Biological sulph ate reduction has been identi fied as a potentially valuable process for removing sulphate and heavy metals from indllstrial effluents. The role of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) in this process has attracted the attention of biotechnologists and recently of enzymologists due to its fundamental properties and possible role in AMD bioremediation. These obligatory anaerobic sulphate-reducing bacteria are commonly known to dissimilate sulphate for energy. Under anaerobic conditions SRB oxidize simple organic compounds such as lactic acid with the sulphate and thereby generate hydrogen sulphide (a stTong reducing agent) and bicarbonate ions. The hydrogen sulphide in turn reacts with contaminant metals contained in AMD and precipitates them out of solution as metal sulphides. Bicarbonate ions neutralize AMD by reaction with protons to form carbon dioxide and water. Organic matter in the municipal sewage sludge has been identified as a potential source of electron donors for su lphate reduction. However, this organic matter is in the polymeric form that cannot be util ised by SRB. The latter depend on the activities of other hydrolytic bacteria for the degradation of complex polymers. Hence the availability of these monomeric substrates is a major factor, which may constrain further process development and is considered a rate-limiting step. Thi s study is therefore undertaken to investigate the bacterial glucohydrolase enzymes involved in the digestion of the polysaccharides present in the sewage sludge with specific interest in cellulases and/or p-glucosidase enzymes. The goals of the research are to: isolate, identify, purify and quantify these enzymes; study their distribution with respect to time, pH, and temperature; maximize and quantify the hydrol ys is products; study whether sulphide and sulphate have an enhancing or an inhibitory effect on the activity of enzymes; optimize the enzyme activity against substrate and/or product inhibition and soluble heavy metal salts. / KMBT_363 / Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in

Os carboidratos presentes nos glicoconjugados apresentam alto grau de complexidade e diversidade estrutural, desempenhando um importante papel em diversos processos biológicos. As glucosidases, enzimas responsáveis pela clivagem de ligações O-glicosídicas em oligossacarídeos e glicoconjugados, participam de processos bioquímicos fundamentais do metabolismo e também estão envolvidas na biossíntese de glicoproteínas e glicoesfingolipídeos. Diversos inibidores de glucosidases de origem natural ou sintética têm sido descritos, como por exemplo: acarbose (1), miglitol (2), voglibose (3) e N-butil-desoxi-nojirimicina (4); sendo 1, 2 e 3 indicados para tratamento de diabetes mellitus tipo II e 4 para o controle da doença de Gaucher. Considerando a importância do planejamento e da síntese de novos inibidores de glucosidases, bem como a necessidade de obtenção de modelos tridimensionais para glucosidases, os objetivos deste trabalho foram: i) sintetizar carba-açúcares e pseudodissacarídeos potencialmente anti-glucosidase, ii) avaliar suas atividades inibitórias empregando a enzima ?-D-glucosidase de Saccharomyces cerevisiae e iii) aplicar técnicas de bioinformática e modelagem molecular na construção de um modelo estrutural 3D por homologia da sacarase intestinal de rato e realizar estudos de relação estrutura-atividade baseado no padrão farmacofórico calculado para os inibidores descritos. Neste sentido, a partir do precursor-chave (3/2,4)-2,3,4-tri-O-benzil-5-hidroxi-cicloexanona (12), obtido em 6 etapas, foram sintetizados diferentes carba-açúcares. Adicionalmente, reações de aminação redutiva, rearranjo alílico e \"click chemistry\" foram empregadas na síntese dos pseudodissacarídeos inéditos 3-(2,4-dibenziloxi-fenilamino)-2,4,6-tri-O-benzil-3-desoxi-?-D-glucopiranosídeo de metila (81), 1-(2\',3\',4\'-tri-O-benzil-5\'-oxo-cicloexanil)-4,6-di-O-acetil-2,3-didesoxi-hex-2-enopiranosídeo (89) e 2-{4-[(1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-il)metoxi]-2,4-di-O-benzil-fenila}-1,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetil-2-desoxi-?-D-glucopiranosídeo (99), respectivamente. O composto (3/2,4)-2,3,4,5-tetraidroxi-cicloexanona (46) foi submetido a estudos de inibição enzimática e apresentou moderada atividade de inibição da enzima ?-D-glucosidase. As simulações de docking com o modelo construído da sacarase de rato bem como a determinação do padrão farmacofórico forneceram novas informações estruturais sobre o sítio ativo desta enzima e do modo de ligação de diferentes inibidores. Portanto, as estratégias sintéticas, os estudos de cinética enzimática e de modelagem molecular realizados durante o trabalho resultaram em contribuições relevantes no que diz respeito à química de carboidratos, permitindo avaliar potenciais inibidores da enzima ?-glucosidase in silico, os quais poderão ser sintetizados e submetidos a novos ensaios enzimáticos. / Carbohydrates of glycoconjugates display high degree of complexity and structural diversity, playing a central role in biological processes. Glucosidases are enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of glycosidic bonds in oligosaccharides or glycoconjugates, being essentials in several metabolic pathways and in the biosynthesis of glycoproteins and glycosfingolipids. Several glucosidase inhibitors from natural and synthetic sources have been described, such as: acarbose (1), miglitol (2), voglibose (3) and N-butyl-desoxy-nojirimycin (4). Compounds 1, 2 and 3 are used in the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus and 4 for patients with Gaucher\'s disease. Concerning to the importance of the design and synthesis of new glucosidase inhibitors, as well as the need of 3D models for glucosidases, the aims of this work were: i) the synthesis of potentially anti-glucosidase carba-sugars and pseudodisaccharides, ii) the evaluation of its inhibitory activities by using ?-D-glucosidase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and iii) the use of bioinformatics and molecular modeling techniques for creation of a 3D structural homology model of rat intestinal sucrase to accomplish the structure-activity relationships studies concerning to the pharmacophoric pattern of the reported inhibitors. Thus, starting with the key precursor 12, prepared in six steps, different carba-sugars were synthesized. Additionally, reductive amination reactions, allylic rearrangement and \"click chemistry\" were applied on the synthesis of novel pseudosaccharides 81, 89 and 99, respectively. Compound 46 was assayed for enzymatic inhibition and demonstrated reasonable activity for the inhibition of ?-D-glucosidase. Docking simulations by using the rat sucrase model and the determination of pharmacophoric pattern provided significant information concerning to the enzyme\'s active site and the inhibitor\'s binding pattern. Therefore, the synthetic strategies, enzymatic kinetic assays and molecular modeling studies performed in this work resulted in relevant contributions to the carbohydrate chemistry, making possible for our research group to evaluate potential ?-glucosidase inhibitors in silico, which can be synthesized and assayed for enzymatic activity in the future.

Wan Leong Hang. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-83). / Acknowledgments --- p.i / Bibliography --- p.ii / Contents --- p.iii / Abstract --- p.iv / Abbreviations --- p.v / Chapter I --- Introduction / Chapter I-1 --- General Background of Pseudo-sugar --- p.1 / Chapter I-2 --- Monocarba-sugar --- p.2 / Chapter I-3 --- Dicarba-sugar --- p.4 / Chapter I-4 --- Isolation of Valiolamine and Its Related Compounds --- p.6 / Chapter I-5 --- Previous Syntheses of Valiolamine --- p.8 / Chapter II --- Results and Discussions / Chapter II-1 --- General Strategy --- p.17 / Chapter II-2 --- "Synthesis of (lR,2R)-diol (62)" --- p.20 / Chapter II-3 --- Synthesis and Reactivity of Olefin 69 --- p.24 / Chapter II-4 --- "Synthesis of (1R,2S) and (lR,2R)-diastereoisomers 25 and 27" --- p.27 / Chapter II-5 --- "Synthesis of (1S,2R)-diastereoisomer 26 and Valiolamine" --- p.32 / Chapter II-6 --- "Comment on the Regio Chemistry of Nucleophilic Attack of 68, 65 and" --- p.85 / Chapter II-7 --- Results of Biological Test --- p.43 / Chapter III --- Conclusion --- p.46 / Chapter IV --- Experimental --- p.48 / Chapter V --- Reference --- p.80

Os carboidratos presentes nos glicoconjugados apresentam alto grau de complexidade e diversidade estrutural, desempenhando um importante papel em diversos processos biológicos. As glucosidases, enzimas responsáveis pela clivagem de ligações O-glicosídicas em oligossacarídeos e glicoconjugados, participam de processos bioquímicos fundamentais do metabolismo e também estão envolvidas na biossíntese de glicoproteínas e glicoesfingolipídeos. Diversos inibidores de glucosidases de origem natural ou sintética têm sido descritos, como por exemplo: acarbose (1), miglitol (2), voglibose (3) e N-butil-desoxi-nojirimicina (4); sendo 1, 2 e 3 indicados para tratamento de diabetes mellitus tipo II e 4 para o controle da doença de Gaucher. Considerando a importância do planejamento e da síntese de novos inibidores de glucosidases, bem como a necessidade de obtenção de modelos tridimensionais para glucosidases, os objetivos deste trabalho foram: i) sintetizar carba-açúcares e pseudodissacarídeos potencialmente anti-glucosidase, ii) avaliar suas atividades inibitórias empregando a enzima ?-D-glucosidase de Saccharomyces cerevisiae e iii) aplicar técnicas de bioinformática e modelagem molecular na construção de um modelo estrutural 3D por homologia da sacarase intestinal de rato e realizar estudos de relação estrutura-atividade baseado no padrão farmacofórico calculado para os inibidores descritos. Neste sentido, a partir do precursor-chave (3/2,4)-2,3,4-tri-O-benzil-5-hidroxi-cicloexanona (12), obtido em 6 etapas, foram sintetizados diferentes carba-açúcares. Adicionalmente, reações de aminação redutiva, rearranjo alílico e \"click chemistry\" foram empregadas na síntese dos pseudodissacarídeos inéditos 3-(2,4-dibenziloxi-fenilamino)-2,4,6-tri-O-benzil-3-desoxi-?-D-glucopiranosídeo de metila (81), 1-(2\',3\',4\'-tri-O-benzil-5\'-oxo-cicloexanil)-4,6-di-O-acetil-2,3-didesoxi-hex-2-enopiranosídeo (89) e 2-{4-[(1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-il)metoxi]-2,4-di-O-benzil-fenila}-1,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetil-2-desoxi-?-D-glucopiranosídeo (99), respectivamente. O composto (3/2,4)-2,3,4,5-tetraidroxi-cicloexanona (46) foi submetido a estudos de inibição enzimática e apresentou moderada atividade de inibição da enzima ?-D-glucosidase. As simulações de docking com o modelo construído da sacarase de rato bem como a determinação do padrão farmacofórico forneceram novas informações estruturais sobre o sítio ativo desta enzima e do modo de ligação de diferentes inibidores. Portanto, as estratégias sintéticas, os estudos de cinética enzimática e de modelagem molecular realizados durante o trabalho resultaram em contribuições relevantes no que diz respeito à química de carboidratos, permitindo avaliar potenciais inibidores da enzima ?-glucosidase in silico, os quais poderão ser sintetizados e submetidos a novos ensaios enzimáticos. / Carbohydrates of glycoconjugates display high degree of complexity and structural diversity, playing a central role in biological processes. Glucosidases are enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of glycosidic bonds in oligosaccharides or glycoconjugates, being essentials in several metabolic pathways and in the biosynthesis of glycoproteins and glycosfingolipids. Several glucosidase inhibitors from natural and synthetic sources have been described, such as: acarbose (1), miglitol (2), voglibose (3) and N-butyl-desoxy-nojirimycin (4). Compounds 1, 2 and 3 are used in the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus and 4 for patients with Gaucher\'s disease. Concerning to the importance of the design and synthesis of new glucosidase inhibitors, as well as the need of 3D models for glucosidases, the aims of this work were: i) the synthesis of potentially anti-glucosidase carba-sugars and pseudodisaccharides, ii) the evaluation of its inhibitory activities by using ?-D-glucosidase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and iii) the use of bioinformatics and molecular modeling techniques for creation of a 3D structural homology model of rat intestinal sucrase to accomplish the structure-activity relationships studies concerning to the pharmacophoric pattern of the reported inhibitors. Thus, starting with the key precursor 12, prepared in six steps, different carba-sugars were synthesized. Additionally, reductive amination reactions, allylic rearrangement and \"click chemistry\" were applied on the synthesis of novel pseudosaccharides 81, 89 and 99, respectively. Compound 46 was assayed for enzymatic inhibition and demonstrated reasonable activity for the inhibition of ?-D-glucosidase. Docking simulations by using the rat sucrase model and the determination of pharmacophoric pattern provided significant information concerning to the enzyme\'s active site and the inhibitor\'s binding pattern. Therefore, the synthetic strategies, enzymatic kinetic assays and molecular modeling studies performed in this work resulted in relevant contributions to the carbohydrate chemistry, making possible for our research group to evaluate potential ?-glucosidase inhibitors in silico, which can be synthesized and assayed for enzymatic activity in the future.

Human maltase-glucoamylase (MGAM) and sucrase-isomaltase (SI) are the small-intestinal glucosidases responsible for catalyzing the last glucose-releasing step in starch digestion. MGAM and SI are each composed of duplicated catalytic domains, N- and C-terminal, which display complementary substrate specificities for the mixture of short linear and branch oligosaccharide substrates that typically make up terminal starch digestion products. As MGAM and SI are involved in post-prandial glucose production, regulating their activities with α-glucosidase inhibitors is an attractive approach to controlling blood glucose levels for the prevention and treatment of Type 2 diabetes. To better understand the complementary activities and mechanism of inhibition of these intestinal glucosidases, this thesis aims to characterize the individual N- and C-terminal MGAM and SI domains using a combination of X-ray crystallographic structural studies, enzyme kinetics, and inhibitor studies. First, the structure of the N-terminal domain of MGAM (ntMGAM) was determined in its apo form and in complex with the inhibitor acarbose. In addition to sequence alignments and kinetics studies, the structures provide insight into the preference of the N-terminal MGAM domain for short linear substrates and the C-terminal domain for longer substrates. Second, the structure of ntMGAM was determined in complex with various α-glucosidase inhibitors, including those currently on the market (acarbose and miglitol), a new class of inhibitors from natural extracts of Salacia reticulata (salacinol, kotalanol and de-O-sulfonated kotalanol) and chemically synthesized derivatives of salacinol. These studies reveal the features of the Salacia reticulata inhibitors that are essential for inhibitory activity and highlight their potential as future drug candidates. Third, the crystal structure of the N-terminal domain of SI (ntSI) was determined in apo-form and in complex with kotalanol. Structural comparison of ntSI and ntMGAM reveal key differences in active site architectures, which are proposed to confer differential substrate specificity.

Human maltase-glucoamylase (MGAM) and sucrase-isomaltase (SI) are the small-intestinal glucosidases responsible for catalyzing the last glucose-releasing step in starch digestion. MGAM and SI are each composed of duplicated catalytic domains, N- and C-terminal, which display complementary substrate specificities for the mixture of short linear and branch oligosaccharide substrates that typically make up terminal starch digestion products. As MGAM and SI are involved in post-prandial glucose production, regulating their activities with α-glucosidase inhibitors is an attractive approach to controlling blood glucose levels for the prevention and treatment of Type 2 diabetes. To better understand the complementary activities and mechanism of inhibition of these intestinal glucosidases, this thesis aims to characterize the individual N- and C-terminal MGAM and SI domains using a combination of X-ray crystallographic structural studies, enzyme kinetics, and inhibitor studies. First, the structure of the N-terminal domain of MGAM (ntMGAM) was determined in its apo form and in complex with the inhibitor acarbose. In addition to sequence alignments and kinetics studies, the structures provide insight into the preference of the N-terminal MGAM domain for short linear substrates and the C-terminal domain for longer substrates. Second, the structure of ntMGAM was determined in complex with various α-glucosidase inhibitors, including those currently on the market (acarbose and miglitol), a new class of inhibitors from natural extracts of Salacia reticulata (salacinol, kotalanol and de-O-sulfonated kotalanol) and chemically synthesized derivatives of salacinol. These studies reveal the features of the Salacia reticulata inhibitors that are essential for inhibitory activity and highlight their potential as future drug candidates. Third, the crystal structure of the N-terminal domain of SI (ntSI) was determined in apo-form and in complex with kotalanol. Structural comparison of ntSI and ntMGAM reveal key differences in active site architectures, which are proposed to confer differential substrate specificity.

The overwhelming occurrence and structural diversity of carbohydrates in Nature indicate their importance in a range of fundamental life processes. Indeed, it is this diversity that has lead to the two equally diverse groups of carbohydrate-processing enzymes, namely the glycoside hydrolases and glycosyl transferases. Thus, understanding the role of both carbohydrates and their processing enzymes in biological systems has attracted significant attention. This thesis, firstly, describes endeavours towards the synthesis of an inositol ?- amino acid, along with a series of sugar α-substituted carboxylic acid esters, utilising an extension of the modified Corey-Link reaction. The emphasis of the thesis is then shifted towards the synthesis of a putative inhibitor of a family GH26 lichenase from Clostridium thermocellum (CtLic26A). The preparation of 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-β-laminarbiosyl fluoride 1 is described, along with elaboration into oligosaccharides utilising AbgE358G glycosynthase technology. Crystallographic investigations indicated that the transition state adopted by CtLic26A is in stark contrast to that utilised by the related family GH26 mannanase from Pseudomonas cellulose (Man26A). ... Following on from this work, expanding the role of the AbgE358G glycosynthase acceptor repertoire to accommodate inositol substrates was explored, furthering the synthetic utility of this enzyme. Thus, a number of inositol acceptors bearing an aryl anchor, for example 2, were prepared and shown to be surrogates for carbohydrate acceptors. ... The thesis then describes the synthesis of an acetamide derivative of 1-epivalienamine, namely 3, a putative inhibitor of β-N-acetylglucosaminidases. Both the synthesis of 3, along with kinetic data for four β-N-acetylglucosaminidases, is reported; as well, Western blot analysis indicated no inhibition of a recombinant OGTase. ... Related to the preparation of a putative inhibitor of β-N-acetylglucosaminidases was the synthesis of a conformationally rigid carbocycle derivative of PUGNAc 4, along with two other derivatives 5 and 6. These compounds were also tested against four β-N-acetylglucosaminidases and a recombinant OGTase. ... Finally, the synthesis of a mechanism-based inhibitor of family GH3 β-Nacetylglucosaminidases, namely 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-5-fluoro-β-D-glucopyranosyl fluoride 7, is described. The incorporation of an azido moiety allows for the utilisation of 8 as an effective probe of β-N-acetylglucosaminidases. ...

Thesis (M.Sc. (Biochemistry)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / Diabetes mellitus is one of the fast growing chronic metabolic disorders throughout the world. It has become a life threatening disease and health burden. So far it can only be managed with commercial therapeutic agents, proper diet and exercise. People particularly from developing countries use medicinal plants to treat this condition. According to WHO, about 80% of the population in developing countries are dependable on medicinal plants. This prompted many researchers to explore the effectiveness and safety of these plants. In the current study ten medicinal plants were randomly chosen, screened for antidiabetic activity by testing their ability to inhibit α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes. The plants were tested using in vitro assays. The finely powdered leaves of each plant were extracted with hexane, chloroform, acetone and ethyl acetate. Phytoconstituents of each plant extracts were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. All plant extracts tested positive for phenols, flavonoids and all negative for starch. Their compounds were better separated in the TEA mobile system on the TLC plates. All plant extracts had more of total phenolics ranging between 0.1-400 GAE/mg than total flavonoids and condensed tannins. Antioxidant activity of the plant extracts was tested quantitatively at various concentrations using DPPH. Most plant extracts were able to scavenge the radicals produced by DPPH at highest concentration of 2.5 mg/mℓ. Not all plant extracts with the highest number of total phenolics had the highest antioxidant activity. For antidiabetic in vitro assays, plant extracts inhibited various percentages of both α-amylase and α-glucosidase activity at concentrations ranging between 0.019- 2.5 mg/mℓ. The best overall activity against both enzymes was observed in acetone and ethyl acetate plant extracts. Cassia abbreviata and Helinus integrifolius were even more active than acarbose which was used as positive control. These plant extracts inhibited both the enzymes in a dose dependent and non-competitive manner. Seeing that both extracts of C. abbreviata and H. integrifolius were consistent when inhibiting both enzymes, they were further evaluated for their effect on glucose uptake by the C2C12 muscle and H-II-4-E liver cells. All the plant extracts tested were able to increase glucose uptake in the muscle cells. However optimal increase was seen in the liver cells when treated with 250 µg/mℓ of acetone and ethyl acetate extracts of C. abbreviata. The cytotoxicity effects of both acetone and ethyl acetate of C. abbreviata and H. integrifolius was tested using the xCelligence system on RAW 264.7 cells. Different cell indexes were obtained after treating the cells with different concentrations (0.05,0.1 and 0.25 mg/mℓ) of each plant extracts respectively. The system was run for three days but the toxic effects of plant extracts were analyzed for the first ten hours. The results obtained shows that cell index decreased as the concentration of the plant extracts was increased. All the plant extracts were less toxic as compared to positive control, Actinomycin D. The leaves of H. integrifolius were further exhaustively extracted with hexane, dichloromethane, acetone, ethyl acetate and methanol respectively. Since the DCM extracts yielded the highest mass in quantity, it was further used for isolation of active compounds. Column chromatography and bioassay guided fraction led to isolation of a mixture of triterpenes identified as α and β-amyrin. The structure was elucidated using nuclear magnetic resonance technique. The inhibitory capability of the isolated compound against α-amylase enzyme was less than the crude extract which inhibited more than 50% of the activity at a concentration of 1 mg/mℓ.Based on the enzymes assays and cell culture work it can be concluded that C. abbreviata and H. integrifolius species are the best inhibitors of carbohydrate digesting enzymes, and therefore be used to manage postprandial hyperglycemia in the people with type 2 diabetes. However more work still need to be conducted for further isolation of more active compounds.