• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2010

Human histamine H1 receptor (HHR1) is a G protein-coupled receptor and a primary target for antiallergic therapy. Here, the ligand-based three-dimensional pharmacophore models were built from a set of known HHR1 inverse agonists using HypoGen module of CATALYST software. All ten generated pharmacophore models consist of five essential features: hydrogen bond acceptor, ring aromatic, positive ionizable and two hydrophobic functions. Best model had a correlation coefficient of 0.854 for training set compounds and it was validated with an external test set with a high correlation value of 0.925. Using this model Maybridge database containing 60,000 compounds was screened for potential leads. A rigorous screening for drug-like compounds unveiled RH01692 and SPB00834, two novel molecules for HHR1 with good CATALYST fit and estimated activity values. The new lead molecules were docked into the active site of constructed HHR1 homology model based on recently crystallized squid rhodopsin as template. Both the hit compounds were found to have critical interactions with Glu177, Phe432 and other important amino acids. The interpretations of this study may effectively be deployed in designing of novel HHR1 inverse agonists.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.221-226
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• 2011

The gene encoding 4-$\alpha$-glucanotransferase (mgtA) from Thermotoga neapolitana was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli in order to investigate whether this enzyme was capable of producing cycloamylose for industrial applications. MgtA was purified to homogeneity by HiTrap Q HP and Sephacryl S-200 HR column chromatographies. The size of the enzyme as determined by SDS-PAGE was about 52 kDa, which was in good agreement with its deduced molecular mass of 51.9 kDa. The optimal temperature and pH for the activity of the 4-$\alpha$-glucanotransferase was found to be $85^{\circ}C$ and 6.5, respectively. The enzyme hydrolyzed the 1,4-$\alpha$-glucosidic bonds in oligomeric 1,4-$\alpha$-glucans and transferred oligosaccharides (maltotriose being the shortest one) to acceptor maltodextrins. However, the enzymes had no activity against pullulan, glycogen, and other di- or trioligosaccharides with rare types of $\alpha$-bond. MgtA is distinguished from 4-$\alpha$-glucanotransferase from Thermotoga maritima in that it can convert maltotriose into maltooligosaccharides. The treatment of glucoamylase after the reaction of MgtA with maltotriose, maltotetraose, maltopentaose, or maltohexaose as sole substrate revealed that MgtA yielded linear maltooligosaccharides instead of cycloamylose.