Uridine diphosphate glucose and the synthesis of phenolic glucosides by mollusks

Diverse O-methyltransferases catalyze the biosynthesis of floral benzenoids that repel aphids from the flowers of waterlily Nymphaea prolifera

Nymphaea is a key genus of the ANA grade (Amborellales, Nymphaeales, and Austrobaileyales) of basal flowering plants, which serve as a key model to study the early evolution of floral traits. In this study, we comprehensively investigated the emission, biosynthesis, and biological function of the floral scent in a night-blossoming waterlily Nymphaea prolifera. The headspace volatile collection combined with GC-MS analysis showed that the floral scent of N. prolifera is predominately comprised by methylated benzenoids including anisole, veratrole, guaiacol, and methoxyanisole. Moreover, the emission of these floral benzenoids in N. prolifera exhibited temporal and spatial pattern with circadian rhythm and tissue specificity. By creating and mining transcriptomes of N. prolifera flowers, 12 oxygen methyltransferases (NpOMTs) were functionally identified. By in vitro enzymatic assay, NpOMT3, 6, and 7 could produce anisole and NpOMT5, 7, 9, produce guaiacol, whereas NpOMT3, 6, 9, 11 catalyzed the formation of veratrole. Methoxyanisole was identified as the universal product of all NpOMTs. Expression patterns of NpOMTs provided implication for their roles in the production of the respective benzenoids. Phylogenetic analysis of OMTs suggested a Nymphaea-specific expansion of the OMT family, indicating the evolution of lineage-specific functions. In bioassays, anisole, veratrole, and guaiacol in the floral benzenoids were revealed to play the critical role in repelling waterlily aphids. Overall, this study indicates that the basal flowering plant N. prolifera has evolved a diversity and complexity of OMT genes for the biosynthesis of methylated benzenoids that can repel insects from feeding the flowers. These findings provide new insights into the evolutional mechanism and ecological significance of the floral scent from early-diverged flowering plants.

Bioconcentration, bioaccumulation, and metabolism of pesticides in aquatic organisms

The ecotoxicological assessment of pesticide effects in the aquatic environment should normally be based on a deep knowledge of not only the concentration of pesticides and metabolites found but also on the influence of key abiotic and biotic processes that effect rates of dissipation. Although the bioconcentration and bioaccumulation potentials of pesticides in aquatic organisms are conveniently estimated from their hydrophobicity (represented by log K(ow), it is still indispensable to factor in the effects of key abiotic and biotic processes on such pesticides to gain a more precise understanding of how they may have in the natural environment. Relying only on pesticide hydrophobicity may produce an erroneous environmental impact assessment. Several factors affect rates of pesticide dissipation and accumulation in the aquatic environment. Such factors include the amount and type of sediment present in the water and type of diet available to water-dwelling organisms. The particular physiological behavior profiles of aquatic organisms in water, such as capacity for uptake, metabolism, and elimination, are also compelling factors, as is the chemistry of the water. When evaluating pesticide uptake and bioconcentration processes, it is important to know the amount and nature of bottom sediments present and the propensity that the stuffed aquatic organisms have to absorb and process xenobiotics. Extremely hydrophobic pesticides such as the organochlorines and pyrethroids are susceptible to adsorb strongly to dissolved organic matter associated with bottom sediment. Such absorption reduces the bioavailable fraction of pesticide dissolved in the water column and reduces the probable ecotoxicological impact on aquatic organisms living the water. In contrast, sediment dweller may suffer from higher levels of direct exposure to a pesticide, unless it is rapidly degraded in sediment. Metabolism is important to bioconcentration and bioaccumulation processes, as is detoxification and bioactivation. Hydrophobic pesticides that are expected to be highly stored in tissues would not be bioconcentrated if susceptible to biotic transformation by aquatic organisms to more rapidly metabolized to hydrophilic entities are generally less toxic. By analogy, pesticides that are metabolized to similar entities by aquatic species surely are les ecotoxicologically significant. One feature of fish and other aquatic species that makes them more relevant as targets of environmental studies and of regulation is that they may not only become contaminated by pesticides or other chemicals, but that they constitute and important part of the human diet. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the enzymes that are capable of metabolizing or otherwise assisting in the removal of xenobiotics from aquatic species. Many studies have been performed on the enzymes that are responsible for metabolizing xenobiotics. In addition to the use of conventional biochemical methods, such studies on enzymes are increasingly being conducted using immunochemical methods and amino acid or gene sequences analysis. Such studies have been performed in algae, in some aquatic macrophytes, and in bivalva, but less information is available for other aquatic species such as crustacea, annelids, aquatic insecta, and other species. Although their catabolizing activity is often lower than in mammals, oxidases, especially cytochrome P450 enzymes, play a central role in transforming pesticides in aquatic organisms. Primary metabolites, formed from such initial enzymatic action, are further conjugated with natural components such as carbohydrates, and this aids removal form the organisms. The pesticides that are susceptible to abiotic hydrolysis are generally also biotically degraded by various esterases to from hydrophilic conjugates. Reductive transformation is the main metabolic pathway for organochlorine pesticides, but less information on reductive enzymology processes is available. The information on aquatic species, other than fish, that pertains to bioconcentration factors, metabolism, and elimination is rather limited in the literature. The kinds of basic information that is unavailable but is needed on important aquatic species includes biochemistry, physiology, position in food web, habitat, life cycle, etc. such information is very important to obtaining improved ecotoxicology risk assessments for many pesticides and other chemicals. More research attention on the behavior of pesticides in, and affect on many standard aquatic test species (e.g., daphnids, chironomids, oligochaetes and some bivalves) would particularly be welcome. In addition to improving ecotoxicology risk assessments on target species, such information would also assist in better delineating affects on species at higher trophic levels that are predaceous on the target species. There is also need for designing and employing more realistic approaches to measure bioconcentration and bioaccumulation, and ecotoxicology effects of pesticides in natural environment. The currently employed steady-state laboratory exposure studies are insufficient to deal with the complexity of parameters that control the contrasts to the abiotic processes of pesticide investigated under the strictly controlled conditions, each process is significantly affected in the natural environment not only by the site-specific chemistry of water and sediment but also by climate. From this viewpoint, ecotoxicological assessment should be conducted, together with the detailed analyses of abiotic processes, when higher-tier mesocosm studies are performed. Moreover, in-depth investigation is needed to better understand the relationship between pesticide residues in organisms and associated ecotoxicological endpoints. The usual exposure assessment is based on apparent (nominal) concentrations fo pesticides, and the residues of pesticides or their metabolites in the organisms are not considered in to the context of ecotoxicological endpoints. Therefore, more metabolic and tissue distribution information for terminal pesticide residues is needed for aquatic species both in laboratory settings and in higher-tier (microcosm, mesocosm) studies.

Crystal structure and solid state 13C NMR analysis of nitrophenyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-d-gluco- and d-galactopyranosides

The X-ray diffraction analysis of o-nitrophenyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside (1), m-nitrophenyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside, p-nitrophenyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside and o-nitrophenyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside was performed. It was found that except in the case of 1, all other crystals have one molecule in the independent part of the crystal unit cell. The results support the opinion that the nitro group does not conjugate effectively with the phenyl ring. In the 13C CP MAS spectrum of 1 the signals are split, confirming the presence of two independent molecules. Similarly, the 13C CP MAS NMR spectrum of p-nitrophenyl-2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside indicated the presence of two non-equivalent molecules in the crystal unit. One of these molecules has more conformational freedom enabling rotation of the phenyl ring.

Esterification of vertebrate-type steroids in the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica)

Characteristics of acyl-coenzyme A (acyl-CoA):steroid acyltransferase from the digestive gland of the oyster Crassostrea virginica were determined by using estradiol (E2) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) as substrates. The apparent Km and Vmax values for esterification of E2 with the six fatty acid acyl-CoAs tested (C20:4, C18:2, C18:1, C16:1, C18:0, and C16:0) were in the range of 9-17 microM E2 and 35-74 pmol/min/mg protein, respectively. Kinetic parameters for esterification of DHEA (Km: 45-120 microM; Vmax: 30-182 pmol/min/mg protein) showed a lower affinity of the enzyme for this steroid. Formation of endogenous fatty acid esters of steroids by microsomes of digestive gland and gonads incubated in the presence of ATP and CoA was assessed, and at least seven E2 fatty acid esters and five DHEA fatty acid esters were observed. Some peaks eluted at the same retention times as palmitoleoyl-, linoleoyl-, oleoyl/palmitoyl-, and stearoyl-E2; and palmitoleoyl-, oleoyl/palmitoyl-, and stearoyl-DHEA. The same endogenous esters, although in different proportions, were produced by gonadal microsomes. The kinetic parameters for both E2 (Km: 10 microM; Vmax: 38 pmol/min/mg protein) and DHEA (Km: 61 microM; Vmax: 60 pmol/min/mg protein) were similar to those obtained in the digestive gland. Kinetic parameters obtained are similar to those observed in mammals; thus, fatty acid esterification of sex steroids appears to be a well-conserved conjugation pathway during evolution.

Disposition and biotransformation of pentachlorophenol in the red abalone (Haliotis rufescens)

1. The disposition and biotransformation of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in the red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) have been determined. 2. In a flow-through system, three abalones were exposed to 1.2 mg/l of [U-14C]PCP for 5 h to determine bioconcentration and tissue distribution. Retained residues were quantified from radioactivity, while excreted residues were identified and quantified by h.p.l.c. and determination of radioactivity. 3. The 5-h total concentration factor ranged from 16.0 to 21.5; individual tissue concentrations ranged from 133.4 nmol/g in gill to 17.5 nmol/g in gonad. Due to its large size, the foot muscle received the largest amount of total retained residue (47.4%). 4. During a 13-h recovery period the abalones depurated 72.2% of retained residues; however, residue concentration in gonad increased over 100%. PCP was primarily excreted unchanged (89.3%), but small amounts of pentachloro-beta-D-glucoside (7.9%), pentachloroanisole (1.3%), pentachlorophenylsulphate (0.9%), and tetrachloro-p-hydroquinone (0.6%) were also formed.

Effect of the tridecamer of compound 48/80, a Ca2+-dependent histamine releaser, on phospholipid metabolism during the early stage of histamine release from rat mast cells

When the tridecamer component of compound 48/80 (Fraction D, Fr.D), a Ca2+-dependent histamine releaser, was incubated with rat mast cells that had been prelabeled with [32P]phosphate, [3H]inositol or [3H]glycerol, it induced a rapid decrease in [32P]phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) followed by increases of [3H]inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (Ins P3) and [3H]diacylglycerol during the 10 sec prior to detectable histamine release. Fr.D-induced changes of the metabolism of these compounds occurred even in the absence of Ca2+, but to a lesser extent than in the presence of Ca2+. In contrast, the accumulation of [3H]arachidonic acid into phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylinositol (PI) and phosphatidic acid (PA) in [3H]arachidonic acid-prelabeled mast cells was Ca2+-dependently stimulated by Fr.D with a concomitant decrease in [3H]phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). These Ca2+-dependent changes in PC and PE were not observed in mast cells preloaded with [32P]phosphate, while [32P]PI and [32P]PA increased Ca2+ independently. Fr.D also increased 45Ca2+ uptake by mast cells within 5 sec after the stimulation. These results indicate that Fr.D binding to mast cell Ca2+ independently induces rapid changes of PI cycle-related metabolism of plasma membrane components, while it also induces Ca2+-dependent accumulation of arachidonic acid into PC, PI and PA in association with the decrease of PE, which may be important during the latent period prior to the Ca2+-dependent release of histamine from Fr.D-stimulated mast cells.

Studies of mammalian glucoside conjugation

The mammalian glucoside-conjugation pathway was studied by using p-nitrophenol as the model substrate and mouse liver microsomal preparations as the source of enzyme. The microsomal preparations supplemented with UDP-glucose glucosylated p-nitrophenol; p-nitrophenyl glucoside was identified by chromatography in six solvent systems. The unsolubilized glucosyltransferase of fresh microsomal preparations did not follow the usual Michaelis-Menten kinetics and was easily inhibited by many steroids. All the steroids tested inhibited glucosylation of p-nitrophenol to a greater degree than glucuronidation of p-nitrophenol when assayed in the same microsomal preparations. The steroids inhibited glucosylation with the following decreasing effectiveness: pregnan-3alpha-ol-20beta-one (3alpha-hydroxypregnan-20-beta-one)>oestradiol-17beta 3-methyl ether>oestradiol-17beta>oestriol>pregnane-3alpha,20beta-diol>oestrone. Pregnan-3alpha-ol-20beta-one, pregnane-3alpha,20beta-diol and oestrone had negligible effect on glucuronidation.

Mechanism of biosynthesis of thio- -D-glucuronides and thio- -D-glucosides

1. The thio-beta-d-glucosiduronic acids (thio-beta-glucuronides) of o-aminothiophenol, diethyldithiocarbamic acid, p-nitrothiophenol and thiophenol are formed biosynthetically in broken- and intact-cell preparations of mouse liver. 2. For this biosynthesis to occur in homogenates or microsomal fractions, UDP-glucuronic acid was required during incubation; glucose, glucuronic acid or UDP could not replace it. UDP was a product of the reaction. 3. The biosynthetic mechanism linking glucuronic acid to thiol and carbodithioic groups therefore requires UDP-glucuronyltransferase activity and resembles that forming the various types of O-glucuronides. 4. An analogous enzymic mechanism employing UDP-glucose synthesizes the thio-beta-d-glucosides of diethyldithiocarbamic acid and thiophenol in gut preparations of the mollusc Arion ater; this mechanism resembles that forming the O-glucosides. The thio-beta-d-glucosides are formed also in intact cells. 5. As expected from the distribution of O-glycosides, S-glucuronides of these aglycones were not detectable with the invertebrate, nor were the S-glucosides with the vertebrate. 6. Despite their similar biosyntheses, S- and O-beta-glycosides differ in susceptibility to hydrolysis by beta-glycosidases. Rat preputial-gland beta-glucuronidase hydrolysed thioglucuronides of o-aminothiophenol, diethyldithiocarbamic acid and p-nitrothiophenol, hydrolysis being inhibited by glucarolactone; the thioglucuronide of thiophenol was not hydrolysed by preputial-gland or liver beta-glucuronidase. The two S-glucosides resisted hydrolysis by beta-glucosidase from almond emulsin.

Enzymic transfer of glucose and xylose from uridine diphosphate glucose and uridine diphosphate xylose to bilirubin by untreated and digitonin-activated preparations from rat liver

1. Digitonin-treated and untreated homogenates, cell extracts and washed microsomal preparations from liver of Wistar R rats are capable of transferring sugar from UDP-glucose or UDP-xylose to bilirubin. No formation of bilirubin glycosides occurred with UDP-galactose or d-glucose, d-xylose or d-glucuronic acid as the sources of sugar. 2. Procedures to assay digitonin-activated and unactivated bilirubin UDP-glucosyltransferase and bilirubin UDP-xylosyltransferase were developed. 3. In digitonin-activated microsomal preparations the transferring enzymes had the following properties. Both enzyme activities were increased 2.5-fold by pretreatment with digitonin. They were optimum at pH6.6-7.2. Michaelis-Menten kinetics were followed with respect to UDP-glucose. In contrast, double-reciprocal plots of enzyme activity against the concentration of UDP-xylose showed two intersecting straight-line sections corresponding to concentration ranges where either bilirubin monoxyloside was formed (at low UDP-xylose concentrations) or where mixtures of both the mono- and di-xyloside were synthesized (at high UDP-xylose concentrations). Both enzyme activities were stimulated by Mg(2+); Ca(2+) was slightly less, and Mn(2+) slightly more, stimulatory than Mg(2+). Of the activities found in standard assay systems containing Mg(2+), 58-78% (substrate UDP-glucose) and 0-38% (substrate UDP-xylose) were independent of added bivalent metal ion. Double-reciprocal plots of the Mg(2+)-dependent activities against the concentration of added Mg(2+) were linear. 4. In comparative experiments the relative activities of liver homogenates obtained with UDP-glucuronic acid, UDP-glucose and UDP-xylose were 1:1.5:2.7 for untreated preparations and 1:0.29:0.44 after activation with digitonin. 5. Bilirubin UDP-glucuronyltransferase was protected against denaturation by human serum albumin, whereas bilirubin UDP-xylosyltransferase was not. 6. Digitonin-treated and untreated liver homogenates from Gunn rats were inactive in transferring sugar to bilirubin from UDP-glucuronic acid (in agreement with the work of others), UDP-glucose or UDP-xylose.