Peptide nucleic acid as a template for Taq DNA polymerase.

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA), an artificial DNA analog, comprises a purine or pyrimidine base and a pseudo-peptide backbone instead of deoxyribose-phosphate. PNA has been found to have stronger adhesion and higher stability in binding to its complementary DNA than deoxyribose-phosphate. Thus, it could serve as an agent for gene modulation, demonstrating potential in antisense therapy, molecular diagnostics, and nanotechnology. However, the applications of PNA remain limited because its biological activities are not fully known. Here, I demonstrate that a thermostable DNA polymerase, Thermus aquaticus (Taq) polymerase, exhibits transcriptase activity when a PNA oligomer is used as a template and that genetic information of the oligomer can be amplified by PCR using DNA primers. Furthermore, the insertion of a glutamine peptide stretch in the middle part of the PNA template did not interfere with transcription; it was transcribed into a guanosine or adenosine stretch. Intriguingly, this amino acid-to-DNA transcription did not occur when glycine residues were inserted. A synthetic PNA oligomer can, therefore, function as a template for a DNA polymerase, and polyglutamine peptides can be transcribed into guanosine or adenosine. These findings provide a cornerstone to reveal all amino acid genetic codes and transcription activity in the future.

Screening for New Inhibitors of Glycine Transporter 1 and 2 by Means of MS Binding Assays.

A straightforward screening of a compound library comprising 2439 substances for the identification of new inhibitors for the neurotransmitter transporters GlyT1 and GlyT2 is described. Screening and full-scale competition experiments were performed using recently developed GlyT1 and GlyT2 MS Binding Assays. That way for both targets, GlyT1 and GlyT2, ligands were identified, which exhibited affinities (pKi values) in the low micromolar to sub-micromolar range. The majority of these binders exhibit new chemical scaffolds in the class of GlyT1 and GlyT2 inhibitors, which could be of interest for the development of new ligands with improved affinities for the target proteins. Additionally, compounds with excellent fluorescent properties were found for GlyT2, which renders them promising compounds for future fluorescence-based techniques. All in all, this study demonstrates that MS Binding Assays represent a powerful technology platform also well suited for the screening of compound libraries in a highly reliable and effective manner.

In vivo homopropargylglycine incorporation enables sampling, isolation and characterization of nascent proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana.

Determining which proteins are actively synthesized at a given point in time and extracting a representative sample for analysis is important to understand plant responses. Here we show that the methionine (Met) analogue homopropargylglycine (HPG) enables Bio-Orthogonal Non-Canonical Amino acid Tagging (BONCAT) of a small sample of the proteins being synthesized in Arabidopsis plants or cell cultures, facilitating their click-chemistry enrichment for analysis. The sites of HPG incorporation could be confirmed by peptide mass spectrometry at Met sites throughout protein amino acid sequences and correlation with independent studies of protein labelling with 15 N verified the data. We provide evidence that HPG-based BONCAT tags a better sample of nascent plant proteins than azidohomoalanine (AHA)-based BONCAT in Arabidopsis and show that the AHA induction of Met metabolism and greater inhibition of cell growth rate than HPG probably limits AHA incorporation at Met sites in Arabidopsis. We show HPG-based BONCAT provides a verifiable method for sampling, which plant proteins are being synthesized at a given time point and enriches a small portion of new protein molecules from the bulk protein pool for identification, quantitation and subsequent biochemical analysis. Enriched nascent polypeptides samples were found to contain significantly fewer common post-translationally modified residues than the same proteins from whole plant extracts, providing evidence for age-related accumulation of post-translational modifications in plants.

Synthesis and Chemical and Biological Evaluation of a Glycine Tripeptide Chelate of Magnesium.

Magnesium (Mg2+) plays a crucial role in over 80% of all metabolic functions. It is becoming increasingly apparent that magnesium deficiency (hypomagnesemia) may play an important role in chronic disease. To counteract magnesium deficiency, there is an unmet clinical need to develop new fully characterized, highly bioavailable, and substantially water-soluble magnesium supplements. To this end, triglycine (HG3), a tripeptide of the amino acid glycine, was chosen as a chelating ligand for magnesium, given its natural occurrence and water solubility, and entropically-driven metal binding. Herein, we discuss the synthesis, chemical and physical characterization, and cellular uptake of a magnesium triglycine chelate (MgG3), an octahedral complex with extraordinary water solubility and improved cellular uptake in CaCo-2 cells than select commonly used magnesium supplements.

Role of Gly197 in the structure and function of protein C.

We previously demonstrated that heterozygous Gly197 to Arg mutation in PROC is associated with venous thrombosis due to the mutation abrogating both zymogenic and enzymatic activities of protein C and activated protein C (APC). In this study, we investigated the role of Gly197 on the structure and function of protein C by replacing it with Ala, Lys and Glu in separate constructs. Characterization of protein C mutants indicated their activation by thrombin is improved ~5-20-fold with the order of PC-G197K > PC-G197E > PC-G197A > PC-WT. Interestingly, the cofactor function of thrombomodulin (TM) in promoting the activation of zymogens by thrombin followed the reverse order of PC-WT > PC-G197A > PC-G197E > PC-G197K. The thrombin-generation inhibitory profiles of zymogens in a tissue factor-mediated thrombin generation assay using protein C-deficient plasma with or without supplementation with TM followed the same order of zymogen activation in the purified system. Evaluation of anticoagulant activities of APC derivatives by prothrombinase and aPTT assays revealed a normal activity for APC-G197A but dramatically impaired activity for the other two mutants. In the endothelial cell permeability assay, APC-G197A exhibited normal antiinflammatory activity, but the other two mutants were nearly inactive. These results suggest that Gly197 plays a key role in TM cofactor-dependent protein C activation by thrombin. It facilitates the recognition of protein C by thrombin in the presence of TM but impedes it in the absence of the cofactor. In APC, a small residue at this position is required for the proper folding/reactivity of the active-site pocket of the protease, a hypothesis supported by structural modeling.

Glycine nano-selenium prevents brain oxidative stress and neurobehavioral abnormalities caused by MPTP in rats.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common degenerative disease of the central nervous system in the elderly. In recent years, the results of clinical and experimental studies have shown that oxidative stress is one of the important pathogenesis of PD. Selenium is one of the minor elements reported to possess antioxidant properties. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the recovery effect of glycine nano-selenium on neurobehavioral abnormalities and oxidative stress caused by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) in rat. MATERIALS AND METHODS: SD male rats weighing 280-310 g were purchased from the Chengdu Dossy Experimental Animals Company, China. All rats were housed in a temperature-controlled room, with a 12 h light-dark cycles and had free access to food and water ad libitum. Rats were randomly divided into 4 groups with 8 animals in each group: the control group (normal saline), 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine group (MPTP), MPTP + 0.05 mg/kg glycine nano-selenium (MPTP + 0.05 Se), MPTP + 0.1 mg/kg glycine nano-selenium (MPTP + 0.1 Se). Behavioral assessment, clinical symptoms, Immunohistochemistry analysis of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and antioxidant activity were accessed to determine the protective effects glycine nano-selenium have on PD rats. RESULTS: From the results, Rats showed a decrease in spontaneous motor behavior and an increase in pole test score. Also, the number of TH+ neurons were also significantly decreased (P < 0.05) after treated with MPTP for 7 days indicating that MPTP could successfully induce neurobehavioral abnormalities in rats. Furthermore, the lipid peroxide (MDA) levels of the PD model group were significantly increased and the antioxidant activities (SOD and GSH-PX) were significantly inhibited (P < 0.05) compared to the control group indicating the important role oxidative stress played in dopaminergic neuron death and neurobehavioral abnormalities in PD rats. Compared with the PD model group, glycine nano-selenium administration could significantly improve behavior and increase the number of TH+ neurons (P < 0.05) to protect against the loss of dopaminergic neurons. At the same time, glycine nano-selenium could decrease the MDA levels and increase the activities of SOD and GSH-PX significantly (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, PD rat model was successfully developed by intraperitoneal injection of MPTP and the intragastric administration of glycine nano-selenium reduced neurobehavioral abnormalities by decreasing oxidative stress in rat brain.

Determinants of adenine-mutagenesis in diversity-generating retroelements.

Diversity-generating retroelements (DGRs) vary protein sequences to the greatest extent known in the natural world. These elements are encoded by constituents of the human microbiome and the microbial 'dark matter'. Variation occurs through adenine-mutagenesis, in which genetic information in RNA is reverse transcribed faithfully to cDNA for all template bases but adenine. We investigated the determinants of adenine-mutagenesis in the prototypical Bordetella bacteriophage DGR through an in vitro system composed of the reverse transcriptase bRT, Avd protein, and a specific RNA. We found that the catalytic efficiency for correct incorporation during reverse transcription by the bRT-Avd complex was strikingly low for all template bases, with the lowest occurring for adenine. Misincorporation across a template adenine was only somewhat lower in efficiency than correct incorporation. We found that the C6, but not the N1 or C2, purine substituent was a key determinant of adenine-mutagenesis. bRT-Avd was insensitive to the C6 amine of adenine but recognized the C6 carbonyl of guanine. We also identified two bRT amino acids predicted to nonspecifically contact incoming dNTPs, R74 and I181, as promoters of adenine-mutagenesis. Our results suggest that the overall low catalytic efficiency of bRT-Avd is intimately tied to its ability to carry out adenine-mutagenesis.

Preparation and evaluation of conjugate nanogels of glycyl-prednisolone with natural anionic polysaccharides as anti-arthritic delivery systems.

Although prednisolone (PD) is used as an anti-arthritis drug due to its rapid and strong anti-inflammatory potential, its frequent and large dosing often brings about adverse effects. Therefore, targeting therapy has attracted increasing attention to overcome such adverse effects. In the present study, nanogels (NGs) composed of macromolecule-PD conjugates were developed as a novel targeting delivery system, and their anti-inflammatory potential was examined. Conjugates were prepared by carbodiimide coupling between glycyl-prednisolone (GP) and the natural anionic polysaccharides, alginic acid (AL) and hyaluronic acid (HA). NGs were produced by the evaporation of organic solvent from the conjugate solution. The obtained NGs, named AL-GP-NG and HA-GP-NG, respectively, were examined for particle characteristics, in vitro release, pharmacokinetics, and in vivo efficacy. Both NGs were several hundred nanometers in size, had negative zeta potentials, and several % (w/w) drug contents. They released PD gradually at pH 7.4 and 6. They exhibited fairly good retention in the systemic circulation. In the efficacy examination using rats with adjuvant-induced arthritis, both NGs showed the stronger and more prolonged suppression of paw inflammation than PD alone. These suggested that the present NGs should be possibly useful as anti-arthritis targeting therapeutic systems.

Targeted precursor addition to increase baked flavour in a low-acrylamide potato-based matrix.

The aim of this study was to increase the baked flavour of low-acrylamide potato products. Strecker aldehydes and pyrazines make an important contribution to the flavour of potato products and are formed alongside acrylamide in the Maillard reaction. However, the Maillard reaction can be directed in favour of aroma formation by selecting appropriate precursors and intermediates based on the fundamental chemistry involved. Selected precursors were added to potato dough prior to baking. Addition of glycine and alanine together doubled high impact pyrazines and addition of 2,3-pentanedione or 3,4-hexanedione also promoted the formation of key trisubstituted pyrazines. Quantitative descriptive profiling of sensory attributes indicated that baked flavour was increased most when both Strecker aldehydes and pyrazines were increased together. This work shows that it is possible to enhance baked flavour in low-acrylamide products by adding a specifically targeted combination of amino acids and key intermediates, without increasing acrylamide concentration.

Simple, Effective, and Ecofriendly Strategy to Inhibit Droplet Bouncing on Hydrophobic Weed Leaves.

Despite small-molecule surfactants and polymers being widely used as pesticide adjuvants to inhibit droplet bouncing and splashing, they still have intrinsic drawbacks either in the easy wind drift and evaporation, the unfavorable wettability, or the usage of nonrenewable resources. In this paper, we found that upon droplet impacting, 1D nanofibers assembled from natural glycyrrhizic acid (GL) could pin on the rough hydrophobic surface and delay the retraction rate of droplets effectively. Using GL as a tank-mixed adjuvant, the efficiency of glyphosate to control the weed growth was improved significantly in the field experiment, which addressed the dilemmas of current adjuvants elegantly. Our work not only provides a constructive way to overcome droplet bouncing but also prompted us to verify in future if all 1D nanofibers assembled from different small molecules can display similar control efficiencies.

Phosphorus deficiency changes carbon isotope fractionation and triggers exudate reacquisition in tomato plants.

Plant roots are able to exude vast amounts of metabolites into the rhizosphere in response to phosphorus (P) deficiency. Causing noteworthy costs in terms of energy and carbon (C) for the plants. Therefore, it is suggested that exudates reacquisition by roots could represent an energy saving strategy of plants. This study aimed at investigating the effect of P deficiency on the ability of hydroponically grown tomato plants to re-acquire specific compounds generally present in root exudates by using 13C-labelled molecules. Results showed that P deficient tomato plants were able to take up citrate (+ 37%) and malate (+ 37%), particularly when compared to controls. While glycine (+ 42%) and fructose (+ 49%) uptake was enhanced in P shortage, glucose acquisition was not affected by the nutritional status. Unexpectedly, results also showed that P deficiency leads to a 13C enrichment in both tomato roots and shoots over time (shoots-+ 2.66‰, roots-+ 2.64‰, compared to control plants), probably due to stomata closure triggered by P deficiency. These findings highlight that tomato plants are able to take up a wide range of metabolites belonging to root exudates, thus maximizing C trade off. This trait is particularly evident when plants grew in P deficiency.

Combined Optimization of Codon Usage and Glycine Supplementation Enhances the Extracellular Production of a ß-Cyclodextrin Glycosyltransferase from Bacillus sp. NR5 UPM in Escherichia coli.

Two optimization strategies, codon usage modification and glycine supplementation, were adopted to improve the extracellular production of Bacillus sp. NR5 UPM ß-cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGT-BS) in recombinant Escherichia coli. Several rare codons were eliminated and replaced with the ones favored by E. coli cells, resulting in an increased codon adaptation index (CAI) from 0.67 to 0.78. The cultivation of the codon modified recombinant E. coli following optimization of glycine supplementation enhanced the secretion of ß-CGTase activity up to 2.2-fold at 12 h of cultivation as compared to the control. ß-CGTase secreted into the culture medium by the transformant reached 65.524 U/mL at post-induction temperature of 37 °C with addition of 1.2 mM glycine and induced at 2 h of cultivation. A 20.1-fold purity of the recombinant ß-CGTase was obtained when purified through a combination of diafiltration and nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) affinity chromatography. This combined strategy doubled the extracellular ß-CGTase production when compared to the single approach, hence offering the potential of enhancing the expression of extracellular enzymes, particularly ß-CGTase by the recombinant E. coli.

Multiparametric analysis of the effectiveness of cisplatin on cutaneous squamous carcinoma cells using two different types of adjuvants.

The objective of this study was to regulate the cytotoxicity of cisplatin (cisPt) minimizing its adverse effects. For this purpose, the lowest cisPt concentration needed to obtain a significant positive response in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) was explored. Two adjuvant agents as gold nanoparticles (AuNP) and chelating tricine were tested as enhancers in cisPt treatment. Effectiveness of all treatments was assessed by means of biochemical techniques, which offer quantitative data, as well as two microscopy-based techniques that provided qualitative cell imaging. The present work confirms the effectiveness of free cisplatin at very low concentrations. In order to enhance its effectiveness while the side effects were probably diminished, cisPt 3.5 µM was administered with AuNP 2.5 mM, showing an effectiveness practically equal to that observed with free cisPt. However, the second treatment investigated, based on cisPt 3.5 µM combined with tricine 50 mM, enhanced drug effectiveness, increasing the percentage of cells dying by apoptosis. This treatment was even better in terms of cell damage than free cisPt at 15 µM. Images obtained by TEM and cryo-SXT confirmed these results, since a notable number of apoptotic bodies were detected when cisPt was combined with tricine. Thus, tricine was clearly a better adjuvant for cisPt treatments.

In vitro effects of glyphosate-based herbicides and related adjuvants on primary culture of hemocytes from Haliotis tuberculata.

Glyphosate-based herbicides are among the most produced and widely-used herbicides. Studies have shown that commercial formulations and adjuvants may be more toxic to non-target organisms than the active ingredients alone, but the mechanisms of action of these chemicals remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro effects of glyphosate, a commercial formulation and adjuvant alone using primary culture of hemocytes from the European abalone Haliotis tuberculata, a commonly farmed shellfish. Glyphosate was found to have negligible effects on viability, phagocytic activities and lysosome stability even with very high doses (i.e. 100 mg L-1). By contrast, greater effects on viability were observed for the commercial formulation and adjuvant alone, with EC50 values of 41.42 mg L-1 and 1.85 mg L-1, respectively. These results demonstrate that the toxic sublethal effects (i.e. phagocytic activity and destabilization of lysosomal membranes) of formulated glyphosate came from adjuvants and suggest they may be related to cell and organelle membrane destabilization.

Amino acids nanocrystals for piezoelectric detection of ultra-low mechanical pressure.

Developing biocompatible nano-materials with the ability to detect ultra-low mechanical pressure is promising for biomedical sensors. This paper reports the detection of pressure as low as 1 Pa in the environmental pressure of 1 atm (10-3% pressure change) by nanocrystals of amino acids glycine and alanine through the piezoelectric effect. Piezoelectricity enables detection of pressure by a change of dielectric polarization when the material is subjected to external pressure. This work exploits the non-centro-symmetric structure of some amino acids and their weak hydrogen bonds to develop sensitive mechanical pressure sensors. The ß-glycine and l-alanine nanocrystals were grown from aqueous solution inside porous alumina substrate. The nanocrystals exhibit pronounced preferred crystallographic orientation. The sensitive piezoelectric response to ultra-low mechanical pressure is discussed based on atomic and crystal symmetry considerations.

Glycine-induced formation and druggability score prediction of protein surface pockets.

Nowadays, it is well established that most of the human diseases which are not related to pathogen infections have their origin from DNA disorders. Thus, DNA mutations, waiting for the availability of CRISPR-like remedies, will propagate into proteomics, offering the possibility to select natural or synthetic molecules to fight against the effects of malfunctioning proteins. Drug discovery, indeed, is a flourishing field of biotechnological research to improve human health, even though the development of a new drug is increasingly more expensive in spite of the massive use of informatics in Medicinal Chemistry. CRISPR technology adds new alternatives to cure diseases by removing DNA defects responsible of genome-related pathologies. In principle, the same technology, however, could also be exploited to induce protein mutations whose effects are controlled by the presence of suitable ligands. In this paper, a new idea is proposed for the realization of mutated proteins, on the surface of which more spacious transient pockets are formed and, therefore, are more suitable for hosting drugs. In particular, new allosteric sites are obtained by replacing amino-acids with bulky side chains with glycine, Gly, the smallest natural amino-acid. We also present a machine learning approach to evaluate the druggability score of new (or enlarged) pockets. Preliminary experimental results are very promising, showing that 10% of the sites created by the Gly-pipe software are druggable.

Antidepressant-Like Effect of ß-Lactolin, a Glycine-Threonine-Tryptophan-Tyrosine Peptide.

The number of patients with mental illnesses, including depression, is rapidly increasing, and daily lifestyle is closely associated with the development of symptoms. Consequently, corrective measures, such as diet-based treatment for diseases, are receiving great attention. We previously showed that ß-lactolin, a ß-lactopeptide of glycine-threonine-tryptophan-tyrosine peptide, inhibits monoamine oxidase and improves memory impairment in mice, but the effects on depression have not been investigated. Here we showed that ß-lactolin improved depression-like behavior via dopamine-D1-like receptor. Orally administered ß-lactolin reduced immobility time in tail suspension test (TST). Pretreatment with SCH23390, dopamine D1-like receptor antagonist, attenuated the reduction in TST by ß-lactolin. These effects were observed by the treatment with whey digest rich in ß-lactolin. In addition, ß-lactolin increased the levels of dopamine in the frontal cortex associated with the depression-like behavior. The present study suggests that supplements or nutraceutical compounds in whey digests (such as ß-lactolin) show antidepressant-like effect.

Structure and Hybridization Properties of Glycine Morpholine Oligomers in Complexes with DNA and RNA: Experimental and Molecular Dynamics Studies.

Methylenecarboxamide (glycine) morpholine oligomers (gMOs) with a modified backbone are new and promising nucleic acid analogues. In this work, a combination of circular dichroism spectroscopy, optical melting, and molecular dynamics simulations was used to investigate hybridization properties of gMOs, as well as the structure and dynamics of their tandem complexes with DNA and RNA. It was shown that the structure of nucleic acids in modified complexes is similar to that of the fully native analogues. The energies of binding and cooperative interactions at the helix-helix interface in the nick were determined experimentally and by computer simulation analysis. Here, we found for the first time, the possibility to determine and predict precisely the thermodynamic parameters of complementary complex formation using the original experimental and computer simulation approaches. It was shown that the use of simulation data in the explicit solvent and the molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann (or generalized Born) surface area methods for the calculation of the hybridization enthalpy makes it possible to evaluate the thermal stability of DNA and gMO tandem duplexes with DNA or RNA with an unexpectedly high accuracy. We found that at high ionic strength and neutral pH, the observed thermal stability of the gMO/RNA tandem complex is similar to that of DNA/DNA and lower than that of gMO/DNA which is close to that of DNA/RNA.

Aldo-keto Reductase Metabolizes Glyphosate and Confers Glyphosate Resistance in Echinochloa colona.

Glyphosate, the most commonly used herbicide in the world, controls a wide range of plant species, mainly because plants have little capacity to metabolize (detoxify) glyphosate. Massive glyphosate use has led to world-wide evolution of glyphosate-resistant (GR) weed species, including the economically damaging grass weed Echinochloa colona An Australian population of E colona has evolved resistance to glyphosate with unknown mechanisms that do not involve the glyphosate target enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-P synthase. GR and glyphosate-susceptible (S) lines were isolated from this population and used for resistance gene discovery. RNA sequencing analysis and phenotype/genotype validation experiments revealed that one aldo-keto reductase (AKR) contig had higher expression and higher resultant AKR activity in GR than S plants. Two full-length AKR (EcAKR4-1 and EcAKR4-2) complementary DNA transcripts were cloned with identical sequences between the GR and S plants but were upregulated in the GR plants. Rice (Oryza sativa) calli and seedlings overexpressing EcAKR4-1 and displaying increased AKR activity were resistant to glyphosate. EcAKR4-1 expressed in Escherichia coli can metabolize glyphosate to produce aminomethylphosphonic acid and glyoxylate. Consistent with these results, GR E colona plants exhibited enhanced capacity for detoxifying glyphosate into aminomethylphosphonic acid and glyoxylate. Structural modeling predicted that glyphosate binds to EcAKR4-1 for oxidation, and metabolomics analysis of EcAKR4-1 transgenic rice seedlings revealed possible redox pathways involved in glyphosate metabolism. Our study provides direct experimental evidence of the evolution of a plant AKR that metabolizes glyphosate and thereby confers glyphosate resistance.

Selective Adhesion and Directional Migration of Endothelial Cells Guided by Cys-Ala-Gly Peptide Density Gradient on Antifouling Polymer Brushes.

Selective adhesion and directional migration of endothelial cells (ECs) on biomaterials is critical to realize the rapid endothelialization. In this study, a Cys-Ala-Gly (CAG) peptide density gradient is generated on homogeneous cell-resisting poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate) brushes by immersing the brushes in a complementary gradient solution of CAG and competitive mercapto-terminated methoxyl poly(ethylene glycol). The adhesion and spreading of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) is impaired effectively on the gradient surface. About six folds of adherent ECs over SMCs are achieved at the position (10 mm) of highest CAG density on the gradient surface in a co-culture condition. Due to the gradient cues, ECs migrate fastest with the best directionality of 86.7% at the middle of the gradient, leading to the maximum net displacement as well.