• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2003

This study was carried out to establish a novel bioassay system for screening of compounds affecting aromatic amino acid or anthocyanin biosynthesis through investigating a degree of sucrose-induced anthocyanin formation such as size of plant material, buffer conditions, light intensity and irradiated duration, incubation temp., etc were determined and standard procedure (suitable experimental condition) was set up as follows. The second leaf blade of white corn seeding induced by fluridone treatment were segmented into a size of 5${\times}$5 min. The segments were floated on the solution of 1% sucrose in 1.0mM MES buffer (pH6.0∼6.5) and incubated at 26$^{\circ}C$ for 2days under the continuous light condition(70∼100$\mu$mol m$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ ). Anthocyanin in the purpled tissues was extracted with methanol containing 1% HCl and the optical density of the clear supematants was determined at 528mm. Influences of some chemicals were tested using this system. Glyphosate, 5-enolpyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate synthase inhibitor, showed most sensitive response with I$_{50}$ value at 3.3$\mu$M. Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide(DCCD) and parachloromercuribenzenesulfonic acid(PCMBS) had a relatively strong ingibition with I50 value at 7.1$\mu$M and 10.2$\mu$M, respectively. These results show that sucrose-induced anthocyanin formation in white com leaf segment provide a very simple and rapid system for searching new compounds affecting aromatic amino acid or anteocyanin biosynthesis by screening at less than 10$\mu$M.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.34 no.1 s.132
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• pp.55-59
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• 2003

The effects of liriodenine, an aporphine isoquinoline alkaloid, on dopamine content in PCl2 cells were investigated. Treatment of PC12 cells with liriodenine decreased dopamine content in a dose-dependent manner (33.6% inhibition at $10\;{\mu}M$ for 12 h). The $IC_{50}$ in value of liriodenine was $8.4\;{\mu}M$. Dopamine content decreased at 3 h and reached a minimal level at 12 h after the exposure to liriodenine. Under these conditions, the activities of tyrosine hydroxylase and aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase were also inhibited at $10\;{\mu}M$ of liriodenine by 10.1% and 20.2% relative to control, respectively. In addition, liriodenine inhibited the increase in dopamine content induced by L-DOPA Treatments $(50-100\;{\mu}M)$ in PC12 cells. These results suggest that liriodenine inhibited dopamine biosynthesis and L-DOPA-induced increase in dopamine content by reducing the activities of tyrosine hydroxylase and aromatic L- amino acid decarboxylase in PC12 cells.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.32 no.1 s.124
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• pp.49-54
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• 2001

The effects of protoberberine compounds on serotonin biosynthesis in P815 cells were investigated. Protoberberine compounds such as berberine, palmatine and coralyne decreased serotonin content dose-dependently, but coptisine did not. The $IC_{50}$ values of berberine, palmatine and coralyne were $3.0\;{\mu}M,\;16.5\;{\mu}M\;and\;14.5\;{\mu}M$, respectively. Protoberberine compounds at concentrations up to $20\;{\mu}M$ were not cytotoxic towards P815 cells. The activity of tryptophan hydroxylase, a ratelimiting enzyme in serotonin biosynthesis, was inhibited by the exposure of berberine, palmatine and coralyne in P815 cells (14.9-19.3% inhibition at $2-15\;{\mu}M$), but that of aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase was not. These results suggest that the inhibition of tryptophan hydroxylase activity by berberine, palmatine and coralyne might partially contribute to the decrease in serotonin content in P815 cells.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.227-232
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• 1990

The effects of alachlor [2-chloro-2', 6' diethyl-N-(methoxymethyl) acetanilide] treatment on nucleic acid, amino acid and protein synthesis were studied. The amide herbicide alachlor blocks the biosynthesis of the amino acids isoleucine, valine and aromatic amino acid in oat root tips. Nucleic acid was inhibited, but was not proportional to reduction in protein synthesis. $1{\times}10^{-4}M$ of alachlor treatment of oat roots inhibited 36% DNA synthesis, but DNA synthesis was not inhibited at $1{\times}10^{-5}M$. RNA synthesis was inhibited by $1{\times}10^{-5}M$ and $1{\times}10^{-4}M$ of alachlor 16 and 27%, respectively, while inhibition of protein synthesis did occur at same concentrations. Inhibition of protein synthesis also did not occur at concentration below $1{\times}10^{-4}M$ alachlor. It suggest that inhibition of protein sythesis caused significantly by alachlor($1{\times}l0^{-3}M$) result from secondary action.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 1997

The pWHM220 cosmid with a 24-kb insert cloned from Streptomyces albus ATCC 21838 induces the biosynthesis of a polysther antibiotic similar to salinomycin in Streptomyces invidans. We have analyzed this region by DNA sequencing as well as Southern blot hybridization with type I and type II polyketide synthase (PKS) probes. Surprisingly, we found another set of type II SKS genes only 10-kb from the original PKS genes, salABCDE. The DNA sequence revealed two complete open reading frames (ORFs) named salB2 and salC2, and one partial ORF that does not resemble any known DNA or deduced protein sequence. The salC2 should code for chain length determining factor while the deduced amino acid sequence encoded by salB2 exhibits high similarity to .betha.-ketoacyl synthase from different PKS gene clusters. The highest identity was found for .betha.-keetoacyl synthases from S. argillaceus (MtmP. 59.1% identity), the mithramycin producer and from S. venezuelae ISP5230 (JadA, 52.3% identity), the jadomycin producer. The SalC2 protein clearly resembles its counterparts in order aromatic PKS gene clusters that are believed to influence the length of the polyketide chain. The highest identities observed were to that of S. argillaceus (MtmK, 62.3%) and S. venezuelae ISP 5230 (JadB, 55.1%) proteins, Moreover, the deduced amino acid sequences of the salB2 and salC2 products were 29.0% identical.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.119-123
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• 2004

The effects of BHSH on L-DOPA-induced increase in dopamine content in PC12 cells were investigated. L-DOPA treatment at $20\;or\;50\;{\mu}M$ increased dopamine content after both 24 and 48 h of incubation in PC12 cells. However, the co-treatments of BHSH $(10-50\;{\mu}M)$ with L-DOPA $(20\;or\;50\;{\mu}M)$ significantly inhibited the increase of dopamine content induced by L-DOPA. BHSH treatment at $10-50\;{\mu}M$ significantly inhibited basal aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) activity in a concentration-dependent manner at 15 min, and then AADC activity was rapidly recovered to the control level at about 2 h. These results indicate that the inhibition of AADC activity by BHSH was, in part, contributed to the early-stage decrease of dopamine content induced by LDOPA in PC12 cells. Taken together, it is proposed that the short-term inhibition of dopamine biosynthesis by BHSH was mediated by the regulation of tyrosine hydroxylace (TH).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.439-446
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• 2009

The biosynthesis study of antibiotics saframycin (SFM) in Streptomyces lavendulae and safracin (SAC) in Pseudomonas fluorescens demonstrated that 3-hydroxy-S-methyl-O-methyltyrosine (3hSmOmTyr), a nonproteinogenic amino acid, is the precursor of the tetrahydroisoquinoline molecular core. In the biosynthetic gene cluster of SAC/SFM, sacD/sfmD encodes a protein with high homology to each other but no sequence similarity to other known enzymes; sacF/sfmM2 and sacG/sfmM3 encode methyltransferases for C-methylation and O-methylation; and sacE/sfinF encodes a small protein with significant sequence similarity to the MbtH-like proteins, which are frequently found in the biosynthetic pathways of non ribosomal peptide antibiotics and siderophores. To address their function, the biosynthetic cassette of 3h5mOmTyr was heterologously expressed in S. coelicolor and P. putida, and an in-frame deletion and complementation in trans were carried out. The results revealed that (i) SfmD catalyzes the hydroxylation of aromatic rings; (ii) sacD/sacF/sacG in the SAC gene cluster and sfmD/sfmM2/sfmM3 in the SFM cluster are sufficient for the biosynthesis of 3h5mOmTyr; and (iii) the mbtH-like gene is not required for the biosynthesis of the 3h5mOmTyr precursor.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.83-87
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• 2007

The effects of ethaverine on serotonin biosynthesis in murine mastocytoma P815 cells were investigated. Ethaverine at 2.5${\sim}$10 ${\mu}$M decreased serotonin content in a concentration-dependent manner. The IC$_{50}$ value of ethaverine was 6.1 ${\mu}$M. Ethaverine at concentrations up to 20 ${\mu}$M was not cytotoxic towards P815 cells. Under these conditions, tryptophan hydroxylase (EC 1.14.16.4; TPH), a rate-limiting enzyme in serotonin biosynthesis, was inhibited by ethaverine in P815 cells (15.3% inhibition at 7.5 ${\mu}$M), however, aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.28) was not. These results indicate that ethaverine leads to a decrease in serotonin content by reducing TPH activity in P815 cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1709-1713
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• 2015

Sepiapterin is a precursor for the synthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), which is a wellknown cofactor for aromatic amino acid hydroxylation and nitric oxide synthesis in higher mammals. In this study, a recombinant Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) strain harboring cyanobacterial guanosine 5’-triphosphate cyclohydrolase 1 (GCH1) and human 6-pyruvoyltetrahydropterin synthase (PTPS) genes was constructed to produce sepiapterin. The optimum conditions for T₇ promoter–driven expression of GCH1 and PTPS were 30℃ and 0.1 mM isopropyl-β-D-thioglucopyranoside (IPTG). The maximum sepiapterin concentration of 88.1 ± 2.4 mg/l was obtained in a batch cultivation of the recombinant E. coli, corresponding to an 18-fold increase in sepiapterin production compared with the control condition (37℃ and 1 mM IPTG).

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.9
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• pp.584-592
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• 2010

Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is a multifunctional cofactor of aromatic amino acid hydroxylases and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) as well as an intracellular antioxidant in animals. Through regulation of NOS activity BH4 plays a pivotal role not only in a variety of normal cellular functions but also in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, which develop under oxidative stress conditions. It appears that a balanced interplay between BH4 and NOS is crucial for cellular fate. If cellular BH4 homeostasis maintained by BH4 synthesis and regeneration fails to cope with increased oxidative stress, NOS is uncoupled to generate superoxide rather than NO and, in turn, exacerbates impaired BH4 homeostasis, thereby leading to cell death. The fundamental biochemical events involved in the BH4-NOS interplay are essentially the same, as revealed in mammalian endothelial, cardiac, and neuronal cells. This review summarizes information on the cellular BH4 homeostasis in mammals, focusing on its regulation under normal and oxidative stress conditions.