The use of the replication region of plasmid pRS7 from Oenococcus oeni as a putative tool to generate cloning vectors for lactic acid bacteria.

A chimeric plasmid, pRS7Rep (6.1 kb), was constructed using the replication region of pRS7, a large plasmid from Oenococcus oeni, and pEM64, a plasmid derived from pIJ2925 and containing a gene for resistance to chloramphenicol. pRS7Rep is a shuttle vector that replicates in Escherichia coli using its pIJ2925 component and in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) using the replication region of pRS7. High levels of transformants per µg of DNA were obtained by electroporation of pRS7Rep into Pediococcus acidilactici (1.5 × 10(7)), Lactobacillus plantarum (5.7 × 10(5)), Lactobacillus casei (2.3 × 10(5)), Leuconostoc citreum (2.7 × 10(5)), and Enterococcus faecalis (2.4 × 10(5)). A preliminary optimisation of the technical conditions of electrotransformation showed that P. acidilactici and L. plantarum are better transformed at a later exponential phase of growth, whereas L. casei requires the early exponential phase for better electrotransformation efficiency. pRS7Rep contains single restriction sites useful for cloning purposes, BamHI, XbaI, SalI, HincII, SphI and PstI, and was maintained at an acceptable rate (>50%) over 100 generations without selective pressure in L. plantarum, but was less stable in L. casei and P. acidilactici. The ability of pRS7Rep to accept and express other genes was assessed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the replication region of a plasmid from O. oeni has been used to generate a cloning vector.

Design, synthesis and SAR studies of novel 1,2-bis(aminomethyl)cyclohexane platinum(II) complexes with cytotoxic activity. Studies of interaction with DNA of iodinated seven-membered 1,4-diaminoplatinocycles.

A selected library of nine novel platinum(II) complexes having differently functionalized 1,2-bis(aminomethyl)cyclohexane carrier ligands with a 1,4-diamino framework and iodides as labile ligands have been synthesized and evaluated in vitro for their tumor cell growth inhibitory activity, in front of one pair of human carcinoma cell lines A2780 and A2780cisR. These cell lines were chosen based on studying all the known main mechanisms of resistance of cisplatin. A2780cisR cells are resistant through a combination of reduced drug transport enhanced DNA repair/tolerance and elevated glutathione (GSH) levels with respect to the parental A2780 cells. Most platinum complexes evaluated showed a very low resistant factor, up to 16 times lower than that of cisplatin, which indicates their ability to overcome the cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer A2780cisR cells. Structure-activity studies have been performed in order to know the influence of the several organic functionalities (CC double bond, free OH group, MeO group, etc.) and the stereochemistry on the cytotoxic activity. Moreover, studies of interaction with DNA of these complexes were performed via three techniques: circular dichroism (CD), electrophoresis on agarose gel (EF) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) in order to evaluate the modifications of secondary and tertiary structure of DNA, induced by platinum complexes. These studies allowed us to correlate the IC50 values of complexes and the intensity of interaction to DNA, the main target for these compounds.

Synthesis, biological evaluation and SAR studies of novel bicyclic antitumor platinum(IV) complexes.

The present study describes the synthesis, anticancer activity and SAR studies of novel platinum(IV) complexes having 1,2-bis(aminomethyl)carbobicyclic or oxabicyclic carrier ligands, bearing chlorido and/or hydroxido ligands in axial position and chlorido or malonato ligands in equatorial position (labile ligands). These complexes were synthetized with the aim of obtaining new anticancer principles more soluble in water and therefore more bioavailable. Several substitution patterns on the platinum atom have been designed in order to evaluate their antiproliferative activity and to establish structure-activity relationship rules. The synthesis of platinum(IV) complexes with axial hydroxyl ligands on the platinum(IV) were carried out by reaction of K2Pt(OH)2Cl4 with the corresponding diamines. The complexes with axial chlorido ligands on the platinum(IV) atom were synthesized by direct reaction of diamines with K2PtCl6. Carboxylated complexes were synthesized by the substitution reaction of equatorial chlorido ligands by silver dicarboxylates. The most actives complexes were those having malonate as a labile ligand, no matter of the structure of the carrier ligand. Regarding the influence of the structure of the non-labile 1,4-diamine carrier ligand on the cytotoxicity, it was found that the complexes having the more lipophilic and symmetrical bicyclo[2.2.2]octane framework were much more active than those having an oxygen or methylene bridge.

Characterization of pRS5: a theta-type plasmid found in a strain of Pediococcus pentosaceus isolated from wine that can be used to generate cloning vectors for lactic acid bacteria.

The nucleotide sequence of pRS5 (10153bp) is reported. Through sequence analysis, 9 open reading frames (ORFs) were identified and the following features observed: a region likely involved in replication whose structural features indicate that pRS5 belongs to the pUCL287 group of theta-type replicons, and hypothetical proteins putatively involved in plasmid copy number control, restriction-modification system, toxin-antitoxin system and a putative integrase. Shuttle vectors for Escherichia coli and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as well as a small cloning vector for direct use in LAB were constructed using the replication region of pRS5. The ability of such vectors to accept and express other genes was assessed. All pRS5-derivatives were maintained at a high rate over 200 generations without selective pressure.

Synthesis, characterization and antiproliferative studies of the enantiomers of cis-[(1,2-camphordiamine)dichloro]platinum(II) complexes.

The platinum(II) complex cis-[(1S,2R,3S)-1,7,7-trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2,3-diamine]dichloroplatinum(II) (1) and its enantiomer (2) have been synthesized and physically and spectroscopically characterized. To obtain the enantiopure complexes the chiral pool approach was applied. The synthetic pathway has four steps, starting from (+/-)-diphenylethylenediamine (DPEDA) (3) and the natural products (1S)-camphorquinone or (1R)-camphorquinone to obtain enantiomers 1 and 2, respectively. The interaction of the Pt(II) complexes with DNA was studied by several techniques: circular dichroism, electrophoresis on agarose gel and atomic force microscopy (AFM). These studies showed differences in the degree of interaction between both enantiomers and DNA (calf thymus DNA and plasmid pBR322 DNA). The cytotoxicity of enantiomers 1 and 2 against the HL-60 cell line was studied by in vitro tests of antiproliferative activity, incubating during both 24 h and 72 h. An important difference of activity was found between both enantiomers regarding the IC50 data at 24 h of incubation. Thus, complex 1 showed to be much more active than its enantiomer 2.

Optimization of technical conditions for the transformation of Pediococcus acidilactici P60 by electroporation.

Previously reported techniques for the electrotransfer of foreign DNA into pediococci yield only a small number of transformants/mug DNA, especially when using undomesticated strains. This study reports an improved protocol for the electrotransformation of pediococci, based on trials using Pediococcus acidilactici P60 and the plasmid pRS4C1. The improved protocol yields from 2 to 3 log units more transformants than the previously reported methods, with up to (9.1+/-1.3)x10(4) transformants/mug of foreign DNA under the best conditions identified. The most important modifications proposed are an increase in electric field strength during electroporation (from 12.5 to 20kV/cm) and a reduction in lysozyme concentration during the preparation of electrocompetent cells (from 4000 to 2000U/ml): together, these two modifications greatly improve transformant yield. In addition, increasing cell culture time (from OD(600nm)=0.6 to OD(600nm)=1.0-1.2) and increasing dl-threonine concentration in the growth medium (from 20 to 40mM) also contribute to improved electrotransformation efficiency.

Nucleotide sequence, structural organization and host range of pRS4, a small cryptic Pediococcus pentosaceus plasmid that contains two cassettes commonly found in other lactic acid bacteria.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the cryptic plasmid pRS4 (3550 bp) from Pediococcus pentosaceus RS4 was determined. Sequence analysis revealed the presence of three open reading frames (ORFs). The putative protein coded by ORF 1 showed 93% identity with the mobilization protein of Lactobacillus casei plasmid pLC88 and 94% identity with a sequenced fragment of the mobilization protein of P. damnosus plasmid pF8801, suggesting a common origin for these three mobilization proteins. The putative protein coded by ORF 2 showed 92% identity with the replication protein of L. plantarum plasmid pWCFS101, a plasmid that replicates via the rolling circle (RC) mechanism, suggesting a similar replication mechanism for pRS4. Supporting this hypothesis, a putative double strand origin (dso) and a region with palindromic sequences that could function as single strand origin (sso), were detected in pRS4. A function could not be assigned to ORF 3. Since ORF 1 exhibits high identity with L. casei plasmid pLC88 but lower identity (58%) with other Lactobacillus plasmids, and ORF 2 exhibits high identity with the L. plantarum plasmid pWCFS101 but lower identity (55-58%) with other Lactobacillus plasmids (including pLC88), two independent cassettes, from different sources, seem to be involved in the structure of pRS4. Plasmids derived from pRS4 containing the chloramphenicol resistance gene were successfully electrotransformed in L. plantarum, L. casei, P. pentosaceus, and Pediococcus acidilactici, suggesting that pRS4 could be used as a cloning vector for lactic acid bacteria. To our knowledge pRS4 is the first RC-replicating plasmid of P. pentosaceus that has been completely sequenced and used as cloning vector.

Transformation of Lactobacillus plantarum by electroporation with in vitro modified plasmid DNA.

An improved method for the electrotransformation of Lactobacillus plantarum CECT 220 (ATCC 8014) with plasmid DNA isolated from Escherichia coli is described. The two main modifications with respect to existing methods are: (i) isolation of plasmid DNA from E. coli JM110 grown in minimal medium and (ii) in vitro modification of the DNA by cell-free extracts of the host L. plantarum. Optimal electrotransformation was obtained with exponentially growing cells of L. plantarum concentrated to 6x10(9) cfu ml-1, with electric pulses of 13 kV cm-1 in cuvettes with 1 mm inter-electrode distance. We consider that this method constitutes a useful tool for routine manipulation of L. plantarum, and can probably be extended to other lactic acid bacteria.

Plasmid curing of Oenococcus oeni.

Two strains of Oenococcus oeni, RS1 (which carries the plasmid pRS1) and RS2 (which carries the plasmids pRS2 and pRS3), were grown in the presence of different curing agents and at different temperatures. Sublethal temperature together with acriflavine generated all possible types of cured strains, i.e., lacking pRS1 (from strain RS1), and lacking pRS2, pRS3, or both (from strain RS2). Sublethal temperature together with acridine orange only generated cured strains lacking pRS3. These results suggest that acriflavine is a better curing agent than acridine orange for O. oeni, and that pRS3 is the most sensitive to these curing agents. We also observed spontaneous loss of pRS2 or both pRS2 and pRS3 by electroporation. The ability to cure O. oeni strains of plasmids provides a critical new tool for the genetic analysis and engineering of this commercially important bacterium.