• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2002

Glycosides of herbal medicines, such as glycyrrhizin, ginsenosides, kalopanaxsaponins, rutin and ponicirin, were studied regarding their metabolic fates and pharmacological actions in relation to intestinal bacteria using germ-free, gnotobiotic and conventional animals. When glycyrrhizin (GL) was orally administered, $18{\beta}-glycyrrhetinic\;acid\;(GA)$, not GL, was detected in plasma and intestinal contents of gnotobiotic and conventional rats. However, GA could not be detected in germ-free rats. When GL was incubated with human intestinal bacteria, it was directly metabolized to GA (>95%) or via $18{\beta}-glycyrrhetinic\;acid-3-{\beta}-D-glucuronide$(>5%). Orally administered GL was effective in gnotobiotic and conventional rats for liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride, but was not effective in germ-free rats. When ginseng saponins were orally administered to human beings, compound K in the plasma was detected, but the other protopanxadiol saponins were not detected. The compound K was active for tumor metastasis and allergy. When kalopanaxsaponins were incubated with human intestinal microflora, they were metabolized to kalopanaxsaponin A, kalopanaxsaponin I and hederagenin. These metabolites were active for rheumatoid arthritis and diabetic mellitus while the other kalopanxsaponins were not. When flavonoid glycosides were orally administered to animals, aglycones and/or phenolic acids were detected in the urine. The metabolic pathways proceeded by intestinal bacteria rather than by liver or blood enzymes. These metabolites, aglycones and phenolic acids, showed antitumor, antiinflammatory and antiplatelet aggregation activities. These findings suggest that glycosides of herbal medicines are prodrugs.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.151-158
• /
• 1990

Investigations on the liability of nitrogen usuage by Nostoc muscorum that has nitrogen fixing ability, and cultured tobacco cells as they were associately cultured on nitrogen-free media and effects of polyamine on the associated culture condition were carried out. In addition, measurement on the activity of nitrate reductase, glutamine synthetase, glutamate dehydrogenase and glutamate synthase that take part in the metabolic pathway of nitrogen fixation product were performed. Among enzymes participating in the metabolic pathway of nitrogen fixation products, the activity of nitrogen reductase stimulated five times in associated culture, and that of glutamine synthetase of N. muscorum increased two times after heterocyst differentiated. Activity of glutamate dehydrogenase increased markedly when cultured tobacco cells were solely incubated on nitrogen-free media, but inhibited when cultured associately. And, glutamate synthase was showed the highest activity in 0.1 mM of spermine treated group.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.110-113
• /
• 2005

Glyphosate containing herbicides are an alternative to paraquat and have been widely used with increasing frequency in suicide attempts throughout Asia. It is an organophosphorus compound that is not a cholinesterase inhibitor. Daejangun powder consists of glyphosate ammonium, surfactant and another herbicide, oxyfluorfen. A 60-year-old man ingested about 300 g of Daejangun powder with 500 ml of water in a suicide attempt. He was brought to emergency room 6 hours after the ingestion and showed severe metabolic acidosis (pH 6.75), marked leukocytosis (WBC 35,800/$mm^3$), hypoglycemia (glucose 13 mg/dL) and increased liver enzymes (AST/ALT 1,683/418 IU/L). Later he developed aspiration pneumonia, acute renal failure and hyperchloremic acidosis. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy which performed 5 days after the ingestion revealed corrosive injuries (grade 1) in both esophagus and stomach. However, intensive treatment with supportive measures improved the abnormal findings almost completely 4 weeks after the ingestion.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.758-764
• /
• 2019

${\beta}$-Glucan is a chief structural polymer in the cell wall of yeast. ${\beta}$-Glucan has attracted intensive attention because of its wide applications in health protection and cosmetic areas. In the present study, the ${\beta}$-glucan biosynthesis pathway in S. Cerevisiae was engineered to enhance ${\beta}$-glucan accumulation. A newly identified bacterial ${\beta}-1$, 6-glucan synthase GsmA from Mycoplasma agalactiae was expressed, and increased ${\beta}$-glucan content by 43%. In addition, other pathway enzymes were investigated to direct more metabolic flux towards the building of ${\beta}$-glucan chains. We found that overexpression of Pgm2 (phosphoglucomutase) and Rho1 (a GTPase for activating glucan synthesis) significantly increased ${\beta}$-glucan accumulation. After further optimization of culture conditions, the ${\beta}$-glucan content was increased by 53.1%. This study provides a new approach to enhance ${\beta}$-glucan biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.110-116
• /
• 2022

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are emerging as alternatives to plastics by replacing fossil fuels with renewable raw substrates. Herein, we present the construction of engineered Escherichia coli strains to produce short-chain-length PHAs (scl-PHAs), including the monomers 4-hydroxyvalerate (4HV) and 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) produced from levulinic acid (LA). First, an E. coli strain expressing genes (lvaEDABC) from the LA metabolic pathway of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 was constructed to generate 4HV-CoA and 3HV-CoA. Second, both PhaAB enzymes from Cupriavidus necator H16 were expressed to supply 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB)-CoA from acetyl-CoA. Finally, PHA synthase (PhaC_Cv) from Chromobacterium violaceum was introduced for the subsequent polymerization of these three monomers. The resulting E. coli strains produced four PHAs (w/w% of dry cell weight): 9.1 wt% P(4HV), 1.7 wt% P(3HV-co-4HV), 24.2 wt% P(3HB-co-4HV), and 35.6 wt% P(3HB-co-3HV-co-4HV).

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.90-101
• /
• 2004

Se is essential for a number of enzymes that perform important metabolic functions necessary for good health. However, people in many countries do not appear to consume adequate amounts of Se to support the maximal expression of the selenoproteins and Se retention in the body of animals and humans is dependent on the ingested Se source such as organic and inorganic Se. Therefore, this review was discussed to explore metabolic characterization regarding intestinal absorption, bioavailability and selenoprotein synthesis according to animal species such as monogastrics including human beings and ruminants. Generally, organic Se provided to animals is more effective than inorganic Se in body retention for the animal owing to the difference of manner for intestinal absorption. But, Se absorption in ruminants depending on its chemical form still remained questioned by several microbial actions and feeding regimen in the rumen. And Se absorbed through small intestine is utilized for the synthesis of selenoproteins and/or retained as selenoamino acids in the body. Retained Se in the body may be recycled to synthesize selenoproteins as lacked of dietary Se. In conclusion, desirable forms of Se ingestion in the animal may be useful for Se fortification in animal products as well as well being for humans and animals.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
• /
• 2002.10a
• /
• pp.18-25
• /
• 2002

The pikromycin biosynthetic system in Streptomyces venezuleae is unique for its ability to produce two groups of antibiotics that include the 12-membered ring macrolides methymycin and neomethymycin, and the 14-membered ring macrolides narbomycin and pikromycin. The metabolic pathway also contains two post polyketide-modification enzymes, a glycosyltransferase and P450 hydroxylase that have unusually broad substrate specificities. In order to explore further the substrate flexibility of these enzymes a series of hybrid polyketide synthases were constructed and their metabolic products characterized. The plasmid-based replacement of the multifunctional protein subunits of the pikromycin PKS in S. venezuelae by the corresponding subunits from heterologous modular PKSs resulted in recombinant strains that produce both 12- and 14-membered ring macrolactones with predicted structural alterations. In all cases, novel macrolactones were produced and further modified by the DesVII glycosyltransferase and PikC hydroxylase leading to biologically active macrolide structures. These results demonstrate that hybrid PKSs in S. venezuelae can produce a multiplicity of new macrolactones that are modified further by the highly flexible DesVII glycosyltransferase and PikC hydroxylase tailoring enzymes. This work demonstrates the unique capacity of the S. venezuelae pikromycin pathway to expand the toolbox of combinatorial biosynthesis and to accelerate the creation of novel biologically active natural products. The polyketide backbone of rifamycin B is assembled through successive condensation and ${\beta}$-carbonyl processing of the extender units by the modular rifamycin PKS. The eighth module, in the RifD protein, contains nonfunctional DH domain and functional KR domain, which specify the reduction of the ${\beta}$-carbonyl group resulting in the C-21 bydroxyl of rifamycin B. A four amino acid substitution and one amino acid deletion were introduced in the putative NADPH binding motif in the proposed KR domain encoded by rifD. This strategy of mutation was based on the amino acid sequences of the corresponding motif of the KR domain of module 3 in the RifA protein, which is believed dysfunctional, so as to introduce a minimum alteration and retain the reading frame intact, yet ensure loss of function. The resulting strain produces linear polyketides, from tetraketide to octaketide, which are also produced by a rifD disrupted mutant as a consequence of premature termination of polyketide assembly. Much of the structural diversity within the polyketide superfamily of natural products is due to the ability of PKSs to vary the reduction level of every other alternate carbon atom in the backbone. Thus, the ability to introduce heterologous reductive segments such as ketoreductase (KR), dehydratase (DH), and enoylreductase (ER) into modules that naturally lack these activities would increase the power of the combinatorial biosynthetic toolbox. The dehydratase domain of module 7 of the rifamycin PKS, which is predicted to be nonfunctional in view of the sequence of the apparent active site, was replaced with its functional homolog from module 7 of rapamycin-producing polyketide synthase. The resulting mutant strain behaved like a rifC disrupted mutant, i.e., it accumulated the heptaketide intermediate and its precursors. This result points out a major difficulty we have encountered with all the Amycolatopsis mediterranei strain containing hybrid polyketide synthases: all the engineered strains prepared so far accumulate a plethora of products derived from the polyketide chain assembly intermediates as major products instead of just analogs of rifamycin B or its ansamycin precursors.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.1.1-1.14
• /
• 2020

Background: Dietary protein requirements are dependent on a variety of factors and water temperature is one of the most important abiotic factors affecting protein requirement of fish. This study was, therefore, conducted to investigate effects of water temperature on dietary protein requirement of fry Heteropneustes fossilis which has high demand in most of the Asian markets. Methods: Quadruplicate groups of 30 fish per treatment (2.97 ± 0.65 cm; 5.11 ± 0.34 g) were fed seven isoenergetic diets (17.9 kJ g^-1 gross energy; 14.99 kJ g^-1 digestible energy) containing dietary protein levels ranging from 28 to 52% at two water temperatures (18 and 26 ℃). Experimental diets were fed to apparent satiation as semi-moist cakes thrice daily at 17:00, 12:00, and 17:30 h for 12 weeks. For precise information, various growth parameters, protein deposition, hematological parameters, metabolic enzymes, and stress response were analyzed, and effects of water temperature on dietary protein requirement was recommended on the basis of response from above parameters. Results: Groups held at 26 ℃ attained best growth, feed conversion, and protein deposition at 44% dietary protein indicating that temperature affected dietary protein requirement for optimum growth of H. fossilis fry and protein requirement seems to be satisfied with 44% dietary protein. Interestingly, interactive effects of both dietary protein levels and temperature were not found (P > 0.05). Fish reared at 18 ℃ had comparatively higher values for aspartate and alanine transferases than those reared at 26 ℃ water temperature which exhibited normal physiological value for these enzymes indicating that body metabolism was normal at this temperature. Hematological parameters also followed same pattern. Furthermore, fish reared at 26 ℃ water temperature exhibited more resistant to thermal stress (P < 0.05). The 95% maximum plateau of protein deposition data using second-degree polynomial regression analyses exhibited dietary protein requirement of fry H. fossilis between 40.8 and 41.8% of diet at 26 ℃ water temperature. The recommended range of dietary protein level and protein/digestible energy ratio for fry H. fossilis is 40.8-41.8% and 27.21-27.88 mg protein kJ^-1 digestible energy, respectively. Conclusions: Information developed is of high significance for optimizing growth potential by making better utilization of nutrient at 26 ℃ and, to develop effective management strategies for mass culture of this highly preferred fish species.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2005

Glutaric acidemia (GA) type II is a very rare inherited disorder that have no accruate figure on its icidende. People with Glutaric acidemia type II have an enzyme that does not work properly. Two specific enzymes are associated with Glutaric acidemia type II:1. Electron transfer flavoprotein (ETF), 2. ETF-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (ETF-QO). Both of these enzymes have similar functions in the body, and children with Glutaric acidemia type II may lack one or the other of these enzymes. They play an important role in breaking down fats and proteins, and help the body to produce energy. GA II clinically manifested as (1) neonatal onset with congenital anomalies (2) neonatal onset without anomalies, and (3) mild and/or later onset. The first two groups are sometimes said to have multiple acyl CoA dehydrogenation deficiency-severe and the third to have multiple acyl CoA dehydrogenation deficiency-mild. The course and age at presentation of later-onset glutaric acidemia type II is extremely variable, therefore it is difficult to diagnosis. We experienced one case of late onset form glutaric acidemia type II with afebrile status epilepticus-like convulsion.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.549-564
• /
• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between harmful free radicals and antioxidants. Long-term oxidative stress can lead to an "exhausted" status of antioxidant defense system triggering development of metabolic syndrome and chronic inflammation. Green perilla (Perilla frutescens) is commonly used in Asian cuisines and traditional medicine in southeast Asia. Green perilla possesses numerous beneficial effects including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant functions. To investigate the potentials of green perilla leaf extract (PE) on oxidative stress, we induced oxidative stress by high-fat diet (HFD) in aging mice. MATERIALS/METHODS: C57BL/6J male mice were fed HFD continuously for 53 weeks. Then, mice were divided into three groups for 12 weeks: a normal diet fed reference group (NDcon), high-fat diet fed group (HDcon), and high-fat diet PE treated group (HDPE, 400 mg/kg of body weight). Biochemical analyses of serum and liver tissues were performed to assess metabolic and inflammatory damage and oxidative status. Hepatic gene expression of oxidative stress and inflammation related enzymes were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). RESULTS: PE improved hepatopathology. PE also improved the lipid profiles and antioxidant enzymes, including hepatic glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in serum and liver. Hepatic gene expressions of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory related enzymes, such as SOD-1, CAT, interleukin 4 (IL-4) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2) were significantly enhanced by PE. PE also reduced the levels of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in the serum and liver; moreover, PE suppressed hepatic gene expression involved in pro-inflammatory response; Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nitric oxide synthase (NOS), interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), and interleukin 6 (IL-6). CONCLUSIONS: This research opens opportunities for further investigations of PE as a functional food and possible anti-aging agent due to its attenuative effects against oxidative stress, resulting from HFD and aging in the future.