title: Growth inhibitory effect of D-arabinose against the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: Discovery of a novel bioactive monosaccharide.
abstract: Biological activities of unusual monosaccharides (rare sugars) have largely remained unstudied until recently. We compared the growth inhibitory effects of aldohexose stereoisomers against the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans cultured in monoxenic conditions with Escherichia coli as food. Among these stereoisomers, the rare sugar D-arabinose (D-Ara) showed particularly strong growth inhibition. The IC50 value for D-Ara was estimated to be 7.5 mM, which surpassed that of the potent glycolytic inhibitor 2-deoxy-D-glucose (19.5 mM) used as a positive control. The inhibitory effect of D-Ara was also observed in animals cultured in axenic conditions using a chemically defined medium; this excluded the possible influence of E. coli. To our knowledge, this is the first report of biological activity of D-Ara. The D-Ara-induced inhibition was recovered by adding either D-ribose or D-fructose, but not D-glucose. These findings suggest that the inhibition could be induced by multiple mechanisms, for example, disturbance of D-ribose and D-fructose metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki, Kagawa 761-0795, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakoguchi
authors.affiliation: Rare Sugar Research Center, Kagawa University, Miki, Kagawa 761-0795, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihide
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshihara
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory, Matsutani Chemical Industry Co Ltd, Itami, Hyogo 664-8508, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shintani
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory, Matsutani Chemical Industry Co Ltd, Itami, Hyogo 664-8508, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okuma
authors.affiliation: Rare Sugar Research Center, Kagawa University, Miki, Kagawa 761-0795, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Izumori
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki, Kagawa 761-0795, Japan. Electronic address: sato@ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sato
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001089:Arabinose / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000187:drug effects*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D009005:Monosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D009005:Monosaccharides; D001089:Arabinose
keywords: Aldopentose; Caenorhabditis elegans; Growth inhibition; Rare sugar; d-Arabinose