Rhodamine-based 'turn-on' fluorescent probe for Cu(II) and its fluorescence imaging in living cells.

A novel rhodamine spirolactam derivative 3',6'-Bis(diethylamino)-2-(2-hydroxyethylamino) spiro[isoindoline-1,9'-xanthen]-3-one (RO1) was synthesized, and characterized by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), X-ray crystallography, Infrared spectroscopy (IR), and (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR spectroscopy. RO1 exhibited highly sensitive and exclusively selective fluorescence response toward Cu(2+) over other metal ions with a detection limit of 0.56ppb in mixed aqueous solution. The fluorescence was pH-independent in the wide range pH 3.1-11.6. The turn-on fluorescence enhancement of the probe is based on Cu(2+) induced ring-opening mechanism of the rhodamine spirolactam. Moreover, by means of fluorescence microscopy experiments, it was demonstrated that RO1 could monitor trace Cu(2+) changes by live cell imaging.

3',6'-Bis(diethyl-amino)-2-(2-hydroxy-ethyl-amino)spiro-[isoindoline-1,9'-xanthen]-3-one.

In the title mol-ecule, C(30)H(36)N(4)O(3), the dihedral angle between the planes of the xanthene and spiro-lactam rings systems is 88.69 (4)°. Both C atoms of one of the ethyl groups are disordered over two sites with occupancies 0.72 (2)/0.28 (2). The conformation of the mol-ecule may be influenced by two intra-molecular hydrogen bonds.

3',6'-Bis(ethyl-amino)-2-[(2-hydroxy-ethyl)-amino]-2',7'-dimethylspiro-[isoindoline-1,9'-xanthen]-3-one.

In the title compound, C(28)H(32)N(4)O(3), the dihedral angle between the planes of the xanthene ring system and the spiro-lactam ring is 85.99 (3)°. Mol-ecules are linked by inter-molecular O-H⋯O and N-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter-actions.

[(2-{[3',6'-Bis(ethyl-amino)-2',7'-dimethyl-3-oxospiro-[1H-isoindole-1,9'-9H-xanthen]-2-yl}eth-yl)amino-meth-yl]phenol.

The title compound, C(35)H(38)N(4)O(3), was prepared as a spiro-lactam ring formation of rhodamine dye for comparison with a ring-opened form. The xanthene ring system is approximately planar. The dihedral angles formed by the spiro-lactam and phenol rings with the xanthene ring system are 85.7 and 109.4°, respectively. Each of the mol-ecules in the crystal structure contains one intra-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bond, and they form inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen-bonded chains along the [100] direction. Weak inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding contacts connect the infinite chains via crystallographic inversion centres to form a two-dimensional network.

Erratum: [(2-{[3',6'-Bis(ethyl-amino)-2',7'-dimethyl-3-oxospiro-[1H-isoindole-1,9'-9H-xanthen]-2-yl}eth-yl)amino-meth-yl]phenol. Corrigendum.

The title and the chemical diagram of the paper by Zhang, Peng, Gao & Fan [Acta Cryst. (2008), E64, o403] are corrected.[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1107/S1600536807055559.].

Malonylome analysis of rhizobacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 reveals involvement of lysine malonylation in polyketide synthesis and plant-bacteria interactions.

Using the combination of affinity enrichment and high-resolution LC-MS/MS analysis, we performed a large-scale lysine malonylation analysis in the model representative of Gram-positive plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42. Altogether, 809 malonyllysine sites in 382 proteins were identified. The bioinformatic analysis revealed that lysine malonylation occurs on the proteins involved in a variety of biological functions including central carbon metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis and metabolism, NAD(P) binding and translation machinery. A group of proteins known to be implicated in rhizobacterium-plant interaction were also malonylated; especially, the enzymes responsible for antibiotic production including polyketide synthases (PKSs) and nonribosomal peptide synthases (NRPSs) were highly malonylated. Furthermore, our analysis showed malonylation occurred on proteins structure with higher surface accessibility and appeared to be conserved in many bacteria but not in archaea. The results provide us valuable insights into the potential roles of lysine malonylation in governing bacterial metabolism and cellular processes. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Although in mammalian cells some important findings have been discovered that protein malonylation is related to basic metabolism and chronic disease, few studies have been performed on prokaryotic malonylome. In this study, we determined the malonylation profiles of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42, a model organism of Gram-positive plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria. FZB42 is known for the extensive investigations on its strong ability of producing antimicrobial polyketides and its potent activities of stimulating plant growth. Our analysis shows that malonylation is highly related to the polyketide synthases and the proteins involved bacterial interactions with plants. The results not only provide one of the first malonylomes for exploring the biochemical nature of bacterial proteins, but also shed light on the better understanding of bacterial antibiotic biosynthesis and plant-microbe interaction.

Malonylome of the plant growth promoting rhizobacterium with potent biocontrol activity, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42.

The data presented in this article are related to the publication entitled "Malonylome analysis of rhizobacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 reveals involvement of lysine malonylation in polyketide synthesis and plant-bacteria interactions"(doi:10.1016/j.jprot.2016.11.022) (B. Fan, Y. Li, L. Li et al.) [1]. This article presented the raw information of all malonyllysine sites identified by LC-MS/MS in the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42. Further, the functional features and conservation of the malonylated peptide/proteins were analyzed and made publicly available to enable critical or extended analyses.

Proteomic and Phosphoproteomic Insights into a Signaling Hub Role for Cdc14 in Asexual Development and Multiple Stress Responses in Beauveria bassiana.

Cdc14 is a dual-specificity phosphatase that regulates nuclear behavior by dephosphorylating phosphotyrosine and phosphoserine/phosphothreonine in fungi. Previously, Cdc14 was shown to act as a positive regulator of cytokinesis, asexual development and multiple stress responses in Beauveria bassiana, a fungal insect pathogen. This study seeks to gain deep insight into a pivotal role of Cdc14 in the signaling network of B. bassiana by analyzing the Cdc14-specific proteome and phosphoproteome generated by the 8-plex iTRAQ labeling and MS/MS analysis of peptides and phosphopeptides. Under normal conditions, 154 proteins and 86 phosphorylation sites in 67 phosphoproteins were upregulated in Δcdc14 versus wild-type, whereas 117 proteins and 85 phosphorylation sites in 58 phosphoproteins were significantly downregulated. Co-cultivation of Δcdc14 with NaCl (1 M), H2O2 (3 mM) and Congo red (0.15 mg/ml) resulted in the upregulation / downregulation of 23/63, 41/39 and 79/79 proteins and of 127/112, 52/47 and 105/226 phosphorylation sites in 85/92, 45/36 and 79/146 phosphoproteins, respectively. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that Cdc14 could participate in many biological and cellular processes, such as carbohydrate metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, the MAP Kinase signaling pathway, and DNA conformation, by regulating protein expression and key kinase phosphorylation in response to different environmental cues. These indicate that in B. bassiana, Cdc14 is a vital regulator of not only protein expression but also many phosphorylation events involved in developmental and stress-responsive pathways. Fourteen conserved and novel motifs were identified in the fungal phosphorylation events.

Crosstalk among the proteome, lysine phosphorylation, and acetylation in romidepsin-treated colon cancer cells.

Romidepsin (FK228) is one of the most promising histone-deacetylase inhibitors due to its potent antitumor activity, and has been used as a practical option for cancer therapy. However, FK228-induced changes in protein modifications and the crosstalk between different modifications has not been reported. To better understand the underlying mechanisms of FK228-related cancer therapy, we investigated the acetylome, phosphorylation, and crosstalk between modification datasets in colon cancer cells treated with FK228 by using stable-isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture and affinity enrichment, followed by high-resolution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis. In total, 2728 protein groups, 1175 lysine-acetylation sites, and 4119 lysine-phosphorylation sites were quantified. When the quantification ratio thresholds were set to > 2.0 and < 0.5, respectively, a total of 115 and 38 lysine-acetylation sites in 85 and 32 proteins were quantified as increased and decreased targets, respectively, and 889 and 370 lysine-phosphorylation sites in 599 and 289 proteins were quantified as increased and decreased targets, respectively. Furthermore, we identified 274 proteins exhibiting both acetylation and phosphorylation modifications. These findings indicated possible involvement of these proteins in FK228-related treatment of colon cancer, and provided insight for further analysis of their biological function.

[Cloning of human telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter for targeted cancer therapy].

OBJECTIVE: An human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) promoter was cloned to investigate the effect of simplex virus-thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene-ganciclovir (GCV) system under control of this promoter on lung cancer cells A549. METHODS: Specific primers were designed to amplify the core hTERT promoter from HepG2 genome. A set of expression vectors encoding LacZ or tk gene under control of hTERT or hCMV promoter was constructed through standard molecular cloning methods. After the transfection with lipofectamine 2000, reverse transcriptional PCR (RT-PCR) and beta-Gal staining were performed to examine the activity of the hTERT promoter. The cytotoxic effects of GCV/tk on A549 and MRC5 cells transfected with the plasmids encoding tk gene were evaluated by MTT assay. RESULTS: The hTERT promoter containing -208-+40 bp of the upstream sequence of human telomerase was successfully cloned. beta-Gal staining and RT-PCR were used to detect the expression of Lac Z and the transcription of tk gene under control of the hTERT promoter, respectively, in A549 rather than MRC5 cells. Cyototoxic effect of GCV was observed only in the A549 but not MRC5 cells after the transfection with pDC511 hTERT/tk, and the effect was dose-dependent. The effect, however, was observed in cells transfected with pDC518 hCMV/tk. CONCLUSION: The hTERT promoter cloned in this study can specifically control the target gene expression in telomerase-positive tumor cells but not the normal cells, suggesting that the HSV-tk/GCV system under control of the hTERT promoter is a promising targeted gene therapy for malignant tumors.

[The development of FSCLZLY--an ascites-ultrafiltration instrument].

It's known to all that the refractory ascites treatment has so far been a very difficult clinical problem. We have extracted much experience from the practical techniques used in the refractory ascites treatments of more than 1,000 cases, and have developed the ascites ultrafiltration & concentration therapeutic instrument--FSCLZLY-A. The clinical applications show that it is very effective. Its effective rate is about 72.08%. Therefore, it is a very useful and important medical device for refractory ascites, for the improvement of renal function, and for the prevention of the infection of abdominal cavity.

Experimental and theoretical study of the exited state of aminostyryl terpyridine derivatives: hydrogen-bonding effects.

The synthesis, structure and photophysical behavior of the aminostyryl terpyridine derivatives, named 4'-(4-{2-[4-(N,N-dimethylaniline)]vinyl}phenyl)-2,2':6',2″-terpyridine (M(1)) and the related model compounds 4'-(4-{2-[4-(N,N-diphenylammino)phenyl]vinyl}phenyl)-2,2':6',2″-terpyridine (M(2)), respectively, are reported. Large solvatochromic shifts of the first excited-state fluorescence maximum suggest the intramolecular charge transfer characters for both compounds. In addition, with N,N-dimethyl substituents, its fluorescence is quenched a lot in protic solvents. This is consisted with the decay of its S(1) state, through nonradiative internal conversion, to the ground state, which is facilitated by the formation of the hydrogen bond between M(1) and alcohols. Whereas, the introduction of N,N-diphenyl substituents has been proved to be a hydrogen-bond-free case with the unchanged Φ(f). Furthermore, the formation of TICT state via diffusive twisting motion of the dimethyl/phenylamino group is the major relaxation process, which is proved by the ultrafast relaxation dynamics experiment and theoretically conformational optimization of the first excited-state of both the compounds.

Theoretical and experimental study on the intramolecular charge transfer excited state of the new highly fluorescent terpyridine compound.

Experimental and theoretical methods have been used to investigate the relaxation dynamics and photophysical properties of the donor-acceptor compound 4'-(4-N,N-diphenylaminophenyl)-2,2':6',2''-terpyridine (DPAPT), a compound which is found to exhibit efficient intramolecular charge transfer emission in polar solvents with relatively large Stokes shifts and strong solvatochromism. The difference between the ground and excited state dipole moments (Deltamu) is estimated to be 13.7D on the basis of Lippert-Mataga models. To gain insight into the relaxation dynamics of DPAPT in the excited state, the potential energy curves for conformational relaxation are calculated. From the frontier molecular orbital (MO) pictures at the geometry of the twisted ICT excited state, the intramolecular charger transfer mainly takes place from HOMO (triphenylamine) to LUMO (terpyridine) in this donor-acceptor system.

Design of highly active binary catalyst systems for CO2/epoxide copolymerization: polymer selectivity, enantioselectivity, and stereochemistry control.

Asymmetric, regio- and stereoselective alternating copolymerization of CO(2) and racemic aliphatic epoxides proceeds effectively under mild temperature and pressure by using a binary catalyst system of a chiral tetradentate Schiff base cobalt complex [SalenCo(III)X] as the electrophile in conjunction with an ionic organic ammonium salt or a sterically hindered strong organic base as the nucleophile. The substituent groups on the aromatic rings, chiral diamine backbone, and axial X group of the electrophile, as well as the nucleophilicity, leaving ability, and coordination ability of the nucleophile, all significantly affect the catalyst activity, polymer selectivity, enantioselectivity, and stereochemistry. A bulky chiral cyclohexenediimine backbone complex [SalcyCo(III)X] with an axial X group of poor leaving ability as the electrophile, combined with a bulky nuclephile with poor leaving ability and low coordination ability, is an ideal binary catalyst system for the copolymerization of CO(2) and a racemic aliphatic epoxide to selectively produce polycarbonates with relatively high enantioselectivity, >95% head-to-tail connectivity, and >99% carbonate linkages. A fast copolymerization of CO(2) and epoxides was observed when the concentration of the electrophile or/and the nucleophile was increased, and the number of polycarbonate chains was proportional to the concentration of the nucleophile. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, in combination with a kinetic study, showed that the copolymerization involved the coordination activation of the monomer by the electrophile and polymer chain growth predominately occurring in the nucleophile. Both the enantiomorphic site effect resulting from the chiral electrophile and the polymer chain end effect mainly from the bulky nucleophile cooperatively control the stereochemistry of the CO(2)/epoxide copolymerization.

A DFT study of Diels-Alder reactions of o-quinone methides and various substituted ethenes: selectivity and reaction mechanism.

The Diels-Alder (DA) reactions of various substituted ethenes (methyl vinyl ether (MVE), styrene, and methyl vinyl ketone (MVK)) with o-quinone methides (o-QM) are studied by means of density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level. On the basis of analysis for frontier molecular orbital and comparison of the activation energies for different reaction pathways, the ortho attack modes present transition structures more stable than the meta ones. The reactivity, ortho selectivity, and asynchronicity are enhanced with the increase of the electron-releasing character of the substitute on ethene fragment. The discussions for the charge distribution and charge transfer on different transition states indicate that there are different molecular mechanisms for the different substituted ethenes. The calculations show that the effect of solvent decreases the activation energy and increases the asynchronicity. The results also indicate that the hydrogen-bond formation between chloroform and the carbonyl oxygen of the o-QM lowers the activation energies and increases the asynchronicity.

mu-Oxo-bis{[(6-hydroxymethyl-2-pyridylmethyl)bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine-kappa)N,N',N'',N''',O]iron(III)} tetrakis(perchlorate).

The novel mu-oxo-diiron complex [Fe2O(BPHPA)2](ClO4)4 [BPHPA is (6-hydroxymethyl-2-pyridylmethyl)bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine, C19H20N4O], contains a binuclear centrosymmetric [Fe2O(BPHPA)2]4+ cation (the bridging O atom lies on an inversion centre) and four perchlorate anions. Each iron ion is coordinated by four N atoms [Fe-N = 2.117 (5)-2.196 (5) A] and one O atom [Fe-O = 2.052 (5) A] from a BPHPA ligand, and by one bridging oxo atom [Fe-O = 1.7896 (9) A], forming a distorted octahedron. There are hydrogen bonds between the hydroxy group and perchlorate O atoms [O-H...O = 2.654 (7) A].