Four novel steroidal alkaloids named cortistatins A (1), B (2), C (3), and D (4) consisting of a 9(10-19)-abeo-androstane and isoquinoline skeleton have been isolated from the marine sponge Corticium simplex. The absolute stereostructures of 1-4 were elucidated by detailed 2D NMR, CD, and X-ray crystallographic analyses. Cortistatins A-D inhibited proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with high selectivity. Among the four substances, cortistatin A (1) showed the strongest anti-proliferative activity (IC50 = 0.0018 muM) against HUVECs, in which the selective index was more than 3000-fold in comparison with that of normal fibroblast or several tumor cell lines.

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a b s t r a c t C-Glucosyltransferase is an enzyme that mediates carbon-carbon bond formation to generate C-glucoside metabolites. Although it has been identified in several plant species, the catalytic amino acid residues required for C-glucosylation activity remain obscure. Here, we identified a 2-hydroxyflavanone C-glucosyltransferase (UGT708D1) in soybean. We found that three residues, His20, Asp85, and Arg292, of UGT708D1 were located at the predicted active site and evolutionarily conserved. The substitution of Asp85 or Arg292 with alanine destroyed C-glucosyltransferase activity, whereas the substitution of His20 with alanine abolished C-glucosyltransferase activity but enabled O-glucosyltransferase activity. The catalytic mechanism is discussed on the basis of the findings.

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