Screening of small molecular microbial products modulating immune responses and bestatin

Microorganisms are the treasury of organic compounds which have various structures and various biologic and medicinal activities. The study of inhibitors of enzymes on the cellular surface has led to the findings of immunomodulators; bestatin, amastatin, forphenicine, and esterastin. Bestatin enhances delayed-type hypersensitivity to SRBC and oxazolone and inhibits Gardner lymphosarcoma and IMC-carcinoma in mice. It also suppressed Ps. aeruginosa infection in mice treated with an immunosuppressive agent. Bestatin has extremely low toxicity and has been studied clinically. These studies on bestatin were reviewed.

24-hour rhythm of human plasma noradrenaline and the effect of fusaric acid, a dopamine-beta-hydroxylase inhibitor

A 24-hour of basal noradrenaline (NA) levels in normal human plasma in the supine position was observed; higher NA levels during daytime and lower NA levels at night, especially early in the morning. This pattern of the 24-hour rhythm of plasma NA levels was similar to that of serum dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) levels. After oral administration of fusaric acid, a DBH inhibitor, the rhythm changed, and plasma NA levels increased at 3 h and returned to the initial level at 23 h. In contrast, plasma DBH activity was markedly inhibited during 23 h after fusaric acid administration.

Studies on aminoglycoside antibiotics: enzymic mechanism of resistance and genetics

The kanamycin inactivating enzyme, 3'-phosphotransferase and 6'-acetyltransferase were first found in 1967 and on the basis of the enzymic mechanism of resistance a new research approach to the development of active useful derivatives was explored. The enzymic mechanism of resistance was conclusively confirmed by the synthesis of 3'-deoxykanamycin A and 3',4'-dideoxykanamycin B which did not undergo inactivation by 3'-phosphotransferase and inhibited the growth of resistant strains. Besides APH(3') and AAC(6') described above, the following enzymes were found to be involved in the mechanism of resistance to aminoglycosides: APH(3''), APH(5''), APH(6), APH(2''), AAC(3), AAC(2'), AAD(3''), AAD(2''), AAD(4'), AAD(6). Not only the removal of the group which undergoes the enzyme reaction but also the modification of the group binding to the enzyme has also given active derivatives such as amikacin etc. The substrate specificity of the enzymes, enzymes in the immobilized state, and the application of proton and 13C nmr for structure determination of reaction products are reviewed. It was noticed that all enzymes involved in resistance contain adenosine- and aminoglycoside-binding sites. These enzymes were thus suggested to be mainly different primarily in the positional relationships between these binding sites. It suggests a close evolutionary relationships of these enzymes. The role of these enzymes in the biosynthesis of aminoglycoside antibiotics is discussed and a general mode of the biosynthesis of aminoglycosides is proposed: a gene or gene set involved in biosynthesis of 2-deoxystreptamine which has no cytotoxicity is widely distributed and the deoxystreptamine produced is transformed to the final products.

2-Amino-5-methyl-5-hexenoic acid, a methionine analog produced by Streptomyces sp. MF374-C4

2-Amino-5-methyl-5-hexenoic acid (AMHA), a new methionine analog, was isolated from a fermentation broth of Streptomyces sp. MF374-C4 based on its reversal of the effect of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) in a test system that determines the size of growth zones of revertants (His+) of Salmonella typhimurium TA1535. AMHA also inhibited growth of the tester strain in a synthetic medium. These AMHA activities were abolished by methionine. The incidence of spontaneous streptomycin-resistant mutations of Escherichia coli K12 was not decreased by AMHA at concentrations where cell growth was partially inhibited. AMHA inhibited protein synthesis but not DNA or RNA synthesis in S. typhimurium TA1535 and E. coli K-12. The analog inhibited formation of methionyl-tRNA but not of valyl-tRNA in a cell-free system of E. coli, and supported ATP-PPi exchange in the cell-free system. At concentrations where it inhibited cell growth, AMHA decreased the number of foci, induced by ROUS sarcoma virus, on cultured sheets of chick-embryo fibroblasts. The effects of AMHA on focus formation and on the cell growth were overcome by methionine.

Antitumor anthracycline antibiotics, aclacinomycin A and analogues. I. Taxonomy, production, isolation and physicochemical properties

Aclacinomycin A and B, two major components of a new antitumor antibiotic complex, and their 19 analogues were produced by a culture of strain No. MA144-M1, which was identified as Streptomyces galilaeus. They were isolated by chelation with copper ion and silicic acid chromatography, and characterized by physicochemical methods in the anthracycline group of antibiotics.

Reduction of cinerulose in aclacinomycin-A by soluble and microsomal cinerulose reductases

The in vitro metabolism of the antitumor anthracycline antibiotic, aclacinomycin-A, was studied using rat liver homogenate. In the presence of NADH or NADPH, aclacinomycin-A was converted to aclacinomycin-A analogs, MA144 M1 and MA144 N1, which were stereospecifically reduced at the keto group of the C-4''' position of L-cinerulose in aclacinomycin-A. Subcellular fractionation indicated that the production of MA144 M1, which was reduced to L-amicetose, was catalyzed by NADPH-dependent soluble cinerulose reductase I, and the production of MA144 N1, which was reduced to L-rhodinose, was catalyzed by NADPH-dependent soluble cinerulose reductase II and NADH-dependent microsomal cinerulose reductase. The properties of these three enzymes were studied. Soluble cinerulose reductase I which produces MA144 M1 showed a optimum pH at 6.3, Km values of 3.3 x 10(-4) M for aclacinomycin-A and 3.2 x 10(-5) M for NADPH. Soluble cinerulose reductase II which produces MA144 N1 showed a pH optimum at 6.3 and Km values of 2.0 x 10(-3) M for aclacinomycin-A and 4.0 x 10(-5) M for NADPH. All thesse reductases were sensitive to sulfhydryl reagents and were inhibited by vitamin K3. Microsomal cinerulose reductase showed sensitivity to diconmarol and ferrous ion. The main nondegradative pathways of aclacinomycin-A were discussed from these results.

Genetics and biochemical studies of chloramphenicol-nonproducing mutants of Streptomyces venezuelae carrying plasmid

Chloramphenicol-nonproducing and plasmid-less mutants obtained previously by treatment with acriflavine still produced a small amount of chloramphenicol in a medium. To study the role of plasmid in chloramphenicol production, 70 chloramphenicol-nonproducing mutants were isolated by acriflavine treatment, high-temperature incubation, UV-irradiation or nitrosoguanidine treatment, starting from a producer (SVM2). Most of them did not produce any amount of chloramphenicol. One mutant, SVM2-2A7 was found to produce 1-deoxychloramphenicol instead of chloramphenicol. The mutations (cpp) affecting chloramphenicol production were analyzed by crosses with a producing strain carrying the complementing auxotrophic markers. Except for the plasmid-less strains, all Cpp mutations including the 1-deoxychloramphenicol-producing mutation were mapped between met and ilv on the chromosome. Additional crosses indicated that these chromosomal cpp mutants still carried the plasmids which had a role in increasing chloramphenicol production. Therefore, it can be concluded that the structural genes for all or most steps of chloramphenicol biosynthesis including the 3-hydroxylation of p-aminophenylalanine are located between met and ilv on the chromosome of S. venezuelae and that the plasmid plays an important role in increasing the chloramphenicol production. The activity of arylamine synthetase involved in the initial step of the chloramphenicol biosynthesis was unrelated to the presence or absence of plasmid. Moreover, the presence of plasmids was not required for host resistance to chloramphenicol.

Studies on inhibition of adenosine deaminase by isocoformycin in vitro and in vivo

Isocoformycin is a structural isomer of coformycin which has been demonstrated to be a potent inhibitor of adenosine deaminase. Isocoformycin showed a weaker inhibition of this enzyme than coformycin; the binding of coformycin to enzyme was irreversible, but isocoformycin inhibition was competitive with substrate. The Ki value of isocoformycin was 4.5 approximately 10 X 10(-8) M. Following intraperitoneal injection of isocoformycin in mice, the adenosine deaminase activity of homogenates of several organs was determined and the following ED50 values (50% inhibition doses) were observed: 29 mg/kg for thymus, 13 mg/kg for spleen, 80 mg/kg for liver and 20 mg/kg for kidney. The inhibition of adenosine deaminase in rabbit blood in vitro was also tested in comparison with coformycin.