Enzymatic treatment of estrogens and estrogen glucuronide

Natural and synthetic estrogens from sewage treatment systems are suspected to influence the reproductive health of the animals in the rivers.In this article we investigated the enzymatic treatment of three estrogens (estrone,17β-estradiol,and 17α-ethynyletstradiol) by a fungal laccase which oxidize phenolic compounds with dissolved oxygen.The elimination of the estrogenic activities by enzymatic oxidation was demonstrated by medaka vitellogenin assay.In addition,we developed an enzymatic treatment system comprised of β-D-glucuronidase and the laccase for 17β-estradiol 3-(β-D-glucuronide) degradation.The two enzymes eliminated 17β-estradiol 3-(β-D-glucuronide) and the intermediate,17β-estradiol,efficiently.     

Recombinant human AhR-mediated GUS reporter gene assays for PCB congeners in transgenic tobacco plants in comparison with recombinant mouse and guinea pig AhRs

Four expression plasmids for recombinant human aryl hydrocarbon receptor (hAhR) consisting of a ligand binding domain of hAhR, a DNA-binding domain of LexA and a transactivation domain of VP16 as well as β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter genes were constructed. All the expression plasmids were transformed into tobacco plants. The selected transgenic tobacco plants were used to assay. PCB congeners showed GUS activity in a TEF-dependent manner. The selected transgenic tobacco plant XhD4V17 was compared with the transgenic tobacco plants XmD4V26 and XgD2V23 containing recombinant mouse (m) AhR-mediated GUS reporter gene expression cassette and recombinant guinea pig (g) AhR-mediated GUS reporter gene expression cassette for PCB congener-inducible GUS activity. The data revealed that the tobacco plant XgD2V23 was the most active in PCB congener-inducible GUS activity. In a 1:1 mixture of PCB126 and PCB80 a reduced PCB126-induced GUS activity was observed in plant XgD2V23, which could possibly be due to interaction between PCB126 and PCB80.