A palmitoyl conjugate of insect pentapeptide Yamamarin arrests cell proliferation and respiration.

A palmitoyl conjugate of an insect pentapeptide that occurs in diapausing insects causes a reversible cell-cycle arrest and suppresses mitochondrial respiration. This peptide compound also causes growth arrest in murine leukemic cell line expressing human gene Bcr/Abl and a farnesoyl peptide induces embryonic diapause in Bombyx mori. These results demonstrate that the insect peptide compounds can lead to the understanding of a common pathway in developmental arrest in animals and may provide a new peptidominetic analog in the development of biopharmaceuticals and pest management.

In vivo redox state of the ubiquinone pool in the spadices of the thermogenic skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus renifolius.

In vivo ubiquinone (UQ) reduction levels were determined in thermogenic stigma and post-thermogenic male stages of spadices of the skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus renifolius. In contrast to Arum maculatum, in which the UQ pool is almost fully reduced during thermogenesis, the reduction levels of UQ9 and UQ10 were not affected by the thermogenic status or developmental stage of individual S. renifolius spadices. Moreover, these levels were controlled within the ranges 40-75% and 35-60%, respectively. These results suggest that the reduction state of the UQ pool per se is not primarily involved in thermoregulation in S. renifolius.

Functional expression of plant alternative oxidase decreases antimycin A-induced reactive oxygen species production in human cells.

Alternative oxidase (AOX) plays a pivotal role in cyanide-resistance respiration in the mitochondria of plants, fungi and some protists. Here we show that AOX from thermogenic skunk cabbage successfully conferred cyanide resistance to human cells. In galactose medium, HeLa cells with mitochondria-targeted AOX proteins were found to have significantly less reactive oxygen species production in response to antimycin-A exposure, a specific inhibitor of respiratory complex III. These results suggest that skunk cabbage AOX can be used to create an alternative respiration pathway, which might be important for therapy against various mitochondrial diseases.

Functional coexpression of the mitochondrial alternative oxidase and uncoupling protein underlies thermoregulation in the thermogenic florets of skunk cabbage.

Two distinct mitochondrial energy dissipating systems, alternative oxidase (AOX) and uncoupling protein (UCP), have been implicated as crucial components of thermogenesis in plants and animals, respectively. To further clarify the physiological roles of AOX and UCP during homeothermic heat production in the thermogenic skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus renifolius), we identified the thermogenic cells and performed expression and functional analyses of these genes in this organism. Thermographic analysis combined with in situ hybridization revealed that the putative thermogenic cells surround the stamens in the florets of skunk cabbage and coexpress transcripts for SrAOX, encoding Symplocarpus AOX, and SrUCPb, encoding a novel UCP that lacks a fifth transmembrane segment. Mitochondria isolated from the thermogenic florets exhibited substantial linoleic acid (LA)-inducible uncoupling activities. Moreover, our results demonstrate that LA is capable of inhibiting the mitochondrial AOX pathway, whereas the proportion of pyruvate-stimulated AOX capacity was not significantly affected by LA. Intriguingly, the protein expression levels for SrAOX and SrUCPb were unaffected even when the ambient air temperatures increased from 10.3 degrees C to 23.1 degrees C or from 8.3 degrees C to 24.9 degrees C. Thus, our results suggest that functional coexpression of AOX and UCP underlies the molecular basis of heat production, and that posttranslational modifications of these proteins play a crucial role in regulating homeothermic heat production under conditions of natural ambient temperature fluctuations in skunk cabbage.

Pyruvate-sensitive AOX exists as a non-covalently associated dimer in the homeothermic spadix of the skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus renifolius.

The cyanide-resistant alternative oxidase (AOX) is a homodimeric protein whose activity can be regulated by the oxidation/reduction state and by alpha-keto acids. To further clarify the role of AOX in the skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus renifolius, we have performed expression and functional analyses of the encoding gene. Among the various tissues in the skunk cabbage, SrAOX transcripts were found to be specifically expressed in the thermogenic spadix. Moreover, our data demonstrate that the SrAOX protein exists as a non-covalently associated dimer in the thermogenic spadix, and is more sensitive to pyruvate than to other carboxylic acids. Our results suggest that the pyruvate-mediated modification of SrAOX activity plays a significant role in thermoregulation in the skunk cabbage.

Functional analysis of skunk cabbage SfUCPB, a unique uncoupling protein lacking the fifth transmembrane domain, in yeast cells.

Skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, expresses two uncoupling proteins (UCPs), termed SfUCPA and SfUCPB, in the thermogenic organ spadix. SfUCPB exhibits unique structural features characterized by the absence of the putative fifth transmembrane domain (TM5) observed in SfUCPA, which is structurally similar to UCP1, and is abundantly expressed in the thermogenic spadix. Here, we conducted a series of comparative analyses of UCPs with six transmembrane domains, SfUCPA and rat UCP1, and TM5-deficient SfUCPB, using a heterologous yeast expression system. All UCPs were successfully expressed and targeted to the mitochondria, although the expression level of SfUCPB protein was approximately 10% of rat UCP1. The growth rate, mitochondrial membrane potential, and ATP content were significantly lower in cells expressing SfUCPB than in those expressing rat UCP1 and SfUCPA. These results suggest that SfUCPB, a novel TM5-deficient UCP, acts as an uncoupling protein in yeast cells.

Antiproliferative activity of root extract from gentian plant (Gentiana triflora) on cultured and implanted tumor cells.

We describe a novel pharmacological activity of the gentian root, an ingredient of Chinese medicines. Root extract from Gentiana triflora triggered cell death of human Daudi cells in culture. In addition, daily administration of the extract to mice inhibited growth of implanted solid tumors. Extract treatment of cultured cells resulted in the appearance of shranken, fragmented, or condensed cell and nuclear morphologies, and in chromosomal DNA degradation. But, the extract-treated cells did not show DNA fragmentation, which exhibits a nucleosome ladder, suggesting that extract-triggered cell death is not mediated through a typical apoptotic pathway.