Arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AA-NAT) is a rate-limiting enzyme in melatonin hormone synthesis and participates in daily oscillations of the melatonin level. We studied the association between the AA-NAT gene and delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). Results indicate that there is a significant difference in allele positivity at the single nucleotide polymorphism involved in an amino acid substitution from alanine to threonine at position 129 between patients with DSPS and healthy controls. The frequency of the 129 threonine allele is significantly higher in the patients than in the controls ( P=0.0029). The data suggest that AA-NAT could be a susceptibility gene for DSPS.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10048-002-0141-9 | DOI Listing |
Vitam Horm
January 2025
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Centro de Estudios Biomédicos Básicos, Aplicados y Desarrollo (CEBBAD), Universidad Maimónides, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address:
Light is the most reliable environmental cue allowing animals to breed successfully when conditions are optimal. In seasonal breeders, photoperiod (length of daylight) information is sensed by the eyes and transmitted to the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the master clock region located in the hypothalamus. This structure has a 24-h firing rhythm involving a cycle of clock protein synthesis and degradation, and provides the timing to synchronize the synthesis and release of melatonin, the chemical signal that transduces the photoperiod information.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnimals (Basel)
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology & Biochemistry, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
Arch Biochem Biophys
February 2025
Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA. Electronic address:
An important aspect of food security is the development of innovative insecticides, particularly ones that specifically target insect pests and exhibit minimal toxicity to mammals. The insect arylalkylamine N-acyltransferases (iAANATs) could serve as targets for novel insecticides that satisfy these criteria. There exists a wealth of structural and biochemical information for the iAANATs and iAANAT knockdown experiments show that these enzymes are critical to insect health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArch Insect Biochem Physiol
November 2024
Biology Centre, Institute of Entomology, Czech Academy of Science, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
In multicellular organisms, the indole melatonin synthesized by aralkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AANATI) serves as an antioxidant. To test this, sex-mixed 3-day-old mated fly adults bw and AANAT1 homozygous recessive loss-of-function mutant (bw AANAT1) of Drosophila melanogaster were fed by a standard diet or by one containing paraquat (PQ, 1,1'-dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridilium dichloride hydrate) at a final concentration of 15.5 mM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioorg Med Chem Lett
November 2024
Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, NE 69949, USA. Electronic address:
Arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AANAT) catalyzes the rate-limiting step in melatonin synthesis and is a potential target for disorders involving melatonin overproduction, such as seasonal affective disorder. Previously described AANAT inhibitor bromoacetyltryptamine (BAT) and benzothiophenes analogs were reported to react with CoASH to form potent bisubstrate inhibitors through AANAT's alkyltransferase function, which is secondary to its role as an acetyltransferase. We replaced the bromoacetyl group in BAT with various Michael acceptors to mitigate possible off-target activity of its bromoacetyl group.
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