Marine drugs--macrolactins.

The increasing demands for new lead compounds in pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries have driven scientists to search for new bioactive natural products. Marine microorganisms are rich sources of novel, bioactive secondary metabolites, and have attracted much attention of chemists, pharmacologists, and molecular biologists. This mini-review mainly focuses on macrolactins, a group of 24-membered lactone marine natural products, aiming at giving an overview on their sources, structures, biological activities, as well as their potential medical applications.

Development and validation of a LC-MS/MS method for the determination of viaminate in human plasma.

A sensitive and specific method for determination of viaminate in human plasma by using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed in this study. The plasma samples were simply deproteinated, extracted, evaporated, and then reconstituted in 200 microl of methanol prior to analysis. Chromatographic separation was carried out on a Shimadzu VP-ODS column (250 mm x 2.0 mm, 5 microm) with a mobile phase of methanol-water (95:5, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.2 ml/min. Quantification was performed in the negative-ion electrospray ionization mode by selected ion monitoring of the product ions at m/z 164 for viaminate and m/z 109 for testosterone propionate which was used as the internal standard. The corresponding parent ions were m/z 446 and m/z 345. A linear calibration curve was observed within the concentration range of 0.10-200 ng/ml. The lowest limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 0.1 ng/ml. The extraction-efficiency at three concentrations was 100.7, 93.6, and 99.7%. Practical utility of this new LC-MS/MS method was confirmed in pilot pharmacokinetic studies in humans following oral administration.

Multiplex single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping by adapter ligation-mediated allele-specific amplification.

An improved approach for increasing the multiplex level of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing by adapter ligation-mediated allele-specific amplification (ALM-ASA) has been developed. Based on an adapter ligation, each reaction requires n allele-specific primers plus an adapter-specific primer that is common for all SNPs. Thus, only n+1 primers are used for an n-plex PCR amplification. The specificity of ALM-ASA was increased by a special design of the adapter structure and PCR suppression. Given that the genetic polymorphisms in the liver enzyme cytochrome P450 CYP2D6 (debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase) have profound effects on responses of individuals to a particular drug, we selected 17 SNPs in the CYP2D6 gene as an example for the multiplex SNP typing. Without extensive optimization, we successfully typed 17-plex SNPs in the CYP2D6 gene by ALM-ASA. The results for genotyping 70 different genome samples by the 17-plex ALM-ASA were completely consistent with those obtained by both Sanger's sequencing and PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. ALM-ASA is a potential method for SNP typing at an ultra-low cost because of a high multiplex level and a simple optimization step for PCR. High-throughput SNP typing could be readily realized by coupling ALM-ASA with a well-developed automation device for sample processing.

[Adapter-ligation mediated allele-specific amplification (ALM-ASA) for multiplex SNP genotyping].

To establish adapter-ligation mediated allele-specific amplification ("ALM-ASA" for short) for multiplex SNP genotyping, five SNPs, 100C>T, 1661G>C, 1758G>T, 2470T>C and 2850C>T in CYP2D6 gene were used as an example for evaluating the method. Firstly, a preamplification was carried out for producing a long target containing all SNPs of interest. Secondly, the preamplified DNA fragments were digested with a restriction endonuclease to form sticky ends. Thirdly, an adapter was ligated to either end of the digested fragment. One end of the adapter was designed as a sequence sticky to the ends of the enzymatically digested fragments, and the other end had a common sequence. Fourthly, an allele-specific amplification was performed by allele-specific primers and a universal primer in one tube by using the adapter-ligated fragments as templates. Finally, the allele-specific amplification products were separated by agarose gel electrophoresis. Because each tube corresponds to one kind of allele-specific primers, the genotype of an SNP can be easily discriminated by the length of the amplified products in each tube. The products of 5-plex allele-specific amplification can be separated by agarose gel electrophoresis. Five SNPs in the CYP2D6 gene were successfully typed for 20 healthy Mainland Chinese and the results were in agreement with those by RFLP. By ALM-ASA, n+1 primers (n SNP allele-specific primers and a universal primer) can be used for an n-plex PCR amplification; the specificity of PCR is thus enhanced significantly. It is concluded that ALM-ASA can be used for typing multiple SNPs simultaneously.

[Approaches for SNP genotyping].

With the completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP), typing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) has become one of the main tasks in the post-genome era. Consequently, a robust, flexible and cost-effective technique for SNP typing is essential to analyze a large number of SNPs. The latest genotyping technologies and the relative detection platforms were introduced systematically. The principle of SNP typing was described in detail in respect of allele-specific hybridization, restriction enzyme digestion, primer extension and oligonucleotide ligation assay, as well as the genotyping platforms of plate readers, genechips, bead array and mass spectrometry. Moreover, the way to the high-throughput genotyping in the future was briefly discussed.

[Interaction between balofloxacin and DNA and the influence of Mg2+ on the interaction].

AIM: To study the binding mode of balofloxacin with DNA and evaluate the influence of Mg2+ on the binding between balofloxacin and DNA. METHODS: Fluorescent spectroscopy was used to study the interaction of balofloxacin with DNA and to calculate the thermodynamic constants. UV-Vis spectra, DNA viscosity titration, competition experiment and the effect of dsDNA and ssDNA on the fluorescense intensity were used to identify the binding mode. RESULTS: Balofloxacin interacted with CT-DNA with a quenching constant of (5.43 +/- 0.07) x 10(3) L x mol(-1). The interaction was exothermic with a Van't Hoff enthalply of - 8.03 kJ x mol(-1) x Mg2+ cation could enhance the quenching constant between balofloxacin and DNA. CONCLUSION: Balofloxacin interacted with CT-DNA in the mode of groove binding and Mg2+ could mediate the binding of balofloxacin to DNA.

Structural characterization of chlorobenzylidine.

AIM: To study the structure and crystal forms of chlorobenzylidine. METHODS: Karl Fischer titrimetry, FTIR, thermal analysis, single and powder X-ray diffraction were used for the studies of the structure of chlorobenzylidine and for the identification of two forms of chlorobenzylidine. RESULTS: Chlorobenzylidine and its diastereoisomer have been studied in this article. They can be distinguished by their different melting points. Two crystal forms of chlorobenzylidine (form A and form B) have also been detected and studied. Form A was studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, it crystallized in the triclinic system, space group P1(-), with two formula units per cell, is monohydrate. Karl Fischer titrimetry, FTIR, thermal analysis and powder X-ray diffraction were used for identification of the two forms. CONCLUSION: The studies of structure and crystal forms of chlorobenzylidine are very useful for the clinical research and the selection of recrystallization process.