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The Structures, Syntheses of Natural Products, and Their Biological Effects

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioactives and Nutraceuticals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2025) | Viewed by 1552

Special Issue Editor

Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023, China
Interests: density functional theory; nanotechnology; materials; electronic structure; quantum mechanics; nanobiotechnology; computational chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The applications of natural products already have a long history of thousands of years; however, most cases were empirical summaries.  With the continuous progress of science and technology, people have begun to systematically study the structures and biological effects of natural products using scientific methods to understand their working mechanisms and obtain them in large quantities through artificial syntheses. Many natural medicinal molecules have special therapeutic effects in animals and plants.

As the most typical example, Artemisinin's discovery, extraction, and structural determination have significant implications for human public health, bringing Ms. Youyou Tu the Nobel Prize in 2015. With the deepening of research, other effects of Artemisinin have also been found, such as anti-tumor, treatment of pulmonary hypertension, anti-diabetes, antifungal, immune regulation, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-pulmonary fibrosis, antibacterial, and other pharmacological effects. However, its chemical total synthesis process is so complex that it cannot be commercialized. Fortunately, the biosynthesis technology through yeast fermentation is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Similar efficient natural products also include (but are not limited to) organic acids, antimicrobial peptides, biological adhesives, and so on. The studies of their molecular structures, structure–activity relationships, and syntheses are of great scientific and economic significance.

Therefore, we are launching this Special Issue to specifically report on the latest research and reviews on the structures and syntheses of natural products and their biological effects. All article research submissions should involve research at the molecular level as well as verified experiments to fit the scope of the Special Issue.

Dr. Ran Jia
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • structures of natural products
  • syntheses
  • biological effects
  • biomedical applications

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 5792 KiB  
Article
Structural Characterization and Immune Activation Capacity of Peptidoglycan from Corynebacterium glutamicum in RAW264.7 Cells
by Xiaoying Wang, Shuzhen Li, Aijuan Zheng, Zhimin Chen, Jiang Chen, Zhiheng Zou and Guohua Liu
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(1), 237; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26010237 - 30 Dec 2024
Viewed by 928
Abstract
Peptidoglycan (PGN) is a unique component of prokaryotic cell walls with immune-enhancing capacities. Here, we extracted PGN from Corynebacterium glutamicum, a by-product of amino acid fermentation, using the trichloroacetic acid (TCA) method. SDS-PAGE analysis confirmed the presence of PGN, with a band [...] Read more.
Peptidoglycan (PGN) is a unique component of prokaryotic cell walls with immune-enhancing capacities. Here, we extracted PGN from Corynebacterium glutamicum, a by-product of amino acid fermentation, using the trichloroacetic acid (TCA) method. SDS-PAGE analysis confirmed the presence of PGN, with a band of approximately 28 kDa. Further analysis was conducted through amino acid analysis, FTIR, and MALDI-TOF/TOF MS, and the results showed that the chemical structural monomer of PGN is NAG-(β-1,4-)-NAM-l-Ala-d-Glu-l-Lis-d-Ala. The immune activation effects of PGN were evaluated in a RAW264.7 cell model. Our results showed that PGN could increase the secretion level of NO, ROS, and immune regulatory substances, including TNF-α and IL-1β, and up-regulated the mRNA expression of TNF-α and iNOS. In addition, PGN stimulated the expression of ERK2, MyD88, RIP2, and the related receptor NOD1 in the NF-κB and MAPK pathways. Comparative RNA sequencing was conducted to analyze the gene expression profiles in RAW264.7 cells. KEGG analysis indicated that most of the genes were enriched in the NF-κB, MAPK, and TNF signaling pathways. Taken together, these findings suggest that PGN may have immune-activating potential for the development and application of immune adjuvants. Importantly, the application of PGN also provides a new way to utilize amino acid fermentation by-products. Full article
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