The C-glycosylation of flavonoids in cereals.

Flavonoids normally accumulate in plants as O-glycosylated derivatives, but several species, including major cereal crops, predominantly synthesize flavone-C-glycosides, which are stable to hydrolysis and are biologically active both in planta and as dietary components. An enzyme (OsCGT) catalyzing the UDP-glucose-dependent C-glucosylation of 2-hydroxyflavanone precursors of flavonoids has been identified and cloned from rice (Oryza sativa ssp. indica), with a similar protein characterized in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). OsCGT is a 49-kDa family 1 glycosyltransferase related to known O-glucosyltransferases. The recombinant enzyme C-glucosylated 2-hydroxyflavanones but had negligible O-glucosyltransferase activity with flavonoid acceptors. Enzyme chemistry studies suggested that OsCGT preferentially C-glucosylated the dibenzoylmethane tautomers formed in equilibrium with 2-hydroxyflavanones. The resulting 2-hydroxyflavanone-C-glucosides were unstable and spontaneously dehydrated in vitro to yield a mixture of 6C- and 8C-glucosyl derivatives of the respective flavones. In contrast, in planta, only the respective 6C-glucosides accumulated. Consistent with this selectivity in glycosylation product, a dehydratase activity that preferentially converted 2-hydroxyflavanone-C-glucosides to the corresponding flavone-6C-glucosides was identified in both rice and wheat. Our results demonstrate that cereal crops synthesize C-glucosylated flavones through the concerted action of a CGT and dehydratase acting on activated 2-hydroxyflavanones, as an alternative means of generating flavonoid metabolites.

Catabolism of glutathione conjugates in Arabidopsis thaliana. Role in metabolic reactivation of the herbicide safener fenclorim.

The safener fenclorim (4,6-dichloro-2-phenylpyrimidine) increases tolerance to chloroacetanilide herbicides in rice by enhancing the expression of detoxifying glutathione S-transferases (GSTs). Fenclorim also enhances GSTs in Arabidopsis thaliana, and while investigating the functional significance of this induction in suspension cultures, we determined that these enzymes glutathionylated the safener. The resulting S-(fenclorim)-glutathione conjugate was sequentially processed to S-(fenclorim)-gamma-glutamyl-cysteine and S-(fenclorim)-cysteine (FC), the latter accumulating in both the cells and the medium. FC was then either catabolized to 4-chloro-6-(methylthio)-phenylpyrimidine (CMTP) or N-acylated with malonic acid. These cysteine derivatives had distinct fates, with the enzymes responsible for their formation being induced by fenclorim and FC. Fenclorim-N-malonylcysteine was formed from FC by the action of a malonyl-CoA-dependent N-malonyltransferase. A small proportion of the fenclorim-N-malonylcysteine then underwent decarboxylation to yield a putative S-fenclorim-N-acetylcysteine intermediate, which underwent a second round of GST-mediated S-glutathionylation and subsequent proteolytic processing. The formation of CMTP was catalyzed by the concerted action of a cysteine conjugate beta-lyase and an S-methyltransferase, with the two activities being coordinately regulated. Although the fenclorim conjugates tested showed little GST-inducing activity in Arabidopsis, the formation of CMTP resulted in metabolic reactivation, with the product showing good enhancing activity. In addition, CMTP induced GSTs and herbicide-safening activity in rice. The bioactivated CMTP was in turn glutathione-conjugated and processed to a malonyl cysteine derivative. These results reveal the surprisingly complex set of competing catabolic reactions acting on xenobiotics entering the S-glutathionylation pathway in plants, which can result in both detoxification and bioactivation.

Synthesis and chemical characterisation of target identification reagents based on an inhibitor of human cell invasion by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

The use of phenotype-based screens as an approach for identifying novel small molecule tools is reliant on successful protein target identification strategies. Here we report on the synthesis and chemical characterisation of a novel reagent for protein target identification based on a small molecule inhibitor of human cell invasion by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. A detailed (1)H NMR study and biological testing confirmed that incorporation of an amino-containing functional group into the aryl ring of this inhibitor was possible without loss of biological activity. Interesting chemical reactivity differences were identified resulting from incorporation of the new substituent. The amine functionality was then used to prepare a biotinylated reagent that is central to our current protein target identification studies with this inhibitor.

An improved understanding of the reaction of bis(bromomethyl)quinoxaline 1-N-oxides with amines using substituent effects.

The reaction of bis(bromomethyl)quinoxaline N-oxides with amines is interesting from a reaction mechanism perspective and due to the reported biological activity of compounds in this general class. The complex mechanism of this reaction (particularly in the case of primary amines) is complicated further when C6 or C7 substituted mono-N-oxides are considered. In this study, the synthesis and subsequent characterization of a series of 2,3-bis(bromomethyl)quinoxaline 1-N-oxides is reported. Experimental and computational evidence is used to show that the observed product ratios from the reaction with diethylamine reflect the influence of both the C6/C7 substituent and the N-oxide functional group on the initial nucleophilic substitution reaction.

Controlling the outcome of an N-alkylation reaction by using N-oxide functional groups.

Covalent modifiers of proteins are of importance in chemical proteomics, an emerging chemical technology used to assign protein function. In this study, high-field (1)H NMR techniques were used to analyze the reaction of the bioactive compound, 2,3-bis(bromomethyl)quinoxaline 1,4-dioxide, with amines (a model system for proteins containing nitrogen-based nucleophiles). Unexpectedly, the results show that a double nucleophilic substitution reaction involving 2 equiv of the amine is preferred to an intramolecular cyclization pathway. A direct comparison with the reaction carried out on a substrate lacking the N-oxide functional groups is also provided. X-ray crystal structures and computational studies are used to rationalize the observed differences in reactivity between the two systems.