A stilbene synthase gene was cloned from Vitis riparia cv. Gloire de Montpellier after PCR amplification with primers designed to include the start and stop codons of stilbene synthase genes of V. inifera. The exon was very similar to that of other stilbene synthases, particularly those from V. inifera (99% nucleotide identity). An intron was found which interrupted the predicted codon for cyst...

Ligands of the aroylhydrazone class have shown much promise as potential chelators for treatment of iron overload disease and perhaps cancer (Johnson et al., 1982; Baker et al., 1992; Richardson et al., 1995; Richardson & Milnes, 1997). Our previous investigations have demonstrated that 2-hydroxy-1naphthaldehyde isonicotinoyl hydrazone, (II), and several other aroylhydrazone chelators possess a...

BACKGROUND Chalcones are the biogenetic precursors of all known flavonoids, which play an essential role in various metabolic processes in photosynthesizing organisms. The use of whole cyanobacteria cells in a two-step, light-catalysed regioselective bio-reduction of chalcone, leading to the formation of the corresponding dihydrochalcone, is reported. The prokaryotic microalgae cyanobacteria ar...

BACKGROUND Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is a promising antifungal target due to its marked structural differences between fungal and mammalian cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antifungal activity of flavonoids described in the scientific literature as FAS inhibitors (quercetin, trans-chalcone, ellagic acid, luteolin, galangin, and genistein) against the dermatophyte Trichophyton ru...

Sortase A (SrtA) from Gram positive pathogens is an attractive target for inhibitors due to its role in the attachment of surface proteins to the cell wall. We found that the plant natural product trans-chalcone inhibits Streptococcus mutans SrtA in vitro and also inhibited S. mutans biofilm formation. Mass spectrometry revealed that the trans-chalcone forms a Michael addition adduct with the a...

The aim of this study was to investigate novel chalcones with potent anti-inflammatory activities in vivo. Chalcone and two chalcone analogues (compound 5 and 9) were evaluated using a caudal fin-wounded transgenic zebrafish line "Tg(mpx:gfp)" to visualize the effect of neutrophil recruitment dynamically. Results showed that treatment with compound 9 not only affected wound-induced neutrophil r...

With the aim of finding new chemical entities based on coumarin and chalcone scaffolds, new hybrid compounds 2-5 were designed and synthesized. The trypanocidal activity of these compounds was tested against the epimastigote, trypomastigote and amastigote stages of the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite. Cytotoxicity assays were also performed in RAW 264.7 and VERO cells. Compound 5 presented the highe...