. Kae-7-O-glu and kae-3-O-rut were hydrolyzed to kae by β-glucosidase and/or α-L-rhamnosidase. This paper demonstrates the application of enzymatic catalysis to obtain highly biologically active kae. This work provides a novel and efficient preparation of high-value flavone-related products.

B-factor-saturation mutagenesis as a strategy to increase the thermostability of α-L-rhamnosidase from Aspergillus terreus

The α-L-Rhamnosidase is an important enzyme with applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries because it can release terminal L-rhamnose residues from various natural products. In this study, the B-factor-saturation mutagenesis strategy was used to increase the thermostability of α-L-rhamnosidase from Aspergillus terreus. The D594Q and G827K/D594Q mutant enzymes were obtained by screening a series of mutants; they prolonged the half-life of the enzyme at 70u202f°C by 2.1-fold and 2.3-fold, respectively. Analysis of the 3D structure showed that in the thermostable variants the number of hydrogen bonds and salt bridges was increased, explaining the enhanced thermostability. Kinetic studies showed that the KM values for the D594Q and G827K/D594Q mutant enzymes decreased by 4.0% and 3.8%, respectively. Additionally, the kcat/KM values for the D594Q and G827K/D594Q mutant enzymes increased by 15.5% and 9.2%, respectively. Moreover, the D594Q and G827K/D594Q mutant enzymes exhibited markedly improved isoquercitrin yield at 70u202f°C that increased by 13.5% and 11.0%, respectively. Therefore, the D594Q and G827K/D594Q mutant enzymes are more suitable for the industrial processes of isoquercitrin preparation.

Design, synthesis, and anti-inflammatory activity of caffeoyl salicylate analogs as NO production inhibitors

Chlorogenic acid (CGA) has been reported to exhibit potent anti-inflammatory activity. However, the development of anti-inflammatory agent based on CGA has not been investigated. In this paper, a series of caffeoyl salicylate compounds derived from CGA were designed, synthesized, and evaluated by LPS-induced nitric oxide synthase inhibition and QRT-PCR technique. Most compounds showed modest activity to inhibit production of nitric oxide (NO) in RAW 264.7 cells induced by lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Among these compounds, QRT-PCR and western blotting results indicated that compounds 6b, 6c, 6f, 6g and D104 that possess 5-member ring or 6-member ring caused a significant inhibition against expression of the iNOS2 in LPS-induced macrophages. In addition, cytotoxic assay displayed most derivatives have good safety in vitro. This new promising scaffold could be further exploited for the development of anti-inflammatory agent in the future.