Ligand structures of synthetic deoxa-pyranosylamines with raucaffricine and strictosidine glucosidases provide structural insights into their binding and inhibitory behaviours.

Insight into the structure and inhibition mechanism of O-ß-d-glucosidases by deoxa-pyranosylamine type inhibitors is provided by X-ray analysis of complexes between raucaffricine and strictosidine glucosidases and N-(cyclohexylmethyl)-, N-(cyclohexyl)- and N-(bromobenzyl)-ß-d-gluco-1,5-deoxa-pyranosylamine. All inhibitors anchored exclusively in the catalytic active site by competition with appropriate enzyme substrates. Thus facilitated prospective elucidation of the binding networks with residues located at <3.9 Å distance will enable the development of potent inhibitors suitable for the production of valuable alkaloid glucosides, raucaffricine and strictosidine, by means of synthesis in Rauvolfia serpentina cell suspension cultures.

Crystal structure of perakine reductase, founding member of a novel aldo-keto reductase (AKR) subfamily that undergoes unique conformational changes during NADPH binding.

Perakine reductase (PR) catalyzes the NADPH-dependent reduction of the aldehyde perakine to yield the alcohol raucaffrinoline in the biosynthetic pathway of ajmaline in Rauvolfia, a key step in indole alkaloid biosynthesis. Sequence alignment shows that PR is the founder of the new AKR13D subfamily and is designated AKR13D1. The x-ray structure of methylated His(6)-PR was solved to 2.31 Å. However, the active site of PR was blocked by the connected parts of the neighbor symmetric molecule in the crystal. To break the interactions and obtain the enzyme-ligand complexes, the A213W mutant was generated. The atomic structure of His(6)-PR-A213W complex with NADPH was determined at 1.77 Å. Overall, PR folds in an unusual α(8)/ß(6) barrel that has not been observed in any other AKR protein to date. NADPH binds in an extended pocket, but the nicotinamide riboside moiety is disordered. Upon NADPH binding, dramatic conformational changes and movements were observed: two additional ß-strands in the C terminus become ordered to form one α-helix, and a movement of up to 24 Å occurs. This conformational change creates a large space that allows the binding of substrates of variable size for PR and enhances the enzyme activity; as a result cooperative kinetics are observed as NADPH is varied. As the founding member of the new AKR13D subfamily, PR also provides a structural template and model of cofactor binding for the AKR13 family.

Scaffold tailoring by a newly detected Pictet-Spenglerase activity of strictosidine synthase: from the common tryptoline skeleton to the rare piperazino-indole framework.

The Pictet-Spenglerase strictosidine synthase (STR1) has been recognized as a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of some 2000 indole alkaloids in plants, some with high therapeutic value. In this study, a novel function of STR1 has been detected which allows for the first time a simple enzymatic synthesis of the strictosidine analogue 3 harboring the piperazino[1,2-a]indole (PI) scaffold and to switch from the common tryptoline (hydrogenated carboline) to the rare PI skeleton. Insight into the reaction is provided by X-ray crystal analysis and modeling of STR1 ligand complexes. STR1 presently provides exclusively access to 3 and can act as a source to generate by chemoenzymatic approaches libraries of this novel class of alkaloids which may have new biological activities. Synthetic or natural monoterpenoid alkaloids with the PI core have not been reported before.

The Pictet-Spengler reaction in nature and in organic chemistry.

Alkaloids are an important class of natural products that are widely distributed in nature and produced by a large variety of organisms. They have a wide spectrum of biological activity and for many years were used in folk medicine. These days, alkaloids also have numerous applications in medicine as therapeutic agents. The importance of these natural products in inspiring drug discovery programs is proven and, therefore, their continued synthesis is of significant interest. The condensation discovered by Pictet and Spengler is the most important method for the synthesis of alkaloid scaffolds. The power of this synthesis method has been convincingly proven in the construction of stereochemicaly and structurally complex alkaloids.

Enzymatic and chemo-enzymatic approaches towards natural and non-natural alkaloids: indoles, isoquinolines, and others.

The multi-step enzyme catalysed biosyntheses of monoterpenoid indole and isoquinoline alkaloids are described. Special emphasis is placed on those pathways leading to alkaloids of pharmacological and medicinal significance which have been fully elucidated at the enzyme level. The successful identification and cloning of cDNAs of single enzymes and their application provides great opportunities to develop novel strategies for both in vitro and in vivo alkaloid production in whole plants or tissue cultures, as well as in microbial systems such as Escherichia coli and yeast. Enzyme crystallisation, 3D analyses and site-directed mutation allowed rational engineering of enzyme substrate acceptance, which in turn can be used for reprogramming in vivo alkaloid biosynthesis and for the design of biomimetic alkaloid syntheses. These strategies broaden structural diversity and allow the creation of large libraries of unnatural alkaloid with expected optimised or novel biological activities. The chemo-enzymatic syntheses of the above-mentioned alkaloid groups and their precursors (in addition to selected examples of other alkaloid families) provides an overview of how enzyme reactions are integrated into the development of total chemical syntheses.

Synthesis, biological evaluation, and structure-activity relationship study of novel cytotoxic aza-caffeic acid derivatives.

Three series of aza-caffeic acid derivatives with different linkers were designed and synthesized. Each of the synthesized derivatives was then used in cytotoxicity screening on either 8 or 12 human cancer cell lines. The structure-activity relationships on three structural regions A, B, and C are analyzed in detail, indicating that a nine bond linker B, containing a piperazine unit, is the most favorable linker leading to the generation of molecules with potent cytotoxicities. Compound (E)-1-(4-(3,4-dichlorobenzyl)piperazin-1-yl)-3-(4-(4-ethoxybenzyloxy)-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (80) exhibited the most significant and selective cytotoxicity to KB, BEL7404, K562, and Eca109 cell lines, with IC(50) values of 0.2, 2.0, 1.7, and 1.1 microM, respectively, stronger than that seen for caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) and cisplatin (CDDP). Flow cytometric and western blot analysis indicate that compound 80 plays a role in mitochondria-dependent apoptosis activity by suppressing K562 cell proliferation in a concentration- and time-dependent manner.

Improved expression of His(6)-tagged strictosidine synthase cDNA for chemo-enzymatic alkaloid diversification.

Strictosidine synthase (STR1) catalyzes the stereoselective formation of 3alpha(S)-strictosidine from tryptamine and secologanin. Strictosidine is the key intermediate in the biosynthesis of 2,000 plant monoterpenoid indole alkaloids, and it is a key precursor of enzyme-mediated synthesis of alkaloids. An improved expression system is described which leads to optimized His(6)-STR1 synthesis in Escherichia coli. Optimal production of STR1 was achieved by determining the impact of co-expression of chaperones pG-Tf2 and pG-LJE8. The amount and activity of STR1 was doubled in the presence of chaperone pG-Tf2 alone. His(6)-STR1 immobilized on Ni-NTA can be used for enzymatic synthesis of strictosidines on a preparative scale. With the newly co-expressed His(6)-STR1, novel 3alpha(S)-12-azastrictosidine was obtained by enzymatic catalysis of 7-azatryptamine and secologanin. The results obtained are of significant importance for application to chemo-enzymatic approaches leading to diversification of alkaloids with novel improved structures.

Preparation of C-23 esterified silybin derivatives and evaluation of their lipid peroxidation inhibitory and DNA protective properties.

A diverse series of C-23 esterified silybin derivatives (1a-n) were designed and synthesized. The antioxidative properties of these compounds were evaluated by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and superoxide anion radical scavenging, ferrous ion chelation, and inhibition of rat liver homogenate lipid peroxidation. Their protective effects on the prevention of hydrogen peroxide induced DNA damage were also investigated. Most of the synthesized compounds exhibited more effective antioxidant activities than silybin. The esterified silybin analogues displayed satisfactory performance especially on iron chelation and antiperoxidative activity. Compound 1n in particular exhibited remarkable antiperoxidative effect with an IC(50) value of 0.2+/-0.1 microM, which was stronger than that of quercetin (IC(50)=1.8+/-0.6 microM). Compounds 1c, 1e, 1g, 1h and 1k displayed potent, dose-dependent protective properties against DNA cleavage. The results of the bioassays support the antioxidative and DNA protective effects of these synthesized silybin derivatives.

Preparation of two sets of 5,6,7-trioxygenated dihydroflavonol derivatives as free radical scavengers and neuronal cell protectors to oxidative damage.

An unusual class of 5,6,7-trioxygenated dihydroflavonols (3a-e and 4a-j) were designed and prepared. Their antioxidative properties were assessed by examining their capacities in several in vitro models, including superoxide anion and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, rat liver homogenate lipid peroxidation inhibition, PC12 cells protection from oxidative damage, and xanthine oxidase inhibition. These dihydroflavonols displayed positive quenching abilities towards O(2)(-) and DPPH free radicals, in which the majority exhibited superior antioxidant properties to Vitamin C. cis-Configurated compound (+/-)-3e demonstrated remarkable inhibition to LPO with an IC(50) value of 1.9+/-0.3 microM, which was apparently stronger than that of quercetin (IC(50)=6.0+/-0.4 microM). trans-Configurated dihydroflavonol (+/-)-4h exhibited significant protective effect on PC12 cells against oxidative damage with an EC(50) value of 41.5+/-5.3 microM, more effective compared to that of quercetin (EC(50)=81.8+/-8.7 microM). The 6-OH-5,7-dimethoxy analogue (+/-)-3d showed significant inhibition of xanthine oxidase with an IC(50) value of 16.0+/-0.8 microM, which is superior to that of allopurinol (IC(50)=23.5+/-2.0 microM). In addition to the hypothesized action mechanism of the bio-active compounds, 3D modeling was used to analyze the relationship between the minimized-energy structures and antioxidant activities.

Antioxidant and neuroprotective effects of synthesized sintenin derivatives.

Three series of sintenin derivatives (compounds 1-14) were designed and prepared and their antioxidative and neuroprotective effects were evaluated. The in vitro models of scavenging 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals, chelating ferrous ions, inhibiting the rat brain homogenates lipid peroxidation, and protecting neurons damaged by hydrogen peroxide were employed for bioassays. It was found that sintenin derivatives 4 and 13 showed remarkable antioxidative and neuroprotective activities.

Phytochemical investigation and cytotoxic evaluation of the components of the medicinal plant Ligularia atroviolacea.

A phytochemical investigation of the roots of Ligularia atroviolacea resulted in the isolation of 24 compounds including seven new eremophilanoids named eremophila-3,7(11),8-triene-12,8;14,6alpha-diolide (1), 3beta-(angeloyloxy)eremophil-7(11)-en-12,8beta-olid-14-oic acid (2), 1alpha-chloro-10beta-hydroxy-6beta-(2-methylpropanoyloxy)-9-oxo-7,8-furoeremophilane (3), (10betaH)-8-oxoeremophila-3(4),6(7)-diene-12,14-dioic acid (4), (10alphaH)-8-oxoeremophila-3(4),6(7)-diene-12,14-dioic acid (5), 8beta-[eremophila-3',7'(11')-diene-12',8'alpha;14',6'alpha-diolide]eremophila-3,7(11)-diene-12,8alpha;14,6alpha-diolide (6), and ligulatrovine A (7), eleven known eremophilanoids, 8-18, four steroids, one glucose derivative, and one fatty acid. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including 2D-NMR experiments. The structure of 3 was also established by an X-ray diffraction study. The in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of selected compounds was performed on seven cultured tumor cell lines, i.e., KB, BEL-7404, A549, HL-60, HeLa, CNE, and P-388D1. The preliminary taxonomy of this species was also discussed, and the possible biogenesis of a dimer possessing a new noreremophilanoid type skeleton, 7, is presented in a preliminary form.

Structural basis and enzymatic mechanism of the biosynthesis of C9- from C10-monoterpenoid indole alkaloids.

Cutting carbons: The three-dimensional structure of polyneuridine aldehyde esterase (PNAE) gives insight into the enzymatic mechanism of the biosynthesis of C(9)- from C(10)-monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (see scheme). PNAE is a very substrate-specific serine esterase. It harbors the catalytic triad S87-D216-H244, and is a new member of the alpha/beta-fold hydrolase superfamily. Its novel function leads to the diversification of alkaloid structures.

Strictosidine synthase: mechanism of a Pictet-Spengler catalyzing enzyme.

The Pictet-Spengler reaction, which yields either a beta-carboline or a tetrahydroquinoline product from an aromatic amine and an aldehyde, is widely utilized in plant alkaloid biosynthesis. Here we deconvolute the role that the biosynthetic enzyme strictosidine synthase plays in catalyzing the stereoselective synthesis of a beta-carboline product. Notably, the rate-controlling step of the enzyme mechanism, as identified by the appearance of a primary kinetic isotope effect (KIE), is the rearomatization of a positively charged intermediate. The KIE of a nonenzymatic Pictet-Spengler reaction indicates that rearomatization is also rate-controlling in solution, suggesting that the enzyme does not significantly change the mechanism of the reaction. Additionally, the pH dependence of the solution and enzymatic reactions provides evidence for a sequence of acid-base catalysis steps that catalyze the Pictet-Spengler reaction. An additional acid-catalyzed step, most likely protonation of a carbinolamine intermediate, is also significantly rate controlling. We propose that this step is efficiently catalyzed by the enzyme. Structural analysis of a bisubstrate inhibitor bound to the enzyme suggests that the active site is exquisitely tuned to correctly orient the iminium intermediate for productive cyclization to form the diastereoselective product. Furthermore, ab initio calculations suggest the structures of possible productive transition states involved in the mechanism. Importantly, these calculations suggest that a spiroindolenine intermediate, often invoked in the Pictet-Spengler mechanism, does not occur. A detailed mechanism for enzymatic catalysis of the beta-carboline product is proposed from these data.

Structure-based engineering of strictosidine synthase: auxiliary for alkaloid libraries.

The highly substrate-specific strictosidine synthase (EC 4.3.3.2) catalyzes the biological Pictet-Spengler condensation between tryptamine and secologanin, leading to the synthesis of about 2000 monoterpenoid indole alkaloids in higher plants. The crystal structure of Rauvolfia serpentina strictosidine synthase (STR1) in complex with strictosidine has been elucidated here, allowing the rational site-directed mutation of the active center of STR1 and resulting in modulation of its substrate acceptance. Here, we report on the rational redesign of STR1 by generation of a Val208Ala mutant, further describing the influence on substrate acceptance and the enzyme-catalyzed synthesis of 10-methyl- and 10-methoxystrictosidines. Based on the addition of strictosidine to a crude strictosidine glucosidase preparation from Catharanthus cells, a combined chemoenzymatic approach to generating large alkaloid libraries for future pharmacological screenings is presented.

3D-Structure and function of strictosidine synthase--the key enzyme of monoterpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis.

Strictosidine synthase (STR; EC 4.3.3.2) plays a key role in the biosynthesis of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids by catalyzing the Pictet-Spengler reaction between tryptamine and secologanin, leading exclusively to 3alpha-(S)-strictosidine. The structure of the native enzyme from the Indian medicinal plant Rauvolfia serpentina represents the first example of a six-bladed four-stranded beta-propeller fold from the plant kingdom. Moreover, the architecture of the enzyme-substrate and enzyme-product complexes reveals deep insight into the active centre and mechanism of the synthase highlighting the importance of Glu309 as the catalytic residue. The present review describes the 3D-structure and function of R. serpentina strictosidine synthase and provides a summary of the strictosidine synthase substrate specificity studies carried out in different organisms to date. Based on the enzyme-product complex, this paper goes on to describe a rational, structure-based redesign of the enzyme, which offers the opportunity to produce novel strictosidine derivatives which can be used to generate alkaloid libraries of the N-analogues heteroyohimbine type. Finally, alignment studies of functionally expressed strictosidine synthases are presented and the evolutionary aspects of sequence- and structure-related beta-propeller folds are discussed.

A new dibenzofuran and other constituents from Ligularia caloxantha, a Chinese medicinal plant.

A new dibenzofuran named 1,2,4-trimethyl-7,8-dimethoxy-dibenzofuran (1), together with seven known compounds, euparin (2), 2,5-diacetyl-6-hydroxy-benzofuran (3), 2-acetyl-5,6-dimethoxy-benzofuran (4), gummosogenin (5), lupeol (6), stigmasterol (7) and (E)-2,5-dihydroxy-cinnamic acid (8), were isolated from the roots of Ligularia caloxantha, a Chinese medicinal plant. The structures of the compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods.

Preparation of ferulic acid derivatives and evaluation of their xanthine oxidase inhibition activity.

Several ferulic acid ethyl esters (3a-h) were synthesized under the Knoevengel reaction condition and they were further reduced to afford the respective allylic alcohol derivatives (4a-g). Some of them were evaluated for the xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activity. Among them, 3h exhibited a significant inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 1.35 x 10(-5) M, while the IC50 value of allopurinol used as the positive control was 1.49 x 10(-5) M. The study suggested that the higher acidity of the phenolic OH group in the ferulic acid derivatives might result in improved XO inhibitory activity.

Expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of strictosidine glucosidase, an enzyme initiating biosynthetic pathways to a unique diversity of indole alkaloid skeletons.

Strictosidine beta-D-glucosidase, a plant enzyme initiating biosynthetic pathways to about 2000 monoterpenoid indole alkaloids with an extremely large number of various carbon skeletons, has been functionally expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity in mg scale. Crystals suitable for X-ray analysis were found by robot-mediated screening. Using the hanging-drop technique, optimum conditions were 0.3 M ammonium sulfate, 0.1 M sodium acetate, pH 4.6 and PEG 4000 (10%) as precipitant buffer. The crystals of strictosidine glucosidase belong to the space group P42(1)2 with unit cell dimensions of a=157.63, c=103.59 A and diffract X-rays to 2.48-A resolution.

Heterologous expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of raucaffricine glucosidase, a plant enzyme specifically involved in Rauvolfia alkaloid biosynthesis.

Raucaffricine glucosidase (RG) is an enzyme that is specifically involved in the biosynthesis of indole alkaloids from the plant Rauvolfia serpentina. After heterologous expression in Escherichia coli cells, crystals of RG were obtained by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion technique at 293 K with 0.3 M ammonium sulfate, 0.1 M sodium acetate pH 4.6 buffer and 11% PEG 4000 as precipitant. Crystals belong to space group I222 and diffract to 2.30 A, with unit-cell parameters a = 102.8, b = 127.3, c = 215.8 A.

Expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of perakine reductase, a new member of the aldo-keto reductase enzyme superfamily from higher plants.

Perakine reductase (PR) is a novel member of the aldo-keto reductase enzyme superfamily from higher plants. PR from the plant Rauvolfia serpentina is involved in the biosynthesis of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids by performing NADPH-dependent reduction of perakine, yielding raucaffrinoline. However, PR can also reduce cinnamic aldehyde and some of its derivatives. After heterologous expression of a triple mutant of PR in Escherichia coli, crystals of the purified and methylated enzyme were obtained by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion technique at 293 K with 100 mM sodium citrate pH 5.6 and 27% PEG 4000 as precipitant. Crystals belong to space group C222(1) and diffract to 2.0 A, with unit-cell parameters a = 58.9, b = 93.0, c = 143.4 A.