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Kempthorne CJ, St Pierre M, Le A, Livingstone S, McNulty J, Cadotte MW, Liscombe DK. Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics for the elucidation of alkaloid biosynthesis and function in invasive Vincetoxicum rossicum populations. PHYTOCHEMISTRY 2024; 221:114051. [PMID: 38452878 DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2024.114051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Revised: 02/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
The genus Vincetoxicum includes a couple of highly invasive vines in North America that threaten biodiversity and challenge land management strategies. Vincetoxicum species are known to produce bioactive phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids that might play a role in the invasiveness of these plants via chemical interactions with other organisms. Untargeted, high-resolution mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approaches were used to explore specialized metabolism in Vincetoxicum plants collected from invaded sites in Ontario, Canada. All metabolites corresponding to alkaloids in lab and field samples of V. rossicum and V. nigrum were identified, which collectively contained 25 different alkaloidal features. The biosynthesis of these alkaloids was investigated by the incorporation of the stable isotope-labelled phenylalanine precursor providing a basis for an updated biosynthetic pathway accounting for the rapid generation of chemical diversity in invasive Vincetoxicum. Aqueous extracts of aerial Vincetoxicum rossicum foliage had phytotoxic activity against seedlings of several species, resulting in identification of tylophorine as a phytotoxin; tylophorine and 14 other alkaloids from Vincetoxicum accumulated in soils associated with full-sun and a high-density of V. rossicum. Using desorption-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, 15 alkaloids were found to accumulate at wounded sites of V. rossicum leaves, a chemical cocktail that would be encountered by feeding herbivores. Understanding the specialized metabolism of V. rossicum provides insight into the roles and influences of phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids in ecological systems and enables potential, natural product-based approaches for the control of invasive Vincetoxicum and other weedy species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine J Kempthorne
- Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, 4890 Victoria Ave North, Box 4000, Vineland Station, Ontario, L0R 2E0, Canada; Centre for Biotechnology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St Catharines, Ontario, L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Max St Pierre
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main St W, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Andrew Le
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Stuart Livingstone
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - James McNulty
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main St W, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Marc W Cadotte
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - David K Liscombe
- Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, 4890 Victoria Ave North, Box 4000, Vineland Station, Ontario, L0R 2E0, Canada; Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St Catharines, Ontario, L2S 3A1, Canada.
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Hao F, Tao L, Liu J, Ma Y, Zhang J, Wang W, Yan W, Wang B, Wang X, Chen X, Ma Y, Fan H, Zhao X, Wang Z, Bai C. Cynanchum komarovii extract for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis by acting on synovial cells in vitro and in vivo. JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY 2023; 317:116825. [PMID: 37348792 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2023.116825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2023] [Revised: 06/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Cynanchum komarovii (CK), the northwest Chinese region's common medicinal herb, was traditionally utilized to treat arthritis, toothache, bald sores and cholecystitis. Various forms of arthritis can be treated with CK, based on "Medicinal Plants of Chinese Desert Areas". However, the exact mechanism of action in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is uncertain. AIM OF THE STUDY To evaluate the in vitro and in vivo effects of CK extracts on RA and to preliminarily investigate its anti-RA mechanism of action. MATERIALS AND METHODS The main components of CK extract were analyzed by HPLC method. The effects of CK on the proliferation and apoptosis of human rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes (HFLS-RA) cells and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins in HFLS-RA cells were evaluated by CCK8 assay, flow cytometry and WB assay. To verify the anti-RA effect of CK extracts in vivo, a collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rat model was established. The rats were divided into six groups: normal group, model group, CK high-dose group (1000 mg/kg, CK-H), CK medium-dose group (500 mg/kg, CK-M), CK low-dose group (250 mg/kg, CK-L) and methotrexate-positive drug group (MTX); the drug was administered continuously for 28 days. Body weight changes, joint swelling, arthritis index, bone density, ankle lesions, immune organ index, splenic lesions and inflammatory factor expression were used to evaluate the in vivo anti-RA activity of the extract. RESULTS The findings of in vitro experiments showed that 10% CK-containing serum decreased the expression level of Bcl-2, increased the expression levels of Bax and Cleaved Caspase-3 in synovial cells, and prevented TNF-α induced aberrant proliferation and apoptotic antagonism in HFLS-RA cells. According to in vivo studies, CK extract at doses above 250 mg/kg was effective in controlling the levels of inflammatory factors, lowering the arthritis index, and improving foot swelling in CIA rats. When administered at doses up to 1000 mg/kg, CK extract significantly improved synovial lesions, increased bone density, and decreased abnormally elevated immune organ index in CIA rats. CONCLUSIONS CK has significant anti-RA activity, and its anti-RA mechanism of action may be related to the regulation of the expression levels of apoptosis related proteins and the promotion of apoptosis in synovial cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fusheng Hao
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China; Key Laboratory of Ningxia Ethnomedicine Modernization, Ministry of Education, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Li Tao
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Junmei Liu
- Department of Pharmacy, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, China
| | - Yan Ma
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Jin Zhang
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Wen Wang
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Wei Yan
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Bo Wang
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Xiaofei Wang
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Xingyi Chen
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Yingying Ma
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Hongli Fan
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Xi Zhao
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China
| | - Zhizhong Wang
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China; Key Laboratory of Ningxia Ethnomedicine Modernization, Ministry of Education, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China.
| | - Changcai Bai
- College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China; Key Laboratory of Ningxia Ethnomedicine Modernization, Ministry of Education, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China.
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Lou P, Fang A, Zhao W, Yao K, Yang Y, Hu J. Potential Target Discovery and Drug Repurposing for Coronaviruses: Study Involving a Knowledge Graph-Based Approach. J Med Internet Res 2023; 25:e45225. [PMID: 37862061 PMCID: PMC10592722 DOI: 10.2196/45225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Revised: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The global pandemics of severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and COVID-19 have caused unprecedented crises for public health. Coronaviruses are constantly evolving, and it is unknown which new coronavirus will emerge and when the next coronavirus will sweep across the world. Knowledge graphs are expected to help discover the pathogenicity and transmission mechanism of viruses. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to discover potential targets and candidate drugs to repurpose for coronaviruses through a knowledge graph-based approach. METHODS We propose a computational and evidence-based knowledge discovery approach to identify potential targets and candidate drugs for coronaviruses from biomedical literature and well-known knowledge bases. To organize the semantic triples extracted automatically from biomedical literature, a semantic conversion model was designed. The literature knowledge was associated and integrated with existing drug and gene knowledge through semantic mapping, and the coronavirus knowledge graph (CovKG) was constructed. We adopted both the knowledge graph embedding model and the semantic reasoning mechanism to discover unrecorded mechanisms of drug action as well as potential targets and drug candidates. Furthermore, we have provided evidence-based support with a scoring and backtracking mechanism. RESULTS The constructed CovKG contains 17,369,620 triples, of which 641,195 were extracted from biomedical literature, covering 13,065 concept unique identifiers, 209 semantic types, and 97 semantic relations of the Unified Medical Language System. Through multi-source knowledge integration, 475 drugs and 262 targets were mapped to existing knowledge, and 41 new drug mechanisms of action were found by semantic reasoning, which were not recorded in the existing knowledge base. Among the knowledge graph embedding models, TransR outperformed others (mean reciprocal rank=0.2510, Hits@10=0.3505). A total of 33 potential targets and 18 drug candidates were identified for coronaviruses. Among them, 7 novel drugs (ie, quinine, nelfinavir, ivermectin, asunaprevir, tylophorine, Artemisia annua extract, and resveratrol) and 3 highly ranked targets (ie, angiotensin converting enzyme 2, transmembrane serine protease 2, and M protein) were further discussed. CONCLUSIONS We showed the effectiveness of a knowledge graph-based approach in potential target discovery and drug repurposing for coronaviruses. Our approach can be extended to other viruses or diseases for biomedical knowledge discovery and relevant applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pei Lou
- Institute of Medical Information, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
| | - An Fang
- Institute of Medical Information, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
| | - Wanqing Zhao
- Institute of Medical Information, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
| | - Kuanda Yao
- Institute of Medical Information, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
| | - Yusheng Yang
- Institute of Medical Information, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
| | - Jiahui Hu
- Institute of Medical Information, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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Spence KA, Hoffmann M, Garg NK. Total Synthesis of Phenanthroindolizidines Using Strained Azacyclic Alkynes. Org Lett 2023; 25:5044-5048. [PMID: 37379230 PMCID: PMC10460089 DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/30/2023]
Abstract
We report a concise approach to phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids, wherein strained azacyclic alkynes are intercepted in Pd-catalyzed annulations. Two types of strained intermediates were evaluated: a functionalized piperidyne and a new strained intermediate, an indolizidyne. We show that each can be employed, ultimately allowing access to three natural products: tylophorine, tylocrebine, and isotylocrebine. These efforts demonstrate the successful merger of strained azacyclic alkyne chemistry with transition-metal catalysis for the construction of complex heterocycles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie A Spence
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1569, United States
| | - Marie Hoffmann
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1569, United States
| | - Neil K Garg
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1569, United States
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Wang Z, Wang N, Yang L, Song XQ. Bioactive natural products in COVID-19 therapy. Front Pharmacol 2022; 13:926507. [PMID: 36059994 PMCID: PMC9438897 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.926507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The devastating COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than six million deaths worldwide during the last 2 years. Effective therapeutic agents are greatly needed, yet promising magic bullets still do not exist. Numerous natural products (cordycepin, gallinamide A, plitidepsin, telocinobufagin, and tylophorine) have been widely studied and play a potential function in treating COVID-19. In this paper, we reviewed published studies (from May 2021 to April 2022) relating closely to bioactive natural products (isolated from medicinal plants, animals products, and marine organisms) in COVID-19 therapy in vitro to provide some essential guidance for anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug research and development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhonglei Wang
- Key Laboratory of Green Natural Products and Pharmaceutical Intermediates in Colleges and Universities of Shandong Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Zhonglei Wang, ; Liyan Yang, ; Xian-qing Song,
| | - Ning Wang
- General Surgery Department, Ningbo Fourth Hospital, Xiangshan, China
| | - Liyan Yang
- School of Physics and Physical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China
- *Correspondence: Zhonglei Wang, ; Liyan Yang, ; Xian-qing Song,
| | - Xian-qing Song
- General Surgery Department, Ningbo Fourth Hospital, Xiangshan, China
- *Correspondence: Zhonglei Wang, ; Liyan Yang, ; Xian-qing Song,
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Ding X, Xu Y, Yan L, Chen L, Lu Z, Ge C, Zhao X, Wang Z, Lu A, Wang Q. Marine Sesquiterpenes for Plant Protection: Discovery of Laurene Sesquiterpenes and Their Derivatives as Novel Antiviral and Antiphytopathogenic Fungal Agents. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2022; 70:6006-6014. [PMID: 35536647 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.2c00664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The unreasonable use or long-term use of a single variety of pesticide has led to drug resistance and made the pesticides ineffective. Therefore, the creation of new, efficient, and low-risk pesticides is imminent. Marine natural products play a vital role in serving as new lead compounds. In this work, we realized the efficient preparation of nine marine sesquiterpenes with the Stork-Danheiser reaction as the key step and designed and synthesized a series of their derivatives. The antiviral activity and antifungal activity research showed that these compounds exhibited good to excellent biological activities. Compounds 7b and 8e displayed significantly higher antiviral activities against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) than ribavirin and could be used as new antiviral candidates. The antiviral mode of action research indicated that compound 8e inhibited the formation of the 20S protein disk by acting on the TMV coat protein and therefore inhibited the assembly of TMV particles. This work provides a new idea for the development of new pesticides based on marine sesquiterpenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Ding
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Yubin Xu
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Lili Yan
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Lei Chen
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Zujia Lu
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Caiyan Ge
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Xinyi Zhao
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Ziwen Wang
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Aidang Lu
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hebei Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Marine Chemical Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China
| | - Qingmin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Research Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Frontiers Science Center for New Organic Matter, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
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