Nicotine - from
toxic residue to metabolic derivatives with neuroprotective
effects
PN-II 50BM/2016
- Research project financed by the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research - Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI), contract no. 501317/2016;
- Funding
amount - 46160 lei
(aprox. 10 000 euros);
- Funding period - 15 months (1.10.2016 - 30.12.2017).
Project summary:
Both teams from Romania and P.R. China have the same main research interest: the nicotine catabolic pathway in bacteria. The research group from P.R. China coordinated by Tang H., PhD, have cloned, expressed, sequenced and characterized the enzymes nicotine oxidoreductase and 6-hydroxy-3-succinoylpyridine hydroxylase from Pseudomonas putida S16 and managed to show their implication in the transformation of nicotine to 2,5-dihydroxy-pyridine (DHP). The team from Romania, part of the a research group on ''Identification And Characterization Of Biological Active Molecules'' have identified the final degradation steps of nicotine metabolism in Arthrobacter nicotinovoras pAO1 and studied the effect the metabolic intermediate 6-hidroxy-nicotine on the learning and memory processes in rats. Both teams have knowledge, methods, plasmids and recombinant strains which allows the isolation of metabolic intermediates produced by the two bacteria: P. putida and A. nicotinovorans. As the objective of the project is to identify nicotine derivatives with neuroprotective effects, the combined scientific experience of the two teams will increase the repertoire of available nicotine derivatives for experimental testings. Beside the role in suppling the nicotine derivatives, each partner has at least one unique, complementary task. The group in Romania will be responsible for testing the selected nicotine derivatives on laboratory rats in order to identify their effects of memory and learning processes. The group from China is responsible of using genetic engineering techniques (gene-knockout, site-directed mutagenesis) for strain improvement in order to obtain the best yield for transformation of nicotine in valuable compounds. None of these complementary tasks can be fulfilled alone by the other partner.
Project members:
| Romania |
||
|
Project coordinator, Biochemistry | More details... |
|
Microbiology, Immunology | More details... |
|
Neurophysiology, Behavior | More details... |
|
Oxidative stress | More details... |
| PhDs and students | ||
|
Biochemistry | |
|
Behavior | |
| China | ||
|
More details... | |
| PhDs and students | ||
|
||
|
||
|
Contact
Project manager:
Marius Mihăşan, PhD
Adress : Room B228, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Faculty of Biology, Alexandru I Cuza University of Iasi, Carol I B-vd., No. 20A, Iaşi, 700506, Romania
E-mail : marius.mihasan@uaic.ro
Phone : 40(0)232201102 - 2434
Fax :
40(0)232201472
Further details: here
