Search

[Display omitted] • Obovatol's role as α-glucosidase (α-Glu) and α-amylase (α-Amy) inhibitor was assessed. • Synthesis of ten obovatol analogous for α-Glu and α-Amy inhibition. • Compounds 1 , 11 , 22 , 26 and 27 were effective inhibitors and were tested for cytotoxicity. • Interaction with the enzyme was studied by CD analysis, SPR imaging and molecular docking studies. • Obovatol-based neolignans are promising structures for developing novel hypoglycemic drugs. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, which can be counteracted by the inhibition of α-glucosidase (α-Glu) and α-amylase (α-Amy), enzymes responsible for the hydrolysis of carbohydrates. In recent decades, many natural compounds and their bioinspired analogues have been studied as α-Glu and α-Amy inhibitors. However, no studies have been devoted to the evaluation of α-Glu and α-Amy inhibition by the neolignan obovatol (1). In this work, we report the synthesis of 1 and a library of new analogues. The synthesis of these compounds was achieved by implementing methodologies based on: phenol allylation, Claisen/Cope rearrangements, methylation, Ullmann coupling, demethylation, phenol oxidation and Michael-type addition. Obovatol (1) and ten analogues were evaluated for their in vitro inhibitory activity towards α-Glu and α-Amy. Our investigation highlighted that the naturally occurring 1 and four neolignan analogues (11 , 22 , 26 and 27) were more effective inhibitors than the hypoglycemic drug acarbose (α-Amy: 34.6 µM; α-Glu: 248.3 µM) with IC 5O value of 6.2–23.6 µM toward α-Amy and 39.8–124.6 µM toward α-Glu. Docking investigations validated the inhibition outcomes, highlighting optimal compatibility between synthesized neolignans and both the enzymes. Concurrently circular dichroism spectroscopy detected the conformational changes in α-Glu induced by its interaction with the studied neolignans. Detailed studies through fluorescence measurements and kinetics of α-Glu and α-Amy inhibition also indicated that 1 , 11 , 22 , 26 and 27 have the greatest affinity for α-Glu and 1 , 11 and 27 for α-Amy. Surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRI) measurements confirmed that among the compounds studied, the neolignan 27 has the greater affinity for both enzymes, thus corroborating the results obtained by kinetics and fluorescence quenching. Finally, in vitro cytotoxicity of the investigated compounds was tested on human colon cancer cell line (HCT-116). All these results demonstrate that these obovatol-based neolignan analogues constitute promising candidates in the pursuit of developing novel hypoglycemic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proton electrochemical gradient-driven multidrug efflux activity of representatives of the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) of secondary active transporters contributes to antimicrobial resistance of pathogenic bacteria. Integral to the mechanism of these transporters is a proposed competition between substrate and protons for the binding site of the protein. The current work investigated the competition between protons and antimicrobial substrate for binding to the Escherichia coli MFS multidrug/H+ antiporter MdtM by measuring the quench of intrinsic protein fluorescence upon titration of substrate tetraphenylphosphonium into a solution of purified MdtM over a range of pH values between pH 8.8 and 5.9. The results, which revealed that protons inhibit binding of substrate to MdtM in a competitive manner, are consistent with those reported in a study on the related MFS multidrug/H+ antiporter MdfA and provide further evidence that competition for binding between substrate and protons is a general feature of secondary multidrug efflux.

Highlights: [•] We report the recombinant tag-free purification of the nucleic acid chaperone CNBP. [•] Tag-free CNBP resulted useful to determine its structural and binding features. [•] CNBP nucleic acid binding was monitored by intrinsic fluorescence and EMSA. [•] CD, EMSA, and proteolysis revealed a zinc-dependent CNBP structure dominated by β-sheet. [•] CNBP unstructured-labile regions were stabilized upon binding to its targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]