Phytoalexins are low molecular weight antimicrobial compounds that are synthesized in response to pathogen attack. The phytoalexin camalexin, an indole derivative, is produced by Arabidopsis in response to infection with the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. The phytoalexin deficient 3 ( pad3 ) mutation, which causes a defect in camalexin production, has no effect on resistance to P. syr...

Antiangiogenic agents have been widely investigated in combination with standard chemotherapy or targeted cancer agents for better management of advanced cancers. Therapeutic agents that concurrently inhibit epidermal growth factor receptor and other angiokinases could be useful alternatives to combination therapies for epidermal growth factor receptor-dependent cancers. Here, we report the syn...

An internal standard, [(13)C][indole-2]-indole-3-butyric acid, was synthesized from indole-2[(13)C] and was shown to be effective for the quantitative determination of indole-3-butyric acid from plant tissue. When this standard was used along with [(13)C(6)]indole-3-acetic acid, both indolic auxins could be quantified from the same tobacco (Nicotiana tabacam) leaf sample by isotope dilution ana...

Metabolic reactions involving the aliphatic side chain of tryptophan were studied in the holoparasitic dicotyledonous plants Orobanche gracilis Sm., O. lutea Baumg., and O. ramosa L. Unlike known autotrophic plants, the parasite metabolized l-tryptophan directly to indole-3-carboxaldehyde, which was further converted to indole-3-methanol and indole-3-carboxylic acid. Independently, these metabo...

Eight indole derivatives were studied for their DNA binding ability using fluorescence quenching and molecular docking methods. These indole compounds have structural moieties similar as in few indole alkaloids. Experimental and theoretical studies have suggested that indole derivatives bind in the minor groove of DNA. Thermodynamic profiles of DNA complexes of indole derivatives were obtained ...

We characterized the biosynthesis of indole-3-acetic acid by the mycoherbicide Colletotrichum gloeosporioides f. sp. aeschynomene. Auxin production was tryptophan dependent. Compounds from the indole-3-acetamide and indole-3-pyruvic acid pathways were detected in culture filtrates. Feeding experiments and in vitro assay confirmed the presence of both pathways. Indole-3-acetamide was the major p...

Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) is produced in Brassica vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage and has been shown to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in various cancer cells, including breast, prostate, colon, and leukemia. However, only high doses of I3C were shown to inhibit cell proliferation (IC(50) = 200-300 μmol/L). Our goal here was to develop a more potent antitumor agent by modifyin...

A new enzyme which catalyzes the oxidation of the side chain of tryptophan and other indole derivatives, has been purified to apparent homogeneity from Pseudomonas and crystallized. The overall purification was about 25-fold with a yield of 4.5%. The purified enzyme was apparently homogeneous as judged by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight estimated by gel filtration was a...

Indole is widely spread in various environmental matrices. Indole degradation by bacteria has been reported previously, whereas its degradation processes driven by aerobic microbial community were as-yet unexplored. Herein, eight sequencing batch bioreactors fed with municipal and coking activated sludges were constructed for aerobic treatment of indole. The whole operation processes contained ...