Fluorescence: A Novel Method for Determining Manuka Honey Floral Purity

Manuka honey, harvested from Leptospermum scoparium, is New Zealand\u27s most recognised honey type and commands a premium due to health‐related benefits. However, the plant\u27s distribution, relative to other species flowering simultaneously, allows honeybees to incorporate alternative nectars into the honey. Melissopalynological analysis in New Zealand is often unrepresentative due to the presence of many pollen‐bearing sources; consequently, alternative means of categorising manuka honey were examined. RP‐HPLC revealed that manuka honey contains distinct compounds, of which were relatively enriched and not present in the other New Zealand monofloral honeys. These main candidate compounds were isolated and have been described by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance, synthesised to confirm structure, and as standards. These compounds, Leptosperin and Lepteridine, are a methyl syringate glycoside and pteridine derivative, respectively. Examination of these compounds revealed unique fluorescence signatures, this fluorescence could be detected in manuka honey samples the signal used to confirm that a honey was solely or predominantly consisted of L. scoparium nectar. Commercial manuka honeys were assessed by traditional analytical techniques, and comparisons were made with fluorescence signature; the fluorescence technique determined the authenticity of the honeys accurately

Suppression by polycyclic compounds of the conversion of human amylin into insoluble amyloid.

There is a significant correlation between the occurrence of pancreatic islet amyloid and beta-cell failure in advanced type II diabetes mellitus. Islet amyloid is composed primarily of the fibrillar form of the pancreatic hormone, amylin. Using thioflavin-T fluorescence binding and radioprecipitation assays, we investigated whether or not a series of small tricyclic compounds, tetracycline or Congo Red could interfere with the conversion of synthetic human amylin into its insoluble amyloid form. Of the compounds investigated, incubation of human amylin with a 20-fold molar excess of either Congo Red or Acridine Orange resulted in significant inhibition in the rate of amyloid formation. With Congo Red, maximal inhibition effectively occurred at a 1:1 molar ratio or greater over human amylin, whereas inhibition by Acridine Orange was dose-dependent. A 20-fold molar excess of the compound tetracycline also decreased insoluble amyloid content after extended incubation periods of approx. 20 h. Amyloid fibril morphology in the presence of tetracycline, as measured by transmission electron microscopy, was characterized by short fragmented fibrils compared with the longer and denser appearance of fibrils formed by amylin alone. These findings show that polycyclic compounds can suppress the formation of amyloid by human amylin, providing support for an alternative approach to peptide-based strategies by which islet amyloid formation could be modulated

Crystal structure of a substrate complex of myo-inositol oxygenase, a di-iron oxygenase with a key role in inositol metabolism

Altered metabolism of the inositol sugars myo-inositol (MI) and d-chiro-inositol is implicated in diabetic complications. In animals, catabolism of MI and d-chiro-inositol depends on the enzyme MI oxygenase (MIOX), which catalyzes the first committed step of the glucuronate–xylulose pathway, and is found almost exclusively in the kidneys. The crystal structure of MIOX, in complex with MI, has been determined by multiwavelength anomalous diffraction methods and refined at 2.0-Å resolution (R = 0.206, R(free) = 0.253). The structure reveals a monomeric, single-domain protein with a mostly helical fold that is distantly related to the diverse HD domain superfamily. Five helices form the structural core and provide six ligands (four His and two Asp) for the di-iron center, in which the two iron atoms are bridged by a putative hydroxide ion and one of the Asp ligands, Asp-124. A key loop forms a lid over the MI substrate, which is coordinated in bidentate mode to one iron atom. It is proposed that this mode of iron coordination, and interaction with a key Lys residue, activate MI for bond cleavage. The structure also reveals the basis of substrate specificity and suggests routes for the development of specific MIOX inhibitors