Marine yeasts were collected from coastal and deep sea areas in the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan around central and northern Japan to prepare a novel type of natural seasoning. It was found that one of the marine yeasts collected from the Pacific Ocean off Hachinohe showed a high concentration of -aminobutyric acid (GABA) in its extract, about 7-10 times higher than those of commercially available bread yeast and other marine yeasts. The marine yeast isolated and named Hachinohe No. 6 catalyzed the reaction from monosodium glutamate to GABA only in the presence of glucose. Subsequently, several marine yeasts belonging to the genera Pichia and Candida were found to have such catalytic activities, but not those belonging to the genus Saccharomyces. Isolate Hachinohe No. 6 was found to have the highest catalytic activity among the yeasts examined in this study.
The antitumor activity of a novel ansamycin antibiotic, trienomycin A, against various murine tumors was studied with two treatment schedules. The intraperitoneal injection of the antibiotic showedremarkable antitumor activity on sarcoma180 and P388leukemia at doses of 160 or 320 mg/kg, showing 151 %and 100% increase in life span, respectively.Trienomycin Ainhibited the growth of Ehrlich and Meth A cells in vitro at doses of 0.10 .4 //g/ml when the cells were exposed to the antibiotic for 72 hours. The incorporation of [3H]thymidine into acid precipitable material in HeLacells was slightly more marked than that of [3H]uridine and [3H]leucine whenthe cells were exposed to 0.04 or 0.08^g/ml of trienomycin A for 4 hours. It appeared that trienomycin A showed antitumor activity by direct cytotoxic action.
A novel naphthazarin derivative, tricrozarin A, has been isolated from the fresh bulbs of Tritonia crocosmaeflora and was characterized as 5,8-dihydroxy-2,3-dimethoxy-6,7-methylenedioxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (2,3-dimethoxy-6,7-methylenedioxynaphthazarin). Tricrozarin A exhibits antimicrobial activity against gram-positive bacteria, fungi, and yeast in vitro and is the first tetra-oxygenated naphthazarin derivative isolated from higher plants.
Four marine yeasts isolated from the Pacific Ocean off Japan (Siki No. 4, Siki No. 15, Hach No. 6, and Inub No. 11), which showed high gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) producing abilities, were identified and classified by physiological and biochemical characteristics and gene sequence analyses. Analysis of biochemical data suggested that while Siki No. 15 was identical to Candida, the remaining three isolates belonged to the genus Pichia. However, these data were insufficient to resolve their identity at the species level. Subsequently, analysis of the 5.8S rRNA genes and the two internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) sequences revealed that Siki No. 15 belongs to Pichia guilliermondii, while the remaining three isolates corresponded to Pichia anomala. Since Siki No. 4 showed slightly different biochemical properties than the other two isolates, which were otherwise identical, we sought to investigate the sequences of the intergenic spacer region 1 (IGS1). We observed few nucleotide changes, suggesting that the Hach No. 6 and Inub No. 11 isolates belong to different but new strains for which we propose the names P. anomola MR-1 and MR-2 respectively.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.