Recognition of chromatin by the plant alkaloid, ellipticine as a dual binder
Authors: Chandrima Das
Payal Chakraborty
Kuladip Jana
Sulagna Sanyal
Amrita Banerjee
Parijat Majumder
Dipak Dasgupta
Journal: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (2015)
Discipline: BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Keywords: Dual binder; Ellipticine; Gene expression; Histone acetylation; Plant alkaloid.
Affiliations: Biophysics & Structural Genomics Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Block-AF, Sector-1, Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata 700064, West Bengal, India., Bionivid Technology Pvt Ltd, Kasturi Nagar, Bangalore 560043, India., Division of Molecular Medicine, Centre for Translational Animal Research, Bose Institute, P-1/12 C.I.T. Scheme VIIM, Kolkata 700054, West Bengal, India., Biophysics & Structural Genomics Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Block-AF, Sector-1, Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata 700064, West Bengal, India. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  Recognition of core histone components of chromatin along with chromosomal DNA by a class of small molecule modulators is worth examining to evaluate their intracellular mode of action. A plant alkaloid ellipticine (ELP) which is a putative anticancer agent has so far been reported to function via DNA intercalation, association with topoisomerase II and binding to telomere region. However, its effect upon the potential intracellular target, chromatin is hitherto unreported. Here we have characterized the biomolecular recognition between ELP and different hierarchical levels of chromatin. The significant result is that in addition to DNA, it binds to core histone(s) and can be categorized as a 'dual binder'. As a sequel to binding with histone(s) and core octamer, it alters post-translational histone acetylation marks. We have further demonstrated that it has the potential to modulate gene expression thereby regulating several key biological processes such as nuclear organization, transcription, translation and histone modifications. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
  Fig. 11. Apoptosis rate of cardiomyocytes in each group after transfection. Notes: A, apoptotic scatter plot . ![file] Here at top are the NC and miR-211 Inhibitor panels; and below, Figure 5 from [Han et al (2020)]  Impact of lncRNA MEG3 on cell apoptosis. A, Impact of lncRNA MEG3 on the apoptosis of RSC-364 cells detected via FITC PI double staining and flow cytometer . ![file] Notable similarities, especially in the left-hand quadrants of each pair. , 
 Fig. 10A.  The cycle distribution of cardiomyocytes in each group after transfection. Notes: A, Flow cytometry... C, PANC-1 cell cycle distribution in each group . ![file] The visible parts of the distributions show similarities to those in Fig. 9A,C from [Qian et al (2018)]  Cycle distribution of pancreatic cancer and PANC-1 cells in each group. Note: A, pancreatic cancer cell cycle distribution in each group . ![file] , 
 Fig 11A again: ![file] Fig. 7C from [Cai et al (2017)] .  apoptosis (C, D) of T lymphocytes of normal rats, OC rats, and OC rats treated with different doses of DEX . ![file] I am at a loss to understand how independent research teams, working with cardiomyocytes and lymphocytes, ended up with flow-cytometry plots that are identical, or the same in 3 of 4 quadrants. , 
 Recently retracted: https: www.cellphysiolbiochem.com Articles 000411 PDF 000411.pdf ------------------ The authors of the article have requested retraction on the following basis: After publication, concerns have been raised against some of the data presented in this paper. The authors repeated the experiments and found that some results have not been consistent with the results published in this paper. Therefore, they have decided to retract this article. ,