A human 15-lipoxygenase (15-HLO) assay has been employed to discover new marine-sponge-derived bioactive compounds. Extracts from two different sponges, Jaspis splendens (order Choristida, family Jaspidae) and Suberea sp. (order Verongida, family Aplysinellidae), exhibited potent IC(50) values of 0.4 and 0.1 microg/mL, respectively. Both are sources of terpenoids, and the former is a known source of (+)-jasplakinolide (7), which is inactive as a 15-HLO inhibitor. The terpenoids included (+)-(5S,6S)-subersin (1, IC(50) > 100 microM), (-)-(5R,10R)-subersic acid (2, IC(50) = 15 microM), jaspaquinol (3, IC(50) = 0.3 microM), and (-)-jaspic acid (4, IC(50) = 1.4 microM). Structure elucidations and lipoxygenase activity studies of these compounds are reported.
A novel antifungal cyclic depsipeptide, cyclolithistide A (1), was isolated from a marine sponge,
Theonella swinhoei. The structure of cyclolithistide A, which contains the unique amino acids
4-amino-3, 5-dihydroxyhexanoic acid, formyl-leucine, and chloroisoleucine, was elucidated through
a combination of spectroscopic techniques. Thirteen additional specimens of T.
swinhoei and three
of Theonella
conica were examined in this study. Many contained the two cyclic peptides, motuporin
(2) and theonellapeptolide 1d (3), as major components, but none of these were a source of 1. The
rationale behind this study and some additional aspects of these unusual results are presented.
Summary
Using plants as biofactories for industrial enzymes is a developing technology. The application of this technology to plant biomass conversion for biofuels and biobased products has potential for significantly lowering the cost of these products because of lower enzyme production costs. However, the concentration of the enzymes in plant tissue must be high to realize this goal. We describe the enhancement of the accumulation of cellulases in transgenic maize seed as a part of the process to lower the cost of these dominant enzymes for the bioconversion process. We have used breeding to move these genes into elite and high oil germplasm to enhance protein accumulation in grain. We have also explored processing of the grain to isolate the germ, which preferentially contains the enzymes, to further enhance recovery of enzyme on a dry weight basis of raw materials. The enzymes are active on microcrystalline cellulose to release glucose and cellobiose.
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