The antifungal activity and membrane-disruptive action of dioscin extracted from Dioscorea nipponica.

Dioscin is a kind of steroidal saponin isolated from the root bark of wild yam Dioscorea nipponica. We investigated the antifungal effect of dioscin against different fungal strains and its antifungal mechanism(s) in Candida albicans cells. Using the propidium iodide assay and calcein-leakage measurement, we confirmed that dioscin caused fungal membrane damage. Furthermore, we evaluated the ability of dioscin to disrupt the plasma membrane potential, using 3,3'-dipropylthiadicarbocyanine iodide [DiSC(3)(5)] and bis-(1,3-dibarbituric acid)-trimethine oxanol [DiBAC(4)(3)]. Cells stained with the dyes had a significant increase in fluorescent intensity after exposure to dioscin, indicating that dioscin has an effect on the membrane potential. To visualize the effect of dioscin on the cell membrane, we synthesized rhodamine-labeled giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) mimicking the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane of C. albicans. As seen in the result, the membrane disruptive action of dioscin caused morphological change and rhodamine leakage of the GUVs. In three-dimensional contour-plot analysis using flow cytometry, we observed a decrease in cell size, which is in agreement with our result from the GUV assay. These results suggest that dioscin exerts a considerable antifungal activity by disrupting the structure in membrane after invading into the fungal membrane, resulting in fungal cell death.

Antifungal activity of lariciresinol derived from Sambucus williamsii and their membrane-active mechanisms in Candida albicans.

Lariciresinol is an enterolignan precursor isolated from the herb Sambucus williamsii, a folk medicinal plant used for its therapeutic properties. In this study, the antifungal properties and mode of action of lariciresinol were investigated. Lariciresinol displays potent antifungal properties against several human pathogenic fungal strains without hemolytic effects on human erythrocytes. To understand the antifungal mechanism of action of lariciresinol, the membrane interactions of lariciresinol were examined. Fluorescence analysis using the membrane probe 3,3'-diethylthio-dicarbocyanine iodide (DiSC(3)-5) and 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH), as well as a flow cytometric analysis with propidium iodide (PI), a membrane-impermeable dye, indicated that lariciresinol was associated with lipid bilayers and induced membrane permeabilization. Therefore, the present study suggests that lariciresinol possesses fungicidal activities by disrupting the fungal plasma membrane and therapeutic potential as a novel antifungal agent for the treatment of fungal infectious diseases in humans.

Enhancement of ornithine production in proline-supplemented Corynebacterium glutamicum by ornithine cyclodeaminase.

In this study, Corynebacterium glutamicum and its derived mutants were used to demonstrate the relationship between proline, glutamate and ornithine. The maximum ornithine production was shown in the culture medium (3295.0 mg/l) when the cells were cultured with 20 mM proline and was 15.5 times higher than in the presence of 1 mM proline. However, glutamate, which known as an intermediate in the process of converting proline to ornithine, did not have any positive effect on ornithine production. This suggests that the conversion of proline to ornithine through glutamate, is not possible in C. glutamicum. Comparative analysis between the wild-type strain, SJC8043 (argF-, argR-) and SJC8064 (argF-, argR- and ocd-), showed that C. glutamicum could regulate ornithine production by ornithine cyclodeaminase (Ocd) under proline-supplemented conditions. Therefore, proline directly caused an increase in the endogenous level of ornithine by Ocd, which would be a primary metabolite in the ornithine biosynthesis pathway.