title: Novel biological activities of allosamidins.
abstract: Allosamidins, which are secondary metabolites of the Streptomyces species, have chitin-mimic pseudotrisaccharide structures. They bind to catalytic centers of all family 18 chitinases and inhibit their enzymatic activity. Allosamidins have been used as chitinase inhibitors to investigate the physiological roles of chitinases in a variety of organisms. Two prominent biological activities of allosamidins were discovered, where one has anti-asthmatic activity in mammals, while the other has the chitinase-production- promoting activity in allosamidin-producing Streptomyces. In this article, recent studies on the novel biological activities of allosamidins are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, the University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. asakuda@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shohei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakuda
authors.forename: Hiromasa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Hiromichi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagasawa
mesh_terms: D000117:Acetylglucosamine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D002688:Chitinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D064210:Secondary Metabolism; D013302:Streptomyces / Q000378:metabolism; D014312:Trisaccharides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents; D014312:Trisaccharides; C054851:allosamidin; D002688:Chitinases; D000117:Acetylglucosamine