Summary SARM1, an NAD-utilizing enzyme, regulates axonal degeneration. We show that CZ-48, a cell-permeant mimetic of NMN, activated SARM1 in vitro and in cellulo to cyclize NAD and produce a Ca 2+ messenger, cADPR, with similar efficiency as NMN. Knockout of NMN-adenylyltransferase elevated cellular NMN and activated SARM1 to produce cADPR, confirming NMN was its endogenous activator. Determinants for the activating effects and cell permeability of CZ-48 were identified. CZ-48 activated SARM1 via a conformational change of the auto-inhibitory domain and dimerization of its catalytic domain. SARM1 catalysis was similar to CD38, despite having no sequence similarity. Both catalyzed similar set of reactions, but SARM1 had much higher NAD-cyclizing activity, making it more efficient in elevating cADPR. CZ-48 acted selectively, activating SARM1 but inhibiting CD38. In SARM1-overexpressing cells, CZ-48 elevated cADPR, depleted NAD and ATP, and induced non-apoptotic death. CZ-48 is a specific modulator of SARM1 functions in cells.

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A coumarin-based fluorescence chemoprobe was developed and evaluated for the selective and sensitive detection of hydrogen sulfide in degassed PBS buffers and fetal bovine serum. Fluorescence detection of hydrogen sulfide in living cells was also successfully achieved using two-photon confocal fluorescence imaging. Further in situ visualization of endogenous H(2)S was realized in cardiac tissues of normal rats and atherosclerosis (AS) rats.

The ultimate goal of drug design is to find novel compounds with desirable pharmacological properties. Designing molecules retaining particular scaffolds as the core structures of the molecules is one of the efficient ways to obtain potential drug candidates with desirable properties. We proposed a scaffold-based molecular generative model for scaffold-based drug discovery, which performs molecule generation based on a wide spectrum of scaffold definitions, including BM-scaffolds, cyclic skeletons, as well as scaffolds with specifications on side-chain properties. The model can generalize the learned chemical rules of adding atoms and bonds to a given scaffold. Furthermore, the generated compounds were evaluated by molecular docking in DRD2 targets and the results demonstrated that this approach can be effectively applied to solve several drug arXiv:1908.07209v4 [q-bio.QM] 5 Sep 2019 design problems, including the generation of compounds containing a given scaffold and de novo drug design of potential drug candidates with specific docking scores.

A novel, efficient oxidation of α-aryl halogen derivatives to the corresponding α-aryl carbonyl compounds at room temperature has been disclosed. Natural sunlight and air are successfully utilized in this approach through the combination of photocatalysis and organocatalysis. A plausible mechanism was proposed on the basis of the mechanistic studies.