Search results for "serpent"
showing 10 items of 60 documents
Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of native and selenomethionyl vinorine synthase from Rauvolfia serpentina.
2005
Vinorine synthase (VS) is a central enzyme of the biosynthesis of the antiarrhythmic drug ajmaline and is a member of the BAHD superfamily of acyltransferases. So far, no three-dimensional structure with significant sequence homology with VS is known. Crystals of VS and selenomethionyl-labelled VS from the medicinal plant Rauvolfia serpentina have been obtained by the hanging-drop technique at 305 K with ammonium sulfate and PEG 400 as precipitants. VS crystals diffract to 2.8 Å and belong to space group P212121, with unit-cell parameters a = 82.3, b = 89.6, c = 136.2 Å. The selenomethionyl VS crystal was nearly isomorphous with the VS crystal.
Structure-based engineering of strictosidine synthase: auxiliary for alkaloid libraries.
2007
SummaryThe 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-m…
Construction and expression of a dual vector for chemo-enzymatic synthesis of plant indole alkaloids inEscherichia coli
2010
A dual vector (pQE-70-STR1-SG) containing coding regions of strictosidine synthase (STR1, EC 4.3.3.2) and strictosidine glucosidase (SG, EC 3.2.1.105) from the Indian medicinal plant Rauvolfia serpentina was constructed. Functional expression of the vector in Escherichia coli cells (M15 strain) was proven by isolation of prepurified enzyme extracts, which show both STR1 and SG activities. Incubation of the enzyme in the presence of tryptamine and secologanin delivered the indole alkaloid cathenamine, demonstrating functional co-expression of both STR1- and SG-cDNAs. Cathenamine reduction by sodium borohydride leading to tetrahydroalstonine revealed the chemo-enzymatic indole alkaloid synthe…
Vomilenine Reductase — a novel Enzyme catalyzing a crucial Step in the Biosynthesis of the Therapeutically applied Antiarrhythmic Alkaloid Ajmaline
2002
Delineation of the biochemical pathway leading to the antiarrhythmic Rauvolfia alkaloid ajmaline has been an important target in biosynthetic research for many years. The biosynthetic sequence starting with tryptamine and the monoterpene secologanin consists of about 10 different steps. Most of the participating enzymes have been detected and characterized previously, except those catalyzing the reduction of the intermediate vomilenine. A novel NADPH-dependent enzyme that reduces the intermediate has been isolated from Rauvolfia serpentina cell suspension cultures. Vomilenine reductase (M(r )43 kDa, temp opt 30 degrees C, pH opt 5.7-6.2), saturates the indolenine double bond of vomilenine w…
3D-Structure and function of strictosidine synthase--the key enzyme of monoterpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis.
2008
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 …
Un groupe statuaire complexe à Autun : essai d’identification
2012
Au cours d’un diagnostic réalisé au nord-ouest de la ville d’Autun, à proximité du rempart d’origine augustéenne, un fragment de groupe statuaire a été trouvé au croisement de deux rues antiques. Reposant sur le sol de circulation, il semble avoir été abandonné au cours de l’Antiquité tardive ou du haut Moyen Age. Il se compose d’un personnage cuirassé (cuirasse musclée) vraisemblablement représenté de dos. Il s’agirait d’une gigantomachie, en ronde-bosse (sculpté sur trois cotés), la face principale a été délitée par la cassure de l’arkose taillée en délit (les bancs géologiques locaux sont impuissants à fournir la hauteur nécessaire à ce groupe). Sur ce drapé, on voit se lover dans une at…
Utilizing genetically engineered bacteria to produce plant-specific glucosides
2001
Plant-derived glucosides have attracted much attention due to their widespread applications. This class of products is difficult to isolate or to synthesize in pure form because of the resulting low yields. Thus, simple approaches for the generation of such glucosides would be highly beneficial. We purified and characterized a novel glucosyltransferase from plant cell suspension cultures of Rauvolfia serpentina, which showed rather low substrate specificity. We obtained its cDNA and expressed the active recombinant protein in bacteria (Escherichia coli) with excellent plant-specific glucosylation efficiencies. Compared with the plant system, the bacteria delivered the new enzyme, which was …
High speed X-ray analysis of plant enzymes at room temperature.
2013
X-ray measurements at room temperature (295 K) deliver high quality data sets with unprecedented speed (2 min), as shown for crystallized raucaffricine-O-β-D-glucosidase (RG), its mutant RG-Glu186Gln and several ligand complexes of the enzyme which participates in alkaloid biosynthesis in the plant Rauvolfia. The data obtained are compared with data sets measured under typical cryo conditions (100K). Under both conditions, density maps are highly comparable and favor the described protocol for room temperature measurements, potentially paving the way for future crystallographic studies capturing biosynthetic pathway intermediates.
Natural products and enzymes from plant cell cultures
1995
Plants represent an unlimited source of natural products. Many of the recently detected phytochemicals exhibit remarkable bioactivities, ranging from anticancer activity, phosphodiesterase inhibition to cytotoxicity against HIV-infected cells. Cultivated plant cells produce at their unorganized, dedifferentiated stage secondary metabolites, but in very different amounts in so far as new compounds are concerned. In fact, more than 140 novel natural products are presently known from plant cell cultures, which also include new metabolites formed by biotransformation. The biotransformation capacity of suspended cells is described and recent high yielding transformations, like the formation of a…
The gene encoding polyneuridine aldehyde esterase of monoterpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis in plants is an ortholog of theα/β hydrolase super fa…
2000
The biosynthesis of the anti-arrhythmic alkaloid ajmaline is catalysed by more than 10 specific enzymes. In this multistep process polyneuridine aldehyde esterase (PNAE) catalyses a central reaction by transforming polyneuridine aldehyde into epi-vellosimine, which is the immediate precursor for the synthesis of the ajmalane skeleton. PNAE was purified from cell suspension cultures of Rauvolfia serpentina. The N-terminal sequence and endoproteinase LysC fragments of the purified protein were used for primer design and for the amplification of specific PCR products leading to the isolation of PNAE-encoding cDNA from a R. serpentina library. The PNAE cDNA was fused with a C-terminal His-tag, …