<i>In-Vitro</i>Inhibitory Effect of Methanol Extracts of Chinese Herbal Drugs on Supercoiling Activity of Bacterial DNA Gyrase

A large number of Chinese herbal drugs (CHDs) exhibit antibacterial activities both in vivo and in vitro, but until now little is known regarding their inhibitory mechanisms. Bacterial DNA gyrase is a proven target for antibacterial agents. Aim of this study was to investigate the in-vitro inhibitory effect of methanol extracts of CHDs against supercoiling activity of bacterial DNA gyrase. Fifteen CHDs were selected and extracted with methanol, respectively. Inhibitory effect of the extracts on DNA gyrase was tested using gel-based DNA supercoiling assay. Among fifteen CHDs tested, methanol extracts of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos (S2), Taraxaci Herba (S7), Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparata cum Melle (S8) demonstrated an obvious inhibitory effect against supercoiling activity of DNA gyrase, and the others were either less active or could not be determined with the present method. Moreover, it was likely that S7 and S8 inhibit gyrase in a concentration-dependent manner. In conclusion, DNA supercoiling assay is a promising method to study the inhibitory activity of CHDs on bacterial DNA gyrase. Some CHDs do have gyrase-inhibitory activity as proposed. Further investigations are needed to elucidate the inhibition mechanism of these CHDs on supercoiling activity of gyrase.

Global analysis of lysine succinylation in patchouli plant leaves

Lysine succinylation is a novel,naturally occurring posttranslational modification(PTM)in living organisms.Global lysine succinylation identification has been performed at the proteomic level in various species;however,the study of lysine succinylation in plant species is relatively limited.Patchouli plant(P.cablin(Blanco)Benth.,Lamiaceae)is a globally important industrial plant and medicinal herb.In the present study,lysine succinylome analysis was carried out in patchouli plants to determine the potential regulatory role of lysine succinylation in patchouli growth,development,and physiology.The global succinylation sites and proteins in patchouli plants were screened with an immunoprecipitation affinity enrichment technique and advanced mass spectrometry-based proteomics.Several bioinformatic analyses,such as function classification and enrichment,subcellular location predication,metabolic pathway enrichment and protein−protein interaction networking,were conducted to characterize the functions of the identified sites and proteins.In total,1097 succinylation sites in 493 proteins were detected in patchouli plants,among which 466 succinylation sites in 241 proteins were repeatedly identified within three independent experiments.The functional characterization of these proteins indicated that the tricarboxylic acid(TCA)cycle,oxidative phosphorylation,photosynthesis processes,and amino acid biosynthesis may be regulated by lysine succinylation.In addition,these succinylated proteins showed a wide subcellular location distribution,although the chloroplast and cytoplasm were the top two preferred cellular components.Our study suggested the important role of lysine succinylation in patchouli plant physiology and biology and could serve as a useful reference for succinylation studies in other medicinal plants.

Traditional Chinese medicines and their active ingredients sensitize cancer cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis

The rapidly developing resistance of cancers to chemotherapy agents and the severe cytotoxicity of such agents to normal cells are major stumbling blocks in current cancer treatments.Most current chemotherapy agents have significant cytotoxicity,which leads to devastating adverse effects and results in a substandard quality of life,including increased daily morbidity and premature mortality.The death receptor of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand(TRAIL)can sidestep p53-dependent pathways to induce tumor cell apoptosis without damaging most normal cells.However,various cancer cells can develop resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis via different pathways.Therefore,it is critical to find an efficient TRAIL sensitizer to reverse the resistance of tumor cells to TRAIL,and to reinforce TRAIL’s ability to induce tumor cell apoptosis.In recent years,traditional Chinese medicines and their active ingredients have shown great potential to trigger apoptotic cell death in TRAIL-resistant cancer cell lines.This review aims to collate information about Chinese medicines that can effectively reverse the resistance of tumor cells to TRAIL and enhance TRAIL’s ability to induce apoptosis.We explore the therapeutic potential of TRAIL and provide new ideas for the development of TRAIL therapy and the generation of new anticancer drugs for human cancer treatment.This study involved an extensive review of studies obtained from literature searches of electronic databases such as Google Scholar and PubMed."TRAIL sensitize"and"Chinese medicine"were the search keywords.We then isolated newly published studies on the mechanisms of TRAIL-induced apoptosis.The name of each plant was validated using certified databases such as The Plant List.This study indicates that TRAIL can be combined with different Chinese medicine components through intrinsic or extrinsic pathways to promote cancer cell apoptosis.It also demonstrates that the active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicines enhance the sensitivity of cancer cells to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis.This provides useful information regarding traditional Chinese medicine treatment,the development of TRAIL-based therapies,and the treatment of cancer.