Cha‐Gyun Shin

Roots of Panax ginseng, one of the most famous medicinal plants, contain various phytosterols and bioactive triterpene saponins (ginsenosides). In P. ginseng, phytosterols and triterpenes share the common biosynthetic intermediate, squalene. Here, we investigate the regulatory role of Panax ginseng squalene synthase (PgSS1) on the biosynthesis of phytosterols and triterpene saponins. PgSS1 transcripts are expressed ubiquitously in the various plant tissues, but higher in shoot apex and root. The transcript levels of PgSS1 increased markedly in the adventitious roots during 12- to 96-h period after metyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment; MeJA treatment induced the activation of the transcripts of squalene epoxidase (SE), beta-amyrin synthase (bAS), but not cycloartenol synthase (CAS). Unlike MeJA treatment, overexpression of PgSS1 in adventitious roots of transgenic P. ginseng was followed by the up-regulation of all the downstream genes tested, such as SE, bAS, and CAS. The enhanced activity of PgSS1 enzyme resulted in remarkable increase of phytosterols as well as ginsenoside contents. These results demonstrate that PgSS1 is a key regulatory enzyme not only for phytosterol but also for triterpene biosynthesis and overexpressing of PgSS1 confers the hyperproduction of triterpene saponins to P. ginseng.

The bioassay-directed isolation of Terminalia chebula fruits afforded four human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase inhibitors, gallic acid ( 1) and three galloyl glucoses ( 2 - 4). In addition, four flavonol glycoside gallates ( 5 - 8) from Euphorbia pekinensis containing the galloyl moiety also showed the inhibitory activity at a level comparable to those of 2 - 4. By comparison with the activities of the compounds not bearing this moiety, it is proposed that the galloyl moiety plays a major role for inhibition against the 3'-processing of HIV-1 integrase of these compounds.

Bioassay-directed chromatographic fractionation of an ethyl acetate extract of the leaves of Acer okamotoanum using HIV-1 integrase afforded a new acylated flavonol glycoside, quercetin 3-O-(2",6"-O-digalloyl)-beta-D-galactopyranoside (1), together with six known flavonol glycosides and three known phenolic compounds. The structure of the new compound was determined by spectroscopic methods. The most active compounds were quercetin 3-O-(2"-galloyl)-alpha-L-arabinopyranoside (6) and 1, which exhibited IC50 values of 18.1 +/- 1.3 and 24.2 +/- 6.6 micrograms/mL, respectively, against HIV-1 integrase.

Single-amino-acid changes in a highly conserved central region of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase protein were analyzed for their effects on viral protein synthesis, virion morphogenesis, and viral replication. Alteration of two amino acids that are invariant among retroviral integrases, D116 and E152 of HIV-1, as well as a mutation of the highly conserved amino acid S147 blocked viral replication in two CD4+ human T-cell lines. Mutations of four other highly conserved amino acids in the region had no detectable effect on viral replication, whereas mutations at two positions, N117 and Y143, resulted in viruses with a delayed-replication phenotype. Defects in virion precursor polypeptide processing, virion morphology, or viral DNA synthesis were observed for all of the replication-defective mutants, indicating that changes in integrase can have pleiotropic effects on viral replication.