• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.657-662
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• 2022

Glycosyltransferase (GT)-specific degenerate PCR screening followed by in silico sequence analyses of the target clone was used to isolate a member of family1 GT-encoding genes from the established fosmid libraries of soil actinomycetes Micromonospora echinospora ATCC 27932. A recombinant MeUGT1 was heterologously expressed as a His-tagged protein in E. coli, and its enzymatic reaction with semi-synthetic phenoxodiol isoflavene (as a glycosyl acceptor) and uridine diphosphate-glucose (as a glycosyl donor) created two different glycol-attached products, thus revealing that MeUGT1 functions as an isoflavonoid glycosyltransferase with regional flexibility. Chromatographic separation of product glycosides followed by the instrumental analyses, clearly confirmed these previously unprecedented glycosides as phenoxodiol-4'-α-O-glucoside and phenoxodiol-7-α-O-glucoside, respectively. The antioxidant activities of the above glycosides are almost the same as that of parental phenoxodiol, whereas their anti-proliferative activities are all superior to that of cisplatin (the most common platinum chemotherapy drug) against two human carcinoma cells, ovarian SKOV-3 and prostate DU-145. In addition, they are more water-soluble than their parental aglycone, as well as remaining intractable to the simulated in vitro digestion test, hence demonstrating the pharmacological potential for the enhanced bio-accessibility of phenoxodiol glycosides. This is the first report on the microbial enzymatic biosynthesis of phenoxodiol glucosides.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.172-177
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• 2014

A glycosyltransferase, YjiC, from Bacillus licheniformis has been used for the modification of the commercially available isoflavonoids genistein, daidzein, biochanin A and formononetin. The in vitro glycosylation reaction, using UDP-${\alpha}$-D-glucose as a donor for the glucose moiety and aforementioned four acceptor molecules, showed the prominent glycosylation at 4' and 7 hydroxyl groups, but not at the $5^{th}$ hydroxyl group of the A-ring, resulting in the production of genistein 4'-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside, genistein 7-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside (genistin), genistein 4',7-O-${\beta}$-D-diglucoside, biochanin A-7-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside (sissotrin), daidzein 4'-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside, daidzein 7-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside (daidzin), daidzein 4', 7-O-${\beta}$-D-diglucoside, and formononetin 7-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside (ononin). The structures of all the products were elucidated using high performance liquid chromatography-photo diode array and high resolution quadrupole time-of-flight electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR QTOF-ESI/MS) analysis, and were compared with commercially available standard compounds. Significantly higher bioconversion rates of all four isoflavonoids was observed in both in vitro as well as in vivo bioconversion reactions. The in vivo fermentation of the isoflavonoids by applying engineered E. coli $BL21(DE3)/{\Delta}pgi{\Delta}zwf{\Delta}ushA$ overexpressing phosphoglucomutase (pgm) and glucose 1-phosphate uridyltransferase (galU), along with YjiC, found more than 60% average conversion of $200{\mu}M$ of supplemented isoflavonoids, without any additional UDP-${\alpha}$-D-glucose added in fermentation medium, which could be very beneficial to large scale industrial production of isoflavonoid glucosides.