Gliotoxicity of the cyanotoxin, β-methyl-amino-L-alanine (BMAA).
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Chiu AS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3601369 | biostudies-other | 2013
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:The non-protein amino acid β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is a neurotoxin present in microalgae and shown to accumulate in the food web. BMAA has been linked to the complex neurodegenerative disorder of Guam and to increased incidents sporadic ALS. Two main neurotoxic routes are suggested; an excitotoxic by acting as an agonist towards glutamate receptors and a metabolic by misincorporating into cellular proteins. We have used zebrafish, an increasingly used model for neurodegenerative diseases, to further identify signaling components involved in BMAA-induced toxicity. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to sub-lethal dosages of BMAA and a label-free proteomics analysis was conducted on larvae 4 days post fertilization. The exposed larvae showed no developmental abnormalities, but a reduced heart rate and increased expression of GSK3 isoforms. Search towards a reviewed database containing 2968 entries identified 480 proteins. Only 17 of these were regulated 2-fold or more in the exposed larvae. Seven of these proteins could be associated to glutamate receptor signaling and recycling. The remaining nine have all been linked to disturbance in protein homeostasis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) development or neuronal cell death. We also found that BMAA influenced the endocannabinoid system by up-regulation of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and that FAAH inhibitor URB597 reduced the BMAA effect on heart rate and GSK3 expression.
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Project description:An N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine amidohydrolase of industrial interest from Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 (beta car(At)) has been characterized. Beta car(At) is most active at 30 degrees C and pH 8.0 with N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine as a substrate. The purified enzyme is completely inactivated by the metal-chelating agent 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid (HQSA), and activity is restored by the addition of divalent metal ions, such as Mn(2+), Ni(2+), and Co(2+). The native enzyme is a homodimer with a molecular mass of 90 kDa from pH 5.5 to 9.0. The enzyme has a broad substrate spectrum and hydrolyzes nonsubstituted N-carbamoyl-alpha-, -beta-, -gamma-, and -delta-amino acids, with the greatest catalytic efficiency for N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine. Beta car(At) also recognizes substrate analogues substituted with sulfonic and phosphonic acid groups to produce the beta-amino acids taurine and ciliatine, respectively. Beta car(At) is able to produce monosubstituted beta(2)- and beta(3)-amino acids, showing better catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) for the production of the former. For both types of monosubstituted substrates, the enzyme hydrolyzes N-carbamoyl-beta-amino acids with a short aliphatic side chain better than those with aromatic rings. These properties make beta car(At) an outstanding candidate for application in the biotechnology industry.
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Project description:The enanti-opure title compound, C(4)H(10)NO(2) (+)·Cl(-)·H(2)O, forms a two-dimensional network by inter-molecular hydrogen bonding parallel to (010). Non-merohedral twinning with a twofold rotation about the reciprocal c* axis as twin operation was taken into account during intensity integration and structure refinement. This twinning leads to alternative orientations of the stacked hydrogen-bonded layers.
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Project description:As part of an ongoing investigation into the development of N-substituted amino acids as building blocks for dynamic combinatorial chemistry, we report the structure of the title compound, C(19)H(19)NO(3). This compound crystallizes as discrete mol-ecules. The cinnamoyl group is non-planar, with the phenyl ring and the amide twisted out of the ethyl-ene plane. The benzyl and ester groups lie above and below the amide plane. The mol-ecules stack along the crystallographic c axis, connecting through C(4) chains of N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, with the extended structure stabilized by C-H⋯O inter-actions and π-π inter-actions [centroid-to-centroid distances 3.547 (8) and 3.536 (8) Å].
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Project description:Hindered esters derived from N-benzoylalanine and the following chiral alcohols have been synthesized: (1) (-)-isopinocampheol; (2) (-)-trans-2-phenylcyclohexanol and (3) (-)-8-phenylmenthol. Sequential treatment of these esters with LDA (1.2 equiv.) and n-butyllithium (2.4 equiv.) at -78°C in THF generates the corresponding chiral dianions. Alkylation of each of these with benzyl bromide reveals that only the (-)-8-phenylmenthyl auxiliary confers a high diastereofacial bias upon its derivative dianion. In fact, that dianion (6) consistently displays diastereomeric ratios in the range of 89:11 to 94:6 for alkylations with a spectrum of nine alkyl halides. If one recrystallization step is included, a single diastereomeric product may be obtained, as is demonstrated for the benzylation of 6. Of particular note, the alkylation with 3,4-bis(tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy)benzyl bromide (18) (94:6 diast. ratio, 72% yield) constitutes a formal synthesis of the clinically important antihypertensive (S)-α-methyl-DOPA (Aldomet), in enantiomerically enriched from. In all cases studied, yields are markedly improved, yet diastereoselectivities unchanged, by the addition of 10% HMPA to the reaction milieu. The (-)-8-phenylmenthol chiral auxiliary is conveniently recovered via ester cleavage with KO2/18-crown-6, following alkylation. Complete deprotection affords enantiomerically enriched (S)-α-methyl amino acids, in all cases examined, indicating that dianion 6 displays a substantial bias in favor of si face alkylation. This sense of diastereoselection is consistent with a chain-extended, internal chelate model for the reactive conformation of the dianion.
| S-EPMC6020834 | biostudies-literature
Project description:One efficient approach to assigning function to unannotated genes is to establish the enzymes that are missing in known biosynthetic pathways. One group of such pathways is those involved in coenzyme biosynthesis. In the case of the methanogenic archaeon Methanocaldococcus jannaschii as well as most methanogens, none of the expected enzymes for the biosynthesis of the β-alanine and pantoic acid moieties required for coenzyme A are annotated. To identify the gene(s) for β-alanine biosynthesis, we have established the pathway for the formation of β-alanine in this organism after experimentally eliminating other known and proposed pathways to β-alanine from malonate semialdehyde, l-alanine, spermine, dihydrouracil, and acryloyl-coenzyme A (CoA). Our data showed that the decarboxylation of aspartate was the only source of β-alanine in cell extracts of M. jannaschii. Unlike other prokaryotes where the enzyme producing β-alanine from l-aspartate is a pyruvoyl-containing l-aspartate decarboxylase (PanD), the enzyme in M. jannaschii is a pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)-dependent l-aspartate decarboxylase encoded by MJ0050, the same enzyme that was found to decarboxylate tyrosine for methanofuran biosynthesis. A Km of ∼0.80 mM for l-aspartate with a specific activity of 0.09 μmol min(-1) mg(-1) at 70°C for the decarboxylation of l-aspartate was measured for the recombinant enzyme. The MJ0050 gene was also demonstrated to complement the Escherichia coli panD deletion mutant cells, in which panD encoding aspartate decarboxylase in E. coli had been knocked out, thus confirming the function of this gene in vivo.
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Project description:Chiral amino acid-derived formamides represent one of the most versatile components in multicomponent reactions. Herein, we describe a facile synthesis of Nβ-protected amino sulfenyl methyl formamides and sulfonyl methyl formamides via the Mannich reaction of Nα-protected amino alkyl thiols followed by oxidation using 3-chloroperbenzoic acid (m-CPBA). This protocol is applicable to a wide range of Fmoc- and Cbz-protected amino acids. Notably, the reaction provides high yield and retains the stereochemistry of the chiral center of the starting component.
| S-EPMC7905828 | biostudies-literature
Project description:β-N-methyl-amino-L-alanine (BMAA) in the presence of bicarbonate (HCO3-) undergoes structural modifications generating two carbamate species, α-carbamate and β-carbamate forms of BMAA. The chemical structure of BMAA and BMAA-carbamate adducts strongly suggest they may interact with divalent metal ions. The ability of BMAA to cross the blood-brain barrier and possibly interact with divalent metal ions may augment the neurotoxicity of these molecules. To understand the effects of divalent metal ions (Mg2+, Zn2+, and Cu2+) on the overall dynamic equilibrium between BMAA and its carbamate adducts, a systematic study using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is presented. The chemical equilibria between BMAA, its carbamate adducts, and each of the divalent ions were studied using two-dimensional chemical exchange spectroscopy (EXSY). The NMR results demonstrate that BMAA preferentially interacts with Zn2+ and Cu2+, causing an overall reduction in the production of carbamate species by altering the dynamic equilibria. The NMR-based spectral changes due to the BMAA interaction with Cu2+ is more drastic than with the Zn2+, under the same stoichiometric ratios of BMAA and the individual divalent ions. However, the presence of Mg2+ does not significantly alter the dynamic equilibria between BMAA and its carbamate adducts. The NMR-based results are further validated using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, observing the n ➔ π interaction in the complex formation of BMAA and the divalent metal ions, with additional verification of the interaction with Cu2+ using UV-Vis spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate that BMAA differentially interacts with divalent metal ions (Mg2+ < Zn2+ < Cu2+), and thus alters the rate of formation of carbamate products. The equilibria between BMAA, the bicarbonate ions, and the divalent metal ions may alter the total population of a specific form of BMAA-ion complex at physiological conditions and, therefore, add a level of complexity of the mechanisms by which BMAA acts as a neurotoxin.
| S-EPMC7367705 | biostudies-literature