Enzymatic synthesis of novel isobavachalcone glucosides via a UDP-glycosyltransferase

• DOI: 10.1007/s12272-015-0658-8
• Publication Date: 2015-09-15T08:52:24Z
• Authors: Hong-Mei Li; Jae Kyoung Lee; Li-Juan Nie; Qiang Huo; Tao Ma; Jae Kyung Sohng; Young-Soo Hong; Cheng-Zhu Wu
• Keywords: Bacillus licheniformis; Natural product; IC50

Glycosylation is often used to improve a natural product's properties such as water solubility, chemical stability, pharmacological potency, and structure diversification. In this study, we studied the enzymatic synthesis of novel isobavachalcone glucosides using a UDP-glycosyltransferase (YjiC) from Bacillus licheniformis DSM-13. The chemical structures of compounds 1 and 2 were elucidated by spectroscopic techniques, including LC-MS, MS, and NMR. Meanwhile, the parameters of glycosylation reaction such as incubation time, UDP-glucose concentration, and pH of buffer were also optimized during this study. Furthermore, the compounds 1 and 2 exhibited weak anti-proliferative activities against five human cancer cell lines, with IC50 values ranging from 58.6 to 86.6 μM.