Mammalian catechol-O-methyltransferases(COMT)are an important class of conjugative enzymes,which play a key role in the metabolism and inactivation of catechol neurotransmitters,catechol estrogens and a wide range of ...Mammalian catechol-O-methyltransferases(COMT)are an important class of conjugative enzymes,which play a key role in the metabolism and inactivation of catechol neurotransmitters,catechol estrogens and a wide range of endobiotics and xenobiotics that bear the catechol group.Currently,COMT inhibitors are used in combination with levodopa for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in clinical practice.The crucial role of COMT in human health has raised great interest in the development of more practical assays for highly selective and sensitive detection of COMT activity in real samples,as well as for rapid screening and characterization of COMT inhibitors as drug candidates.This review summarizes recent advances in analytical methodologies for sensing COMT activity and their applications.Several lists of biochemical assays for measuring COMT activity,including the probe substrates,along with their analytical conditions and kinetic parameters,are presented.Finally,the challenges and future perspectives in the field,such as visualization of COMT activity in vivo and in situ,are highlighted.Collectively,this review article overviews the practical assays for measuring COMT activities in complex biological samples,which will strongly facilitate the investigations on the relevance of COMT to human diseases and promote the discovery of COMT inhibitors via high-throughput screening.展开更多
The cDNA fragment encoding caffeic acid 3_O_methyltransferase (COMT) in Chinese white poplar ( Populus tomentosa Carr.) was isolated and cloned by RT_PCR technique. The size of the cDNA fragment is 1 080 bp, which alm...The cDNA fragment encoding caffeic acid 3_O_methyltransferase (COMT) in Chinese white poplar ( Populus tomentosa Carr.) was isolated and cloned by RT_PCR technique. The size of the cDNA fragment is 1 080 bp, which almost covers the whole cDNA_encoding region. Authors’ cDNA fragment in P. tomentosa shares 98.7% homology with the reported corresponding cDNA in the P. tremuloids at nucleotide level, 99.4% homology at amino acid level, respectively. The analysis of Northern dot hybridization showed that COMT is expressed specifically in the developing secondary xylem of stem during the season of xylem differentiation, which means the linkage between the gene expression for a monolignol biosynthetic enzyme and seasonal regulation of xylem development in woody plant.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2017YFC1700200,2017YFC1702000),the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81922070,81703604,81973286,81773687 and 81603187)Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai(18ZR1436500)+3 种基金Program of Shanghai Academic/Technology Research Leader(18XD1403600)Shuguang Program(18SG40)supported by Shanghai Education Development Foundation and Shanghai Municipal Education Commissionthe project sponsored by the development fund for Shanghai talents(2019)the Key Science and Technology Program of Shenyang supported by Shenyang Science and Technology Bureau(17-230-9-05).
文摘Mammalian catechol-O-methyltransferases(COMT)are an important class of conjugative enzymes,which play a key role in the metabolism and inactivation of catechol neurotransmitters,catechol estrogens and a wide range of endobiotics and xenobiotics that bear the catechol group.Currently,COMT inhibitors are used in combination with levodopa for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in clinical practice.The crucial role of COMT in human health has raised great interest in the development of more practical assays for highly selective and sensitive detection of COMT activity in real samples,as well as for rapid screening and characterization of COMT inhibitors as drug candidates.This review summarizes recent advances in analytical methodologies for sensing COMT activity and their applications.Several lists of biochemical assays for measuring COMT activity,including the probe substrates,along with their analytical conditions and kinetic parameters,are presented.Finally,the challenges and future perspectives in the field,such as visualization of COMT activity in vivo and in situ,are highlighted.Collectively,this review article overviews the practical assays for measuring COMT activities in complex biological samples,which will strongly facilitate the investigations on the relevance of COMT to human diseases and promote the discovery of COMT inhibitors via high-throughput screening.
文摘The cDNA fragment encoding caffeic acid 3_O_methyltransferase (COMT) in Chinese white poplar ( Populus tomentosa Carr.) was isolated and cloned by RT_PCR technique. The size of the cDNA fragment is 1 080 bp, which almost covers the whole cDNA_encoding region. Authors’ cDNA fragment in P. tomentosa shares 98.7% homology with the reported corresponding cDNA in the P. tremuloids at nucleotide level, 99.4% homology at amino acid level, respectively. The analysis of Northern dot hybridization showed that COMT is expressed specifically in the developing secondary xylem of stem during the season of xylem differentiation, which means the linkage between the gene expression for a monolignol biosynthetic enzyme and seasonal regulation of xylem development in woody plant.
