• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.123-132
• /
• 2017

Insulin signaling is coordinated by insulin receptor substrates (IRSs). Many insulin responses, especially for blood glucose metabolism, are mediated primarily through Irs-1 and Irs-2. Irs-1 knockout mice show growth retardation and insulin signaling defects, which can be compensated by other IRSs in vivo; however, the underlying mechanism is not clear. Here, we presented an Irs-1 truncated mutated mouse ($Irs-1^{-/-}$) with growth retardation and subcutaneous adipocyte atrophy. $Irs-1^{-/-}$ mice exhibited mild insulin resistance, as demonstrated by the insulin tolerance test. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) activity and phosphorylated Protein Kinase B (PKB/AKT) expression were elevated in liver, skeletal muscle, and subcutaneous adipocytes in Irs-1 deficiency. In addition, the expression of IRS-2 and its phosphorylated version were clearly elevated in liver and skeletal muscle. With miRNA microarray analysis, we found miR-33 was down-regulated in bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) of $Irs-1^{-/-}$ mice, while its target gene Irs-2 was up-regulated in vitro studies. In addition, miR-33 was down-regulated in the presence of Irs-1 and which was up-regulated in fasting status. What's more, miR-33 restored its expression in re-feeding status. Meanwhile, miR-33 levels decreased and Irs-2 levels increased in liver, skeletal muscle, and subcutaneous adipocytes of $Irs-1^{-/-}$ mice. In primary cultured liver cells transfected with an miR-33 inhibitor, the expression of IRS-2, PI3K, and phosphorylated-AKT (p-AKT) increased while the opposite results were observed in the presence of an miR-33 mimic. Therefore, decreased miR-33 levels can up-regulate IRS-2 expression, which appears to compensate for the defects of the insulin signaling pathway in Irs-1 deficient mice.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.114-122
• /
• 2023

A family of signal transduction pathways known as wingless type (Wnt) signaling pathways is essential to developmental processes like cell division and proliferation. Mutation in Wnt signaling results in a variety of diseases, including cancers of the breast, colon, and skin, metabolic disease, and neurodegenerative disease; thus, the Wnt signaling pathways have been attractive targets for disease treatment. However, the complicatedness and large involveness of the pathway often hampers pinpointing the specific targets of the metabolic process. In our current study, we investigated the differential metabolic regulation by the overexpression of the Wnt signaling pathway in a timely-resolved manner by applying high-throughput and un-targeted metabolite profiling. We have detected and annotated 321 metabolite peaks from a total of 36 human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells using GC-TOF MS and LC-Orbitrap MS. The un-targeted metabolomic analysis identified the radical reprogramming of a range of central carbon/nitrogen metabolism pathways, including glycolysis, TCA cycle, and glutaminolysis, and fatty acid pathways. The investigation, combined with targeted mRNA profiles, elucidated an explicit understanding of activated fatty acid metabolism (β-oxidation and biosynthesis). The findings proposed detailed mechanistic biochemical dynamics in response to Wnt-driven metabolic changes, which may help design precise therapeutic targets for Wnt-related diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.23-36
• /
• 2009

In the present work, the metabolic network of primary metabolism of the slow-growing myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum was reconstructed from the annotated genome sequence of the type strain So ce56. During growth on glucose as the carbon source and asparagine as the nitrogen source, So ce56 showed a very low growth rate of $0.23\;d^{-1}$, equivalent to a doubling time of 3 days. Based on a complete stoichiometric and isotopomer model of the central metabolism, $^{13}C$ metabolic flux analysis was carried out for growth with glucose as carbon and asparagine as nitrogen sources. Normalized to the uptake flux for glucose (100%), cells recruited glycolysis (51%) and the pentose phosphate pathway (48%) as major catabolic pathways. The Entner-Doudoroff pathway and glyoxylate shunt were not active. A high flux through the TCA cycle (118%) enabled a strong formation of ATP, but cells revealed a rather low yield for biomass. Inspection of fluxes linked to energy metabolism revealed that S. cellulosum utilized only 10% of the ATP formed for growth, whereas 90% is required for maintenance. This explains the apparent discrepancy between the relatively low biomass yield and the high flux through the energy-delivering TCA cycle. The total flux of NADPH supply (216%) was higher than the demand for anabolism (156%), indicating additional reactions for balancing of NADPH. The cells further exhibited a highly active metabolic cycle, interconverting $C_3$ and $C_4$ metabolites of glycolysis and the TCA cycle. The present work provides the first insight into fluxes of the primary metabolism of myxobacteria, especially for future investigation on the supply of cofactors, building blocks, and energy in myxobacteria, producing natural compounds of biotechnological interest.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.91-98
• /
• 2005

In order to investigate central metabolic changes in Beijerinckia indica, cells were grown on different carbon sources and intracellular flux distributions were studied under varying concentrations of nitrogen. Metabolic fluxes were estimated by combining material balances with extracellular substrate uptake rate, biomass formation rate, and exopolysaccharide (EPS) accumulation rate. Thirty-one metabolic reactions and 30 intracellular metabolites were considered for the flux analysis. The results revealed that most of the carbon source was directed into the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, followed by the recycling of triose-3-phosphate back to Hexose­6-phosphate. The pentose phosphate pathway was operated at a minimal level to supply the precursors for biomass formation. The different metabolic behaviors under varying nitrogen concentrations were observed with flux analysis.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2008

The enzymatic hydrolysis of chitin has been studied for almost a century, and early work established that at least two enzymes are required, a chitinase that mainly yields the disaccharide N,N'-diacetylchitobiose, or $(GlcNAc)_2$, and a "chitobiase", or ${\beta}$-N-acetylglucosaminidase, which gives the final product G1cNAc. This pathway has not been completely identified but has remained the central concept for the chitin catabolism through the $20^{th}$ century1 including in marine bacteria. However, the chitin catabolic cascade is quite complex, as described in this review. This report describes three biologically functional genes involved in the chitin catabolic cascade of Vibrios in an attempt to better understand the metabolic pathway of chitin.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.20 no.10
• /
• pp.1440-1445
• /
• 2010

Rhodococcus sp. JDC-11, capable of utilizing di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) as the sole source of carbon and energy, was isolated from sewage sludge and confirmed mainly based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The optimum pH, temperature, and agitation rate for DBP degradation by Rhodococcus sp. JDC-11 were 8.0, $30^{\circ}C$, and 175 rpm, respectively. In addition, low concentrations of glucose were found to inhibit the degradation of DBP, whereas high concentrations of glucose increased its degradation. Meanwhile, a substrate utilization test showed that JDC-11 was also able to utilize other phthalates. The major metabolites of DBP degradation were identified as monobutyl phthalate and phthalic acid by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, allowing speculation on the tentative metabolic pathway of DBP degradation by Rhodococcus sp. JDC-11. Using a set of new degenerate primers, a partial sequence of the 3,4-phthalate dioxygenase gene was obtained from JDC-11. Moreover, a sequence analysis revealed that the phthalate dioxygenase gene of JDC-11 was highly homologous to the large subunit of the phthalate dioxygenase from Rhodococcus coprophilus strain G9.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
• /
• 2001.06a
• /
• pp.141-145
• /
• 2001

Isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) is the common, five-carbon building block in the biosynthesis of all carotenoids. IPP in Escherichia coli is synthesized through the non-mevalonate pathway. The first reaction of IPP biosynthesis in E. coli is the formation of l-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate (DXP), catalyzed by DXP synthase and encoded by dxs. The second reaction in the pathway is the reduction of DXP to 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate, catalyzed by DXP reductoisomerase and encoded by dxr. To determine if one or more of the reactions in the non-mevalonate pathway controlled flux to IPP, dxs and dxr were placed on several expression vectors under the control of three different promoters and transformed into three E. coli strains (DH5$\alpha$, XL1-Blue, and JMl0l) that had been engineered to produce lycopene. Lycopene production was improved significantly in strains transformed with the dxs expression vectors. When the dxs gene was expressed from the arabinose-inducible araBAD promoter ( $P_{BAD}$) on a medium-copy plasmid, lycopene production was 2-fold higher than when dxs was expressed from the IPTG-inducible trc and lac promoters ( $P_{trc}$ and $P_{lac}$, respectively) on medium-copy and high-copy plasmids. Given the low final densities of cells expressing dxs from IPTG-inducible promoters, the low lycopene production was probably due to the metabolic burden of plasmid maintenance and an excessive drain of central metabolic intermediates. At arabinose concentrations between 0 and 1.33 roM, cells expressing both dxs and dxr from $P_{BAD}$ on a medium-copy plasmid produced 1.4 - 2.0 times more lycopene than cells expressing dxs only. However, at higher arabinose concentrations lycopene . production in cells expressing both dxs and dxr was lower than in cells expressing dxs only. A comparison of the three E. coli strains transformed with the arabinose-inducible dxs on a medium-copy plasmid revealed that lycopene production was highest in XLI-Blue.LI-Blue.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.387-392
• /
• 1998

Brevibacterium lactofermentum, a gram-positive bacteria, has both the diaminopimelate (DAP) pathway and meso-DAP-dehydrogenase (DDH) pathway for L-lysine biosynthesis. To investigate importance of DDH pathway and the related ddh gene in lysine production, we introduced site-specific mutagenesis technique. A 300 bp DNA fragment central to the meso-DAP-dehydrogenase gene (ddh) of B. lactofermentum was used to inactive chromosomal ddh gene via homologous recombination. Southern hybridization analysis confirmed that the chromosomal ddh gene was disrupted by the vector sequence. The B. lactofementum ddh mutant obtained have an inactive DDH pathway. The results reveal that inactivation of the ddh gene in B. lactofermentum leads to dramatic reduction of lysine production as well as decrease of the growth rate, indicating that the DDH pathway is essential for high-level lysine production as well as biosynthesis of meso-DAP.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.45-57
• /
• 2020

In the neurovascular unit, the neuronal and vascular systems communicate with each other. O₂ and nutrients, reaching endothelial cells (ECs) through the blood stream, spread into neighboring cells, such as neural stem cells, and neurons. The proper function of neural circuits in adults requires sufficient O₂ and glucose for their metabolic demands through angiogenesis. In a central nervous system (CNS) injury, such as glioma, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease, damaged ECs can contribute to tissue hypoxia and to the consequent disruption of neuronal functions and accelerated neurodegeneration. This review discusses the current evidence regarding the contribution of oxygen deprivation to CNS injury, with an emphasis on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-mediated pathways and Notch signaling. Additionally, it focuses on adult neurological functions and angiogenesis, as well as pathological conditions in the CNS. Furthermore, the functional interplay between HIFs and Notch is demonstrated in pathophysiological conditions.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.199-207
• /
• 2002

The tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine (its racemic form being atropine) and scopolamine are used medicinally as anticholinergic agents that act on the parasympathetic nerve system. Because they differ in their actions on the central nervous system, currently there is a 10-fold higher commercial demand for scopolamine, in the N-butylbromide form, than there is for hyoscyamine and atropine combined. Several solanaceous species have been used as the commercial sources of these alkaloids, but the scopolamine contents in these plants often are much lower than those of hyoscyamine. For this reason there has been long-standing interest in increasing the scopolamine contents of cultivated medicinal plants. Naturally occurring and artificial interspecific hybrids of Duboisia have high scopolamine contents and are cultivated as a commercial source of scopolamine in Australia and other countries. Anther culture combined with conventional interspecific hybridization also has been used to breed high scopolamine-containing plants in the genera Datura and Hyoscyamus, but without much success. The use of recombinant DNA technology for the manipulation of metabolic processes in cells promises to provide important contributions to basic science, agriculture, and medicine. In this review, I introduce on the enzymes and genes involved in tropane alkaloid biosynthesis and current progress in metabolic engineering approaches for tropane alkaloid, especially scopolamine, production.