Understanding the mycobacteria degradation of sterol may facilitate strategies for the directed biotransformation of steroidal drug intermediates. Due to the long and complicated catabolic process, several key steps that involved in the C-C bond cleavage of steroidal side-chain remain unknown. In the present study, an aldolase SalA from Mycobacterium neoaurum was identified that was related to the synthesis of 3-oxo-4-pregnene-20-carboxyl aldehyde and 20-hydroxymethyl pregn-4-ene-3-one (4-HBC). As a member of the thiolase superfamily, the aldolase SalA-SalB is composed of a thiolase-like protein (SalA) and a DUF35 domain (SalB). As a result, the gene salA was determined that had special significance for the synthesis of 4-HBC in sterol metabolism by performing knockout and replenishment. Based on insights provided by the docking model and mutants analysis, the hypothesis of the catalytic mechanism was proposed. Furthermore, the deletion of salA absolutely eliminated the by-product 4-HBC and meanwhile the molar yield of ADD was increased by 10 %. The dominant role of SalA in the C24 steroidal side-chain cleavage as confirmed in this study provided a further clarification on the phytosterol degrading pathway in Mycobacterium neoaurum , which is of significant importance for the directed biotransformation between C19- and C22-steroids.
Summary Low temperatures can cause severe growth inhibition and mortality in fish. Previous studies about the cold resistance of fish mainly focused on the role of unsaturated fatty acids, rather than saturated fatty acids (SFAs). In this study, the role of very-long-chain SFA synthetized by fatty acyl elongase 1 gene ( elovl1 ) in cold resistance was explored. Both an aggravated liver oxidative stress and a mitochondrial metabolism disorder were observed in elovl1a –/– and elovl1b –/– zebrafish with cold stress. In vitro studies confirmed that high levels of C20:0 and C22:0 obviously increased the hepatocyte oxidative stress and activated the extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (Erk1/2) pathway to further induce apoptosis and inflammation. We further demonstrated that C24:0 could promote mitochondrial β-oxidation to improve the cold resistance of zebrafish. Overall, our results define a positive role of C24:0 fatty acids synthetized by elovl1 in the cold resistance of fish.
Daoping He,Xiaoguang Wang,Yang Yang,Runtian He,Heng Zhong,Ye Wang,Buxing Han,Fangming Jin
Abiotic CO2 reduction on transition metal minerals has been proposed to account for the synthesis of organic compounds in alkaline hydrothermal systems, but this reaction lacks experimental support, as only short-chain hydrocarbons (
Twenty-four 1,2-diarylbenzimidazole derivatives were designed, synthesized and biologically evaluated. It turned out that most of them were potential anticancer drugs. Among them, compound c24 showed the highest anti-tumor activity (GI 50 = 0.71–2.41 μM against HeLa, HepG2, A549 and MCF-7 cells), and low toxicity to normal cells (CC 50 > 100 μM against L02 cells). In the microtubule binding assay, c24 showed the most potent inhibition of microtubule polymerization (IC 50 = 8.47 μM). The binding ability of compound c24 to tubulin crystal was verified by molecular docking simulation experiment. Further studies on HepG2 and HeLa cells showed that compound c24 could cause mitotic arrest of tumor cells to G2/M phase then inducing apoptosis. To sum up, compound c24 is a promising microtubule assembly inhibitor.