Asymmetric Synthesis of Tertiary α-Hydroxylation-Cyclopentanones via Synergetic Catalysis of Chiral-at-Metal Rhodium(III) Complexes/Pyrrolidine.

Catalytic and asymmetric domino Michael/aldol reaction of 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds with α,ß-unsaturated ketones under the synergetic catalysis of chiral-at-metal rhodium complexes and pyrrolidine to deliver tertiary α-hydroxylation-cyclopentanones (45-89% yields with 81-99% ee and up to >20:1 dr) bearing three contiguous stereogenic centers had been established. Moreover, the scalability and practical utility of this protocol were well demonstrated by employing a gram-scale reaction and some representative transformations.

Identification of a psychiatric risk gene NISCH at 3p21.1 GWAS locus mediating dendritic spine morphogenesis and cognitive function.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD) are believed to share clinical symptoms, genetic risk, etiological factors, and pathogenic mechanisms. We previously reported that single nucleotide polymorphisms spanning chromosome 3p21.1 showed significant associations with both schizophrenia and BD, and a risk SNP rs2251219 was in linkage disequilibrium with a human specific Alu polymorphism rs71052682, which showed enhancer effects on transcriptional activities using luciferase reporter assays in U251 and U87MG cells. METHODS: CRISPR/Cas9-directed genome editing, real-time quantitative PCR, and public Hi-C data were utilized to investigate the correlation between the Alu polymorphism rs71052682 and NISCH. Primary neuronal culture, immunofluorescence staining, co-immunoprecipitation, lentiviral vector production, intracranial stereotaxic injection, behavioral assessment, and drug treatment were used to examine the physiological impacts of Nischarin (encoded by NISCH). RESULTS: Deleting the Alu sequence in U251 and U87MG cells reduced mRNA expression of NISCH, the gene locates 180 kb from rs71052682, and Hi-C data in brain tissues confirmed the extensive chromatin contacts. These data suggested that the genetic risk of schizophrenia and BD predicted elevated NISCH expression, which was also consistent with the observed higher NISCH mRNA levels in the brain tissues from psychiatric patients compared with controls. We then found that overexpression of NISCH resulted in a significantly decreased density of mushroom dendritic spines with a simultaneously increased density of thin dendritic spines in primary cultured neurons. Intriguingly, elevated expression of this gene in mice also led to impaired spatial working memory in the Y-maze. Given that Nischarin is the target of anti-hypertensive agents clonidine and tizanidine, which have shown therapeutic effects in patients with schizophrenia and patients with BD in preliminary clinical trials, we demonstrated that treatment with those antihypertensive drugs could reduce NISCH mRNA expression and rescue the impaired working memory in mice. CONCLUSIONS: We identify a psychiatric risk gene NISCH at 3p21.1 GWAS locus influencing dendritic spine morphogenesis and cognitive function, and Nischarin may have potentials for future therapeutic development.

Reduced Vrk2 expression is associated with higher risk of depression in humans and mediates depressive-like behaviors in mice.

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have reported single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the VRK serine/threonine kinase 2 gene (VRK2) showing genome-wide significant associations with major depression, but the regulation effect of the risk SNPs on VRK2 as well as their roles in the illness are yet to be elucidated. METHODS: Based on the summary statistics of major depression GWAS, we conducted population genetic analyses, epigenome bioinformatics analyses, dual luciferase reporter assays, and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analyses to identify the functional SNPs regulating VRK2; we also carried out behavioral assessments, dendritic spine morphological analyses, and phosphorylated 4D-label-free quantitative proteomics analyses in mice with Vrk2 repression. RESULTS: We identified a SNP rs2678907 located in the 5' upstream of VRK2 gene exhibiting large spatial overlap with enhancer regulatory marks in human neural cells and brain tissues. Using luciferase reporter gene assays and eQTL analyses, the depression risk allele of rs2678907 decreased enhancer activities and predicted lower VRK2 mRNA expression, which is consistent with the observations of reduced VRK2 level in the patients with major depression compared with controls. Notably, Vrk2-/- mice exhibited depressive-like behaviors compared to Vrk2+/+ mice and specifically repressing Vrk2 in the ventral hippocampus using adeno-associated virus (AAV) lead to consistent and even stronger depressive-like behaviors in mice. Compared with Vrk2+/+ mice, the density of mushroom and thin spines in the ventral hippocampus was significantly altered in Vrk2-/- mice, which is in line with the phosphoproteomic analyses showing dysregulated synapse-associated proteins and pathways in Vrk2-/- mice. CONCLUSIONS: Vrk2 deficiency mice showed behavioral abnormalities that mimic human depressive phenotypes, which may serve as a useful murine model for studying the pathophysiology of depression.

Catalytic Asymmetric Conjugate Addition of 2-Methyl-3,5-dinitrobenzoates to Unsaturated Ketones.

Asymmetric catalytic vinylogous Michael addition of 2-methyl-3,5-dinitrobenzoates to unsaturated ketones catalyzed by chiral rhodium catalysts has been established. This strategy allowed the synthesis of a variety of optically pure compounds containing imidazole and 3,5-dinitrobenzene skeletons in 64-98% yields with 88-98% ee. The developed reaction not only represents highly asymmetric catalytic enantioselective vinylogous Michael addition employing 2-methyl-3,5-dinitrobenzoates as a building block but also enriches the chemistry of catalytic asymmetric vinylogous Michael addition of 2-methyl-3,5-dinitrobenzoates. Furthermore, the protocol showed obvious advantages in reaction activity and enantioselectivity. When the chiral rhodium catalyst was reduced to 0.06 mol %, the gram-level reaction was still achieved to provide the desired product with 95% ee.

The reprogrammed pancreatic progenitor-like intermediate state of hepatic cells is more susceptible to pancreatic beta cell differentiation.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold great promise for cell therapy. However, their low efficiency of lineage-specific differentiation and tumorigenesis severely hinder clinical translation. We hypothesized that reprogramming of somatic cells into lineage-specific progenitor cells might allow for large-scale expansion, avoiding the tumorigenesis inherent with iPSCs and simultaneously facilitating lineage-specific differentiation. Here we aimed at reprogramming rat hepatic WB cells, using four Yamanaka factors, into pancreatic progenitor cells (PPCs) or intermediate (IM) cells that have characteristics of PPCs. IM clones were selected based on their specific morphology and alkaline phosphatase activity and stably passaged under defined culture conditions. IM cells did not have iPSC properties, could be stably expanded in large quantity, and expressed all 14 genes that are used to define the PPC developmental stage. Directed differentiation of IM and WB cells by Pdx1-Ngn3-MafA (PNM) into pancreatic beta-like cells revealed that the IM cells are more susceptible to directed beta cell differentiation because of their open chromatin configuration, as demonstrated by expression of key pancreatic beta cell genes, secretion of insulin in response to glucose stimulation, and easy access to exogenous PNM proteins at the rat insulin 1 and Pdx1 promoters. This notion that IM cells are superior to their parental cells is further supported by the epigenetic demonstration of accessibility of Pdx1 and insulin 1 promoters. In conclusion, we have developed a strategy to derive and expand PPC cells from hepatic WB cells using conventional cell reprogramming. This proof-of-principal study may offer a novel, safe and effective way to generate autologous pancreatic beta cells for cell therapy of diabetes.

Pleiotropic IFN-dependent and -independent effects of IRF5 on the pathogenesis of experimental lupus.

Genetic polymorphisms of IFN regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) are associated with an increased risk of lupus in humans. In this study, we examined the role of IRF5 in the pathogenesis of pristane-induced lupus in mice. The pathological response to pristane in IRF5(-/-) mice shared many features with type I IFN receptor (IFNAR)(-/-) and TLR7(-/-) mice: production of anti-Sm/RNP autoantibodies, glomerulonephritis, generation of Ly6C(hi) monocytes, and IFN-I production all were greatly attenuated. Lymphocyte activation following pristane injection was greatly diminished in IRF5(-/-) mice, and Th cell differentiation was deviated from Th1 in wild-type mice toward Th2 in IRF5(-/-) mice. Th cell development was skewed similarly in TLR7(-/-) or IFNAR(-/-) mice, suggesting that IRF5 alters T cell activation and differentiation by affecting cytokine production. Indeed, production of IFN-I, IL-12, and IL-23 in response to pristane was markedly decreased, whereas IL-4 increased. Unexpectedly, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) were not recruited to the site of inflammation in IRF5(-/-) or MyD88(-/-) mice, but were recruited normally in IFNAR(-/-) and TLR7(-/-) mice. In striking contrast to wild-type mice, pristane did not stimulate local expression of CCL19 and CCL21 in IRF5(-/-) mice, suggesting that IRF5 regulates chemokine-mediated pDC migration independently of its effects on IFN-I. Collectively, these data indicate that altered production of IFN-I and other cytokines in IRF5(-/-) mice prevents pristane from inducing lupus pathology by broadly affecting T and B lymphocyte activation/differentiation. Additionally, we uncovered a new, IFN-I-independent role of IRF5 in regulating chemokines involved in the homing of pDCs and certain lymphocyte subsets.

Bipyridine-N,N'-dioxides Catalysts: Design, Synthesis, and Application in Asymmetric Synthesis of 1H-Pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine Analogues.

A novel type of highly efficient chiral C2-symmetric bipyridine-N,N'-dioxides ligand application in catalyzing Michael addition/Cyclization of 5-aminopyrazoles with α,ß-unsaturated 2-acyl imidazoles has been developed, affording the corresponding adducts in 85-97% yield with up to 99% enantioselectivity under mild conditions with a lower catalyst loading and broad scope. Remarkably, this protocol exhibits advantages in terms of reactivity and enantioselectivity, giving the fact that as low as 2.2 mol % of L1 and 2.0 mol % of Ni(OTf)2 can promote the title reaction on gram scale to afford the desired product with excellent enantioselectivity.

Genomic landscape and functional characterization of structural variations in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Multiple types of variations have been postulated to confer risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but majority of present GWAS solely focused on SNPs or small indels, and the impacts of structural variations (SVs) remain less understood. Nevertheless, accumulating evidence suggest that SVs may explain the association signals in certain GWAS hits. Here, we conducted pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) analyses of SNPs and SVs in populations from 1000 Genomes Project. Among the 299 psychiatric GWAS loci, 1213 SVs showed an LD of r2 > 0.1 with GWAS risk SNPs, and 66 of them were in moderate to strong LD (r2 > 0.6) with at least one GWAS risk SNP. Nine SVs were subject to further explorative analyses, including eQTL analysis in DLPFC, luciferase reporter gene assays, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome deletion and RT-qPCR. These assays highlighted several functional SVs showing regulatory effects on transcriptional activities, and some risk genes (e.g., BORCS7, GNL3) affected by the SVs were also annotated. Finally, mice overexpressing Borcs7 in the mPFC exhibited schizophrenia-like behaviors, such as abnormal prepulse inhibition and social dysfunction. These data suggest that SNPs association signals at GWAS loci might be driven by SVs, highlighting the necessities of considering such variants in future.

3-isothiocyanato oxindoles serving as powerful and versatile precursors to structurally diverse dispirocyclic thiopyrrolidineoxindoles through a cascade Michael/cyclization process with amino-thiocarbamate catalysts.

Cascading catalysis: 3-Isothiocyanato oxindoles act as powerful and versatile precursors for a range of structurally diverse dispirocyclic thiopyrrolidineoxindoles containing two spiro-quaternary and three contiguous stereogenic centers in quantitative yields with excellent disatereo- and enantioselectivities by only using 1 mol % amino-thiocarbamate catalyst.

Catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of coumarins to unsaturated ketones catalyzed by a chiral-at-metal Rh(III) complex.

The first catalytic asymmetric vinylogous Michael addition of coumarins to unsaturated ketones catalyzed by chiral rhodium catalysts has been established. This strategy allowed the synthesis of a variety of highly enantioenriched compounds containing coumarin skeletons in 41-99% yields and 84-99% ee. The developed reaction enriches the chemistry of catalytic asymmetric vinylogous Michael additions of 3-cyano-4-methylcoumarins. Furthermore, the protocol showed obvious advantages in reaction enantioselectivity. When the chiral rhodium catalyst was reduced to 0.06 mol%, a Gram-level reaction was still achieved to provide the desired products with 99% ee.

Metabolites of the mangrove fungus Xylaria sp. BL321 from the South China Sea.

Two new lactones, 1 and 2, together with five known compounds, 3-7, were isolated from the marine mangrove fungus Xylaria sp. BL321. Their structures were determined by comprehensive analysis of their MS and NMR spectroscopic data. The absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were established on the basis of electronic circular dichroism calculations. It was found that the exocyclic double bond of 1 rearranged into a cyclic double bond to form a new crystal compound (1a) in diluted NaOH solution. Compound 3 was isolated for the first time as a natural product; its absolute configuration was determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Compounds 4-7 displayed cytotoxicity against human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-435, while compounds 1- 3 were inactive (IC(50) > 50 µM).

Catalytic Asymmetric Decarboxylative Michael Addition To Construct an All-Carbon Quaternary Center with 3-Alkenyl-oxindoles.

The first highly enantioselective asymmetric decarboxylative addition of ß-keto acids with 3-alkenyl-oxindoles bearing an all-carbon quaternary stereocenter have been developed. The relevant products were acquired in 49-98% yields with 88-98% enantioselectivities in the presence of 0.04-1.0 mol % of chiral rhodium catalyst. The comprehensive practicability of this method was proven in the preparation of the key intermediate, which can be easily transformed into analogues of physovenine and physostigmine.

Asymmetric Synthesis of Chiral Cyclopropanes from Sulfoxonium Ylides Catalyzed by a Chiral-at-Metal Rh(III) Complex.

An enantioselective cyclopropanation reaction of sulfoxonium ylides with ß,γ-unsaturated ketoesters catalyzed by a chiral rhodium catalyst has been realized. A variety of optically pure 1,2,3-trisubstituted cyclopropanes was synthesized in 48-89% yields, with up to 99% ee, and with dr >20:1. Furthermore, research shows that a weak coordination between the chiral rhodium catalyst and ß,γ-unsaturated ketoesters was responsible for the high diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity of the corresponding products.

Distinct regulation of hepatic nuclear factor 1alpha by NKX6.1 in pancreatic beta cells.

Hepatic nuclear factor 1alpha (HNF1alpha) is a key regulator of development and function in pancreatic beta cells and is specifically involved in regulation of glycolysis and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Abnormal expression of HNF1alpha leads to development of MODY3 (maturity-onset diabetes of the young 3). We report that NK6 homeodomain 1 (NKX6.1) binds to a cis-regulatory element in the HNF1alpha promoter and is a major regulator of this gene in beta cells. We identified an NKX6.1 recognition sequence in the distal region of the HNF1alpha promoter and demonstrated specific binding of NKX6.1 in beta cells by electrophoretic mobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Site-directed mutagenesis of the NKX6.1 core-binding sequence eliminated NKX6.1-mediated activation and substantially decreased activity of the HNF1alpha promoter in beta cells. Overexpression or small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of the Nkx6.1 gene resulted in increased or diminished HNF1alpha gene expression, respectively, in beta cells. We conclude that NKX6.1 is a novel regulator of HNF1alpha in pancreatic beta cells. This novel regulatory mechanism for HNF1alpha in beta cells may provide new molecular targets for the diagnosis of MODY3.

Pancreatic duodenal homeobox 1 protein is a novel beta-cell-specific autoantigen for type I diabetes.

Pancreatic duodenal homeobox 1 (Pdx1) protein is a key transcription factor involved in the regulation of insulin gene expression that is expressed at high levels in the beta-cells of the pancreatic islets. We asked whether Pdx1 is a target of anti-islet autoimmunity in type I diabetes (T1D). Pdx1 autoantibodies (PAAs) were detected in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice using ELISA, western blotting, and radioimmunoprecipitation of [(35)S]-labeled insulinoma cell line-derived Pdx1 protein. PAAs were detected as early as at 5 weeks of age, and generally peaked before the onset of clinically overt diabetes in diabetes-prone female NOD mice. Levels declined substantially after the onset of diabetes. PAAs were not detected in the sera of NOD-scid, C57BL/6, or BALB/c mice. The titers of PAAs in NOD mouse sera were as high as 1/93 750 by ELISA. The fine specificity of PAAs was determined by western blotting using a series of truncated recombinant Pdx1 proteins. The immunodominant epitopes were located to the C-terminus of the Pdx1 (p200-283) in NOD mice. PAAs also were detected in sera from human T1D patients, but the major epitopes were localized to amino acids 159-200 as well as the same region (p200-283) recognized by PAAs from NOD mice. Using [(3)H]thymidine incorporation, the p83 fragment of Pdx1 specifically stimulated proliferation of splenic T cells from recent-onset diabetic NOD mice. The presence of PAAs in prediabetic NOD mice and human T1D patients, and Pdx1-specific T-cell proliferation in NOD mice provide a strong rationale for further investigation of the pathogenic role of immune responses against Pdx1 in T1D.

Expression, purification, and characterization of recombinant human pancreatic duodenal homeobox-1 protein in Pichia pastoris.

Pancreatic duodenal hemeobox-1 (PDX1) is essential for the development of the embryonic pancreas and plays a key role in pancreatic beta-cell differentiation, maturation, regeneration, and maintenance of normal pancreatic beta-cell insulin-producing function. Purified recombinant PDX1 (rPDX1) may be a useful tool for many research and clinical applications, however, using the Escherichia coli expression system has several drawbacks for producing quality PDX1 protein. To explore the yeast expression system for generating rPDX1 protein, the cDNA coding for the full-length human PDX1 gene was cloned into the secreting expression organism Pichia pastoris. SDS-PAGE and western blotting analysis of culture medium from methanol-induced expression yeast clones demonstrated that the rPDX1 was secreted into the culture medium, had a molecular weight by SDS-PAGE of 50kDa, and was glycosylated. The predicted size of the mature unmodified PDX1 polypeptide is 31kDa, suggesting that eukaryotic post-translational modifications are the result of the increased molecular weight. The recombinant protein was purified to greater than 95% purity using a combined ammonium sulfate precipitation with heparin-agarose chromatography. Finally, 120mug of the protein was obtained in high purity from 1L of the culture supernatant. Bioactivity of the rPDX1 was confirmed by the ability to penetrate cell membranes and activation of an insulin-luciferase reporter gene. Our results suggest that the P. pastoris expression system can be used to produce a fully functional human rPDX1 for both research and clinical application.

Chiral-at-Metal Rh(III) Complex-Catalyzed Michael Addition of Pyrazolones with α,ß-Unsaturated 2-Acyl Imidazoles.

An efficient enantioselective conjugate addition of pyrazolones with α,ß-unsaturated 2-acyl imidazoles catalyzed by chiral-at-metal rhodium complex is reported. The corresponding adducts were obtained in good yields (85%-96%) with excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99%). This protocol exhibits extraordinary reactivity, because of the fact that a complex with as little as 0.05 mol % Rh(III) can catalyze the title reaction on a gram-scale with excellent enantioselectivity.

Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of diphenylbutazone analogues.

The asymmetric Michael addition of diphenylbutazone and its analogues to α,ß-unsaturated 2-acyl imidazoles has been developed with a chiral-at-metal Rh(iii) complex as a catalyst. The corresponding adducts were obtained in good yields (89-98%) with excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99%). The reaction can be conducted on a gram-scale with a low catalyst loading (0.04 mol%) without impacting its efficiency. Moreover, the adducts can be converted into other useful synthetic building blocks.

Chiral-at-Metal Rh(III) Complex-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Michael Addition of ß-Keto Acids with α,ß-Unsaturated 2-Acyl Imidazoles or Pyridine.

A newly prepared chiral-at-metal Rh(III) complex-catalyzed, highly efficient enantioselective decarboxylative Michael addition of ß-keto acids with α,ß-unsaturated 2-acyl imidazoles or pyridine has been developed, affording the corresponding adducts in 94-98% yield with up to 96% enantioselectivity. This protocol exhibits remarkable reactivity, as the complex with a Rh(III) loading as low as 0.05 mol % can catalyze the decarboxylative Michael addition on a gram scale without loss of enantioselectivity.