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Graphical abstract, Introduction Natural products of pharmaceutical interest often do not reach the drug market due to the associated low yields and difficult extraction. Knowledge of biosynthetic pathways is a key element in the development of biotechnological strategies for plant specialized metabolite production. Erythrina species are mainly used as central nervous system depressants in folk medicine and are important sources of bioactive tetracyclic benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs), which can act on several pathology-related biological targets. Objectives In this sense, in an unprecedented approach used with a non-model Fabaceae species grown in its unique arid natural habitat, a combined transcriptome and metabolome analyses (seeds and leaves) is presented. Methods The Next Generation Sequencing-based transcriptome (de novo RNA sequencing) was carried out in a NextSeq 500 platform. Regarding metabolite profiling, the High-resolution Liquid Chromatography was coupled to DAD and a micrOTOF-QII mass spectrometer by using electrospray ionization (ESI) and Time of Flight (TOF) analyzer. The tandem MS/MS data were processed and analyzed through Molecular Networking approach. Results This detailed macro and micromolecular approach applied to seeds and leaves of E. velutina revealed 42 alkaloids, several of them unique. Based on the combined evidence, 24 gene candidates were put together in a putative pathway leading to the singular alkaloid diversity of this species. Conclusion Overall, these results could contribute by indicating potential biotechnological targets for modulation of erythrina alkaloids biosynthesis as well as improve molecular databases with omic data from a non-model medicinal plant, and reveal an interesting chemical diversity of Erythrina BIA harvested in Caatinga.

Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-11T17:20:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-05-20 Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Rationale Clerodane-type diterpenes from Casearia species show important pharmacological activites such as antitumor, antimicrobial and anti-inflamatory. There are several mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods for identification of diterpenes; however, there is still a lack of MS procedures capable of providing characteristic fragmentation pathways for a rapid and unambiguous elucidation of casearin-like compounds. Methods Casearin-like compounds were investigated by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). The fragmentation studies were carried out by tandem mass spectrometry in space (quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF)) using different collision energies and also by tandem mass spectrometry in time (QIT) by selective isolation of product ions. Results Casearin-like compounds presented a predominance of sodium- and potassium-cationized precursor ions. Both QIT and QTOF techniques provided sequential neutral losses of esters related to the R-1 to R-5 substituents linked to the nucleus of the clerodane diterpenes. The fragmentation pathway is initiated with a cleavage of the ester moieties R-2 followed by the elimination of the ester groups R-3, both losing neutral carboxylic acids. Using QIT, it was also possible to observe the cleavage of the ester groups R-1 or R-5 by MS4 experiments. Conclusions Through a rational analysis of the fragmentation mechanisms of Casearia diterpenes it was possible to suggest an annotation strategy based on the sequential cleavages of the ester groups related to the R-2, R-3 and R-5 substituents. These results will assist studies of the dereplication and metabolomics involving casearin-like compounds present in complex extracts of Casearia species. Univ Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto Sch Pharmaceut Sci, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil Univ Fed Uberlandia, Inst Chem, Uberlandia, MG, Brazil Sao Paulo State Univ, Sch Pharmaceut Sci, Lab Pharmacognosy, Araraquara, SP, Brazil York Univ, Dept Chem, Ctr Res Mass Spectrometry, Toronto, ON, Canada Sao Paulo State Univ, Inst Chem, Araraquara, SP, Brazil Imperial Coll London, Dept Life Sci, Silwood Pk Campus, Ascot, Berks, England Univ Fed Piaui, Chem Dept, Teresina, Piaui, Brazil Sao Paulo State Univ, Sch Pharmaceut Sci, Lab Pharmacognosy, Araraquara, SP, Brazil Sao Paulo State Univ, Inst Chem, Araraquara, SP, Brazil CNPq: 207745/2014-5 CNPq: INCT 465637/2014-0 CAPES: 001 FAPESP: 2011/21440-3 FAPESP: 2012/23775-5 FAPESP: 2013/07600-3 FAPESP: 2014/50926-0 FAPESP: 2016/13292-8 FAPESP: 2017/19702-6

Chlorogenic acids (CGAs) are known as an important class of natural products found in different plant species and are of great interest in diverse research fields. Described as powerful antioxidant...

Piperlongumine is an amide alkaloid found in Piperaceae species that shows a broad spectrum of biological properties, including antitumor and antiparasitic activities. Herein, the leishmanicidal effect of piperlongumine and its derivatives produced by a biomimetic model using metalloporphyrins was investigated. The results showed that IC50 values of piperlongumine in promastigote forms of Leishmania infantum and Leishmania amazonensis were 7.9 and 3.3 µM, respectively. The IC50 value of piperlongumine in the intracellular amastigote form of L. amazonensis was 0.4 µM, with a selectivity index of 25. The piperlongumine biomimetic derivatives, Ma and Mb, also showed leishmanicidal effects. We also carried out an in vitro metabolic degradation study showing that Ma is the most stable piperlongumine derivative in rat liver microsome incubations. The results presented here indicate that piperlongumine is a potential leishmanicidal candidate and support the biomimetic approach for development of new antileishmanial derivatives.

Vibrio diabolicus A1SM3 strain was isolated from a sediment sample from Manaure Solar Saltern in La Guajira and the produced crude extracts have shown antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and cytotoxic activity against human lung cell line. Thus, the aim of this research was to identify the main compound responsible for the biological activity observed and to systematically study how each carbon and nitrogen source in the growth media, and variation of the salinity, affect its production. For the characterization of the bioactive metabolites, 15 fractions obtained from Vibrio diabolicus A1SM3 crude extract were analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS and their activity was established. The bioactive fractions were dereplicated with Antibase and Marinlit databases, which combined with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra and fragmentation by MS/MS, led to the identification of 2,2-di(3-indolyl)-3-indolone (isotrisindoline), an indole-derivative antibiotic, previously isolated from marine organisms. The influence of the variations of the culture media in isotrisindoline production was established by molecular network and MZmine showing that the media containing starch and peptone at 7% NaCl was the best culture media to produce it. Also, polyhydroxybutyrates (PHB) identification was established by MS/MS mainly in casamino acids media, contributing to the first report on PHB production by this strain.

China is an important center of origin for the genus Citrus L. of the family Rutaceae and is rich in wild Citrus species. The taxonomy of Citrus has been a subject of controversy for more than a half century. We propose that the metabolite profiles of Chinese native Citrus species can be used for classification and understanding of the taxonomic relationships within the Citrus germplasm. In this study, triplicate gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) metabolite profiles of 20 Citrus species/varieties were acquired, including 10 native varieties originating in China. R-(+)-limonene, α-pinene, sabinene and α-terpinene were found to be major characteristic components of the essential oils analyzed in this study, and these compounds contributed greatly to the metabolic classification. The three basic species of the subgenus Eucitrus (Swingle’s system), i.e., C. reticulata Blanco, C. medica L. and C. grandis Osb., were clearly differentiated based upon their metabolite profiles using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and partial least square-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). All the presumed hybrid genotypes, including sweet orange (C. sinensis Osb.), sour orange (C. aurantium L.), lemon (C. limon Burm.f.), rough lemon (C. jambhiri Lush.), rangpur lime (C. limonia Osb.) and grapefruit (C. paradisi Macf.), were grouped closely together with one of their suggested parent species in the HCA-dendrogram and the PLS-DA score plot. These results clearly demonstrated that the metabolite profiles of Citrus species could be utilized for the taxonomic classification of the genus and are complementary to the existing taxonomic evidence, especially for the identification and differentiation of hybrid species.

Over the last few decades, an unprecedented amount of data has emerged as a result of a new way of obtaining knowledge: an exploratory and integrative analysis of data sets called a holistic approach. In the life sciences, this holistic view is represented by the systems biology approach that aims to understand the functioning of organisms and their interactions with the environment through the study of the integration of stratified levels of molecular information that begin in gene expression and culminate in phenotypic characteristics. To deal with this plurality of information, ″knowledge discovery in databases″ has been implemented in several areas of chemical biology and has promoted the collection, storage and processing of multivariate data. Throughout this chapter we intend to explore the main databases of chemical biology used, highlighting the areas of proteomics, metabolomics, natural products and medicinal chemistry, as well as providing a brief discussion on the current status of the integration of ″omics″ knowledge available in databases.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-11T17:13:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2017-12-01 Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) The intrinsic value of biodiversity extends beyond species diversity, genetic heritage, ecosystem variability and ecological services, such as climate regulation, water quality, nutrient cycling and the provision of reproductive habitats it is also an inexhaustible source of molecules and products beneficial to human well-being. To uncover the chemistry of Brazilian natural products, the Nuclei of Bioassays, Ecophysiology and Biosynthesis of Natural Products Database (NuBBEDB) was created as the first natural product library from Brazilian biodiversity. Since its launch in 2013, the NuBBEDB has proven to be an important resource for new drug design and dereplication studies. Consequently, continuous efforts have been made to expand its contents and include a greater diversity of natural sources to establish it as a comprehensive compendium of available biogeochemical information about Brazilian biodiversity. The content in the NuBBEDB is freely accessible online (https://nubbe.iq.unesp.br/portal/nubbedb.html) and provides validated multidisciplinary information, chemical descriptors, species sources, geographic locations, spectroscopic data (NMR) and pharmacological properties. Herein, we report the latest advancements concerning the interface, content and functionality of the NuBBEDB. We also present a preliminary study on the current profile of the compounds present in Brazilian territory. Nuclei of Bioassays Biosynthesis and Ecophysiology of Natural Products (NuBBE) Department of Organic Chemistry Institute of Chemistry Sao Paulo State University - UNESP Centro de Imagens e Espectroscopia in Vivo Por Ressonância Magnética Institute of Physics of Sao Carlos University of Sao Paulo - USP Laboratório de Química Medicinal e Computacional (LQMC) Centro de Pesquisa e Inovação em Biodiversidade EFármacos Institute of Physics of Sao Carlos University of Sao Paulo - USP Nuclei of Bioassays Biosynthesis and Ecophysiology of Natural Products (NuBBE) Department of Organic Chemistry Institute of Chemistry Sao Paulo State University - UNESP

Artepillin C, a natural product present in the Brazilian green propolis, has several biological properties. Among these properties, the antitumor action of this product is noteworthy and makes it a promising drug candidate for the treatment of several types of cancer. This paper describes the in vitro metabolism of Artepillin C in rat and human liver microsomes. The rat model suggested a sigmoidal profile for the metabolism, adapted to the Hillʼs kinetic model. The enzymatic kinetic parameters were as follows: maximal velocity = 0.757 ± 0.021 µmol/mg protein/min, Hill coefficient = 10.90 ± 2.80, and substrate concentration at which half-maximal velocity of a Hill enzyme is achieved = 33.35 ± 0.55 µM. Based on these results, the calculated in vitro intrinsic clearance for Artepillin C was 16.63 ± 1.52 µL/min/mg protein. The in vitro metabolism assay conducted on the human model did not fit any enzymatic kinetic model. Two novel metabolites were formed in both mammal microsomal models and their chemical structures were elucidated for the first time. The main human cytochrome P450 isoforms involved in Artepillin C metabolism had been identified, and the results suggest a majority contribution of CYP2E1 and CYP2C9 in the formation of the two metabolites.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T17:06:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2016-09-29 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) INCT-if Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) University of Sao Paulo Piperlongumine (PPL), a natural plant product, has been extensively studied in cancer treatment going up on clinical trials. Since the first report related to its use on cancer research (in 2011) around 80 papers have been published in less than 10 years, but a gap still remaining. There are no metabolism studies of PPL in human organism. For the lack of a better view, here, the CYP450 in vitro oxidation of PPL was described for the first time. In addition, the enzymatic kinetic data, the predicted in vivo parameters, the produced metabolites, the phenotyping study and possible piperlongumine-drug interactions in vivo is presented. Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Ciencias Farmaceut Ribeirao Preto, Dept Ciencias Farmaceut, BR-14040903 Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Quim, Fac Filosofia Ciencias & Letras Ribeirao Preto, BR-14040901 Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Lab Prod Bioat, Campus Macae IMMT, BR-27930560 Macae, RJ, Brazil Sao Paulo State Univ UNESP, Inst Chem, Dept Organ Chem, Nucleus Bioassays Biosynthesis & Ecophysiol Nat P, Araraquara, SP, Brazil Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Ciencias Farmaceut Ribeirao Preto, Nucleo Pesquisa Prod Nat & Sintet NPPNS, BR-14040903 Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil Sao Paulo State Univ UNESP, Inst Chem, Dept Organ Chem, Nucleus Bioassays Biosynthesis & Ecophysiol Nat P, Araraquara, SP, Brazil FAPESP: 2012/0188-4 FAPESP: 2013/17658-9 FAPESP: 2014/23604-1 FAPESP: 2014/50265-3 CNPq: 010143/2011-4 CNPq: 442384/2014-9 CNPq: 306385/2011-2 University of Sao Paulo: 2012.1.17587.1.1

A rational and selective method using on-line high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with electrospray quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-QToF-MS/MS) was established for the dereplication of phenolic derivatives from Qualea grandiflora and Qualea cordata. The selection of the extracts was based on the antioxidant capacity measured by in vitro DPPH assay. The HPLC-ESI-QToF-MS/MS analysis was conducted by on-flow detection, using high-resolution mass/ratio ions as well as collision induced MS/MS experiments for selected protonated ions. The dereplication of the EtOAc fraction from the hydro-alcohol extract from the stem bark of Q. grandiflora allowed the detection of the flavonoids: 3',4',5',5,6,7-hexahydroxy-8-methylflavanone, 8-methyl-naringenine and 3',7-dimethoxy-8-methyl-4',5,7-trihydroxyflavanone, as well as a benzophenone derivatives: bis(4,6-dimethoxy-2-hydroxy-3-methylphenyl)-metanone, 3',4'-dimethoxy-8-methyl-5,6,7-trihydroxyflavanone, 7-methoxy-6-methyl-3',4',5-trihydroxyflavanone, 6,8-dimethyl-3'-methoxy-4',5,7-trihydroxyflavanone and 3',5'-dimethoxy-6,8-dimethyl-4',5,7-trihydroxyflavanone were detected in the EtOAc fraction from the hydro-alcohol extract from the leaves of Q. cordata. Um método racional e seletivo de cromatografia de alta eficiência acoplado à espectrometria de massas (CLAE-EM) com ionização por electrospray e analisador do tipo quadrupolo em tempo-de-voo em sequência (ESI-QToF-MS/MS) foi desenvolvido para a desreplicação de derivados fenólicos presentes em Qualea grandiflora e Qualea cordata. Os extratos para a análise foram selecionados por meio dos resultados de atividade antioxidante revelados no ensaio in vitro com DPPH. A análise por HPLC-ESI-QToF-MS/MS foi realizada por detecção contínua das relações massa/carga em alta resolução e pela técnica MS/MS de colisão induzida para fragmentação dos íons moleculares selecionados. A desreplicação da fração AcOEt do extrato hidroalcoólico dos caules de Q. grandiflora permitiu a detecção dos flavonoides: 3',4',5',5,6,7-hexahidroxi-8-metilflavanona, 8-metil-naringenina e 3',7-dimetoxi-8-metil-4',5,7-trihidroxiflavanona, assim como os derivativos da benzofenona (bis(4,6-dimetoxi-2-hidroxi-3-metilfenil)-metanona, 3',4'-dimetoxi-8-metil-5,6,7-trihidroxiflavanona, 7-metoxi-6-metil-3',4',5-trihidroxiflavanona, 6,8-dimetil-3'-metoxi-4',5,7-trihidroxiflavanona e 3',5'-dimetoxi-6,8-dimetil-4',5,7-trihidroxiflavanona) foram detectados na fração AcOEt do extrato hidroalcoólico das folhas de Q. cordata.