Hydrolytic cleavage of N6-substituted adenine derivatives by eukaryotic adenine and adenosine deaminases

Enzymatic Synthesis of 2-Chloropurine Arabinonucleosides with Chiral Amino Acid Amides at the C6 Position and an Evaluation of Antiproliferative Activity In Vitro

A number of purine arabinosides containing chiral amino acid amides at the C6 position of the purine were synthesized using a transglycosylation reaction with recombinant E. coli nucleoside phosphorylases. Arsenolysis of 2-chloropurine ribosides with chiral amino acid amides at C6 was used for the enzymatic synthesis, and the reaction equilibrium shifted towards the synthesis of arabinonucleosides. The synthesized nucleosides were shown to be resistant to the action of E. coli adenosine deaminase. The antiproliferative activity of the synthesized nucleosides was studied on human acute myeloid leukemia cell line U937. Among all the compounds, the serine derivative exhibited an activity level (IC50 = 16 μM) close to that of Nelarabine (IC50 = 3 μM) and was evaluated as active.

Biochemical Characterization of Kluyveromyces lactis Adenine Deaminase and Guanine Deaminase and Their Potential Application in Lowering Purine Content in Beer

Excess amounts of uric acid in humans leads to hyperuricemia, which is a biochemical precursor of gout and is also associated with various other disorders. Gout is termed as crystallization of uric acid, predominantly within joints. The burden of hyperuricemia and gout has increased worldwide due to lifestyle changes, obesity, and consumption of purine-rich foods, fructose-containing drinks, and alcoholic beverages. Some of the therapies available to cure gout are associated with unwanted side-effects and antigenicity. We propose an attractive and safe strategy to reduce purine content in beverages using enzymatic application of purine degrading enzymes such as adenine deaminase (ADA) and guanine deaminase (GDA) that convert adenine and guanine into hypoxanthine and xanthine, respectively. We cloned, expressed, purified, and biochemically characterized both adenine deaminase (ADA) and guanine deaminase (GDA) enzymes that play important roles in the purine degradation pathway of Kluyveromyces lactis, and demonstrate their application in lowering purine content in a beverage. The popular beverage beer has been selected as an experimental sample as it confers higher risks of hyperuricemia and gout. Quantification of purine content in 16 different beers from the Indian market showed varying concentrations of different purines. Enzymatic treatment of beer samples with ADA and GDA showed a reduction of adenine and guanine content, respectively. These enzymes in combination with other purine degrading enzymes showed marked reduction in purine content in beer samples. Both enzymes can work at 5.0–8.0 pH range and retain >50% activity at 40°C, making them good candidates for industrial applications.

Manipulation of cytokinin level in the ergot fungus Claviceps purpurea emphasizes its contribution to virulence

Pathogen-derived cytokinins (CKs) have been recognized as important virulence factor in several host-pathogen interactions and it was demonstrated multiple times that phytopathogenic fungi form CKs via the tRNA degradation pathway. In contrast to previous studies, the focus of this study is on the second step of CK formation and CK degradation to improve our understanding of the biosynthesis in fungi on the one hand, and to understand CK contribution to the infection process of Claviceps purpurea on the other hand. The ergot fungus Claviceps purpurea is a biotrophic phytopathogen with a broad host range including economically important crops causing harvest intoxication upon infection. Its infection process is restricted to unfertilized ovaries without causing macroscopic defense symptoms. Thus, sophisticated host manipulation strategies are implicated. The cytokinin (CK) plant hormones are known to regulate diverse plant cell processes, and several plant pathogens alter CK levels during infection. C. purpurea synthesizes CKs via two mechanisms, and fungus-derived CKs influence the host-pathogen interaction but not fungus itself. CK deficiency in fungi with impact on virulence has only been achieved to date by deletion of a tRNA-ipt gene that is also involved in a process of translation regulation. To obtain a better understanding of CK biosynthesis and CKs' contribution to the plant-fungus interaction, we applied multiple approaches to generate strains with altered or depleted CK content. The first approach is based on deletion of the two CK phosphoribohydrolase (LOG)-encoding genes, which are believed to be essential for the release of active CKs. Single and double deletion strains were able to produce all types of CKs. Apparently, log gene products are dispensable for the formation of CKs and so alternative activation pathways must be present. The CK biosynthesis pathway remains unaffected in the second approach, because it is based on heterologous overexpression of CK-degrading enzymes from maize (ZmCKX1). Zmckx1 overexpressing C. purpurea strains shows strong CKX activity and drastically reduced CK levels. The strains are impaired in virulence, which reinforces the assumption that fungal-derived CKs are crucial for full virulence. Taken together, this study comprises the first analysis of a log depletion mutant that proved the presence of alternative cytokinin activation pathways in fungi and showed that heterologous CKX expression is a suitable approach for CK level reduction.

Biochemical Characterization of Putative Adenylate Dimethylallyltransferase and Cytokinin Dehydrogenase from Nostoc sp. PCC 7120

Cytokinins, a class of phytohormones, are adenine derivatives common to many different organisms. In plants, these play a crucial role as regulators of plant development and the reaction to abiotic and biotic stress. Key enzymes in the cytokinin synthesis and degradation in modern land plants are the isopentyl transferases and the cytokinin dehydrogenases, respectively. Their encoding genes have been probably introduced into the plant lineage during the primary endosymbiosis. To shed light on the evolution of these proteins, the genes homologous to plant adenylate isopentenyl transferase and cytokinin dehydrogenase were amplified from the genomic DNA of cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. PCC 7120 and expressed in Escherichia coli. The putative isopentenyl transferase was shown to be functional in a biochemical assay. In contrast, no enzymatic activity was detected for the putative cytokinin dehydrogenase, even though the principal domains necessary for its function are present. Several mutant variants, in which conserved amino acids in land plant cytokinin dehydrogenases had been restored, were inactive. A combination of experimental data with phylogenetic analysis indicates that adenylate-type isopentenyl transferases might have evolved several times independently. While the Nostoc genome contains a gene coding for protein with characteristics of cytokinin dehydrogenase, the organism is not able to break down cytokinins in the way shown for land plants.

Arxula adeninivorans recombinant adenine deaminase and its application in the production of food with low purine content

AIMS

Construction of a transgenic Arxula adeninivorans strain that produces a high concentration of adenine deaminase and investigation into the application of the enzyme in the production of food with low purine content.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The A. adeninivorans AADA gene, encoding adenine deaminase, was expressed in this yeast under the control of the strong inducible nitrite reductase promoter using the Xplor(®) 2 transformation/expression platform. The recombinant enzyme was biochemically characterized and was found to have a pH range of 5.5-7.5 and temperature range of 34-46 °C with medium thermostability. A beef broth was treated with the purified enzyme resulting in the concentration of adenine decreasing from 70.4 to 0.4 mg l(-1).

CONCLUSIONS

It was shown that the production of adenine deaminase by A. adeninivorans can be increased and that the recombinant adenine deaminase can be used to lower the adenine content in the food.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

Adenine deaminase is one component of an enzymatic system that can reduce the production of uric acid from food constituents. This study gives details on the expression, characterization and application of the enzyme and thus provides evidence that supports the further development of the system.

Changes in RNA catabolites of sparkling wines during the biological aging

In this study the catabolites derived from RNA degradation were assessed in Cava sparkling wines as a consequence of lees autolysis. For this purpose, the changes in the content of adenosine, guanosine, inosine, uridine, hypoxanthine, xanthine, and uric acid were determined by UHPLC-MS/MS, in sparkling wines produced on industrial scale, and aged for 4 years. Uridine is the main nucleoside, and its content increases whenever lees cells are present (sur lie aging). Purines seem to have a fermentative origin, with xanthine the most abundant one. When RNA catabolite amounts in sparkling wines aged with or without lees are compared over time, it can be concluded that lees and their cell degradation play an important role in the evolution of Cava; when lees are removed, RNA catabolite amounts remain unchanged.

Subcellular localization and biochemical comparison of cytosolic and secreted cytokinin dehydrogenase enzymes from maize

Cytokinin dehydrogenase (CKX; EC 1.5.99.12) degrades cytokinin hormones in plants. There are several differently targeted isoforms of CKX in plant cells. While most CKX enzymes appear to be localized in the apoplast or vacuoles, there is generally only one CKX per plant genome that lacks a translocation signal and presumably functions in the cytosol. The only extensively characterized maize CKX is the apoplastic ZmCKX1; a maize gene encoding a non-secreted CKX has not previously been cloned or characterized. Thus, the aim of this work was to characterize the maize non-secreted CKX gene (ZmCKX10), elucidate the subcellular localization of ZmCKX10, and compare its biochemical properties with those of ZmCKX1. Expression profiling of ZmCKX1 and ZmCKX10 was performed in maize tissues to determine their transcript abundance and organ-specific expression. For determination of the subcellular localization, the CKX genes were fused with green fluorescent protein (GFP) and overexpressed in tomato hairy roots. Using confocal microscopy, the ZmCKX1-GFP signal was confirmed to be present in the apoplast, whereas ZmCKX10-GFP was detected in the cytosol. No interactions of ZmCKX1 with the plasma membrane were observed. While roots overexpressing ZmCKX1-GFP formed significantly more mass in comparison with the control, non-secreted CKX overexpression resulted in a small reduction in root mass accumulation. Biochemical characterization of ZmCKX10 was performed using recombinant protein produced in Pichia pastoris. In contrast to the preference for 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP) as an electron acceptor and trans-zeatin, N(6)-(Delta(2)-isopentenyl)adenine (iP) and N(6)-(Delta(2)-isopentenyl)adenosine (iPR) as substrates for ZmCKX1, the non-secreted ZmCKX10 had a range of suitable electron acceptors, and the enzyme had a higher preference for cis-zeatin and cytokinin N-glucosides as substrates.