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J Sekiguchi

Publications and source records attributed to J Sekiguchi.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Isoepoxydon, a new metabolite of the patulin pathway in Penicillium urticae.

A patulin-negative mutant (J1) of Penicillium urticae (N.R.R.L. 2159A) was known to accumulate about 100mg per litre quantities of the 5,6-epoxygentisyl quinone, (-)-phyllostine and another metabolite (UIII). Both were derived from acetate and hence were polyketides. Purified UIII (m.p. 53 degrees C, [alpha](32) (D)+206 degrees , lambda(methanol) (max.) 240nm; epsilon 3806 litre.mol(-1).cm(-1)) was characterized as a partially reduced derivative of (-)-phyllostine and was found to be a diastereoisomer of the known phytotoxin, (+)-epoxydon. Hence its designation as (+)-iso- or epi-epoxydon. From (1)H n.m.r. and c.d. data the stereochemistry of the epoxide ring in (+)-isoepoxydon was determined to be identical with that in (+)-epoxydon (i.e. R,R) but the configuration of the secondary alcohol at C-4 was S rather than R as in (+)-epoxydon. Isoepoxydon (compound UIII) is therefore (4S,5R,6R)-5,6-epoxy-4-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethylcyclohex-2-en-1-one. The boat conformation in which the C-4 hydroxy group is axial is preferred. In the range of 1mm to 5mm, the antibiotic activity of (+)-isoepoxydon against Bacillus subtilis sp. was 56% of that obtained with patulin. Over a period of 1 to 3h, [(14)C]isoepoxydon was efficiently converted into patulin by a shake culture of the parent strain of P. urticae. The precursor relationship of isoepoxydon to patulin was confirmed by feeding unlabelled isoepoxydon (1mm) to a washed-cell suspension of a mutant (J2) in which, over a period of 3 to 5h, a better than 60% conversion into patulin was attained. The enzymic relationship between isoepoxydon and phyllostine and their positions in the late portion of the patulin biosynthetic pathway are discussed.

Acetylation

Patulin biosynthesis: the metabolism of phyllostine and isoepoxydon by cell-free preparations from Pencillium urticae.

Cell-free extracts of Penicillium urticae (NRRL 2159A), and its Pat- mutants, J2, J1, and S11, were found to contain significant NADP-dependent isoepoxydon dehydrogenase activity. This reversible interconversion of the epoxides (-)-phyllostine and (+)-isoepoxydon occurred optimally at pH 5.8 and was completely inhibited by 1 mM p-chloromercuribenzoate (PCMB). The cytosol enzyme possessed specificity for both substrate and cofactor since neither (+)-epoxydon, an epimer of (+)-isoepoxydon, nor NADH was utilized. Cell extracts of the parent and of mutant J2, which is blocked before the epoxides in the patulin pathway, were found to convert phyllostine and isoepoxydon to a number of unknown metabolites which appeared as yellow spots on thin-layer chromatograms after spraying with a chromogenic reagent. Extracts of mutant J1 were unable to carry out this conversion, while whole cells of mutant S11 accumulated what appeared to be these same 'yellow' compounds. Since PCMB-treated extracts of J2 converted phyllostine but not isoepoxydon to these new metabolites, phyllostine appeared to be their more immediate precursor. The relative positions of isoepoxydon and phyllostine in the patulin pathway are discussed.

Cell-Free System

Identification of phyllostine as an intermediate of the patulin pathway in Penicillium urticae.

A patulin negative mutant (J1) of Penicillium urticae (NRRL 2159A) was found to accumulate large quantities (greater than 128 mg/L culture) of a reactive, photosensitive compound, which was isolated and identified as (-)-phyllostine (5,6-epoxygentisylquinone). This epoxyquinone possessed an antibiotic activity against Bacillus subtilis which was approximately 80% of that exhibited by patulin. In separate in vivo feeding experiments, [2-14C]acetate and [G-3H]gentisaldehyde were readily incorporated into phyllostine by mutant J1 and [14C]phyllostine was incorporated into patulin by the parent strain (NRRL 2159A). When fed to a washed-cell suspension of a second patulin negative mutant (J2) which produced gentisaldehyde but not phyllostine, unlabeled phyllostine was efficiently converted to patulin in yields of 33, 56, and 92% after 30 min, 1 and 5 h, respectively. The role of phyllostine as an intermediate of a new post-gentisaldehyde portion of the patulin biosynthetic pathway is discussed.

Anti-Bacterial Agents

The youngest free groin flap yet?

A successful free groin flap transfer to the arm in a 3-month-old baby is described. The vessels were large enough for microvascular anastomosis and we believe that there is no minimum age restriction for free flap transfer.

Age Factors

Conidiogenesis and secondary metabolism in Penicillium urticae.

Submerged cultures of Penicillium urticae (NRRL 2159A) produced the antibiotics patulin and griseofulvin when grown in a glucose-nitrate medium. A high concentration of calcium (i.e., 68 mM) inhibited the production of both antibiotics while stimulating conidiogenesis. Conidial mutants that were defective in an early stage of conidiogenesis produced markedly less patulin, even under growth conditions that favored secondary metabolism. A mutant which lacked the ability to produce the patulin pathway metabolites m-cresol, toluquinol, m-hydroxybenzyl-alcohol, m-hydroxybenzaldehyde, gentisaldehyde, gentisyl alcohol, gentisic acid and patulin, as well as the pathway enzyme m-hydroxybenzyl-alcohol dehydrogenase, still produced yields of conidia that were equivalent to or greater than those of the parent strain. Other mutants which were blocked at later steps of the patulin pathway also produced conidia. These results indicate that patulin and the other related secondary metabolites noted above are not a prerequisite to conidiogenesis in P. urticae. Environmental and developmental factors such as calcium levels and conidiogenesis do, however, indirectly affect the production of patulin pathway metabolites.

Alcohol Oxidoreductases

The free musculocutaneous flap.

We report the transfer of a free musculocutaneous compound flap, including the gracilis muscle, in one stage by microvascular surgery. The advantages of this free flap are discussed.

Adult

Genes affecting the productivity of alpha-amylase in Bacillus subtilis Marburg.

Genetic control of alpha-amylase (alpha-1,4-glucan glucanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.1.) production by Bacillus subtilis 168 was studied from the standpoint that alpha-amylase production by bacteria is dependent on a long-lived messenger ribonucleic acid and obeys the following equation: E = kappa integral of X-DT where x = cell mass at time t, E = alpha amylase produced, t = culture time, and kappa = productivity constant. So a productivity constand (kappa) is obtained from the slope of the straight line plot of alpha-amylase formed versus the total mass of cells accumulated over that time during the culture process. The following results were obtained. (i) Two sequential mutants, derived from the 168(kappa = 20) strain and having improved alpha-amylase productivity (168 leads to 196), were analyzed for their serine and metal protease production. Strain 128 (kappa = 40) produced half the amount of both proteases, but strain 196 (kappa = 60 similar to 80) produced 20 times that in the original strain. (ii) Amy+ transformants, using the 196 strain as the other three had higher productivity (kappa = 37 similar to 46). These transformants (J71, J47, groups. Seventy-one of 74 Amy+ transformants had a kappa value of 21.0 plus or minus 2.1 and the other three had higher productivity (kappa = 37 similar to 46). These transformants (J71,J47, and J10) produced levels of serine and metal proteases 20 times higher than the other transformants. (iii) Strains 196, J71, J47, and J10 were found to be nonmotile and resistant to phage PBS1, whereas other strains, including strains 168, 128, 3 revertants of strain J71 and 2 revertants of strain 196, were all motile and sensitive to the phage. (iv) Strains 196 and J71 were nonflagellated under electron microscopic observation but strain 168, 128 and a revertant of J71 were flagellated. From the above experimental results, the existence of a quality controlling gene (amyB) was deduced, which is loosely linked to the structural gene and controls productivities of alpha-amylase and proteases, and flagellation. The probable existence of another regulatory gene, amyC, is also discussed.

Amylases