Evaluation of the context of downstream N- and free N-glycomic alterations induced by swainsonine in HepG2 cells.

Swainsonine (SWA), a potent inhibitor of class II α-mannosidases, is present in a number of plant species worldwide and causes severe toxicosis in livestock grazing these plants. The mechanisms underlying SWA-induced animal poisoning are not fully understood. In this study, we analyzed the alterations that occur in N- and free N-glycomic upon addition of SWA to HepG2 cells to understand better SWA-induced glycomic alterations. After SWA addition, we observed the appearance of SWA-specific glycomic alterations, such as unique fucosylated hybrid-type and fucosylated M5 (M5F) N-glycans, and a remarkable increase in all classes of Gn1 FNGs. Further analysis of the context of these glycomic alterations showed that (fucosylated) hybrid type N-glycans were not the precursors of these Gn1 FNGs and vice versa. Time course analysis revealed the dynamic nature of glycomic alterations upon exposure of SWA and suggested that accumulation of free N-glycans occurred earlier than that of hybrid-type N-glycans. Hybrid-type N-glycans, of which most were uniquely core fucosylated, tended to increase slowly over time, as was observed for M5F N-glycans. Inhibition of swainsonine-induced unique fucosylation of hybrid N-glycans and M5 by coaddition of 2-fluorofucose caused significant increases in paucimannose- and fucosylated paucimannose-type N-glycans, as well as paucimannose-type free N-glycans. The results not only revealed the gross glycomic alterations in HepG2 cells induced by swainsonine, but also provide information on the global interrelationships between glycomic alterations.

Determination of Phonon Density of States from Constant-Pressure Heat Capacity Data of Soft Organic Materials in the Glassy and Crystalline States by Using the Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm.

A method was proposed to derive the phonon density [g(ω)] of states of materials from their heat capacity data by using Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA) with Just Generation Gap + Real-Coded Ensemble Crossover. The performance of the method was confirmed by testing whether or not the RCGA reproduces a reasonable g(ω) by analyzing the set of heat capacity data evaluated from an initially assumed model g0(ω) composed of Debye and optical modes. As an example, constant-pressure heat capacities (CPs) were measured for soft molecular materials, diphenyl phosphate (DPP) and diphenylphosphinic acid, in the condensed state, and their g(ω)s were determined from the CP data by applying the RCGA. The unusual behavior that the CP value of glass was smaller than the one of the crystal in the temperature range from 10 to 70 K was observed in DPP; the behavior is contrary to that expected ordinarily for the glass as compared with the crystal. The g(ω)s determined by the RCGA demonstrated that the unusual behavior was attributed to the blue shift in g(ω) of ω = 30-240 K in the glass compared with the crystal. The blue shift and other effects were discussed reasonably as originating from the competitive concurrence of strong and weak intermolecular hydrogen bonds in DPP, with the help of determination of their intramolecular vibrations for the isolated molecule by the density functional theory calculation. It was concluded that the method using the RCGA is of value for obtaining the microscopic information of g(ω) from the precise heat capacity data and for investigating any difference between the details of g(ω)s in different phases of materials.