nitrophenols and 4-nitrophenyl-beta-cellobioside

The recent development of a high-throughput single-cell assay technique enables the screening of novel enzymes based on functional activities from a large-scale metagenomic library(1). We previously proposed a genetic enzyme screening system (GESS) that uses dimethylphenol regulator activated by phenol or p-nitrophenol. Since a vast amount of natural enzymatic reactions produce these phenolic compounds from phenol deriving substrates, this single genetic screening system can be theoretically applied to screen over 200 different enzymes in the BRENDA database. Despite the general applicability of GESS, applying the screening process requires a specific procedure to reach the maximum flow cytometry signals. Here, we detail the developed screening process, which includes metagenome preprocessing with GESS and the operation of a flow cytometry sorter. Three different phenolic substrates (p-nitrophenyl acetate, p-nitrophenyl-β-D-cellobioside, and phenyl phosphate) with GESS were used to screen and to identify three different enzymes (lipase, cellulase, and alkaline phosphatase), respectively. The selected metagenomic enzyme activities were confirmed only with the flow cytometry but DNA sequencing and diverse in vitro analysis can be used for further gene identification.

Topics: Alkaline Phosphatase; Base Sequence; Cellulase; Enzymes; Escherichia coli; Flow Cytometry; Gene Library; Glucosides; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Lipase; Metagenomics; Nitrophenols; Organophosphorus Compounds; Substrate Specificity

Intestinal absorption of beta-disaccharide (cellobiose, maltose and lactose) conjugates of p-nitrophenol (p-nitrophenyl beta-disaccharide) were examined in terms of the hydrolysis of disaccharide conjugate to monosaccharide conjugate and the transport of monosaccharide conjugate by Na+/glucose transport carrier (SGLT1). beta-Cellobioside, beta-maltoside and beta-lactoside of p-nitrophenol (p-NP) were hydrolyzed to p-nitrophenyl beta-glucoside (p-NPbeta glc) on the mucosal side, and p-NPbeta glc appeared on the serosal side. Although p-NP beta-disaccharide, p-NP and p-NP glucuronide also appeared on the serosal side, their amounts were much lower than that of p-NPbeta glc. The amount of p-NPbeta glc transported to the serosal side was decreased in the presence of phloridzin (transport inhibitor of SGLT1) and in the absence of Na+ (a cosubstrate of SGLT1), indicating that p-NPbeta glc was formed from p-NP beta-disaccharide on the mucosal side and transported to the serosal side by SGLT1. Furthermore, the absorption clearance of p-NPbeta glc, which was formed from p-NP beta-cellobioside and p-NP beta-lactoside by lactase-phloridzin hydrolase (LPH), was much higher than that of p-NPbeta glc itself, although the absorption clearance of p-NPbeta glc, which was formed from p-NP beta-maltoside by maltase was similar to that of p-NPbeta glc itself. These results indicated that p-NPbeta glc was transported by the vectorial cooperation of SGLT1 with LPH from mucosal p-NP beta-cellobioside or p-NP beta-lactoside.

Topics: Animals; Biological Transport; Disaccharides; Glucosides; Glucuronates; Glycoside Hydrolases; Glycosides; Intestinal Absorption; Intestine, Small; Lactase-Phlorizin Hydrolase; Male; Maltose; Membrane Glycoproteins; Molecular Structure; Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; Nitrophenols; Phlorhizin; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Sodium-Glucose Transporter 1